Registering rules for entity attributes for validation and inference

• US 7,805,398 B1
• Filed: 10/01/2009
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Yang, Dongzhe
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes; Michael
• Application Number:
  US12/572,041
• Time in Patent Office: 362 Days
• Field of Search: 706/52
• US Class Current: 706/52
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for registering rules for attributes of an entity with an entity validation and inference unit. The entity validation and inference unit can further validate input values for an entity and/or infer attributes of an entity using the associated registered rules. The entity validation and inference unit can also provide information regarding attributes, relations, and behaviors of an entity using the associated registered rules in response to a query. The present invention also provides a mechanism for a user to query an entity or the entity validation and inference unit regarding valid values for an entity. The mechanism also allows the user to query the registered rule associated with the entity.

Claims

1. A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for execution by a processor, the medium storing one or more instructions for:

registering, with a modeling application, one or more rules related to an entity associated with a model;

receiving input specifying a value of a first attribute associated with the entity; and

applying the one or more registered rules to the value of the first attribute to;

infer a value of a second attribute associated with the entity or another entity associated with the model, or

validate the value of the first attribute or the value of the second attribute.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the entity is a parameter associated with a block of the model.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the entity is a parameter associated with a signal of the model.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the modeling application includes a unit that applies the one or more registered rules to the value of the first attribute.

5. A method comprising:

registering one or more rules related to an entity associated with a model;

receiving input specifying a value of a first attribute associated with the entity; and

applying the one or more registered rules to the value of the first attribute to;

infer a value of a second attribute associated with the entity or another entity associated with the model, or

validate the value of the first attribute or the value of the second attribute.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the rules are registered with a modeling application that includes a unit that applies the one or more registered rules to the value of the first attribute.

7. A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for execution by a processor, the medium storing one or more instructions for:

registering, with a modeling application, one or more rules related to one or more attributes associated with a block of a model;

identifying a value of a first attribute associated with the block; and

inferring a value of a second attribute associated with the block based on the value of the first attribute and the one or more registered rules.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the first attribute is associated with a first port of the block and the second attribute is associated with a second port of the block.

9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the modeling application includes a unit that infers the value of the second attribute.

10. A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for execution by a processor, the medium storing one or more instructions for:

defining one or more rules for validating or inferring a value of an attribute associated with an entity of a model, or registering one or more rules with a unit that validates or infers the value; and

validating or inferring the value based on the one or more defined or registered rules.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein at least one of the defined or registered rules includes a constraint on the value.

12. The medium of claim 10, further comprising:

inferring at least one of an attribute of the entity, a behavior of the entity, or a relation of the entity, based on the one or more defined or registered rules.

13. The medium of claim 10, wherein the entity further comprises an aspect of the model that that is associated with the value.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the aspect of the model includes at least one of the model, a block, a model reference block, a signal, a bus, a bus signal, a struct signal, a parameter, a block parameter, a model option, a subsystem option, a block option, a block display option, a signal display option, an optimization setting, a graphical dialog, a dynamic dialog, or a relative tolerance of a numerical solver.

15. The medium of claim 10, wherein the one or more defined or registered rules are defined based on at least one of a condition and an action, prepositional logic, first-order logic, an event, a temporal constraint, a probability, or fuzzy logic.

16. The medium of claim 10, further comprising:

providing at least one or more default rules that include a default constraint on the value.

17. The medium of claim 10, further comprising one or more instructions for:

generating validation code based on the one or more defined or registered rules, the validation code including code for inferring or validating the value.

18. The medium of claim 17, further comprising one or more instructions for:

executing the validation code to validate or infer the value.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein in addition to being generated based on the one or more defined or registered rules, the validation code is generated from a predefined validation code template.

20. The medium of claim 10, further comprising one or more instructions for:

identifying a conflict in the one or more defined or registered rules.

21. A method comprising:

defining one or more rules for validating or inferring a value of an attribute associated with an entity of a model, or registering one or more rules with a unit that validates or infers the value; and

validating, using a processor, or inferring, using the processor, the value based on the one or more defined or registered rules.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

inferring at least one of an attribute of the entity, a behavior of the entity, or a relation of the entity, based on the one or more defined or registered rules.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

generating validation code based on the one or more defined or registered rules, the validation code including code for inferring or validating the value.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

executing the validation code to validate or infer the value.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the defined or registered rules includes a constraint on the value.

26. A system comprising:

a processor for;

registering one or more rules related to an entity associated with a model;

receiving input specifying a value of a first attribute associated with the entity; and

applying the one or more registered rules to the value of the first attribute to at least one of;

infer a value of a second attribute associated with the entity or another entity associated with the model, or

validate the value of the first attribute or the value of the second attribute.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more rules are registered with a unit that:

infers the value of the second attribute, or

validates the value of the first attribute or the value of the second attribute.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more registered rules include one or more default rules that include a default constraint on the value of the first attribute or the value of the second attribute.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the processor further generates validation code based on the one or more registered rules.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the validation code when executed performs at least one of:

infers the value of the second attribute, or

validates the value of the first attribute or the value of the second attribute.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the processor further resolves a conflict in the one or more registered rules.

32. A method comprising:

registering one or more rules associated with an entity of a model, the one or more rules related to one or more attributes of the entity;

receiving input specifying a value for an attribute of the entity;

applying the one or more rules to the value to determine if the value is valid; and

generating, using a processor, a validation result that indicates whether the value is valid based on the applying.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

storing the validation result in a storage.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the entity is a dialog element, a parameter associated with the model, or a signal associated with the model.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

inferring a value of an attribute of a second entity associated with the model based on the one or more rules.

36. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

displaying a message based on the validation result.

37. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

displaying one or more suggestions for correcting the value.

38. The method of claim 32, wherein the one or more rules are applied during code generation for the model.

39. The method of claim 32, wherein the one or more rules are applied while the model is being executed.

40. The method of claim 32, wherein the one or more rules are registered with a unit that applies the one or more rules to the value to determine if the value is valid.