Graphically representing timing in a graphical program

• US 20050055666A1
• Filed: 07/16/2004
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Vrancic, Aljosa, Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Andrade, Hugo A., Kornerup, Jacob, Shah, Biren, Santori, Michael L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,397,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A system and method for specifying timing relationships among nodes in a graphical program. User input specifying desired timing of a first node with respect to timing of a second node may be received. In various embodiments, any kind of timing relationship or timing constraint between the first node and the second node may be specified. Timing information may be displayed on the display to visually indicate the timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node. In one embodiment, displaying the timing information may comprise displaying a timing wire between the first node and the second node. The graphical program may be executed in such a way that the visually indicated timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node is satisfied.

Claims

1. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing of a first node with respect to timing of a second node during execution of the graphical program.

2. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein said displaying the timing information is performed in response to user input specifying desired timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node during execution of the graphical program.

3. The memory medium of claim 1, further comprising program instructions operable to:

receive user input specifying a constraint regarding timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node during execution of the graphical program; and

display the timing information on the display in response to the user input specifying the constraint, wherein the timing information visually indicates the constraint.

4. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates timing of an execution point for the first node with respect to timing of an execution point for the second node.

5. The memory medium of claim 4,

wherein the execution point for the first node comprises one of:

a point at which execution of the first node begins;

a point at which a side effect of the first node occurs;

a point at which execution of the first node ends.

6. The memory medium of claim 5,

wherein the execution point for the second node comprises one of:

a point at which execution of the second node begins;

a point at which a side effect of the second node occurs;

a point at which execution of the second node ends.

7. The memory medium of claim 4,

wherein the timing information visually indicates a time constraint between the execution point for the first node and the execution point for the second node.

8. The memory medium of claim 4,

wherein the timing information visually indicates a time interval between the execution point for the first node and the execution point for the second node.

9. The memory medium of claim 4,

wherein the timing information visually indicates a time maximum between the execution point for the first node and the execution point for the second node.

10. The memory medium of claim 4,

wherein the timing information visually indicates a time minimum between the execution point for the first node and the execution point for the second node.

11. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates when execution of the first node begins with respect to when execution of the second node begins.

12. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates when execution of the first node begins with respect to when execution of the second node ends.

13. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates when execution of the first node begins with respect to when a side effect of the second node occurs.

14. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates when execution of the first node ends with respect to when execution of the second node ends.

15. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates when execution of the first node ends with respect to when a side effect of the second node occurs.

16. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the timing information visually indicates when a side effect of the first node occurs with respect to when a side effect of the second node occurs.

17. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the displayed timing information affects execution of the graphical program to cause the visually indicated timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node to be satisfied.

18. The memory medium of claim 1, further comprising program instructions operable to:

execute the graphical program so that the visually indicated timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node is satisfied.

19. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein said displaying the timing information on the display comprises displaying a numerical time value regarding timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node.

20. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein said displaying the timing information on the display comprises displaying a time constraint regarding timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node.

21. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein said displaying the timing information on the display comprises displaying a first wire between the first node and the second node, wherein the first wire visually indicates timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node during execution of the graphical program.

22. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein the graphical program includes a plurality of wires that indicate data flow between nodes in the graphical program;

wherein the first wire does not indicate data flow between the first node and the second node.

23. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein the first node has a plurality of points operable to accept connection of the first wire, wherein each point corresponds to a different execution point for the first node.

24. The memory medium of claim 23,

wherein the first node has a first point operable to accept connection of the first wire, wherein the first point corresponds to the beginning of execution of the first node;

wherein the first node has a second point operable to accept connection of the first wire, wherein the second point corresponds to the end of execution of the first node.

25. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein the first wire is connected to a point on the left side of the first node to visually indicate timing of the beginning of execution of the first node with respect to timing of the second node.

26. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein the first wire is connected to a point on the right side of the first node to visually indicate timing of the end of execution of the first node with respect to timing of the second node.

27. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein the first wire is connected to a point on a middle portion of the first node to visually indicate timing of a side effect of the first node with respect to timing of the second node.

28. The memory medium of claim 1, further comprising program instructions operable to:

programmatically analyze the plurality of interconnected nodes to determine timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node;

wherein said displaying the timing information comprises displaying the determined timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node.

29. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein said display timing information on the display comprises displaying the timing information on a block diagram of the graphical program.

30. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program includes a loop;

wherein the first node and the second node are performed in the loop;

wherein the timing information visually indicates timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node during iterations of the loop.

31. The memory medium of claim 30, further comprising program instructions operable to:

execute the graphical program so that the visually indicated timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node is satisfied for one or more iterations of the loop.

32. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing from when execution of a first node begins to when execution of a second node begins.

33. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing from when execution of a first node begins to when execution of a second node ends.

34. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing from when execution of a first node begins to when an execution side effect of the second node occurs.

35. The memory medium of claim 34,

wherein the execution side effect of the second node comprises an input/ouput operation.

36. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing from when execution of a first node ends to when execution of a second node ends.

37. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing from when execution of a first node ends to when an execution side effect of the second node occurs.

38. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

arrange a plurality of nodes on a display in response to user input;

interconnect the plurality of nodes in response to user input, wherein the plurality of interconnected nodes visually indicates functionality of the graphical program; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing from when an execution side effect of the first node occurs to when an execution side effect of the second node occurs.

39. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

include a first loop in the graphical program;

associate one or more nodes with the first loop, wherein the one or more nodes include a first node and a second node; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing of a first node with respect to timing of a second node during iterations of the first loop.

40. The memory medium of claim 39, further comprising program instructions operable to:

execute the graphical program so that the visually indicated timing of the first node with respect to timing of the second node is satisfied for one or more iterations of the first loop.

41. A memory medium for creating a graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions operable to:

include a first loop in the graphical program;

associate one or more nodes with the first loop, wherein the one or more nodes include a first node; and

display timing information on the display, wherein the timing information visually indicates timing of the first node with respect to the beginning of execution for the loop.