Configuration diagram with connections that represent physical couplings between devices

• US 8,413,118 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2009
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Shah, Darshan, Rogers, Steven W.
• Primary Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US12/563,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20100005425A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,290 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/125
• 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

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 computer-accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to perform:

displaying a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a data acquisition (DAQ) device; and

displaying connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein at least a subset of the displayed connections correspond to physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the type of physical coupling between the respective measurement devices.

2. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein the type of physical coupling comprises one or more of:

a PXI (PCI Extensions for Instrumentation) connection, a VXI (VME (Versa Module Eurocard) eXtensions for Instrumentation) connection, or a GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) connection.

3. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein the type of physical coupling comprises one or more of a network connection, internal bus connection, external parallel bus connection, external serial bus connection, or a wireless connection.

4. The memory medium of claim 1,

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance to further visually indicate a type of data flow between the respective devices.

5. The memory medium of claim 1

wherein each of the device icons has an appearance that visually indicates a type of its corresponding measurement device.

6. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform one or more of:

automatically detecting one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system, and automatically detecting types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

or

automatically detecting one or more of the plurality of measurement devices present in the measurement system.

7. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform one or more of:

displaying program icons proximate to respective ones of the plurality of device icons, wherein each of the program icons corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of measurement programs present in the measurement system, wherein each respective program icon is displayed proximate to a respective measurement device to indicate that the respective measurement program corresponding to the respective program icon is stored on the respective measurement device.

8. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

displaying information proximate to at least one device icon to indicate information about the device, wherein the information about the device comprises one or more of;

type of device;

geographic location of the device;

or

calibration information for the device.

9. The memory medium of claim 1, wherein said displaying connections between the plurality of device icons comprises:

displaying indications of type checking of connections between devices icons, wherein incompatibilities between coupled devices are indicated via the respective connections.

10. A computer-implemented method for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, the method comprising:

utilizing a computer system to perform;

displaying on a display a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a data acquisition (DAQ) device; and

displaying on the display connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein at least a subset of the displayed connections correspond to physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the type of physical coupling between the respective measurement devices.

11. A computer-accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to perform:

displaying a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a sensor; and

displaying connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein least a subset of the displayed connections correspond to physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the type of physical coupling between the respective measurement devices.

12. The memory medium of claim 11, wherein the type of physical coupling comprises one or more of:

a PXI (PCI Extensions for Instrumentation) connection, a VXI (VME (Versa Module Eurocard) eXtensions for Instrumentation) connection, or a GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) connection.

13. The memory medium of claim 11, wherein the type of physical coupling comprises one or more of a network connection, internal bus connection, external parallel bus connection, external serial bus connection, or a wireless connection.

14. The memory medium of claim 11,

wherein the measurement system comprises at least two material processing devices;

wherein the type of physical coupling comprises piping; and

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance to visually indicate a type of material flow between the material processing devices.

15. The memory medium of claim 11,

wherein each of the device icons has an appearance that visually indicates a type of its corresponding measurement device.

16. The memory medium of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

automatically detecting one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system, and automatically detecting types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

or

automatically detecting one or more of the plurality of measurement devices present in the measurement system.

17. The memory medium of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform one or more of:

displaying program icons proximate to respective ones of the plurality of device icons, wherein each of the program icons corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of measurement programs present in the measurement system, wherein each respective program icon is displayed proximate to a respective measurement device to indicate that the respective measurement program corresponding to the respective program icon is stored on the respective measurement device.

18. The memory medium of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

displaying information proximate to at least one device icon to indicate information about the device, wherein the information about the device comprises one or more of;

type of device;

geographic location of the device;

or

calibration information for the device.

19. The memory medium of claim 11, wherein said displaying connections between the plurality of device icons comprises:

displaying indications of type checking of connections between devices icons, wherein incompatibilities between coupled devices are indicated via the respective connections.

20. A computer-implemented method for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, the method comprising:

utilizing a computer system to perform;

displaying on a display a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system, wherein the plurality of measurement devices comprises a sensor; and

displaying on the display connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein at least a subset of the displayed connections correspond to physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the type of physical coupling between the respective measurement devices.

21. A computer-accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to perform:

displaying a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system; and

displaying connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein at least a subset of the displayed connections correspond to physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the type of physical coupling between the respective measurement devices, and wherein at least one of the one or more connections indicates a type of measurement bus.

22. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the type of physical coupling comprises one or more of:

a PXI (PCI Extensions for Instrumentation) connection, a VXI (VME (Versa Module Eurocard) eXtensions for Instrumentation) connection, or a GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) connection.

23. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the physical couplings comprise:

at least one USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection, wherein the USB connection comprises a first appearance to visually indicate that it is a USB connection;

or

at least one Ethernet connection, wherein the Ethernet connection comprises a first appearance to visually indicate that it is an Ethernet connection.

24. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the type of physical coupling comprises one or more of a network connection, internal bus connection, external parallel bus connection, external serial bus connection, or a wireless connection.

25. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance to further visually indicate a type of data flow between the respective devices.

26. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

automatically detecting one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system, and automatically detecting types of the one or more physical couplings between measurement devices present in the measurement system;

or

automatically detecting one or more of the plurality of measurement devices present in the measurement system.

27. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform one or more of:

displaying program icons proximate to respective ones of the plurality of device icons, wherein each of the program icons corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of measurement programs present in the measurement system, wherein each respective program icon is displayed proximate to a respective measurement device to indicate that the respective measurement program corresponding to the respective program icon is stored on the respective measurement device.

28. The memory medium of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

displaying information proximate to at least one device icon to indicate information about the device, wherein the information about the device comprises one or more of;

type of device;

geographic location of the device;

or

calibration information for the device.

29. The memory medium of claim 21,

wherein each of the device icons has an appearance that visually indicates a type of its corresponding measurement device;

and

wherein said displaying connections between the plurality of device icons comprises;

displaying indications of type checking of connections between devices icons, wherein incompatibilities between coupled devices are indicated via the respective connections.

30. A computer-implemented method for displaying a configuration of a measurement system comprising a plurality of measurement devices, the method comprising:

utilizing a computer system to perform;

displaying on a display a plurality of device icons corresponding to respective ones of the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system; and

displaying on the display connections between the plurality of device icons, wherein at least a subset of the displayed connections correspond to physical couplings between the plurality of measurement devices in the measurement system;

wherein one or more of the connections displayed between respective device icons have an appearance that visually indicates the type of physical coupling between the respective measurement devices, and wherein at least one of the one or more connections indicates a type of measurement bus.