Priorities of transitions of a diagram with states

• US 7,818,716 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2007
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Hogan, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang; Insun
• Application Number:
  US11/744,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20070204234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 717/113, 717/109, 717/105, 715/763
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A system and method for automatically generating a data flow diagram in response to a first diagram. The first diagram may specify one or more states and one or more state transitions, wherein each state transition specifies a transition from a first state to a second state. A data flow diagram may be automatically generated from the first diagram. A hardware description may be generated from the data flow diagram. The hardware description may be usable to configure a programmable hardware element such as, for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The configured programmable hardware element may implement a hardware implementation of the data flow diagram.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

assembling a first diagram on a display, wherein the first diagram comprises a plurality of states and transitions between the states, wherein the plurality of states comprises a first state with a plurality of transitions from the first state, and wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

wherein said assembling further comprises;

receiving first user input specifying a first priority value for a first transition of the plurality of transitions; and

receiving second user input specifying a second priority value for a second transition of the plurality of transitions;

wherein, during execution of the first diagram, the first and second transitions are evaluated according to the first and second priority values; and

automatically creating a graphical program based on the first diagram, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes, wherein the graphical program is executable to perform the first functionality, and wherein during execution of the graphical program conditions associated with the first and second transitions are evaluated in the specified priority.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second priority values are displayed in the diagram in response to said receiving the first user input and said receiving the second user input.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving further user input specifying priority values for further transitions of the plurality of transitions, wherein during execution of the first diagram, the plurality of transitions are evaluated according to the specified priority values.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transitions comprises a default transition, wherein the default transition has a lowest priority value, and wherein, during execution of the first diagram, the first, second, and default transitions are evaluated according their respective priority values.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second transitions are evaluated from high priority values to low priority values.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reassigning the first priority value for the first transition.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the first diagram, wherein said executing comprises evaluating the first and second transitions according to the first and second priority values.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said executing the first diagram comprises executing a program represented by or converted from the first diagram.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, for at least one state of the plurality of states, the first diagram comprises program code associated with the at least one state, and wherein execution of the at least one state comprises execution of the program code.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first diagram represents a desired operation of a software program.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first diagram represents a desired operation of a hardware device.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first diagram represents a test sequence.

13. A computer-accessible memory medium comprising program instructions executable by a processor to:

display a first diagram on a display, wherein the first diagram comprises a plurality of states and transitions between the states, wherein the plurality of states includes a first state with a plurality of transitions from the first state, and wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

receive first user input specifying a first priority value for a first transition of the plurality of transitions;

receive second user input specifying a second priority value for a second transition of the plurality of transitions;

wherein during execution of the first diagram the first and second priority values are useable to establish priority among the first and second transitions; and

automatically create a graphical program based on the first diagram, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes, wherein the graphical program is executable to perform the first functionality, and wherein during execution of the graphical program conditions associated with the first and second transitions are evaluated in the specified priority.

14. The memory medium of claim 13, wherein the first and second priority values are displayed in the diagram in response to said receiving the first user input and said receiving the second user input.

15. The memory medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of transitions comprises a default transition, wherein the default transition has a lowest priority value, and wherein, during execution of the first diagram, the first, second, and default transitions are evaluated according their respective priority values.

16. The memory medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

execute the first diagram, wherein said executing the first diagram comprises;

executing a program represented by or converted from the first diagram, wherein said executing comprises evaluating the first and second transitions based on the first and second priority values.

17. The memory medium of claim 13, wherein, for at least one state of the plurality of states, the first diagram comprises program code associated with the at least one state, and wherein execution of the at least one state comprises execution of the program code.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory medium comprising program instructions executable by the processor to;

display a first diagram on a display, wherein the first diagram comprises a plurality of states and transitions between the states, wherein the plurality of states includes a first state with a plurality of transitions from the first state, and wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

receive first user input specifying a first priority value for a first transition of the plurality of transitions;

receive second user input specifying a second priority value for a second transition of the plurality of transitions;

wherein during execution of the first diagram the first and second priority values are useable to establish priority among the first and second transitions; and

automatically create a graphical program based on the first diagram, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes, wherein the graphical program is executable to perform the first functionality, and wherein during execution of the graphical program conditions associated with the first and second transitions are evaluated in the specified priority.