Patent ID: 8156453

Claim:
A method for locating an IP component for an electronic design, comprising: performing a search of an IP catalog from a portal site for an IP component, wherein the IP component complies with a set of component requirements for an electronic design; determining, by using a processor, that there is an inability to identify a candidate IP component from the IP catalog that suitably corresponds to the set of component requirements for the IP component; based at least in part upon determining that there is the inability to identify the candidate IP component from the IP catalog that suitably corresponds to the set of component requirements for the IP component, determining an eligibility of an IP supplier from a set of a plurality of IP suppliers to be included in a subset of eligible IP suppliers based at least in part on whether the IP supplier has agreed to provide sufficient compensation to an operator of the portal site; generating a message to contact one or more IP suppliers from the subset of eligible IP suppliers with a request for the IP component that complies with the set of component requirements; and causing the message to contact the one or more IP suppliers with the request for the IP component that complies with the set of component requirement to be either displayed on a display device or stored onto a non-transitory computer readable medium.