JPH0550029B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for determining wiring patterns for wiring of printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, etc. The present invention relates to a wiring method for specifying wiring length suitable for use in determining a pattern.

[Conventional technology]

As a prior art related to a wiring method for wiring a wiring section with a designated wiring length, for example, a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-90491 is known. In this type of conventional technology, when wiring is made between two points, only one relay point is provided, and wiring patterns are individually determined for two sections divided by this relay point.

Hereinafter, a wiring method according to the prior art will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of determining a wiring pattern according to the prior art. In FIG. 5, 8 is the shortest orthogonal pattern, 9 is a relay point, 10 is the shortest orthogonal pattern between A and 9, and 11 is the shortest orthogonal pattern between 9 and B.

In FIG. 5, the two component pins to be wired are A and B, and between the specified wiring length L and the Manhattan length between pins A and B, that is, the shortest orthogonal distance M, It is assumed that the relationship L>M holds true. Further, it is assumed that the following conditions are imposed on the actual wiring length l.

L-ΔLlL+ΔL (1) However, in equation (1), ΔL is the tolerance for the wiring length L.

When the above-mentioned conditions are given, the wiring method according to the prior art first uses A, which is one of the shortest orthogonal line patterns, for the wiring section between pins A and B.
- Distance from shortest orthogonal pattern 8 between B (L-M)/
By determining point C 9, which is one of the points separated by 2, as a relay point, and finding the shortest orthogonal routes 10 and 11 for the two wiring sections between A-C and C-B, the above-mentioned A wiring pattern that satisfies the conditions has been determined.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the conventional technology, only one relay point is set, so the wiring pattern created is limited by the relay point position, and routes cannot be found (unwired) in high-density printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, etc. In addition, if an error occurs in the wiring length during the route search process, there is no method to absorb the error, so it is impossible to obtain a highly accurate wiring pattern. It had a point.

The above-mentioned problem will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 5, which has already been explained. Now, when the relay point C is set and the shortest orthogonal routes 10 and 11 cannot be found at the same time for the sections A-C and C-B due to the presence of obstacles, etc., the conventional technique Since there is no means to discover other routes, the wiring between A and B is left unwired. Further, in the prior art, if an error occurs in the wiring length of the route determined in the process of determining routes 10 and 11, there is no means to correct this error, so the wiring error of the route between A and B is not provided. is the accumulation of these errors, and the cumulative error sometimes exceeds the tolerance ΔL, making it impossible to specify the wiring length with high precision.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art described above and to provide a wiring method for specifying a wiring length, which makes it possible to perform wiring on a printed circuit board or integrated circuit with a highly accurate wiring length. be.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, the above object is to enable the use of a plurality of relay points when determining a wiring pattern for a specified section, to search for a route for each section while sequentially determining the relay points, and to perform a specified wiring length for the section. This is accomplished by repeatedly performing the recalculation of , according to the following steps.

(1) Set a relay point area for a wiring section with a specified wiring length, select one relay point from this area, and confirm that the wiring length passing through that relay point is less than or equal to the specified wiring length, and , the relay points are selected and determined so that the error is within an allowable range.

(2) Determine a wiring route starting from one of both ends of the designated wiring section to the relay point determined in (1) above.

(3) Determine the pattern length of the wiring route determined in (2) above, and subtract the determined pattern length from the designated wiring length used to determine the relay point in (1) above to determine the designation for the undetermined pattern section. Find the wiring length.

(4) The processes (1) to (3) above are repeatedly executed for the undetermined pattern section while reducing the wiring length error tolerance range, and the wiring routes for all the wiring sections are determined.

[Effect]

The wiring method according to the present invention recalculates the designated wiring length using the route length of the already created pattern while sequentially finding the relay points, so it is possible to absorb errors in the wiring route length for each wiring section. can be,
Moreover, by gradually reducing the allowable value for the path length error, it becomes possible to perform highly accurate path length control. In addition, by providing multiple relay points, the degree of graphical freedom of the wiring pattern to be searched increases, so even when there are many obstacles to the wiring pattern in high-density printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, etc. The possibility of finding a wiring pattern that satisfies the specified wiring length conditions can be increased.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the wiring length specified wiring method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a processing system that executes a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, 12 is a computer, 13 is a network information file, 14 is a pattern information file, 15 is a console display device, and 16 is a list output device.

A wiring method according to an embodiment of the present invention is executed by a processing system as shown in FIG. 2 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the processing system that executes the method of the present invention includes a computer 12 that performs automatic wiring processing and control of the entire system, and information such as the coordinates and attributes of component pins as well as wiring sections and their designated wiring. a net information file 13 in which information such as length is stored;
a pattern information file 14 that stores automatic wiring results, which are information such as line widths and coordinates of wiring patterns;
A console display device 15 is used to give parameters such as input/output disk file names to the wiring program executed on the computer 12, and outputs various information such as unwired information and statistical information after automatic wiring is executed. It consists of a list output device.

A specific example of the wiring method using the processing system configured as described above will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4.

(1) Information regarding the wiring section and designated wiring length is retrieved from the net information file 13, and the starting and ending ends of the wiring section are determined as points A and B shown in FIG. 3, respectively. At this time, the specified wiring length
It is assumed that the relationship L ₁ >M ₁ holds between L ₁ and the Manhattan distance M ₁ between points A and B (flow S1).

(2) Connect the relay point area ₁ as shown in Figure 3 so that the pattern length l 1 between points A and B satisfies the following conditions.
Set 7.

L ₁ −ΔL ₁ l ₁ L ₁ (2) However, in this equation, ΔL ₁ is a tolerance for the wiring length, and is set to an appropriate value on the program, for example, about 5 mm in the case of a printed circuit board.

The relay point area 17 must satisfy the condition of equation (2), no matter which point within the area is selected as a relay point, and is determined as follows.

That is, the relay point region 17 is a strip-shaped region along one side of a rectangle surrounding points A and B, and outside the rectangle, having the length of that side and a width of ΔL ₁ /2. It is set in the position shown in FIG. The side of this relay point area 17 that is far from the side of the rectangle is (L ₁
−M ₁ )/2 distance. This area 1
For example, the relay point 18 can be selected on the line farthest from points A and B in 7, that is, on the side farthest from the side of the rectangle, and the shortest orthogonal line can be drawn for the sections A-18 and 18-B. If possible, A
The wiring pattern length between points -B becomes the upper limit value _L1 of the wiring length condition according to equation (2) above. Similarly, for example, the relay point 19 is selected on the line closest to points A and B in the relay point area 17, that is, on the lower side of the area 17 shown in FIG.
- If it is possible to perform the shortest orthogonal line to B, the wiring pattern length between A and B points is
The lower limit value L ₁ −ΔL ₁ of the wiring length condition according to equation (2) is obtained (Flow S2).

(3) Select one relay point within the relay point area 17 set in the process of flow S2. The relay point may be selected from any one point within the relay point area 17, but generally, in printed circuit boards, etc., paths through which wiring can pass are predetermined in a grid pattern, so the relay point This is done by selecting one of the lattice points of the routeable path included in region 17. In this case, in order to minimize the distance between point A, which is the starting point of the wiring section, and the selected relay point and increase the success rate of route searching, the relay point is located closest to point A within the relay point area 17. Nearest routable points are selected. The selection of the relay point in this process is performed by selecting one point from a plurality of possible wiring points in the relay point area 17, so the relay point is fixed to only one point as in the case of the prior art. This works to increase the wiring success rate compared to the wiring method. As a result of this process, point 20 shown in FIG. 4 is selected as a relay point (flow S3).

(4) A wiring route between point A, which is the starting end of the wiring section, and relay point 20 is determined using a known shortest route search algorithm such as the maze method. This makes it possible to search for wiring patterns at high speed, and
Obtain the wiring pattern 21 shown in the figure (flow
S4).

(5) Assuming that the pattern length P ₁ of the wiring pattern 21 shown in FIG. Specified wiring length L ₂ and tolerance ΔL ₂
Calculate.

L ₂ = L ₁ − P ₁ ...(3) ΔL ₂ = αΔL ₁ ...(4) However, in equation (4), α is a constant determined by experience that satisfies 0<α<1. . This constant α has the effect of reducing the allowable range of the pattern length, and generally, if the value is close to 0, the pattern length accuracy can be improved, and if the value is close to 1, the pattern length accuracy will be deteriorated. Therefore, the constant α may be appropriately determined in consideration of these points.

In this way, by setting the constant α, for the specified wiring length between the relay point 20 and the point B,
When searching for the route by setting another relay point different from the relay point 20, highly accurate automatic wiring can be achieved (Flow S5).

(6) Manhattan length _M2 between relay point 20 and point B, which is the end of the wiring section, and specified wiring length _L2 ,
Check whether the condition of the following equation is satisfied with the tolerance ΔL ₂ .

L ₂ −ΔL ₂ M ₂ L ₂ ……(5) If the condition of equation (5) is not satisfied, the flow
Returning to the setting of the relay point area in S2, replace the point A, which is the starting end of the wiring section in flow S2, with the relay point 20, and set the designated wiring length L ₁ , tolerance ΔL ₁ , and Manhattan length M ₁ to the relay point 20 and the wiring, respectively. The relay point area 22 is set by replacing the designated wiring length L ₂ , tolerance ΔL ₂ , and Manhattan length M ₂ between point B, which is the end of the section, and thereafter, the processing of flows S3 to S5 is performed using the above equation (5). Execute repeatedly until the condition shown is satisfied. In this way, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to repeatedly set the relay points multiple times and sequentially determine the wiring pattern.
The initially set tolerance can be set larger than the wiring length tolerance ΔL required for signal delay and circuit operation characteristics, improving wiring possibilities (Flow S6, S2, S3... ).

(7) Determine the wiring route between the last determined relay point and point B, which is the end of the wiring section, using a known shortest route search algorithm such as the maze method, and After all wiring processing between points is completed, information regarding the obtained wiring pattern is stored in the pattern information file 14, and when unwired areas occur, the information is printed on the list output device 16 (Flow S7, S7 ').

According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, highly accurate automatic wiring is possible based on the wiring section, specified wiring length, and wiring length tolerance given from the network information file.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to absorb the error in the wiring length that occurs during the route search stage, so it is possible to route the wiring section with a specified wiring length with high accuracy. In addition, in the process of sequentially finding relay points, it is possible to avoid obstacles to the wiring, so it is possible to achieve a high wiring success rate even when wiring high-density printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, etc. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a processing system that executes a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method for determining a wiring pattern according to the prior art. 12... Computer, 13... Net information file, 14... Pattern information file, 15...
...Console display device, 16...List output device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wiring method for determining a wiring pattern for connecting two connection points on a printed circuit board, integrated circuit, etc., in which the required wiring pattern length does not exceed a specified pattern length, and ,
A process of setting a relay point so that it falls within a certain tolerance range, and a process of determining a wiring pattern using the shortest orthogonal route for a wiring section between the relay point and the connection point or between the relay point and the relay point. , recalculate the specified wiring pattern length in the unwired section from the already determined wiring pattern length and the specified pattern length, and repeatedly execute the process of reducing the allowable range of pattern length. A wiring length specified wiring method, characterized in that a wiring pattern between the two connection points is determined while performing self-correction. 2. The process of setting the relay point is performed by setting a relay point area and selecting any point where wiring is possible within the relay point area. Wiring method with specified wiring length.