Systems and methods for collaborative programming of simulations of computer programs

• US 7,788,647 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2004
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: iRise, Inc.
• Original Assignee: iRise, Inc.
• Inventors: Russell, Brian, Infante, Dominic, Kravets, Alex, Fan, Brian, Amdour, Leon, Martin, Maurice, Larking, Stuart, Aldama, Paul, Brickley, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Kendall; Chuck O
• Application Number:
  US10/763,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20040221256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,413 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/135
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/51 Source to source
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The system includes a novel software application interactive representation modeling language, a software application (82) operative to use the modeling language to create, read and modify interactive representation models of the proposed applications, a memory (86) to store requirement data and interactive representation model data, a software application (92) operative to read and update the interactive representation model data across a computer network, a software application (76) operative to maintain a record of the requirements and to administer operation of the system, a software application (78) operative to render interactive representations of the proposed applications in browser readable format, a software application (82) operative to allow multiple instances of other applications to access interactive representation data and requirement data residing in the memory and a software application (84) operative to allow an individual user'"'"'s interactions with the system to be broadcast across a networked system to other users.

Claims

1. A method of cooperatively programming a simulation program of a computer application to be developed, the method comprising:

communicating with a plurality of user computers, where the user computers display an executable simulation model of the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

permitting the user computers to simultaneously modify the executable simulation model thereby revising the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

receiving a modification to the executable simulation model from a first user computer selected from the user computers; and

automatically providing an update to the plurality of user computers such that the plurality of user computers display the revised executable simulation model.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the modification to the executable simulation model further comprises at least one of adding a primitive, deleting a primitive, editing a primitive, or modifying a relationship between or among primitives.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising automatically providing the update in near real time.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein automatically providing an update occurs without having a user of the first user computer activate an instruction to update the executable simulation model.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein automatically providing an update further comprises automatically updating a second user computer without receiving a request from the second user computer to update the executable simulation model.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising dynamically sharing requirements among the user computers.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising dynamically sharing requirements among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared requirements are stored in a single data store.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the executable model includes requirements.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising dynamically sharing primitives among the user computers.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising dynamically sharing primitives among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared primitives are stored in a single data store.

11. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with a second user computer, where the second user computer is executing the model of the simulation program; and

automatically providing the update to the second user computer such that the second user computer automatically executes the revised executable model of the simulation program.

12. The method as defined in claim 11, wherein automatically providing the update to the second user computer occurs in near real time.

13. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the computer application is a Web-based application.

14. A computer system that is configured to permit users to cooperatively program a simulation program of a computer application to be developed, the computer system comprising:

a first component configured to communicate with a plurality of user computers, where the user computers display an executable simulation model of the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

a second component configured to permit the user computers to simultaneously modify the executable simulation model thereby revising the simulation program of the computer application to be developed, where the second component is further configured to receive a modification to the executable simulation model from a first user computer selected from the user computers; and

a third component configured to automatically provide an update to the plurality of user computers such that the plurality of user computers display the revised executable simulation model.

15. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein the modification to the executable simulation model further comprises at least one of adding a primitive, deleting a primitive, editing a primitive, or modifying a relationship between or among primitives.

16. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein the third component is further configured to automatically provide the update in near real time.

17. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein the third component is further configured to automatically provide an update without having a user of the first user computer activate an instruction to update the executable simulation model.

18. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein the third component is further configured to automatically update a second user computer without receiving a request from the second user computer to update the executable simulation model.

19. The computer system as defined in claim 14, further comprising a component configured to dynamically share requirements among the user computers.

20. The computer system as defined in claim 14, further comprising a component configured to dynamically share requirements among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared requirements are stored in a single data store.

21. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein the executable model includes requirements.

22. The computer system as defined in claim 14, further comprising a component configured to dynamically share primitives among the user computers.

23. The computer system as defined in claim 14, further comprising a component configured to dynamically share primitives among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared primitives are stored in a single data store.

24. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein:

the first component is further configured to communicate with a second user computer that is executing the model of the simulation program; and

the third component is further configured to automatically provide the update to the second user computer such that the second user computer automatically executes the revised executable model of the simulation program.

25. The computer system as defined in claim 24, wherein the third component is further configured to automatically provide the update to the second user computer in near real time.

26. The computer system as defined in claim 14, wherein the computer application is a Web-based application.

27. A computer system that is configured to permit users to cooperatively program a simulation program of a computer application to be developed, the computer system comprising:

a means for communicating with a plurality of user computers, where the user computers display an executable simulation model of the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

a means for permitting the user computers to simultaneously modify the executable simulation model thereby revising the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

a means for receiving a modification to the executable simulation model from a first user computer selected from the user computers; and

a means for automatically providing an update to the plurality of user computers such that the plurality of user computers display the revised executable simulation model.

28. The computer system as defined in claim 27, wherein the modification to the executable simulation model further comprises at least one of adding a primitive, deleting a primitive, editing a primitive, or modifying a relationship between or among primitives.

29. The computer system as defined in claim 27, further comprising a means for automatically providing the update in near real time.

30. The computer system as defined in claim 27, wherein the means for automatically providing an update is further configured to provide the update without having a user of the first user computer activate an instruction to update the executable simulation model.

31. The computer system as defined in claim 27, wherein the means for automatically providing an update is further configured to automatically update a second user computer without receiving a request from the second user computer to update the executable simulation model.

32. The computer system as defined in claim 27, further comprising a means for dynamically sharing requirements among the user computers.

33. The computer system as defined in claim 27, further comprising a means for dynamically sharing requirements among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared requirements are stored in a single data store.

34. The computer system as defined in claim 27, wherein the executable model includes requirements.

35. The computer system as defined in claim 27, further comprising a means for dynamically sharing primitives among the user computers.

36. The computer system as defined in claim 27, further comprising a means for dynamically sharing primitives among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared primitives are stored in a single data store.

37. The computer system as defined in claim 27, further comprising:

a means for communicating with a second user computer, where the second user computer is executing the model of the simulation program; and

a means for automatically providing the update to the second user computer such that the second user computer automatically executes the revised executable model of the simulation program.

38. The computer system as defined in claim 37, wherein automatically providing the update to the second user computer occurs in near real time.

39. The computer system as defined in claim 27, wherein the computer application is a Web-based application.

40. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium for cooperatively programming of a simulation program of a computer application to be developed, the computer program comprising:

instructions configured to communicate with a plurality of user computers, where the user computers display an executable simulation model of the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

instructions configured to permit the user computers to simultaneously modify the executable simulation model thereby revising the simulation program of the computer application to be developed;

instructions configured to receive a modification to the executable simulation model from a first user computer selected from the user computers; and

instructions configured to automatically provide an update to the plurality of user computers such that the plurality of user computers display the revised executable simulation model.

41. The computer program as defined in claim 40, wherein the modification to the executable simulation model further comprises at least one of adding a primitive, deleting a primitive, editing a primitive, or modifying a relationship between or among primitives.

42. The computer program as defined in claim 40, further comprising instructions configured to automatically provide the update in near real time.

43. The computer program as defined in claim 40, wherein the instructions configured to automatically provide an update are further configured to provide the update without having a user of the first user computer activate an instruction to update the executable simulation model.

44. The computer program as defined in claim 40, wherein the instructions configured to automatically provide an update are further configured to automatically update a second user computer without receiving a request from the second user computer to update the executable simulation model.

45. The computer program as defined in claim 40, further comprising instructions configured to dynamically share requirements among the user computers.

46. The computer program as defined in claim 40, further comprising instructions configured to dynamically share requirements among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared requirements are stored in a single data store.

47. The computer program as defined in claim 40, wherein the executable model includes requirements.

48. The computer program as defined in claim 40, further comprising instructions configured to dynamically share primitives among the user computers.

49. The computer program as defined in claim 40, further comprising instructions configured to dynamically share primitives among the user computers, wherein the dynamically-shared primitives are stored in a single data store.

50. The computer program as defined in claim 40, further comprising:

instructions configured to communicate with a second user computer that is executing the model of the simulation program; and

instructions configured to automatically provide the update to the second user computer such that the second user computer automatically executes the revised executable model of the simulation program.

51. The computer program as defined in claim 50, wherein the instructions configured to automatically provide the update to the second user computer are further configured to provide the update to the second user computer in near real time.

52. The computer program as defined in claim 40, wherein the computer application is a Web-based application.