Method and system for hollowing reference plane in PCB design

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and system for hollowing a reference plane in PCB design, and the method comprises the steps: importing a to-be-hollowing device on a PCB design platform, and enabling the to-be-hollowing device to be a to-be-hollowing device of the reference plane below a PIN; extracting a PIN parameter of a first PIN in the PINs of the device to be hollowed out and a distance parameter between the first PIN and an adjacent PIN; setting origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters; and according to the origin coordinates, hollowing out the corresponding first PIN in the reference plane, and according to the grid parameters, hollowing out the corresponding other PINs. According to the method, the projection of the PIN on the reference surface does not need to be started, manual alignment edge drawing is not needed, the PCB design speed is greatly increased, the working efficiency is improved, errors caused by human factors and visual alignment can be avoided, and the PCB design accuracy is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of PCB design, and particularly to a method and system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design. Background Art

[0002] During the process of drawing a printed circuit board (PCB), in many cases, in order to achieve impedance matching of the circuit and thus maintain good SI signal integrity design, it is necessary to hollow out the reference plane under the device expansion slot or the pins (PINs) of the chip. Since the scale of high-speed PCB design is getting larger and larger nowadays, the number of high-speed slots on the board is also increasing, and accordingly, the number of reference pins that need to be hollowed out is also increasing.

[0003] The conventional method is to use the projection of the PINs to draw the outer circular ring pads by aligning the edges for the reference plane that needs to be hollowed out. When the number of reference pins that need to be hollowed out is small, this method is feasible. However, when the number of reference pins that need to be hollowed out is large, this method is very cumbersome, and there is a problem of misalignment and error in manually aligning the edges. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention provides a method and system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design, which does not require turning on the projection of the PINs on the reference plane and does not require manual alignment of the edges for drawing, greatly improving the PCB design speed, enhancing work efficiency, and being able to avoid errors caused by human factors and visual alignment, thus improving the accuracy of PCB design.

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical solutions adopted by the present invention are as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, a method for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design is provided, including:

[0007] Import the device to be hollowed out into the PCB design platform, where the device to be hollowed out is a device whose reference plane under the PINs needs to be hollowed out;

[0008] Extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN in the PINs of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN and the adjacent PINs;

[0009] Set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters;

[0010] Hollow out the corresponding first PIN on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollow out the corresponding other PINs according to the grid parameters.

[0011] Further, extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN in the PIN pins of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN and the adjacent PINs, including:

[0012] Select one PIN from multiple PINs in the slot of the device to be hollowed out as the first PIN;

[0013] Open the slot plane where the slot of the device to be hollowed out is located in the PCB design platform;

[0014] Obtain the center coordinates of the first PIN on the slot plane as the PIN parameters;

[0015] Obtain the center distance between the first PIN and the horizontally adjacent PIN and the center distance between the first PIN and the vertically adjacent PIN to obtain the distance parameters.

[0016] Further, set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters, including:

[0017] Set the center coordinates of the PIN parameters as the origin coordinates of the PCB;

[0018] Set the center distance of the horizontally adjacent PINs and the center distance of the vertically adjacent PINs of the distance parameters as the grid parameters.

[0019] Further, before hollowing out the first PIN on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, it also includes:

[0020] Open the reference plane corresponding to the slot of the device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform;

[0021] Obtain the preset PIN sizes of all PINs.

[0022] Further, hollow out the first PIN on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollow out the other PINs according to the grid parameters, including:

[0023] Hollow out the corresponding first PIN on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates and the preset PIN sizes;

[0024] Hollow out the other PINs on the reference plane where the first PIN has been hollowed out according to the grid parameters and the preset PIN sizes.

[0025] In the second aspect, a system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design is provided, including:

[0026] An import module for importing a device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform, where the device to be hollowed out is a device whose reference plane under the PIN pins needs to be hollowed out;

[0027] A parameter extraction module, which is used to extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN in the PINs of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN and the adjacent PINs;

[0028] A setting module, which is used to set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and distance parameters;

[0029] A hollowing-out module, which is used to hollow out the corresponding first PIN on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollow out the corresponding other PINs according to the grid parameters.

[0030] Further, the parameter extraction module includes:

[0031] A first PIN selection unit, which is used to select one PIN from multiple PINs in the slot of the device to be hollowed out as the first PIN;

[0032] A slot plane opening unit, which is used to open the slot plane where the slot of the device to be hollowed out is located in the PCB design platform;

[0033] A PIN parameter unit, which is used to obtain the central coordinates of the first PIN on the slot plane as the PIN parameters;

[0034] A distance parameter unit, which is used to obtain the center spacing between the first PIN and the laterally adjacent PINs and the center spacing between the first PIN and the longitudinally adjacent PINs to obtain the distance parameters.

[0035] Further, the setting module includes:

[0036] An origin setting unit, which is used to set the central coordinates of the PIN parameters as the origin coordinates of the PCB;

[0037] A grid setting unit, which is used to set the center spacing of the laterally adjacent PINs and the center spacing of the longitudinally adjacent PINs of the distance parameters as the grid parameters.

[0038] Further, the system further includes:

[0039] A reference plane opening module, which is used to open the reference plane corresponding to the slot of the device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform;

[0040] A PIN size acquisition module, which is used to acquire the preset PIN sizes of all PINs.

[0041] Further, the hollowing-out module is specifically used to hollow out the corresponding first PIN on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates and the preset PIN size; and hollow out other PINs on the reference plane where the first PIN has been hollowed out according to the grid parameters and the preset PIN size.

[0042] The beneficial effects achieved by the present invention:

[0043] Import the device to be hollowed out into the PCB design platform. The device to be hollowed out is the device whose reference plane under the PIN foot needs to be hollowed out; extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN foot among the PIN feet of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN foot and the adjacent PIN feet; set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and distance parameters; hollow out the corresponding first PIN foot on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollow out the corresponding other PIN feet according to the grid parameters. There is no need to turn on the projection of the PIN on the reference plane, and there is no need to manually align the edges for drawing; for example, for a DDR4 UDIMM with 288 pin feet, when the reference plane with 576 pin feet in dual-channel needs to be hollowed out, the workload that originally took 2 hours may only take 2 minutes to complete; this greatly improves the design speed, improves work efficiency, and can avoid errors caused by human factors and visual alignment, improving the accuracy of the design. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0044] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of the method for hollowing out the reference plane in the PCB design of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 2 It is a slot floor plan of the present invention;

[0046] Figure 3 It is a reference floor plan of the present invention;

[0047] Figure 4 It is the first structural diagram of the system for hollowing out the reference plane in the PCB design of the present invention;

[0048] Figure 5 It is the second structural diagram of the system for hollowing out the reference plane in the PCB design of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 6 It is the third structural diagram of the system for hollowing out the reference plane in the PCB design of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 7 It is the fourth structural diagram of the system for hollowing out the reference plane in the PCB design of the present invention. Detailed Embodiments

[0051] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and should not be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

[0052] As Figure 1 shown, the embodiment of the present invention provides a method for hollowing out the reference plane in PCB design, including:

[0053] 101. Import the device to be hollowed out into the PCB design platform. The device to be hollowed out is the device whose reference plane under the PIN foot needs to be hollowed out;

[0054] In this embodiment, various common PCB design platforms include CELUS, Altium Designer, Cadence Allegro, etc.;

[0055] CELUS is a PCB design software that deeply integrates artificial intelligence and automatically generates schematic diagrams, bill of materials (BOM), layout plans, etc.;

[0056] Altium Designe is a globally well-known PCB design software, and its integrated tool suite supports the full-process solution from schematic diagram to PCB design and testing;

[0057] Cadence Allegro is a commercial EDA software suitable for complex project design, providing a highly integrated and scalable design environment to ensure efficient collaboration of the global team, shorten the turnaround time, and ensure product reliability;

[0058] If the reference plane under the PIN foot of a certain device needs to be hollowed out, import the device to be hollowed out into the PCB design platform; specifically, the device to be hollowed out can be a memory DDR4, and the reference plane under the PIN foot of the slot of DDR4 needs to be hollowed out.

[0059] 102. Extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN foot among the PIN feet of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameter between the first PIN foot and the adjacent PIN foot;

[0060] In this embodiment, combined with Figure 2 the shown slot floor plan, Figure 2 in which the number 1 represents the slot plane, select one PIN foot 11 among multiple PIN feet in the slot of the device to be hollowed out as the first PIN foot, that is, Figure 2 the 11th PIN foot in is the first PIN foot; open the slot plane where the slot of the device to be hollowed out is located in the PCB design platform;

[0061] Obtain the center coordinates of the first PIN foot on the slot plane. Here, the center coordinates (x, y) are the center of the first PIN foot 11, which are used as the PIN parameters;

[0062] Obtain the center distance between the first PIN foot and the horizontally adjacent PIN foot, that is, Figure 2 the long distance X between the center of the 11th PIN foot and the center of the 12th PIN foot in;

[0063] The center distance between the first PIN foot and the vertically adjacent PIN foot, that is, Figure 2 the width distance Y between the center of the 11th PIN foot and the center of the 13th PIN foot in, and X and Y are the distance parameters.

[0064] 103. Set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and distance parameters;

[0065] In this embodiment, set the center coordinates of the PIN parameters as the origin coordinates (x, y) of the PCB; according to the center pitch X of the horizontal PIN pins and the center pitch Y of the vertical adjacent PIN pins of the distance parameters, set them as the grid parameters, that is, all PIN pins are in a grid shape.

[0066] It should be noted that the reference plane under the PIN pins and the plane where the slot is located are different. It is also necessary to open the reference plane corresponding to the slot of the device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform; the size of the PIN pins is preset by the manufacturer of the device to be hollowed out during production. Obtain the preset PIN sizes of all PIN pins through the device parameters, and the sizes of all PIN pins in the slot are the same.

[0067] 104. Hollow out the corresponding first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollow out the corresponding other PIN pins according to the grid parameters.

[0068] In this embodiment, Figure 3 As shown in the reference plane diagram, in Figure 3 the number 2 represents the reference plane. According to the origin coordinates and the preset PIN size, hollow out the corresponding first PIN pin 21 on the reference plane 2; according to the grid parameters and the preset PIN size, hollow out the other PIN pins 22 on the reference plane 2 where the first PIN pin 21 has been hollowed out.

[0069] The beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention are:

[0070] Import the device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform. The device to be hollowed out is a device whose reference plane under the PIN pins needs to be hollowed out; extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN pin in the PIN pins of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins; set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and distance parameters; hollow out the corresponding first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollow out the corresponding other PIN pins according to the grid parameters;

[0071] There is no need to turn on the projection of the PIN on the reference plane, and there is no need to manually align the edges for drawing; for example, when the reference plane of a DDR4 UDIMM with 288 pin pins and 576 pin pins in dual-channel needs to be hollowed out, the original workload of 2 hours may only take 2 minutes to complete; it greatly improves the design speed, improves work efficiency, and can avoid errors caused by human factors and visual alignment, and improves the design accuracy.

[0072] Combined with the method of reference plane cutout in PCB design described in the above embodiments, the system of reference plane cutout in PCB design will be described below through embodiments.

[0073] As Figure 4 shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system for reference plane cutout in PCB design, including:

[0074] An import module 401, configured to import a device to be cut out on a PCB design platform, where the device to be cut out is a device whose reference plane needs to be cut out under the PIN foot;

[0075] A parameter extraction module 402, configured to extract the PIN parameter of the first PIN foot in the PIN feet of the device to be cut out, and the distance parameter between the first PIN foot and the adjacent PIN foot;

[0076] A setting module 403, configured to set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameter and the distance parameter;

[0077] A cutout module 404, configured to perform cutout corresponding to the first PIN foot on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and perform cutout corresponding to other PIN feet according to the grid parameters.

[0078] Combined with Figure 4 the embodiments shown, preferably, as Figure 5 shown, in some embodiments of the present invention, the parameter extraction module 402 includes:

[0079] A first PIN foot selection unit 501, configured to select one PIN foot from multiple PIN feet in the slot of the device to be cut out as the first PIN foot;

[0080] A slot plane opening unit 502, configured to open the slot plane where the slot of the device to be cut out is located on the PCB design platform;

[0081] A PIN parameter unit 503, configured to obtain the central coordinates of the first PIN foot on the slot plane as the PIN parameter;

[0082] A distance parameter unit 504, configured to obtain the center distance between the first PIN foot and the laterally adjacent PIN foot and the center distance between the first PIN foot and the longitudinally adjacent PIN foot to obtain the distance parameter.

[0083] Combined with Figure 5 the embodiments shown, preferably, as Figure 6 shown, in some embodiments of the present invention, the setting module 403 includes:

[0084] An origin setting unit 601, configured to set the central coordinates of the PIN parameter as the origin coordinates of the PCB;

[0085] A grid setting unit 602 is configured to set grid parameters according to the center pitch of the lateral PIN pins and the center pitch of the longitudinal adjacent PIN pins of the distance parameter.

[0086] Combined with Figure 4 the embodiments shown, preferably, as Figure 7 shown, in some embodiments of the present invention, the system further includes:

[0087] A reference plane opening module 701 is configured to open a reference plane corresponding to a slot of a device to be hollowed out in a PCB design platform;

[0088] A PIN size acquisition module 702 is configured to acquire preset PIN sizes of all PIN pins.

[0089] Combined with Figure 4 the embodiments shown, preferably, the hollowing-out module 404 is specifically configured to hollow out the corresponding first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates and the preset PIN size; and hollow out other PIN pins on the reference plane that has been hollowed out with the first PIN pin according to the grid parameters and the preset PIN size.

[0090] The beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention are as follows:

[0091] The import module 401 imports a device to be hollowed out in a PCB design platform, and the device to be hollowed out is a device whose reference plane under the PIN pins needs to be hollowed out; the parameter extraction module 402 extracts the PIN parameters of the first PIN pin among the PIN pins of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins; the setting module 403 sets the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters; the hollowing-out module 404 hollows out the corresponding first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollows out the corresponding other PIN pins according to the grid parameters. It is not necessary to turn on the projection of the PIN on the reference plane, and it is not necessary to manually align the edges for drawing; for example, when the reference plane of a DDR4 UDIMM with 288 pin pins and 576 pin pins in dual-channel mode needs to be hollowed out, the workload that might originally take 2 hours can be completed in only 2 minutes; the design speed is greatly improved, the work efficiency is improved, and human factors and errors caused by visual alignment can be avoided, improving the accuracy of the design.

[0092] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present invention can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present invention can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk memories, CD-ROMs, optical memories, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0093] The present invention is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatuses (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that each flow and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to the processors of general-purpose computers, special-purpose computers, embedded processors, or other programmable data processing devices to produce a machine, such that the instructions executed by the processors of the computer or other programmable data processing devices produce means for implementing the functions specified in one flow Figure 1 one flow or multiple flows and / or blocks Figure 1 or multiple blocks.

[0094] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a manufactured article including instruction means that implement the functions specified in one flow Figure 1 one flow or multiple flows and / or blocks Figure 1 or multiple blocks.

[0095] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, such that a series of operation steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, and thus the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one flow Figure 1 one flow or multiple flows and / or blocks Figure 1 or multiple blocks.

[0096] The above are only embodiments of the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention are included in the scope of the claims of the present invention pending approval.

Claims

1. A method for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design, characterized in that: include: Import the device to be hollowed out on the PCB design platform, where the device to be hollowed out is a device whose reference plane below the PIN pin needs to be hollowed out; Extracting PIN parameters of the first PIN pin among the PIN pins of the device to be hollowed out, and distance parameters between the first PIN pin and adjacent PIN pins; Setting the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters; The first PIN pin is hollowed out on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and other PIN pins are hollowed out according to the grid parameters.

2. The method for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 1, characterized in that: The extracting of the PIN parameters of the first PIN pin among the PIN pins of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins, includes: Select one of the plurality of PIN pins in the slot of the device to be hollowed out as the first PIN pin; Opening a slot plane where the slot of the device to be hollowed out is located in the PCB design platform; Obtain the center coordinates of the first PIN pin on the slot plane as PIN parameters; The center distance between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins in the horizontal direction and the center distance between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins in the vertical direction are obtained to obtain distance parameters.

3. The method for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 2, characterized in that: The setting of the origin coordinates and the grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters includes: The center coordinates of the PIN parameters are set as the origin coordinates of the PCB; The center spacing of the PIN pins in the horizontal direction and the center spacing of the adjacent PIN pins in the vertical direction according to the distance parameter are set as grid parameters.

4. The method for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 3, characterized in that: Before hollowing out the first PIN foot on the reference plane according to the origin coordinate, the method further includes: Opening a reference plane corresponding to the slot of the device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform; Get the default pin size for all pins.

5. The method for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 4, characterized in that: The hollowing out of the first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and hollowing out other PIN pins according to the grid parameters, includes: Hollowing out the first PIN foot on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates and the preset PIN size; According to the grid parameters and the preset PIN size, other PIN pins are hollowed out on the reference plane where the first PIN pin has been hollowed out.

6. A system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design, characterized in that: include: An import module is used to import a device to be hollowed out on a PCB design platform, wherein the device to be hollowed out is a device whose reference plane below the PIN pin needs to be hollowed out; A parameter extraction module, used to extract the PIN parameters of the first PIN pin among the PIN pins of the device to be hollowed out, and the distance parameters between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins; A setting module, used to set the origin coordinates and grid parameters according to the PIN parameters and the distance parameters; The hollowing module is used to hollow out the first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates, and to hollow out other PIN pins according to the grid parameters.

7. The system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 6, characterized in that: The parameter extraction module comprises: A first PIN pin selection unit, used to select one of the plurality of PIN pins in the slot of the device to be hollowed out as the first PIN pin; A slot plane opening unit, used for opening a slot plane where the slot of the device to be hollowed out is located in the PCB design platform; A PIN parameter unit, used to obtain the center coordinates of the first PIN pin on the slot plane as a PIN parameter; The distance parameter unit is used to obtain the center distance between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins in the horizontal direction and the center distance between the first PIN pin and the adjacent PIN pins in the vertical direction to obtain the distance parameter.

8. The system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 7, characterized in that: The setting module includes: An origin setting unit, used to set the center coordinates of the PIN parameters as the origin coordinates of the PCB; The grid setting unit is used to set the center distance between the horizontal PIN pins and the center distance between the vertical adjacent PIN pins as grid parameters according to the distance parameter.

9. The system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 8, characterized in that: The system further comprises: A reference plane opening module, used for opening a reference plane corresponding to the slot of the device to be hollowed out in the PCB design platform; The PIN size acquisition module is used to obtain the preset PIN sizes of all PIN pins.

10. The system for hollowing out a reference plane in PCB design according to claim 9, characterized in that: The hollowing module is specifically used to hollow out the corresponding first PIN pin on the reference plane according to the origin coordinates and the preset PIN size; and to hollow out other PIN pins on the reference plane where the first PIN pin has been hollowed out according to the grid parameters and the preset PIN size.

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