Markup language based design tool integration method in distributed design environments

Design tools integration is a central issue in distributed design methodologies of SoCs. The paper presents methods and tools for distributed tools integration based on a markup language (XML) which supports universal description of tools, straightforward storage, search and retrieval of tool descriptions, as well as remote invocation of tools, and in consequence realization of distributed design tasks. Sequences of design tasks are graphically represented as workflows. Presented concepts and methods have been verified with the design environment based on Tools Registration and Management Services (TRMS). The TRMS-based environment comprises among others a tool for tracking changes in specification of a design tool which is available in a network. It includes also an ontology which supports reasoning on relationships between a design task and a tool. The Web Ontology Language (OWL) has been applied to describe a process of task execution with the use of a particular tool (OntoTool).