A data management interface as part of the framework of an integrated VLSI-design system

The framework of the PLAYOUT design system supports hierarchical decomposition, multiple representations, realization alternatives, versioning, and concurrency. It includes a universal meta data schema, based on an object-oriented data model, a design database, and a design flow manager. The design work is done by toolboxes. A methodology for interfacing the toolboxes and the database system, called the data management interface, is presented. It handles the exchange of the design data as a toolbox transaction. This nonstandard transaction includes the data retrieval and preparation for the toolbox, synchronization with other transactions, and consistency check of the toolbox output data. If the check fails, the transaction in reset and the toolbox data are removed from the database. The toolbox transactions are started by the design flow manager. New toolboxes can be easily adapted to this framework by adding a toolbox description written in an object-oriented retrieval language.<>