Abstract:
A circuit layout system for automatically indicating items to wait for modified and method thereof are provided, wherein a set of items to wait for modified recorded on an amendment list is stored on the circuit layout software; the set of items to wait for modified is compared with the circuit diagram via the circuit layout software to indicate to the user the number of items to wait for modified; parts that need to be modified are indicated to the user during modification, such that automatic indication of the items to wait for modified can be achieved, thus avoiding the circumstance that some items to wait for modified are not modified completely due to the negligence of the user.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on patent application Ser. No(s). 094144898 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Dec. 16, 2005, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a circuit layout system and method thereof, and more particularly to a system and method suitable for being applied to a piece of circuit layout software, which is used for automatically indicating to the user items to wait for modified by comparing a set of items to wait for modified with the circuit diagram on the circuit layout software.  
         [0004]     2. Related Art  
         [0005]     Before the printed circuit board came out, electronic elements were directly connected through electrical wires. In the year of 1948, the printed circuit board technique was transferred from military application to commercial application in the U.S.A., and it has been widely used since the mid 50&#39;s of the twentieth century. Till now, circuit breadboards implemented by being directly connected with electrical wires only function as an effective tool for experimentation; whereas the printed circuit board has occupied the dominant position in the electronics industry.  
         [0006]     The printed circuit board is designed on the basis of the circuit diagram to achieve the functions as desired by the circuit designer. The design of the printed circuit board mainly refers to the layout design, and lots of internal and external factors should be considered. An excellent layout design can save manufacturing costs and achieve excellent circuit performance and heat dissipating performance. Simple layout design can be achieved manually, whereas complicated layout design is achieved through computer aided design.  
         [0007]     Computer aided design simulates the real object by employing computer software, for revealing the features of newly developed products, such as configuration, structure, color, and texture. It involves both software and specific hardware. With the development of this technique, computer aided design can now be applied to a wide scope, comprising construction design diagrams, mechanical diagrams, circuit diagrams, and various other forms for exchanging designs.  
         [0008]     The current computer aided design software of the circuit diagram only has the functions of designing and simulating the circuit diagram. But, in practice, other requests such as the requirements from the customers will be continuously added from the beginning of designing the circuit board till the printing procedure, such that the designer must make continuous modifications to the designed circuit diagram. However, the current computer aided design software of the circuit diagram does not provide a corresponding function to accommodate such a requirement. Therefore, during the modification process, after the amendment lists in forms of written files, oral messages, or E-mail, etc. are obtained by the designer, human negligence always occurs during the comparison between the modified items with those on the amendment lists, such that the modifications to the designed circuit diagram will have not been performed completely, causing troubles in the subsequent processes.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     In view of the above problem, a main object of the present invention is to provide a system and a method thereof suitable for being applied to the circuit layout software, which are used for automatically indicating to the user items to wait for modified by comparing a set of items to wait for modified with the circuit diagram on the circuit layout software. The items to wait for modified stored in the software are read by executing the executable program on the circuit layout software; and the parts of the circuit diagram on the circuit layout software to be modified are searched according to the modification information recorded in the items to wait for modified; finally, the parts to be modified are marked for the user, such that the object of automatically indicating the items to wait for modified can be achieved, thereby avoiding the circumstance that a given item to wait for modified has not been modified, and avoiding the subsequent problems caused thereby.  
         [0010]     To achieve the above object, both the method and system can be employed according to the present invention. The system disclosed in the present invention comprises a data storage module, a display module, and an amendment check module. And the method disclosed in the present invention comprises the following steps: first of all, reading and displaying the items to wait for modified; selecting and modifying one item to wait for modified from the readout items to wait for modified; marking the parts to be modified in the items to wait for modified, according to the modification information recorded in the selected item to wait for modified; checking the item to wait for modified to see whether it has been modified or not after finishing the modification of the item to wait for modified, if no, generating a modification information of the part having not been modified, and indicating the part according to the generated modification information; checking all readout items to wait for modified to see whether or not there is any item has not been modified yet after the modification of the item to wait for modified has finished, and if yes, displaying the items to wait for modified but having not been modified completely for the next selection.  
         [0011]     Furthermore, the system disclosed in the present invention further comprises an analysis transformation module and a modification suggestion module to generate additional functions. The method for generating additional functions comprises the following steps: inputting the amendment list; analyzing the input amendment list for generating and storing the items to wait for modified; displaying the suggested modification method while marking the parts to be modified in the items to wait for modified.  
         [0012]     Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]     The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, and which thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:  
         [0014]      FIG. 1  is a systematic organization diagram of a circuit layout system for automatically indicating the items to wait for modified and the method thereof according to the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2   a  is a main flow chart of the circuit layout system for automatically indicating the items to wait for modified and the method thereof according to the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2   b  is a flow chart of the examining of the circuit layout system for automatically indicating the items to wait for modified and the method thereof according to the present invention;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3   a  is a diagram of a list of 3 items to wait for modified according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 3   b  is a diagram of the list of 3 items to wait for modified with one item already having been modified according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of a first resistor to be modified marked by a dashed frame according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 5   a  is a diagram of a second resistor and a third resistor to be modified marked by dashed frames according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 5   b  is a diagram of the third resistor to be modified marked by a dashed frame again according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 6   a  is a diagram of a list of two items to wait for modified according to a second embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0023]      FIG. 6   b  is a diagram of the list of two items to wait for modified with one item already having been examined according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 7  is a diagram of a fourth resistor to be modified marked by a dashed frame with the modification suggestion being displayed; and  
         [0025]      FIG. 8  is a diagram of the difference between before and after the modification of the fourth resistor marked by a dashed frame. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0026]     The anticipated objects can be achieved in the present invention through two parts, system and method. First, the systematic operation of the present invention is illustrated through  FIG. 1 , which is an organization diagram of a system for automatically indicating items to wait for modified according to the present invention.  
         [0027]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the system of the present invention comprises a data storage module  130 , a display module  150 , and an amendment check module  160 , and the other parts will be mentioned later. The data storage module  130  is used for storing the items to wait for modified. The display module  150  is used for reading the items to wait for modified from the data storage module  130  and displaying them; selecting one item to wait for modified from the readout items to wait for modified; marking the parts that need to be modified according to the modification information recorded in the item to wait for modified; sending the modification information of the item to wait for modified to the amendment check module  160 ; receiving the modification information of a part having not been modified completely by the amendment check module  160 ; marking the part according to the modification information; and checking whether there is any part in the items to wait for modified readout from the data storage module  130  not to be modified yet. The amendment check module  160  is used for receiving the modification information of an item to wait for modified from the display module  150 ; checking whether the item to wait for modified has been completely modified yet or not according to the modification information; and sending a modification information of the part having not been modified into the display module  150  when the item to wait for modified has not been modified completely.  
         [0028]     Then, the operation flow of the method of the present invention is illustrated through the flow chart of the main method for automatically indicating items to wait for modified according to the present invention as shown in  FIG. 2   a.  When the present invention is to be used by a user, first, the items to wait for modified are stored in the data storage module  130  (Step  210 ). The display module  150  reads the items to wait for modified from the data storage module  130  and the displays the readout items to wait for modified (Step  220 ). Then, an item having not been modified completely is selected from the readout items to wait for modified, then the selected item is modified (Step  230 ). The display module  150  marks the parts to be modified according to the modification information recorded in the selected item to wait for modified (Step  240 ). Then, the circuit is modified according to the marked parts (Step  250 ). After the circuit has been modified, the displaying module  150  sends the modification information of the modified item to the amendment check module  160 , and the amendment check module  160  checks whether the item has been completely modified or not according the modification information sent from the display module  150  (Step  260 ). If no, a modification information of the parts having not been modified completely is generated, and then the generated modification information is sent back to the display module  150 , and after the display module  150  received the modification information, the parts that need to be modified will be marked out again; if the amendment check module  160  checks that the item has been completely modified, the display module  150  will further check whether there is any item having not been modified completely in the items readout from the data storage module  130  (Step  270 ). If no, another item to wait for modified will be selected to be modified.  
         [0029]     Then, the operation system and method of the present invention will be demonstrated through one embodiment. The circuit designer intends to modify the circuit diagram through the circuit layout software. When using the present invention, three items to wait for modified are stored into the database, wherein the first item to wait for modified is changing the resistance of a first resistor from 330 KΩ to 10 KΩ; the second is removing a second resistor and a third resistor; and the third is removing a first capacitor. As shown in  FIG. 3   a,  a list  410  of three items to wait for modified is displayed on the circuit layout software. Then, as shown in  FIG. 4 , after the designer selects the first item to wait for modified  411 , the first resistor  421  is marked by adding dashed frame thereon via the circuit layout software. Then, the designer conveniently finds that the first resistor  421  added with the dashed frame is the part need to be modified, which is also indicated by the list  410  displaying the items to wait for modified ( FIG. 3   a ), and the first resistor  421  will be changed to 10 KΩ. Then, through the circuit layout software, the list  410  displaying the items to wait for modified will display the first item  411  with a strikeout, while the second item  412  and the third item  413  are in the normal display state ( FIG. 3   b ). Continue referring to  FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b,  the designer selects the second item  412  to make modification, and conveniently finds a second resistor  431  and a third resistor  432  added with dashed frames, and then removes the second resistor  431 . After removing the second resistor  431 , the third resistor  432  is neglected, and the user selects the third item  413  to make modification. The circuit layout software finds that the third resistor  432  hasn&#39;t been modified completely, and adds the dashed frame to the third resistor  432  to indicate the designer again. If the designer indeed wants to modify the third item  413 , the list  410  for displaying the items to wait for modified still only displays the first item  411  with the strikeout, while the second item  412  and the third item  413  are displayed with the normal state ( FIG. 3   b ). Therefore, the designer will not neglect parts that need to be modified.  
         [0030]     Back to  FIG. 1 , the system of the present invention further comprises an analysis transformation module  120 , and a modification suggestion module  140 . The analysis transformation module  120  is used for analyzing the input amendment list  110  and generating the items to wait for modified. The generated items are stored in the data storage module  130 . The modification suggestion module  140  is used for obtaining the items to wait for modified from the display module  150  and generating the modification suggestion of the item to wait for modified. Besides the two newly-added modules, the original display module  150  is additionally used for obtaining the modification record of the items to wait for modified, displaying the difference between before and after the modification of the item to wait for modified, and checking whether there is still any item in the items to wait for modified that has not been examined completely.  
         [0031]     Accordingly, the operation flow of the method of the present invention illustrated through the flow chart of the main method for automatically indicating the item to wait for modified according to the present invention in  FIG. 2   a  is varied as follows: in step  210 , the items to wait for modified stored in the data storage module  130  are generated after the analysis transformation module  120  analyzes the input amendment list  110 ; in step  240 , the display module  150  displays the modification suggestions generated by the modification suggestion module  140 , besides marking the parts that need to be modified according to the modification information recorded in the selected item to wait for modified. Besides the above changes, the flow of examining the items to wait for modified is further added. The operation flow of the examining process added to the method of the present invention is further illustrated through the flow chart of the examining method for automatically indicating the items to wait for modified of the present invention shown in  FIG. 2   b.  When the user intends to examine the items to wait for modified through the present invention, the display module  150  reads the items to wait for modified stored in the data storage module  130  and displays the readout items to wait for modified (Step  310 ). Then, an item having not been modified completely is selected from the readout items to wait for modified to be examined (Step  320 ). The display module  150  marks the difference between before and after the modification of the selected item to wait for modified according to the modification records (Step  330 ). And the circuit can be examined according to the marked parts (Step  340 ). After the circuit has been examined, the display module  150  will check whether there is any item in the readout items to wait for modified not to be examined yet (Step  350 ); if no, another item to wait for modified will be selected to be examined.  
         [0032]     Then, the additional operation system and method of the present invention will be further illustrated through another embodiment. The circuit designer intends to modify the circuit diagram with the circuit layout software according to an amendment list having the following two contents: the first is to change a fourth resistor from 390 KΩ to 39 KΩ, and the other is to remove a fifth resistor. As shown in  FIG. 6   a,  the designer inputs the amendment list to the circuit layout software through the present invention. Then, the circuit layout software generates two items to wait for modified stored in the database, and displays a list  510  of the input items. Then, referring to  FIG. 7 , after the first item to wait for modified  511  is selected, besides finding the fourth resistor  611  of 390 KΩ added with dashed frame being the part that needs to be modified, the designer also finds a resistor  612  of 39 KΩ appears above the fourth resistor  611  by way of dashed lines through the circuit layout software, which is the modification suggestion. Back to  FIG. 6   a,  after the modification of the two items to wait for modified in the amendment list has finished, the designer intends to examine whether the modification is correct or not. Then, the two items to wait for modified will be readout via the circuit layout software from the database, and the list  510  is displayed. As shown in  FIG. 8 , when the designer selects the first item  511  to examine, the original resistor  712  of 390 KΩwill be displayed above the modified fourth resistor  711  of the 39 KΩ by way of dashed lines through the circuit layout software, and the fourth resistor  711  after modification and the fourth resistor  712  before modification are depicted together with a dashed frame, for examining convenience. After that, the designer will select the second item  512  to examine. Meanwhile, as for the items to wait for modified displayed via the circuit layout software, the first item  511  is displayed with a strikeout, and the second item  512  is displayed in the normal state ( FIG. 6   b ), such that the designer knows which part has already been examined.  
         [0033]     The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be comprised within the scope of the following claims.