THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPOSITE SOLID COMPONENT MODELING

• US 20160171144A1
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Software Limited (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Suiter, Gerald
• Granted Patent: US 10,296,693 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/26 Composites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2115/12 Printed circuit boards [PCB] or multi-chip modules [MCM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/23 using finite element methods [FEM] or finite difference methods [FDM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/39 Circuit design at the physical level physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/392 Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement
• 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: H05K 1/0298 Multilayer circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/46 Manufacturing multilayer circuits

Abstract

This application discloses a computing system implementing tools and mechanisms to generate a composite solid model for a set of parts and utilize the composite solid model during the layout process. The tools and mechanisms can identify multiple parts available for inclusion in a circuit design, combine component models corresponding to the multiple parts into a composite solid model, and place the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design. The composite solid model can have physical dimensions that overlap with physical dimensions of the component models corresponding to the multiple parts.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a computing system, multiple parts available for inclusion in a circuit design;

combining, by the computing system, component models corresponding to the multiple parts into a composite solid model; and

placing, by the computing system, the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the composite solid model has physical dimensions that overlap with physical dimensions of the component models corresponding to the multiple parts.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computing system, user input corresponding to a selection of the multiple parts, wherein identifying the multiple parts is based on the user input.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprises identifying, by the computing system, the component models for each of the multiple parts from at least one library of the component models.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein placing the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design further comprises augmenting a data model associated with the layout representation of the circuit design to include the composite solid model.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprises performing, by the computing system, at least one design rule check to compare the layout representation with electro-mechanical constraints.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design corresponds to a three-dimensional representation of a physical combination of the multiple parts.

8. A system comprising:

a memory device configured to store machine-readable instructions; and

a computing system including one or more processing devices, in response to executing the machine-readable instructions, configured to

identify multiple parts available for inclusion in a circuit design;

combine component models corresponding to the multiple parts into a composite solid model; and

place the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the composite solid model has physical dimensions that overlap with physical dimensions of the component models corresponding to the multiple parts.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processing devices, in response to executing the machine-readable instructions, are configured to identify a selection of the multiple parts from received user input and identify the multiple parts available for inclusion in the circuit design based on the user input.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processing devices, in response to executing the machine-readable instructions, are configured to identify the component models for each of the multiple parts from at least one library of component models.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processing devices, in response to executing the machine-readable instructions, are configured to place the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design by augmenting a data model associated with the layout representation of the circuit design to include the composite solid model.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design corresponds to a three-dimensional representation of a physical combination of the multiple parts.

14. An apparatus comprising at least one computer-readable memory device storing instructions configured to cause one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

identifying multiple parts available for inclusion in a circuit design;

combining component models corresponding to the multiple parts into a composite solid model; and

placing the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the composite solid model has physical dimensions that overlap with physical dimensions of the component models corresponding to the multiple parts.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions configured to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising identifying a selection of the multiple parts from received user input and identifying the multiple parts available for inclusion in the circuit design based on the user input.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions configured to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising identifying the component models for each of the multiple parts from at least one library of component models.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions configured to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising augmenting a data model associated with the layout representation of the circuit design to include the composite solid model.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions configured to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising performing at least one design rule check to compare the layout representation with electro-mechanical constraints.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the composite solid model in the layout representation of the circuit design corresponds to a three-dimensional representation of a physical combination of the multiple parts.