Assembly of a graphical program for accessing data from a data source/target

• US 6,751,653 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2003
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Austin, Paul F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US10/425,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20030200280A1
• Time in Patent Office: 413 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/227, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A Data Socket client and associated applications and/or tools which provide programs with access to data from various sources and having various types or formats, wherein the access is provided invisibly to the user. The Data Socket client allows the user or program to access any data source available on the user'"'"'s machine as well as data anywhere on a network, such as a LAN, WAN or the Internet. In the preferred embodiment, the Data Socket client addresses data sources or I/O sources using a URL (uniform resource locator), much the way that a URL is used to address web pages anywhere in the world. The present invention also includes new Data Socket URLs which allow the user to access I/O sources.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for accessing data from a data source in a computer system, wherein the computer system includes a display, the method comprising:

assembling a graphical program on the display, wherein said assembling comprises;

displaying a first node in response to user input, wherein the first node is operable to access data from at least one data source, wherein the first node is configurable to access data from one of a plurality of different types of data sources;

connecting the first node to one or more nodes in the graphical program in response to user input;

receiving a uniform resource locator (URL) which specifies the data source, wherein the URL is received in response to user input;

executing the graphical program, wherein said executing comprises;

the first node connecting to the data source and receiving the data comprised in the data source using the URL.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first node is connected to provide the data to a second node;

wherein said executing the graphical program further comprises;

the second node receiving and processing the data from the first node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is a continuous stream of data, wherein the first node returns the continuous stream of data to the graphical program.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first node connecting to the data source and receiving the data are performed without any user programming required.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said executing further comprises:

converting the data into a format useable by the graphical program after the first node connects to the data source and receives the data.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first node is configurable to access data from one or more of a plurality of different data sources.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.

8. A memory medium comprising program instructions for accessing data from a data source in a computer system, wherein the computer system includes a display, wherein the memory medium stores:

a graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of connected nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes include a first node, wherein the first node is operable to access data from at least one data source, wherein the first node is configurable to access data from one of a plurality of different types of data sources;

a uniform resource locator (URL) which specifies the data source, wherein the URL is received in response to user input;

wherein, during execution of the graphical program;

the first node is operable to connect to the data source and receive the data from the data source using the URL.

9. The memory medium of claim 8,

wherein the first node is connected to provide the data to a second node;

wherein, during execution of the graphical program;

the second node is operable to receive and process the data from the first node.

10. The memory medium of claim 8, wherein the first node is operable to retrieve a continuous stream of data to the graphical program.

11. The memory medium of claim 8,

wherein the first node is operable to connect to the data source and receive the data without any user programming required.

12. The memory medium of claim 8,

wherein, during execution of the graphical program, the first node is further operable to convert the data into a format useable by the graphical program after the first node connects to the data source and receives the data.

13. The memory medium of claim 8,

wherein the first node is configurable to access data from one or more of a plurality of different data sources.

14. The memory medium of claim 8,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.

15. A computer-implemented method for publishing data to a data target in a computer system, wherein the computer system includes a display, the method comprising:

assembling a graphical program on the display, wherein said assembling comprises;

displaying a first node in response to user input, wherein the first node is operable to publish data to at least one data target, wherein the first node is configurable to publish data to one of a plurality of different types of data targets;

connecting the first node to one or more nodes in the graphical program in response to user input, wherein the first node is coupled to receive data from a second node;

receiving a uniform resource locator (URL) which specifies the data target, wherein the URL is received in response to user input;

executing the graphical program, wherein said executing comprises;

the first node receiving data from the second node; and

the first node connecting to the data target using the URL and publishing the data to the data target.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first node receiving data from the second node and the first node connecting to the data target using the URL and publishing the data to the data target are performed a plurality of times.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data is a continuous stream of data, wherein the software component publishes the continuous stream of data to the data target.

18. The method of claim 15,

wherein the first node receiving data from the application and the first node connecting to the data target using the URL and publishing the data to the data target are performed without any user programming required.

19. The method of claim 15,

wherein the first node is configurable to publish data to one or more of a plurality of different data targets.

20. The method of claim 15,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.

21. A memory medium comprising program instructions for publishing data to a data target in a computer system, wherein the computer system includes a display, wherein the memory medium stores:

a graphical program, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of connected nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes include a first node, wherein the first node is operable to publish data to at least one data target, wherein the first node is configurable to publish data to one of a plurality of different types of data targets, wherein the first node is coupled to receive data from a second node;

a uniform resource locator (URL) which specifies the data target, wherein the URL is received in response to user input;

wherein, during execution of the graphical program;

the first node is operable to receive data from the second node; and

the first node is operable to connect to the data target using the URL and publish the data to the data target.

22. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the first node is operable to receive data from the second node and the first node is operable to connect to the data target using the URL and publish the data to the data target a plurality of times.

23. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the first node is operable to publish a continuous stream of data from the graphical program.

24. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein the first node is operable to receive data from the second node and connect to the data target using the URL and publish the data to the data target without any user programming required.

25. The method of claim 21,

wherein the first node is configurable to publish data to one or more of a plurality of different data targets.

26. The method of claim 21,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.

27. A method for configuring a graphical program to publish or subscribe to an external data target or data source, respectively, the method comprising:

displaying the graphical program on a display, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

receiving user input selecting a first node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the first node is configurable to access data from one or more of a plurality of different types of data sources and/or data targets;

receiving user input specifying at least one of a data source or data target;

configuring the first node in the graphical program to perform at least one of;

     1) receiving data from the specified data source; and

/or

     2) publishing data to the specified data target, in response to the user input.

28. The method of claim 27,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

executing the graphical program after said configuring;

the first node in the graphical program programmatically performing at least one of;

     1) receiving data from the specified data source; and

/or

     2) publishing data to the specified data target.

30. The method of claim 27,

wherein said receiving user input specifying at least one of a data source or data target comprises receiving user input specifying a uniform resource locator (URL) of the data source and/or data target.

31. A memory medium comprising program instructions for configuring a graphical program to subscribe to an external data source, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

displaying the graphical program on a display, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

receiving user input selecting a first node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the first node is configurable to access data from one or more of a plurality of different types of data sources;

receiving user input specifying the data source; and

configuring the first node in the graphical program to receive data from the specified data source in response to the user input.

32. The memory medium of claim 31, further comprising:

executing the graphical program after said configuring;

the first node in the graphical program programmatically receiving data from the specified data source.

33. The memory medium of claim 31,

wherein said receiving user input specifying a data source comprises receiving user input specifying a uniform resource locator (URL) of the data source.

34. The memory medium of claim 31,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.

35. A memory medium comprising program instructions for configuring a graphical program to publish data to an external data target, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

displaying the graphical program on a display, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

receiving user input selecting a first node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the first node is configurable to publish data to one or more of a plurality of different types of data targets;

receiving user input specifying the data target; and

configuring the first node in the graphical program to publish data to the specified data target, in response to the user input.

36. The memory medium of claim 35, further comprising:

executing the graphical program after said configuring;

the graphical program programmatically publishing data to the specified data target.

37. The memory medium of claim 35,

wherein said receiving user input specifying a data target comprises receiving user input specifying a uniform resource locator (URL) of the data target.

38. The memory medium of claim 35,

wherein the graphical program comprises a data flow diagram.