System and method of preventing the simulation of a circuit if a change to the circuit topology is detected
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving a netlist that describes a circuit; and
adding a function to said netlist to prevent a simulation and/or analysis of said circuit if a change in the topology of said circuit is detected.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, method, and software module for preventing a simulation and/or analysis of a circuit described in a netlist if a change in the circuit topology has been detected. The method entails scanning the netlist for circuit topology changes prior to performing the simulation or analysis on the circuit. If no change in the circuit topology has been detected, then the simulation or analysis of the circuit is allowed to proceed. If, on the other hand, a change in the circuit topology has been detected, then in some cases the simulation and/or analysis of the circuit is prevented. The methodology allows a prospective customer to perform simulation and/or analysis on a complicated circuit with a freely-distributed demo simulation program, and yet it does not rise to the software manufacturing giving away its software since the simulation and/or analysis is restricted to that particular circuit topology.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving a netlist that describes a circuit; and
adding a function to said netlist to prevent a simulation and/or analysis of said circuit if a change in the topology of said circuit is detected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method, comprising:
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receiving a netlist that describes a circuit;
determining whether said topology of said circuit has changed;
performing a circuit simulation and/or analysis of said circuit in response to determining that said topology of said circuit has not changed; and
denying a circuit simulation and/or analysis of said circuit in response to determining that said topology of said circuit has changed. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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- 13. A computer readable medium storing one or more software modules to add a function to said netlist that prevents a simulation and/or analysis of said circuit if a change in the topology of said circuit is detected.
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18. A computer readable medium storing one or more software modules to:
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determine whether a topology of a circuit described in a netlist has changed;
perform a circuit simulation and/or analysis of said circuit in response to determining that said topology of said circuit has not changed; and
denying a circuit simulation and/or analysis of said circuit in response to determining that said topology of said circuit has changed. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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- 25. An apparatus including a processor to add a function to a netlist that prevents a simulation and/or analysis of said circuit if a change in the topology of said circuit is detected.
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30. An apparatus comprising a processor to:
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determine whether a topology of a circuit described in a netlist has changed;
perform a circuit simulation and/or analysis of said circuit in response to determining that said topology of said circuit has not changed; and
denying a circuit simulation and/or analysis of said circuit in response to determining that said topology of said circuit has changed. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification