Diagram that visually indicates targeted execution

• US 7,844,908 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Vrancic, Aljosa, Correll, Jeffrey N., Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Fuller, David W III, Shah, Darshan K., Kornerup, Jacob, Breyer, John R., Hayles, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cao (Kevin)
• Application Number:
  US11/776,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20080034310A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736, 715/864, 715/125, 715/781, 715763-765, 715769-771, 717/105, 717/109
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23248 Integrate function blocks from different machines; CORBA, RMI protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23258 GUI graphical user interface, icon, function bloc editor, labview
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23273 Select, associate the real hardware to be used in the program

Abstract

System and method for distributed execution of a graphical program. First and second icons associated with respective execution targets are displayed on a display. Each icon has an interior and specifies execution of a respective graphical program portion positioned in the interior of the icon on the respective execution target. First and second graphical program portions are respectively displayed in the interiors of the first and second icons, where each graphical program portion comprises a respective one or more interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the graphical program portion. One or more wires connecting the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion are display. During execution of the graphical program, the first and second graphical program portions execute respectively on the first and second execution targets, and the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion communicate as specified by the one or more wires.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions executable by a processor to:

display a first icon on a display, wherein the first icon has an interior, wherein the first icon is associated with a first execution target, and wherein the first icon specifies execution of a graphical program portion positioned in the interior of the first icon on the first execution target;

display a first graphical program portion in the interior of the first icon, wherein the first graphical program portion comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the first graphical program portion;

display a second icon on the display, wherein the second icon has an interior, wherein the second icon is associated with a second execution target, and wherein the second icon specifies execution of a graphical program portion positioned in the interior of the second icon on the second execution target; and

display a second graphical program portion in the interior of the second icon, wherein the second graphical program portion comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the second graphical program portion; and

display one or more wires connecting the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first graphical program portion executes on the first execution target, the second graphical program portion executes on the second execution target, and the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion communicate as specified by the one or more wires.

2. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein said displaying the first graphical program portion in the interior of the first icon comprises:

displaying the first graphical program portion on the display; and

drawing the first icon around the first graphical program portion.

3. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein said displaying the first graphical program portion in the interior of the first icon comprises:

dragging and dropping the first graphical program portion onto the first icon.

4. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

execute the graphical program, including executing the first graphical program portion on the first execution target, and executing the second graphical program portion on the second execution target.

5. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more wires connecting the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion comprise one or more of:

a timing wire, operable to specify timing information between the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion;

a data transfer wire, operable to transmit data between the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion;

or

an event wire, operable to transmit event information between the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion.

6. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 5, wherein the timing information comprises one or more of:

a timing signal;

or

one or more data packets comprising the timing information.

7. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 5, wherein the data transfer wire comprises a configurable buffered wire.

8. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 7, wherein the configurable buffered wire is operable to implement or operate according to a specified protocol or specified semantics.

9. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more wires has an appearance corresponding to the type of the wire.

10. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more wires connecting the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion comprise one or more wires connecting at least one node in the first graphical program portion to at least one node in the second graphical program portion.

11. The non-transitory e memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

configure the first and/or second icon, including specifying the first and/or second execution target.

12. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 11, wherein the first and second icons each has a default configuration, wherein said configuring the first and/or second icon comprises overriding the default configuration.

13. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 11, wherein said configuring the first and/or second icon comprises one or more of:

specifying deployment time of the second graphical program portion;

specifying start time of the second graphical program portion;

or

specifying stop time of the second graphical program portion.

14. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 13, wherein said configuring the first and/or second icon is performed based on program instructions associated with the first graphical program portion.

15. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are executable to:

automatically detect physical resources coupled to the memory medium; and

display icons representing the physical resources; and

receive input selecting an icon from the icons representing the physical resources;

wherein said displaying the first icon is performed based on said receiving input selecting the icon from the icons representing the physical resources.

16. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1,

wherein at least one of the first and second graphical program portions operates in accordance with data flow semantics.

17. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 16,

wherein the first and second graphical program portions are connected by at least one non-data flow wire, and wherein data flow semantics do not apply to the conjunctive execution of the first and second graphical program portions.

18. The non-transitory memory medium of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second icons is associated with a respective execution context, wherein the respective execution context comprises one or more data structures used to run an execution system, and wherein the respective execution context specifies the associated execution target.

19. A method, comprising:

displaying a first icon on a display, wherein the first icon has an interior, wherein the first icon is associated with a first execution target, and wherein the first icon specifies execution of a graphical program portion positioned in the interior of the first icon on the first execution target;

displaying a first graphical program portion in the interior of the first icon, wherein the first graphical program portion comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the first graphical program portion;

displaying a second icon on the display, wherein the second icon has an interior, wherein the second icon is associated with a second execution target, and wherein the second icon specifies execution of a graphical program portion positioned in the interior of the second icon on the second execution target; and

displaying a second graphical program portion in the interior of the second icon, wherein the second graphical program portion comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the second graphical program portion; and

displaying one or more wires connecting the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion;

wherein during execution of the graphical program, the first graphical program portion executes on the first execution target, the second graphical program portion executes on the second execution target, and the first graphical program portion and the second graphical program portion communicate as specified by the one or more wires.