Propagation delay in shift register - in the context of a serial adder

Question

The first figure (from Fundamentals of Logic Design, Roth/Kinney, 6th Ed, p.404) shows a serial adder which feeds in operand bits and stores the sum, and uses a D flip-flop to store the carry-out from each bit pair and load it back in as the next carry-in.

The second figure (from Fundamentals of Logic Design, Roth/Kinney, 6th Ed, p.405) shows a timing diagram for this same serial adder.

My question is: is there a good reason why the delay in loading the operand bits (x_i and y_i) would be depicted as being longer than the delay in loading the carry-in (c_i)? This seems important, because (as shown in the timing diagram) it leads to glitches in the sum, s_i.

I have assumed (though the textbook does not absolutely confirm this) that shift registers made of D-type flip-flops (like the one for the carries) would be used to feed in the operand bits and store the sum. If so, surely the delay for loading x_i and y_i would be identical to the delay for loading c_i?

If not, can anyone cast light on another reason why the timing diagram depicts things this way? I have searched unsuccessfully online for an answer, and one is not contained in the textbook itself to my knowledge.

To be clear: my suspicion is that the authors made a mistake (I am guessing they did not allow for flip-flop propagation delay in loading c_i) -- but I'd like to get a knee-jerk response from more experienced folks indicating whether they would tend to agree with me, or whether I'm missing something really obvious? Thanks!

Answer 1

The reason is probably that x and y are coming from other combinational logic with a little bit of delay, while c_i comes directly from a DFF close by.

It's not that important. In sequential logic like this you should always assume glitches during the start of a clock cycle (signals toggling up and down). As long as you are stable before the next clock edge, you are fine. Stable here means that all signals have had time to propagate to the the next DFF - your design reached timing.