Protection boundaries in a parallel printed circuit board design environment
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for editing a printed circuit board design, comprising:
- (a) receiving design data at each of first and second clients, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the printed circuit board design, the design data includes data corresponding to a shared area, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by both of the clients;
(b) receiving a user instruction at the first client to protect a portion of the shared area from editing by the second client;
(c) transmitting an edit request from the second client regarding the protected portion; and
(d) receiving data at the second client reflecting rejection of the edit request.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Multiple users may simultaneously edit a shared area of a printed circuit board design. In order to prevent conflicts between multiple users, a user draws a protection border around a portion of his or her workspace so as to temporarily reserve the protected portion and prevent editing by other users. The protection border may be broadcast to other users. The protection border may also define a protected region in which a user may evaluate alternative design changes without requesting corresponding changes to a master PCB design.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for editing a printed circuit board design, comprising:
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(a) receiving design data at each of first and second clients, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the printed circuit board design, the design data includes data corresponding to a shared area, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by both of the clients;
(b) receiving a user instruction at the first client to protect a portion of the shared area from editing by the second client;
(c) transmitting an edit request from the second client regarding the protected portion; and
(d) receiving data at the second client reflecting rejection of the edit request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for editing a printed circuit board design, comprising:
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(a) receiving design data at a first client, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the printed circuit board design, the design data includes data corresponding to a shared area, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by the first client and one or more other clients;
(b) receiving a user instruction at the first client to protect a portion of the shared area from editing by the one or more other clients; and
(c) transmitting, in response to the instruction received in step (b) and for broadcast to the one or more other clients, a protection border reserving the protected portion of the shared area for the first client. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for editing design data for a printed circuit board, comprising:
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(a) transmitting the design data to each of first and second clients, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the design, the design data includes data corresponding to at least a portion of a shared area of the design, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by both of the clients;
(b) receiving from the first client a protection border reserving a protected portion of the shared area for the first client;
(c) transmitting the protection border to the second client for display thereon; and
(d) preventing the second client from editing parts of the shared area within the protected portion. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of method for editing a printed circuit board design, the steps comprising:
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(a) receiving design data at each of first and second clients, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the printed circuit board design, the design data includes data corresponding to a shared area, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by both of the clients;
(b) receiving a user instruction at the first client to protect a portion of the shared area from editing by the second client;
(c) transmitting an edit request from the second client regarding the protected portion; and
(d) receiving data at the second client reflecting rejection of the edit request. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of method for editing a printed circuit board design, the steps comprising:
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(a) receiving design data at a first client, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the printed circuit board design, the design data includes data corresponding to a shared area, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by the first client and one or more other clients;
(b) receiving a user instruction at the first client to protect a portion of the shared area from editing by the one or more other clients; and
(c) transmitting, in response to the instruction received in step (b) and for broadcast to the one or more other clients, a protection border reserving the protected portion of the shared area for the first client. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of method for editing a printed circuit board design, the steps comprising:
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(a) transmitting design data to each of first and second clients, wherein;
the design data includes graphically displayable information regarding a pattern of electronic components and connections between those components for at least a portion of the design, the design data includes data corresponding to at least a portion of a shared area of the design, and the shared area is simultaneously editable by both of the clients;
(b) receiving from the first client a protection border reserving a protected portion of the shared area for the first client;
(c) transmitting the protection border to the second client for display thereon; and
(d) preventing the second client from editing parts of the shared area within the protected portion. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44)
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Specification