Data driven embedded application building and configuration

• US 10,466,977 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2016
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Renesas Electronics America Inc.(f/k/a Integrated Device Technology, Inc) (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Renesas Electronics America Inc.(f/k/a Integrated Device Technology, Inc) (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Inventors: Brabender, Jon Matthew, Dallaway, John L., Goodchild, Mark, Deadman, James Mark, Hussey, Brandon Cranford, Jassmann, Kristine M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Berman, Stephen D
• Application Number:
  US15/290,773
• Publication Number:
  US 20170131977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3616 using software metrics
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation

Abstract

Provided herein are various systems, methods and architectures for enabling a microcontroller manufacturer to provide certain modification and configuration functionality to product vendors, while still maintaining the level of control needed to ensure that a product vendor does not inadvertently (or otherwise) create code that causes the microcontroller to not work properly. In one embodiment, this functionality can be performed through the steps of displaying a set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration, receiving user information regarding a first value corresponding to a first microcontroller property, determining whether the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, and in response to determining that the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, generating compiled code for the microcontroller.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration with respect to a microcontroller, wherein

the microcontroller comprises an embedded software application,

the embedded software application comprises compiled computer instructions, and

each microcontroller property has a corresponding value associated with the property;

receiving user information regarding a first value corresponding to a first microcontroller property, wherein

the first microcontroller property is associated with the embedded software application;

determining whether the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, wherein determining includes at least verifying interoperability between two or more modules of the embedded software application based on the user information;

in response to determining that the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, generating compiled code for the microcontroller, wherein

the compiled code replaces the embedded software application; and

wherein the set of microcontroller properties that is displayed comprises at least one property with a corresponding value that is locked, and

at least one property with a corresponding value that is available for configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the microcontroller properties and the corresponding values are based on extensible markup language (XML) code.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising

prior to displaying the set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration,

displaying a set of threads that are available for configuration;

receiving information regarding a selected thread from a user; and

displaying a stack of software modules related to the selected thread.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising

receiving information regarding a selected software module from a user, wherein

the selected software module corresponds to the selected thread.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein

the displaying the set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration is performed in response to the receiving the information regarding the selected software module.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein

the compiled code comprises at least one command from a predefined software library file, without including the entire predefined software library file.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further includes verifying that the two or more modules of the embedded software application are configured to work within constraints of the microcontroller.

7. A system comprising:

a microprocessor;

a computer screen;

a non-transient computer-readable memory, comprising computer instructions executable by the microprocessor, wherein the instructions are configured to perform a method comprising the steps of;

displaying a set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration with respect to a microcontroller, wherein

the microcontroller comprises an embedded software application,

the embedded software application comprises compiled computer instructions, and

each microcontroller property has a corresponding value associated with the property;

receiving user information regarding a first value corresponding to a first microcontroller property, wherein

the first microcontroller property is associated with the embedded software application;

determining whether the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, wherein determining includes at least verifying interoperability between two or more modules of the embedded software application based on the user information;

in response to determining that the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, generating compiled code for the microcontroller, wherein the compiled code replaces the embedded software application; and

wherein the set of microcontroller properties that is displayed comprises at least one property with a corresponding value that is locked, and

at least one property with a corresponding value that is available for configuration.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein

the microcontroller properties and the corresponding values are based on extensible markup language (XML) code.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the steps of the method further comprise:

prior to displaying the set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration, displaying a set of threads that are available for configuration;

receiving information regarding a selected thread from a user; and

displaying a stack of software modules related to the selected thread.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the steps of the method further comprise:

receiving information regarding a selected software module from a user, wherein the selected software module corresponds to the selected thread.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein

the displaying the set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration is performed in response to the receiving the information regarding the selected software module.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein

the compiled code comprises at least one command from a predefined software library file, without including the entire predefined software library file.

13. A computer program product, comprising a plurality of program instructions stored on a non-transient computer readable storage medium, wherein the instructions are configured to execute a method comprising the steps of:

displaying a set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration with respect to a microcontroller, wherein

the microcontroller comprises an embedded software application,

the embedded software application comprises compiled computer instructions, and

each microcontroller property has a corresponding value associated with the property;

receiving user information regarding a first value corresponding to a first microcontroller property, wherein

the first microcontroller property is associated with the embedded software application;

determining whether the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, wherein determining includes at least verifying interoperability between two or more modules of the embedded software application based on the user information;

in response to determining that the user information results in a valid microcontroller configuration, generating compiled code for the microcontroller, wherein the compiled code replaces the embedded software application; and

wherein the set of microcontroller properties that is displayed comprises at least one property with a corresponding value that is locked, and

at least one property with a corresponding value that is available for configuration.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the steps of the method further comprise:

prior to displaying the set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration, displaying a set of threads that are available for configuration;

receiving information regarding a selected thread from a user; and

displaying a stack of software modules related to the selected thread.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the steps of the method further comprise:

receiving information regarding a selected software module from a user, wherein the selected software module corresponds to the selected thread.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein

the displaying the set of microcontroller properties that are available for configuration is performed in response to the receiving the information regarding the selected software module.