Configuration diagram with context sensitive connectivity

• US 7,594,220 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2002
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• 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): Dam; Tuan Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US10/176,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20030037316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,650 Days
• Field of Search: 715500-978, 717168-178, 717/105, 717/109, 717/123, 702 1-199, 702/326, 714 1-824, 709200-253, 709/328, 710/301, 710/302
• US Class Current: 717/125
• 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

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 computer-implemented method for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, wherein the method executes on a first computer system, the method comprising:

automatically detecting one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

automatically detecting types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

displaying a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a sensor and a data acquisition (DAQ) device; and

automatically displaying connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein the displayed connections correspond to the automatically detected physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the detected type of physical connection between the respective measurement devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of physical connection comprises one or more of:

a PXI (PCI Extensions for Instrumentation) connection, a VXI (VME (Versa Module Eurocard) eXtensions for Instrumentation) connection, and a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the physical connections comprises a GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) connection, wherein the GPIB connection comprises a first appearance to visually indicate that it is a GPIB connection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the physical connections comprises an Ethernet connection, wherein the Ethernet connection comprises a first appearance to visually indicate that it is an Ethernet connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of physical connection comprises one or more of a network connection, internal bus connection, external parallel bus connection, external serial bus connection, or a wireless connection.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein at least one of the device icons corresponds to an analog sensor for measuring a phenomenon and providing analog measurement data;

and

wherein at least one of the connections indicates an analog data connection between the analog sensor and another device.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance to visually indicate a type of material flow between the respective devices.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance to further visually indicate a type of data flow between the respective devices.

9. The method of claim 1

wherein each of the device icons has an appearance that visually indicates a type of its corresponding measurement device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement system comprises a distributed measurement system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying the plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, and said displaying connections between the plurality of device icons comprises:

displaying a configuration diagram for the measurement system.

12. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving user input indicating a desire to connect a first device icon to a second device icon;

displaying a first connection between the first device icon and the second device icon after the user input, wherein the first connection has an appearance which visually indicates a type of connection between the first and second device icons.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein said displaying connections between the plurality of device icons includes displaying at least one connection between the device icons in response to user input drawing the at least one connection on the display.

14. The method of claim 1,

displaying program icons proximate to respective ones of the plurality of device icons, wherein each of the program icons corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of measurement programs, wherein each respective program icon is displayed proximate to a respective measurement device to indicate that the respective measurement program corresponding to the respective program icon is stored on the respective measurement device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically detecting one or more of the plurality of measurement programs present in the measurement system;

wherein said displaying program icons comprises automatically displaying one or more program icons corresponding to the one or more measurement programs automatically detected in the measurement system.

16. The method of claim 14,

wherein each of the plurality of program icons has an appearance that visually indicates a type of its corresponding measurement program.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the appearance of the one or more of the connections comprises one or more of color, thickness or shading to indicate the type of connection.

18. A computer-accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to perform:

automatically detecting one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

automatically detecting types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

displaying a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a sensor and a data acquisition (DAQ) device; and

automatically displaying connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein the displayed connections correspond to the automatically detected physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the detected type of physical connection between the respective measurement devices.

19. A system for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, comprising:

a computer system, comprising;

a processor;

a memory medium, coupled to the processor; and

a display device, coupled to the processor and memory medium;

wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to;

automatically detect one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

automatically detect types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

display on the display device a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a sensor and a data acquisition (DAQ) device; and

automatically display on the display device connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein the displayed connections correspond to the automatically detected physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the detected type of physical connection between the respective measurement devices.

20. A system for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, comprising:

a processor;

a memory medium, coupled to the processor;

means for automatically detecting one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

means for automatically detecting types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

means for displaying a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a sensor and a data acquisition (DAQ) device; and

means for automatically displaying connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein the displayed connections correspond to the automatically detected physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the detected type of physical connection between the respective measurement devices.