Presenting multiple views of a system

• US 7,831,914 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2007
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• 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): TAN, ALVIN H
• Application Number:
  US11/869,804
• Publication Number:
  US 20080028338A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: 715/735
• US Class Current: 715/735
• 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, comprising:

displaying a physical view of a system on a display, wherein the physical view comprises a first plurality of device icons connected by a first plurality of lines, wherein the first plurality of device icons each represent a physical device in the system, and wherein the first plurality of lines represent only physical connectivity between the physical devices; and

displaying a program relationship view of the system on the display, wherein the program relationship view comprises a second plurality of program icons connected by a second one or more lines, wherein the second plurality of program icons represent respective programs stored within and/or executed by the physical devices of the system, wherein the second one or more lines indicate relationships among the second plurality of program icons;

wherein said displaying the physical view comprises displaying the plurality of device icons at respective first positions on the display;

wherein the programs stored within the system are stored on and/or executed by respective ones of the physical devices corresponding to the device icons displayed in the physical view;

wherein said displaying the program relationship view comprises displaying the plurality of program icons at the respective first positions corresponding to the devices on which they are stored and/or execute.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a system view on the display, wherein the system view comprises the first plurality of device icons connected by the first plurality of lines, and wherein the system view further comprises the second plurality of program icons connected by the second one or more lines.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of device icons each have an appearance that visually represents the device.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein said displaying the physical view on the display is performed in response to first user input;

wherein said displaying the program relationship view on the display is performed in response to second user input.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input requesting display of a view for a particular device; and

displaying the view for the particular device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying the physical view and said displaying the program relationship view is performed at different levels of granularity in response to user input.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a program view on the display, wherein the program view comprises a third plurality of program nodes connected by a third plurality of lines, wherein the third plurality of lines indicates data flow among the third plurality of program nodes.

8. A computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by a processor to:

display a physical view of a system on a display, wherein the physical view comprises a first plurality of device icons connected by a first plurality of lines, wherein the first plurality of device icons each represent a physical device in the system, and wherein the first plurality of lines represent only physical connectivity between the physical devices; and

display a program view of the system on the display, wherein the program view comprises a second plurality of program nodes connected by a second plurality of lines, wherein the second plurality of program nodes represent respective programs stored on and/or executed by the physical devices of the system, wherein the second plurality of lines indicates data flow among the second plurality of program nodes;

wherein said displaying the physical view comprises displaying the plurality of device icons at respective first positions on the display;

wherein the programs stored within the system are stored on and/or executed by respective ones of the physical devices corresponding to the device icons displayed in the physical view;

wherein said displaying the program relationship view comprises displaying the plurality of program nodes at the respective first positions corresponding to the devices on which they are stored and/or execute.

9. The memory medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

display a system view on the display, wherein the system view comprises the first plurality of device icons connected by the first plurality of lines, and wherein the system view further comprises the second plurality of program nodes connected by the second plurality of lines.

10. The memory medium of claim 8, wherein the first plurality of device icons each have an appearance that visually represents the device.

11. The memory medium of claim 8,

wherein said displaying the physical view on the display is performed in response to first user input;

wherein said displaying the program view on the display is performed in response to second user input.

12. The memory medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

receive user input requesting display of a view for a particular device; and

display the view for the particular device.

13. The memory medium of claim 8, wherein said displaying the physical view and said displaying the program view is performed at different levels of granularity in response to user input.

14. The memory medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

display a program relationship view on the display, wherein the program relationship view comprises a third plurality of program icons connected by a third one or more lines, wherein the third plurality of program icons each represent programs stored within the physical devices of the system, wherein the third one or more lines indicates relationships among the third plurality of program icons.

15. A system, comprising:

a display;

a processor coupled to the display; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions executable by the processor to;

display a physical view of a first system on the display, wherein the physical view comprises a first plurality of device icons connected by a first plurality of lines, wherein the first plurality of device icons each represent a physical device in the first system, and wherein the first plurality of lines represent only physical connectivity between the physical devices; and

display a program view of the first system on the display, wherein the program view comprises a second plurality of program icons connected by a second plurality of lines, wherein the second plurality of program icons represent respective programs stored within the physical devices of the first system, wherein the second plurality of lines indicates data flow among the second plurality of program icons;

wherein said displaying the physical view comprises displaying the plurality of device icons at respective first positions on the display;

wherein the programs stored within the system are stored on and/or executed by respective ones of the physical devices corresponding to the device icons displayed in the physical view;

wherein said displaying the program view comprises displaying the plurality of program icons at the respective first positions corresponding to the devices on which they are stored and/or execute.

16. A computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by a processor to:

display a physical view of a system on a display, wherein the physical view comprises a first plurality of device icons connected by a first plurality of lines, wherein the first plurality of device icons each represent a physical device in the system, and wherein the first plurality of lines represent only physical connectivity between the physical devices; and

display a program relationship view of the system on the display, wherein the program relationship view comprises a second plurality of program icons connected by a second one or more lines, wherein the second plurality of program icons represent respective programs stored within and/or executed by the physical devices of the system, wherein the second one or more lines indicate relationships among the second plurality of program icons;

wherein said displaying the physical view comprises displaying the plurality of device icons at respective first positions on the display;

wherein the programs stored within the system are stored on and/or executed by respective ones of the physical devices corresponding to the device icons displayed in the physical view;

wherein said displaying the program relationship view comprises displaying the plurality of program icons at the respective first positions corresponding to the devices on which they are stored and/or execute.