A method and apparatus for designing a circuit system, including selecting a plurality of pre-designed circuit blocks to be used to design the circuit system, collecting data reflecting the experience of the designer regarding the pre-designed circuit blocks, the designer's experience being adaptable to a processing method, accepting or rejecting a design of the circuit system in a manner based on the designer's experience data and acceptable degree of risk, upon acceptance, forming block specifications containing criteria and modified constraints for each of the circuit blocks, upon acceptance, forming block specifications for deploying the circuit blocks on a floor plan of a chip, as a system on a chip, in compliance with the criteria and modified constraints, and substantially without changing the selected circuit block and the processing method.

Block based design methodology

A method for designing a circuit block includes the steps of selecting a plurality of pre-designed circuit blocks to be used to design the circuit system, at least one of said circuit blocks being programmable; collecting data reflecting the experience of the designer regarding the pre-designed circuit blocks, the designer's experience being adaptable to a processing method; accepting or rejecting a design of the circuit system in a manner based on the designer's experience data and acceptable degree of risk; upon acceptance, forming block specifications containing criteria and modified constraints for each of the circuit blocks (FEA); and, upon acceptance, forming block specifications for deploying the circuit blocks on a floor plan of a chip, in compliance with the criteria and modified constraints without changing the selected circuit block and the processing method.

Block based design methodology with programmable components

A method of restricting file access is disclosed wherein a set of file write access commands are determined from data stored within a storage medium. The set of file write access commands are for the entire storage medium. Any matching file write access command provided to the file system for that storage medium results in an error message. Other file write access commands are, however, passed onto a device driver for the storage medium and are implemented. In this way commands such as file delete and file overwrite can be disabled for an entire storage medium.

Method and system for providing restricted access to a storage medium

Some embodiments of the invention provide novel methods for removing acute angles form routes in a design layout. The method reacts a route with several segments. It then identifies an acute angle between first and second contiguous segments of the route. The method next inserts a third segment between the first and second segments, where the third segment has an associated shape that fills the acute angle between the first and second segments.

Removal of acute angles in a design layout

A software system includes an engineering analysis system (EAS) for analyzing an engineering object system and for recommending elimination of object system components. The EAS includes a functional model unit responsive to user entry for generating images of a functional model of the object system including its components, elements and products and representations of the interactions between the generated components, elements, and products. The functional model can be represented as a number of component/element boxes and harmful and useful interaction lines therebetween, or the functional model components, elements and products can be represented in matrix form with interactions identified in the intersections of the matrix. The EAS includes an advanced link analysis unit for prompting user entry, storing and displaying of (i) a parameter of at least one of said interactions, (ii) the actual and desired quantitative or qualitative values of said parameter, (iii) a time and space dependency of the parameter. A trimming unit responsive to functional model data and interaction evaluation data is provided for generating a trimming recommendation rank for each functional model component and displaying representations of the trimming recommendation rank on the screen as well as the trimmed functional model and the improvement results if the recommended trimming can be accomplished.

Computer based system for imaging and analysing an engineering object system and indicating values of specific design changes

Disclosed is a design tool and a method of fabricating a multi-layer printed circuit board. The method utilizes the design tool. The knowledge base means has both (1) printed circuit board cross sectional geometric parameter to transmission line parameter data and (2) "IF . . . THEN . . . " production rules for lamination, registration, circuitization, testability, test tools, and test procedures. These tools relate to manufacturability, cost, test development, second level packaging and printed circuit board. The printed circuit board begins with the user entering the printed circuit board design parameters and performance parameters into the input/output interface. Next, the knowledge base production rules are applied to the printed circuit board design and performance parameters to generate a set of cross section designs meeting the user specified parameters. The printed circuit board is then built up in accordance with one of the generated cross section designs.

Scott A. Versprille

Papers

Method and apparatus for the cross-sectional design of multi-layer printed circuit boards