Window operation interface for graphically revising electrical constraint set and method of using the same

• US 7,243,314 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Issued: 07/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Original Assignee: Inventec Corporation
• Inventors: Ting, Wei-Fan
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh; Paul
• Assistant Examiner(s): Memula; Suresh
• Application Number:
  US11/105,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20060236288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• Field of Search: 716 1- 2, 716 10- 11, 716/4
• US Class Current: 716/111
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/394 Routing G06F30/396 takes precedence

Abstract

A window operation menu for graphically revising an electrical constraint set and a method of using the same. It may be used to graphically preview and revise the attribute contents of the electrical constraint set analyzed and exported by the wiring software, so that the batch revisions can be performed simultaneously for the attribute names of a plurality of electrical constraint sets, thus allowing the user to utilize the previously designed electrical constraint sets repeatedly. This achieves the purpose of saving the time and effort spent on the design and development of electronic products.

Claims

1. A window operation interface for graphically revising electrical constraint sets, which is utilized to provide a graphic interface for facilitating a user to revise a first plurality of electrical constraint sets of a directory as exported by a wiring software in an individual revision or a batch revision mode, said window operation interface including:

an input/output unit, used to receive an operation direction given by the user and read the first plurality of electrical constraint sets, and store a file name of a revised electrical constraint set back to the directory, the first plurality of electrical constraint sets being coded in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange);

a listing unit, used to make a first listing of file names of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets, each of the file names containing at least a portion for defining a specific feature of each of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets, and generate a second listing of file names of a second plurality of electrical constraint sets whose file names contain a character string inputted by the user, each file name in the second listing being selected from the file names in the first listing;

a selection menu, used to show a third plurality of electrical constraint sets, each of which has a different file name, further selected by the user from the second listing for making a batch revision of the third plurality of electrical constraint sets;

an analysis unit, used to analyze the third plurality of electrical constraint sets, so as to retrieve attributes and connection relations among the attributes as contained in the third plurality of electrical constraint sets; and

a display unit, used to display a listing of said attributes and the connection relations.

2. The window operation interface of claim 1, wherein said window operation interface enables the user to perform a browsing operation, a click and selection operation, a renaming operation, a reproducing operation, a revising operation, and a deleting operation upon the electrical constraint sets.

3. The window operation interface of claim 2, wherein the browsing operation enables the user to inspect the first and second listings.

4. The window operation interface of claim 2, wherein the click and selection operation enables the user to select the electrical constraint sets individually or as a group.

5. The window operation interface of claim 2, wherein the renaming operation enables the user to rename the file names of the third plurality of electrical constraint sets and/or names of the attributes contained therein.

6. The window operation interface of claim 1, wherein said input/output unit is responsive to an input of the directory thereto by the user, to read the directory into the interface.

7. The window operation interface of claim 1, wherein the selection menu enables the user to delete any duplicate or redundant electrical constraint sets from the third plurality of electrical constraint sets, as required.

8. The window operation interface of claim 1, wherein the selection menu appears in said window operation interface only in the batch revision mode.

9. The window operation interface of claim 1, wherein said display unit is used to make the listing of the attributes of the third plurality of electrical constraint sets in the batch revision mode by making use of the selection menu.

10. A method of utilizing a window operation interface for graphically revising a first plurality of electrical constraint sets, comprising the following steps:

giving each of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets a file name that contains at least a portion for defining a specific feature of each of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets;

reading a directory storing file names of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets;

making a first listing of the file names of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets contained in the directory;

reading into the interface a character string inputted by a user for filtering;

selecting a second plurality of electrical constraint sets from the first plurality of electrical constraint sets;

making a second listing of file names of the second plurality of;

electrical constraint sets;

selecting a electrical constraint set by the user from the second listing for to be revised;

reading into the interface the file name of the selected electrical constraint set; and

storing the selected electrical constraint sets back into the directory in a hard disk after completing the revisions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the revision further includes the following steps:

deleting the selected electrical constraint sets;

renaming said selected electrical constraint set;

duplicating the selected electrical constraint set; and

displaying contents of the selected electrical constraint set and making a revision of the contents.

12. A method of utilizing a window operation interface for graphically revising a first plurality of electrical constraint sets, comprising the following steps:

giving each of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets a file name that contains at least a portion for defining a specific feature of each of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets;

reading a directory storing file names of the first plurality of the electrical constraint sets;

making a first listing of the file names of the first plurality of electrical constraint sets contained in the directory;

reading into the interface a character string inputted by a user for filtering;

selecting a second plurality of electrical constraint sets from the first plurality of electrical constraint sets;

making a second listing of file names of the second plurality of electrical constraint sets whose file names contain the character string;

selecting by the user a third plurality of electrical constraint sets from the second plurality of electrical constraint sets;

reading into the interface file names of the third plurality of electrical constraint sets;

adding the third plurality of electrical constraint sets to a selection menu;

making a batch revision of the third plurality of electrical constraint sets; and

storing the third plurality of electrical constraint sets back into memory after completing the batch revisions.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

all of the second plurality of electrical constraint sets in the second listing are selected as the third plurality of electrical constraint sets, or the third plurality of electrical constraint sets are selected one-by-one from the second listing; and

the batch revision further includes the following steps;

adding the third plurality of electrical constraint sets to the selection menu

removing duplicate and redundant electrical constraint sets selected by the user from selection menu;

making a name listing of all attributes in the third plurality of electrical constraint sets, except the duplicate and redundant ones, as selected from the selection menu; and

selecting attributes desired to be revised one-by-one and making a revisions required.