Patent ID: 8225262

Claim:
A method of placing clock circuits in an integrated circuit, the method comprising: receiving a circuit design to be implemented in the integrated circuit; establishing types of groups of components comprising clock circuits; identifying groups of components of the circuit design comprising clock circuits, each group of components generating a different clock signal of a plurality of clock signals; determining, based upon the types of groups, an order of the groups of components of the circuit design comprising clock circuits to be placed to improve run time for the placement of the circuit design; placing, using a computer, the groups of components of the circuit design comprising clock circuits in sites of the integrated circuit according to placement restrictions; wherein groups of components with locked components are placed before other groups of components, and the other groups of components are placed according to numbers of components of the other groups of components; and wherein, for each group of components comprising clock circuits being placed, it is determined, for each component of a group of components, whether the component matches a type of component at a site according to a first placement restriction, and whether a clock placement rule requires a placement of the component relative to another component of the group of components according to a second placement restriction.