A safe web site for exchanging LSI-Package-Board data between companies involved in electronic products.
Challenges in Exchanging LSI-Package-Board Data
IEEE2401/IEC63055, usually called LPB-Format, defines a standard data format to exchange LSI-Package-Board data in collaborating companies to enable high level technical communication, in early concept phase of electronic products developments. It is now used in the development teams, with supports from EDA companies and parts vendors, but probably inside each company in many cases at this moment. The next step is expected to be expanding the application to the inter-company communications for better performance, but there is a problem to be solved before that: There is no standard format checker and data viewer, which are necessary to make smooth communication between the sender and receiver of the data.
Gem-lpb.com Solution
Gem Design Tech has developed a web site that can offer the necessary format checking and data viewing, based on our experience in the long time enrollment in developing the LPB-format. The site provides the services for registered users. A user who eventually received the LPB-format data can upload it to gem-lpb.com to validate the content before formally accepting the data in their work flow. Another user who want to send an LPB-format data can upload the data to the site to double check if it is surely correct, before sending it to the receiver. An EDA company may also want to use the site to develop/debug their programs to import(export) LPB-format to(from) their database in their proprietary format. Beyond such sole user scenarios, the sender and receiver may form a group on the site, to share their data inside the site, without sending the confidential data to anywhere else. Further, making a group of three or more companies is just simply possible in the site, but it implies a big jump to the era of the really wide industrial collaboration. Gem-lpb.com is running and managed based on Amazon AWS, which is obviously the one of the best safest cloud environments.
Free Services
You can register an account on gem-lpb.com for free, and use the format checker and data viewers for free. More specifically, you can upload files, format-checking the files, viewing the content of the files, and download the files for free. The disk capacity for personal use is limited to 10MB for the free user. However, free user can join to a group if invited by a group manager, and then you can use the group’s bigger disk space, sharing with other group members.
Paid Services
We provide advanced features as paid services. Increasing the disk space is a paid service. Forming a group is implied as paid service, because a group should be made with additional disk space. Adding members to the group is a free service. Then, in the minimum case, only one user pays, to form a group of users who share one big disk space, and each member of the group has his/her own 10MB free personal space. The expense should be paid in an advance, for 1 month to 3 years period of the service. The purchase protocol is rather classic, at this moment, using email communication.
File Explorer (free)
File explorer works as the central page in the site. User can manipulate files in his/her home directory. For example the user can upload/download files, list the files, copy/move files, make backup copy, etc. If the user is a member of a group, the user can also manipulate the files in the group’s directory, and can copy/move files between home directory and group’s directory. Other members of the group can also access the group’s directory in the same way, then the group’s directory is the place where all group members share their data. User cannot access any other parts, such as other user’s home directory, or group’s directory where the user is not a member of. File explorer can invoke format checker and other tools for listed files.
Format Checker (free)
To run format checker, you can select files in the explorer and press ‘Format Checker’ button. Multiple files can be checked at once. File types are automatically identified, based on the extensions and/or the contents, to carry out type specific checking. N-format, C-format, R-format and G-format are supported.
G-Format Viewer (free)
G-Format is a compact board layout database containing a netlist, component placements, and routing geometries, naturally has a variety of usages. In above figure, a G-format file is provided by Toshiba to demonstrate the board layout example mounting their module product. The G-format viewer not only graphically shows the content of the file, but also provides debug functions, to enable detailed analysis in case of any problem occurs in your data exchange.
Disk Quota Plan (paid service)
| Disk Capacity | Price (excl. tax) |
|---|---|
| 10MB | free |
| 100MB | 1,000 JPY/mo |
| 1GB | 3,000 JPY/mo |
| 10GB | 9,000 JPY/mo |
Every user is given 10MB free disk space upon the registration, as the user’s personal home directory. If it is not sufficient, use “Shopping > Disk Quota” menu to increase the space with an expense, as shown in the above table. The menu can also be used to change the disk space of an existing group, as well as to create a new group with the specified capacity of the disk space.
The purchase protocol is as follows. First, you fill out a form in the page to specify capacity, etc, and press ‘purchase inquiry’ button. A confirmation email is sent to us and to you. We will write to you asap. You can communicate with us to finalize the transaction detail and place the order. We will ship a “service code” by email, which you can paste on the page and press “Activate” to activate the new plan.
Group Management (free)
You can purchase 100MB or larger disk quota plan to create a new group. When activate the plan, the group is made and you will be the first member of the group, and also the manager of the group. A group manager can invite any user in gem-lpb.com to join the group as a member, and also capable to remove the membership. A group manager can also promote a member as a manager, and can also downgrade a manager (including himself/herself) to an ordinary member of the group. You can make any number of groups. A user can join any number of groups.
Desktop Tool GemLPB (paid service)
| License | Price (excl. tax) |
|---|---|
| 1-seat 1-month | 10,000 JPY |
| 1-seat 1-year | 100,000 JPY |
| 1-seat 3-years | 276,640 JPY |
GemLPB is a desktop tool that implements LPB-Format checking and viewing functionalities. The functionality is basically the same as the one in gem-lpb.com site, but you may prefer desktop version if your security policy does not allow you to upload your files to the Internet. It runs on a PC with Windows 10 64-bit, with 8GB or more memory. You can start using GemLPB as follows.
- (step 1) Log-in to gem-lpb.com. Check legal document. Download the installation file in “Shopping > GemLPB” page.
- (step 2) Apply a license in the same page, specifying company name, license count and license period.
- (step 3) Wait for an email from us. Communicate with us, place an order, pay the price, receive an license code (server license code).
- (step 4) Log-in to gem-lpb.com, register the server license code for your company, register end-users, and issue client license code for each end-user.
- (step 5) Each end-user will install the tool using the installation file downloaded in step1. Activate the tool by pasting the client license code on the tool. The tool need internet connection when running, to check the license. End-users can use the tool simultaneously within the license count.