Maintenance of a system model

A method of designing a processor comprising:

• defining a processor specification and generating from the processor specification architectural parameters implementing the specification;
• loading the architectural parameters into an electronic storage medium to create an architectural database which is configured to hold in an electronic storage medium architectural parameters wherein each architectural parameter is defined by a primary key field and a set of fields holding subsidiary data relating to the primary key;
• creating in an electronically readable medium text in a humanly readable format defining the architectural parameters in a structured tabular format wherein a table title holds the primary key for each architectural parameter;
• modifying the processor specification and effecting manually consequential modification to the architectural parameters in the text;
• and
• using a translation tool in the form of a program executed by a computer to automatically transfer the modification into the database by locating any new or modified tables in the tabular format and loading the table title into the primary key field and other data in the table into the set of fields for subsidiary data in a predetermined manner.

A method of designing a processor comprising:

• defining a processor specification and generating from the processor specification architectural parameters implementing the specification;
• loading the architectural parameters into an electronic storage medium to create an architectural database which is configured to hold architectural parameters wherein each architectural parameter is defined by a primary key field and a set of fields holding subsidiary data relating to the primary key;
• creating in an electronically readable medium text in a humanly readable format defining the architectural parameters in a structured tabular format wherein a table title holds a primary key for each architectural parameter;
• modifying the processor specification and effecting manually consequential modifications to the architectural parameters in the architectural database;
• and
• using a translation tool in the form of a program executed by a computer to automatically transfer the modifications into the text from the database by loading the contents of the primary key field and subsidiary fields into the structured tabular format.

A method of automated generation of a set of design data defining a system model from an architecture database which is configured to hold in an electronic storage medium architectural parameters wherein each architectural parameter is defined by a primary key field and a set of fields holding subsidiary data relating to the primary key, the method comprising acts of:

• reading the primary key for each architectural parameter;
• generating in the electronic storage medium a structured definition entry of the architectural parameter in an electronically readable format, the structured definition entry being associated with an identification field defining the parameter;
• loading the primary key into the identification field and the subsidiary data into the structured definition entry, wherein the structured definition entry takes the form of a programming definition of the architectural parameter in a modelling language;
• and
• generating said set of design data from the structured definition entries.