Deployment and execution of a program on an embedded device

• US 20040010734A1
• Filed: 10/30/2002
• Published: 01/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Crisan, Gratian I., Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Ceteras, Ciprian, Monoses, Ioan, Ghercioiu, Marius
• Granted Patent: US 8,074,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading

Abstract

System and method for deploying and executing a program, e.g., a graphical program, on an embedded device. The program and a plurality of execution system components are stored on a host computer. The program is analyzed programmatically to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the program. The subset of components and the program are combined into a file while preserving execution order of the program. The file is transmitted to the device. The file is used to construct a combined program which includes executable code for the program and the subset of components. The device includes a minimal execution engine which executes the subset of components to execute the program. The file may be streamed to the device for streaming execution, where received portions of the subset of components needed for execution of received portions of the program are stored until no longer needed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for executing a program, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of components of a program execution system in a memory medium;

storing a program in the memory medium, wherein the program is executable by the program execution system;

programmatically analyzing the program to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the program;

transmitting the subset of the plurality of components to a target device; and

transmitting the program to the target device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the target device executing the subset of the plurality of components of the program execution system to execute the program.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

the target device transmitting data to a computer system in response to said executing.

4. The method of claim 2,

wherein the program comprises a graphical program, comprising a block diagram portion and a user interface portion;

wherein said transmitting the program to the target device comprises transmitting the block diagram portion of the program to the target device; and

wherein, during execution of the program, the block diagram executes on the target device and the graphical user interface is displayed on a display of a first computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

combining the subset of the plurality of components and the program into a file;

wherein said steps of transmitting comprises transmitting the file to the target device.

6. The method of claim 5,

wherein said combining comprises interspersing the subset of the plurality of components with the program according to an execution order of the program;

and

wherein said transmitting the file to the target device comprises transmitting the interspersed subset of the plurality of components and the program according to the execution order of the program.

7. The method of claim 6,

wherein the target device includes a memory medium having a first size;

wherein the file has a second larger size;

the method further comprising;

the target device receiving and storing a first portion of the file, wherein the first portion includes a first portion of the program and a first portion of the subset of the plurality of components;

the target device executing the first portion of the program and the first portion of the subset of the plurality of components;

the target device receiving and storing a second portion of the file, wherein the second portion includes a second portion of the program and a second portion of the subset of the plurality of components; and

the target device executing the second portion of the program and the second portion of the subset of the plurality of components.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a first component of the first portion of the subset of the plurality of components is also required to execute the second portion of the program, the method further comprising:

the target device storing the first component for said executing the second portion of the program.

9. The method of claim 7,

wherein said transmitting the subset of the plurality of components to the target device comprises transmitting the subset of the plurality of components according to an execution order of the program.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein a first component of the first portion of the subset of the plurality of components is not required to execute the second portion of the subset of the plurality of components, the method further comprising:

the target device flushing the first component of the first portion of the subset of the plurality of components.

11. The method of claim 8, the method further comprising:

the target device receiving and storing a third portion of the file, wherein the third portion includes a third portion of the program and a third portion of the subset of the plurality of components; and

the target device executing the third portion of the program and the third portion of the subset of the plurality of components.

12. The method of claim 6, the method further comprising:

the target device generating a combined program from the file;

wherein said target device executing the subset of the plurality of components of the program execution system to execute the program comprises;

the target device executing the combined program.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the program comprises a graphical program.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the graphical program.

15. The method of claim 13, the method further comprising:

creating the graphical program, wherein said creating the graphical program comprises;

arranging a plurality of nodes on a display; and

interconnecting the plurality of nodes in response to user input.

16. The method of claim 13,

wherein the graphical program comprises a block diagram portion and a user interface portion.

17. The method of claim 16,

wherein, during execution of the program, the graphical user interface is displayed on a display of a first computer system and the block diagram executes on a second computer system.

18. The method of claim 13,

wherein the graphical program comprises a graphical data flow program.

19. The method of claim 1,

wherein the program is operable to perform one or more of:

an industrial automation function;

a process control function;

a test and measurement function; and

a surveillance function.

20. A system for executing a program, the system comprising:

a computer system, comprising;

a processor; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores the program and a plurality of components of a program execution system, wherein the memory medium also stores program instructions executable to analyze the program to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the program; and

a target device coupled to the computer system via a transmission medium, wherein the target device comprises;

a processor; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores a minimal execution system;

wherein the memory medium of the computer system further stores program instructions which are executable by the processor of the computer system to;

transmit the program and the subset of the plurality of components to the target device;

wherein the minimal execution system is executable by the processor of the target device to execute the program using the subset of the plurality of components.

21. The system of claim 20,

wherein the processor of the target device is further operable to construct an executable program based on the program and the subset of the plurality of components.

22. The system of claim 21,

wherein the minimal execution system is executable by the processor of the target device to execute the executable program.

23. The system of claim 20,

wherein the processor of the target device is further operable to construct a combined program based on the program and the subset of the plurality of components.

24. The system of claim 20,

wherein the memory medium of the target device further stores a linker/loader program;

wherein the linker/loader program is executable by the processor of the target device to construct a combined program based on the program and the subset of the plurality of components;

wherein the minimal execution system is executable by the processor of the target device to execute the combined program.

25. A carrier medium which stores:

a plurality of components of a program execution system; and

program instructions which are executable to;

programmatically analyze a program to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the program;

transmit the subset of the plurality of components and the program to a target device.

26. The carrier medium of claim 25,

wherein the program includes first functionality;

wherein the determined subset of the plurality of components are required to execute the first functionality of the program.

27. The carrier medium of claim 25,

wherein the plurality of components are executable on the target device to execute the program.

28. The carrier medium of claim 25,

wherein the plurality of components are a first portion of the program execution system, wherein the program execution system further includes a second portion, wherein the target device stores the second portion of the program execution system, wherein the plurality of components are designed to operate with the second portion of the program execution system.

29. The carrier medium of claim 25,

wherein the carrier medium further stores program instructions which are executable by the target device to:

execute the subset of the plurality of components of the program execution system to execute the program.

30. A carrier medium which stores program instructions which are executable to:

store a first portion of a program execution system;

store a program received from a remote device;

store a subset of a plurality of components of the program execution system, wherein the subset is required for execution of the program, wherein the subset is determined based on functionality present in the program, wherein the subset is a second portion of the program execution system; and

execute the first portion and the subset of the plurality of components to execute the program.

31. The carrier medium of claim 30,

wherein the first portion of the program execution system comprises a minimal execution system.

32. The carrier medium of claim 30,

wherein the first portion of the program execution system comprises functionality required by each of the plurality of components of the program execution system.

33. A system for executing a program, the system comprising:

means for storing a plurality of components of a program execution system in a memory medium;

means for storing a program in the memory medium, wherein the program is executable by the program execution system;

means for programmatically analyzing the program to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the program; and

means for transmitting the subset of the plurality of components and the program to a target device; and

means for executing the subset of the plurality of components of the program execution system to execute the program on the target device.

34. A computer-implemented method for creating and executing a program, the method comprising:

creating a program for execution on an embedded device, wherein the embedded device includes a program execution system;

generating a file based on the program and one or more execution modules, wherein the one or more execution modules are usable to execute the program;

transmitting the file to the embedded device;

the embedded device constructing a combined program based on the file, wherein the combined program includes program code from the program and execution module code for executing the program code; and

the embedded device executing the combined program using the program execution system.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the program comprises a graphical program.

36. A computer-implemented method for executing a graphical program, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of components of a program execution system in a memory medium;

storing a graphical program in the memory medium, wherein the graphical program is executable by the program execution system;

programmatically analyzing the graphical program to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the graphical program;

transmitting the subset of the plurality of components to a target device; and

transmitting the graphical program to the target device.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

the target device executing the subset of the plurality of components of the program execution system to execute the graphical program.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

the target device transmitting data to a computer system in response to said executing.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein said storing the plurality of components of the program execution system comprises:

storing the program execution system in a memory medium, wherein the program execution system is operable to execute programs;

determining a first subset of the program execution system, wherein the first subset is required for execution of a second subset of the program execution system, and wherein the first subset of the program execution system comprises a minimal execution system which is operable to be deployed on a target device.

storing the first subset of the program execution system;

determining a plurality of components of the second subset of the program execution system, wherein each of the plurality of components comprises a respective one or more functions; and

storing the components of the program execution system.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the first subset of the execution system comprises one or more of:

a minimal execution engine; and

a network manager.

41. A method for creating an execution system delivery system, further comprising:

storing the execution system in a memory medium, wherein the execution system is operable to execute programs;

determining a first subset of the execution system, wherein the first subset is required for execution of a second subset of the execution system;

storing the first subset of the execution system;

determining a plurality of components of the second subset of the execution system, wherein each of the plurality of components comprises a respective one or more functions; and

storing the components of the execution system.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein said determining the first subset of the execution system comprises:

removing one or more subsystems of the execution system that are not required for executing one or more simple programs.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said determining the first subset of the execution system further comprises:

profiling the first subset; and

redesigning at least a portion of the first subset for deployment on an embedded device.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

building one or more special subsystems for managing and using the components of the execution system.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the first subset of the execution system comprises a minimal execution system which is operable to be deployed on a target device.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the first subset of the execution system comprises one or more of:

a minimal execution engine; and

a network manager.

47. The method of claim 41, wherein the first subset of the execution system comprises functionality required by each of the plurality of components of the program execution system.

48. The method of claim 41, wherein said determining the plurality of components of the second subset of the execution system comprises:

analyzing dependencies of a plurality of functions comprised in the second subset of the execution system;

if a first function of the plurality of functions does not depend on a second function of the plurality of functions,

creating a first component containing the first function;

if the first function depends on the second function, and if a third function depends on the second function,

creating the first component containing the first function; and

creating a second component containing the second function;

if the first function depends on the second function, and if the third function does not depend on the second function,

creating a third component containing the first function and the second function.

49. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

deploying the first subset of the execution system to a target device.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

storing a program in the memory medium, wherein the program is executable by the execution system;

programmatically analyzing the program to determine a subset of the plurality of components required for execution of the program;

combining the program with the subset of the plurality of components to generate a file;

transmitting the file to the target device, wherein the file is usable by the target device to execute the program.