Automatic generation of a data flow diagram from a diagram with states and transitions

• US 7,882,490 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2007
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• 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:
  US11/688,277
• Publication Number:
  US 20070169053A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a first diagram, wherein the first diagram specifies one or more states and one or more transitions between the states, wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

automatically generating a data flow diagram based on the first diagram, wherein the data flow diagram comprises a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein at least a subset of the connections indicate that data produced by one node is used by another node, and wherein the data flow diagram specifies the first functionality; and

storing the data flow diagram in a memory medium;

wherein the data flow diagram is executable by a processor to perform the first functionality.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the data flow diagram on a display after said automatically generating the data flow diagram.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first diagram is a state diagram.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first diagram corresponds to a test sequence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, for at least one state of the one or more states, the first diagram comprises program code associated with the at least one state;

wherein the data flow diagram comprises the specified program code.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, for at least one state, the first diagram comprises program code associated with the state;

wherein, during execution, the data flow diagram is operable to invoke the specified program code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data flow diagram comprises at least one placeholder for at least one state transition of the one or more transitions.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

for the one or more state transitions, receiving user input specifying a Boolean condition associated with each state transition.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first diagram specifies at least two state transitions from a particular state;

wherein the first diagram also specifies a priority ordering for the at least two state transitions;

wherein said automatically generating comprises automatically generating the data flow diagram such that, during execution of the data flow diagram, conditions associated with the at least two state transitions are evaluated in the specified priority ordering.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first diagram further specifies an initially active state, and wherein said automatically generating comprises automatically generating the data flow diagram such that the data flow diagram begins execution in the initially active state.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first diagram further specifies one or more stop states, and wherein said automatically generating comprises automatically generating the data flow diagram such that if during execution of the data flow diagram one of the stop states becomes active, then the data flow diagram is caused to stop execution.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information specifying a change to the first diagram;

automatically updating the data flow diagram to reflect the specified change.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a first portion of the data flow diagram comprises a graphical user interface (GUI) for providing input to the data flow diagram and displaying output from the data flow diagram, and wherein the method further comprises compiling the first portion of the data flow diagram for execution on a processor to present the GUI on a display.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes comprises at least a first node that represents control flow of data among one or more of the plurality of nodes.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first node indicates iteration for the one or more of the plurality of nodes.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first node indicates conditional branching for the one or more of the plurality of nodes.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first node comprises a looping node, wherein the looping node indicates looping of the one or more of the plurality of nodes, wherein the looping node includes a loop condition which indicates a number of executions for the one or more of the plurality of nodes.

18. A memory medium comprising program instructions executable to:

receive a first diagram, wherein the first diagram specifies one or more states and one or more transitions between the states, wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

automatically generate a data flow diagram based on the first diagram, wherein the data flow diagram comprises a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein at least a subset of the connections indicate that data produced by one node is used by another node, and wherein the data flow diagram specifies the first functionality; and

store the data flow diagram in the memory medium.

19. The memory medium of claim 18, wherein the data flow diagram is executable to perform the first functionality.

20. A system, comprising:

a processor;

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

receive a first diagram, wherein the first diagram specifies one or more states and one or more transitions between the states, wherein the first diagram specifies first functionality;

automatically generate a data flow diagram based on the first diagram, wherein the data flow diagram comprises a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes, wherein at least a subset of the connections indicate that data produced by one node is used by another node, and wherein the data flow diagram specifies the first functionality; and

store the data flow diagram in the memory medium.