Automatically Generating a Graphical Data Flow Program Based on a Circuit Diagram

• US 20070044072A1
• Filed: 08/16/2006
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Hayles, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US11/465,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20070044072A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven

Abstract

A method and system configured to: (a) display a first diagram including a first icon in response to input selecting the first icon; (b) associate the first icon with a first hardware device in response to input selecting the first hardware device from a set of hardware devices; (c) associate the first icon with a set of physical channels of the first hardware device in response to user input selecting the physical channels; and (d) perform the following operations one or more times: receive user input selecting a resource from a set of available resources including resources on the first hardware device; update the first diagram to include a graphical representation of the selected resource; receive user input to the first diagram specifying configuration information for the selected resource; and store the configuration information; (e) display a dataflow node indicating a transfer operation to be performed.

Claims

1. A method for creating a graphical data flow program, the method comprising:

configuring a first diagram on a display, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of graphical elements that correspond to a plurality of hardware components on a hardware device, wherein the first diagram also includes one or more connections between the plurality of graphical elements, wherein the one or more connections represent flow of one or more signals between the hardware components, wherein the first diagram visually indicates a configuration of the hardware device;

automatically generating a graphical data flow program based at least on the first diagram, wherein the graphical data flow program includes a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein the connections between the nodes represent data flow dependencies between the nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the graphical data flow program to configure the hardware device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said executing the graphical data flow program configures the hardware device to implement the configuration indicated by the first diagram.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the graphical data flow program in a memory medium.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuring the first diagram on the display includes updating the first diagram to add one or more additional graphical elements in response to user input to the first diagram selecting a circuit resource of the hardware device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuring the first diagram on the display includes updating the first diagram to remove one or more of the graphical elements in response to user input to the first diagram deselecting a circuit resource of the hardware device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuring the first diagram on the display includes updating the first diagram to replace one or more of the graphical elements with one or more additional graphical elements in response to a user selection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuring a first diagram on a display includes receiving user input to the first diagram specifying a value of a parameter of the hardware device, the method further comprising:

determining if the specified value is valid;

displaying the specified value in the first diagram in response to determining that the specified value is valid.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said configuring a first diagram on a display includes receiving user input to the first diagram specifying a circuit resource, the method further comprising:

determining if the specified circuit resource is valid for the hardware device;

updating the first diagram to include one or more graphical elements corresponding to the specified circuit resource in response to determining that the specified circuit resource is valid.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical data flow program is executable to configure the hardware device to implement an input and/or output task that is specified by the first diagram.

11. A method for creating a graphical data flow program, the method comprising:

configuring a first diagram on a display in response to user input, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of graphical elements that represent a plurality of circuit resources, wherein the circuit resources include one or more circuit resources available on a hardware device, wherein the first diagram also includes one or more connections between the plurality of graphical elements, wherein the one or more connections represent flow of one or more signals between the plurality of circuit resources, wherein the first diagram visually indicates a configuration of the plurality of circuit resources;

automatically generating a graphical data flow program based at least on the first diagram, wherein the graphical data flow program includes a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein the connections between the nodes represent data flow dependencies between the nodes.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

executing the graphical data flow program to configure the hardware device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said executing the graphical data flow program includes invoking a transfer of configuration information to the hardware device to configure the hardware device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing the graphical data flow program in a memory medium.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said configuring the first diagram on the display includes updating the first diagram to add one or more additional graphical elements in response to user input to the first diagram selecting an additional circuit resource of the hardware device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said configuring the first diagram on the display includes updating the first diagram to remove one or more of the graphical elements in response to user input to the first diagram deselecting one of the circuit resources of the hardware device.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said configuring the first diagram on the display includes updating the first diagram to replace one or more of the graphical elements with one or more additional graphical elements in response to a user selection.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of circuit resources include one or more circuit resources available on a host computer.

19. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store program instructions;

a processor configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement;

configuring a first diagram on a display, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of graphical elements that correspond to a plurality of hardware components on a hardware device, wherein the first diagram also includes one or more connections between the plurality of graphical elements, wherein the one or more connections represent flow of one or more signals between the hardware components, wherein the first diagram visually indicates a configuration of the hardware device;

automatically generating a graphical data flow program based at least on the first diagram, wherein the graphical data flow program includes a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein the connections between the nodes represent data flow dependencies between the nodes.

20. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store program instructions;

a processor configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement;

configuring a first diagram on a display in response to user input, wherein the first diagram includes a plurality of graphical elements that represent a plurality of circuit resources, wherein the circuit resources include one or more circuit resources available on a hardware device, wherein the first diagram also includes one or more connections between the plurality of graphical elements, wherein the one or more connections represent flow of one or more signals between the plurality of circuit resources, wherein the first diagram visually indicates a configuration of the plurality of circuit resources;

automatically generating a graphical data flow program based at least on the first diagram, wherein the graphical data flow program includes a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein the connections between the nodes represent data flow dependencies between the nodes.