the present invention is a system , method and computer program product for the web - based integrated circuit design . in an embodiment of the present invention , an application service provider provides and allows access , perhaps on a subscriber basis , to a total integrated circuit design tool ( i . e ., a “ virtual lab ”) via the global internet . that is , the application service provider would provide the hardware ( e . g ., servers ) and software ( e . g ., database ) infrastructure , application software , customer support , and billing mechanism to allow its customers ( e . g ., chip design engineers and the like ) to remotely perform all phases ( and aspects ) of integrated circuit design . more specifically , the application service provider would provide a world wide web site where a design engineer , using any computing platform and web browser software , to remotely perform all phases of integrated circuit design as described herein . as suggested above , in an embodiment of the present invention , an asp may provide users with access to the integrated circuit design tool of the present invention and charge on a subscriber or per - use basis . in an alternate embodiment , users may access the integrated circuit design tool of the present invention via direct dial - up lines rather than through the global internet . in yet another embodiment of the present invention , the integrated circuit design tool of the present invention , instead of being accessed via the global internet , would run locally on proprietary equipment and be networked among the local or wide area network ( e . g ., over an ethernet , intranet , or extranet ) of an entity allowing multiple users ( e . g ., employees of a single company that owns proprietary equipment ) to access and use the integrated circuit design tool of the present invention . the present invention is described herein in terms of the web - based chip design example . this is for convenience only and is not intended to limit the application of the present invention . in fact , after reading the following description , it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ) how to implement the following invention in alternative embodiments ( e . g ., hardware design in general ). the terms “ user ,” “ customer ,” “ design engineer ,” “ engineer ,” “ designer ,” and the plural form of these terms are used interchangeably to refer to those who would access , use , and / or benefit from the present invention . referring to fig1 a block diagram illustrating the physical architecture of a web - based integrated circuit design ( wbicd ) system 100 , according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown . fig1 also shows connectivity among the various components of wbicd system 100 . it should be understood that the particular wbicd system 100 in fig1 ( i . e ., a integrated circuit design tool system ) is shown for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the invention . other implementations for performing the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art ( s ) based on the teachings contained herein , and the invention is directed to such other implementations . as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ), all of the components “ inside ” wbicd system 100 are connected and communicate via a communication medium such as a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ) 101 running a secure communications protocol ( e . g ., 128 - bit secure sockets layer ( ssl )). wbicd system 100 includes a plurality of application servers 102 ( shown as application servers 102 a . . . n ) that serve as the processing system of the present invention . servers 102 , as explained in detail below , include the software code logic that implements the integrated circuit design tool operation of wbicd system 100 . while a plurality of separate servers are shown in fig1 it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ) that the wbicd system 100 may utilize one or more servers in a distributed fashion ( or possibly mirrored for fault tolerance ) connected via lan 101 . also connected to lan 101 is an application database 104 . this database , as explained in more detail below , stores information related to the users ( e . g ., design engineers ) utilizing wbicd system 100 . such information includes , as will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art ( s ), user registration , log - ins , passwords , company information , stored project files , account logs and the like . wbicd system 100 also includes a plurality of administrative workstations 106 ( shown as workstations 106 a . . . n ) that may be used by the wvbicd organization ( i . e ., the asp ) to update , maintain , monitor , and log statistics related to servers 102 and wbicd system 100 in general . also , administrative workstations 106 may be used “ off - line ” by asp personnel in order to enter configuration data , as described below , in order to customize wbicd system 100 performance . wbicd system 100 also includes a gateway 108 which acts as the interface between the servers 102 and the external ( i . e ., outside of the asp &# 39 ; s infrastructure ) devices . consequently , gateway 108 is connected to a firewall 110 . generally speaking , a firewall , which is well - known in the relevant art ( s ), is a dedicated gateway machine with special security precaution software . it is typically used , for example , to service connections and protect a cluster of more loosely - administered machines hidden behind it from an external invasion . thus , firewall 110 serves as the connection and separation between the lan 101 , which includes the plurality of network elements ( i . e ., elements 102 - 108 ) “ inside ” of lan 101 , and the global internet 103 ( or some other communications network ) “ outside ” of lan 101 . connected to the internet , outside of the lan 101 , includes a plurality of external computing devices 112 that allow users ( i . e ., design engineers ) to remotely access and use wbicd system 100 . external computing devices 112 would include , for example , a desktop computer 112 a , a laptop 112 b , a personal digital assistant ( pda ) 112 c . in one embodiment of the present invention , gateway 108 is a web server which sends out web pages in response to hypertext transfer protocol ( http ) requests from remote browsers ( i . e ., external computing devices 112 ). the web server would provide the “ front end ” to the users of the present invention . that is , the web server would provide the graphical user interface ( gui ) to users of wbicd system 100 in the form of web pages . such users may access the web server at the wbicd asp &# 39 ; s site via the internet ( and thus , the world wide web ) 103 . in such an embodiment , because ssl runs on the internet as well , all points of communication between the users 112 and the asp &# 39 ; s servers 102 would be secure . while only one gateway 108 is shown in fig1 it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ) that wbicd system 100 may utilize one or more gateways in a distributed fashion ( or possibly mirrored for fault tolerance ) connected via lan 101 . in such an embodiment , as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ) after reading the description herein , each gateway 108 could be dedicated to , and support connections from , a specific type of external client device 112 ( and possibly using a different communications network than the global internet 103 ). lastly , while one database 104 is shown in fig1 for ease of explanation , it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ) that wbicd system 100 may utilize databases physically located on one or more computers which may or may not be the same as any of servers 102 . more detailed descriptions of wbicd system 100 components , as well as their functionality , are provided below . application database 104 stores the various types of information that wbicd system 100 would need to store in order to provide the integrated circuit design tool of the present invention . such information , includes user registration information ( name , address , billing information , etc . ), log - ins , user and group passwords , company information , stored project files , account logs , optimized function libraries for software development , common cvs , reference designs and associated data sheets , etc ., as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ) after reading the teachings herein . in an embodiment of the present invention , application database 104 is implemented using a relational database product ( e . g ., microsoft ® access , microsoft ® sql server , ibm ® db 2 ®, oracle ®, ingres ®, or the like ). as is well known in the relevant art ( s ), relational databases allow the definition of data structures , storage and retrieval operations , and integrity constraints , where data and relations between them are organized in tables . further , tables are a collection of records and each record in a table possesses the same fields . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , application database 104 is implemented using an object database product ( e . g ., ode available from bell laboratories of murray hill , n . j ., poet available from the poet software corporation of san mateo , calif ., objectstore available from object design , inc . of burlington , mass ., and the like ). as is well known in the relevant art ( s ), data in object databases are stored as objects and can be interpreted only using the methods specified by each data object &# 39 ; s class . as will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art ( s ), whether application database 104 is an object , relational , and / or even flat - files depends on the character of the data being stored by the asp which , in turn , is driven by the specific interactive , multi - user applications being offered by the asp . server 102 contains specific code logic to assemble components from any combination of these database models and to build the required answer to a query . in any event , gateway 108 , computing devices 112 , and / or administration workstation 106 are unaware of how , where , or in what format such data is stored . in an embodiment of the present invention , servers 102 can be implemented using a microsoft ® windows nt ™ server platform or a sun ultra server running the solaris operating system . servers 102 execute a ( processing ) software application implemented in a high level programming language such as , for example , java or c ++. in an embodiment of the present invention , the software application communicates with database 104 using , for example , a c ++ object interface . in an embodiment of the present invention where gateway 108 is a web sever , a secure gui “ front - end ” for wbicd system 100 is provided . in an embodiment of the present invention , the front - end is implemented using the active server pages ( asp ), visual basic ( vb ) script , and javascript ™ sever - side scripting environments that allow for the creation of dynamic web pages . referring to fig2 a flowchart depicting an embodiment of the operation and control flow 200 of wbicd system 100 of the present invention is shown . more specifically , control flow 200 depicts , in flowchart form , an example of a design engineer utilizing ( via web navigation ) the integrated circuit design tool of the present invention . the description of fig2 is presented with particularized reference to individual wbicd system 100 components . control flow 200 begins at step 202 , with control passing immediately to step 203 . in step 203 , an authorized user , employing an external computing device 112 , connects to the asp &# 39 ; s gateway 108 and logs in to begin using the “ virtual lab ” tool of the present invention . such a login process would include entering a valid user name and password which are then authenticated by the system 100 , as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art ( s ). in step 204 , wbicd system 100 allows the user to perform application selection . that is , in step 204 , the user ( e . g ., a design engineer ) chooses , via a gui , the type of product for which they are designing a chip ( i . e ., start a new design “ project ”). such application choices include , without limitation , a set - top box , a voice over internet protocol ( voip ) appliance , a bluetooth appliance , a router , etc . in step 206 , wbicd system 100 allows the user to view a number of reference designs for the particular application selected in step 204 . as will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art ( s ), a reference design is a means of recommending a design where one or more parties publish a schematic or other document with a recommendation / endorsement to use its semiconductor integrated circuit products with one or more vendor &# 39 ; s semiconductor integrated circuits products or technology . such reference designs would be made available to the user by the asp and stored on application database 104 . in an embodiment , the asp , other users , and / or ic manufacturers would make their reference designs available on wbicd system 100 . referring to fig3 a , an exemplary window or screen shot 310 that could be generated by the graphical user interface , in the web site navigation embodiment of the present invention , is shown . the top - half of screen 310 illustrates the gui presented to the user after selecting , for example , a bluetooth appliance type application in step 204 and then selecting one of several available reference designs for such an application in step 206 . the bottom half of screen 310 displays a list the components ( e . g ., memory , processors , etc .) within the selected reference design for such an application . in an embodiment , steps 204 and 206 correspond to a portion of the first phase ( i . e ., system architecture exploration phase ) of the chip design process described above . once the user decides on an application and chooses among several of the reference designs for that application , a button 302 can be clicked to begin the soc design process . control flow 300 then proceeds to step 208 . returning to control flow 200 ( and fig2 ), in step 208 , wbicd system 100 allows the user to access a system simulation tool . in an embodiment , step 208 corresponds to a portion of the first phase ( i . e ., system architecture exploration phase ) and third phase ( i . e ., design phase ) of the chip design process described above . in step 208 , wbicd system 100 allows the design engineer to select , simulate and prototype the hardware , software and middleware of the ic product being designed . this step gives the designer feedback about the reference design and the components chosen to implement the reference design , and allows for any desired or necessary re - configuration of the reference design . referring to fig3 b , an exemplary window or screen shot 320 that could be generated by the graphical user interface , in the web site navigation embodiment of the present invention , is shown . screen 320 illustrates the gui presented to the user during step 208 . should the user select any component ( e . g ., by a mouse double - click on the component ), wbicd system 100 will display a gui listing alternate choices for that component , along with a description , name of the supplier or vendor , characteristic information and link to the vendor &# 39 ; s web site . an exemplary gui screen 400 is shown in fig4 containing such information . screen 400 , in one embodiment , may also include a column of select boxes which would allow a designer to view “ side - by - side ” comparisons of different components . once a number of components are selected , a “ compare ” button on screen 400 ( not shown ) may be selected in order to view a screen containing more detailed information on the selected components . a return button may be included in each display or screen to return to the soc design process . returning to control flow 200 ( and fig2 ), in step 210 , wbicd system 100 allows the user to proceed in the chip design flow process . in an embodiment , step 210 corresponds to portions of the third phase ( i . e ., design ), and the fourth ( verification ), fifth ( synthesis , layout and sta ) and sixth ( atpg ) phases of the chip design process described above . that is , the user is provided with tools and gui screens to perform design flows from rtl to gdsii in order to obtain a final soc , all while having access to emulation tools . an exemplary flow of screens 330 is shown in fig3 c . returning to control flow 200 ( and fig2 ), in step 212 , wbicd system 100 allows the user to perform application development . thus , in an embodiment , step 212 corresponds to the second phase ( i . e ., software development ) of the chip design process described above . that is , wbicd system 100 allows the user access to a variety of compilers and debugger tools to accomplish the software development aspect of the chip design project . in an embodiment , wbicd system 100 allows access to a compilers and debugger tools available from a variety of vendors via a gui screen . an exemplary screen 340 is shown in fig3 d . returning to control flow 200 ( and fig2 ), after step 212 is completed , the design project is completed and the chip for the selected application is designed . control flow 200 then ends as indicated by step 214 . in an embodiment of the present invention , rather than going through the entire design process ( i . e ., flow 300 ), a user may decide during the system architecture exploration phase ( i . e ., during or after steps 204 - 206 ) to simply purchase their required chip from a vendor , rather than continuing flow 300 and manufacturing it themselves . in such an instance , wbicd system 100 facilitates such purchase . that is , in an embodiment , wbicd system 100 includes gui screens that enable the user to “ shop ” and select an available vendor which can actually manufacture the chip they desire . it should be understood that control flow 200 , which highlights the functionality and advantages of wbicd system 100 , is presented for example purposes only . the architecture of the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable such that users may utilize wbicd system 100 in ways other than that shown in fig2 . further , the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable such that the information contained in the gui screens of fig3 and 4 can be presented to users in ways other than those shown in fig3 and 4 . the present invention ( i . e ., wbicd system 100 , flow 200 or any of the parts thereof ) may be implemented using hardware , software or a combination thereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems . in fact , an example of a computer system 500 is shown in fig5 . the computer system 500 represents any single or multi - processor computer . in conjunction , single - threaded and multi - threaded applications can be used . unified or distributed memory systems can be used . computer system 500 , or portions thereof , may be used to implement the present invention . for example , the system 100 of the present invention may comprise software running on a computer system such as computer system 500 . in one example , the system 100 of the present invention is implemented in a multi - platform ( platform independent ) programming language such as java ™ , programming language / structured query language ( pl / sql ), hyper - text mark - up language ( html ), practical extraction report language ( perl ), common gateway interface / structured query language ( cgi / sql ) or the like . java ™- enabled and javascript ™- enabled browsers are used , such as , netscape ™, hotjava ™, and microsof ™ explorer ™ browsers . active content web pages can be used . such active content web pages can include java ™ applets or activex ™ controls , or any other active content technology developed now or in the future . the present invention , however , is not intended to be limited to java ™, javascrip ™, or their enabled browsers , and can be implemented in any programming language and browser , developed now or in the future , as would be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art ( s ) given this description . in another example , the system 100 of the present invention , may be implemented using a high - level programming language ( e . g ., c ++) and applications written for the microsoft windows ™ nt or sun ™ os environments . it will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art ( s ) how to implement the invention in alternative embodiments from the teachings herein . computer system 500 includes one or more processors , such as processor 544 . one or more processors 544 can execute software implementing the routines described above . each processor 544 is connected to a communication infrastructure 542 ( e . g ., a communications bus , cross - bar , or network ). various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplary computer system . after reading this description , it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art how to implement the invention using other computer systems and / or computer architectures . computer system 500 can include a display interface 502 that forwards graphics , text , and other data from the communication infrastructure 542 ( or from a frame buffer not shown ) for display on the display unit 530 . computer system 500 also includes a main memory 546 , preferably random access memory ( ram ), and can also include a secondary memory 548 . the secondary memory 548 can include , for example , a hard disk drive 550 and / or a removable storage drive 552 , representing a floppy disk drive , a magnetic tape drive , an optical disk drive , etc . the removable storage drive 552 reads from and / or writes to a removable storage unit 554 in a well known manner . removable storage unit 554 represents a floppy disk , magnetic tape , optical disk , etc ., which is read by and written to by removable storage drive 552 . as will be appreciated , the removable storage unit 554 includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and / or data . in alternative embodiments , secondary memory 548 may include other similar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system 500 . such means can include , for example , a removable storage unit 562 and an interface 560 . examples can include a program cartridge and cartridge interface ( such as that found in video game console devices ), a removable memory chip ( such as an eprom , or prom ) and associated socket , and other removable storage units 562 and interfaces 560 which allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit 562 to computer system 500 . computer system 500 can also include a communications interface 564 . communications interface 564 allows software and data to be transferred between computer system 500 and external devices via communications path 566 . examples of communications interface 564 can include a modem , a network interface ( such as ethernet card ), a communications port , interfaces described above , etc . software and data transferred via communications interface 564 are in the form of signals 568 which can be electronic , electromagnetic , optical or other signals capable of being received by communications interface 564 , via communications path 566 . note that communications interface 564 provides a means by which computer system 500 can interface to a network such as the internet . the present invention can be implemented using software running ( that is , executing ) in an environment similar to that described above . in this document , the term “ computer program product ” is used to generally refer to removable storage unit 554 , a hard disk installed in hard disk drive 550 , or a carrier wave carrying software over a communication path 566 ( wireless link or cable ) to communication interface 564 . a computer useable medium can include magnetic media , optical media , or other recordable media , or media that transmits a carrier wave or other signal . these computer program products are means for providing software to computer system 500 . computer programs ( also called computer control logic ) are stored in main memory 546 and / or secondary memory 548 . computer programs can also be received via communications interface 564 . such computer programs , when executed , enable the computer system 500 to perform the features of the present invention as discussed herein . in particular , the computer programs , when executed , enable the processor 544 to perform features of the present invention . accordingly , such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system 500 . the present invention can be implemented as control logic in software , firmware , hardware or any combination thereof . in an embodiment where the invention is implemented using software , the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system 500 using removable storage drive 552 , hard disk drive 550 , or interface 560 . alternatively , the computer program product may be downloaded to computer system 500 over communications path 566 . the control logic ( software ), when executed by the one or more processors 544 , causes the processor ( s ) 544 to perform functions of the invention as described herein . in another embodiment , the invention is implemented primarily in firmware and / or hardware using , for example , hardware components such as application specific integrated circuits ( asics ). implementation of a hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art ( s ) from the teachings herein . while various embodiments of the present invention have been described above , it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example , and not limitation . for example , the present invention is described above in platform - based soc design terms , but those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize its applicability to block - based soc design as well . it will also be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art ( s ) that various other changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . this is especially true in light of technology and terms within the relevant art ( s ) that may be later developed . thus , the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents .