System and method for building graphical instrument panels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9626162-B2
Application number	US-87925107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2007
Priority date	May 3, 2005
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A mechanism for constructing a software-based instrument panel or front panel in which the components correspond directly with sections of code in a textual language program is disclosed. The textual language program relates to how the panel updates and operates in a continuous fashion. Icons representing panel components are selected from a component library window displayed to a user. The act of dragging the icon representing the components into the Graphical Panel Layout Window automatically causes the corresponding code to be added to the textual language program and displayed to the user in a Program Dialog Window. The present invention displays both a Graphical Panel Layout Window showing the components in the instrument panel and a Program Dialog Window showing the lines of code for the textual language program controlling the operation of the components in the instrument panel. A library containing I/O dialog devices is also presented and displayed to a user. The selection by the user of an I/O device icon and the subsequent dragging of the icon into either the Graphical Panel Layout Window or the Program Dialog Window causes the associated lines of code to appear in the Program Dialog Window.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the medium comprising:
instructions for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) of a data processing device for editing components of a virtual instrument panel,
the GUI including a panel layout area, a program dialog area, and an Input/Output (I/O) device library area,
the panel layout area including one or more icons representing the components of the virtual instrument panel,
the components of the virtual instrument panel
associated with respective sections of code in a textual language program for executing the components of the virtual instrument panel, and
including a first component represented by a first icon in the panel layout area that corresponds with a first section of code,

the program dialog area displaying at least a portion of the textual language program, and
the I/O device library area including I/O device icons representing interfaces to data sources;

instructions for receiving through the GUI a user selection of an editing operation for the first icon in the panel layout area that represents the first component in the virtual instrument panel;
instructions for performing the editing operation for the first icon in the panel layout area during an execution of the components of the virtual instrument panel;
instructions for programmatically performing a synchronized operation on the first section of code that corresponds to the editing operation for the first icon in the panel layout area in response to performing the editing operation,
the synchronized operation performed on the first section of code during the execution of the components of the virtual instrument panel;

instructions for programmatically adding a second section of code associated with a first I/O device icon to the program dialog area, in response to moving the first I/O device icon from the I/O device library area to the panel layout area; and
instructions for programmatically adding a third section of code associated with a second I/O device icon to the program dialog area, in response to moving the second I/O device icon from the I/O device library area to the panel layout area, wherein
the first and second I/O device icons are different, and
the data sources include one or more of a physical data acquisition board, a physical instrument, or a memory location external to the data processing device.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for receiving through the GUI a user selection of an editing operation for the first icon in the panel layout area comprise:
instructions for receiving a selection of a deletion operation for the first icon in the panel layout area,
further wherein the instructions for programmatically performing a synchronized operation on the first section of code comprise:
instructions for deleting the first section of code.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for receiving through the GUI a user selection of an editing operation for the first icon in the panel layout area comprise:
instructions for receiving a selection of a name change operation on the first icon in the panel layout area,
further wherein the instructions for programmatically performing a synchronized operation on the first section of code comprise:
instructions for changing a corresponding name in the first section of code.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the GUI is configured to enable a user to set properties of the components in response to a user input.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the properties include at least one of a widget property or a property of an input/output (I/O) device.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the textual language is one of an array based, dynamically typed programming language, Java, C, C++, C#, or a hardware description language (HDL).

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the GUI includes a component library area that includes a set of icons available for use in the virtual instrument panel, the medium further comprising:
instructions for dragging a selected icon from the component library area to the panel layout area with a mouse pointer; and
instructions for presenting a section of code corresponding to the selected icon as floating text at the mouse pointer.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 further comprising:
instructions for inserting the section of code corresponding to the selected icon at a user selected location in the program dialog area.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the medium comprising:
instructions for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) for editing components of a virtual instrument panel,
the GUI including a panel layout area, a program dialog area, and an Input/Output (I/O) device library area,
the panel layout area including one or more icons representing the components of the virtual instrument panel,
the components of the virtual instrument panel
associated with respective sections of code in a textual language program for executing the components of the virtual instrument panel, and
including a first component represented by a first icon in the panel layout area that corresponds with a first section of code,

the program dialog area displaying at least a portion of the textual language program, and
the I/O device library area including I/O device icons representing interfaces to data sources;

instructions for receiving through the GUI a user selection of an editing operation for the first section of code;
instructions for performing the editing operation for the first section of code during an execution of the components of the virtual instrument panel;
instructions for programmatically performing a synchronized operation on the first icon in the panel layout area that corresponds to the editing operation for the first section of code in response to performing the editing operation,
the synchronized operation performed on the first icon during the execution of the components of the virtual instrument panel;

instruction for programmatically adding a second section of code associated with a first I/O device icon to the program dialog area, in response to moving the first I/O device icon from the I/O device library area to the panel layout area; and
instructions for programmatically adding a third second of code associated with a second I/O device icon to the program dialog area, in response to moving the second I/O device icon from the I/O device library area to the panel layout area, wherein
the first and second I/O device icons are different, and

the data sources include one or more of a physical data acquisition board, a physical instrument, or a memory location external to the data processing device.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions for receiving through the GUI a user selection of an editing operation for the first section of code comprise:
instructions for receiving a user selection of a deletion operation for the first section of code,
further wherein the instructions for programmatically performing a synchronized operation on the first icon in the panel layout area comprise:
instructions for deleting the first icon in the panel layout area.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions for receiving through the GUI a user selection of an editing operation for the first section of code comprise:
instructions for receiving a user selection of a name change operation for the first section of code,
further wherein

Assignees

• Grace Andrew
• Mosterman Pieter J
• Mathworks Inc

Inventors

• Grace Andrew
• Mosterman Pieter J

Classifications

• G06F8/34 Primary

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• G06F8/38

  for implementing user interfaces · CPC title