INTELLIGENT MILLING PATH CREATION FOR PANELIZATION ABSTRACT
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method to integrate a milling path into a printed circuit board (PCB) design, comprising:
- on a PCB design having a PCB outline and critical components placed thereon, creating keepout regions based on the PCB outline and placement of critical components;
calculating support tab placements in accordance with the keepout regions; and
placing support tabs on the PCB design by generating support tabs on the PCB outline based on the calculated support tab placements.
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Abstract
A method is disclosed to integrate the creation of a milling path into printed circuit board (PCB) design. The method includes creating keepout regions based on a PCB outline and critical components components placed on the PCB design, calculating support tabs based on the created keepout regions, and then placing the support tabs along the border as calculated. A milling machine may then mill out the support tabs as designed without suffering the potentially undetectable defects in the milling process.
10 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method to integrate a milling path into a printed circuit board (PCB) design, comprising:
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on a PCB design having a PCB outline and critical components placed thereon, creating keepout regions based on the PCB outline and placement of critical components;
calculating support tab placements in accordance with the keepout regions; and
placing support tabs on the PCB design by generating support tabs on the PCB outline based on the calculated support tab placements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method to integrate a milling path into a printed circuit board (PCB) design, comprising:
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defining a PCB outline of a PCB design;
placing critical components on the PCB design;
creating keepout regions based on the PCB outline and placement of critical components;
calculating support tab placements in accordance with the keepout regions; and
creating pre-routes on the PCB design based on the calculated support tab placements. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method to create pre-routes along the outline of a printed circuit board (PCB) design, comprising:
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creating a first set of keepout regions on the PCB design, the first set of keepout regions based on a board outline of the PCB design;
creating a second set of keepout regions on the PCB design, the second set of keepout regions based on placement of critical components on the PCB design;
determining if internal mechanical features exist on the PCB design;
if internal mechanical features on the PCB design exist, determining if they are in critical proximity to the border;
if there are internal mechanical features that are in critical proximity to the border, then creating a third set of keepout regions on the PCB design, the third set of keepout regions based on the internal mechanical features that are in critical proximity to the border; and
calculating support tab placements along the PCB outline in accordance with the first, second, and third set of keepout regions. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus comprising:
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a region protector to create keepout regions along a printed circuit board (PCB) outline of a PCB design having critical components placed thereon;
a support tab calculator to calculate support tab placements along the PCB outline in accordance with the keepout regions; and
a support tab placement to place calculated support tabs along the PCB outline. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the following:
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create a PCB outline of a PCB design;
allow placement of critical components on the PCB design;
create keepout regions based on the PCB outline and placement of critical components;
calculate support tab placements in accordance with the keepout regions; and
create pre-routes on the PCB design based on the calculated support tab placements. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A method to integrate a milling path into a printed circuit board (PCB) design, comprising:
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on a PCB design having a PCB outline and critical components placed thereon, the step of creating keepout regions based on the PCB outline and placement of critical components;
the step of calculating support tab placements in accordance with the keepout regions; and
the step of placing support tabs on the PCB design by generating support tabs on the PCB outline based on the calculated support tab placements. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. An apparatus comprising:
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means for creating keepout regions along a printed circuit board (PCB) outline of a PCB design having critical components placed thereon;
means for calculating support tab placements along the PCB outline in accordance with the keepout regions; and
means for placing calculated support tabs along the PCB outline. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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Specification