JP2891199B2 - Design support equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a design support apparatus for supporting a design technique when design data has a hierarchical structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a design support apparatus has been used for designing an integrated circuit. Further, in recent years, the scale of an integrated circuit has been increased, and the entire circuit is generally structured in a hierarchical structure, divided into functional blocks (hereinafter, also referred to as macros) in lower layers, and design is generally performed for each macro. An example of the processing procedure in that case will be described below.

[0003] A designer creates a top-level circuit. The designer selects the macro A. The designer considers a design step to be started next to the macro A, opens a selection menu of each design step on the design support device, and starts a tool of the next step. The same applies to macro B.

[0004] As conventional examples similar in technical field to the present invention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-159011 and 5-1 have been disclosed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59012 discloses a “design support device”. In this conventional publication, design data of a logic device is input, a simulation of the logic device is performed, and then only design data to be integrated is automatically extracted to manufacture an integrated circuit. .

[0005]

However, in the conventional design support apparatus described above, when the design progress differs for each macro, the designer needs to grasp and control the design progress for each macro. There is. Therefore, when the design work is being performed by a plurality of people, it is necessary to frequently transmit the progress of the design for each macro up to the previous time to another designer. This is more tedious and complicated than you think. In addition, when a plurality of people are designing, transmission of design progress information of each macro involves a problem that is difficult.

In each of the above-described conventional design support devices, functions such as data management and activation of each design tool exist only in the framework. Therefore, in the design flowchart, each tool returns to the framework. Work is needed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a design support apparatus for controlling a design procedure for each macro having a hierarchical structure.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a design support apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a macro extracting apparatus for extracting each macro of a lower hierarchy from circuit connection information having a hierarchical structure; It is characterized by having a history file creation device that creates a history file for each macro, and a design control device that controls a design step for each macro with reference to the history file.

Further, the above-mentioned design support device includes a rule check device for checking connection information between and within each macro, a simulator for inputting connection information and a pattern and simulating the same, and creating / editing a pattern. And a history file editing device that receives instructions from the design control device and edits the processing description of the history file. It is advisable to create a history file and control the design procedure for each macro.

[0010] The design support device further includes a history file for recording a history file.
It is desirable to be able to manage the history of design.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a design support apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an embodiment of the design support apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a design support apparatus according to the present invention. The design support device of the present embodiment includes a connection information editing device 1, a macro extraction device 2, a history file creation device 3, a design rule check device 4, a pattern editor 5, a simulator 6, a design control device 7, a history file editing device 8, It comprises a macro history file 9 and a display device 10.

In each of the above components, the connection information editing apparatus 1 has a function of creating and editing connection information of the highest hierarchy of design data and a function of creating and editing connection information inside each macro. Further, the connection information of the highest hierarchy and the connection information inside each macro from the connection information editing device 1 are displayed on the display device 10 and have a function of determining which macro is selected by the designer on the display device. .

The macro extracting device 2 has a function of extracting each macro from the highest hierarchy of the design data. The history file creation device 3 has a history file creation function for each of the extracted macros. The design rule check device 4 has a function of checking connection information. The pattern editor 5 has a function of creating and editing a pattern to be input to the simulator 6 together with connection information.

The simulator 6 has a function of simulating by inputting connection information and a pattern. The design control device 7 has a function of performing the operation as described with reference to FIG. 2 by referring to the history file of each macro. The history file editing device 8 receives a command from the design control device 7 and edits the processing description of the history file. History file 9
Is a storage unit for recording a history file. The history file is recorded for each macro, and enables management of the design history in macro units.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of a design control processing procedure in the design support apparatus having the above configuration.
In FIG. 2, when the designer selects a predetermined macro, the design control device 7 refers to the history file of the macro selected by the designer. If there is no description of the processing history so far in the history file (S1 / YES), step S11 for creating connection information inside the macro is started. Step S11
After that, when the designer finishes creating the connection information inside the macro, the history file editing device 8 is requested to update the history file (S15), and at the end of the processing description of the history file,
"End of macro internal connection information creation" is described. After the update is completed, the process returns to the process step (S1) for checking the process description of the history file.

Next, it is assumed that the end of the processing description of the macro history file selected by the designer is "macro internal connection information creation end" (S1 / NO, S2 / YES). In this case, the design rule check device is started as the next step (S12). Thereafter, the process description of the process file is updated (S15), and the process returns to step S1.

If an error is detected by the design rule check device 4 (S3 / YES), the macro internal connection method creation step of step S11 is started, and the process returns to the connection information editing operation. If no error is detected by the design rule check device 4 (S4 / YES), the next step, a pattern editor step S13, is started to proceed to pattern creation. When the pattern creation is completed (S5 / YES), the next step, a simulation step S14, is started, and the process proceeds to the simulator.

If an error is detected in the simulator (S6 / NO), the next step selection menu is activated (S16) and the process returns to the connection information creation (S17 / YE).
S) The designer is prompted to determine whether to return to pattern creation (S17 / NO). Based on the result, the process returns to the connection information creation in step S11 or the pattern creation in step S13. If no error is detected in the simulator 6 (S6 / YE
S), this processing procedure ends.

In the above, the extracted macros are AB
A processing procedure for the case of three Cs will be described. A designer creates top-level circuit connection information. The macros A, B, and C are extracted by the macro extracting device 2 from the created highest-level circuit connection information. The history file creation unit 3 creates a history file for each of the extracted macros. The designer selects, for example, macro A on the display device 10 on which the highest-level circuit connection information is displayed. The connection information editing device 1 determines that the selected macro is the macro A, and transmits the information to the design control device 7. The design control device 7 receives the information that the macro A has been selected on the display device, and refers to the history file of the macro A.

If there is no description of the processing history so far in the history file of the macro A, a connection information editing step for creating connection information inside the macro A is started. When the user finishes creating the internal connection information of the macro A, the design control device 7 requests the history file editing device 8 to edit the history file. The history file editing device 8 describes “completion of macro connection information creation” at the end of the processing description of the history file of the macro A, and returns to the circuit diagram editor displaying the highest-level circuit connection information.

Similarly, when the designer selects an arbitrary macro, the design control device 7 controls the design steps for each macro based on the processing flow chart of the design control device shown in FIG.

According to the above procedure, the design support apparatus creates a history file for each macro for different macro steps, and the design control device 7 refers to the history file to create the next file for each macro. Judge the design steps,
The design support device itself, not the designer, controls the design steps for each macro.

The above embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0025]

As is apparent from the above description, the design support apparatus of the present invention extracts each lower-level macro from circuit connection information having a hierarchical structure. A history file is created for each extracted macro, and a design step for each macro is controlled with reference to the history file. Therefore,
In the design data having a hierarchical structure, when the design steps are different for each macro, the design support device controls the design steps instead of the designer, so that the man-hour of the designer is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart of the design control device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connection information editing device 2 Macro extraction device 3 History file creation device 4 Design rule check device 5 Pattern editor 6 Simulator 7 Design control device 8 History file editing device 9 History file 10 Display device

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A macro extraction device for extracting each macro in a lower hierarchy with respect to circuit connection information having a hierarchical structure; a history file creation device for creating a history file for each of the extracted macros; A design control device for controlling a design step for each macro with reference to the design support device. 2. The design support device further comprises: a rule check device for checking connection information between and within each of the macros; a simulator for inputting and simulating the connection information and a pattern; Create
When creating an upper layer of the design data having the hierarchical structure, the pattern editor includes a pattern editor for editing, and a history file editing device for editing the processing description of the history file in response to an instruction from the design control device. 2. The design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a history file is created for each macro, and a design procedure for each macro is controlled. 3. The design according to claim 1, wherein the design support device further includes a history file for recording the history file, and enables management of a design history. Support equipment.