JP3104586B2 - Design support 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 circuit design environment in which a design flow is managed by a computer, a design history is managed, a design result is analyzed, and a use error of design data is accurately and quickly verified. It relates to a design support method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional circuit design support method, a method of controlling the execution order of a plurality of design steps constituting a design flow by using a computer is well known.

Hereinafter, a design support method for managing a design flow using a conventional computer will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a conventional design support method. In FIG. 19, reference numeral 2001 denotes a flow storage unit that stores information on each design step that constitutes a design flow, and the information describes connection information, an execution condition, and an execution format of each design step. I have.

[0005] Reference numeral 2002 denotes execution state storage means for storing information on the state of execution of each of the design steps,
2003 is a process designating means by which a designer can designate the design process to be executed, and 2004 is the process designating means 20.
The flow control means for determining whether or not the design process designated by 03 is executable based on the flow storage means 2001 and the execution state storage means, and the flow control means 2005 can be executed by the flow control means. The step execution means for executing the design step determined as being based on the contents of the flow storage means 2001, the execution monitoring means 2006 for monitoring the execution status of the executed design step, and the step execution means 2005 When the execution monitoring means 2006 confirms the end of the design process executed in
04 notifies the execution state storage means 2002 that the design process has been completed.

FIG. 20 shows the flow storage means 200.
1 shows the data structure of FIG.

In FIG. 20, reference numeral 2100 denotes a unit of design process information stored in the flow storage unit 2001. The unit of this information is connection information of the design process 2101, execution conditions of the design process 2102,
It is composed of an execution form of the design process 03.

FIG. 21 shows the execution state storage means 20.
02 shows the data structure of the data item No. 02.

In FIG. 21, 2201 stores the design process name, 2202 stores the execution state of the design process for the number of design processes. When the flow control unit 2004 is notified by the execution monitoring unit 2006 that the design process has been completed, the execution state 2202 corresponding to the target design process is performed.
To the end state.

FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a design flow. In FIG. 10, 1001 to 1
Reference numeral 005 denotes design steps constituting a design flow, and is a design step name of step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4, and step 5, respectively. Reference numerals 1011 to 1014 denote arrows indicating a connection relationship between the design steps. In the design flow, 1011 is from step 1 to step 2, 1012 is from step 2 to step 4, 1013 is from step 3 to step 4, and 1014 is From step 4 to step 5,
It indicates that it flows.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which information of each design step of the design flow of FIG. 10 is stored in the flow storage unit 2001.

(FIG. 11) (FIG. 11 (a)) is information of step 1, (FIG. 11 (b)) is information of step 2, (FIG.
(C)) is the information of step 3, (FIG. 11 (d)) is the information of step 4, and (FIG. 11 (e)) is the information of step 5.

In FIG. 11A, reference numeral 1111 denotes connection information of step 1, which indicates that the design step to be executed after step 1 is step 2. Reference numeral 1112 denotes an execution condition of the step 1, which indicates that there is no condition for executing the step 1. Reference numeral 1113 denotes an execution format of the process 1;
In the execution of, tool1 with one data (in11) as input
Is executed.

In FIG. 11B, reference numeral 1121 denotes connection information of step 2, which indicates that the design step to be executed after step 2 is step 4. Reference numeral 1122 denotes an execution condition of the process 2, which indicates that the condition for executing the process 2 is that the execution of the process 1 has been completed. 112
Reference numeral 3 denotes an execution format of the process 2, which indicates that the execution of the process 2 is performed by inputting one piece of data (in21) and executing the work tool2 to create one piece of data (out21).

In FIG. 11C, reference numeral 1131 denotes connection information of step 3, which indicates that the design step to be executed after step 3 is step 4. Reference numeral 1132 denotes an execution condition of the step 3, which indicates that there is no condition for executing the step 3. Reference numeral 1133 denotes an execution format of the step 3;
Is executed by inputting two data (in31, in32) as input.
ool3 is executed, and one data (out31) is created.

In FIG. 11D, reference numeral 1141 denotes connection information of the step 4, which indicates that the design step to be executed after the step 4 is the step 5. Reference numeral 1142 denotes an execution condition of Step 4, which indicates that the condition for executing Step 4 is that both Step 2 and Step 3 have been executed. Reference numeral 1143 denotes an execution format of the process 4, which indicates that the execution of the process 4 is performed by inputting one piece of data (in41) and executing the work tool4 to create one piece of data (out41).

In FIG. 11E, reference numeral 1151 denotes connection information of step 5, which indicates that there is no design step to be executed after step 5. An execution condition 1152 indicates that the condition for executing the step 5 is that the execution of the step 4 has been completed. Reference numeral 1153 denotes an execution format of the step 5, in which the execution of the step 5 is performed by one data (i
n5) is input and work tool5 is executed.
(out51, out52) is created.

FIG. 12 shows the execution state of each design step in the design flow of FIG.
(FIG. 12) shows this initial state.

In FIG. 12, reference numeral 1201 denotes a design process name, and 1202 a storage unit for storing an execution state of the design process. 1211 indicates that the design process name is process 1;
Reference numeral 1221 denotes an execution state of the step 1. In this figure, since an initial state in which no design process is executed is shown, nothing is stored in the execution state 1221 of the process 1. When the execution of the process 1 is completed, a symbol indicating the end, for example, a symbol “END” is stored in the execution state 1221. Similarly, 1212 to 1215 have design step names of step 2, step 3, step 4, and step 5, and 1222 to 1
Reference numeral 225 indicates that each step is being executed.

The operation of the conventional design support method will be described with reference to FIG. 19, FIG. 11 and FIG.

In the flow storage means 2001 (FIG. 11)
It is assumed that the information of each design step is stored, and the execution state storage means 2002 stores the initial state of the execution state of each design step (FIG. 12).

On this premise, it is now assumed that the execution of the process 2 is designated by the process designating means 2003. The flow control unit 2004 first reads the execution condition of the designated process 2 from the flow storage unit 2001. The execution condition related to the step 2 is the execution condition 112 in FIG. 11B.
2 is that the execution of the step 1 has been completed. Subsequently, the flow control means 2004 compares the execution condition with the current contents of the execution state storage means 2002. The current execution state of the step 1 which is the target of the execution condition is stored in the execution state 1221 of the step 1 in FIG. 12, but the content is not stored at present. It is determined that 1 is not in a completed state. Thus, the flow control means 200
No. 4 terminates the process without causing the process execution unit 2005 to execute the execution format 1123 of the process 2 because the execution condition is not satisfied in the execution of the process 2. At this time, the contents of the execution state storage unit 2002 are not affected at all.

Next, as another premise, the execution state 1221 of the step 1 indicates that the step 1 has already been completed.
It is assumed that the symbol of "end" is stored. When the execution of the process 2 is designated by the process designating unit 2003, the flow control unit 2004 reads the designated execution condition of the process 2 from the flow storage unit 2001, and executes the execution state of the process 1 which is the execution condition related to the process 2. From the execution state storage means 2002. This time, since the execution state of the step 1 is “finished”, it is determined that the step 2 can be executed.
The process execution unit 2005 causes the execution format 1123 of the process 2 to be executed. The completion of the execution of the step 2 is notified by the execution monitoring means 20.
06, the flow control means 2004 writes the symbol “end” in the execution state 1222 of step 2 of the execution state storage means 2002.

The conventional design support method is based on the above method.
Only the execution order of each design process constituting the design flow was managed.

[0025]

However, a large amount of design data is generally handled in the circuit design work, and the same design process is executed a plurality of times by re-designing and reworking, so that a large amount of the same type of design data is obtained. Since it is created, the designer sometimes uses the design data incorrectly when executing the design process. However, this problem cannot be sufficiently solved only by the method of managing the design procedure of the conventional design support method. In addition, since there is no history of design regression, it is not possible to judge the quality of the adopted design method.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention leaves a history of when a design process is executed, analyzes the history, and identifies design data related to the number of times of design reversion that occurred at the time of design. The purpose of the present invention is to allow a designer to accurately observe only design data related to each phase of a design, and to determine whether the adopted design method is good or not.

Further, by providing a means for confirming that the execution result of the design process is not inconsistent with the execution result of another design process, the use error of the design data which is difficult to discover can be reduced.
The aim is to discover them reliably and quickly.

Further, by providing a means for confirming that the input data used for the execution of the design process is not inconsistent with the execution result of another design process which has already been completed, it is possible to provide an It is intended to prevent execution using the designed data.

Further, by designating unnecessary history information of the design process in the unit of the regression of the design and providing a means for deleting only unnecessary information from the design information, the design efficiency is improved by effectively utilizing computer resources. The purpose is to make.

[0030]

In order to achieve this object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a flow storage means for storing connection information, execution conditions, and an execution format of each design step constituting a circuit design flow. An execution state storage means for storing an execution state of each design step, a step designating means capable of designating a design step to be executed, a flow control means for controlling execution of the design step based on execution conditions of the design step, A process executing means for executing a process, a design data acquiring means for acquiring information on input data and output data of an executed design process, and a start date and time and an end date and time of execution by monitoring the execution status of the executed design process An execution monitoring means for acquiring execution design data, information on input data and output data of the executed design process, execution start date and time, and execution end date and time. Data creation means, history data storage means for additionally storing execution history data, history analysis means for creating a history group composed of related execution history data groups, and group storage means for storing history groups. The flow control means performs a determination process of determining whether or not to execute the design process designated by the process designation means based on the execution conditions of the flow storage means and the contents of the execution state storage means, The execution process in which the process execution method executes the design process determined to be executable in the determination process based on the execution format of the flow storage unit, information of input data used in the execution process,
The design data acquisition unit acquires information on the output data created by the execution, and the execution monitoring unit performs information acquisition processing to acquire information on an execution start date and time and an execution end date and time. When the execution monitoring means determines that the execution of the design process has been completed, the flow control means performs an update process for updating the execution status of the design process in the execution status storage device, and is obtained by the information acquisition process. A storage process in which history data composed of various information is subjected to history data creation processing created by the history data creation means, and the execution history data created in the history data creation processing is additionally stored in the history data storage means The history analysis means performs the above-described processing by executing the plurality of design steps a plurality of times based on the storage contents of the history data storage means. Find the execution history data group is associated between step is to create a history group consisting of those of the execution history data group.

Further, in the second invention, in addition to the first invention, a group designating means capable of designating a history group to be verified by a designer and a consistency between design data of the designated history group are estimated. Consistency estimating means, and the consistency estimating means targets all input / output data of execution history data of each history group stored in the group storage means, and This is to extract input / output data that is presumed to be inconsistent.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, the latest group storage means for obtaining the latest history group in the group storage means, and input data designated by the design process to be executed. Input data confirming means for estimating the consistency of the design process, wherein the flow control means determines whether or not the design process specified by the process specifying means can be executed, by executing conditions of the flow storage means and storing the execution state. Performing a determination process for determining based on the contents of the means, performing an execution process in which the process execution method executes the design process determined to be executable in the determination process based on an execution format of the flow storage unit; The design data acquisition unit acquires information on the input data used in the execution process and information on the output data created by the execution, and the execution monitoring unit determines the execution start date and time. In the information acquisition process, when the execution monitoring unit determines that the execution of the design process is completed, the flow control unit determines whether the design process of the execution state storage unit is completed. Performing an update process for updating the execution state of the information, performing history data creation processing for creating history data composed of each information acquired in the information acquisition process by the history data creation means, The created execution history data, the history data storage means performs a storage process of additionally storing,
The history analysis means finds out the execution history data group related between the design processes by using the storage contents of the history data storage means created in the storage processing, and a history group formed from the execution history data groups. Performing a history analysis process for creating the history analysis process, performing a history group storage process for storing all the history groups created by the history analysis process in the group storage unit, and storing the history group in the group storage unit in the history group storage process. The latest group storage unit performs a latest group storage process of selecting and storing the latest history group from all the history groups that have been processed, and performs the above process, and stores the latest history group in the latest group storage unit. In the stored state, when the process execution means executes a design process, the input data confirmation means,
It is assumed that the input data specified in the execution of the design process is not inconsistent with all the input / output data of the execution history data of the latest history group.

Further, in the fourth invention, in addition to the first invention, a group designating means by which a designer can designate a history group to be deleted, a history data to be deleted, and a history data storage means Group deletion means for deleting the history group from the group storage means;
After confirming that each piece of history data constituting the history group designated for deletion is not a constituent element in a history group other than the history group designated for deletion, the history data storage means This deletes the data and deletes the history group designated for deletion from the group storage means.

[0034]

[Function] By using the above-mentioned design support method, the rework of the design can be accurately analyzed, so that the adopted design method can be evaluated. And can be confirmed accurately and quickly.

Further, it is possible to quickly verify the use error of the design data which has been difficult to find in the subsequent design process.

Further, it is possible to confirm the use error of the input data before executing the design process, and to prevent an erroneous useless execution in advance.

Further, by deleting only unnecessary data from the managed data, computer resources can be effectively used, and design efficiency can be improved.

[0038]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A design support method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an example of a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a first embodiment of the present invention. (FIG. 1)
Reference numeral 101 denotes a flow storage unit that stores connection information, execution conditions, and an execution format of each design step constituting a circuit design flow, 102 denotes an execution state storage unit that stores an execution state of each design step, and 103 executes. Step designating means for designating a design step; 104, a flow control means for controlling the execution of the design step based on the execution conditions of the design step; 105, a step execution means for executing the design step; A design data acquisition unit 107 for acquiring information on input data and output data monitors execution status of the executed design process, and an execution monitoring unit for acquiring a start date and time and an end date and time of execution. History data creating means for creating execution history data in which information of output data is associated with execution start date and time and end date and time; History data storage means for adding stores execution history data, 110 history data storage unit analyzes the content stored in the history analysis means for creating a history group consisting of the execution history data groups mutually related,
111 is a group storage means for storing the history group;
It is.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow until the history data storage means 109 in FIG. 1 is created.

In FIG. 2, step 201 is a process for designating a design process to be executed by the designer from the process designating means 103, and step 202 is a flow control process for determining whether the designated design process is executable. 104 determines based on the contents of the flow storage unit 101 and the execution state storage unit 102, and proceeds to step 203 when it is determined that the design process is executable, and proceeds to step 216 when it is determined that the design process is not executable. Advance condition determination processing, step 203
Step 204 is a process in which the process execution unit 105 executes the execution form of the design process in the flow storage unit 101.
Indicates the start date and time at which the design process was executed by the execution monitoring means 1.
In step 205, the flow storage unit 1 determines whether input data is required to execute the design process.
01, if the input data is requested, the process proceeds to step 206, and if not, the process proceeds to step 207.
06 is a process in which the design data acquisition means 106 acquires information of data input in the execution of the design process, step 2
In step 07, the execution monitoring unit 107 constantly monitors the end of the execution of the design process, and proceeds to step 208 when the end of the execution of the design process is determined. Step 208 is a process in which the flow control means 104, which has been notified of the end of the design step from the execution monitoring means 107, updates the execution state of the design step stored in the execution state storage means 102.
09 is a process in which the execution monitoring unit 107 obtains the end date and time of the execution. Step 210 determines whether or not output data is generated by the execution of the design process from the contents of the execution format of the flow storage unit 101. If the output data is generated, the process proceeds to step 211, and if not, the process proceeds to step 212.
1 is a process in which the design data acquisition means 106 acquires information on output data generated by executing the design process. Step 212 is information on the input / output design data acquired by the above operation and the start date and time. The history data creation means 108 creates history data composed of the history data and the end date and time. Step 213 checks the existence of the storage medium of the history data storage means 109 for storing the created history data as a constituent unit. If it already exists, the process proceeds to step 214, and if it does not exist, the process proceeds to step 215. The step 214 is a process of adding and storing the history data in the history data storage unit 109. Step 215 is for the history data storage unit 109
Step 216 is a process of creating the storage medium and storing the history data in the storage medium. Step 216 is a process of repeating the above series of operations until the designer designates the end of the operation.

FIG. 13 shows the history data creating means 10.
8 is a data structure of execution history data created.

In FIG. 13, reference numeral 1301 denotes the name of the design process executed; 1302 and 1303 the start date and time and the end date and time when the design process was executed; and 1304, the input used to execute the design process. Column of data information, 1305
Describes a column of information of output data created by this execution.

Hereinafter, (FIG. 1), (FIG. 2), (FIG. 10),
The operation of the design support method according to the first embodiment of the present invention until the execution history data is stored in the history data storage unit 109 will be described with reference to FIGS. 11, 12, and 13. I do.

Now, information of each design step constituting the design flow of FIG. 11 is stored in the flow storage means 101, and the execution state of the initial state of FIG. 12 is stored in the execution state storage means 102. It is assumed that

When step 1 is specified as a design step to be executed by the step specifying means 103 in step 201 of FIG. 2, in step 202, the flow control means 104 controls the flow storage means 101 and the execution state storage means 102. After confirming the contents, it is determined whether or not the step 1 can be executed. In this case, the process 1 stored in the flow storage unit 101
Since the contents of the execution condition 1112 are none, it is determined that the step 1 can be executed without checking the contents of the execution state storage unit 102. In step 203, the step executing means 104 executes step 1 based on the execution form 1113 of step 1 stored in the flow storage means 101. In step 204, the execution monitoring means 107 obtains the date and time when the execution of step 1 was started from the computer.
Now, let this start date and time be t1. In step 205,
The design data acquisition means 106 executes the execution format 111 of the process 1.
Check if 3 requests input data. Since the execution format of the process 1 is “tool1 in11” and requires one input data, the design data acquisition means 106 acquires the path name of the input data designated when the process 1 is executed in the step 206. Now, this input data path name is / da
ta / d1. At step 207, the execution monitoring means 107 constantly monitors the end of the execution of the step 1, and when confirming the end of the execution, at step 208, the flow control means 104 changes the execution state 1221 of the execution state storage means 102 to the execution state 1221 of the step 1. Enter the symbol "End". Subsequently, in step 209, the execution monitoring means 107 acquires the end date and time of this execution from the computer. Now, let this end date and time be t3. In step 210, the design data acquisition means 106
However, it is confirmed whether or not to generate output data in the execution format 1113 of the process 1. However, since the execution format 1113 of the process 1 does not generate output data, the process skips to the step 212. , Step 204, step 206, and execution start date and time t1 of process 1 obtained in step 209, input data path name
/ data / d1 and execution end date and time t3 are each 1 (FIG. 13).
The execution history data is set to 302, 1304, and 1303, and the process 1 is set to 1301 to associate the data related to the execution of the process 1 with the execution history data. However, in this case, no data is set in 1305 because no output data is generated. In step 213, the execution history data is checked for the existence of the history data storage means 109, and if it does not exist at present, an execution storage means is created in step 215, and the execution history data is stored therein.

FIG. 14 is a graph showing an example of a history in which each design step of the design flow of FIG.

In FIG. 14, 1401 is the execution history of step 1, 1402 is the execution history of step 2, 1403 is the execution history of step 3, 1404 is the execution history of step 4, 140
5 is an execution history of the step 5, 1410 is a time axis, and 14
Reference numerals 11 to 1420 denote arrows indicating the times at which the respective design steps are executed. The start point of the arrow is the execution start date and time, and the end point of the arrow is the execution end date and time. In addition, the dates and times of the start and end points of each arrow are indicated by symbols t1 to t20.
For example, an arrow 1411 indicates that the execution of the process 1 was started at the date and time t1 and ended at the date and time t3. Time axis 14
Reference numeral 10 indicates that the time increases (renews) from left to right. That is, t1 <t20 means that t20 is temporally newer than t1.

FIG. 15 shows a method similar to the operation described above, in which each design step of the design flow is executed as in the example of the execution history of FIG. 14 and the history data storage means created as a result. 109 is an example of the structure of FIG.

In FIG. 15, 1501 to 1510
Are execution history data corresponding to the arrows 1411 to 1420 in FIG. For example, reference numeral 1505 denotes execution history data corresponding to the execution history 1415 of the process 3, and this execution is performed when the process name is the process 3, the start date and time is t9, the end date and time is t10, and the input data is / data / d2. / data / d8
Indicates that the output data was / data / d4.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the processing flow of the history analysis means 110 in FIG. (FIG. 3)
In step 301, a pair of two adjacent processes is created as a first process as an upstream process and a second process as a downstream process in the design flow based on connection information between processes in the flow storage unit 101. Step 302 is a process of finding all pairs of execution history data corresponding to each pair of the processes from the history data storage unit 109, grouping them for each pair of processes, and storing them in a storage medium. The end date and time of the execution history data of the first term constituting the pair of history data is compared with the start date and time of the execution history data of the second term. If the former is larger, the process proceeds to step 304, and if the latter is larger, the process proceeds to step 305. Condition determination processing to proceed to step 304
Is a process of deleting the execution history data pair from the storage medium. Step 305 is to determine whether the comparison process of Step 303 has been performed for all execution history data pairs stored in the storage medium. If not all have been processed, the process returns to step 303 for unprocessed execution history data pairs, and if all have been processed, step 30
Step 306 is a condition determination process for proceeding to step 6. The execution result data pairs in the set of execution history data corresponding to the respective process pairs stored in the storage medium are the same. It is determined whether a plurality of execution history data exists. If there is, the process proceeds to step 307, and if not, the process proceeds to step 308. Out of the storage medium, deleting all the execution history data pairs except for the execution history data having the largest end date and time of the first item, and step 308 corresponds to all the process pairs. It is determined whether or not the determination process of step 306 has been performed on the set of execution history data pairs to be processed. If there is a process pair that has not been processed, step 3 is performed on that process pair.
Returning to step 06, if all processes have been performed, the process proceeds to step 309. The step 309 is a process of executing a process in a set of pairs of other processes in a pair of execution history data stored in the storage medium. This is a process of finding a pair of history data and a plurality of pairs of execution history data in which some terms match, and grouping the execution history data constituting them.

Hereinafter, (FIG. 1), (FIG. 3), (FIG. 11),
The operation of the history analysis means 110 of the design support method according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Now, in the flow storage means 101, FIG.
It is assumed that the information of each design process of 1) is stored, and the execution history data of FIG. 15 is stored in the history data storage unit 109. The execution history data 1501 to 1510 in FIG. 15 will be referred to as data 1 to data 10 for convenience.

In the process of step 301 in FIG. 3, connection information between the steps of each design process in FIG.
121, 1311, 1141, 1151,
[Step 1, Step 2], [Step 2, Step 4], [Step 3,
A pair of four steps of [Step 4] and [Step 4, Step 5] is created. Here, the two design steps enclosed in [] are a pair of steps, and the step before (, comma) is the first step of the pair of steps.
Item and subsequent steps are item 2. For convenience, the pair of steps [Step 1, Step 2] is referred to as the first step pair, [Step 2, Step 4].
Is referred to as a second step pair, [Step 3, Step 4] is referred to as a third step pair, and [Step 4, Step 5] is referred to as a fourth step pair.

In the process of step 302, a pair of execution history data corresponding to each of the four process pairs is stored (FIG. 1).
All of them are found from the history data storage means of 5), and these are grouped for each process pair and stored in a storage medium. An example of the storage contents of the storage medium at this time is shown in FIG.
(A)). In FIG. 16A, 1601
Is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the first process pair, 1602 is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the second process pair, and 1603 corresponds to the third process pair A set of execution history data pairs 1604 is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the first process pair. Similarly to the method of expressing a process pair, each execution history data pair is a pair of execution history data enclosed in [], and the execution history data before (, comma) is the process history data. The execution history data corresponding to the first term of the pair corresponds to the second term. For example, the set 1601 indicates that the set 1601 is composed of two pairs of execution history data of [data 1, data 3] and [data 1, data 8].

In the processing of steps 303 to 305, the end date and time of the execution history data of the first term and the start date and time of the execution history data of the second term are determined for each pair of all execution history data in FIG. The storage contents of the storage medium are updated by comparing the date and time. For example, in the execution history data pair [data1, data3] in the set 1601, the execution end date and time of the first item data 1 is t3, the execution start date and time of the second item data 3 is t4, and t3 <t4. Therefore, this execution history data pair is not deleted from the set 1601, but is deleted from the set 1602.
In the execution history data pair [data 8, data 4], the execution end date and time of data 8 of the first term is t16, the execution start date and time of data 4 of the second term is t7, and t16> t7.
This pair of execution history data is deleted from the set 1602. (FIG. 16B) is an example of the storage contents of the storage medium as a result of performing the above-described processing for all pairs of execution history data. In FIG. 16B, reference numeral 1611 denotes a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the first process pair,
612 is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the pair of the second steps, 1613 is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the pair of the third steps, and 1614 is a set of the pair of execution history data. A set of corresponding execution history data pairs.

In the processing of steps 306 to 308, all pairs of execution history data having the same execution history data of the second term are found for each of the sets shown in FIG. The remaining execution history data pairs are deleted from the entire execution history data (FIG. 16B) except for the latest execution end time of the execution history data. For example, set 16
14 includes execution history data pairs [Data 4, Data 10], [Data 6, Data 10], and [Data 9, Data 10] having the same second term. The execution end time of each of the first term data 4, data 6, and data 9 is t8 and t1.
2 and t18, and since t8 <t12 <t18, [Data 4, Data 10] and [Data 6, Data 1
0] is deleted from the set 1614. (FIG. 16 (c)) is an example of the storage content of the storage medium as a result of performing the above processing for all the sets.
In FIG. 16C, 1621 is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the first process pair, 1622 is a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the second process pair,
Reference numeral 1623 denotes a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the third step pair, and reference numeral 1624 denotes a set of execution history data pairs corresponding to the fourth step pair.

In the processing of step 309, (FIG. 16
In each of the sets of (c)), a pair of execution history data that partially match is found, and the execution history data constituting these are grouped. For example, [data 1, data 3] in the set 1621, [data 3, data 6] in the set 1622, [data 5, data 6] in the set 1623, and [data 6, data 7] in the set 1624 Since some items of each execution history data pair match each other, the data 1, data 3, data 5, data 6, and data 7 that constitute them are grouped. (Figure 1
7) is the contents of the group storage unit 111 which stores the result of grouping by the above processing. (Figure 1
In 7), reference numeral 1701 denotes a history group including data 1, data 2, data 3, and data 4;
Is a history group consisting of data 1, data 3, data 5, data 6, and data 7, and 1703 is a history group consisting of data 1, data 5, data 8, data 9, and data 10. , Each history group is referred to as history group 1, history group 2, history group 3,
Call.

FIG. 18 shows the result of group creation applied to the execution history graph of FIG. In FIG. 18, reference numeral 1801 denotes an execution history group corresponding to group 1, 1802 denotes an execution history group corresponding to group 2, and 1803 denotes an execution history group corresponding to group 3.

Each group created by the above processing is composed of only the execution history data not related to the regression of the design, so that these input data and output data are related to each other. Therefore, the designer can accurately and quickly confirm the transition of the design data. In the above example, three groups were created as a result, which coincides with the number of design reworks in the design flow. In the past, there was no means to accurately analyze the design rework, so no evaluation could be performed on the adopted design method.However, the present invention enables this analysis, so that a clear evaluation of the design method was made possible. Becomes possible.

FIG. 4 is an example of a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 401 denotes a group designating unit that allows a designer to designate a history group to be verified in the group storage unit 111, and 402 denotes execution history data of the designated history group by referring to the execution history data. This is a consistency estimating means for estimating consistency between design data.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the processing flow of the consistency estimating means 402 in FIG.

In FIG. 5, in step 501, information of all input data and output data (collectively referred to as design data) is read from all the history data constituting the designated history group, and is read out. The process of storing in the first storage medium, step 502, determines whether or not the design data is stored in the first storage medium. If the design data does not exist, the flow ends. Step 503 is a process of selecting any design data in the first storage medium and acquiring a data name or a file name of the design data.
04 is a process of identifying design data having a data name or a file name that matches the data name from all design data other than the selected design data stored in the first storage medium. If there is the matching design data, the process proceeds to step 506; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 508.
It is determined whether or not all the path names of the extracted design data match the path names of the selected design data. If all the path names match, the process proceeds to step 508.
If there is at least one unmatched path name, step 5
Step 507 is a process of storing the path names of the selected design data and all the path names of the unmatched design data in the second storage medium. A process of erasing all information of the selected design data and the extracted design data from the first storage medium.

The following (FIG. 4), (FIG. 5), (FIG. 15),
The operation of the consistency estimating means of the design support method according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Now, the history data storage means 109 (FIG. 1)
5) is stored, and the group storage unit 111 stores the respective history groups (FIG. 17), and the history group 1703 of the history group 1703 is stored therein.
Is specified by the group specifying unit 401. That is, history data, data 1, data 5, data 8, data 9, and data 10 are to be verified this time.

At step 501 in FIG. 5, the design data stored in the first storage medium is obtained from / data / d1, / data / d2, / data / d8, / data / d4 from (FIG. 15). , / data / d5, /
data / d12, / work / d4, / data / d13, / data / d14, / data / d1
5 10 design data.

When, for example, / data / d1 is selected from these design data in steps 503 to 505, the data name (file name) of this data is 'd1'. This 'd1'
Is not present in the other nine data, and in step 508, this data is
From the storage medium. At this time, the first storage medium contains / data / d2, / data / d8, / data / d4, / data / d5, / data / d12,
/ work / d4, / data / d13, / data / d14, / data / d15 are stored.

Similarly, the processing of steps 503 to 505 is
This time, we will use the design data in / data / d4. Since the data name 'd4' of this design data is also the data name of / work / d4, in step 506, the path name of the design data / data / d
4 and the path name of the design data whose data name matches / work /
Compare d4, but the path names of both design data do not match. In step 507, the path names of both design data are stored in the second storage medium. After this processing, in step 508, both design data are deleted.

When the above processing is repeated and all the design data are processed, the design data does not exist in the first storage medium, and the path name is stored in the second storage medium while the data names match. Only different design data will be stored.

By observing the second storage medium created by the above processing, the designer can find an error in the use of the design data. Generally, a designer frequently uses design data incorrectly when the same design process is executed again and design data having the same data name is created in a different place on a computer. Further, in this case, even if erroneous design data is used, it is difficult to find out in a subsequent design process because the structure of the design data is the same.

According to the present invention, the occurrence of the above problem can be verified at an early stage by acquiring information on the design data in which the use error may have occurred.

FIG. 6 is an example of a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes a latest group storage unit for acquiring the latest history group in the group storage unit 111, and 602 estimates the consistency of input data designated by the design process to be executed. Input data confirmation means.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the processing flow of the input data confirmation means 602 in FIG.

In FIG. 7, the step 701 is that the latest group storage means 601
In which a history group having history data with the latest end date and time is found, and all the history data constituting the history group are stored in the first storage medium. Step 702 is permitted to be executed by the flow control means 104. It is determined whether or not the history data of the designed process exists in the first storage medium. If the history data exists, the process proceeds to step 703. If the history data does not exist, the process proceeds to step 707. The process of washing out all the processes subsequent to this design process from the flow storage unit 101. Step 704 is
It is determined whether or not the extracted history data of the design process exists in the first storage medium. If the history data exists, the process proceeds to step 705, and if not, the process proceeds to step 706. , Step 705 is a process of erasing the history data of the identified design process from the first storage medium, and Step 706 is determining whether or not the above process has been performed for all the design processes identified. If not completed, the process returns to step 704, and if completed, the process proceeds to step 707. Step 707 is the data name of the input data designated by the process executing means 105 as an input for executing the design process. Alternatively, the process of acquiring a file name, step 708, is to select all input data and output data (collectively, design data) from all history data in the first storage medium. Call) process washed out, step 7
09, it is determined whether or not there is a design data whose data name matches the execution input data in the extracted design data in the first storage medium.
0, a condition determination process for terminating the processing of this flow if the data name does not exist. Step 710 is to determine whether all the path names of the design data with the matching data name match the path names of the execution input data. The process proceeds to step 711 if it exists, and if not, the process of this flow ends. In step 711, the path name of the mismatched design data is notified to the display device. Process.

Hereinafter, (FIG. 6), (FIG. 7), (FIG. 11),
The operation of the consistency estimating means of the design support method according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

Now, the flow storage means 101 (FIG. 11)
The design flow information is stored, the history data storage means 109 stores each history data (FIG. 15), and the group storage means 111 stores each history group (FIG. 17). Think about it. Also,
It is assumed that the design process permitted to be executed by the flow control means 104 is the process 4 in FIG.

In step 701 of FIG. 7, (FIG. 17)
Is the history group 3 having the latest history data and data 10 as its constituent elements, so that the first storage medium stores data 1, data 5, data 8, and so on. Data 9 and data 10.

In Steps 702 to 706, the history data of the process 4 which is currently permitted to be executed exists as the data 9 among the history data stored in the first storage medium. Since the history data of step 5 is also present as data 10 in the first storage medium, the data 9 and data 10 are deleted from the first storage medium. In this case, since only the design step following the step 4 is the design step 5, only the data 1, data 5, and data 8 are stored in the first storage medium.

When / work / d4 is specified as input data for the execution of the process 4 permitted to be executed, step 70 is executed.
In step 7, the data name 'd4' of the input data is obtained.
Subsequently, the design data in the first storage medium extracted in step 708 is: / data / d1, / data / d2, / data / d8, / data / d4, / data / d5,
It becomes / data / d12.

In steps 709 to 711, the data name 'd4' of the input data in the stored design data
Exists as / data / d4, and this path name does not match the path name of the input data / work / d4, so the path name that does not match the display device of the computer is / data / d4. Display d4 and notify the designer.

According to the above-described processing, it is possible to confirm the specified input data before executing the design process, so that erroneous useless execution can be prevented beforehand, and the design period can be greatly reduced. Become.

FIG. 8 is an example of a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 801 denotes a group designating means by which a designer can designate a history group to be deleted;
Reference numeral 802 denotes a group deletion unit that finds history data to be deleted, deletes the history data from the history data storage unit, and deletes a history group from the group storage unit.

FIG. 9 is an example of the processing flow of the group deletion means 802 in FIG.

In FIG. 9, step 901 is a process of storing all the history data constituting the history group designated to be deleted by the group designation means 801 in a storage medium.
Step 902 is a process for selecting any history data stored in the storage medium. Step 903 is a group storage means for determining whether the history data is configuration data of a history group other than the history group designated for deletion. 111, and if the data is configuration data of another history group, the process proceeds to step 905;
Step 904 is a process of deleting the history data from the history data storage unit 109. Step 905 is a process of determining whether all the history data stored in the storage medium has been processed. If not, the process returns to step 902;
Step 906 is a process of deleting the history group from the group storage unit 111.

The following (FIG. 8), (FIG. 9), (FIG. 15),
The operation of the consistency estimating means of the design support method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Now, the history data storage means 109 (FIG. 1
5) is stored, and the group storage unit 111 stores each of the history groups (FIG. 17). Of these, the history group 1701 of the history group 1701 is stored.
Is specified by the group specifying unit 801.

At step 901 in FIG. 9, what is stored in the storage medium is history data of history group 1, data 1, data 2, data 3, and data 4.

In steps 902 to 905, for each piece of history data stored in the storage medium, data 1 and data 3 are configuration data of history groups other than history group 1, history group 2 and history group 3, and data 2
Since data and data 4 do not belong to another history group, they are deleted from the history data storage means 109.

At step 906, the history group 1 designated for deletion is deleted from the group storage means 111.

By the above processing, only the unnecessary history data can be deleted from the history data storage means 109 which may have a large storage amount, so that computer resources can be effectively used and the design efficiency can be improved. .

[0094]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, related design data can be grouped in a design flow, so that a designer can accurately and quickly change the design data. This makes it possible to confirm the state of the design and the number of regressions of the design, which were impossible with the conventional design support method. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate the implemented design method.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the design result can be confirmed, it is possible to quickly find a work error caused by a person who has been difficult to find in the past.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to confirm the consistency of input data designated to execute the design process, so that it is possible to completely prevent waste of executing the process with erroneous input data.

Further, according to the fourth aspect, only unnecessary information can be selectively erased, so that the data management function required for design support is not affected and the amount of information stored in the storage medium is increased. Can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a processing flow chart for explaining operations up to creation of history data storage means in the design support method according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart for explaining the operation of a history analysis unit of the design support method according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart for explaining the operation of the consistency estimating means of the design support method according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a processing flowchart for explaining the operation of input data checking means of the design support method according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a design support method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a processing flowchart for explaining the operation of a group deletion unit of the design support method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an example of a design flow.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a flow storage means of the design support method.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in an execution state storage means of the design support method.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of history data created by history data creation means of the design support method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a graph showing an example of an execution history of a design flow.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a history data storage unit of the design support method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a view for explaining an example of a change in the content of data processed by the history analysis means of the design support method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a group storage means of the design support method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of storage contents of a group storage means and a set of corresponding execution histories in the design support method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration diagram of a conventional design support method.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a flow storage unit of the design support method.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of an execution state storage unit of the design support method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 flow storage means 102 execution state storage means 103 process designation means 104 flow control means 105 process execution means 106 design data acquisition means 107 execution monitoring means 108 history data creation means 109 history data storage means 110 history analysis means 111 group storage means 401 group Designating means 402 Consistency estimating means 601 Latest group obtaining means 602 Input data checking means 801 Group specifying means 802 Group deleting means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 17/50 614 G06F 17/50 652 G06F 17/60 162

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A design support method for managing a circuit design flow including a plurality of design steps by a computer having an input device, a display device, a storage device, and a central processing unit. Flow storage means for storing connection information of the design process, execution conditions, and execution format; execution state storage means for storing the execution state of each design step; history data storage means for additionally storing execution history data; A group storage unit for storing a history group, a process designating step capable of designating a design process to be executed, and whether or not the design process designated in the process designating step can be executed is determined by an execution condition of the flow storage A judging step of judging based on the contents of the execution state storage means; A step of executing a process based on an expression; a step of acquiring design data information for acquiring information of input data used in the step execution step and information of output data created by the execution; An execution monitoring step of monitoring the execution status to obtain information on the start date and time and the end date and time of the execution; and when the execution monitoring step determines the end of the execution of the design process, An update step of updating an execution state; and a design process name, information of input data and output data thereof, and information of an execution start date and time and an execution end date and time acquired in the design data acquisition step and the execution monitoring step. A history data creating step of creating execution history data; and executing the execution history data created in the history data creating step. A history data storage step for additionally storing data in the data storage means; and finding the execution history data group related between the design processes based on the storage contents of the history data storage means created in the history data storage step. A history analysis step of creating a history group composed of the execution history data groups; and a history group storage step of storing all history groups created in the history analysis step in the group storage unit. A design support method characterized by the following. 2. A group specifying step in which a designer can specify a history group to be verified, and for the specified history group, all input data and output data of execution history data of each history group stored in the group storage means. 2. A design support method according to claim 1, further comprising: a consistency estimating step of extracting input / output data assumed to be inconsistent between the input / output data. 3. A latest group storage means for storing the latest history group in the group storage means, wherein the latest history group is selected from all the history groups stored in the group storage means in the history group storage step. A latest group storage step of storing the latest history group in the signature group storage means, and executing the design step in a process execution step when the latest history group is stored in the latest group storage means. 2. An input data confirming step of inferring that the input data specified in step (1) is not inconsistent with all the input data and output data of the execution history data of the latest history group. Design support method. 4. A group designating step of allowing a designer to designate a history group to be deleted, wherein each history data constituting the history group designated to be deleted is constituted by a history group other than the history group designated to be deleted. And after deleting the history data from the history data storage means, and deleting the history group designated to be deleted from the group storage means, Item 8. The design support method according to Item 1.