JPH08194723A - Electrical component classification support device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To facilitate the classification of each electrical component into functional blocks. An electrical component classification support device is a device that assists in classification of electrical components on a display screen for each functional block on a circuit board, and includes connection information of each electrical component created by a circuit diagram CAD device. Receiving symbol pattern information of each electric component and display position information of the symbol pattern information, displaying a circuit diagram on the display screen based on the received connection information, symbol pattern information and display position information, and displaying on the display screen An input for dividing the generated circuit diagram is received, and the division information is displayed on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen according to the received division input. Then, attribute information indicating which functional block the electric component belongs to is determined according to the displayed division information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric component classification support apparatus and method, and more particularly to an electric component classification support apparatus and method for classifying electric components for each of a plurality of functional blocks arranged on a circuit board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When designing a printed circuit board, first, referring to a circuit diagram, a functional block schematic layout design is performed to determine a schematic layout of functional blocks on the printed circuit board. Here, the functional block is a group of electric components that are divided into functional units of a circuit. Then, a detailed layout of each electric component and a component layout design such as determination of a wiring route are performed. In the functional block schematic layout design, normally, the printed circuit board designer refers to the functional block by referring to the positional relationship between fixed parts such as connectors and the functional blocks whose layout on the printed circuit board is predetermined and the circuit diagram. Understands the connection relationship from the above, and determines the rough position and shape of the functional block from this information.

After the rough positions of the functional blocks are determined, a printed circuit board designing device is used to carry out a design for automatically or interactively determining the layout and wiring route of each electric component. A device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-251106 is known as a device for determining the approximate position of this functional block. In this block rough position determination device, when the electric components are classified into the functional blocks in advance, the area of each functional block is calculated based on the classified electric component information, the connection information between the electric components, and the functional block information. Then, the connection degree of each functional block is calculated based on the component information, the connection information, and the block information. Then, the arrangement of the functional blocks is determined according to the results of these two calculations, and this is displayed on the display. This rough position determination device easily determines the rough position of the functional block, eliminates the need to repeat the layout of the functional block, and improves the efficiency of the layout determination of the functional block.

[0004]

In the above general position determining device, the work of classifying each electric component into functional blocks is performed manually. For example, after classifying each electric component into functional blocks based on a circuit diagram, the designer inputs the classification result into the device for each electric component. Therefore, it takes a long time to classify each electric component into functional blocks, and the classifying work is complicated.

An object of the present invention is to facilitate classification of each electric component into functional blocks.

[0006]

An electric component classification support device according to the present invention is a device for supporting classification of functional parts on a display screen on a display screen for each functional block on a circuit board.
The information receiving unit, the circuit diagram displaying unit, the division input receiving unit, the division information displaying unit, and the classifying unit are provided. The information receiving means includes connection information of each electric component created by the circuit diagram creation and display device, symbol pattern information of each electric component,
The display position information of the symbol pattern information is received. The circuit diagram display means displays the circuit diagram on the display screen based on the connection information, the symbol pattern information and the display position information received by the information receiving means. The division input receiving means receives an input for dividing the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen.
The division information display means displays the division information on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen according to the division input accepted by the division input acceptance means. The classification unit determines attribute information indicating which functional block the electrical component belongs to, according to the division information displayed by the division information display unit.

An electric component classification support method according to the present invention is a method for supporting classification of an electric component on a display screen for each functional block on a circuit board, which comprises an information receiving step,
It includes a circuit diagram display step, a division input reception step, a division information display step, and a classification step. In the information reception process,
The connection information of each electrical component created by the circuit diagram creation and display device, the symbol pattern information of each electrical component, and the display position information of the symbol pattern information are received. In the circuit diagram displaying step, the circuit diagram is displayed on the display screen based on the connection information, the symbol pattern information and the display position information received in the information receiving step. In the division input receiving step, an input for dividing the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen is received. In the division information display step, the division information is displayed on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen according to the division input accepted in the division input acceptance step. In the classification step, attribute information indicating which functional block the electrical component belongs to is determined according to the division information displayed in the division information display step.

[0008]

In the electrical component classification support apparatus and method according to the present invention, the connection information of each electrical component created by the circuit diagram creation display device, the symbol pattern information of each electrical component, and the display position information of the symbol pattern information are provided. Is received, a circuit diagram is displayed on the display screen based on the connection information, the symbol pattern information, and the display position information received by the information receiving means. Then, an input for dividing the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen is accepted, and according to the accepted division input,
The division information is displayed on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen. Then, attribute information indicating which functional block the electrical component belongs to is determined according to the displayed division information.

Here, the circuit diagram is displayed on the display screen,
By dividing and inputting the displayed circuit diagram, the electric components can be classified into the functional blocks on the circuit diagram. Therefore, the electric components can be easily classified into the functional blocks while confirming the functions.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printed circuit board design support device as an electrical component classification device that employs an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the printed circuit board design support device includes an arithmetic processing unit 1 including a computer system including an MPU, a RAM, a ROM, and an I / O interface. The arithmetic processing unit 1 calculates the area of the functional block, calculates the connection relation of the functional block, displays the functional block information, and determines the functional block position. A display unit 2 including a CRT display, a database unit 3 including a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device, a printer 4, and a plotter 5 are connected to the arithmetic processing unit 1. Further, the arithmetic processing unit 1 includes a mouse 6 and a keyboard 7 as input means, and a circuit diagram CA.
A communication interface 8 for communicating with an external device such as a D device and other input / output units are connected.

As shown in FIG. 2, the database unit 3 has a component information storage area 10, a functional block information storage area 11, a connection information storage area 12, a component master storage area 13, a component number and a functional block. There is provided a functional block / part number storage area 14 indicating the relationship with the other data storage area 15. In the component information storage area 10, component number information of electrical components, component master code, component name information, surface changeable flag,
An arrangement flag, data indicating display coordinates on the display unit 2, and attribute information indicating to which functional block the electrical component belongs are stored. The part numbers are, for example, "IC100" to "IC99" for semiconductor ICs.
9 ", and the resistance is represented by a symbol indicating the type of component and a three-digit number following it, such as" R100 "to" R999 ". The surface changeable flag is a flag indicating whether or not the arrangement surface can be changed (YES, NO), and the arrangement flag indicates whether or not the component is already arranged on the board (P.
Laced, UNplaced).

In the functional block information storage area 11, functional block name information, upper functional block information indicating a storage address of the upper functional block of the functional block in the functional block information storage area 11, and lower functional of the functional block. Stored is lower-level functional block information indicating the storage address of the block, area information indicating the shape and position of the functional block, and prohibition information indicating what shape and position of the prohibition area the functional block has. There is. The connection information storage area 12 stores information on signal line names, information on electric components connected to the signal lines, and information on terminal numbers thereof. The component master storage area 13 stores a component master code, information about pins (terminals) of electric components, area information of electric components, prohibition information of electric components, and other information. The functional block / part number storage area 14 stores information indicating the relationship between the upper one digit of the three-digit number of the part number and the functional block. For example, information such as the A functional block is stored in the 100s of the part numbers and the B functional block is stored in the 200s.

Next, the classification process of the above-described embodiment and the functional block and electric component placement process based on the classification process will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The arithmetic processing unit 1 first performs initial setting in step S1. At the time of this initial setting, various flags and various information are set to initial values (default values). In step S2,
The circuit diagram CAD apparatus receives connection information and component information of the circuit diagram resulting from designing the circuit diagram from, for example, the communication interface 8, converts the information, and stores the converted information in the database unit 3 to construct a database. In step S3, it is determined whether an attribute determination processing command has been issued. This attribute determination process determines to which functional block each electric component stored in the database unit 3 belongs.
In step S4, it is determined whether a functional block layout command has been issued. In step S5, it is determined whether or not a component placement command has been issued. A step S6 decides whether or not an edit command processing instruction has been issued. Step S7
Then, it is determined whether or not another processing instruction has been issued. If the determination in step S7 is "No", the process returns to step S3.

When it is determined that the attribute determination processing command has been issued, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S11. In step S11, an attribute determination process described later is executed. If it is determined that the functional block placement command has been issued, step S4
To step S12. In step S12, a functional block arrangement process described later is executed. If it is determined that the component placement command has been issued, steps S5 to S1
Move to 3. In step S13, component placement processing is executed. If it is determined that the edit command processing command has been issued, the process proceeds from step S6 to step S14. Step S
At 14, the edit command processing is executed. When it is determined that another processing instruction has been issued, steps S7 to S1
Go to 5. In step S15, another process according to the input instruction is executed.

In the attribute determination process of step S11, the process shown in FIG.
In step S20, the connection information of the circuit diagram created by the circuit diagram CAD device, the symbol pattern information of each electric component, and the symbol display position information are received via the communication interface 8. In step S21, these three types of received information are converted into ASCII format data that can be decoded by the printed circuit board design apparatus, and stored in the other information storage area 15 of the database unit 3. In step S22, the circuit diagram is displayed in the upper area of the display unit 2 based on the converted three types of information, and the layout of the functional blocks on the substrate is displayed in the lower area. In step S23, the area designation result by the operator is accepted.

When the circuit diagram shown in FIG. 15 is displayed on the upper portion of the display unit 2, the operator operates, for example, the mouse 6 to display a polygon P indicated by an alternate long and two short dashes line in FIG. Draw boundaries. When the drawing of the boundary is completed, double-click to notify the end of the division of the functional block. Upon receiving this double click, the arithmetic processing unit 1 determines the end of the area designation for one functional block. The operator inputs the functional block name when the area designation of the functional block is completed. This input is accepted in step S24. In step S25, the attribute information of the electric component in the designated area is written in the component information storage area 10 based on the received block name, and the block name is written in the block information storage area 11. The other information in the block information storage area 11 is set to the default value. In step S26, it is determined whether the area designation of all the functional blocks has been completed. This judgment is "No"
In this case, the process returns to step S23 and the area designation of the next functional block is accepted. If this determination is “Yes”, the process returns to the main routine.

In the functional block layout process of step S12, the input of the higher-level functional block name to be the layout target in step S41 of FIG. 5 is accepted. Here, when the board is input as the higher-level functional block name, the processing of arranging the functional blocks on the board is executed in the subsequent processing. Further, when the parent functional block is input, the processing of arranging the child functional block in the parent functional block is executed in the subsequent processing. In step S42, by referring to the attribute information of the part information storage area 10, all the parts belonging to the higher-level functional block input in step S41 are called, and based on the area information and the prohibition information stored in the part master code, All areas of the parts belonging to the functional block are calculated. However, when the area area of the functional block is calculated, it is calculated separately for the front surface of the substrate and the back surface of the substrate. That is, the surface area of the functional block is calculated by considering the surface on which the component is to be arranged for the surface mounting component and occupying both the front surface and the back surface of the penetrating component.

In step S43, the connection relationship between the function blocks and the connection relationship (connection degree) between the fixed parts such as connectors and the function blocks are calculated. The calculation of the connection relation between the functional blocks is performed by using the component information stored in the component information storage area 10 and the connection information stored in the connection information storage area 12 to determine the signal line connected across the functional blocks. It is done by extracting. The connection information between the functional blocks is the number of connections and the type of one connection signal line, for example, the signal line between front surface parts, the signal line between back surface parts, or the signal line between front surface parts and back surface parts. Such information is calculated.

In step S44, the layout information of the functional blocks is displayed on the screen of the display unit 2 based on the calculated area of the functional blocks and the connection relation of the functional blocks. An example of this screen display is shown in FIG. In FIG. 16, each of the displayed functional blocks A to C is displayed in a form in which the area is smaller by the functional block C. At this stage, since each functional block is not arranged on the board, it is displayed on the outside of the board and the connector CT which is a fixed part is provided inside the board.
Is arranged. The numbers written between the functional blocks indicate the number of signal lines connected between the functional blocks. By this display, the functional block A and the functional block B
It can be seen that there are 10 connections between and, and there are 6 connections between the functional block B and the functional block C.
Further, between the connector CT and the functional block B, three signal lines showing the connection relationship between each pin of the connector CT and the functional block B are displayed.

In step S45, the arrangement positions of the unarranged functional blocks A to C are determined. This procedure will be described based on the example shown in FIG. First, paying attention to the connection relationship between the connector CT whose position is determined and the functional block that is not arranged,
Select a functional block that has many connection relationships with the fixed connector CT. In this case, connect the functional block B to the connector CT.
Place it near. Next, paying attention to the connection relationship between the functional block B and the remaining functional blocks, a functional block with a large number of connections is selected. Since the functional block A has ten connections with the functional block B, the functional block A is arranged near the functional block B. Finally, since the functional block C has six connections with the functional block B, the functional block C is arranged near the functional block B. The result of such position determination is shown in FIG.

The display unit 2 is provided with a command display unit 21 for displaying various commands and commands, and a layout display unit 22 for displaying the layout state. In addition to this, the undisplayed parts and the like are also displayed on the placement display unit 22. Step S1
In the component placement processing of No. 3, in step S51 of FIG. 6, it is determined whether or not there is a functional block that is a placement target of a component that has not been placed yet. This decision can be
The determination is made by referring to the arrangement flags of the component information storage area 10 of all the electrical components classified into the functional blocks. If this determination is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S52.
In step S52, it is determined whether or not there is an unplaced component to be arranged in the functional block. This determination is similarly made by referring to the placement flag. If there are unplaced parts, the process moves from step S52 to step S53. In step S53, an optimum component is selected based on an algorithm that employs automatic component placement processing (for example, the algorithm disclosed in the component placement device of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-205974). In step S54, the optimum position of the selected optimum component is determined based on the same automatic component arrangement process. When the position of the component is determined, the process returns to step S52, and it is determined whether there is a next unplaced component. If there are unplaced parts, the process proceeds to step S53. When all the parts are arranged in one child function block, the process proceeds from step S52 to step S55.

In step S55, it is determined whether the arrangement of parts is optimum. This determination may be made automatically or manually. When the determination in step S55 is "No", the process proceeds to step S56. In step S56, all the components in the functional block are placed in a non-arranged state. In other words, the allocation flag is set to "unallocated (UN)".
To In step S57, the arrangement condition is changed. In changing the arrangement condition, the size of the grid of the arrangement grid of the component is changed, or the arrangement offset of the component is changed. When the arrangement condition changing process ends, the process returns to step S52. If it is determined that the position is optimum, the process returns from step S55 to the main routine.

In the edit command processing of step S14,
In step S61 of FIG. 7, it is determined whether a functional block attribute change command has been input. In step S62, it is determined whether a functional block generation command has been input. In step S63, it is determined whether a functional block erase command has been input. In step S64, it is determined whether a functional block area change command has been input. Step S6
At 5, it is determined whether a functional block move command is input. In step S66, it is determined whether a functional block prohibition addition command has been input. In step S67, it is determined whether a functional block information reference command has been input.
In step S68, it is determined whether or not another edit command has been input. If this determination is “No”, the process returns to the main routine.

If it is determined that the functional block attribute changing command is input, the process proceeds from step S61 to step S71, and the functional block attribute changing process shown in FIG. 8 is executed.
If it is determined that the functional block generation command is input, the process proceeds from step S62 to step S72, and the functional block generation process shown in FIG. 9 is executed. When it is determined that the functional block erasing command is input, steps S63 to S
In step 73, the functional block erasing process shown in FIG. 10 is executed. When it is determined that the functional block area change command is input, the process proceeds from step S64 to step S74,
The functional block area changing process shown in FIG. 11 is executed.
When it is determined that the functional block move command is input, the process proceeds from step S65 to step S75, and the functional block move process shown in FIG. 12 is executed. If it is determined that the functional block prohibition addition command is input, the process proceeds from step S66 to step S76, and the functional block prohibition addition process shown in FIG. 13 is executed. If it is determined that the functional block information reference command is input, the process proceeds from step S67 to step S77, and the functional block information reference process shown in FIG. 14 is executed. If it is determined that another edit command has been input, the process proceeds from step S68 to step S78, and the process corresponding to the other input edit command is performed.

In the functional block attribute change processing of step S71, the input of the part number whose attribute is to be changed and the changed functional block name in step S81 of FIG. 8 is accepted.
In step S82, the input electric component is extracted with reference to the component information storage area 10. In step S83, it is determined whether or not the electrical component having the component number input in step S81 is already stored in the component information storage area 10. If the part is already stored, the process proceeds from step S83 to step S84, the attribute information is changed to the function block name input in step S81, and the process returns to the edit command routine of FIG. If no part is stored, the process directly returns to the edit command routine.

In the functional block generation process of step S72, the input of the functional block name to be generated in step S91 of FIG. 9 is accepted. In step S92, it is determined whether or not the input functional block name is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11. If the input functional block name is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11, the process is terminated as it is, and if it is not stored, the process proceeds to step S93. In step S93, the functional block name input in step S91 is written in the functional block information storage area 11, and the area information and prohibition information are set to default values. Here, as the default value, the area of the entire substrate is written in the area information column, and the information of "none" is written in the prohibition information column.

In the functional block erasing process of step S73, the input of the functional block name to be erased is accepted in step S101 of FIG. In step S102, it is determined whether or not the functional block name input in step S101 is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11. If the functional block name is already stored, the process proceeds to step S103, and the column of the attribute information of the electrical component classified as the functional block to be erased in the component information storage area 10 is set to the higher-level function of the functional block to be erased. At the same time as rewriting the block name, all the information stored under the function block name in the function block information storage area 11 is erased.

In the functional block area changing process of step S74, the input of the functional block name to be changed is accepted in step S111 of FIG. In step S112, it is determined whether or not the functional block name input in step S111 is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11. If it is determined that it is stored, the process proceeds to step S113. In step S113, the area information and prohibition information of the input functional block are extracted. In step S114, based on the extracted area information and prohibition information, the function block is displayed at the position specified on the display unit 2 in the specified shape (hereinafter, referred to as the functional block size). In step S115, the input of area change information is accepted. When the area change information is input, the process proceeds to step S116. Step S
At 116, the shape information of the area information is changed in accordance with the area change information. In step S117, the changed functional block size is displayed.

In the functional block moving process of step S75, the input of the functional block name to be moved is accepted in step S121 of FIG. In step S122, it is determined whether or not the functional block name input in step S121 is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11. If it is determined that the data is stored, step S12
Move to 3. In step S123, the area information and the prohibition information of the input functional block are extracted. In step S124, the functional block size before movement is displayed on the display unit 2 based on the extracted area information and prohibition information. In step S125, the input of the position change information is accepted. When the position change information is input, step S1
Move to 26. In step S126, the position information of the area information is changed. In step S127, the functional block size after movement is displayed.

In the function block prohibition addition processing of step S76, the input of the function block name to which prohibition information should be added is accepted in step S131 of FIG. Step S1
In 32, it is determined whether or not the functional block name input in step S131 is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11. If it is determined that it is stored, the process proceeds to step S133. In step S133,
The area information and the prohibition information of the input functional block are extracted. In step S134, the function block size before the addition of prohibition is displayed on the display unit 2 based on the extracted area information and prohibition information. This state is shown in FIG. In FIG. 18A, a rectangular functional block A is displayed. In step S135, the input of the additional information of the function block prohibition is accepted. In this state, FIG. 18 (b)
As shown in, a rectangular prohibited area is added to the lower right corner of the functional block A based on the functional block prohibition additional information input. When additional information for prohibiting function block is entered,
Then, the process proceeds to step S136. In step S136,
Change the shape information and the position information of the prohibition information. In step S137, the functional block size after the addition of prohibition is changed is displayed. This state is shown in FIG. FIG.
In (c), the lower right corner of the functional block A is missing due to the prohibited area based on the input additional functional block prohibition information. In this way, the shape of the functional block is changed by adding the prohibition information in the functional block information reference processing of step S77.
In step S141 of 4, the input of the functional block name to be referred to is accepted. In step S142, step S1
It is determined whether or not the functional block name input in 41 is already stored in the functional block information storage area 11. If it is determined that it is stored, the process proceeds to step S143. In step S143, area information and prohibition information are extracted. In step S144, the component information of all the electrical components classified into the input functional block is searched with reference to the attribute information of the component information storage area 10.
In step S145, the shape of the functional block and the parts belonging to the functional block are highlighted and the searched part numbers are displayed in order. [Other Embodiments] Designating a region of a functional block with a polygon is an example, and the region may be designated by another method.

[0031]

In the device and method for classifying electrical components according to the present invention, the circuit diagram is displayed on the display screen, and the split circuit is displayed on the displayed circuit diagram. Since they can be classified, electrical components can be easily classified into functional blocks while checking the functions.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block configuration diagram of a printed circuit board design support apparatus adopting an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a data storage state of a database unit 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a main routine of an arithmetic processing unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing attribute determination processing.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a block arrangement process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a component placement process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing edit command processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing block attribute change processing.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing block generation processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a block erasing process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a block area changing process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing block movement processing.

FIG. 13 is a control flowchart showing block prohibition change processing.

FIG. 14 is a control flowchart showing block information reference processing.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example in which an area is designated on a circuit diagram.

FIG. 16 is a display screen diagram showing a block layout process.

FIG. 17 is a display screen diagram showing a block arrangement state.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a block inhibition process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 arithmetic processing unit 2 display unit 3 database unit 6 mouse 7 keyboard 8 communication interface

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electric component classification support device for supporting the classification of electric parts on a display screen for each functional block on a circuit board, wherein connection information of each electric part created by a circuit diagram creation display device is provided. An information receiving unit that receives the symbol pattern information of each electric component and display position information of the symbol pattern information, and the display based on the connection information, the symbol pattern information, and the display position information received by the information receiving unit. A circuit diagram display means for displaying a circuit diagram on the screen, a split input receiving means for receiving an input for splitting the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen, and a split input received by the split input receiving means,
Division information display means for displaying division information on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen, and according to the division information displayed by the division information display means,
An electronic component classification support device comprising: a classification unit that determines attribute information indicating which functional block the electric component belongs to. 2. A method for supporting the classification of electric parts on a display screen of electric parts for each functional block on a circuit board, comprising connection information of each electric part created by a circuit diagram creation and display device. An information receiving step of receiving symbol pattern information of each electric component and display position information of the symbol pattern information, and the display based on the connection information, the symbol pattern information and the display position information received in the information receiving step. A circuit diagram display step of displaying a circuit diagram on the screen, a split input receiving step of receiving an input for splitting the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen, and a split input received in the split input receiving step,
A division information display step of displaying division information on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen, and according to the division information displayed in the division information display step,
And a classification step of determining attribute information indicating which functional block the electrical component belongs to.