Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software program development tool – Translation of code
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-18
2001-07-17
Powell, Mark R. (Department: 2671)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software program development tool
Translation of code
C717S152000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263495
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to software development support in Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for optimizing a state transition table used in event-driven software.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 9-172151, filed Jun. 27, 1997, the content of which is incorporated by reference.
An event-driven software which parses a state transition table upon occurrence of an event and invokes a specific action in accordance with the parsing result is a kind of a variety of software programs and realized, e.g., as communication control software or the like at a radio communication terminal.
The state transition table defines a plurality of transitions corresponding to each of a plurality of states. One transition includes at least an event to be established for this transition itself, and information representing a state to which a transition is to be made next.
An event-driven software parses the state transition table as follows upon occurrence of an event. More specifically, when an event occurs in a given state, a plurality of transitions in the state transition table are sequentially loaded. When the occurred event coincides with an event defined in a given one of the transitions sequentially loaded, this given transition is determined as a transition to the next state.
In the event-driven software which parses the state transition table to invoke an action, the structure of the state transition table itself may greatly influence the execution speed of the software. In particular, as the number of transitions or events for each state increases, the execution speed of the whole system is more influenced by the arrangement order of them. A state transition table created on the basis of system specifications is not always optimum from the viewpoint of maximizing the execution speed of a program constituting this system. For this reason, the arrangement order of a plurality of transitions and events defined for each state should be optimized in the state transition table.
However, this optimization is manually performed and cumbersome. In the respective software development stages including an actual working stage, a state transition table cannot be appropriately and easily optimized.
The transition execution frequency can be measured by simulation to determine an optimal order. However, transitions in the state transition table must still be manually rearranged.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its object to provide a method and apparatus for optimizing a state transition table used in event-driven software so as to obtain high-speed event-driven software without changing the program size.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for supporting the development of event-driven software which parses a state transition table to invoke an action, in the respective stages, i.e., the design stage, test stage, and actual working stage.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of optimizing a state transition table used in event-driven software, comprising the steps of: (1) inputting the state transition table; (2) extracting an event; (3) sequentially parsing the state transition table input in step (1) and determining a transition in which the event extracted in step (2) is established; (4) calculating a transition determination history in the state transition table by repeating steps (2) and (3); (5) calculating a transition determination frequency on the basis of the transition determination history; and (6) optimizing a transition arrangement order in the state transition table on the basis of the determination frequency calculated in step (5).
According to the another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of optimizing a state transition table used in event-driven software, comprising the steps of: (1) inputting the state transition table; (2) extracting an event; (3) sequentially parsing the state transition table input in the step (1) and determining a transition in which the event extracted in step (2) is established; (4) calculating an event establishment history in the state transition table by repeating steps (2) and (3); (5) calculating an event establishment frequency on the basis of the event establishment history; and (6) optimizing an event arrangement order in the state transition table on the basis of the frequency calculated in step (5).
According to the another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for optimizing a state transition table used in event-driven software, comprising: input means for inputting the state transition table; extraction means for extracting an event; determination means for sequentially parsing the state transition table input by the input means and determining a transition in which the event extracted by the extraction means is established; storage means for storing a transition determination history in the state transition table, which is determined by the determination means; calculation means for calculating a transition determination frequency on the basis of the transition determination history; and optimization means for optimizing a transition arrangement order in the state transition table on the basis of the determination frequency calculated by the calculation means.
According to the another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for optimizing a state transition table used in event-driven software, comprising: input means for inputting the state transition table; extraction means for extracting an event; determination means for sequentially parsing the state transition table input by the input means and determining a transition in which the event extracted by the extraction means is established; storage means for storing an event establishment history in the state transition table, which is determined by the determination means; calculation means for calculating an event establishment frequency on the basis of the event establishment history; and optimization means for optimizing an event arrangement order in the state transition table on the basis of the frequency calculated by the calculation means.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinbefore.
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TITLE: An attempt of developing control software for sequence-controlled machine using state transition table, SO Jissen Kyoiku, (1998) vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 32-36. Journal Code: L0045A.*
Title: State Based Model Checking of Event-Driven System Requirements, ACM, 1991.
Das Chameli C.
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Powell Mark R.
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