Constraint propagation and design interaction in an object orientated IC design environment

A framework of constraint propagation, in an object-orientated IC design environment, that supports the least-commitment strategy of design is described. The environment is implemented in STEM (SmallTalk Environment for Module designs), which manages arbitrary design interactions and supports a least-commitment strategy in IC designs. Three types of applications for constraint propagation have been implemented: consistency maintenance, incremental design check, and module validation. It is found that by managing large quantities of simple design interactions, constraint propagation can become a powerful tool in an IC design environment