JPH04308919A - Operation specification display device for real time system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To animatedly express the operation of an entire system from message information transferred between devices(object) constituting a real time system. CONSTITUTION:Each kind of program object 30 equipped with a program name and graphic name conversion table 50, is connected through an interprogram communication soft 60 with a symbol graphic object 40 which displays the state change of a system constituting element by a symbol graphic. When a message is applied to the program object, the pertinent message is applied also to the symbol graphic object by the interprogram communication soft, and the above mentioned symbol graphic object applies display control data corresponding to the received message to a symbol graphic display routine 20 so that the operation of the system can be animatedly changed on the system constitution figure which is being displayed. A system operation specification is animatedly changed and displayed based on a static message information sequence, so that the system operation can be intuitively understood.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a real-time system operation display and method, and more particularly to an apparatus for displaying an animation of system operation specifications based on a message sequence in a real-time system such as a communication system or a switching system. and on methods.

0002

[Background Art] Conventionally, as a method for describing the operational specifications of real-time software such as communication systems and switching systems, for example, "Information Processing Society of Japan, 39th (Late 1989) National Convention, 5S-9, pp. 1582-1583 , 198
9, a method for describing operational specifications using message sequences is reported.

0003

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the operational specifications are described in message sequences, so even though the message sequences can be dynamically described, it is difficult for users to understand the system operation caused by message communication. It is difficult to express this in a way that can be easily determined intuitively.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for displaying operational specifications (or describing operational specifications) for a real-time system that allows a user to intuitively judge the operation of the system.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a program object in which operations of objects representing various devices or devices handled in a real-time system and relationships between objects are described by software; The operation of the object and the relationship between objects are combined with a symbol figure object that describes the relationship between objects using a formally meaningful figure, using inter-program communication control software.
The inter-program communication software that gives a message to a program object also gives the above message or a message newly refined by the above program object to a symbol figure object, and the symbol figure object performs system operations on the displayed system configuration diagram. The display control data corresponding to the received message is displayed in a symbol graphic display rule so that the message changes in an animated manner.
It is characterized by being given to Chin.

[0006]

[Operation] In the real-time system operation specification display device of the present invention, a program object and a symbol graphic object representing the operation specifications of an object are defined independently, and a table is also prepared that represents the correspondence between the program object and the symbol graphic object. be done. According to the present invention, each program object activated by receiving a message refers to the conversion table to identify a symbol graphic object corresponding to the program object, and activates the own object for that symbol graphic object. A control message is sent to reflect the change in system status on the display screen, and each symbol shape object rewrites the status of the display object on the screen in response to the received control message. , the operation of the real system can be displayed on the terminal screen as an animation display synchronized with the startup or execution of each program object.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a real-time system operation specification display device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 10 is a terminal device for inputting data such as figures and text using a mouse and icons, and displaying input data and information processing results, and 100 is a control unit of the terminal device 10. It is a part consisting of a corresponding microprocessor and memory, and here the functions of the software for describing the operation specifications executed by the control section are shown in a block diagram format.

[0009] In the control section, 20 is a terminal device 10.
30 is various program objects, 40 is a symbol graphic object, and 50 is a program name used to obtain the symbol graphic object name from the name of the program object.・Figure name conversion table, 60 is program object 3 according to the clock
0 and the symbol/figure objects 40; 70 is a storage area for storing message information to be executed by the program objects; 80 is connected via a communication network; An information storage routine for storing message information exchanged with other devices in the storage area 70 is shown.

[0010] A plurality of the program objects 30 and symbol graphic objects 40 are each prepared, and when these program objects 30 and symbol graphic objects 40 receive message information from the inter-program communication control software 60, they process the received message. Data processing corresponding to the contents of the information area is executed, and depending on the result, a message addressed to another object within the same terminal device 10 or an object within another terminal device is generated.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the format of message information stored in the storage area 70.

Each message information includes a field 701 indicating the name of the message, a field 702 indicating the name of the message sending object, a field 703 indicating the message destination object name, and a field 704 for specifying the message sending time. , a field 705 indicating the length of the message, and an information field 706 containing information such as commands to be executed by the destination object and data to be processed. The same program object names defined in the program name/graphic name conversion table 50 are used for the source object name 702 and the destination object name 703. The sending time field 704 is used, for example, to appropriately change the animation on the display screen when simulating the operational specifications of a real-time system. Specify the execution timing of each message by the relative time relative to the message.

The inter-program communication software 60 sequentially reads message information from the storage area 70, determines the direction of the message from the source object name 702 and destination object name 703, and displays the transmission direction of each message on the screen. Symbol figure object 40 for display
send control messages to. In addition, the message information is sent to the destination object name 70 of the message information.
3 to the specific program object 30 specified in step 3.

Each program object 30 that receives message information performs data processing according to the contents indicated in the information field of the message. Further, it refers to the program name/figure name conversion table 50 to obtain the symbol figure object name corresponding to the program object, generates message information for changing the figure display on the display screen, and converts it to the symbol figure object name. Symbol figure object 40 identified by name
Send to. The newly generated message information is passed to the destination symbol graphic object 40 via the inter-program communication software 60, and the symbol graphic object 40 that receives it changes the screen according to the content of the received message information. Control data for changing the shape or color of the displayed symbol above is set as a symbol figure display rule.
Give to Chin 20. Note that when the program object 30 sends a message addressed to a program object in another terminal device,
When message information is generated, this message information is stored as a transmission message in the storage area 70 via the inter-program communication software 60, and is sent to the communication network by the information storage routine 80. .

FIG. 3 shows an example of a system operation specification display screen output to the terminal device 10 according to the present invention. Here, an example is shown in which the real-time system to be monitored is an exchange system. Operation specification display screen 2
01 includes a symbol graphic object 202 for a multi-function telephone, a symbol graphic object 203 for a switch, a symbol graphic object 204 for a line connecting the multi-function telephone and the switch, and information sent from a person, a multi-function telephone, or a switch. The message contents 205 and the like are displayed. Each symbol graphic object 40 shown in FIG. 1 has a graphic name 206, and these graphic names are, for example, "switchboard" or "multifunction telephone" in FIG.
displayed on the screen in the format of

The display screen shown in FIG. 3 shows that the exchanger is displaying numbers (
(Dial) This shows a scene where the receiving state changes to the calling state. The state of the symbol figure on the display screen changes every time message information is exchanged between program objects. In order to make such display changes,
In the present invention, the program object 30 activated upon receiving message information refers to the program name/figure name conversion table 50 to obtain the figure name corresponding to the program object, and determines the state of the screen display object with this figure name. A message is sent to the symbol graphic object 40 to be managed, and the symbol graphic object 40 that receives the message transmits control data to change the screen display state of the symbol in accordance with the content of the message. It is provided to the graphic display routine 20.

FIG. 4 shows a specific example of the configuration of the program object 30 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, each object 30 is written in an object-oriented language. In the figure, 301 shows an example of the definition of a program object related to an exchange, and 302 shows an example of the definition of a program object related to a multifunction telephone. Each program object definition includes a program name 303 and a slot 304 that is a data storage area. 3
05 shows an example of definition for operations related to the exchange object 301. In this example, when an off-hook request message is received from the multi-function telephone object 302, the exchange is defined to send a message to the multi-function telephone object 302 indicating that the off-hook request has been accepted. In actual application,
More detailed operations and actions regarding the equipment corresponding to each object may be described in the operation definition 305 described above.

FIG. 5 shows one of the display screens used to define the symbol graphic object 40 in the present invention.
Give an example. Reference numeral 401 is a component display screen for displaying defined symbol graphic objects. In this embodiment, defined symbol graphic objects 402 are displayed for each object representing a switch, a multifunction telephone, and a line handled by the switching system. and a figure name 403 are shown. Data indicating each symbol graphic object and graphic name defined on the parts display screen is stored as a part of the symbol graphic object 40 described in FIG. 1, and when the symbol graphic object 40 is activated,
The appropriate graphics and names are selectively combined and copied into the operational display screen, thereby displaying the static specifications of the exchange system on the screen.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of the program name/figure name conversion table 50. The above table 50 includes the name (program name) 50 of each program object 30.
1 and the name (figure name) 502 of the symbol figure object 40 corresponding to each program object 30, and based on the name of the program object 30, the corresponding symbol figure object 40
You can now search for the name. Note that, as the program name 501, for example, the program name 303 shown in FIG. 4 is applied, and as the graphic name 502, for example, the graphic name 403 shown in FIG. 5 is applied.

FIG. 7 shows that messages are read one by one from the message information storage area 70, the messages are delivered to the program object 30 specified by the object destination name 703, and the result or status of the processing by the activated program object 30 is read. A basic operation flowchart of the inter-program communication control software 60 that dynamically displays the operation of the real-time system on the display screen by transmitting the information to the symbol graphic object 40 is shown. However, in FIG. 7, the operations of the inter-program communication control software 60 are shown in steps 101 and 101 surrounded by broken lines.
102 and 107, and steps 103 to 1
06 indicates an operation performed by the program object 30 or the symbol graphic object 40. For convenience of explanation, all necessary program objects 30, symbol/figure objects 40, and program name/figure name conversion tables 50 have already been defined, and message information for operating the system has already been stored in the storage area 70. It is assumed that it is stored.

Step 101: Initialize a clock and a counter indicating message information being processed.

Step 102: Read the message information from the storage area 70, and check whether a time has been specified in the sending time field 704. If a sending time has been specified, the message will be sent out until the specified time has elapsed on the clock; if not specified, the message will be sent after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. To send a message, first, the message sending direction is determined from the message sending source object name 702 and sending destination object name 703, and in order to display the message direction on the screen, the program object 30 of the corresponding line (hereinafter referred to as , which will be referred to as 30A). In addition, the destination object name 703 of the above message
Another program object 30 (hereinafter referred to as
30B)).

Step 103: The line program object 30A that has received the message information determines the flow direction of the message from the source object name 702 and destination object name 703 of the received message, and then converts the program name/figure name conversion table. 50 to find the name 502 of the symbol graphic object. next,
Edit message information including instruction information for displaying the message direction on the screen, for example, with an arrow symbol, addressed to the symbol graphic object 40 specified by the name 502, and pass this to the inter-program communication control software 60. . The inter-program communication control software passes the message information to the destination symbol graphic object 40.

Step 104: The symbol graphic object 40A, which has received the above message from the line program object 30A via the inter-program communication control software 60, instructs the symbol graphic display routine 20 in accordance with the instruction information included in the message. After providing control data for changing the graphic display on the display screen, control is returned to the inter-program communication control software 60.

Step 105: Program object 3 specified by object destination 703 of the message
0B also performs data processing according to the content of the received message, then refers to the program name/figure name conversion table 50 to obtain the name 502 of the symbol figure object 40, and converts the symbol figure object 40 specified by the above name to the name 502 of the symbol figure object 40.
A message for instructing B to change the graphic display is edited and passed to the inter-program communication control software 60.

Step 106: The symbol graphic object 40B executes the symbol graphic display rule according to the instruction content of the message received from the program object 30B.
After giving control data for changing the graphical display to the computer 20, control is returned to the inter-program communication control software 60.

Step 107: The inter-program communication control software 60 updates a counter indicating the message information to be processed, and if there is message information to be processed in the storage area 70, returns to processing step 102 and performs the above-mentioned process. Repeat the operation, and if there are no more messages to process,
This routine ends.

In the above embodiment, it is assumed that a series of message information that defines the operation of the real-time system is stored in advance in the storage area 70, but these message information can be stored in other devices such as the host Information collected by a computer or an actual exchange may be sent via a communication network and stored in the storage area 70 via an information storage routine 80. If this method is adopted, message sequences edited in a distributed environment can also be processed from step 101 to step 10 in the same manner as above.
The operation specifications can be displayed on the display screen by the processing up to step 7.

[0029]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by giving as input a sequence of message information that corresponds to the operation of the system, the operational specifications of objects handled in a real-time system can be determined using a message. Since the information can be displayed in the form of an animation corresponding to the sequence, it is possible to intuitively understand the confirmation of system operation specifications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an operation specification display device for a real-time system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the format of message information used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an operation specification display screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of a program object in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a symbol graphic object definition screen according to the present invention.

[Figure 6] Structure 1 of the program name/figure name conversion table
It is a figure which shows an example.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the main operations of the real-time system operation specification display device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10...Terminal device, 20...Symbol graphic display routine, 3
0...Program object, 40...Symbol figure object, 50...Program name/figure name conversion table,
60... Inter-program communication control software, 70... Message information storage area, 80... Message sequence storage routine.

Claims (5)

[Claims] Claim 1: A program object in which a plurality of elements constituting a real-time system are defined as objects, and the operations of each object and the relationships between the objects are described by software, and the execution results of each of the program objects and the relationships between the objects are formally described. A symbol graphic object for expressing a figure as a meaningful figure, a program name/figure name conversion table means for obtaining the name of the corresponding symbol graphic object from the name of each of the program objects, and message information for activating the object. storage means for storing the information in chronological order; and inter-program communication control means for transmitting message information read from the storage means or message information generated by execution of the program object to the program object or symbol graphic object. 1. A real-time system operation specification display device, characterized in that each program object activated upon reception of message information and its operation result are represented on a display screen as a change in the state of a figure. 2. The message information includes a message name, an object name indicating a message transmission source, and an object name indicating a message destination, and the inter-program communication control means transmits each message information to the message destination. 2. The real-time system operation specification display device according to claim 1, wherein distribution is performed according to object names. 3. When the message information includes sending time designation data, the inter-program communication control means:
3. The real-time system operation specification display device according to claim 1, wherein the message information is passed to the program object or symbol graphic object according to the sending time indicated by the designated data. 4. Claim 1, wherein said inter-program communication control means reads messages from said storage means at regular time intervals and passes them to said program object or symbol graphic object.
Real-time system operation specification display device described in . 5. A real-time system operation specification display device according to claim 1, further comprising means for sequentially writing message information received via a communication network into said storage device.