System and method for design, procurement and manufacturing collaboration

• US 20100242005A1
• Filed: 04/27/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flextronics America LLC (Flextronics International Limited)
• Original Assignee: Flextronics America LLC (Flextronics International Limited)
• Inventors: Brathwaite, Nicholas E., Burns, Paul N., Durkan, Michael Anthony, Ganapathy, Visvanathan, Maddox, Douglas Edward, Bommakanti, Ram Gopal
• Granted Patent: US 8,806,398 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/00 Details relating to CAD techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/02 CAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/12 Symbolic schematics
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/18 Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/30 Circuit design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/398 Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method for designing an electronic component includes receiving a device criteria (e.g., a parametric value, procurement value, etc.) from a designer, querying a database for devices corresponding to the device criteria, querying the database for procurement data and/or engineering data associated with the corresponding devices, presenting the devices to the designer based on the procurement data, and receiving input from the designer identifying one of the presented devices as a selected device. In a particular method, the returned devices are sorted based on one or more procurement values (e.g., manufacturer, price, availability, manufacturer status, etc.), and presented to the designer in a ranked list. Objects representative of the selected devices are then entered into a design file, and the objects are associated with the device'"'"'s engineering and/or procurement data. In a particular embodiment, the objects are associated with the engineering data by embedding the engineering data in the file object. Optionally, data can be associated with the objects via links to the database. Types of engineering data that can be associated with design file objects include, but are not limited to, device footprint data, device pinout data, device physical dimension data, parametric data, and packaging data. Additionally, connection data and annotation data can be entered into the design file objects by the designer.

Claims

1. An electronically-readable storage medium having stored therein a data structure comprising:

a first field containing data representing an electronic device;

a second field containing engineering data associated with said electronic device; and

a third field containing procurement data associated with said electronic device.

2. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said data structure further comprises a fourth field containing data representing a graphical image of said electronic device.

3. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said engineering data includes parametric data.

4. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said engineering data includes geometric data.

5. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 4, wherein said geometric data includes data representing a device footprint.

6. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 4, wherein said geometric data includes data representing a device pinout arrangement.

7. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein:

said engineering data includes geometric data; and

further comprising a fourth field containing parametric data associated with said electronic device.

8. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said procurement data represents a manufacturer associated with said electronic device.

9. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 8, and further including a fourth field containing data representing a preferred status associated with said manufacturer.

10. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 8, and further including a fourth field containing data representing a price associated with said electronic device.

11. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 8, and further including a fourth field containing data representing an availability of said electronic device.

12. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said data structure further includes a fourth field containing data representing whether said electronic device is an approved device within a company'"'"'s supply chain.

13. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein said fourth field includes filtering data indicating to a device that accesses said data structure that at least one of said data in said first field, said data in said second field, and said data in said third field should not be displayed.

14. An electronically-readable storage medium having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to perform the steps of:

placing objects representing electronic devices in a design file;

defining interconnections between said devices in said design file;

associating engineering data with said objects in said design file; and

performing a DFx analysis on said design file for compliance with a set of predetermined DFx design rules at the design stage, said DFx analysis performed as said objects are placed in said design file.

15. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 14, further comprising code embodied therein for causing said electronic device to perform the steps of:

generating a schematic following said design analysis; and

using said schematic to design a printed circuit board for said electronic component.

16. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 14, further comprising code embodied therein for causing said electronic device to perform the steps of:

generating a net list from said design file following said design analysis; and

using said net list to design a printed circuit board for said electronic component.

17. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 14, further comprising code embodied therein for causing said electronic device to perform the steps of:

retrieving procurement data from a procurement database;

associating said procurement data with said objects in said design file; and

performing a procurement analysis on said design file at the design stage.

18. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising code embodied therein for causing said electronic device to perform the steps of:

generating a bill of materials from said design file following said procurement analysis; and

using said bill of materials to initiate a procurement process.

19. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 17, further comprising code embodied therein for causing said electronic device to perform the steps of:

updating said procurement data in said procurement database based on said procurement analysis; and

providing feedback to a designer based on said updated procurement data.

20. An electronically-readable storage medium according to claim 14, further comprising code embodied therein for causing said electronic device to perform the steps of:

updating at least one design rule associated with said DFx analysis based on a manufacturing process; and

providing feedback to a designer based on said at least one updated design rule.