Synopsys, Inc.

Jeffrey T Brubaker

Scott I Chase

Grigor S Avagyan

A technique for selecting an object is described. During this technique, a computer system selects an object from multiple objects associated with a circuit design in an electronic-design-automation (EDA) environment based at least on a current cursor location and a current design command. For example, the computer system may select the object by determining distances between the cursor location and objects in at least a subset of the multiple objects, and then identifying the minimum distance in the distances. Furthermore, the object may be selected either with or without a user first providing an object-selection input. If the object-selection input is provided, the user may do so by performing one or more mouse clicks or a keyboard shortcut, as opposed to using a window (such as a dialog box or a drop-down menu) that can be displayed in the EDA environment.

Cycle-tapping technique for selecting objects

A technique for maintaining a transaction history is described. This transaction history includes a sequence of commands or operations in an electronic-design-automation (EDA) environment. For subsets of one or more operations in the sequence of operations, the transaction history includes an associated transaction name, as well as a state of the of the subset, which is open after an initial EDA operation in the subset has been performed and is closed after a last EDA operation in the subset has been performed. This transaction history can be displayed in a window in a graphical user interface, and facilitates undoing and/or rolling back of changes to the data associated with one or more subsets. For example, if an error is detected, roll back of one or more subsets to a known software state or condition prior to the operations in the one or more subsets may be performed without user instructions using the transaction history.

Transaction history with bounded operation sequences

A technique for reliably replaying operations in electronic-design-automation (EDA) software is described. In this technique, the EDA software stores operations performed by a user during a design session, as well as any replay look-ahead instructions, in a log file. When repeating the first operation, the replay look-ahead instruction ensures that the same state is obtained in the EDA environment as was previously obtained. For example, if an interrupt occurred when the first operation was previously performed, the replay look-ahead instruction may specify when the interrupt occurred during the performance of the operation so that the effect of the interrupt may be simulated when replaying the first operation. Alternatively, if a blocking user-interface request occurred when the first operation was previously performed (such as a mandatory query), the replay look-ahead instruction may include one or more events associated with the user answer to the blocking user-interface request so that the same user answer may be provided when replaying the first operation.

Technique for replaying operations using replay look-ahead instructions

An image display system draws a first image on top of a second image. Pixels of the first image include one or more color channels which encode color information, but do not include an alpha channel which encodes transparency information. The system encodes transparency information for the pixels in the first image using at least one bit in at least one color channel of each pixel. The system draws the first image on top of the second image using the transparency information encoded in the color channels of the pixels to obtain a combined image.

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Carrboro, NC, United States of America

Jeffrey T Brubaker