Graphical subclassing

• US 20030016246A1
• Filed: 07/18/2001
• Published: 01/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Singh, Sanjai
• Granted Patent: US 6,868,526 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/763
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A subclassing mechanism for use in developing graphical block diagram models is described. A graphical class instance of a library graphical class that corresponds to a graphical subsystem block of one or more interconnected graphical blocks is constructed for use in a graphical block diagram model of a user. An interface for enabling changes to parameter values of at least one of the graphical blocks to be made by and accepted from the user is provided. The changes are applied to the graphical class instance to produce a graphical class instance that inherits structure from the library graphical class.

Claims

1. A method of graphical block diagram modeling, comprising:

providing graphical blocks interconnected to form a graphical subsystem block;

constructing a graphical class instance of a graphical class that corresponds to the graphical subsystem block for use in a graphical block diagram model of a user;

enabling a change to a value of a parameter of a selected one of the graphical blocks to be made by the user; and

constructing from the graphical class instance and the change a graphical subclass instance that inherits structure from the graphical class.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling comprises:

providing to the user a user interface having a dialog box corresponding to the selected one of the graphical blocks to accept input from the user for any parameter that can be changed.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing data associated with the change in a data structure as subclass data, the subclass data in the data structure defining a subclass from which the graphical subclass instance is instantiated.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

wherein the subclass data includes a relative path to the graphical subsystem block, a name of the parameter and the changed value.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

merging the graphical subclass instance with the graphical class.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a visual cue with the graphical subclass instance to allow the user to distinguish the graphical subclass instance from the graphical class instance.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user is provided a display of the selected graphical block that has a title, and further wherein associating comprises modifying the title to indicate to the user that a graphical subclass instance has been constructed for the selected block.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the user is provided with a display of the graphical block diagram model that includes the graphical subsystem block, and further wherein associating comprises modifying the display indicate to the user that a graphical subclass instance has been constructed for the selected block.

10. A method of graphical block diagram modeling, comprising:

providing a class library comprising graphical classes defined in terms of graphical subsystem blocks, the subsystem blocks comprising sub-blocks; and

creating a graphical subclass of a selected one of the graphical classes by modifying a sub-block parameter that is not a top level parameter of the selected class, wherein the subclass inherits subsequent changes to the graphical class.

9. The method of claim 10, wherein the structure comprises connectivity and layout information.

11. A computer program product residing on a computer-readable medium for graphical block diagram modeling, the computer program comprising instructions causing a computer to:

provide graphical blocks interconnected to form a graphical subsystem block;

construct a graphical class instance of a graphical class that corresponds to the graphical subsystem block for use in a graphical block diagram model of a user;

enable a change to a value of a parameter of one of the graphical blocks to be made by the user; and

construct from the graphical class instance and the change a graphical subclass instance that inherits structure from the graphical class.

12. A computer system comprising:

means for providing graphical blocks interconnected to form a graphical subsystem block;

means for constructing a graphical class instance of a graphical class that corresponds to the graphical subsystem block for use in a graphical block diagram model of a user;

means for enabling a change to a value of a parameter of a selected one of the graphical blocks to be made by the user; and

means for constructing from the graphical class instance and the change a graphical subclass instance that inherits structure from the graphical class.

13. A computer system comprising:

means for providing a class library comprising graphical classes defined in terms of graphical subsystem blocks, the subsystem blocks comprising sub-blocks; and

means for creating a graphical subclass of a selected one of the graphical classes by modifying a sub-block parameter that is not a top level parameter of the selected class, wherein the subclass inherits subsequent changes to the graphical class.