JPH06180730A - Circuit design supporting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency of wiring design and to prevent the generation of miswiring by adding the role attributes of pins to symbol/macro information and utilizing the added attributes for the guide and check of wiring. CONSTITUTION:A library retrieving/updating means 11 checks whether the role attribute of each symbol/macro pin is added to the symbol/macro information of a symbol/macro library 4 or not, and when the role attribute is not added, the role attribute is added to the symbol/macro information. A symbol/ macro arranging/wiring means 12 arranges symbol/macro pins and guides wiring in accordance with the role attributes of respective symbol/macro pins while referring to the library 4 to select required wiring. A wiring checking means 13 checks the miswiring of a circuit diagram based upon the role attributes of the symbol/macro information in the library 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a circuit design support system, and more particularly to a circuit design support system for guiding wiring and checking wiring based on symbol / macro information in a symbol / macro library.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional circuit design support system, a symbol and a macro (which are registered in the circuit design support system in order to enable a hierarchical circuit design in a circuit system in which a plurality of symbols or macros are wired) are used. Below,
Wiring between pins (symbols and macros are collectively referred to as symbol / macro) is performed by pin designation and drawing of wiring by an operator (see, for example, JP-A-64-76277). .

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional circuit design support system, since the wiring between the pins is all performed by the operation of the operator, there is a problem that it takes a lot of man-hours and a wiring mistake easily occurs. It was

In view of the above point, an object of the present invention is to add a role attribute of each pin to the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library and use it for the guide of wiring and the check of the wiring, and design the wiring between the pins. It is an object of the present invention to provide a circuit design support system designed to improve the efficiency of wiring and prevent the occurrence of wiring mistakes.

[0005]

A circuit design support system of the present invention is a symbol / symbol storing macro / symbol information.
In a circuit design support system including a macro library, it is checked whether or not the role attribute of each pin of the symbol / macro is added to the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library. If the role attribute is not added, the symbol / macro information is added. A library searching / updating means for adding a role attribute to a symbol and a symbol / macro are arranged, and the wiring can be selected by referring to the symbol / macro library and guiding the wiring according to the role attribute of each pin of the symbol / macro. Symbol / macro placement
Wiring means and wiring checking means for checking erroneous wiring of the circuit diagram based on the role attribute of the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library.

[0006]

In the circuit design support system of the present invention, the library search / update means checks whether or not the role attribute of each pin of the symbol / macro is added to the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library and the role attribute is added. If not, a role attribute is added to the symbol / macro information, and the symbol / macro placement / wiring means places the symbol / macro and refers to the symbol / macro library to guide wiring according to the role attribute of each pin of the symbol / macro. Then, the wiring can be selected, and the wiring checking means checks the circuit diagram for incorrect wiring based on the role attribute of the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library.

[0007]

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a circuit design support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The circuit design support system of this embodiment is mainly composed of a data processing device 1, an input device 2 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a display device 3 such as a display, a symbol / macro library 4, and a circuit diagram file 5. Parts are made up.

The data processing apparatus 1 is equipped with a circuit design support program 10. The circuit design support program 10 comprises a library search / update means 11, a symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12, and a wiring check means 13. Has been done.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of the symbol / macro information stored in the symbol / macro library 4. Each symbol / macro information is composed of a symbol / macro name, shape information, attribute information, and pin information including a plurality of pin names, pin positions / directions and attributes (pin characteristics, pin numbers, role attributes). ing. The role attribute indicates the role of address, data, clock, etc. for each pin.

The circuit diagram file 5 is a file for storing the created circuit diagram.

Referring to FIG. 3, the process of the library searching / updating means 11 is a symbol / macro information searching step without role attribute 31, a symbol / macro information presence / absence determining step without role attribute 32, and a role attribute designation screen displaying step. 33, a role attribute designation step 34, a role attribute designation end determination step 35, and a role attribute designation symbol / macro information update step 36.

The symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 is
Symbol / macro placement means 121, non-guide wiring means 1
22 and the guide wiring means 123. The symbol / macro arranging means 121 arranges the symbols / macro based on operations such as movement of the cursor and mouse click by the operator. The non-guide wiring unit 122 performs conventional wiring (hereinafter referred to as non-guide wiring) according to pin designation and wiring drawing by the operator. The guide wiring means 123 performs wiring by a guide (hereinafter referred to as guide wiring). As a method of guide wiring, the pins having the same role attribute as the pin to be wired are considered to be wireable, all the wires between them are displayed with a broken line or a different color (hereinafter, collectively referred to as highlighted display), and the operator is selected from them. Is performed by selecting one or more wirings to be used.

Referring to FIG. 4, the processing of the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 includes a symbol / macro placement processing step 41, a symbol / macro designation step 42,
A symbol / macro designation end determination step 43, a wiring method designation step 44, a wiring method determination step 45,
Available wiring display step 46 and wiring selection step 47
And a wiring selection end determination step 48 and a non-guided wiring processing step 49. The symbol / macro designation step 42 is performed by the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 1.
It is the secondary entrance for No.2.

Referring to FIG. 5, the wiring check means 13
The processing is performed by an unwired pin search step 51, an unwired pin presence / absence determination step 52, and an unwired pin display step 53.
And call symbol / macro placement / wiring means Step 5
4, miswiring search step 55, miswiring presence / absence determination step 56, miswiring display step 57, and symbol / macro placement / wiring means calling step 58.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views showing an example of a wiring method using guide wiring.

Next, the operation of the circuit design support system of the present embodiment thus constructed will be described.

When the circuit design support program 10 is started on the data processor 1, the operator searches the library searching / updating means 11 and the symbol / macro arranging / wiring means 1.
First, the library searching / updating means 11 is selected from 2 and the wiring checking means 13.

The library searching / updating means 11 searches the symbol / macro library 4 for the symbol / macro information including the pin information for which the role attribute is not specified (step 3).
1) If there is the corresponding symbol / macro information (Yes in step 32), a screen for designating the role attribute is displayed on the display device 3 (step 33), and the operator inputs the role attribute from the input device 2. Designation is performed (step 34). When the designation of the role attribute of each pin is completed (Yes in step 35), the library searching / updating means 11
The symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library 4 is updated to include the designated role attribute (step 36). When the updating of the symbol / macro information is completed, the library searching / updating means 11 returns to step 31 to search for the next symbol / macro information. When the symbol / macro information including the pin information for which the role attribute is not specified disappears in step 32, the library searching / updating means 11 ends the process.

When the processing of the library searching / updating means 11 is completed, the operator next moves the symbol / macro arrangement /
The wiring means 12 is selected.

The symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 is
First, the symbol / macro arranging means 121 performs processing for arranging symbols / macros as in the conventional case (step 4
1). Next, the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12
The operator is made to specify the symbol / macro to be wired (step 42), and it is determined whether the symbol / macro has been specified (step 43). If the symbol / macro has been designated, the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 next causes the operator to designate the wiring method (step 44). If the wiring method is non-guide wiring in step 45, the symbol / macro arrangement / wiring means 12
Informs the operator of the non-guide wiring means 1 as in the conventional case.
After performing non-guide wiring processing by 22 (step 4
9) The process returns to step 42 and shifts to the processing of the next symbol / macro. If the wiring method is the guide wiring in step 45, the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 plays the role of the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library 4 for each pin of the symbol / macro designated by the guide wiring means 123. Based on the attributes, all possible wirings with matching role attributes are calculated based on well-known wiring determination algorithms such as the maze method, line segment search method, two-step wiring method, etc.
It is highlighted with a different color or the like (step 46), and the operator is made to select one or more wirings (step 47). When the wiring is selected for each pin of the designated symbol / macro (Yes in step 48), the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 returns to step 42 and shifts to the processing of the next symbol / macro. When the designation of the symbol / macro is completed in step 43, the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 finishes the process.

For example, in FIG. 6, considering the pin 64 whose address attribute is the symbol 63, if both the role attributes of the bus lines 61 and 62 are addresses,
Both the pin 64 and the bus lines 61 and 62 are considered to be connectable, and the lines 65 and 66 are highlighted. The wiring is fixed by the operator selecting one or both of the wirings 65 and 66.

The following is an example of a specific operation procedure for guide wiring.

Operation procedure 1: An operator draws a necessary bus wire in the circuit diagram and gives a role attribute to the bus wire in advance.
Then, the operator designates a certain symbol / macro, and the guide wiring is sequentially performed by using each pin of the symbol / macro as a wiring target pin. For example, in FIG. 7, when the operator gives a bus line 71 whose role attribute is data and a bus line 72 whose role attribute is address, and when the operator then designates a symbol 73, the bus is first assigned to the pin 731 whose role attribute is address. Possible wiring 7311 to line 72 is highlighted and the operator selects whether to use it.

Operation procedure 2: An operator draws a necessary bus wire in the circuit diagram and gives a role attribute to the bus wire in advance.
Next, the operator designates a certain pin, and the guide wiring is performed using that pin as the wiring target pin.
For example, in FIG. 7, the bus line 71 whose role attribute is data
When the operator gives the bus line 72 whose role attribute is the address and then the operator specifies the pin 731 whose role attribute of the symbol 73 is the address, the possible wiring 7311 to the bus line 72 is highlighted and used by the operator. Choose whether or not. When the operator specifies the pin 741 whose role attribute of the symbol 74 is data, the bus line 7
The possible wires 7411 to 1 are highlighted and the operator selects whether to use them.

Operation procedure 3: Circuit design support program 1
0 looks at the role attribute of the symbol / macro library 4,
Draw a bus line with the required role attribute in the schematic. next,
When the operator designates a certain symbol / macro, each pin of the symbol / macro is set as a wiring target pin and the guide wiring is sequentially performed. For example, in FIG. 7, when the circuit design support program 10 draws a bus line 71 whose role attribute is data and a bus line 72 whose role attribute is address, when the operator next designates the symbol 73, the pin 731 whose role attribute is address is first. , The possible wiring 7311 to the bus line 72 is highlighted, and the operator selects whether to use it.

Operation procedure 4: Circuit design support program 1
0 looks at the role attribute of the symbol / macro library 4,
Draw a bus line with the required role attribute in the schematic. next,
By specifying a certain pin by the operator, the guide wiring is performed using that pin as a wiring target pin. For example, in FIG. 7, when the circuit design support program 10 draws the bus line 71 whose role attribute is data and the bus line 72 whose role attribute is address, and when the operator next specifies the pin 731 whose role attribute of the symbol 73 is address, Bus line 7
The possible wiring 7311 with 2 is highlighted and the operator selects whether to use it. Further, when the operator designates the pin 741 of which the role attribute of the symbol 74 is data, the possible wiring 7411 to the bus line 71 is highlighted, and the operator selects whether to use it.

When the processing of the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 is completed, the operator checks the wiring checking means 13
Select.

The wiring checking means 13 searches the circuit diagram stored in the circuit diagram file 5 for an unwired pin (step 51). If there is an unwired pin (step 52), the unwired pin is identified. It is displayed on the display device 3 (step 53) and the symbol / macro arrangement / wiring means 12 is called by the secondary entrance name (step 54). In the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12, unwiring pins are wired as described above. After the wiring of the unwired pin by the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 is completed, the wiring check means 13 returns to step 51 to search for the next unwired pin. When it is determined in step 52 that there are no unwired pins, the wiring check means 13 refers to the circuit diagram stored in the circuit diagram file 5 by referring to the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library 4. Miswiring is searched based on whether the role attributes of the pins match (step 55). If there is miswiring (step 56), the miswiring is displayed on the display device 3 (step 57). , The symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 is called with the secondary entry name (step 58). In the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12, erroneous wiring is redone as described above. After the correction of the incorrect wiring by the symbol / macro placement / wiring means 12 is completed, the wiring check means 13 returns to step 55 to search for the next incorrect wiring. If it is determined in step 56 that there is no miswiring, the wiring check means 13 ends the process.

When the process of the wiring check means 13 is completed, the circuit design support program 10 ends the process.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the role attribute of each pin is added to the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library, and the wiring guide and the wiring check are performed based on the role attribute. As a result, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the wiring design between the symbols / macro pins and prevent the occurrence of wiring mistakes. In particular, in the division / hierarchical design of a large-scale circuit, many mistakes occur in the wiring between pins due to an increase in the number of symbols / macros, complicated functions, etc., and the effect of applying the present invention is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a circuit design support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of symbol / macro information in the symbol / macro library in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of a library search / update unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing of the symbol / macro placement / wiring means in FIG.

5 is a flow chart showing the processing of the wiring check means in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of guide wiring according to the circuit design support system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of guide wiring according to the circuit design support system of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 data processing device 2 input device 3 display device 4 symbol / macro library 5 circuit diagram file 10 circuit design support program 11 library search / update means 12 symbol / macro placement / wiring means 13 wiring check means 121 symbol / macro placement means 122 non Guide wiring means 123 Guide wiring means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a circuit design support system including a symbol / macro library for storing symbol / macro information, whether the role attribute of each pin of the symbol / macro is added to the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library. If the role attribute is not added, the library searching / updating means for adding the role attribute to the symbol / macro information, and arranging the symbol / macro and referring to the symbol / macro library for each pin of the symbol / macro A symbol / macro placement / wiring unit that guides the wiring according to the role attribute and enables the selection of the wiring, and a wiring error in the circuit diagram is checked based on the role attribute of the symbol / macro information of the symbol / macro library. Circuit design having wiring check means Support system. 2. The symbol / macro arranging / wiring means, a symbol / macro arranging means for arranging symbols / macro, a non-guide wiring means for performing wiring according to pin designation and wiring drawing, and a pin to be wired. 2. The circuit design support system according to claim 1, further comprising: a guide wiring unit that regards pins having the same role attribute as wireable and highlights wires between them to select wires to be used. . 3. The circuit design support system according to claim 1, wherein the wiring check means calls the symbol / macro placement / wiring means to enable correction of erroneous wiring.