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IBIS INTERCONNECT TASK GROUP
http://www.ibis.org/interconnect_wip/ 
Mailing list: ibis-interconnect@freelists.org 
Archives at http://www.freelists.org/archive/ibis-interconn/ 

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Attendees from July 6 Meeting (* means attended at least using audio)

ANSYS                                Curtis Clark*
Cadence Design Systems               Bradley Brim
Cisco                                David Siadat
Intel Corp.                          Michael Mirmak*
Keysight Technologies                Radek Biernacki, Ming Yan
Mentor Graphics                      Arpad Muranyi*
Micron Technology                    Justin Butterfield*, Randy Wolff*
SAE ITC                              Maureen Lemankiewicz, Logen Johnson
Signal Integrity Software            Walter Katz*, Mike LaBonte*
Teraspeed Labs                       Bob Ross*
University of Aveiro in Portugal     Wael Dghais

Michael Mirmak convened the meeting.  No patents were declared.   

The attendees reviewed minutes from the June 29 meeting.  Walter Katz 
moved to approve the minutes.  Bob Ross seconded.  The minutes were 
approved with no objections.

Regarding previous ARs, Mike LaBonte reported that he sent the 
Commonly Supported Package Sets document to Cadence Design Systems 
and Synopsys. Mike mentioned that it had been sent out and posted, 
and a response was received from Synopsys.  No word has been received 
from Brad Brim on the shortcut proposal.  

Bob reported that he had updated the Interconnect proposal using the 
IBIS-ISS BIRD, from Draft 36 to “BR3”.  Bob noted that this a branch, 
not officially Draft 37.  Mike replied that, after additional review, 
Draft 37 will be posted.

Arpad Muranyi asked whether we still have different branches of the 
document   Bob replied that BR3 is a combined document; Mike LaBonte 
will combine the material and post it immediately.  Bob suggested 
several changes are still required, including documenting Interconnect 
Model Sets, for example; “set” vs. “sets”, is “Begin” required, etc.

Walter noted that he sent several e-mails to the reflector, regarding 
two key topics:

1)      Terminal names: the team should re-think decisions on rail 
terminal names.  Reasons were given in one e-mail.

2)      BIRD138 deals with names, then there are pin mapping, pin 
names, model names, die supply pad section, etc. These affect 
interconnect, and these all should be dealt with in ATM in a combined 
BIRD.  The Editorial team continues to focus on referencing; 
Interconnect focuses on Interconnect.  

Mike agreed that the naming issues should be sent to ATM.  

The team reviewed BR3, which will be named Draft 37.  The changes 
included a corrected Example 5 comment to eliminate a suggestion of 
no reference within Sets.  After examination of whether Pin_Rail and 
pin_name can be associated, there was some discussion of the 
association table.  Mike and Michael expressed confusion on the 
meaning of X, Y, Z in the table.  Bob replied that X is only 
referring to buffer I/O name.

Walter moved to replace X, Y, Z with just X.  Curtis Clark asked 
about the distinction between X vs. Y.  Walter pointed out where 
power pins are allowed vs. not allowed.  There was some discussion 
of simplifying the table.  Walter withdrew his motion and will 
make an editorial clarification proposal offline.

The team discussed whether to have a Begin/End pair for Interconnect 
Sets.  Mike noted that this is better, but writing parsers for 
different approaches is possible.  The team continued, assuming both 
Begin and End will be kept, but discussed whether the pairs should be 
named or not.  Mike inquired whether the name can be a descriptive 
string, and approach many tools currently use.  Bob added that these 
are listed for the user’s convenience.  

Bob added that sets use a name that isn’t referenced by another 
keyword; this is similar to Model Selector.  Walter suggested using 
the common technical term “token”.  Bob objected.  Mike notes that
 the rules 7 and 13 cover the necessary rules for “sets”.   Mike 
added that rising/falling waveforms do not have descriptive names in 
traditional IBIS; tools identify them by number today.  

ARs: Mike to post Draft 37 with changes.  Bob noted that the rules 
need to include mention of an I/O path.

The agenda for the next meeting will include a discussion of Terminal 
names. 

Bob moved to adjourn. Arpad seconded.  The meeting adjourned without 
objection.