m-Inductive Property of Sequential Circuits

 Abstract—This paper introduces m-inductiveness over a set of nodes S in sequential circuits. The m-inductive property can be used for equivalence-checking or improved sequential optimization. It allows the behavior of many next-state functions (not in S) to be changed while maintaining correctness at the primary outputs of a circuit. As such, it creates flexibility that can be used for sequential optimization. It is shown that the number of nodes in S is reduced as m, the parameter for the inductiveness, increases. We provide an algorithm for finding a minimal set S, as well as one for using m-inductiveness in optimization. We give examples of such optimized circuits and show that m-inductive based optimization can result in significant area reduction when applied to industrial designs.