System and method for transforming graphical models

• US 20070261040A1
• Filed: 07/17/2007
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Kintali, Kiran, Ogilvie, Brian, Devane, Charles, Orofino, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/146
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A modeling system includes a graphical programming environment that receives a first graphical model from a user. The system may also receive a configuration control set for the first graphical model. A code generation engine converts the first graphical model into an intermediate representation (IR). A second graphical model is created from the IR and the configuration control set. The second graphical model is displayed to the user, and may be subject to one or more modifications. Code in a target language may be generated from the second graphical model.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a user a first graphical model and a configuration control set for the first graphical model;

converting the first graphical model into an intermediate representation (IR);

generating a second graphical model from the IR and the configuration control set;

displaying the second graphical model to the user;

receiving from the user one or more modifications to at least one of the second graphical model and the configuration control set; and

generating code in a target language from the at least one modified second graphical model and configuration control set.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising altering the IR prior to generating the second graphical model.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the altering includes applying one or more transform operations to the IR.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the altered IR has a hierarchical structure of records that describe one or more blocks and one or more connections among the blocks, and the generating a second graphical model includes examining the hierarchical structure of records of the altered IR.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first graphical model is in a source language that differs from the target language of the generated code.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first graphical model is one of a statechart, a block diagram or a circuit design.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the one or more modifications is in response to detecting an unacceptable change between the first graphical model and the second graphical model.

8. A method comprising:

receiving from a user a first graphical model and a configuration control set having a plurality of parameters for the first graphical model;

converting the first graphical model into an intermediate representation (IR);

utilizing one or more parameters of the configuration control set to produce an altered IR;

generating a second graphical model from the altered IR;

displaying the second graphical model to the user; and

generating code in a target language from either the altered IR or the second graphical model.

9. A computer-readable memory medium comprising program instructions for transforming graphical models, the program instructions executable by a computer to:

receive from a user a first graphical model that models a system;

convert the first graphical model into a first intermediate representation (IR);

alter the first IR;

generate one or more modifications based on the altered first IR;

apply the one or more generated modifications to the first graphical model to produce a second graphical model that models the system;

display the second graphical model to the user;

receive from the user one or more modifications to the second graphical model so as to produce a third graphical model;

convert the third graphical model into a second IR suitable for conversion to a target language; and

generate code in the target language from either the third graphical model or the second IR.

10. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 wherein the program instructions to alter the first IR include program instructions to apply one or more transform operations to the first IR.

11. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 10 wherein the one or more transform operations include one or more operations selected from the group consisting of an elaboration transform operation, a lowering transform operation, and an optimization transform operation.

12. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 further comprising program instructions to simulate operation of the system modeled by the second graphical model.

13. The computer-readable memory medium of claim 9 wherein the first graphical model is one of a statechart, a block diagram or a circuit design.

14. An apparatus for validating a graphical model, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a first graphical model wherein the first graphical model includes multiple source languages;

means for converting the first graphical model into a single intermediate representation (IR), the single IR suitable for conversion to a target language;

means for altering the IR of the first graphical model;

means for converting the altered IR into a second graphical model; and

means displaying the second graphical model to a user for validation.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising means for generating code in a target language from either the second graphical model or the altered IR.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the first and second graphical models each model a physical system, and the apparatus further comprises means for simulating operation of the physical system modeled by one or more of the first and the second graphical models.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first and second graphical models each have at least one behavior, and the at least one behavior of the first graphical model differs from the at least one behavior of the second graphical model.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the difference in the at least one behavior of the first and second graphical models is either a numerical difference or a latency difference.

19. A modeling environment comprising:

a graphical programming environment configured to receive a first graphical model in one or more source languages from a user; and

a code generation engine coupled to the graphical programming environment, wherein the code generation process is configured to;

convert the first graphical model into an intermediate representation (IR) that is suitable for conversion to a target language and is independent of the one or more source languages,

apply one or more transform operations to the IR to produce an altered IR, convert the altered IR into a second graphical model for display to the user, and generate in the target language code from either the second graphical model or the altered IR.

20. The modeling environment of claim 19 wherein the first and second graphical models each model a physical system, and the modeling environment further comprises a simulation engine configured to simulate operation of the physical system modeled by the first or the second graphical model.

21. The modeling environment of claim 19 wherein the one or more transform operations is selected from the group consisting of an elaboration operation, a lowering operation and an optimization operation.

22. The modeling environment of claim 19 wherein the target language is with one of Verilog, VHDL, SystemC, C, C++, Java or M code.

23. The modeling environment of claim 19 wherein the first graphical model is one of a statechart, a block diagram or a circuit design.

24. The modeling environment of claim 19 wherein the second graphical model differs from the first graphical model.

25. The modeling environment of claim 19 wherein the graphical programming environment is further configured to receive from the user one or more modifications to the second graphical model in response to detecting an unacceptable change between the first graphical model and the second graphical model.