When a user requires a circuit, the user frequently knows little more than the requirements that the circuit must satisfy. To obtain the desired circuit, the user may provide a list of the requirements to a third party that is knowledgeable about those types of circuits, how to design them, and where to obtain the components to make them. That third party may then construct and supply the user with the circuit, with a significant price mark up for the service of designing, obtaining components and constructing the circuit based on the specified requirements.
To avoid having to pay the marked up prices that would be required by a third party, the user may attempt to become educated on circuit design, and obtain parts catalogs from circuit component suppliers. However, the effort required to gain the requisite education and knowledge may not be worth the savings that are achieved thereby. To reduce the effort required to perform some of these tasks, the user may obtain and install specialized client-side tools, such as the Switches Made Simple software product available from National Semiconductor Corporation. While such tools may assist in the circuit design and component selection tasks, the user must still go through the manual process of placing orders for the components. Further, given the rapidity with which circuit component manufacturers change their product lines, the component information used by the specialized client-side software will quickly become outdated unless frequently updated. The inconvenience of having to obtain, install, and keep such specialized software updated does not make this the solution ideal.
Based on the foregoing, it is desirable to provide techniques that allow a user that has specific circuit requirements to obtain a circuit that satisfies those requirements, or the components to make such a circuit, without the user having to obtain additional education or possess specialized software.