Combine Designs Wizard

Sometimes, segments of an item are designed separately by design engineers. Sometimes a unit (board or other assembly) actually consists of two sides, each of which are designed separately, but in actuality operate together. Most often, it is desirable to test items of this nature as one entity, since that is how the items operate. The two (or more) items are represented (from a CAD / EDIF point of view) as two distinct items. The Combine Designs Wizard can be used to combine two (or more) designs into one Diagnostic Profiler project.

The Combine Designs Wizard lets you define the I/O interconnectivity between the two items, define those pins that represent outputs. Then, the Combine Designs Wizard merges the two items projects into one.

To use the Combine Designs Wizard

1. Translate each EDIF netlist into a Diagnostic Profiler project.

2. Initiate the Combine Designs Wizard by selecting it from the tool list on the Import Design tab.

3. Identify the two projects to combine (Project 1 and Project 2) using the drop-down list box at the upper portion of the screen.

4. Define a part prefix for each project. The part prefix will be inserted before the name of each part of it's respective project. The prefix is required since both projects may have components with the same names, and the prefix is simply a mechanism to ensure that part names do not overlap. The prefix also helps to distinguish which original project the part originated from. The prefix used should be short, so that long part names do not result. The prefixes "A" and "B" are default, and may be changed by entering new names in.

5. Enter a new project name to be created by the process of merging the two projects. In the example,  Project 1 is A11, Project 2 is A12, and the name of the new project is A11-12Comb.

6. Identify the directory location for the newly created project. (default is \Profiler\Projects.)

7. Press Next. The new screen will appear.

8. In this screen, you identify the interconnection points between the two designs. A list if all locations from Project 1 and all locations from Project 2 is provided at the left. Select a location from Project 1 that is connected to Project 2, and select theconnection location on Project two. Press the right arrow key. The result, shown in the graphic, is a connection between the two projects. This should be done for each connection that exists between the two projects.

9. Press Next. The screen shown will appear. From this screen, you identify the External (Edge) Input/Output of the combined projects.

10. For each External Input / Output Location, select the location from the list of all Project 1 and 2 locations at the left. Press the right arrow key.

11. When done press Build. This will cause the merge to take place, resulting in a combined project. (Note the original two projects remain unaffected.)