Configuring graphical program nodes for remote execution

• US 7,478,337 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2002
• Issued: 01/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Rogers, Steven W., Shah, Darshan
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow; Dennis-Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tan; Alvin H
• Application Number:
  US10/123,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20030035010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,464 Days
• Field of Search: 715734-738, 715/771
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23258 GUI graphical user interface, icon, function bloc editor, labview
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25067 Graphic configuration control system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/967 Visual or iconic programming
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/97 Instrumentation and component modelling, e.g. interactive control panel

Abstract

A system and method for creating and using configuration diagrams for configuring distributed systems. The methods described herein may be used for various types of operations in configuring distributed systems, including creating programs, managing programs in the distributed system, deploying programs to various distributed devices, configuring remote execution or inter-operation of distributed programs, and executing distributed applications. Embodiments of the invention utilize graphical iconic-based techniques for performing the above operations. The configuration diagram may include device icons which represent devices and program icons which represent programs. Device icons and program icons may be associated with each other to accomplish various program creation and deployment operations. Device icons and program icons may also interact with graphical program nodes or icons. Context sensitive device connections and/or program connections are displayed. An asynchronous data flow node may be used to facilitate asynchronous data flow between two graphical programs. The distributed system may also support distributed graphical debugging.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a graphical program, wherein the method executes on a first computer system, the method comprising:

displaying a graphical program on a display of the first computer system, wherein the graphical program includes a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

displaying a first device icon on a display of the first computer system, wherein the first device icon corresponds to a first device;

graphically associating a first node of the graphical program with the first device icon in response to user input;

deploying the first node to execute on the first device in response to said graphically associating.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the graphical program to invoke execution of the first node on the first device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

executing the graphical program after said deploying, wherein said executing includes the graphical program invoking execution of the first node on the first device.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program includes program instructions corresponding to the first node;

wherein said deploying the first node comprises deploying the program instructions corresponding to the first node onto the first device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

executing the graphical program after said deploying, wherein said executing includes the graphical program invoking the program instructions corresponding to the first node on the first device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying an appearance of the first node in the graphical program after said graphically associating to visually indicate that the first node executes remotely in the first device.

7. The method of claim 6,

wherein said modifying the appearance of the first node in the graphical program comprises modifying the appearance of the first node to include at least a portion of the appearance of the first device icon.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying an appearance of the first device icon to visually indicate that the first node is deployed on the first device icon.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the first node proximate to the first device icon to visually indicate that the first node is deployed on the first device icon.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the first node connected to the first device icon to visually indicate that the first node is deployed on the first device icon.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein said graphically associating comprises dragging and dropping the first node of the graphical program proximate to or onto the first device icon.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein said graphically associating comprises:

graphically selecting the first node in the graphical program; and

selecting the first device icon from a graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a second device icon on a display of the first computer system, wherein the second device icon corresponds to a second device;

graphically associating a second node of the graphical program with the second device icon in response to user input;

deploying the second node to execute on the second device in response to said graphically associating.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the first device is capable of executing the first node.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program includes program instructions corresponding to the first node;

wherein said deploying the first node comprises deploying the program instructions corresponding to the first node onto the first device;

the method further comprising;

determining if the first device is capable of executing the program instructions corresponding to the first node;

indicating an invalid condition if the first device is not capable of executing the program instructions corresponding to the first node.

16. The method of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program includes program instructions corresponding to the first node;

wherein said deploying the first node comprises deploying the program instructions corresponding to the first node onto the first device;

the method further comprising;

determining if the first device is capable of executing the program instructions corresponding to the first node;

automatically converting the program instructions to a different form executable by the first device if the first device is not capable of executing the program instructions corresponding to the first node.

17. The method of claim 16,

wherein said automatically converting comprises automatically converting the program instructions to a dynamic link library.

18. The method of claim 16,

wherein said automatically converting comprises automatically converting the program instructions to a hardware configuration program.

19. The method of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program is a data flow program.

20. The method of claim 1,

wherein the graphical program is a control flow program.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a configuration diagram on the display of the computer system, wherein the configuration diagram includes the first device icon corresponding to the first device.

22. The method of claim 21,

wherein the configuration diagram also includes the graphical program.

23. The method of claim 21,

wherein the configuration diagram represents a system comprising a plurality of devices including the first device, wherein the configuration diagram includes a plurality of device icons corresponding to the plurality of devices, wherein the first device icon is one of the plurality of device icons.

24. The method of claim 21,

wherein the configuration diagram comprises a program icon, wherein the program icon corresponds to the graphical program;

wherein the method further comprises selecting the program icon in response to user input;

wherein said displaying the graphical program is performed in response to said selecting the program icon.

25. A method for configuring a graphical program, wherein the method executes on a first computer system, the method comprising:

displaying a graphical program on a display of the first computer system, wherein the graphical program includes a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

displaying a first device icon on a display of the first computer system, wherein the first device icon corresponds to a first device;

selecting a first node of the graphical program in response to user input;

selecting a first device in response to user input;

deploying the first node to execute on the first device in response to said steps of selecting.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

displaying a graphical user interface element in response to said selecting the first node, wherein the graphical user interface element displays two or more device selections;

wherein said selecting the first device comprises selecting the first device from the graphical user interface element.

27. A memory medium comprising program instructions for configuring a graphical program, wherein the program instructions execute on a first computer system, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

displaying a graphical program on a display of the first computer system, wherein the graphical program includes a plurality of interconnected nodes which visually indicate functionality of the graphical program;

displaying a first device icon on a display of the first computer system, wherein the first device icon corresponds to a first device;

graphically associating a first node of the graphical program with the first device icon in response to user input;

deploying the first node to execute on the first device in response to said graphically associating.

28. The memory medium of claim 27, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement:

modifying the graphical program to invoke execution of the first node on the first device.

29. The memory medium of claim 28, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement:

executing the graphical program after said deploying, wherein said executing includes the graphical program invoking execution of the first node on the first device.

30. The memory medium of claim 27,

wherein the graphical program includes program instructions corresponding to the first node;

wherein said deploying the first node comprises deploying the program instructions corresponding to the first node onto the first device.

31. The memory medium of claim 30, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement:

executing the graphical program after said deploying, wherein said executing includes the graphical program invoking the program instructions corresponding to the first node on the first device.

32. The memory medium of claim 27, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement:

modifying an appearance of the first node in the graphical program after said graphically associating to visually indicate that the first node executes remotely in the first device.