Patent · US Expired

Enhanced graphical development environment for controlling program flow

US5946485A · kind A · utility

151Cited by
6References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 9, 1996
Grant dateAug 31, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 9, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S715/967
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A graphical development environment for developing the program flow of an application. The environment represents the program flow as an arrow between starting and end points. A developer can modify the program flow by adding an icon representing a subroutine to any point on the arrow. Loops and possible returns of a subroutine are graphically represented by the environment. If the developer modifies the API of a subroutine, the environment graphically represents the calling routines that are affected by the API change. The environment also allows functional components of subroutines to be overwritten by the caller. In such a case, the overwritten components are executing within the caller's environment space. Different overwritten instances of an overwritable subroutine may exist in the same program flow.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.