Communication system for use with a block diagram environment

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium holding one or more computer-executable instructions, said instructions including one or more instructions for:

• providing an executable block diagram of a system in a block diagram modeling environment, said executable block diagram including a system model;
• providing an executable hardware independent communication interface block connected to said system model in said executable block diagram of said system in said block diagram modeling environment, said communication interface block:
• being an executable graphical component in said executable block diagram provided in said block diagram modeling environment, and
• representing an interface between said system and a control instrument;
• receiving a selection of block parameters for said communication interface block from within said block diagram modeling environment;
• creating programmatically, by said communication interface block, in response to receiving said selection, an instrument object using said selection of said block parameters, said instrument object calling a driver based on said selection of said block parameters, said driver being:
• appropriate for communication with a hardware interface of said control instrument, and
• distinct from said communication interface block;
• instantiating said instrument object during an initialization of said executable block diagram, said initialization involving processing said communication interface block, said instantiating occurring during said processing of said communication interface block;
• and
• communicating with said hardware interface of said control instrument using said instrument object, said communicating providing data to said executable block diagram of said system.

In a block diagram modeling environment, a computer-implemented method comprising:

• providing an executable block diagram of a system in said block diagram modeling environment, said executable block diagram including a system model;
• providing an executable hardware independent communication interface block connected to said system model in said executable block diagram of said system in said block diagram modeling environment, said communication interface block:
• being an executable graphical component in said executable block diagram provided in said block diagram modeling environment, and
• representing an interface between said system and one of a data acquisition device and an image acquisition device;
• receiving a selection of block parameters for said communication interface block from within said block diagram modeling environment;
• creating programmatically, by the communication interface block, in response to receiving said selection, one of an acquisition device object and an image acquisition device object using said selection of block parameters, said one of said acquisition device object and said image acquisition device object calling a driver based on said selection of block parameters, said driver being:
• appropriate for communication with a hardware interface of said one of said data acquisition device and said image acquisition device, and
• being distinct from the communication interface block;
• instantiating one of said acquisition device object and said image acquisition device object during an initialization of said executable block diagram, said initialization of said executable block diagram including processing said communication interface block, said instantiating occurring during said processing of said communication interface block;
• and
• communicating with said hardware interface of one of said data acquisition device and said image acquisition device using one of said acquisition device object and said image acquisition device object, said communicating providing data to said executable block diagram of said system.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium one or more computer-executable instructions, said instructions including one or more instructions for:

• providing an executable block diagram of a system in a block diagram modeling environment, said executable block diagram including a system model;
• providing an executable hardware independent communication interface block connected to said system model in said executable block diagram of said system in said block diagram modeling environment, said communication interface block:
• being an executable graphical component in said executable block diagram provided in said block diagram modeling environment, and
• representing an interface between said system and one of a data acquisition device and an image acquisition device,
• receiving a selection of block parameters for said communication interface block from within said block diagram modeling environment;
• creating programmatically, by the communication interface block, in response to receiving said selection, one of an acquisition device object and an image acquisition device object using said selection of block parameters, said one of said acquisition device object and said image acquisition device object calling a driver based on said selection of block parameters, said driver being:
• appropriate for communication with a hardware interface of said one of said data acquisition device and said image acquisition device, and
• distinct from the communication interface block;
• instantiating one of said acquisition device object and said image acquisition device object during an initialization of said executable block diagram, said initialization of said executable block diagram including processing said communication interface block, said instantiating occurring during said processing of said communication interface block;
• and
• communicating with said hardware interface of one of said data acquisition device and said image acquisition device using one of said acquisition device object and said image acquisition device object, said communicating providing data to said executable block diagram of said system.

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• provide a block diagram modeling environment holding at least one executable block diagram of a system being modeled, said block diagram including a system model and at least one executable hardware independent communication interface block connected to said system model in said block diagram of said system in said block diagram modeling environment, said communication interface block:
• being an executable graphical component in said block diagram provided in said block diagram modeling environment,
• representing a hardware interface between said processor and an external device,
• including block parameters selectable from within said block diagram modeling environment,
• receive a selection of said block parameters for said communication interface block, create, in response to receiving said selection, an object based on said selection of said block parameters using the communication interface block, said object configured to call a driver based on said selection of said block parameters, said driver being:
• appropriate for communication with said external device via said hardware interface,
• distinct from the communication interface block, and store said object in the memory.