JPH06236418A - Device and method for automatically arranging electrical parts - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform arrangement design considering an overlapped area by selecting an area not being superimposed on another area preferentially as an arranging position when plural arranging candidate areas with the same arranging condition exist. CONSTITUTION:A functional block to arrange arrangement target parts can be selected by referring to functional block information from the functional blocks arranged on a printed board in advance by a functional block selection means 108. An arranging candidate area extraction means 110 extracts the arranging candidate area which satisfies an arranging condition from selected functional block areas. An arranging position decision means 111 decides a first arranging at candidate area preferentially as the arranging position when the functional block selected as an arranging target is provided with an area being superimposed partially on another functional block area and when the first arranging candidate area extracted as the arranging candidate area is located at only the functional block area in the arranging target area and a second arranging candidate area is located in the overlapped area, and arranges the arrangement target parts at the position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a configuration of an electrical component automatic placement apparatus for automatically placing a block-wise electrical component for each function on a printed circuit board and an automatic placement method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printed circuit board design CAD (Comput
er Aided Design) has spread, an automatic placement device that automatically determines the positions of electronic components when designing a printed circuit board is being used. Usually, electronic components are grouped according to the characteristics of circuits and components and arranged in blocks, and such blocks are called functional blocks. In the layout design of electronic components, first, the layout design of functional blocks on a substrate is performed. The layout designer determines the size and shape of the functional block in consideration of the types and sizes of the parts included in the functional block. Then, the functional blocks are arranged at predetermined positions on the substrate in consideration of the connection relationship between the functional blocks and the like. The layout design of the functional blocks gives the approximate size, position, and shape of the functional blocks, and may occur when some of the functional blocks are arranged on the substrate in an overlapping manner.

When the layout design of the functional blocks is completed, the electronic components are placed in each functional block based on the information such as the characteristics, size or connection relation of the electronic components included in the functional block.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional automatic placement device, the placement order and placement position are determined only from the connection information of the electronic components to be placed on the printed circuit board. With such an arrangement method, no special consideration is given even if a region where some functional blocks overlap occurs. Therefore, when designing a printed circuit board, there are cases where components are arranged first in a region where some block regions overlap, although there is another space for arranging components. In such a case, the overlapping area of blocks to be arranged later cannot be used as the component arrangement area. Therefore, there is a case where the component placement area of the block to be placed later does not exist, and the component cannot be placed on the printed circuit board and remains unplaced.

When such a situation occurs, conventionally, a process of artificially displacing other placed parts by using the interactive editing function of CAD and arranging the parts that could not be placed on the board is performed. Was there. Such correction work reduces the efficiency of component layout design and complicates the work of the layout designer. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to proceed with the layout design in consideration of the existence of the overlapping area between the block areas when determining the layout position during the automatic layout. An object of the present invention is to provide a possible electric component automatic arrangement device and an electric component automatic arrangement method.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic electric component arranging device, in which functional information of each component to be arranged on a printed circuit board, connection information of each component, and each component are arranged. Placement information storage means for storing function block information relating to the position and shape of the functional block to be placed, functional block selection means for selecting the functional block in which the placement target component is to be placed, connection information stored in the placement information storage means, and A placement candidate region extracting unit that extracts placement candidate regions from the function block region based on the function block information, and a first placement candidate region that functions among the plurality of placement candidate regions extracted by the placement candidate region extracting unit. The function block is located only in the functional block area selected by the block selecting means, and the second placement candidate area is selected by the functional block selecting means. And a placement position determining unit that preferentially determines the first placement candidate region as a placement position and places the placement target component when the placement target region is located in an overlapping region with a function block region other than this function block. There is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic placement method for electric parts, wherein the function information of each part to be arranged on the printed circuit board, the connection information of each part, and the position of the functional block in which each part is to be arranged. A method for arranging a placement target component at a predetermined position within a functional block placed on a printed circuit board by using placement information including function block information regarding a shape, and the placement target component should be placed. A functional block selection step of selecting a functional block, a placement candidate area extraction step of extracting a placement candidate area in which a placement target component can be placed based on connection information and function block information in the placement information, and a placement candidate area extraction step. Of the plurality of extracted placement candidate areas, the first placement candidate area is only in the function block area selected by the function block selection step. If the second placement candidate area is located in the overlapping area of the functional block selected by the functional block selection step and the functional block area other than this functional block, the first placement candidate area is given priority. And a placement position determining step of deciding the placement position and placing the placement target component.

[0008]

In the present invention, in the functional block selecting means and its operation, the functional block in which the placement target component is to be placed is selected from the functional blocks previously placed on the printed circuit board by referring to the functional block information. The arrangement candidate area extracting means and its operation extract arrangement candidate areas satisfying the arrangement condition from the selected functional block areas.
Then, in the arrangement position determining unit and the operation thereof, when the functional block area selected as the arrangement target has an area that partially overlaps with another functional block area, the first arrangement candidate extracted as the arrangement candidate area. When the region is located only in the functional block region of the placement target region and the second placement candidate region is located in the overlapping region, the first placement candidate region is preferentially determined as the placement position. Then, the placement target component is placed at this placement position.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electric component automatic placement device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this automatic electronic component placement device includes an input device 101 for a user to input a command and the like, an output device 102 for displaying and outputting a result, and a database storage unit for storing component information and connection information. 103 and the input device 10
The automatic placement processing unit 107 performs automatic placement processing by referring to the database storage unit 103 according to the input from 1.

The database storage unit 103 further includes a component information storage unit 104 that stores functional information and layout information of electric components, a connection information storage unit 105 that stores a connection relationship between each component, and a functional block. And a functional block information storage unit 106 that stores component information and the like included in the functional blocks.

Further, the automatic placement processing unit 107 stores the placement information block determining unit 108 for selecting a functional block to be placed, and the component information storage among the components belonging to the placement target block selected by the placement target block determining unit 108. Part 1
Function information and connection information storage unit 1 of parts stored in 04
Placement target component selection unit 109 that selects an optimal placement target component from the connection information stored in 05, and placement that determines a placement candidate area for placing the placement target component selected by the placement target component selection unit 109 Candidate area determination unit 110
And an arrangement position determining unit 111 that selects an optimum arrangement position in consideration of the overlapping relationship of the functional blocks and arranges the arrangement target component for the arrangement candidate region determined by the arrangement candidate region determining unit 110. To be done.

Next, the operation of this automatic electronic component placement device will be described. FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the electric component automatic placement device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart corresponding to step S207 of FIG. 2 showing the operation of the arrangement position determination unit in consideration of the overlapping of block areas. Further, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a printed circuit board on which components are arranged by this automatic electric component arrangement device before a predetermined arrangement process. 401 in the figure
Indicates a partial area on the printed circuit board. Reference numeral 402 is an arrangement target block area, and 403 is another block area. Reference numerals 404 and 405 denote already-arranged parts within the arrangement target block area. 406 is an arrangement target block 402
Which are the placement target parts belonging to
No. 05 and two are connected under exactly the same conditions with two connections each. Reference numeral 407 is a placement candidate area for placing the placement target component 406 in the placement finished component 404, and 408 is a placement candidate area for placing the placement target component 406 in the placement finished component 405. Therefore, the placement target component 406 is the placement target block 4
It can be arranged in either of the arrangement candidate areas 407 or 408 in 02. Also, the placement target block area 402
Indicates that there is an area that partially overlaps with another block area 403, and the placement candidate area 408 is located within this overlap area.

In the following description, it is assumed that the database storage unit 103 has already stored the information necessary for the automatic placement processing. First, in step 201, a functional block to be arranged is selected based on the block shape of the functional block information, the number of parts included in the functional block, and the like. In the case of FIG. 4 (hereinafter referred to as this example), the functional block area 402 is selected.

Next, at step 202, it is judged whether the component arrangement of the selected functional block is unprocessed.
If not, the process moves to step 203. If it has already been processed, another functional block is selected, and if there is no unprocessed block, the automatic placement process ends. In this example, the functional block 402 is unprocessed. Further, in step 203, the placement target block selected in step 201 is searched for an unplaced component group among the components included in the block.

Then, in step 204, it is determined whether or not there is a placement-unprocessed placement component in the retrieved unplaced-component group. If there is an unprocessed placement component, the process proceeds to step 205. If there is no unprocessed placement component, the process returns to step 201, another placement target block is selected, and the same processing as above is continued. Step 20
In 5, the parts to be arranged are selected in order from the searched unplaced parts group by referring to the part function information and the connection information of each part. In this example, the placement target component 406 is selected as the unprocessed placement component.

Next, in step 206, a placement candidate area is determined in accordance with the placement condition of the selected placement target component. As the placement condition, a condition such as at which position of the placement target block and in which direction the component is placed is determined based on the component information extracted from the database storage unit 103 or the connection information. In the case of the present example, as the placement condition of the placement target component 406, for example, the placed component 40
The condition that the connection pins are arranged on the right side of 4 or 405 so that the connection pins face each other is determined. The placement candidate areas 407 and 408 are determined according to this condition.

Next, in step S207, the optimum placement candidate area is determined as the placement position from the determined placement candidate areas in consideration of the existence of the overlapping area of the blocks. This arrangement position determining operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the number of determined placement candidate areas is N, and each placement candidate area has a placement candidate area number i (i = 1 to 1).
N) is attached. The number of functional block areas is n, and the block number j (j =
1 to n) are attached. In the case of FIG. 4, placement candidate area 4
It is assumed that 07 is assigned i = 1 and the placement candidate area 408 is assigned i = 2. Further, j = 1 is assigned to the functional block area 402 to be arranged, and the other functional block area 403 is
Is attached with j = 2.

In step 301, 1 is substituted for i. At step 302, attention is paid to the placement candidate area i. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 4 (hereinafter referred to as this example), the placement candidate area 407 (i = 1) is designated. Step 30
In 3, the overlapping degree W (i) of the placement candidate area i is initialized. In step 304, 1 is substituted for j.

At step 305, block j is considered. In the case of this example, the arrangement target block area 402 (j
= 1) is designated. If the block j is equal to the placement target block in step 306, step 309
Move to. If they are not equal, the process proceeds to step 307. In the case of this example, since the area designated by j = 1 is the arrangement target block area, the process proceeds to step 309. Then, in step 309, the j value is incremented, and the functional block area 403 with j = 2 is designated again (step 305). And again this step 3
At 06, it is determined whether the functional block area 403 is a layout target block area. This functional block area 4
03 (j = 2) is not the arrangement target block area, the process proceeds to step 307.

In step 307, the allocation candidate area i
The area M of the region in which the target block j and the target block j overlap is calculated.
In the case of this example, the placement candidate area 407 (i = 1) has no overlapping portion with the functional block area 403, and thus the overlapping area area M = 0. In step 308, M is added to the degree of overlap W (i). In the case of this example, the initial value W
Since (1) = 0 and M = 0, the sum W of both
(1) = 0.

In step 309, j is incremented by 1. In the case of this example, j is 3. When j is equal to or smaller than the number of blocks n in step 310, the process returns to step 305 again. If j is larger than n, the process proceeds to step 311. In the case of this example, j is 3 and n is 2, so that the process proceeds to step 311. In step 311, i is incremented by 1. In the case of this example, i = 2, and the placement candidate area 408 is designated.

In step 312, when i is equal to or less than the number N of layout candidate areas, the process returns to step 302. If i is larger than N, the process proceeds to step 313. In the case of this example, since i is 2 and N is 2, the process proceeds to step 302. In step 303 again, the overlapping degree W (i) of the placement candidate area i is initialized. In the case of this example, 0 is set to W (2).

At step 304, 1 is substituted for j. At step 305, look at block j.
In the case of this example, the arrangement target block area 402 (j = 1) is designated. If the block j is equal to the layout target block in step 306, the process proceeds to step 309. If they are not equal, the process proceeds to step 307. In the case of this example, since the area designated by j = 1 is the arrangement target block area, the process proceeds to step 309. Then, in step 309, the j value is incremented and j =
The second functional block area 403 is designated again (step 305). Then, in step 306, it is determined whether the functional block area 403 is a layout target block area. This functional block area 403 (j = 2) is
Since it is not the arrangement target block area, the process proceeds to step 307.

In step 307, the placement candidate area i
The area M of the region in which the target block j and the target block j overlap is calculated.
In the case of this example, since the placement candidate area 408 (i = 2) overlaps the functional block area 403, the overlapping area area M (M ≠
0) is calculated. The overlapping area M is equal to the functional block 4
02 and the functional block 403 are calculated based on the position and size information of the blocks extracted from the functional block information storage unit 106.

In step 308, the degree of overlap W
Add M to (i). In the case of this example, the initial value W (2) =
0, M = A, and the sum W (2) = A of both. In step 309, j is incremented by 1. In the case of this example, j is 3. When j is equal to or smaller than the number of blocks n in step 310, the process returns to step 305 again. If j is larger than n, the process proceeds to step 311.
In the case of this example, j is 3 and n is 2, so that the process proceeds to step 311.

In step 311, i is incremented by 1. In the case of this example, i = 3, and there is no target area. In step 312, when i is equal to or smaller than the number N of placement candidate areas, the process returns to step 302. If i is larger than N, the process proceeds to step 313. In the case of this example, since i is 3 and N is 2, the process proceeds to step 313.

In step 313, the degree of overlap W
The placement candidate area having the smallest (i) is selected as the placement area. In the case of this example, W (1) = 0 and W (2) = A, and thus the region of i = 1, that is, the placement candidate region 407 is selected as the placement region. Then, the process returns to the process shown in FIG. Then, in step 208, the placement target component is placed at the determined placement position. Then step 20
The process is returned to step 4, the next placement target component is selected, and the same process is performed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the result of performing the above-mentioned arrangement processing for the example shown in FIG. For the layout candidate areas 407 and 408 having the same layout condition, a layout candidate area 407 that does not overlap with another block area as a layout area.
Has been selected with priority.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of placement candidate regions having the same placement condition are present when determining a component placement position during automatic placement, they do not overlap with other block regions. Since the area is prioritized and selected as the arrangement position, the parts of the arrangement target block are arranged in an area where some block areas overlap, so that the parts belonging to the block to be selected later as the arrangement target are arranged. It is possible to prevent the arrangement from becoming impossible because the arrangement area does not exist.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric component automatic placement device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an operation of the electric component automatic placement device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an arrangement position determining unit of the electric component automatic arrangement device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an example of an arrangement target of the electric component automatic arrangement device of FIG.

5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a placement result of the automatic electrical component placement device of FIG. 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 input device 102 output device 103 database storage unit 104 component information storage unit 105 connection information storage unit 106 functional block information storage unit 107 automatic placement processing unit 108 placement target block determination unit 109 placement target component selection unit 110 placement candidate area determination unit 111 Arrangement position determination unit 402, 403 Functional block 406 Arrangement target component 407, 408 Arrangement candidate area

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrical component automatic placement device for placing a placement target component at a predetermined position in a functional block arranged on a printed circuit board, wherein the functional information of each component to be arranged on the printed circuit board. When,
Arrangement information storage means for storing connection information of each part and function block information regarding the position and shape of the functional block in which each part is to be arranged, and functional block selection for selecting the functional block in which the arrangement target part is to be arranged Means, an arrangement candidate area extracting means for extracting an arrangement candidate area from the functional block area based on the connection information and the function block information stored in the arrangement information storage means, and an arrangement candidate area extracting means for extracting the arrangement candidate area. Among the plurality of placement candidate areas, the first placement candidate area is located only in the function block area selected by the function block selecting means, and the second placement candidate area is selected by the function block selecting means. If the functional block and the functional block area other than this functional block are located in an overlapping area, the first placement candidate It determines the frequency as preferentially position, and a position determination means for arranging the placement candidate component, electrical component automated placement device. 2. Arrangement information including function information of each part to be arranged on a printed circuit board, connection information of each part, and function block information regarding the position and shape of the function block in which each part is to be arranged is used. A method for automatically arranging an electric component for arranging a component to be arranged at a predetermined position in a functional block arranged on a printed circuit board, the functional block selecting a functional block to which the component to be arranged is arranged. A selection step; a placement candidate area extraction step of extracting a placement candidate area in which the placement target component can be placed based on connection information and functional block information in the placement information; and a plurality of pieces extracted by the placement candidate area extraction step. Of the placement candidate areas of the above, the first placement candidate area is located only in the function block area selected by the function block selecting step. A second placement candidate area is a functional block selected in the functional block selecting step,
And a placement position deciding step of placing the first placement candidate region preferentially as the placement position and placing the placement target component when it is located in an overlapping region with the function block region other than this function block, Automatic placement of electrical components.