System and method for using stream objects to perform stream processing in a text-based computing environment

• US 20080127064A1
• Filed: 09/11/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Longfritz, Michael James, Orofino, Donald Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence

Abstract

A mechanism for using stream objects in stream processing operations is provided. A definition of a class of stream objects used in stream processing algorithms can define output and update operations included in instances of the stream objects and the API (application programming interface) through which they may be called. The class definition may further include the type of state information to be held by the instantiated stream objects. An instance of the stream object may be instantiated in a text-based computing environment and the operations may be used to process streams of data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of processing data, said method comprising:

receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition including at least an update operation and an output operation;

instantiating an object in one of a textual array-based language environment and a dynamically-typed language environment, the object defined from the object definition; and

using the object to operate on the data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object definition is inherited from a parent object definition.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object definition includes a default operation.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the default operation is a process operation.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object definition enables data type polymorphism.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the data type polymorphism comprises accommodations for one or more of the following data type variations:

fixed point and floating point values, real and complex values, sample and frame-based values, sample time and single-dimension and multiple-dimension values.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object definition further comprises at least one or a combination of the following operations:

a reset operation, a terminate operation, and a retrieve output operation.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the update operation is called by using a syntax comprising at least an object name and an “

update”

keyword.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the output operation is called by using a syntax comprising at least an object name and an “

output”

keyword.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object definition further comprises a combination operation, the combination operation combining functionality of the update and output operations.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the combination operation is called by using a syntax comprising at least an object name and a “

process”

keyword.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the combination operation is a default operation.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object definition operations are capable of processing frame-based input.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein using the object further comprises:

using the object from within a graphical programming environment.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein using the object from within the graphical programming environment further comprises:

generating code for the object from within the graphical programming environment.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the graphical programming environment is at least one of:

Simulink, LabView, Hyperception, Signal Processing Designer, VisualSim, and SCADE.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the data is a stream of data.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the stream of data is at least one or a combination of:

video data, audio data, telecommunications signal data, transducer signal data, stock data, test and measurement data, gene sequence data, an RSS feed, and SQL query data.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least a subset of the object definition is written in a language compatible with at least one of:

MATLAB programming language and MathScript programming language.

20. A computer-implemented method of processing data, said method comprising:

receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition including at least an update operation and an output operation;

instantiating an object in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition;

using the object to operate on the data; and

generating code for the object based on a set of parameters.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20 wherein generating code for the object further comprises:

generating target-specific code for the object.

22. A computer-implemented method of processing data, said method comprising:

receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition being used in an array-based textual language environment, the object having an update operation;

instantiating an object from the object definition; and

using the object to operate on the data.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the object definition further includes an output operation.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the object definition further includes a combination operation, the combination operation combining functionalities of the update and the output operation.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, wherein the combination operation is a default operation called using a syntax comprising at least an object name and a “

process”

keyword.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, wherein the output operation is called using a syntax comprising at least an object name and an “

output”

keyword and the update operation is called using a syntax comprising at least an object name and an “

update”

keyword.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the object definition enables data polymorphism for at least one or a combination of the following data type combinations:

fixed point values and floating point values, real values and complex values, sample-based values and frame-based values, sample time, and single dimension and multi dimension values.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating target-specific code for the object.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein using the object further comprises using the object from within at least one or a combination of:

a textual programming environment and a graphical programming environment.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein at least a subset of the object definition is written in a language compatible with the MATLAB modeling environment.

31. A computer-implemented method of processing data, said method comprising:

receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on a stream of data, the object definition being in a dynamically-typed language and including an update operation;

instantiating an object in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition; and

using the object to operate on the data.

32. A computer-implemented method of processing data, said method comprising:

receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition including an output operation, an update operation and a code generation operation;

instantiating an object in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition; and

using the object to operate on the data.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein the object definition enables data polymorphism for at least one or a combination of the following data type combinations:

fixed point values and floating point values, real values and complex values, sample-based values and frame-based values, single dimension, sample-time and multi dimension values.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein at least a subset of the object definition is written in at least one or a combination of:

a dynamically typed language, an array-based language, and a language compatible with MATLAB modeling environment.

35. A computer-implemented system for processing data, said system comprising:

an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on a stream of data, the object definition including at least an update and an output operation; and

an object instantiated in an array-based textual computing environment, the object defined from the object definition.

36. The computer-implemented system of claim 35, further comprising:

a parent object definition, from which the object definition is inherited.

37. The computer-implemented system of claim 35, wherein the object definition includes a combination operation, the combination operation combining functionality of the update and output operations.

38. The computer-implemented system of claim 35 wherein the system further comprises:

a code generator for the object.

39. The computer-implemented system of claim 38, wherein the code generator is adapted to generate target-specific code for the object.

40. The computer-implemented system of claim 38, wherein the object definition enables accommodation of one or more of the following data type variations:

fixed point and floating point values, real and complex values, sample-based values and frame-based values, sample time, and single-dimension and multiple-dimension values.

41. The computer-implemented system of claim 38, wherein the object definition further comprises at least one or a combination of the following operations:

a reset operation, a terminate operation, and a retrieve output operation.

42. The computer-implemented system of claim 35, wherein the object definition operations are capable of processing frame-based input.

43. The computer-implemented system of claim 35, further comprising:

a graphical programming environment from within which the object is used.

44. The computer-implemented system of claim 43, wherein the graphical programming environment comprises at least one of:

Simulink, LabView, Hyperception, Signal Processing Designer, VisualSim, and SCADE.

45. The computer-implemented system of claim 35, wherein at least a subset of the object definition is written in a language compatible with at least one of:

MATLAB programming language and MathScript programming language.

46. A computer-implemented system for processing data, said system comprising:

an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition including an update operation; and

an object instantiated in a textual array-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition.

47. The computer-implemented system of claim 46 wherein the object definition further includes an output operation.

48. The computer-implemented system of claim 47, wherein the object definition enables data polymorphism for at least one or a combination of the following data type combinations:

fixed point values and floating point values, real values and complex values, sample-based values and frame-based values, sample time and single dimension and multi dimension values.

49. A computer-implemented system for processing data, said system comprising:

an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition being in a dynamically-typed language and including an update operation; and

an object instantiated in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition.

50. A computer-implemented system for processing data, said system comprising:

means for receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on a stream of data, the object definition including at least an update and an output operations;

means for instantiating an object in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition; and

means for using the object to operate on the data.

51. A computer-readable medium holding instructions for processing data, said instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition including at least an update operation and an output operation;

instructions for instantiating an object in one of a textual array-based language environment and a textual dynamically-typed language environment; and

instructions for using the object to operate on the data.

52. The medium of claim 51, wherein the object definition is inherited from a parent object definition.

53. The medium of claim 51, wherein the object definition enables data type polymorphism.

54. The medium of claim 53, wherein the data type polymorphism comprises accommodations for one or more of the following data type variations:

fixed point and floating point values, real and complex values, sample and frame-based values, single-dimension and multiple-dimension values.

55. The medium of claim 51 wherein the object definition further comprises at least one or a combination of the following operations:

a reset operation, a terminate operation, and a retrieve output operation.

56. The medium of claim 51 wherein the object definition further comprises a combination operation, the combination operation combining functionality of the update and output operations.

57. The medium of claim 51 wherein the object definition operations are capable of processing frame-based input.

58. The medium of claim 51 wherein using the object further comprises:

using the object from within a graphical programming environment.

59. The medium of claim 51 wherein using the object from within the graphical programming environment further comprises:

generating code for the object from within the graphical programming environment.

60. The medium of claim 51 wherein the graphical programming environment is at least one of:

Simulink, LabView, Hyperception, Signal Processing Designer, VisualSim, and SCADE.

61. The medium of claim 51 wherein the data is a stream of data.

62. The medium of claim 61 wherein the stream of data is at least one or a combination of:

video data, audio data, telecommunications signal data, transducer signal data, stock data, test and measurement data, gene sequence data, an RSS feed and SQL query data.

63. The medium of claim 51 wherein at least a subset of the object definition is written in a language compatible with at least one of:

MATLAB programming language and MathScript programming language.

64. A computer-readable medium holding instructions for processing data, said instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the object definition including at least an update operation and an output operation;

instructions for instantiating an object in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition;

instructions for using the object to operate on the data; and

instructions for generating code for the object based on a set of parameters.

65. The medium of claim 64 wherein generating code for the object further comprises:

instructions for generating target-specific code for the object.

66. A computer-readable medium holding instructions for processing data, said instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving an object definition for facilitating at least one operation on data, the definition being used in an array-based textual language environment, the definition including an update operation;

instructions for instantiating an object in a text-based computing environment, the object defined from the object definition; and

instructions for using the object to operate on the data.

67. The medium of claim 66, further comprising:

generating target-specific code for the object.

68. A computer-implemented method of processing data, said method comprising:

receiving a configurable object definition for facilitating at least one operation on a stream of data, the configurable object definition including at least an update operation and an output operation;

instantiating an object from the object definition; and

using the object to operate on the data.

69. The method of claim 68 wherein the at least one operation is invoked via one of a Remote Procedure Call (RCP) or Remote Method Invocation (RMI).