JP2500385B2 - Input data management method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data management system, and more particularly to an input data management system for checking the existence of an input file necessary for executing a tool and displaying whether or not the tool can be executed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, interactive tool execution devices have been used in computer systems of all departments, for example, ASIC (dedicated IC) in LSI functional design.
An example is a circuit diagram editor, a logic simulator, a layout editor, a post layout simulator, etc., which are sequentially executed as a CAD tool.

The designer usually manages the input data required to execute each tool, and the designer executes the tool after recognizing what data each tool needs. .

As a general data management system relating to such tool execution, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-109617 "Data Processing Device" can be referred to.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional "data processing device". In the storage device 11, operation explanation data corresponding to each application program executed on the central processing unit 14,
A control information record group is stored by adding identification information representing the application program, and the operation explanation control device 15
Receives the identification information from the application program being executed by the central processing unit 14 according to the instruction from the input device 12, selects the operation explanation data and control record group of the application program from the storage device 11 according to the identification information, and displays it on the display device 13. To do. In this way, since the application program has the identification information, the operation explanation control device originally required for each application program can be replaced by one operation explanation control device 15 shared by a plurality of application programs. Data processing of a plurality of application programs is made efficient.

[0006]

In such a conventional system, although rationalized control in terms of system configuration is achieved for execution of a plurality of application programs or a plurality of tools in a processing flow, an operator in an interactive system can In the execution environment of an application program that is executed in association with the data to be input, its operation is limited to the operation explanation data and control records prepared in the storage device. Defects may occur.

The execution of the CAD tool in the ASIC is not limited to the application field, but this is an example. The recognition and management of the input data including the design data such as the function library necessary for executing the tool are recognized and managed by the ASIC. Since it is left to the designer to supplement the insufficiency, there is a problem that data management is troublesome and an operation error is likely to occur due to insufficient input data.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention checks whether each tool in the processing flow has input data required for execution, and which tool in the processing flow can be executed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an input data management method that facilitates data management by displaying, and prevents operational errors due to insufficient input data.

[0009]

According to the input data management method of the present invention, the execution order of tools is described in a method of advancing design by executing a plurality of tools using an interactive tool execution device. Processing flow reading means for reading the processed processing flow from a processing flow file, input data information extracting means for extracting input data information necessary for execution of each tool in the processing flow from a data information management file, and the input data information extracting means When checking the existence of all input files in the processing flow based on the information extracted by
According to the flow read by the importing method,
Output file to the input file of subsequent tools
If it becomes a file automatically created by the flow execution
Input file check means that is considered to exist and the processing flow is displayed on the screen, and a tool whose input is a file recognized by the input file check means is input as an executable tool in the displayed processing flow. And an executable tool display means for highlighting.

[0010]

With the above arrangement, the processing flow reading means reads the processing flow describing the execution order of the tools from the processing flow file, and the input data information necessary for executing each tool in the processing flow is input data information extracting means. From the data information management file by
Check the extracted input data file with the input file check means, and if all the input data files necessary for executing each tool exist, the tool is made executable and highlighted with the executable tool display means If there is a file that does not exist, additional processing such as file preparation will be performed as an unexecutable tool, so input data management will be easier and a tool with insufficient input data can be clearly recognized.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, processing flow reading means 1
Is a means for reading a processing flow in which a plurality of tools are arranged in the order of execution from the processing flow file 6.

The input data information extracting means 2 is means for extracting information as to what data each tool inputs from the data information management file 7 in which the information of the input data of each tool in the processing flow is stored. is there. The data information management file 7 is a file in which information of input data and output data of each tool is stored for each tool.

The input file checking means 3 is means for checking whether or not there is a file matching the input data information extracting means 2 based on the information extracted by the input data information extracting means 2.

The executable tool display means 4 displays the processing flow read by the processing flow reading means 1 on the CRT 5 and, as a result of checking by the input file checking means 3, it is possible to execute a tool recognized as having an input file. It is a means for highlighting in the processing flow on the CRT 5 as a tool.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of processing of the embodiment shown in FIG.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, this process is performed for all tools described in the process flow. The processing target here is the tool A, and the input data of the tool A extracted from the data information management file 7 by the input data information extracting means 2 is the input data a, b, c (S-20). First, the input data a is examined (S-
21). It is checked whether the input data a is output from the tool to be executed before the tool A is executed, or is the data that must be prepared in advance by obtaining it (S-22). In this check, the output file information of the tool executed before the tool A is extracted from the data management file by the input file check means 3 in the trace memory or the like from the connection relation of the processing flow, and it is checked whether there is the input data a of the tool A. It is a thing. If the input data a is output data of another tool, it is not necessary to prepare in advance because this data is automatically created by sequentially executing the processing flow. If the input data a does not exist in the output data of another tool, the tool A cannot be executed unless it is prepared in advance.
Check if the file actually exists (S-2
3).

The same check is performed on the input data b and c. As a result of the check, if the input data a, b, and c are output data from other tools or existing data, the tool A becomes an executable tool, and the display means 4 highlights it on the CRT 5 (S-25). If even one of the input data does not exist, the tool A becomes a non-executable tool (S-24).

In this embodiment as described above, the existence of input data files required by a plurality of tools is checked in the order of execution, and the files are sorted into those that exist and those that have been executed and those that require arrangement, and those that have been executed. , Or if it exists, it is displayed as an executable tool, which eliminates the complexity of data management in the case of the conventional example, and prevents deficiencies in input data and operational errors due to the skill of the designer.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to know at a glance which tool in the processing flow can be executed by checking whether the input data of each tool in the processing flow is prepared. There is an effect that it becomes easy to manage the input data by knowing which tool the input data has to be prepared, and it is possible to eliminate an operational error due to the input data deficiency. Further, since the executable tool can be executed while the insufficient input data is being created, there is an effect that the efficiency of the design can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an input data management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process flow chart of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional data processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Processing Flow Reading Means 2 Input Data Information Extracting Means 3 Input File Checking Means 4 Executable Tool Display Means 5 CRT 6 Processing Flow Files 7 Data Information Management Files

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A process flow reading means for reading a process flow describing a tool execution order from a process flow file in a method of advancing a design by executing a plurality of tools using an interactive tool execution device. And input data information extracting means for extracting from the data information management file the input data information required to execute each tool in the processing flow, and all the processing flow in the processing flow based on the information extracted by the input data information extracting means. Existence of input file
When performing a check, the processing flow reading means
According to the loaded flow, the output file of a tool is
If it becomes the input file of the tool after that, flow actual
Assumed to exist as a file automatically created by the line
An input file check means and the processing flow are displayed on the screen, and a tool whose input is a file recognized by the input file check means is input as an executable tool and highlighted in the displayed processing flow And a possible tool display means.