JP2002358331A - Editing system for printed circuit board of distributed processing for data editing processing of multilayer data for printed circuit board, and method for the decentralized processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data editing system for printed circuit board capable of shortening substantially the processing time based on properties of design data. SOLUTION: In the system, client computers, resource management computers and server computers are connected via a network, the client computer makes a request to the resource management computers as to assignment of a server computer, and the management computer assigns a server computer in idle condition to the client computer based on a list. The assigned client computer generates data for decentralized processing and makes a request to the server computer for the processing of the data to decentralize the processing. The data for the distributed processing are generated, for example, by dividing the design data into layers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data editing system for a printed circuit board for performing a check process and an additional process on design data of an electronic component such as a printed circuit board to generate data for manufacturing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printed circuit board, a BGA (Ball Gri
d Array), CSP (chip size package) and other design data of electronic components, and perform data editing processing such as check processing and additional processing to perform CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturi).
ng) / CAT (Computer Aided Testing) data editing system for printed circuit boards that generates data is widely used. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 12-76320 describes an example of such a data editing system for printed circuit boards.

Normally, in a printed circuit board data editing system, as check processing, processing of ten or more items, such as a clearance short check and an interlayer tomographic check, is performed. Further, as additional processing for increasing the yield of manufacturing data, processing is performed on as many as ten or more items such as reinforcing pads, reinforcing filling, and position correction.

As described above, the load imposed on the printed board data editing system is considerably heavy, and a computer for operating these printed board data editing systems requires relatively high processing power. On the other hand, in recent years, with higher performance and more functions of electronic devices, the demand for higher density and multi-layer printed circuit boards has been increasing, and accordingly, the data volume of design data has been increasing. . In addition, there is an increasing demand for a shorter printed circuit board manufacturing delivery time.

[0005]

The increase in the data volume of the design data further increases the load of check processing and additional processing on the design data of the printed circuit board, thereby increasing the processing time and shortening the delivery time. A problem occurs that goes against the request for In order to reduce processing time, generally possible measures are to use fast C
An object of the present invention is to construct a data editing system for a printed circuit board on a computer having a PU, a peripheral device, or the like, or a computer having a high processing capability capable of mounting a multi-CPU.

Although parallel processing of multiple CPUs can be expected to reduce processing time to some extent, in processing design data for a printed circuit board having a considerably large data volume, access to shared resources such as a memory and a magnetic disk is required. In this case, batting occurs, and it is not possible to expect a great effect on shortening the processing time. There is a need for a data editing system that can significantly reduce processing time based on the nature of design data for electronic components such as printed circuit boards.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a printed circuit board data editing system and a processing method that can greatly reduce the processing time based on the design data properties of electronic components such as a printed circuit board.

[0008]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client computer for requesting a data editing process for printed circuit board design data, and at least one client computer receiving a request from the client computer. A data editing system for a printed circuit board, which is connected to a server computer via a network and edits printed circuit board design data to generate predetermined manufacturing data, wherein a client computer requests a server computer to be assigned. Upon receiving the resource management means, a resource management means is provided which secures a vacant one of the at least one server computer and allocates the secured server computer to the client computer. In this case, the client computer requests the resource management means to allocate the server computer, receives the allocation of the vacant server computer from the resource management means,
Generates data for distributed processing of printed circuit board design data based on the number of assigned server computers, and sends the generated data for distributed processing to the assigned empty server computer. And request for distributed processing. Further, upon receiving the request for the distributed processing, the server computer processes the data for the distributed processing and transmits the processing result information to the client computer. The client computer can distribute the data editing processing for the printed circuit board design data to the server computer assigned via the resource management means, and therefore can reduce the processing time of the data editing processing for the printed circuit board design data. It is possible to shorten it.

Here, the resource management means has a list for recording whether at least one server computer is idle or not, and assigns server computers to client computers based on the list. Is possible (claim 2).

When the client computer notifies the resource management means of a release request of the server computer to which the client computer has been allocated after receiving the processing result information,
The resource management means may be configured to update the list so that the server computer in the assigned state becomes free based on the release request notified from the client computer (claim 3).

Alternatively, when the server computer completes the processing of the request for the distributed processing, the server computer transmits the processing result information to the client computer and notifies the resource management means that the resources are available. The resource management means may be configured to update the list in order to make the server computer that has transmitted the notification that the resource is vacant vacant when it receives the notification that the resource is vacant from the server computer. (Claim 4).

When at least one server computer is registered in advance in the resource management means, the resource management means determines whether or not the at least one registered server computer is free at the time of startup. It is possible to generate a list by making an inquiry (claim 5).

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data editing system for a printed circuit board, further comprising a resource management computer connected to a network, wherein the resource management computer has the resource management means.

Alternatively, the client computer may have a resource management means (claim 7).

In the data editing system for a printed circuit board according to the present invention, the data for the distributed processing of the printed circuit board design data, which is generated based on the number of assigned server computers, includes the printed circuit board design data. , Based on the number of assigned server computers. By dividing the processing into layer units, distributed processing of the data editing processing can be achieved, and therefore the processing time of the data editing processing can be greatly reduced.

Here, data for distributed processing of printed circuit board design data, which is generated based on the number of assigned server computers, includes data editing processing.
The data editing process may be divided based on the number of assigned server computers for each processing item (claim 9). By dividing the processing into each processing item unit of the data editing processing, distributed processing of the data editing processing can be achieved, and therefore, the processing time of the data editing processing can be greatly reduced.

The data for the distributed processing of the printed circuit board design data, which is generated based on the number of the assigned server computers, is obtained by dividing the printed circuit board design data in units of the area of the printed circuit board related to the design data. Alternatively, it may be divided based on the number of assigned server computers (claim 10). By dividing the processing into units of the area of the printed circuit board, distributed processing of the data editing processing can be achieved, and therefore, the processing time of the data editing processing can be greatly reduced.

In the distributed processing, the processing time of each computer that executes the distributed processing including the client computer and / or at least one server computer can be made uniform (claim 11).

The data editing process includes at least one of a check process and an additional process for the printed circuit board design data.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing method for performing distributed processing of data editing processing of design data for a printed circuit board by a plurality of computers. This is a distributed processing method in which design data for each divided layer is assigned to a plurality of computers and data editing processing is performed. By dividing the processing into layers, distributed processing of the data editing processing can be achieved, and therefore, the processing time of the data editing processing can be greatly reduced.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing method for performing distributed processing of data editing processing of design data for a printed circuit board by a plurality of computers, wherein the data editing processing is performed by the data editing processing. This is a distributed processing method in which data processing is divided for each processing item and assigned to a plurality of computers. Distributed processing can be achieved by dispersing the processing for each processing item of the data editing processing, and therefore, the processing time of the data editing processing can be greatly reduced.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed processing method for performing distributed processing of data editing processing of design data for a printed circuit board by a plurality of computers, wherein the design data relates to the design data. This is a distributed processing method in which a printed circuit board is divided into area units and design data in the divided area units is assigned to a plurality of computers to perform data editing processing. By dividing the processing into units of the area of the printed circuit board, distributed processing can be achieved, and therefore, the processing time of the data editing processing can be greatly reduced.

In the distributed processing, it is possible to make the processing time in each computer executing the distributed processing uniform.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data editing system for printed circuit board design data, which executes any one of the above-described distributed processing methods.

[0025]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a printed circuit board data editing system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention and showing a processing flow. The data editing system 100 includes a client computer 11,
A plurality of server computers and a resource management computer 31 are configured to be connected on a LAN. Although there are a plurality of server computers, FIG. 1 shows only one server computer 21 for simplicity of explanation. These client computer 11, server computer 21, and resource management computer 31 can be configured by a general personal computer or a workstation.

In FIG. 1, design data for a printed circuit board generated by a CAD (Computer Aided Design) system is input to a client computer 11 via a storage medium such as a flexible disk or via a network. Upon receiving the design data, the client computer 11 receives the assignment of the server computer from the resource management computer 31, distributes the data editing process to the assigned server computer, and generates CAM / CAT data.

Here, an example of the configuration of the design data input to the client computer 11 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data configuration of a four-layer double-sided board. As shown in FIG. 2, the design data of the four-layer double-sided board is
Silk data 101 of the first layer (front surface), solder mask data 102 of the first layer, first layer pattern data 103,
It is composed of power supply pattern data 104 (second layer), ground pattern data 105 (third layer), fourth layer (back side) pattern data 106, fourth layer solder mask data 102, and fourth layer silk data 108. . The data of each of these layers is configured as a data file in a predetermined format, for example, a Gerber data format.

Check processing (MRC; Manufacturing Rule Check) to be performed on design data is usually 10
Various processing items for checking whether the design data conforms to the manufacturing process, such as “clearance short”, “equal potential clearance”, “overlap pad”, “interlayer disconnection”, etc. including. Here, "clearance short-circuit" is for checking clearance and overlap between pad-line, line-line, etc., and "equipotential clearance" is clearance at a slit or the like in a pattern of the same potential. The "overlapping pad" is to check for overlapping pads and drills, and the "interlayer disconnection" is to check the pattern disconnection by the drill and the clearance between the drill and the pattern.

It is understood from the nature of each processing item of the check processing that there are some which can be divided and processed for each layer and those which cannot be divided for each layer. For example, “clearance short”, “equal potential clearance”, and “overlapping pad” can be processed separately for each layer, and “interlayer disconnection” needs to be processed over all layers. It is impossible to divide each layer.

There are usually more than ten types of additional processing (MAP; Manufacturing Automatic Processing) to be performed on the design data. For example, "clearance securing", "duplicate pad deletion", "reinforcement pad", "through" Includes various processing items for improving the production yield and reliability of printed circuit boards, such as “hole connection classification”. Here, “clearance securing” is a process of securing a clearance by deleting a pattern of a clearance-deficient portion, and “duplicate pad removal” is a process of deleting a duplicated pad and a drill, and “reinforcement”. The "pad" is a process to reinforce the connection between the pad and the pattern.The "through-hole connection classification" is a tool that classifies drill data connected to the inner layer and drill data not connected to the inner layer. This is a process for reducing the drill cost due to the division.

Due to the nature of each processing item, there are some types of additional processing that can be divided and processed for each layer, and those that cannot be divided for each layer. For example, "secure clearance", "delete duplicate pad", "reinforcement pad"
Can be divided and processed for each layer, and the "through-hole connection classification" is a process that cannot be divided for each layer because it is necessary to process all layers.

After the client computer 11 of FIG. 1 receives the design data, the client computer 1
When the data editing process is started in 1, the client computer 11 requests the resource management computer 31 to allocate a required number (for example, three) of server computers (arrow 201). The resource management computer 31 has a list for recording whether or not the server computer registered in advance is in an idle state. Based on this list, the server computer is allocated and allocated to the client computer 11. The information of the server computer that can be assigned is sent to the computer 11 (arrow 202), and the list is updated assuming that the server computer assigned to the client computer 11 is no longer in an idle state. It is assumed that the resource management computer 31 creates a list by inquiring, at the time of startup, of a server computer registered in advance as to whether or not there is a vacancy (see arrow 20 in FIG. 1).
7).

Client computers 11 to which required (three) server computers have been assigned
Performs division of the design data and / or data editing processing items so that the processing time is uniformly distributed to four computers including the client computer 11. Various methods are conceivable as a division method for performing the distributed processing so that the processing time becomes uniform in each computer. Here, as an example, the division method A is shown in Table 1 below.
-C. In the following, the computers that can be used for distributed processing will be described as PC # 1 (client computer 11) and PCs # 2 to 4 (server computer).

[0034]

[Table 1]

The dividing method A is to divide the design data for each layer. In the case of the design data shown in FIG. 2, the data editing process for the data of the first to fourth layers is performed by PC # 1 to PC # 1. # 4. When processing is performed by dividing each layer, it is considered that there are processing items that can be divided into layers and processing items that cannot be divided.

The dividing method B is to divide the data for each processing item of the data editing process. In the example of the above-mentioned processing items, “clearance short” in the checking process is set to PC # 1 and Potential clearance ”PC # 2
, “Overlapping pad” to PC # 3, “Interlayer disconnection” to PC
# 4, and "secure clearance" of the additional processing is assigned to PC # 1, and "duplicate pad deletion" is assigned to PC # 2.
Then, the "reinforcement pad" is assigned to PC # 3, and the "through-hole connection classification" is assigned to PC # 4.

In the dividing method C, the design data is divided in units of the area of the printed circuit board, and the design data is divided in units of the area of the printed circuit board into, for example, four regions from the region 1 to the region 4. Are assigned to PC # 1 to PC # 4, respectively.

The client computer 11 divides the design data and / or divides each processing item of the data editing process in accordance with one or a combination of two or more of the above dividing methods A to C and allocates them to the server computer. The design data to be processed and the processing items are transmitted to the server computer and a processing request is made (see arrow 20 in FIG. 1).
3) Start processing for the processing items to be processed by the client computer 11 itself.

When the processing requested by the client computer 11 is completed, the server computer transmits the processing result to the client computer 11 (arrow 204 in FIG. 1). Client computer 11
Collects the processing results received from the server computer, generates CAM / CAT data,
The resource management computer 31 is requested to release the assigned server computer. The resource management computer 31 is a client computer 31
Receives a request to release the server computer from the server, the server computer updates the list assuming that the server computer requested to release has become idle.

By performing the distributed processing as described above, the load can be uniformly allocated to the computers that can be used for the distributed processing. Therefore, it is possible to greatly reduce the processing time of the data editing processing of the printed circuit board design data to one-third of the number of computers that can be used for the distributed processing. This makes it possible to achieve a desired reduced processing time even if the processing capacity of each computer available for distributed processing is relatively low.

FIG. 1 shows a client computer as a request source of distributed processing, a server computer receiving the request, and a resource management computer for allocating the server computer when a plurality of computers are connected to a network. It should be noted that this is a diagram showing the relationship with. When a plurality of computers are connected to a network to form a data editing system for a printed circuit board, each of the computers is provided with a function as a client computer and a function as a server computer so that all the computers connected to the network are provided. It goes without saying that a data editing system can be configured such that each of the computers becomes a client computer in one data editing processing case, while it becomes a server computer in another data editing processing case.

For example, in the case where a plurality of users perform different cases of data editing processing from different computers on such a data editing system, the resource management computer (resource management means) is provided with a plurality of users. In response to a request for server computer assignment from each computer used (i.e., a plurality of client computers), ensure that each of the plurality of client computers, based on the list, has an available computer (i.e., a server computer). It is possible to assign. Therefore, in such a data editing system, it is possible to perform a data editing process in a distributed manner by efficiently using a plurality of computer resources without installing a dedicated server computer and a client computer.

As described above, when the processing is completed in the server computer, the processing result is automatically transferred from the server computer to the client computer. Therefore, in the case where a plurality of computers are connected to a network as described above to form a data editing system for a printed circuit board, it is as if the computer used by the user is used without making the user aware of the distributed environment. It is possible to provide a data editing processing environment as if the data editing processing was performed by one device. Therefore, by configuring the data editing system in this way, the task of data editing processing for a printed circuit board can be greatly improved.

In the embodiment described above, the client computer, the server computer, and the resource management computer are connected via the LAN. However, the network connecting these is not limited to the LAN, and the network for connecting the data is not limited to the LAN. It goes without saying that any connection form capable of transmission and reception, for example, via the Internet may be used.

The above-described embodiment is an example in which allocation and release of server computers are performed in the resource management computer. However, the means of allocation and release of server computers is not limited to this. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which resource management software for realizing equivalent functions is operated on the client computer 11.

The method by which the resource management computer updates the list recording the availability is not limited to the method of receiving a release request notification from the client computer as in the above-described embodiment, or the method in which the processing is terminated from the server computer. At that time or periodically, there may be a method of updating the list in response to the notification that it is released or being used.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Data editing processing of design data of electronic components such as a printed circuit board can be dispersed based on the nature of the design data, and the processing time of the data editing processing can be significantly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a data editing system for a printed circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention and showing a processing flow.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of a four-layer double-sided board.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Client Computer 21 Server Computer 31 Resource Management Computer 100 Data Editing System

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 17/50 666 G06F 17/50 666C 15/16 620 15/16 620B 15/177 674 15/177 674A

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A client computer for requesting a data editing process for printed circuit board design data,
A printed circuit board data editing system, which is connected to at least one server computer receiving the request from the client computer via a network and generates predetermined manufacturing data by performing data editing processing on the printed circuit board design data. Upon receiving a request from the client computer to assign the server computer,
Resource management means for allocating a vacant one of the server computers and allocating the allocated server computer to the client computer, wherein the client computer allocates the server computer to the resource management means. Ask,
Receiving an assignment of a vacant server computer from the resource management means, generating data for distributed processing of the printed circuit board design data based on the number of the assigned server computers, and The server computer sends the generated data for the distributed processing to the server computer and requests the distributed processing, and the server computer receives the request for the distributed processing, and receives the request for the distributed processing. Processing the data and transmitting processing result information to the client computer. 2. The resource management means according to claim 1, wherein
2. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a list for recording whether or not one server computer is in an idle state, and allocating the server computer to the client computers based on the list. Data editing system for printed circuit boards. 3. When the client computer receives the processing result information, the client computer notifies the resource management unit of a release request of the server computer to which the client computer has been allocated, and the resource management unit notifies the release request from the client computer. 3. The data editing system for a printed circuit board according to claim 2, wherein the list is updated so that the server computer in the assigned state is set to an empty state based on the released request. 4. When the processing of the request for the distributed processing is completed, the server computer transmits processing result information to the client computer, and notifies the resource management unit that a resource is available. When receiving the notification that the resource is vacant from the server computer, the resource management unit updates the list so that the server computer that has transmitted the notification that the resource is vacant is vacant. The data editing system for printed circuit boards according to claim 2, wherein: 5. The resource management means according to claim 1, wherein
Two server computers are registered in advance, and the resource management unit generates the list by inquiring at least one of the registered server computers whether or not the server computer is free at the time of startup. The data editing system for a printed circuit board according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein: 6. The print according to claim 1, further comprising a resource management computer connected to the network, wherein the resource management computer has the resource management unit. Data editing system for boards. 7. The printed circuit board data editing system according to claim 1, wherein said client computer has said resource management means. 8. The data for distributed processing of the printed circuit board design data generated based on the number of server computers to which the assignment has been made is obtained by dividing the printed circuit board design data into layers on the basis of the number. The data editing system for a printed circuit board according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein 9. The data for distributed processing of the printed circuit board design data generated based on the number of server computers to which the allocation has been made, the data editing processing is performed in each processing item unit of the data editing processing. 9. The data editing system for a printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the data is divided based on the number. 10. The data for the distributed processing of the printed circuit board design data generated based on the number of server computers to which the assignment has been made, is based on the area of the printed circuit board related to the design data. Being divided based on the number of units,
The data editing system for printed circuit boards according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: 11. The distributed processing according to claim 1, wherein the processing time of each of the computers that execute the distributed processing including the client computer and / or the at least one server computer becomes uniform. The printed board data editing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10. 12. The printed circuit board data according to claim 1, wherein the data editing processing includes at least one of a check processing and an additional processing for the printed circuit board design data. Editing system. 13. A distributed processing method for performing distributed processing of data editing processing of design data for a printed circuit board by a plurality of computers connected to a network, wherein the design data is divided for each layer, and And allocating the design data for each layer to the plurality of computers and performing a data editing process. 14. A distributed processing method for performing distributed processing of data editing processing of design data for a printed circuit board by a plurality of computers connected to a network, wherein the data editing processing includes processing items of the data editing processing. A distributed processing method for printed circuit board design data, wherein the data is divided and assigned to each of the plurality of computers to perform data editing processing. 15. A distributed processing method for performing distributed processing of data editing processing of design data for a printed circuit board by a plurality of computers connected to a network, wherein the design data is converted into an area of a printed circuit board related to the design data. And dividing the design data in units of area and allocating the divided design data to the plurality of computers to perform a data editing process. 16. The printed circuit board according to claim 13, wherein the distributed processing has a uniform processing time in each computer that executes the distributed processing. Processing method of design data for business. 17. A data editing system for printed circuit board design data, wherein the system executes the distributed processing method according to claim 13. Description: