JPH0142020B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a circuit board artwork data creation processing device, particularly, for example, a CAD for general mechanical drawing.
(Computer Aided Design) system,
The present invention relates to a circuit board artwork data creation processing device that automatically interprets figures and creates artwork data for a printed circuit board by drawing a wiring diagram.

[Conventional technology and problems]

A system for automatically designing the wiring pattern of a printed circuit board using a computer is being considered.
The wiring pattern data obtained through automatic design is output as artwork data that controls the exposure device, and the exposure device controls the movement of the light source according to the artwork data and etches the wiring pattern on the printed circuit board. Create a transparent film (artwork film) to be used when

However, conventional CAD systems dedicated to printed board design support a series of steps such as logic circuit design, component placement design, wiring design, and artwork data creation. There is a problem in that it is not possible to perform only wiring design and creation of artwork data based on the wiring design.

Therefore, the parts placement etc. have already been decided,
Conventionally, when trying to perform processing after wiring design,
It was necessary for humans to design wiring on paper and to successively extract position coordinate data using, for example, a digitizer. Therefore, inputting is extremely complicated, there is a high risk of erroneous inputting, and inputting takes a long time.

By the way, recently, various general mechanical drafting CAD systems that define lines and arcs, for example, have been used, and the image data edited by these systems has been used to define, for example, the thickness of lead wires and the types of various lands, etc. Since it does not contain any information and simply defines the image to be displayed on a graphic display, it cannot be used as is to create artwork data.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems. For example, by focusing on the fact that attribute information can be attached to graphic elements in existing CAD systems for mechanical drafting, the present invention makes use of the fact that attribute information can be attached to graphic elements, and also uses the image data that is the output data. To provide a means for easily inputting wiring diagram creation and creating artwork data by providing a conversion means for converting a drawing command into a drawing command and combining them. That is, the board artwork data creation processing device of the present invention is a board artwork data creation processing device that creates artwork data to be provided to an exposure device that creates a film used when etching a wiring pattern on a printed circuit board. an image data processing unit that inputs two-dimensional line information and arc information together with their attribute information and edits the image data; An image data input unit that extracts a graphic element consisting of attribute information corresponding to the image data input unit, and an exposure device that controls the thickness of the lead wire, the type of land, etc. with respect to the attribute information related to the graphic element extracted by the image data input unit. an attribute matching processing unit that associates the drawing command with the drawing command; and a command conversion output unit that edits and outputs the drawing command based on the information associated with the attribute matching processing unit and the coordinate information of the graphic element; A feature of this system is that artwork data is created from dimensional image data.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining the contents of image data related to the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an illustration for explaining an example of artwork data related to the present invention. Here is a diagram to help you.

In Figure 1, 1 is the central processing unit (CPU)
It is a processing device that is equipped with a main storage device and a main storage device, and sequentially fetches and executes predetermined instructions. Further, 2 is a keyboard, 3 is a light pen, 4 is a graphic display using, for example, a bitmap, 5 is an image data file provided in a magnetic disk device, etc., 6 is an intermediate data file used in creating artwork data, 7 1 is an artwork data output device such as a magnetic tape device that outputs created artwork data; 10 is an image data processing unit; 11 is an attribute input unit for inputting attributes related to graphical elements; and 12 is coordinate information related to the image data. Coordinate input section for inputting 1
Reference numeral 3 represents an image editing section that edits the input image while displaying it on the graphic display 4, and reference numeral 14 represents an image data output section that outputs image data to the image data file 5.

Further, reference numeral 20 is an artwork data creation section;
21 is an image data input unit into which image data created by the image data processing unit 10 is input; 22 is an attribute interpretation unit that interprets the attributes of graphic elements; and 23 is a unit in which correspondence between attribute information and information regarding drawing commands is registered. 24 is a correspondence table search unit that searches the correspondence table 23 according to attribute information; 25 is an intermediate data output unit that outputs intermediate data corresponding to each graphical element; and 26 is an efficient drawing unit for the exposure device. 27 represents a drawing optimization section which performs optimization on intermediate data for the purpose of drawing, and a command conversion output section 27 which converts the optimized intermediate data into drawing commands and outputs artwork data.

In the case of the present invention, for example, general two-dimensional figures are handled.
Using a CAD system, you can easily create artwork by drawing the finished image of the artwork film using two-dimensional lines and converting the resulting image data into data for creating the artwork film. It is now possible to create data.

The image data processing section 10 inputs two-dimensional lines, arcs, etc. from the keyboard 2, light pen 3, etc., and displays the figures on the graphic display using the image editing section 13, while editing the printed circuit board. It executes the process of drawing and inputting a wiring diagram. The image data processing section 10 is also capable of assigning attribute data to each input line or arc using the attribute input section 11. Attribute data is input by, for example, a character string command or a menu.
The image data edited by the image editing section 13 is outputted to the image data file 5 by the image data output section 14, so that the image data can be stored.

Such processing by the image data processing unit 10 is normally supported by general mechanical drafting CAD systems, so in implementing the present invention,
An existing CAD system can be used as the image data processing section 10. However, regular CAD
In the system, attribute data used for graphical elements such as color information and line type information such as dotted lines and dash-dotted lines is used in the present invention, and in the present invention, information on the thickness of lead wires in wiring on the board, shape of lands, etc. The above-mentioned image quality data is stored in the image data file 5 in advance in association with land type information to be specified, and together with coordinate information that defines the graphical elements of each lie or arc.

The contents of the image data created by the image data processing section 10 and output to the image data file 5 are as shown in FIG. 2B, for example, with respect to the wiring pattern shown in FIG. 2A. In FIG. 2B, X1 and Y1 represent the starting point coordinates of the line or the center coordinates of the circular arc. X2 and Y2
represents the coordinates of the end point of the line. Further, R represents the radius of the circular arc. As for the attribute data mentioned above, for the line, a lead line with a thickness of 1.0 is specified, and for the first arc, type No.
For land No. 1 and arc No. 2, type No.
Land number 2 is specified. Note that lines in the image data are associated with lead lines, and arcs are associated with lead lines or lands.

The illustrated artwork data creation section 20 in FIG.
The image data input unit 21 inputs image data as shown in FIG. A drawing command sequence suitable for the format of work data is generated and output to an artwork data output device 7 such as a magnetic tape device.

In the correspondence table 23, correspondence information between the identifier of each attribute related to the graphic element and the drawing corando that controls the exposure device is registered and held in advance.
The attribute interpretation unit 22 interprets the attributes regarding each graphic element and notifies the correspondence table search unit 24 of the attributes. The correspondence table search unit 24 searches the correspondence table 23 using the notified attribute identifier as a key, and selects a drawing command corresponding to the attribute. This drawing command information is notified to the intermediate data output unit 25 along with the coordinate information of the graphic element, and the intermediate data output unit 25 outputs the intermediate data regarding each graphic element to an intermediate file provided as a work file in a magnetic disk device or the like. Output to data file 6.

The drawing optimization unit 26 continues to output the intermediate data output to the intermediate data file 6, performs sorting and integration processing of information regarding each graphic element, etc., and optimizes the data so that drawing by the exposure device can be performed efficiently without waste. It handles the optimization of For example, starting from the land closest to the origin, the lead line is followed, and when an end point is reached, the next land closest to the end point is selected. Then, the process of following the lead wires is repeated in the same way. Alternatively, the distance by which the light source must be moved may be calculated by trial and error, and the optimization process may be performed to select a route that provides the shortest distance.

The command conversion output unit 27 converts the intermediate data optimized in this way into a drawing command for controlling the exposure device and outputs it.

Artwork data that controls the exposure device generally consists of XY coordinate information that defines the operation of the exposure device and information that controls the on/off of light. for example,
When drawing a wiring pattern as shown in Figure 3A,
Artwork data is created using a drawing command sequence as shown in FIG. 3B.

In FIG. 3B, "*" in the data indicates a command break. "X1Y1" in the figure is command data that instructs to operate the exposure device a distance of 1 in the X direction and 1 in the Y direction from the origin position. The illustration "M8" indicates to turn on the light. "X1Y1" in the diagram is 1 further in the X direction from the current position,
Instructs to move 1 in the Y direction. Similarly, "X1" shown in the figure instructs to move one step further in the X direction from the current position. "Y-1" shown
instructs to move further by -1 in the Y direction from the current position. "M9" shown indicates to turn off the light. "X-3Y-1" shown
Instructs to move further from the current position by -3 in the X direction and -1 in the Y direction to return to the origin. It goes without saying that commands for specifying the thickness of the lead wire, the shape of the land, etc. are also prepared and are output in the same way.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a drawing of a completed artwork film image is manually created on paper as in the conventional method, and position coordinate data is extracted point by point using a digitizer, for example, and reedited. This is no longer necessary, and the position coordinate data is automatically extracted by drawing the wiring diagram, making it possible to reduce erroneous inputs and input omissions. Furthermore, the time required to create data can be significantly reduced. In carrying out the present invention, when inputting image data showing a wiring pattern,
It is possible to use an existing CAD system, and therefore the present invention can be implemented relatively easily and inexpensively, and for users who are accustomed to using existing CAD systems, there are It also has the effect of not requiring any skill.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the content of image data related to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of artwork data related to the present invention. Here is a diagram for. In the figure, 1 is a processing device, 5 is an image data file, 7 is an artwork data output device, 10 is an image data processing section, 20 is an artwork data creation section, 21 is an image data input section, 22 is an attribute interpretation section, Reference numeral 23 represents a correspondence table, 24 a correspondence table search section, 25 an intermediate data output section, 26 a drawing optimization section, and 27 a command conversion output section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a board artwork data creation processing device that creates artwork data to be given to an exposure device that creates a film used when etching a wiring pattern on a printed circuit board, at least two-dimensional line information and arc information are converted into their attribute information. an image data processing unit that inputs the image data and edits the image data, and inputs the image data edited by the image data processing unit and extracts a graphic element consisting of each of the above line information or each of the arc information and the attribute information corresponding thereto. an image data input section, an attribute correspondence processing section that associates attribute information regarding the graphic element extracted by the image data input section with a drawing command for controlling an exposure section related to the thickness of a lead line, the type of land, etc.; The present invention includes a command conversion output unit that edits and outputs drawing commands based on information associated with the attribute correspondence processing unit and coordinate information of graphic elements, and creates artwork data from two-dimensional image data. A circuit board artwork data creation processing device characterized by the following.