Unit tracking and notification in a graphical drug model editor

A computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more sequences of instructions for causing one or more processors to perform steps for maintaining consistent unit relationships during pharmacological computational model construction, the steps comprising:

• (a) presenting a graphical user interface having a plurality of objects, each object representing one or both of a pharmacokinetic element and a pharmacodynamic element;
• (b) receiving instructions via the graphical user interface for connection of at least two of the objects;
• (c) displaying the at least two objects connected in accordance with the received instructions, the connected objects having an input and an output;
• (d) receiving units-specifying data for at least one of an input and an output for the connected objects;
• (e) converting the at least two connected objects and the received units specifying data into an internal format corresponding to the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic elements represented by the at least two connected objects, wherein the converting step (e) occurs substantially coincident with the object displaying step (c), the internal format comprising statements having terms, at least one of the terms having an associated multidimensional unit type corresponding to the received units-specifying data;
• (f) propagating the multidimensional unit type data for each statement;
• (g) identifying inconsistent units in the propagated multi-dimensional unit type data;
• and
• (h) displaying one or more warning messages on the graphical user interface regarding the identified inconsistent units.

A system configured to present a graphical user interface having a plurality of objects, each object representing one or both of a pharmacokinetic element and a pharmacodynamic element, the system further configured to maintain consistent unit relationships during pharmacological computational model construction, the system comprising:

• (a) a processor;
• (b) a data storage area;
• and
• (c) an execution area configured to:
• (i) receiving instructions regarding connection of at least two of the objects;
• (ii) displaying the connected objects in accordance with the instructions;
• (iii) receiving units-specifying data for at least one of an input and an output for the connected objects;
• (iv) converting the connected objects and the units-specifying data into an internal format corresponding to the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic elements represented by the connected objects, in parallel with the object display, wherein the internal format comprises statements having terms, and wherein at least one of the terms has an associated multidimensional unit type corresponding to the units-specifying data;
• (v) identifying inconsistent units by propagation of the multidimensional unit type data for each statement;
• and
• (vi) displaying one or more warning messages for the identified inconsistent units.