Patent ID: 7131087

Claim:
A multi-cycle path analyzing method making an analysis of a multi-cycle path which can take two cycles or more for a signal to propagate from a starting point of the path to its end point among paths within a circuit to be analyzed, comprising: making an analysis of a circuit to be analyzed in correspondence with a name of each element which includes a cell configuring the circuit to be analyzed, and/or a meaning and/or a relationship of a signal to a terminal of each element; and making a multi-cycle path determination of whether or not a path from a starting point to an end point is a multi-cycle path by using a result of the analysis, and wherein in the analysis of the circuit to be analyzed, circuit conversion for a multi-cycle path analysis in correspondence with the meaning of the signal to the terminal of each element is performed; and the multi-cycle path determination is made by using a result of the circuit conversion, and wherein in the circuit conversion, circuit conversion such that a signal which can be converted into an enable signal to memory elements at the starting point and the end point of the path among signals to the terminal of the element is performed.