Unit tracking and notification in a graphical drug model editor

• US 6,937,257 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2001
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Certara, L.P. (Certara, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pharsight Corporation (Certara Strategic Consulting)
• Inventors: Dunlavey, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cabeca, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/823,439
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 345/700, 345762-764, 345/771, 345/772, 345/810, 345/826, 345/835, 345/846, 345/949, 345/967, 345/970, 345/977, 702/22, 702/27, 702/30, 702/19, 703/11, 703/12, 703/6
• US Class Current: 715/763
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 45/00 ICT specially adapted for bioinformatics-related data visualisation, e.g. displaying of maps or networks
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 5/00 ICT specially adapted for modelling or simulations in systems biology, e.g. gene-regulatory networks, protein interaction networks or metabolic networks
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 5/10 Boolean models
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 5/20 Probabilistic models

Abstract

A method for maintaining consistent unit relationships during graphical pharmacological computational model construction is disclosed. A graphical user interface is presented through which a user may place and connect objects representing pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic elements. The user may specify units definitions for variables and constants using unit expressions. As the objects are converted into an internal format representing the statements of the corresponding computational model, the unit expressions are included in this internal format as multidimensional data type information. This multidimensional data type information is regularly and automatically propagated for each statement in the internal format to identify inconsistent units. When such inconsistent units are identified, a warning message is generated to notify the user, substantially immediately after the inconsistent units are created.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for maintaining consistent unit relationships in a pharmacological computational model editor, comprising:

(a) presenting a graphical user interface having a plurality of objects, each object representing one or both of a pharmacokinetic element and a pharmacodynamic element;

(b) receiving instructions via the graphical user interface for connection of at least two of the objects;

(c) displaying the at least two objects connected in accordance with the received instructions, the connected objects having an input and an output;

(d) receiving units-specifying data for at least one of an input and an output for the connected objects;

(e) converting the at least two connected objects and the received units specifying data into an internal format corresponding to the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic elements represented by the at least two connected objects, wherein the converting step (e) occurs substantially coincident with the object displaying step (c), the internal format comprising statements having terms, at least one of the terms having an associated multidimensional unit type corresponding to the received units-specifying data;

(f) propagating the multidimensional unit type data for each statement;

(g) identifying inconsistent units in the propagated multidimensional unit type data; and

(h) displaying one or more warning messages on the graphical user interface regarding the identified inconsistent units.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the internal format comprises a parse tree.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more warning messages are displayed in proximity with one or more corresponding objects which are the source of the identified inconsistent units.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the objects comprise one or more of compartment blocks, flow blocks, response blocks, and formulation blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each multidimensional unit type comprises a plurality of exponential powers, each exponential power corresponding to a unit category, and wherein each multidimensional unit type indicates for the respective corresponding terms either a units definition or an absence of units definition.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each exponential power is an integer selected from the range −

4 to 3 inclusive.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein each unit category includes a plurality of unit names, each multidimensional unit type further comprising a conversion factor for conversion of a data value to a set of default units, each default unit selected from a unit category.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one unit category is selected from the group comprising volume, weight, time, quantity, and age.

9. A computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more sequences of instructions for causing one or more processors to perform steps for maintaining consistent unit relationships during pharmacological computational model construction, the steps comprising:

(a) presenting a graphical user interface having a plurality of objects, each object representing one or both of a pharmacokinetic element and a pharmacodynamic element;

(b) receiving instructions via the graphical user interface for connection of at least two of the objects;

(c) displaying the at least two objects connected in accordance with the received instructions, the connected objects having an input and an output;

(d) receiving units-specifying data for at least one of an input and an output for the connected objects;

(e) converting the at least two connected objects and the received units specifying data into an internal format corresponding to the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic elements represented by the at least two connected objects, wherein the converting step (e) occurs substantially coincident with the object displaying step (c), the internal format comprising statements having terms, at least one of the terms having an associated multidimensional unit type corresponding to the received units-specifying data;

(f) propagating the multidimensional unit type data for each statement;

(g) identifying inconsistent units in the propagated multi-dimensional unit type data; and

(h) displaying one or more warning messages on the graphical user interface regarding the identified inconsistent units.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the internal format comprises a parse tree.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more warning messages are displayed in proximity with one or more corresponding objects which are the source of the identified inconsistent units.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the objects comprise one or more of compartment blocks, flow blocks, response blocks, and formulation blocks.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein each multidimensional unit type comprises a plurality of exponential powers, each exponential power corresponding to a unit category, and wherein each multidimensional unit type indicates for the respective corresponding terms either a units definition or an absence of units definition.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each exponential power is an integer selected from the range −

4 to 3 inclusive.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein each unit category includes a plurality of unit names, each multidimensional unit type further comprising a conversion factor for conversion of a data value to a set of default units, each default unit selected from a unit category.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the unit categories comprise two or more of volume, weight, time, quantity, and age.

17. A system configured to present a graphical user interface having a plurality of objects, each object representing one or both of a pharmacokinetic element and a pharmacodynamic element, the system further configured to maintain consistent unit relationships during pharmacological computational model construction, the system comprising:

(a) a processor;

(b) a data storage area; and

(c) an execution area configured to;

(i) receiving instructions regarding connection of at least two of the objects;

(ii) displaying the connected objects in accordance with the instructions;

(iii) receiving units-specifying data for at least one of an input and an output for the connected objects;

(iv) converting the connected objects and the units-specifying data into an internal format corresponding to the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic elements represented by the connected objects, in parallel with the object display, wherein the internal format comprises statements having terms, and wherein at least one of the terms has an associated multidimensional unit type corresponding to the units-specifying data;

(v) identifying inconsistent units by propagation of the multidimensional unit type data for each statement; and

(vi) displaying one or more warning messages for the identified inconsistent units.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein each multidimensional unit type comprises a plurality of exponential powers, each exponential power corresponding to a unit category, and wherein each multidimensional unit type indicates for the respective corresponding terms either a units definition or an absence of units definition.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein each unit category includes a plurality of unit names, each multidimensional unit type further comprising a conversion factor for conversion of a data value to a set of default units, each default unit selected from a unit category.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein each exponential power is an integer selected from the range −

5 to 5 inclusive.