Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-27
2002-04-02
Bayerl, Raymond J. (Department: 2773)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S960000, C700S083000, C706S047000, C706S059000, C717S152000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06366300
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
In general, the present invention relates to a visual programming method and a system adopting the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a visual programming method, that is, a user interface technique capable of automatically generating a program by selecting an object defining a behavior, defining the behavior and setting behavioral rules by means of a graphical editor. It also relates to a system adopting the method. Technical fields of the present invention include function block diagrams and visual programming tools based on a diagram widely used as a programming language of a programmable logic controller (PLC), and a work environment for carrying out programming by operating graphical objects such as characters and icons which are displayed on a screen and used in a graphical user interface (GUI) commonly known as a user interface between the user and a personal computer or a workstation serving as a graphical editor.
BACKGROUND ART
With popularization of personal computers, there is a demand for a product that allows the so-called end user, a user who is not specially trained in the programming field, to develop a program.
For the end user, it is as very difficult to master a conventional programming language used for developing a program. For this reason, the idea of mastering the programming language is given up and, instead, an already existing program is used in many cases. This situation is seen as an end user programming problem and, as a solution to this problem, there have been proposed visual programming tools for the end user, programming tools that do not require the conventional literal expressions.
These visual programming tools display graphical objects on a display screen. An example of the graphical objects is an icon which is obtained as a result of treating a certain coherent piece of processing as a component. The end user then forms a combination of a plurality of objects on the display screen and makes some modifications in order to create a program. These visual programming tools are based on object oriented programming languages which are commonly known in the field of information processing. The programming languages themselves are visual.
A prior art disclosed in JP-A No. Hei 8-76985 provides a visual programming tool for a situation in which a given programming language further requires the use of a number of difficult functions, showing the fact that the necessity of visual expressions for the end user exists. At a stage of program development in particular, the end user recognizes the necessity to create variables for holding state information before determining a next step. For this reason, there is a demand for a program specifying inspection of these variables. In JP-A No. Hei 8-76985, on the other hand, there is disclosed a visual programming method which allows the end user to program state information visually by using visual switch objects as a solution once such a programming element has been isolated as one of the difficult functions.
Certainly, storing a state of a program in a variable is a method of the programmer who has been specially trained to write programs. Removal of such a thinking process from programming work is thus considered to be effective for a program development carried out by the end user.
In addition, according to a prior art disclosed in JP-A No. Hei 7-248911, with an existing link object in a user interface for visual programs, it is impossible to write for example a program which requires recursive or iterative processing such as an operation to copy elements of an array having a plurality of elements to other locations. The document shows the fact that a programming language of literal expressions such as BASIC, Smalltalk or C++ must be used in order to write a program of recursive iterative processing. In order to solve this problem, an iterative link object according to another prior art disclosed in JP-A No. Hei 7-248911 is introduced. With this iterative link object, there is provided an interface that allows characteristics of a link to be set so that an iterative application program can be created visually by using such iterative link objects without the need for the end user to master such a programming language. Iterative processing is processing seen in a large number of programs. This prior art is considered to be effective in that the technology allows iterative processing to be programmed visually.
On the other hand, the visual programming tool based on a rudder diagram, a programming language for a programmable logic controller (PLC), adopts a graphical user interface (GUI) to provide an environment in which a variety of parameters can be set. It should be noted that this visual programming tool is one of the technical fields to which the present invention closely relates as will be described later. Unlike the other visual programming tools, however, in the programming environment based on a rudder diagram, a mouse can be used along with a keyboard, increasing operatability accordingly and a rudder diagram is used in the programming language itself.
Nevertheless, the programming language based on a rudder diagram is a programming language for use by a specialist to create a program. To be more specific, a program is created by combining symbols of control devices to compose a sequence control circuit. Thus, in the creation of a program, heuristics (laws of experiences) of relay sequence control and knowledge of a logic circuit are utilized. While this visual programming tool allows a variety of parameters to be set, hence, advanced programming to be carried out, if anything, this tool is for use by a specialist rather than an end user.
As described above, the visual programming tool based on a rudder diagram is opposite to the concept of the user interface for the end user of personal computers and workstations embraced in the prior arts disclosed in JP-A Nos. Hei 8-76985 and Hei 7-248911. Even though the main market of the programmable logic controller (PLC) has been in the field of factory automation (FA), development of a new market in which a PLC is aimed at relatively simple control such as control of an illuminator or a speaker using a sensor at an exposition booth is in progress. In the new market in this field, the end user is the user of personal computers who is assumed to have no knowledge of a programmable logic controller (PLC) at all. Since a programming tool suited for such an end user does not exist, there is raised a demand for a programming tool that allows a program of a programmable logic controller (PLC) to be created with ease by using a personal computer.
When considering an application of the user interface of the technology disclosed in JP-A No. Hei 8-76985 to a programming environment of a PLC, for example, a study of creation of a program for sequence control of a combination comprising a plurality of input signals and one output signal will lead us to think that the user interface can be applied to programming of, among other kinds of control, sequence control to switch the state of the output signal in dependence on the combination of the states of the input signals such as control to make the output signal operative for a combination of the states of the input signals and make the output signal inoperative for another combination of the states of the input signals. If it is possible to provide an environment in which the output signal can be set in an operative or inoperative state by directly operating a graphical object of the output signal, more intuitive programming is considered to be possible.
When considering an application of the user interface of the technology disclosed in JP-A No. Hei 7-248911 to a programming environment of a PLC, a combination of symbols can be thought as a good application of the link object. In this case, however, such an application of the user interface results in a programming technique that is basically the same as the programming technique using a rudder diagram. In addition, in r
Hagino Akio
Kondo Shozo
Ohara Eiji
Suetsugu Nobuhiro
Suzuki Midori
Bautista X. L.
Bayerl Raymond J.
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