Timed sequence structure for a graphical program

• US 20060026560A1
• Filed: 08/15/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Vrancic, Aljosa, Kornerup, Jacob, Shah, Biren
• Granted Patent: US 7,761,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues

Abstract

A system and method for executing a plurality of graphical code portions as a timed sequence is described. The graphical code portions may be included in a graphical program and configured with information specifying a sequential order of execution and execution timing information. During execution of the graphical program, the graphical code portions are executed sequentially in the sequential order and in accordance with the execution timing information. In one embodiment a timed sequence structure node may be utilized to specify the timed sequence. For example, the user may include the timed sequence structure node in the graphical program and associate the plurality of graphical code portions with the timed sequence structure node such that the timed sequence structure node species a sequential order of execution for the graphical code portions. The user may also configure the timed sequence structure node with execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions.

Claims

1. A carrier medium comprising program instructions for creating a graphical program, wherein the program instructions are executable to:

include a plurality of graphical code portions in the graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

configure a sequential order of execution for the graphical code portions; and

configure execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the graphical code portions are executed sequentially in the sequential order and in accordance with the execution timing information.

2. The carrier medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

display a first node in the graphical program;

wherein said configuring the sequential order of execution for the graphical code portions comprises associating the plurality of graphical code portions with the first node;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first node is operable to control execution of the graphical code portions to cause the graphical code portions to execute in the sequential order and in accordance with the execution timing information.

3. The carrier medium of claim 2,

wherein the first node has a plurality of frames for receiving respective graphical code portions;

wherein said associating the plurality of graphical code portions with the first node comprises associating each of the graphical code portions with one of the frames of the first node, wherein the frames define the sequential order of execution for the respective graphical code portions.

4. The carrier medium of claim 3,

wherein each of the frames of the first node has an interior portion;

wherein said associating each graphical code portion with one of the frames of the first node comprises positioning the graphical code portion within the interior portion of the frame.

5. The carrier medium of claim 4,

wherein the plurality of frames are displayed in the graphical program such that each frame is visible at the same time;

wherein the frames visually indicate that the graphical code portions within the frames are executed in the sequential order defined by the frames.

6. The carrier medium of claim 4,

wherein the frames are displayed side by side with respect to each other in a left-to-right order;

wherein the frames visually indicate that the graphical code portions within the frames are executed sequentially in the left-to-right order.

7. The carrier medium of claim 2,

wherein the graphical program includes one or more nodes that are not associated with the first node;

wherein execution of the one or more nodes not associated with the first node is not controlled by the first node during execution of the graphical program.

8. The carrier medium of claim 2,

wherein the first node has a visual appearance that visually indicates that the first node is operable to cause the graphical code portions to execute in the sequential order.

9. The carrier medium of claim 2,

wherein the first node has a visual appearance that visually indicates that the first node is operable to cause the graphical code portions to execute in accordance with the execution timing information.

10. The carrier medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

execute the graphical program, wherein said executing the graphical program comprises executing the graphical code portions in the sequential order and in accordance with the execution timing information.

11. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein each of the plurality of graphical code portions comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the graphical code portion.

12. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions comprises configuring execution timing information for a first graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring execution timing information for the first graphical code portion comprises configuring a first deadline for the first graphical code portion;

wherein the first deadline for the first graphical code portion specifies a time by which execution of the first graphical code portion must complete.

13. The carrier medium of claim 12,

wherein the specified time by which execution of the first graphical code portion must complete is relative to a time when the first graphical code portion begins execution.

14. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions comprises configuring execution timing information for a first graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring execution timing information for the first graphical code portion comprises configuring an offset for the first graphical code portion;

wherein the offset for the first graphical code portion specifies a length of time to wait before the first graphical code portion begins executing.

15. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions comprises configuring a timing source to control execution timing for the one or more graphical code portions.

16. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions comprises configuring execution timing information for a first graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring execution timing information for the first graphical code portion comprises configuring a first priority for the first graphical code portion;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first graphical code portion is executed according to the first priority.

17. The carrier medium of claim 16,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions further comprises configuring execution timing information for a second graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring execution timing information for the second graphical code portion comprises configuring a second priority for the second graphical code portion;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first graphical code portion is executed according to the first priority and the second graphical code portion is executed according to the second priority.

18. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions comprises configuring execution timing information for a first graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring execution timing information for the first graphical code portion comprises configuring a timeout for the first graphical code portion;

wherein the timeout for the first graphical code portion specifies a maximum length of time the first graphical code portion can wait before beginning to execute.

19. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring execution timing information for one or more of the graphical code portions comprises configuring execution timing information for a first graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring execution timing information for the first graphical code portion comprises configuring a start time for the first graphical code portion;

wherein the start time for the first graphical code portion specifies a time when the first graphical code portion should begin executing.

20. The carrier medium of claim 1,

wherein said configuring the sequential order of execution includes configuring a first graphical code portion to execute before a second graphical code portion;

wherein said configuring the execution timing information comprises configuring execution timing information for the second graphical code portion based on one or more execution time values for the first graphical code portion.

21. The carrier medium of claim 20,

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first graphical code portion is executed before the second graphical code portion, wherein execution of the first graphical code portion produces the one or more execution time values for the first graphical code portion;

wherein execution of the second graphical code portion is timed based on the one or more execution time values for the first graphical code portion.

22. A carrier medium comprising program instructions for creating a graphical program, wherein the program instructions are executable to:

display a first node in the graphical program, wherein the first node has a plurality of frames for receiving respective graphical code portions;

associate a respective graphical code portion with each frame of the first node, wherein the frames define a sequential order of execution for the graphical code portions; and

configure execution timing information for one or more of the frames;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first node is operable to control execution of the graphical code portions associated with the frames to cause the graphical code portions to execute in the sequential order defined by the frames and in accordance with the execution timing information.

23. The carrier medium of claim 22,

wherein each of the frames of the first node has an interior portion;

wherein said associating each graphical code portion with one of the frames of the first node comprises positioning the graphical code portion within the interior portion of the frame.

24. The carrier medium of claim 23,

wherein the plurality of frames are displayed in the graphical program such that each frame is visible at the same time;

wherein the frames visually indicate that the graphical code portions within the frames are executed in the sequential order defined by the frames.

25. The carrier medium of claim 22,

wherein the first node has a visual appearance that visually indicates that the first node is operable to cause the graphical code portions to execute in accordance with the execution timing information.

26. The carrier medium of claim 22,

wherein the first node is operable to display at least a portion of the execution timing information in the graphical program.

27. A node for use in a graphical program, the node comprising:

an icon that is displayed on a display of a computer system, wherein the icon visually indicates a plurality of frames for receiving respective graphical code portions, wherein the frames define a sequential order of execution for the graphical code portions, wherein the icon also visually indicates that execution of the graphical code portions is performed in accordance with execution timing information; and

program instructions operable to cause the graphical code portions to execute in the sequential order defined by the frames and in accordance with the execution timing information.