1
Introduction to Design Intent
Virtuoso Design Intent complements the Virtuoso Schematic Editor XL and Virtuoso Layout Suite XL applications by providing a method for the schematic designer to capture and communicate their design goals on existing objects within a design and to provide the layout designer the freedom to decide how those goals are implemented. Design goals can be defined and discussed, implementation restrictions resolved, and decisions agreed and recorded to prevent duplication of effort during design reuse.
The schematic designer can specify the design intent for an object by recording editable notes, referred to as annotations, directly in the schematic design. Each design intent is displayed on the canvas with an accompanying glyph which acts as a marker and facilitates access to detailed information about the design intent. Each annotation can hold key constraint requirements and detailed instructions for individual objects.
Design intents in Schematics XL are stored in the schematic view and in the layout view for Layout XL. The process of syncing shares the design intent data from the schematic view to the layout view, and vice versa.
After syncing, the annotations can be easily identified on the layout canvas and in the Navigator assistant. The layout designer can begin implementing each intent as specified, reporting the current implementation stage for each intent, and adding progress notes as required.
Design Intent complements the existing constraints flow. Capturing the requirements of the schematic designer at a higher level enables them to communicate their requirements to layout engineers without overlapping their roles. By using Design Intent to capture design goals, constraints can be used to focus purely on defining the specific rules that are required to satisfy and implement the designer’s original intent.
Design Intent is not a replacement for constraints, so if you already use constraints, you can continue to use them as a basis to implement the Design Intent requirements.
By regularly syncing in the layout view, schematic designers can be kept up to date on the implementation progress of each annotation and respond to any queries or comments recorded by the layout designer. Finally, the schematic designer can sign off a design when the original goals have been satisfactorily implemented into the design.
The progress of all the design intent implementation on a design can be checked using a high level report generated from either Schematics XL or Layout XL.
Related Topics
Benefits of Using Design Intent
Design Intent Interaction Between Schematics XL and Layout XL
Return to top