JPH11232085A - Method for device for automatically generating processing sequence, and medium for recording processing sequence generation program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically generate a processing sequence chart corresponding to a simple transition pattern from a state transition table. SOLUTION: Proposed here is an automatic processing sequence generating method for automatically generating a processing sequence chart showing the flow of series of processings from a state transition table expressing the relation of transitions among states to be generated in a device. In the above method, the transition relation of states expressed in the state transition table is traced, the transition patterns expressing the linkage of states to be transited corresponding to the generation of possible combination factors are respectively generated and a loop pattern passing the same state more than once is detected from the respective transition patterns. Based on the detected result of the loop pattern, any effective transition pattern is selected and used for the generating of the processing sequence chart.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic processing sequence generation method and apparatus for automatically generating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states of various apparatuses, and The present invention relates to a storage medium storing a processing sequence generation program. The state transition table shows the mutual transition relation of all the states that can occur in the target device in a table format, and can comprehensively represent the state transition. Are frequently used in the design stage of devices. On the other hand, the processing sequence diagram is obtained by tracking the state from the base point to the state at the end point on the state transition table, so that the progress of the processing can be intuitively grasped. It is often used in stages. Therefore, there is a need for a technique for automatically generating an effective processing sequence diagram that can be easily used for a performance test of an apparatus, from a state transition table created in a design stage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows an example of a state transition table. FIG.
0 (a) and (b) show the state transition tables, respectively, for the communication control processing unit and the device control processing unit of the communication device, according to only a part of the expected factors and the occurrence of these factors. It shows a state expected to transition.

The two state transition tables shown in FIG. 10 are linked to each other, and the operation performed by each processing unit in each processing column is, for example, an abbreviation of a message and a communication control processing unit or device serving as a destination. The reference numerals (com, main) indicating the control processing unit are connected by arrows. Conventionally, such a state transition table is manually tracked during a performance test or the like, and a processing sequence diagram is created.

[0004] At that time, first, a state or a factor serving as a starting point of a state transition is determined, and thereafter, a task of searching for a state or a factor of a transition destination based on the processing in a processing column is repeated. The state transition table is tracked until a predetermined end state or factor is reached.
As described above, when the state transition table is manually tracked, the search for the transition destination is naturally performed so as to obtain only a valid processing sequence, and as shown in FIG. Can be obtained with a simple processing sequence diagram that includes no excess.

On the other hand, as a technique for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram from a state transition table, Atsushi Ito et al.
"Interconversion between sequence charts and state transition diagrams for design and analysis of communication software specifications", IEICE Technical Report, Vol. 91, No. 93 (June 20, 1991), pp. 37-46. Methods and, by Mori Kenko and others,
"Reverse Engineering in Communication Protocol Design", Proc. Of the 1991 IEICE Spring Conference, 3rd Volume, p.98, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-1
There is a method described in JP-A-52684.

In these methods, an effective processing sequence diagram is obtained by excluding a processing sequence diagram including an unnecessary transition pattern, for example, by setting a restriction condition when searching for a transition destination. Things.

[0007]

Since the factors to be assumed when designing the device are enormous and the number of transition destinations is also very large, the state transition table is very large and complicated. It has become.

For this reason, as described above, it is difficult to completely create a processing sequence diagram representing a flow of a process required for a performance test or the like if the processing sequence diagram is manually created. In addition, when searching for an effective transition destination, the creation operator needs to have knowledge and experience of, for example, a communication protocol and the like, so that the burden on the operator is large.

On the other hand, according to the above-described automatic creation technique, it is possible to automatically obtain a processing sequence diagram from a state transition table. However, since it is difficult to set a restriction condition for selectively extracting only valid processing sequences, a huge amount of processing sequence diagrams including a large amount of unnecessary transition patterns may be generated. is there.

[0010] Of course, in order to set appropriate restriction conditions, users of these automatic creation techniques also need to have deep knowledge and extensive experience in communication protocols and the like. By the way, when tracking is performed manually, loop patterns in which the state transitions in the same order or patterns in which a large number of events are incorporated are unintentionally excluded as unnecessary information, and a series of processing is performed. Only valid transition patterns that simply represent the flow are extracted.

If such selection can be applied to an automatic creation technique, the work of creating a processing sequence diagram can be made much more efficient. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic processing sequence generation method and apparatus for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram corresponding to a simple transition pattern by eliminating unnecessary transition patterns, and to provide a storage medium on which a processing sequence generation program is recorded. With the goal.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows the principle of a processing sequence automatic generation method according to the present invention. The invention according to claim 1 is a processing sequence automatic generation method for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a series of processing flows from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states that can occur in the apparatus. By tracking the transition relation of the represented state,
Generates transition patterns that represent a sequence of states that transition in response to the occurrence of possible combinations of factors, detects loop patterns that pass the same state more than once from each transition pattern, and based on the loop pattern detection results. Then, an effective transition pattern is selected and provided for a process of creating a processing sequence diagram.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not each of the transition patterns obtained by tracing the state transition table is to be subjected to a process sequence diagram creation process based on whether or not a loop pattern is included. Therefore, for example, a transition pattern that repeats a transition that follows the same route many times can be excluded as a redundant transition pattern, and a transition pattern that easily represents a series of processing flows can be selectively processed. Can be subjected to the creation process.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for automatically generating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states which may occur in an apparatus. By tracking the transition relation of the states represented in the transition table, each transition pattern representing a sequence of states to be transitioned according to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors is generated, and the number of factors issued in each transition pattern is calculated. Counting and according to the number of factors obtained,
The present invention is characterized in that an effective transition pattern is selected and provided for a process of creating a processing sequence diagram.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, whether or not to provide a process sequence diagram creation process is determined according to the number of factors included in each transition pattern obtained by tracking the state transition table. It is possible to eliminate a complicated transition pattern in which an unnecessarily large number of factors are issued, and selectively provide a transition pattern that simply represents a flow of a series of processes to a process sequence diagram creation process. .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of a processing sequence automatic generation apparatus according to the present invention. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing sequence automatic generation apparatus for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states which may occur in the apparatus. Tracking means 111 for tracking transition relations of the represented states and generating transition patterns each representing a sequence of states transitioning according to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors;
And loop detection means 112 for detecting a loop pattern passing through the same state twice or more from each of the transition patterns.
And a first pattern selection unit 113 for selecting a valid transition pattern based on the detection result of the loop pattern and providing the selected transition pattern to a process sequence diagram creation process.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the first selecting means 113
Operates according to the detection result of the loop detection unit 112, thereby eliminating redundant transition patterns included in the transition patterns obtained by the tracking unit 111 and enabling only transition patterns that simply represent a series of processes. It can be provided to a process of creating a processing sequence diagram as a simple transition pattern.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic processing sequence generating apparatus for automatically generating a processing sequence diagram showing a series of processing flows from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states which may occur in the apparatus. A tracking unit 111 that tracks transition relations of the states represented in the transition table and generates transition patterns each representing a sequence of states that transition in response to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors, and is issued in each of the transition patterns. It is provided with factor counting means 114 for counting the number of factors, and second pattern selecting means 115 for selecting a valid transition pattern in accordance with the number of obtained factors and providing the same to a process sequence diagram creation process. Features.

According to the invention of claim 4, the second selecting means 115
Operates in accordance with the result of counting by the factor counting unit 114, thereby excluding an excessively complicated transition pattern included in the transition pattern obtained by the tracking unit 111, and only a transition pattern that simply represents a series of processes. Can be used as a valid transition pattern in the process of creating a processing sequence diagram.

The invention according to claim 5 records a processing sequence automatic generation program for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table showing a transition relation between states that can occur in the apparatus. In the storage medium, by tracking the state transition relationship represented in the state transition table,
A tracking procedure that generates a transition pattern that represents a sequence of states that transition according to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors; a detection procedure that detects a loop pattern that passes through the same state more than once from each of the transition patterns; A program for causing a computer to execute a first selection procedure for selecting a valid transition pattern based on the pattern detection result and providing the processing sequence diagram creation processing is recorded.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the first selection procedure selects a transition pattern in accordance with a detection result obtained in the loop detection procedure, so that the redundant pattern included in the transition pattern obtained in the tracking procedure is selected. A simple transition pattern can be eliminated, and only a transition pattern that simply represents a series of processes can be used as a valid transition pattern in the process of creating a process sequence diagram.

The invention according to claim 6 records a processing sequence automatic generation program for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table showing a transition relation between states that can occur in the apparatus. In the storage medium, by tracking the state transition relationship represented in the state transition table,
A tracking procedure for generating a transition pattern representing a sequence of states that transition in response to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors, a counting procedure for counting the number of factors issued in each of the transition patterns, and the number of obtained factors And a program for causing a computer to execute a second selection procedure for selecting an effective transition pattern and providing the processing for creating a processing sequence diagram.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the second selection procedure selects a transition pattern in accordance with the counting result obtained in the factor counting procedure, whereby the transition pattern included in the transition pattern obtained in the tracking procedure is selected. By excluding a complicated transition pattern, only a transition pattern that simply represents a series of processes can be provided as a valid transition pattern to the process sequence diagram creation process.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a processing sequence automatic creation device according to claim 3. In FIG. 3, a tracking processing unit 201 corresponding to the tracking unit 111
Traces the transition of the device state based on the state transition table stored in the state transition table storage unit 202 according to the designated tracking condition, starting from the designated state or factor, and A state transition represented by a combination with a transition factor is provided as a tracking result to the processing of the transition pattern determination processing unit 210.

The transition pattern obtained by the tracking processing by the tracking processing unit 201 is sent to the conversion processing unit 204 via the transition pattern holding unit 203 in accordance with the expiration of the end condition specified by the tracking condition. Is converted into a processing sequence diagram corresponding to this transition pattern,
5 or a display device (CRT) 206.

In FIG. 3, the transition pattern holding unit 203
Each time a new state transition is obtained by the tracking processing unit 201, the new state transition is stored in addition to the tracked transition pattern, and this transition pattern is provided to the processing of the transition pattern determination processing unit 210. Has become. In the transition pattern discrimination processing unit 210, the loop detection unit 211 receives the new state transition from the tracking processing unit 201 every time a new state transition is received.
3 is configured to detect a loop pattern sandwiched by the same state transitions based on whether or not this state transition is included in the transition patterns already held in 3.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the transition relation between eight factors (indicated by reference numerals to symbols in the figure) and five states (indicated by symbols A to E in the figure) is shown. When the above-described tracking processing unit 201 performs a tracking process on the represented state transition table, and a transition pattern as shown in FIG. 4B is obtained, the state C to the state E in the transition pattern A portion returning to the state C via the state D (indicated by an arrow in the drawing) is detected as a loop pattern.

In FIG. 3, the pattern cutout unit 212 cuts out a part of the corresponding transition pattern from the transition pattern holding unit 203 according to the detection result of the loop detection unit 211, and the loop pattern holding unit 213.
And the data is sent to the loop determination unit 214. The loop determination unit 214 determines whether the pattern
Receiving the newly detected loop pattern from 12;
This loop pattern and the loop pattern holding unit 213
Is compared with the loop pattern held in the tracking control unit 2. According to the result of the comparison, it is determined whether or not the corresponding loop pattern is duplicated.
15 is configured to control the operation of the tracking processing unit 201.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the transition pattern determining operation. The state transition obtained by the tracking processing by the tracking processing unit 201 is first added to the transition pattern held in the transition pattern holding unit 203 (steps 301 and 30).
2) Thereafter, when the loop detection unit 211 determines that this state transition is not a part of the loop pattern (negative determination in step 303), it is determined whether the obtained state transition satisfies the end condition of tracking. (Step 3
04) In the case of a negative determination, the process returns to step 301 and the search for this transition pattern is further continued.

On the other hand, for example, the transition to the state C at the end of the loop pattern shown in FIG.
Is stored in the transition pattern storage unit 203, the loop detection unit 211 detects this loop pattern, and makes an affirmative determination in step 303. At this time, since a pattern that matches this loop pattern is not stored in the loop pattern storage unit 213, the loop determination unit 214 determines that this is a new loop pattern (a positive determination in step 305). The pattern cutout unit 21 by the loop pattern holding unit 213
Then, the loop pattern received from Step 2 is held (Step 306), and then the process may proceed to Step 304.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4C, when a loop pattern that follows the same transition process as the above-mentioned loop pattern reappears, the loop pattern corresponding to the loop pattern holding unit 213 is already held. Therefore, the loop determination unit 214 determines that the loop patterns overlap (No in step 305). In response to this, the tracking control unit 215 illustrated in FIG. 3 clears the contents of the transition pattern holding unit 203 and the loop pattern holding unit 213, and also causes the tracking processing unit 201 to stop processing of the transition pattern being tracked. The transition pattern may be discarded by instructing (step 307), and the tracking process for this transition pattern may be terminated.

In this case, in step 308, the tracking processing unit 201 determines whether or not all the transition patterns have been tracked. If a negative determination is made, the process returns to step 301 and starts again from the designated starting point. What is necessary is just to start the tracking process of another transition pattern. In this way, if the loop pattern is detected and the tracking process is interrupted when the loop patterns overlap, a transition pattern including the overlapped loop pattern can be eliminated.

In this case, only the tracking process for the transition pattern not including the overlapping pattern is performed in step 30.
In step 309, the transition pattern held in the transition pattern holding unit 203 is sent to the sequence conversion unit 204, and the process is completed.
It is converted into a processing sequence diagram. In this way, the above-described processing may be performed for all transition patterns obtained by tracking the state transition table, and the processing may be terminated in response to the affirmative determination in step 308.

That is, the loop detection unit 211, the pattern cutout unit 212, the loop pattern holding unit 213, and the loop determination unit 214 detect an overlapped loop pattern, and in accordance with the detection result, perform tracking processing by the tracking control unit 215. The loop detecting means 112 described in claim 3 by interrupting and excluding the corresponding transition pattern.
In addition, a function equivalent to that of the first selection unit 113 is realized, and only valid transition patterns are selectively provided for conversion to a processing sequence diagram.

In this way, an automatic processing sequence creating apparatus to which the automatic processing sequence creating method of claim 1 is applied is realized, and redundant transition patterns including duplicated patterns are eliminated from a huge number of transition patterns. Then, since only a simple transition pattern can be selectively converted into a processing sequence diagram, the processing sequence diagram generated by the automatic creation is significantly narrowed down, and the efficiency of the processing sequence diagram creation work is improved. Is possible.

For example, if the above-described transition pattern discrimination processing is applied to the tracking processing based on the state transition table corresponding to the state transition diagram shown in FIG. 4A, as shown in FIG. Can be eliminated. Here, FIG. 6 illustrates a result obtained by tracking on the condition that the state A shown in FIG. 4A is used as a starting point and returning to the state A again as a sequence of factors. In this case, From all possible patterns (24 patterns)
Seven transition patterns indicated by the symbol “x” are excluded, and 17 patterns are extracted as valid transition patterns.

In particular, as described above, when the overlapping loop pattern is detected, the tracking process for the corresponding transition pattern is interrupted, so that the waste of the tracking process for the excluded transition pattern is eliminated. The processing time can be reduced, the processing load on the processing sequence automatic generation device can be reduced, and the processing can be speeded up.

The above-described transition pattern discriminating processing unit 2
Since the respective units of 10 can be realized by software, a program and data for causing a computer to execute the processes of these units are recorded on a storage medium such as a floppy disk, and the storage medium described in claim 5 is created.
By marketing this, similar problems can be solved in various fields.

Furthermore, it is also possible to extract only transition patterns that do not include any loop patterns. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the tracking control unit 215 may instruct the tracking processing unit 201 to stop the tracking process in response to the detection of the loop pattern by the loop pattern detection unit 211.

In this case, a state transition table corresponding to the state transition diagram shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, those that do not pass through states other than the state A specified as the start point and the end point twice or more are extracted. In this way, by excluding transition patterns that pass through the same state twice or more (indicated by the symbol “x” in FIG. 8), only a small number of simple transition patterns are extracted as valid transition patterns. can do.

As a result, it is possible to extract a transition pattern that represents a series of processes more simply and to provide a process sequence diagram creation operation. It can strongly support the performance test and debugging work of the system.

In particular, in the debugging work, the work of specifying the location of the occurrence of a bug in a series of processing steps is mainly performed, and a processing sequence diagram corresponding to a loop pattern is not required. Therefore, as described above, the debugging operation can be smoothly performed by excluding the transition pattern including the loop pattern from the processing sequence diagram creation target.

On the other hand, as a method for obtaining a simple transition pattern, it is conceivable to limit the number of factors issued from the start point to the end point. FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of a processing sequence automatic creation device according to claim 4. In FIG.
The processing sequence automatic creation device includes a transition pattern discrimination processing unit 220 instead of the transition pattern discrimination processing unit 210, and the transition pattern validated by the transition pattern discrimination processing unit 220 is converted via the transition pattern holding unit 203. The configuration is sent to the processing unit 204 and converted into a processing sequence diagram.

The transition pattern determination processing section 22 shown in FIG.
0, the factor counting unit 221 corresponds to the factor counting unit 114 described in claim 4, and the tracking processing unit 2
01, the number of factors included in the state transition obtained by the tracking process is counted, the count value of the factor counting unit 221 is compared with a specified threshold value by the comparison processing unit 222, and a comparison result indicating that the threshold value has been exceeded is obtained. According to the tracking control unit 215
However, it instructs the tracking processing unit 201 to stop the tracking process for the corresponding transition pattern, and clears the contents of the transition pattern holding unit 203.

In this case, as soon as the count value of the factor counting unit 221 exceeds the threshold value specified for the number of factors, the process for this transition pattern is stopped, so that the number of factors issued from the start point to the end point Only the transition patterns whose are equal to or smaller than the threshold value are sent to the conversion processing unit 204 via the transition pattern holding unit 203 according to the completion of the tracking processing.

As described above, according to the comparison result by the comparison processing unit 222, the tracking control unit 215 operates to eliminate a transition pattern including a number of factors exceeding a specified threshold value. The same function as the above-described second selection unit 115 is performed, and only the effective transition pattern is selectively provided for the conversion process into the processing sequence diagram. In this manner, an apparatus for automatically creating a processing sequence to which the method for automatically creating a processing sequence according to claim 2 is applied, and an excessively complex transition pattern including an unnecessarily large number of factors out of an enormous number of transition patterns , And only simple transition patterns can be selectively converted to processing sequence diagrams.Thus, the processing sequence diagrams generated by automatic creation can be narrowed down significantly to increase the efficiency of the processing sequence diagram creation work. It is possible to plan.

The transition pattern thus obtained is
Since the flow of a series of processes from the starting point to the end point is simply shown, only such transition patterns are extracted and selectively created as processing sequence diagrams, so that performance testing and debugging of the equipment can be performed. It is possible to selectively and automatically create a processing sequence diagram useful for the present invention. Further, since each unit of the above-described transition pattern determination processing unit 220 can be realized by software, a program and data for causing a computer to execute the processing of each unit are recorded on a storage medium such as a floppy disk. By creating the storage medium described in and selling it,
Similar problems can be solved in various fields.

[0048]

As described above, according to the first, third, and fifth aspects of the present invention, for example, a transition pattern that repeats transitions following the same route is excluded from the conversion target, and Since only the transition pattern that simply represents the processing of can be selectively converted to a processing sequence diagram,
An effective processing sequence diagram can be efficiently and automatically generated from the state transition table.

Further, claim 2, claim 4, and claim 6
According to the invention, an excessively complex transition pattern including an unnecessarily large number of factors is excluded from the conversion target, and only the transition pattern that simply represents a series of processes can be selectively converted into a process sequence diagram. Therefore, an effective processing sequence diagram can be efficiently and automatically generated from the state transition table.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a processing sequence automatic generation method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle block diagram of a processing sequence automatic generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a processing sequence automatic generation device according to claim 3;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a transition pattern.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a transition pattern determination operation.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a transition pattern determination process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the processing sequence automatic generation device according to claim 3;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a transition pattern determination process.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a processing sequence automatic generation device according to claim 4;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state transition table.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a processing sequence diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

 111 tracking means 112 loop detection means 113 first selection means 114 factor counting means 115 second selection means 201 tracking processing section 202 state transition table storage section 203 transition pattern holding section 204 conversion processing section 205 printer 206 display device (CRT) 210, 220 transition pattern discrimination processing unit 211 loop detection unit 212 pattern cutout unit 213 loop pattern holding unit 214 loop judgment unit 215 tracking control unit 221 factor counting unit 222 comparison processing unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A processing sequence automatic generation method for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states that can occur in an apparatus. Tracking the transition relationship of the state
A transition pattern representing a sequence of states transitioning according to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors is generated, and a loop pattern that passes through the same state twice or more is detected from each of the transition patterns, and a detection result of the loop pattern is detected. A method for automatically creating a processing sequence, wherein a valid transition pattern is selected based on the above, and the selected transition pattern is provided to a processing sequence diagram creating process. 2. A processing sequence automatic generation method for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states that can occur in an apparatus, wherein: Tracking the transition relationship of the state
A transition pattern representing a sequence of states to be transitioned in response to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors is generated, the number of factors issued in each of the transition patterns is counted, and the number of factors is calculated according to the number of factors obtained. A method for automatically creating a processing sequence, wherein a simple transition pattern is selected and provided to a processing sequence diagram creating process. 3. A processing sequence automatic generation apparatus for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a series of processing flows from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states which can occur in an apparatus, wherein the state transition table includes a table. Tracking the transition relationship of the state
A tracking unit that generates a transition pattern that represents a sequence of states that transition according to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors; and a loop detection unit that detects a loop pattern that passes through the same state twice or more from each of the transition patterns. And a first pattern selecting means for selecting a valid transition pattern based on the detection result of the loop pattern and providing the selected transition pattern to a process sequence diagram creating process. 4. A processing sequence automatic generation device for automatically generating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processes from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states which can occur in an apparatus, wherein: Tracking the transition relationship of the state
Tracking means for generating transition patterns each representing a sequence of states to be transitioned in response to occurrence of a possible combination of factors; factor counting means for counting the number of factors issued in each of the transition patterns; A second pattern selecting means for selecting a valid transition pattern in accordance with the number of patterns and providing the processing for creating a processing sequence diagram. 5. A storage medium recording a processing sequence automatic generation program for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table showing a transition relation between states which can occur in the apparatus, By tracking the state transition relations represented in the state transition table,
A tracking procedure that generates a transition pattern that represents a sequence of states that transition according to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors, and a detection procedure that detects a loop pattern that passes through the same state more than once from each of the transition patterns, A storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a first selection procedure for selecting a valid transition pattern based on the detection result of the loop pattern and providing the processing for creating a processing sequence diagram. 6. A storage medium storing a processing sequence automatic generation program for automatically creating a processing sequence diagram showing a flow of a series of processing from a state transition table representing a transition relation between states that can occur in an apparatus, By tracking the state transition relations represented in the state transition table,
A tracking procedure for generating transition patterns each representing a sequence of states that transition in response to the occurrence of a possible combination of factors; a counting procedure for counting the number of factors issued in each of the transition patterns; A storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a second selection procedure for selecting a valid transition pattern according to the number and providing the processing sequence diagram creation processing.