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The relationship between some techniques for sequential logic synthesis (i.e., retiming and peripheral retiming) and high- level synthesis (i.e., pipelining and loop folding) are studied in this paper. We prove that the problem of loop folding is equivalent to that of the combination of retiming and pipelining; the result of peripheral retiming can be accomplished by extensive retiming, or by loop folding. This discovery makes it possible to exchange the techniques developed previously for these two problems and, hence, cross- fertilize both areas. To show the usefulness of this discovery, we propose an algorithm, based on the relationship, for minimizing the clock period of sequential circuits. The proposed algorithm provides not only further insight into retiming but also a much greater area/speed design tradeoff opportunity compared with that of using retiming alone. The experimental results on a set of benchmarks indicate that the proposed algorithm is 2-order faster than Saxe's relaxation algorithm implemented in the SIS package.
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