JPH07114586A - Automatic parts arranging processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently perform automatic arrangement by providing a means which arranges parts, which cannot be arranged in a prescribed area, on the outside of a designated area without leaving these parts unarranged at the time of dividing parts into groups to arrange them in the automatic arranging processor for parts to a printed board, an MCM, or the like. CONSTITUTION:A group including one or more parts is inputted by an input part 100, and the area where the group of parts should be arranged is determined by an area designating part 101, and arrangement positions of parts are successively determined in an arrangement position determining part 102 based on information in a storage part 105 required for automatic arrangement, and parts which cannot be arranged in this area are arranged on the outside of the area by an area outside determining part 103. A control part 104 controls each part to realize this arrangement.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for automatically arranging parts such as circuits and elements on an MCM or a printed circuit board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the progress of electronic equipment, boards are becoming denser and more complicated, and due to the demand for shortening the development cycle, the parts are arranged automatically on the printed board. CAD capable of being used is being used.

Various methods have been conventionally used for automatically arranging parts. For example, "CA of printed circuit board
E. Akihiko Yamada, Applied Technology Publishing, pages 66 to 75
Page ”. A typical method described therein will be briefly described. (1) Pair linking method A method of selecting a pair of a component that has already been placed and the component that is most connected to it and placing them close to each other. (2) Center-of-gravity method A method of arranging parts at a position where a combined vector of tensions of other parts with respect to a part connected to each other becomes zero. (3) Cluster growth method A method that selects the component that is most connected to all the components that have already been arranged and arranges the component at the position where the virtual wiring length is the shortest. (4) Method using expert system In addition to the above-mentioned layout method, a method that incorporates the know-how of a skilled designer.

For example, the connector connecting parts are arranged near the connector, arranged along the flow of the address bus and the data bus, and the memories are arranged automatically at the end of the board automatically (for example, JP-A-02-20
5974).

A conventional automatic placement processing device will be described below. When automatically placing, board information, connection information,
Reads information necessary for arranging components on the board, such as design standard information, component information, and prohibited area information.

Next, as a result of considering the characteristics of the circuit and the like, the parts which are determined to be arranged close to each other are divided into groups, and a general area in which the parts are arranged is input.

In addition, it is automatically placed using one or several of the above methods. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a process of arranging the grouped parts. 700, 71
0 is a substrate, 701 and 711 are regions where components can be arranged on the substrate, 702 and 712 are components grouped in consideration of circuit characteristics, and 703 and 713 are components 702 and 712. It is a rough area designated on the substrate.

When the component 712 is arranged on the substrate 710, since the components 712 are grouped, they can be arranged in the region 713 on the substrate 710 and in the arrangeable region 711, but can be arranged elsewhere. There may be some parts that remain unplaced despite the area.
To place this unplaced component, the area 7 is manually
13 needs to be enlarged or manually placed.

FIG. 7C is a flow chart of a conventional placement process. In FIG. 7C, 720 is a step of dividing the components to be mounted on the substrate into several groups with reference to the characteristics and circuit diagrams, and 721 is a schematic region on the substrate where components belonging to the group are arranged. Step to specify,
722 is a step of arranging the parts.

[0010]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, there are some parts that cannot be placed in the area because the area designated for arranging the grouped parts is small and so on. There is a problem in that it takes man-hours to manually arrange and expand the area for the arrangement.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and when parts divided into groups cannot be arranged in a designated area, there is an area that can be arranged on the board, but there is still another area. The purpose is to provide automatic placement processing that does not leave placement.

[0012]

In order to achieve this object, the automatic placement processing apparatus of the present invention has an input unit for inputting a group including one or more parts and a general arrangement for placing parts belonging to the group. An area designating unit that designates a region on the board, a placement position determining unit that sequentially determines placement positions of the components within the region, and a placement position of the components belonging to the group are determined outside the region when the placement positions cannot be determined within the region. Out-of-area decision unit,
A group including one or more components is provided in the input unit, the group to which each component belongs is input, and a general region in which the components belonging to the group are arranged is designated in the region designation unit on the board to determine the placement position. Control unit that sequentially determines the arrangement positions of the components within the area when the arrangement unit cannot determine the arrangement positions of the components that belong to the group within the area by the outside-region determination unit And a storage unit that stores the arrangement position of the parts belonging to the group, the group, and information necessary for automatic arrangement.

[0013]

According to the automatic placement processing apparatus of the present invention, the input section accepts a group including one or more parts, and the area designating section sets a general area in which the parts belonging to the group are placed. Designated above, the placement position determination unit sequentially determines the placement positions of the components within the area, and the outside area determination unit
When the arrangement position of the parts belonging to the group cannot be determined within the area, the arrangement position is determined outside the area.

[0014]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic component placement processing apparatus showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 100 is an input unit for inputting a group including one or more components, 101 is a region designating unit for designating a rough region on the substrate where components belonging to the group are arranged, 102
Reference numeral 103 denotes an arrangement position determination unit that sequentially determines arrangement positions of components within the area, and reference numeral 103 denotes an outside area determination unit that determines outside the area when arrangement positions of components belonging to the group cannot be determined within the area. Inputs a group including one or more parts in the input unit 100, and the area specifying unit 101
Designates a general region on which the parts belonging to the group are to be arranged on the board, the placement position determining unit 102 sequentially determines the placement positions of the components within the region, and the outside region determining unit 103 belongs to the group. When the placement position of the component cannot be determined within the area, a control unit that controls the flow of the process of determining the location outside the region, 105 is the group, the placement position of the component belonging to the group, and necessary for automatic placement It is a storage unit that stores information.

A processing method of the automatic component placement processing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numerals 200 and 210 designate substrates 2
01 and 211 are areas where components can be arranged on the substrate, 202 and 212 are components grouped in consideration of circuit characteristics, and 203 and 213 are designated on the substrate on which the component 202 is arranged. This is a general area.

When the components 212 are arranged on the substrate 210, since the components 212 are grouped, they can be arranged only in the region 213 on the substrate 210 and in the arrangeable region 211. If all the components 212 cannot be placed in the area 213, the placeable area 211
Place within the range that does not exceed.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the placement process according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 300 denotes a step of dividing the components to be mounted on the board into several groups with reference to the characteristics and circuit diagrams, and 301 determines a general area on the board where the components belonging to the group are arranged. Step, 302
Is a step of arranging the parts, 303 is a step of judging whether all the parts in the group can be arranged in the area, 3
A step 04 is a step of arranging all the parts even if they are outside the specified area when all the parts are not arranged in the specified area on the board.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when there is a part that cannot be placed in the area designated in advance and there is an area that can be placed outside the area, it can be placed even if it is outside the area designated in advance. Unplaced parts can be eliminated.

The general area for arranging the parts may be smaller than the sum of the outer shapes of the parts, or may be a size such that the parts cannot be arranged in the physically specified area, such as when the area is a point. . There may be a plurality of groups. In addition, when arranging it outside the designated general area, it may be arranged only near the area.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment corresponding to claim 3 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 4, 400 is an input unit for inputting a group including one or more components, 401 is a region designating unit for designating a general region on the substrate on which the components belonging to the group are to be arranged, and 402 is the aforementioned unit. An arrangement position determination unit that sequentially determines arrangement positions of components in the area, 405 is a storage unit that stores the group, the arrangement positions of the components that belong to the group, and information necessary for automatic arrangement. The above is the configuration of FIG. Is similar to. The difference from the configuration of FIG. 1 is that an enlarged region determination unit 403 that enlarges a region roughly designated by the region designation unit 401 and arranges the components in the enlarged region and one or more components in the input unit 400. By inputting the included group, the area designation unit 401 designates a general area on the board on which the components belonging to the group are to be placed, and the placement position determination unit 402 sequentially determines the placement positions of the components within the area. Then, when the enlargement area determination unit 403 cannot determine the arrangement position of the component belonging to the group within the area, the control unit which controls the flow of the process of enlarging the area and arranging the component in the enlarged area. That is, 404 and 404 are provided.

A processing method of the automatic component placement processing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the parts divided into groups. 500 and 510 are substrates, and 501 and 51.
1 is an area where components can be arranged on a substrate, 502 and 512 are components grouped in consideration of circuit characteristics and the like, and 503 is an approximate region designated on the substrate where components 502 and 512 are arranged. is there.

When the components 512 are arranged on the substrate 510, since the components 512 are grouped, they can be arranged only in the area 513 on the substrate 510. Area 5
If it is not possible to arrange all the components 512 in FIG. 13, the region 513 is enlarged within a range that does not exceed the arrangeable region 511, and the components are arranged again.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the placement process according to the present invention. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 600 denotes a step of dividing the parts to be arranged on the board into several groups with reference to characteristics and circuit diagrams, and 601 determines a general area on the board where the parts belonging to the group are arranged. Step, 602
Is a step of arranging parts, 603 is a step of judging whether all the parts in the group can be arranged in the area,
The above is the same as the configuration of FIG.

The difference from the configuration shown in FIG. 3 is that if all the components are not arranged in the designated area, the step 604 of enlarging the designated area and the area where the enlarged area can place the components on the substrate. Step 6 to determine if
05 is provided, and the arrangement of the components of 602 is executed again.

The operations of 602 to 605 are judged at 603 that all the parts can be arranged in the area, or at 605 that the enlarged area exceeds the area where the parts can be arranged on the board. Until. When it is determined in 605 that the enlarged area exceeds the area on the board where the component can be arranged, the remaining components that cannot be arranged are not arranged and become unarranged parts.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when there is a component that cannot be placed in the region designated in advance, the component can be placed in the enlarged region by enlarging the size of the region. . In addition, compared to the first embodiment, the arrangement of the grouped components does not go out of the enlarged area, so that the grouped components can be arranged together.

Incidentally, when automatically arranging after the area is enlarged, the parts belonging to the group in the expanded area may be rearranged as unarranged parts.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, when there is a component that cannot be placed in a region designated in advance, the component is placed outside the region, or the region itself is enlarged so that the component is placed outside the region. It is possible to realize an automatic placement processing device that does not leave parts unplaced even though there is an area where placement is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic component placement processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram showing a state of a board according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing a result of arranging components on the board according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a process flow chart in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an automatic component placement processing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5A is a schematic diagram showing a state of a board according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram showing a result of arranging components on the board according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a process flow chart in the second embodiment of the present invention.

7A is a schematic diagram showing a state of a board of a conventional example; FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram showing a result of arranging components on a board of the conventional example; FIG. 7C is a process flow chart of the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100, 400 Input unit 101, 401 Region designation unit 102, 402 Arrangement position determination unit 103 Out-of-region determination unit 104, 404 Control unit 105, 405 Storage unit 403 Enlarged region determination unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for inputting a group including one or more parts, an area specifying unit for specifying an approximate area on which a part belonging to the group is arranged on a board, and arrangement of parts in the area. An arrangement position determination unit that sequentially determines the position, an outside region determination unit that determines outside the region when the arrangement positions of the components belonging to the group cannot be determined within the region, and one or more components are included. The group is provided, the input unit for inputting the group to which each component belongs, the general region on which the components belonging to the group are arranged is designated on the board, and the arrangement position determining unit determines the arrangement position of the component within the region. And a control for controlling the flow of processing of the area designating unit that sequentially determines the area, and the outside area determining unit that determines outside the area when the arrangement position of the parts belonging to the group cannot be determined within the area. When the arrangement position of the component belonging to the group, the group component automatic placement processing apparatus characterized by having a storage unit for storing information required for automatic placement. 2. The out-of-area determining unit arranges parts near the area determined by the area determining unit.
The automatic component placement processing device described. 3. An input section for inputting a group including one or more parts, an area specifying section for specifying an approximate area on which a part belonging to the group is arranged on a board, and arrangement of parts in the area. An arrangement position determination unit that sequentially determines positions, and an enlargement region determination unit that enlarges the region and arranges the components in the enlarged region when the arrangement positions of the components belonging to the group cannot be determined in the region. And 1 in the input section
A group including one or more parts is provided, the group to which each part belongs is input, and the area specifying unit that specifies a general area on which the parts belonging to the group are arranged on the board, The placement position determining unit that sequentially determines placement positions, and the enlargement region determination that enlarges the region and places the components in the enlarged region when the placement positions of the components belonging to the group cannot be determined in the region. An automatic component placement processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls a processing flow of the unit; and a storage unit that stores a placement position of a component belonging to the group, the group, and information necessary for automatic placement.