Gardena, CA (November 15, 2006) - Today Intusoft announced the awarding of US patent 7,110,929 B1 to the company's president and founder, Lawrence Meares, for the development of "System and Method of Providing Additional Circuit Analysis Using Simulation Templates." The capability has been a key provision in the control of SPICE circuit simulation, custom waveform processing, and interaction with these processes by users of Intusoft's tools.

In October, the ICAP/4 8.x.11 Build 2817 SPICE simulation tool suite was announced at the "Power Systems World '06" convention in Long Beach, California. But for years ICAP/4 has extensively employed the now patented simulation templates. Templates are comprised of embedded scripts that are programmed using Intusoft's "Interactive Command Language" (ICL) for custom analysis of analog, mixed-signal and mixed-system design. As far back as the 1980s, Intusoft brought to fruition what Berkeley attempted as a fully functional SPICE scripting language.

A simulation template has embedded instructions that tell a SPICE netlist where to insert key information that will affect a design simulation, including special options. It expands SPICE beyond traditional limitations by allowing design parameter variations and multiple simulation passes to run under one analysis umbrella. Simulation templates automatically enable component parametric variation for special analyses like extreme-value, root summed squares and design optimization. They provide charting of post-simulation electrical measurements with compliance to pass/fail limits across a design - a unique capability with Intusoft's ICAP/4 SPICE simulation.

"Interactive scripts" enable users to perform real-time parametric variation on parts by assigning a new value (i.e., transistor beta), sweep or expression to the parameter, all with no schematic interaction and with simulation waveforms shown in real time. A simulation template can be modified to alter parametric limits (i.e., from 3 sigma to 6 sigma), as found in Monte Carlo statistical analysis. Post-simulation scripts instantly transform signal waveforms to functions like family eye diagram, black body waveform, Hanning taper, EMI/IEC Class specifications, 20lgt, wavelet time-to-wave, Bessel filter and dozens of complex signal operations. Templates and scripts are altered using syntax from a provision of 175 commands and functions, or users can create a new template for custom design analysis.

This marks the second US patent awarded to Intusoft. Meares was granted patent US 6,230,305 B1 in May of 2001 for the invention of a layered configurable schematic. This capability enables users to draw different portions of a design as circuit layers, then adjoin them as a composite design. Any layer's parts and wiring can be highlighted for instant identification. Variations within layers can be saved as unique design configurations for debug, test, PCB layout, military standard and documentation.

Company:

Established in 1985, Intusoft designs, develops and markets award-winning electronic design automation software to electronics industries worldwide. Its headquarters are in Gardena, California, including a worldwide network of resellers. Intusoft's products target a breadth of applications across all industrial, technological, military and consumer industries, by providing leading tools for analog and mixed-signal design of boards and ICs, plus automated test synthesis.