System and method for facilitating the chip design and electronic circuit using a remotely located resources

摘要

A multi-faceted portal site acts as a server in the context of an n-tier client/server network, and connects electronic designers and design teams to design and verification tool and service providers on the other through a single portal site. Tools and services accessible to users through the portal site include electronic design automation (EDA) software tools, electronic component information, electronic component databases of parts (or dynamic parts), computing and processing resources, virtual circuit blocks, design expert assistance, and integrated circuit fabrication. Such tools and services may be provided in whole or part by suppliers connected to the portal site. Users accessing the portal site are presented with options in a menu or other convenient format identifying the tools and services available, and are able to more rapidly complete circuit designs by having access to a wide variety of tools and services in a single locale. The portal site may facilitate purchase, lease or other acquisition of the tools and services offered through it. The portal site tracks the movements of users through the portal site in order to learn about the design preferences and design approaches of users individually and in the aggregate. Previous actions taken by the user and by similarly-situated users may be considered in determining which information presented to the user, or in what order to present information to the user, thereby providing contextually-driven access.