US 5,930,154 A · Computer-based system and methods for information storage, modeling and simulation of complex systems organized in discrete compartments in time and space

Abstract

The present invention describes an integrated computer-based system, methods, and graphical interfaces, providing an environment for development and deployment of visual models of complex systems organized in discrete time and space compartments, used for graphic information storage and retrieval, visual modeling and dynamic simulation of said complex systems. In the current implementation the system comprises libraries of knowledge-based building-blocks that include sets of icons representing chemical processes, the pools of entities that participate in those processes, and the graphical description of those entities, encapsulating both information and mathematical models within the modular components, in the form of attributes or in the form of component icons, and a plurality of methods are associated with each of the icons. The models are built by linking each pool to one or several processes, and each process to one or several pools, resulting in complex networks of multidimensional pathways. A number of functions and graphical interfaces can be selected from the menus associated with each icon, to extract in various forms the information contained in the models built with those building blocks. Those functions include the creation of interactive networks of pathways, complex predefined queries based on the relative position of pools of entities in the pathways, the role that the pools play in the processes, the location in compartments, and the structural components of the entities of those pools, and dynamic quantitative simulations. The system integrates inferential control with quantitative and semi-quantitative simulation methods, and provides a variety of alternatives to deal with complex dynamic systems and with incomplete and constantly evolving information and data.

Claims48

Dependent claims

A computer-based system for creating hierarchical virtual-models of dynamic complex-systems, comprising:

libraries of prototypes of building-blocks representing different types of components characteristic of said complex-systems, instances of said prototypes being used to represent components of the complex-system to be modeled, wherein:
certain of said prototypes are simple building-blocks;
certain of said prototypes are composite building-blocks for representing different levels of organizational complexity, each comprising or enabled to comprise any number of instances of building-blocks representing its components;
said simple or composite building-blocks are to be organized within instances of said composite building-blocks in a hierarchy of any number of layers representing organizational compartments or subsystems modeled at different levels of abstraction;
said building-blocks may comprise any number of attributes with values of any type, including but not limited to:
character string, integer or real numbers, logical values, fuzzy values, or instances of images, parameters, variables, lists, arrays, or any other object or data structure, or pointers to instances of any of said building-blocks, external files, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), database records, or any other objects, in said computer system or in a network accessible by said computer system;
program means for manipulating selected instances of said building-blocks comprising:
means to make said prototypes of building-blocks availaible, including visual means through menus or palettes and/or programmatic means;
means to instantiate said prototypes of building-blocks, including constructor means to create new instances from their definitions and/or means to clone semi-configured instances of said prototypes of building-blocks, interactively and/or programmatically;
means for establishing links between interrelated instances of said building-blocks, directly or through their components;
and
means for displaying the components of said composite building-blocks and/or the building-blocks at the other end of said links.

9 more elements

A method for executing hierarchical virtual-models of any complex-system in a computer-system comprising processor means, memory means, storage means, display means, input means, output means, and program means, comprising the steps of:

loading into said memory means it least one stored persistent data set comprising instances of building-blocks representing the components of said complex-system, wherein:
certain of said prototypes are simple building-blocks;
certain of said types of building-blocks are composite, each instance comprising any number of instances of building-blocks representing its components;
said simple or composite building-blocks;
said building-blocks may comprise any number of attributes with any type of values, including but not limited to:
character string, integer or real numbers, logical values, fuzzy values, instances of parameters, variables, lists, arrays, or any other object or data structure, images, or pointers to instances of any of said building-blocks, external files, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), database records, or any other objects, in said computer system or in a network accessible by said computer system;
executing by said program means for any selected instances of said building-blocks methods providing one or more functions associated with said building-blocks, including show methods defined for composite building-blocks to display the components of the selected instances.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Computer-based system and methods for information storage, modeling and simulation of complex systems organized in discrete compartments in time and space

Life of this patent

Computer-based system and methods for information storage, modeling and simulation of complex systems organized in discrete compartments in time and space

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims48