Spreadsheet-Based Electronic Design Entry with Dynamic Filtering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Modern electronic design entry methods, such as text editor HDL-based and schematic-entry tools, face challenges in navigating complex designs, finding compatible ports, and preventing errors due to the complexity and visual overload of large, intricate connectivity diagrams.
Innovation Solution
An efficient spreadsheet-based representation with visualization techniques and dynamic filtering to guide users to compatible connection points, prevent errors, and improve navigation by using icons and colorization to indicate connection status and compatibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If schematic-entry tools are used to visually create connections, then components can be visualized as physical entities, but complex connectivity becomes unreadable and unusable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex connectivity information by organizing it into structured tables with distinct rows for instances and columns for ports. This tabular segmentation breaks down the overwhelming visual complexity of traditional schematics into manageable, searchable units that can be systematically navigated and connected.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional schematic diagrams to a multi-dimensional tabular representation where instances, ports, and connections are organized in a structured grid. This dimensional change allows for efficient filtering, sorting, and searching capabilities that are not available in traditional schematic views, enabling users to navigate complex designs by filtering on specific criteria.
2Ease of manufacture
If text editor HDL-based design entry is used, then design can be specified textually, but navigation and search for ports becomes difficult and manual
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual text-editor-based search mechanisms with an automated electronic spreadsheet system that provides built-in filtering, sorting, and searching capabilities. This substitution transforms the mechanical process of manually scrolling and searching through HDL code into an automated electronic process where users can instantly filter and search for specific ports and instances using spreadsheet functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a spreadsheet-based copy or representation of the HDL design structure, allowing users to work with a visual tabular representation alongside or instead of the textual HDL code. This copied representation maintains the design information in a more navigable format while preserving the underlying design data.
3Productivity
If traditional design entry methods are used, then design can be created, but errors such as contention and incompatible connections are difficult to detect
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms through visual indicators in the spreadsheet that immediately show connection status, compatibility, and potential errors. The system provides real-time feedback by highlighting incompatible connections, detecting contentions, and indicating unconnected ports, allowing users to identify and correct errors during the design entry process rather than discovering them later in simulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by preventing incompatible connections before they can cause problems. The spreadsheet system checks for compatibility between connected ports and provides warnings or prevents the creation of invalid connections, thereby proactively preventing errors rather than allowing them to occur and then requiring debugging.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are improved approaches for implementing design entry. An efficient, spread-sheet based representation is provided for both the instances and connections in a design. Visualization techniques provide the user with visual cues, to direct and identify compatible connection points, unconnected instances, and contention situations. Techniques are disclosed to automatically filter the spreadsheet in a variety of ways, to help the user to dynamically hide portions of the design space that are not interesting at a particular time, and thus to improve the efficiency with which they can work.