Design Management System Architecture

Abstract

A central theme of this book is that an integrated design database is needed before a collection of design tools can be forged into a truly integrated design system. In this chapter, we present an architecture for a prototype design management system. Recall that a design management system is much more than a database system: it is responsible for choosing the data structure for representing the design and for providing an appropriate interface to this structure for design tools. The structures of the system’s storage, recovery, concurrency control, and design validation subsystems are described. Special applications programs that manipulate the structure of the design, a design browser and a system assembler, are also discussed.