JPH10207923A - Document preparation supporting device in design work - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the preparation man-hours for a design relating document, to make prepared document contents accurate and to improve the efficiency of the reference work for design elements, in the design work for an electronic circuit or the like. SOLUTION: By the support of a comment addition part 12, when the design element is selected and a comment is inputted by an operator on the display screen of design data 15, on the display screen of the design data 15, the comment is automatically added (simultaneously displayed) near the selected design element. By the support of a document data preparation part 13, the comment inputted as character information and the name of the design element to which the comment is added are combined and document data 16 are automatically prepared. By the function of an emphasis display part 14, the design element desired to be referred to by the operator among the design elements included in the document data 16 prepared and edited by the document data preparation part 13 is emphasis-displayed on the display screen of the design data 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a document creation support device in a design work of an electronic circuit, a mechanism, and the like.
The present invention relates to a document creation support device that is useful when creating various design-related documents such as a test report of a design product, a product instruction sheet, and a product specification sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the design work of electronic circuits and the like, a CAD system (for example, a PRO design system (PRO Design System) of Nippon View Logic Co., Ltd.) that supports design and drafting of electronic circuits and the like by a computer has been widely used. It's being used. By the way, after the design of an electronic circuit or the like using a CAD system is completed, a report on the analysis result of the designed circuit or a measure against a problem is prepared, or a product instruction or product specification related to the designed circuit is created. In many cases, such as creation, a designer must create various design-related documents.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional CAD system has a document creation function for directly adding or adding a document to a circuit diagram screen during or after design. However, since this function is not intended to support the creation of the above-mentioned design-related documents, when the design-related documents need to be submitted, the designer first displays the circuit diagram etc. The necessary design elements (electrical and electronic parts constituting the designed electronic circuit and their terminals, etc.) were extracted each time while referring to the generated CAD screen, and the names of the extracted design elements were copied onto paper or the like. Later, for example, a design-related document had to be created using a dedicated document creation tool such as Microsoft Word 95.

When a designer wants to know which design element on a circuit diagram a predetermined description of a design-related document has once created, the designer himself / herself relies on the CAD element based on the name of the design element and the like. I had to do the reference work of finding it on the screen.

As described above, the conventional CAD system includes:
Because the design document creation support function is not added,
When creating a design-related document, the designer is forced to perform a series of complicated tasks from extracting necessary design elements, inputting / editing documents, and referring to design elements. Therefore, it takes a lot of time and there is a possibility that an error may occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can reduce the number of man-hours for creating design-related documents and correct the contents of created documents in the design work of an electronic circuit or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document creation support device capable of achieving a high efficiency of design element reference work.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 relates to a document creation support device in a design work, and a design data display means for displaying design data on a display device on a screen. And comment adding means for adding a comment to the design element arbitrarily selected by the operator on the screen on which the design data is displayed, and the comment adding means is displayed. A comment input unit for inputting the comment as document information for the design element arbitrarily selected by the operator from the design data, the comment input by the operator, and the selected design element A comment data generation unit for performing the connection of the above, the comment input by the operator is superimposed on a screen on which the design data is displayed, and In the vicinity of the selected the design element,
And a comment display section for simultaneous display.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the document creation support apparatus for designing work according to the first aspect, wherein the comment input as character information, the name of the design element to which the comment is added, and A document data creating means for automatically creating document data consisting of a combination of: a comment extracting unit for extracting the comment input by the operator; From the comment, the name of the design element to which the comment has been added is determined, and the name of the determined design element is combined with the comment to generate document data. A document data generating / editing unit that can also perform editing by operating an input device, and output the created / edited document data as a file It is characterized by comprising a write data output unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document creation support apparatus for designing work according to the second aspect, wherein the design element included in the document data created / edited by the document data creation means. Among them, a highlighting means for highlighting a design element which the operator wants to refer on the screen on which the design data is displayed is added,
In addition, the highlighting means is selected on the screen on which the document data is displayed, by a design element name selection unit for selecting the name of the design element which the operator wants to refer to, and by the design element name selection unit. A design element search unit for searching for the corresponding design element in the design data stored in the storage device based on the name of the design element, and a design element searched for on the screen on which the design data is displayed. It is characterized by comprising a design element highlighting section for highlighting elements.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document creation supporting apparatus for designing work according to the first aspect, wherein the design data display means and the comment adding means have a computer having a central processing unit and a storage means. It is characterized by being realized using.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document creation support apparatus for designing work according to the second aspect, wherein the document data creation means is realized using a computer having a central processing unit and a storage means. It is characterized by being.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document creation support apparatus for designing work according to the third aspect, wherein the highlighting means is realized using a computer having a central processing unit and a storage means. It is characterized by having.

[0013] The invention according to claim 7 is based on claim 1,
According to the document creation support device in the design work described in 2 or 3, the design data is a circuit diagram or a mechanism diagram.

[0014]

In the configuration of the first aspect, with the support of the comment adding means, a design element is selected by the operator on the display screen of the design data (circuit diagram, mechanism diagram, etc.) and a comment is input. Then, a comment is automatically added (simultaneously displayed) near the selected design element on the design data display screen. According to the configuration of the second aspect, with the support of the document data creation means, the comment input as character information is combined with the name of the design element to which the comment is added, and the document data is automatically converted. Created. Note that the operator can also edit the created document data. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the design element which the operator wants to refer to among the design elements included in the document data created / edited by the document data creation means by the function of the highlighting means. Is highlighted on the screen on which the design data is displayed. Therefore, according to the configuration of the present invention, when designing electronic circuits and mechanisms,
It is possible to reduce the number of man-hours for creating design-related documents, to make the contents of the created documents accurate, and to achieve a high efficiency in the work of referring to design elements.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The description will be specifically made using an embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually showing an electrical configuration of a document creation support device in a design work according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a more specific electrical configuration of the document creation support device. It is a block diagram shown in FIG. First, the overall configuration of the apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. The document creation support device of this example is incorporated in a CAD system that supports design and drafting of electronic circuits, and provides a creation support environment for various design-related documents such as test reports of product designs, product instructions, and product specifications. As shown in FIG. 1, a design data display unit 11 and a comment adding unit 12 are provided.
, A document data creating unit 13 and a highlighting unit 14.

The design data display section 11 has a function of displaying design data 15 such as an electronic circuit diagram and a parts list on a screen. The comment adding unit 12 also stores the design data 15
It has a function of adding a comment as character information to any of the above design elements, and displaying the added comment on the design data 15 on the screen. Here, the design elements are integrated circuits, transistors, electric / electronic parts such as passive elements, and their terminals, etc., which constitute the designed electronic circuit, and also occur in certain design elements in the design. Problems are written as comments. Also,
The document data creation unit 13 has a function of creating the document data 16 from the comment input as character information in the comment addition unit 12 and the name of the design element to which the comment has been added. In the document data creation unit 13 as well, the operator can freely edit the created document data 16 such as adding or changing lexical characters. The highlighting unit 14 highlights, on the display screen of the design data 15, a design element that the operator wants to refer to among design elements included in the document data 16 created / edited by the document data creation unit 13. It has the function to do.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the document creation support device of this example has a CPU (Central Processing Unit).
And a data processing device (computer body) 21 including a ROM and a RAM, and a display device (output device) 22 such as a CRT for displaying the design data 15 and the document data 16 on the screen.
An input device 23 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a storage device 24 for storing design data 15 and document data 16,
The above-described various functions (design data 15
And a recording medium 25 (machine-readable) recording a document creation support program for realizing a screen display function of the document data 16 and the like, a comment addition function, a document data creation function, a highlighting function, and the like. ing.
The recording medium 25 may be a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, or another recording medium. The document creation support program
The data is read from the recording medium 25 into the data processing device 21 and controls the operation of the data processing device 21. Data processing device 2
1 executes various processes described below under the control of the document creation support program.

Next, the design data display section 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of an electronic circuit diagram (design data) 15a by the design data display unit 11 constituting the document creation support device.
FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram showing how individual design elements constituting the electronic circuit diagram 15a displayed on the screen are stored in the storage device 24 in association with each other.
The basic function of the design data display section 11 is a function of displaying design data 15 such as an electronic circuit diagram 15a and a parts table, and this function is substantially equivalent to an existing design data display device. In this example, as shown in FIG. 3, electric / electronic components (hereinafter, referred to as components) constituting the designed electronic circuit 15a.
The components 32 and the terminals 33 in the components 32 are displayed together with the component names 34 and the terminal names 35. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, the data structure of the electronic circuit diagram 15a in this example is such that the terminals 33, 33,.
2, it has a tree structure (hierarchical structure) in which terminals 33, 33,... Are arranged below the component 32. For example, the part 32 with the part name A102 is
As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal names are H01, H02,
., The component name 34 is lower than the component 32 of A102 and the terminal name 35 is H01, H0, respectively, as shown in FIG.
2, N01 terminals 33, 33,...

Next, the comment adding section 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of the comment adding unit 12. The comment adding unit 12 includes a comment input unit 12a, a comment data generation unit 12b, and a comment display unit 12c, as shown in FIG. The comment input unit 12a allows a comment to be input as document information for a design element (such as the component 32 or the terminal 33) arbitrarily selected by the operator from the design data 15 displayed on the screen of the display device 22. . Comment data generator 12b
Makes a connection between the comment input by the operator and the selected design element. The comment display section 12c
Displays the comment input by the operator simultaneously on the screen on which the design data 15 is displayed and near the selected design element.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a comment input screen in the comment input section 12a. Here, the operation of the comment adding unit 12 will be described with reference to an example in which a designer creates a document on a problem and a countermeasure that have occurred as a result of verifying a circuit. On the screen of the display device 22 on which the circuit diagram 15a is displayed), the operator selects a design element (a component 32 or a terminal 33, etc.) for which a comment is to be input by operating the input device 23 such as a mouse or a keyboard. Then, a comment input screen 61 as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed (that is, the comment input unit 12a is activated). The comment input screen 61 includes a text window (execution screen for only character strings) 62 and an input button 63, as shown in FIG. The comment is input by the operator as the character information 64a on the text window 62 by operating the input device 23 such as a keyboard. In this example,
The content of the character information 64a is "expected value mismatch occurred" (see FIG. 6). The comment input operation is performed using the input button 63.
Is completed by being pressed by the input device 23 such as a keyboard or a mouse. When the input button 63 is pressed, the character information 64a on the text window 62 is passed to the comment data generator 12b. Until the input button 63 is pressed, the text window 62
The character information 64a can be freely input and edited.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the electronic circuit diagram 15a including the comment 64. The comment data generation unit 12b connects the comment 64 passed from the comment input unit 12a to the selected design element. When the connection process is completed, the comment 64 has the input character information 64a and pointer information 64b indicating to which design element of the design data 15 the input character information 64a is added. In this example, the character information 64a indicating that "expected value mismatch has occurred" and the component name C0
From the pointer information 64b to the part 32 of the
Is configured.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of displaying a comment on the electronic circuit diagram 15a by the comment display section 12c. The comment display unit 12c displays the character information 64a of the comment 64 in the vicinity of the design element to which the comment 64 is added on the electronic circuit diagram 15a displayed on the screen of the display device 22 by the design data display unit 11. In this example,
As shown in the figure, in the vicinity of the component 32 having the component name C0,
The character information 64a whose content is "expected value mismatch occurred" is displayed. The display position of the character information 64a can be moved to an appropriate position by the operator using the input device 23 such as a mouse.

FIG. 9 shows all the comment information 64, 64,
It is a figure which shows the data structure of the result of having added .... The comment information 64, 64,... Is input by repeating the same procedure as described above with reference to FIG. As a result, the character information 64 whose content is "expected value mismatch occurred"
"a" is the part 32 with the part name C0, the character information 64a whose contents are "this output is normal" is stored in the terminal 33 of the terminal name N01 of the part 32 with the part name A103, and the characters "the setup time violation occurred" The information 64a is stored in the terminal 33 having the terminal name H01 of the component 32 having the component name A103.
Character information 64a whose content is “change this buffer to one larger” is added to the component 32 with the component name A102. The character information 64a, 64a,.
Are added to the pointer information 6 which forms a part of each comment 64, 64,.
4b, 64b,... FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which all the comment information shown in FIG. 9 is displayed on the screen of the electronic circuit diagram in a superimposed manner.

Next, the document data creation section 13 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a document data creation unit 13. As shown in the figure, the document data creation unit 13 includes a comment extraction unit 13a and a document data generation / editing unit 13b.
And a document data output unit 13c. The comment extraction unit 13a is used for the comment addition unit 12
Extracts the comment 64 input by the operator. The document data generation / editing unit 13b obtains, from the extracted comment 64, the name 34 or 35 of the design element (such as the component 32 or the terminal 33) to which the comment 64 is added, and obtains the name 34 or 35 of the obtained design element. And the comment 64 to generate the document data 16. The document data generating / editing unit 13b also allows the operator to edit the generated document data 16 by operating the input device 23. The document data output unit 13c outputs the created / edited document data 16 as a file.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing comment information extracted by the comment extracting unit 13a. In this example,
The comment information is extracted from the data structure shown in FIG. As described above, the comment information has the character information 64a and the pointer information 64b to the design element which is the owner of the comment 64. The comment information includes pointer information 64b, 6 for all comments 64, 64,.
4b,... To find the owner design element. In this example, the electronic circuit diagram 15a is used as the design data 15. However, when there is a component 32 that becomes the owner, such as the terminal 33, the component 32 is also obtained.

FIG. 13 shows a document data generating / editing unit 13b.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of document data creation in the first embodiment. The creation of the document data referred to here means the character information 64a of the comment 64 and the name of the design element to which the comment 64 is added so that the design element to which the comment 64 input as the character information 64a is added can be known. This is to create document data consisting of a combination with the document data 34 or 35.
One or several lines of a document are generated for each comment, and the contents thereof are, in this example, as shown in FIG.
Design element name 34 or 35 with 4 added, blank 3
6. The order is the character information 64a of the comment 64. Here, when the design element is the terminal 33, the name 34 of the component 32, which is the owner of the terminal 33, is also necessary to specify which design element in the electronic circuit diagram 15a, so the component name 34 A specific delimiter (symbol indicating a delimiter) 37 is inserted between the terminal and the terminal name 35 to make the name of the design element. In this example, a colon (:) is used as the delimiter 37. The created document is displayed on the text editing screen 71.

FIG. 14 shows a document data generating / editing section 13b.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of document data editing in the first embodiment. FIG.
May be used as a document as it is, but usually, it is necessary to change the description order of the comment 64, insert a lexical character between the comments 64, 64, and the like. It can be said that. Therefore, the operator edits the document created in FIG. 13 on the text editing screen 71 using the input device 22 such as a keyboard and a mouse. FIG. 14 is an example in which the document of FIG. 13 is edited. The document data output unit 13c is configured as shown in FIG.
The document data 16 displayed on the text editing screen 71 of FIG. 3 or (if edited) is output as it is in a normal text file format and transferred to the storage device 24.

Next, the highlighting section 14 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of FIG. Highlighting section 1
4 is a design element name selection unit 14a as shown in FIG.
And a design element search unit 14b and a design element emphasis unit 14c. The design element name selection unit 14a selects a design element (part 32 or terminal 3) that the operator wants to refer to from the document data 16 displayed on the screen of the display device 22.
3) is selected. The design element search unit 14
“b” searches the design data 15 stored in the storage device 24 in a tree structure for a corresponding design element from the name of the design element selected by the design element name selection unit 14a. The design element highlighting unit 14c highlights the searched design elements on the screen of the design data 15 displayed on the display device 22.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of execution of the design element name selecting section 14a. The contents of the document data 16 output by the document data creation unit 13 are displayed on the text display screen 71 as they are. The operator uses the input device 22 such as a mouse or a keyboard on the text display screen 71 to input the design element name part 34 or 3
Select 5. In the example of this screen, the component 32 with the component name A102 is selected S, and the display of the name portion 34 is in a selected state. When the design element is the terminal 33, the component name 34, the delimiter (:) 37, and the terminal name 35
In this case, the entire name of the design element including the delimiter 37 is selected. By pressing the highlight button 81, the name of the selected design element is transferred to the next design element search unit 14b.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an execution example in which the design element search unit 14b searches for a design element having the name selected by the design element name selection unit 14a. The design element search unit 14b searches for the name of the design element selected by the design element name selection unit 14a on the data structure of the electronic circuit diagram 15a stored in the storage device 24 shown in FIG. In this example, the component 32 with the component name A102 is searched (see FIGS. 16 and 17). When searching for the terminal 33, the names of the design elements are passed in the form of a part name 34, a delimiter (:) 37, and a terminal name 35. First, the part 32 is searched from the part name 34. Further, for all the terminals 33 belonging to the component 32, the terminal 33 is searched from the terminal name 35. For example, if the design element name is A103: H01, the component name A103
Of the component 32 of the terminal 3
Search for 3. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which the design element highlighting unit 14c highlights the parts searched for by the design element search unit 14b. In this example, the component name A
The component 32 of 103 is highlighted. Note that, in this example, the method of highlighting is performed by changing the background of the component 32, but another method of changing the display color or the like is conceivable.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and there are design changes and the like that do not depart from the gist of the present invention. Is also included in the present invention. For example, the document creation support device of the present invention is not limited to circuit design,
It can also be applied to architectural design.

[0032]

As described above, according to the structure of the first aspect, the design element is selected by the operator on the display screen of the design data and the comment is made by the support of the comment adding means. Upon input, a comment is automatically added (simultaneously displayed) near the selected design element on the design data display screen. According to the configuration of the second aspect, with the support of the document data creation means,
The comment input as character information and the name of the design element to which the comment is added are combined to automatically create document data. According to the configuration of the third aspect, the operator wants to refer to the design elements included in the document data created / edited by the document data creating unit by the function of the highlighting unit. The design element is highlighted on the screen on which the design data is displayed. Therefore, according to the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the man-hours for creating design-related documents and to make the contents of created documents more accurate in the design work of electronic circuits and mechanisms, and to perform a reference operation of design elements. It is also possible to achieve higher efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually showing an electrical configuration of a document creation support device in a design work according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram more specifically showing an electrical configuration of the document creation support device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of an electronic circuit diagram (design data) by a design data display unit constituting the document creation support device.

FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram showing how individual design elements constituting the electronic circuit diagram displayed on the screen are related and stored in a storage device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a comment adding unit included in the document creation support device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a comment input screen in a comment input section of the comment adding section.

FIG. 7 is a data structure diagram showing an example of a data structure of an electronic circuit diagram including an input comment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of displaying a comment on an electronic circuit diagram by a comment display unit of the comment adding unit.

9 is a diagram showing a data structure of a result obtained by adding all comment information input by an operator to the electronic circuit diagram of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which all comment information shown in FIG. 9 is superimposed and displayed on a screen of an electronic circuit diagram.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a document data creation unit included in the document creation support device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing comment information extracted by a comment extraction unit of the document data creation unit.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of document data creation in a document data creation / editing unit of the document data creation unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of document data editing in the document data generation / editing unit.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a highlighting unit included in the document creation support device.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an execution example of a design element name selection unit constituting the highlight display unit.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an execution example of searching for a design element having a name selected by the design element name selection unit by a design element search unit constituting the highlighting unit;

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a display example in which the design element emphasizing section constituting the emphasizing display section highlights the parts searched by the design element searching section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Design Data Display Section (Design Data Display Means) 12 Comment Addition Section (Comment Addition Means) 12a Comment Input Section 61 Comment Input Screen 64 Comments 64a Text Information 64b Pointer Information 12b Comment Data Generation Section 12c Comment Display Section 13 Document Data Creation Section (Document data creation means) 13a Comment extraction section 13b Document data generation / edit section 13c Document data output section 14 Highlight display section (highlight display means) 14a Design element name selection section 14b Design element search section 14c Design element enhancement section 15 Design data 15a Electronic circuit diagram (design data) 16 Document data 21 Data processing device (main part of document creation support device) 22 Display device 23 Input device 24 Storage device 25 Recording medium 32 Part (design element) 33 Terminal (design element) 34 Part Name (design element name Name) 35 Terminal name (design element name)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Design data display means for displaying design data on a display device on a screen, and adding a comment to a design element arbitrarily selected by an operator on a screen on which the design data is displayed. And a comment input unit for inputting a comment as document information for the design element arbitrarily selected by the operator from the displayed design data. A comment data generating unit for connecting the comment input by the operator with the selected design element; and superimposing the comment input by the operator on a screen on which the design data is displayed. And a comment display section for simultaneous display in the vicinity of the selected design element. Creating support device. 2. A document data creating means for automatically creating document data including a combination of the comment input as character information and the name of the design element to which the comment is added, and A comment extracting unit that extracts the comment input by the operator; and a name of the design element to which the comment is added from the extracted comment. A document data generating / editing unit that generates document data by combining a name and the comment, and enables an operator to edit the generated document data by operating an input device; 2. A document data output unit for outputting created / edited document data as a file.
Document creation support device for design work of description. 3. The method according to claim 3, wherein the document data is created /
Among the design elements included in the edited document data, highlighting means for highlighting a design element that an operator wants to refer to on a screen on which the design data is displayed is added. And a design element name selection unit that selects a name of the design element that the operator wants to refer to on the screen on which the document data is displayed; and a display unit that is selected by the design element name selection unit. A design element search unit for searching for the relevant design element in the design data stored in the storage device from the name of the design element, and the design searched on a screen on which the design data is displayed. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a design element highlighting unit for highlighting the element. 4. The document creation support in a design work according to claim 1, wherein said design data display means and comment adding means are realized by using a computer having a central processing unit and a storage means. apparatus. 5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said document data creating means is realized by using a computer having a central processing unit and a storage means. 6. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said highlighting means is realized using a computer having a central processing unit and a storage means. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the design data is a circuit diagram or a mechanism diagram.