US 7,353,467 B2 · Method and system for facilitating electronic circuit and chip design using remotely located resources

Abstract

A multi-faceted portal site acts as a server in the context of an n-tier client/server network, and connects electronic designers and design teams to design and verification tool and service providers on the other through a single portal site. Tools and services accessible to users through the portal site include electronic design automation (EDA) software tools, electronic component information, electronic component databases of parts (or dynamic parts), computing and processing resources, virtual circuit blocks, design expert assistance, and integrated circuit fabrication. Such tools and services may be provided in whole or part by suppliers connected to the portal site. Users accessing the portal site are presented with options in a menu or other convenient format identifying the tools and services available, and are able to more rapidly complete circuit designs by having access to a wide variety of tools and services in a single locale. The portal site may facilitate purchase, lease or other acquisition of the tools and services offered through it. The portal site tracks the movements of users through the portal site in order to learn about the design preferences and design approaches of users individually and in the aggregate. Previous actions taken by the user and by similarly-situated users may be considered in determining which information presented to the user, or in what order to present information to the user, thereby providing contextually-driven access.

Claims43

Dependent claims

A method of providing remotely located circuit design resources, the method comprising:

connecting one or more user nodes to an application and web server over a distributed electronic network;
connecting one or more supplier nodes to the application and web server over the distributed electronic network;
making available one or more circuit design resources through the application and web server, at least one of the one or more circuit design resources being located on one of the one or more user and one or more supplier nodes;
ranking the one or more integrated circuit design resources based upon a prior usage information of a user at the application and web server;
receiving one or more requests from the user for access to the one or more circuit design resources available through the application and web server and not located on the one or more user node;
automatically responding to the one or more requests from the user with a result of the ranking the one or more integrated circuit design resources in response to the one or more requests;
maintaining profile and context data of one or more users or suppliers;
and
suggesting to the user a next action at the application and web server based upon the context and profile data.

6 more elements

A computer program product that includes a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to execute a process for providing remotely located circuit design resources, the process comprising:

connecting one or more user nodes for one or more users to an application and web server over a distributed electronic network;
connecting one or more supplier nodes to the application and web server over the distributed electronic network;
making available one or more circuit design resources through the application and web server, at least one of the one or more circuit design resources being located on one of the one or more user and one or more supplier nodes;
ranking the one or more circuit design resources based upon a prior activity of a user at the application and web server;
receiving one or more requests from the user for access to the one or more circuit design resources available through the application and web server and not located on the one or more user nodes;
automatically responding to the one or more requests from the user with a result of the ranking the one or more integrated circuit design resources in response to the one or more requests, and
maintaining profile and context data of one or more users or suppliers;
and
suggesting to the user a next action at the application and web server based upon the context and profile data.

6 more elements

A system for providing remotely located circuit design resources, the system comprising:

means for connecting one or more user nodes to an application and web server over a distributed electronic network;
means for connecting one or more supplier nodes to the application and web server over the distributed electronic network;
means for making available one or more circuit design resources through the application and web server, at least one of the one or more circuit design resources being located on one of the one or more user and one or more supplier nodes;
means for ranking the one or more circuit design resources based upon a prior usage information of a user at the application and web server;
means for receiving one or more requests from the user for access to the one or more circuit design resources available through the application and web server and not located on the one or more user node;
means for automatically responding to the one or more requests from the user with a result of the ranking the one or more integrated circuit design resources in response to the one or more requests;
means for maintaining profile and context data of one or more users or suppliers;
and
means for suggesting to at least one of the one or more user a next action at the application and web server based upon the context and profile data.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and system for facilitating electronic circuit and chip design using remotely located resources

Life of this patent

Method and system for facilitating electronic circuit and chip design using remotely located resources

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims43