Report 83 45 A Framework for Circuit Design . S Stanford Christopher Tong Dec 1983

The process of circuit design is complex largely because the required knowledge takes many forms. We present a framework that contains such design descriptions as components, plans, goals, and tradeoffs. The design process is represented by tasks, which synthesize and revise descriptions, and principles that should be upheld by descriptions. Con, -)1 of the circuit design process involves sequencing the creation and execution of tasks and the.naimainence of principles. Control is knowledge-intensive: different design processes are represented by such control descriptions as strategies and metagoals. We provide examples of design tasks, principles, and control descriptions. Finally, we describe a computer program based on this framework.