Patent ID: 8146027

Claim:
A method of incorporating a module within a circuit design, the method comprising: responsive to identifying the module to be imported into the circuit design, automatically identifying each port of the module and displaying a list of the ports of the module; receiving a user input selecting a plurality of ports of the module for inclusion in an interface through which the module communicates with the circuit design; responsive to a user input specifying an interface type, associating the interface type with the plurality of ports, wherein the interface type is associated with a port list comprising standardized ports; automatically matching individual ones of the plurality of ports with standardized ports from the port list using a processor; distinguishing between mandatory standardized ports and optional standardized ports on the port list; determining whether each mandatory standardized port of the port list is matched with a port from the plurality of ports; and indicating whether any mandatory standardized port is not matched with a port from the plurality of ports.