Patent ID: 7594212

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of placing input/output (I/O) pins of a circuit design for an integrated circuit (IC), the method comprising: selecting a bus from a plurality of buses of the circuit design, wherein the selected bus comprises a plurality of I/O pins and is part of an interface; for each of a plurality of banks of the IC, determining a cost of assigning the selected bus to the bank according, at least in part, to a measure of proximity of the bank to at least one other bank comprising a bus of the interface; selecting an available bank having a lowest cost from the plurality of banks; assigning at least one of the plurality of I/O pins of the selected bus that is not assigned to a bank of the IC to the selected bank; and outputting a circuit design comprising an association of at least one I/O pin of the selected bus to the selected bank, wherein the selecting a bus, the determining, the selecting an available bank, the assigning, and the outputting are performed by a computer.