Combined hardware selection and pipelining in high performance data-path design

Pipelining and hardware selection are important optimization tasks in the design of high-performance data paths. At the highest abstraction level, the specification of a data path consists of a number of interconnected abstract building blocks and a constraint on the minimal required clock frequency. An algorithm which optimally selects hardware blocks from a library for implementing these abstract building blocks is presented, and a technique for hierarchical redistribution and insertion of pipeline registers is described. Finally, both optimization tasks are combined. This combination makes the area tradeoff between additional speed-up circuitry and pipeline registers possible