Abstract: A system and method that enables a user to configure a customizable product for purchase in an E-Commerce system. A user may launch a web browser on a client computer system to access a vendor's web site to purchase a customizable product. The user may customize the product for purchase by selecting one or more customizable components of the product. A user may select one or more customizable components of the product by using a forms/menu interface or a visual graphical user interface. The vendor's web site may receive the one or more user selections for the customized product and may, in response, send data and information to client computer system to visually depict the ‘as purchased’ customized product for user verification and product checkout.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for generating a hardware implementation of graphical code. The method comprises first creating a graphical program. A first portion of the graphical program may optionally be compiled into machine code for execution by a CPU. A second portion of the graphical program is converted into a hardware implementation according to the present invention. The operation of converting the graphical program into a hardware implementation comprises exporting the second portion of the graphical program into a hardware description, wherein the hardware description describes a hardware implementation of the second portion of the graphical program, and then configuring a programmable hardware element utilizing the hardware description to produce a configured hardware element. The configured hardware element thus implements a hardware implementation of the second portion of the graphical program.

Abstract: A method for operating a system that includes several subsystems may involve establishing one or more synchronized timelines for the system; allocating timeslots within each of the timelines for operation of one or more devices in the system; detecting an input event asynchronously to the timeline; generating a timestamp indicative of the time at which the input event is detected relative to the timeline; performing a processing task in response to the input event during a time slot allocated to the processing task; and inhibiting generation of an output event until a second time relative to the timelines. Performing the processing task may generate data representative of the output event as well as data representative of the second time. The second time may be a pre-determined time interval after the input event detection time.

Abstract: A system and method for user configuration of an autotuning algorithm for a PID controller. User input is received via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) indicating a desired characteristic of a PID controller, such as stiffness or response time. The system is excited via a proportional controller to characterize the intrinsic behavior of the system, i.e., to calculate a system transfer function. An autotuning algorithm is configured in accordance with the user input. The configured autotuning algorithm is applied to the transfer function to generate gain values for the PID controller resulting in the PID controller characteristic specified by the user. The PID controller gains are loaded into the PID controller hardware or software, thereby configuring the PID controller to operate according to the desired characteristic specified by the user. The user may trigger and view a step response of the system to review the results of the tuning process.

Abstract: An instrumentation system which extends channel-based switched fabric architectures to provide instrumentation signaling functions. The system comprises a chassis including slots for receiving inserted modules. The chassis includes a backplane which provides for inter-module communication, including a channel-based switched fabric bus, such as the InfiniBand bus, and instrumentation signaling lines for instrumentation signaling functions.

Abstract: A system and method for creating a graphical program, wherein the graphical program is operable to access capabilities of an object. During creation of the graphical program, the user operates to place an object node in the graphical program, wherein the object node is operable to access capabilities of the object. This preferably includes the user arranging on the screen the graphical program, including the object node and various other nodes, and connecting the various nodes to create the graphical program. The user then configures the object node to receive information on the object, preferably by the user configuring the object node with a reference to the object, e.g., a pointer, address, or other information which specifies the identity and/or location of the object. The user also selects one or more methods to be invoked on the object and/or one or more properties to get/set on the object.

Abstract: A method for creating a computer program to be executed by a plurality of threads, in which the method utilizes a technique for execution synchronization referred to herein as a batch synchronization section. According to this technique, a plurality of threads may be associated with one another as a “batch” of threads. Each thread in the plurality (batch) of threads may execute the computer program simultaneously. The batch synchronization section may specify a portion of the computer program for which the execution of the portion by the plurality of threads is to be synchronized. In one embodiment different types of batch synchronization sections may be specified, wherein each type of batch synchronization section performs a different type of execution synchronization. In one embodiment the method may enable execution synchronization behavior for multiple concurrent executions of a test executive test sequence to be specified. The test sequence may include one or more batch synchronization sections.

Abstract: A system and method for acquiring images of variably sized objects. An object detector provides an indication of the presence or absence of objects as they pass by. An image sensing device acquires image data for the objects. An image acquisition device starts an activity counter, and initiates storage of image data for an object in response to detecting presence of the object. The image data is stored into an on-board memory. The activity counter counts a number of acquired scan lines for the object. In response to detecting absence of the object, the image acquisition device terminates the activity counter, and discontinues storage of the image data for the object. The final activity counter value, which reflects the number of scan lines acquired for the object, is recorded in an on-board FIFO. The image data is transferred to a system memory image buffer in a system memory. Host software routines may read the on-board FIFO.

Abstract: A measurement device such as a DMM may include four basic units—an analog circuit path, an analog to digital converter (ADC), a digital filter, and an RMS computation unit. The four basic units may be operable to multiplex or to process one or more of the plurality of channels at the same time. The analog circuit path may include the necessary circuitry for the plurality of channels to couple to one or more analog signals. The analog circuit path may couple to the ADC. The ADC may be operable to receive the one or more analog signals from the analog circuit path and convert it to one or more digital signals. The ADC may include a cascaded ADC, which may include a first ADC and a second ADC. The first and the second ADC and may be able to convert analog data to digital data during a cycle. In one embodiment, the first ADC may generate a conversion result and an error signal.

Abstract: A system and various methods for simplifying or automating the task of configuring a graphical program to exchange data with a data source and/or data target. In response to receiving user input specifying a data source, the graphical program may be automatically, i.e., programmatically, configured to receive data from the data source. In response to receiving user input specifying a data target, the graphical program may be automatically, i.e., programmatically, configured to provide or write data to the data target. The data source or data target may be any of various types. For example, the data source or data target may be a file, a server, etc., and may be located on the host computer system of the graphical program or on a remote computer system. In the preferred embodiment, the data source or data target is specified by a uniform resource locator (URL).

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for deploying a graphical program onto an image acquisition (IMAQ) device. The method may operate to configure an image acquisition (IMAQ) device to perform image processing or machine vision functions, wherein the device includes a programmable hardware element and/or a processor and memory. The method comprises first creating a graphical program which implements the image processing or machine vision function. A portion of the graphical program may be converted into a hardware implementation on a programmable hardware element, and a portion may optionally be compiled into machine code for execution by a CPU. The programmable hardware element is thus configured utilizing a hardware description and implements a hardware implementation of at least a portion of the graphical program. The CPU-executable code may be executed by a computer coupled to the IMAQ device, or by a processor/memory on the IMAQ device.

Abstract: System and method for configuring a second system in a split bridge distributed environment. A host computer system (host) includes a memory operable to store host driver software (drivers) and a CPU operable to execute the drivers. A serial bus couples the host to the second system. The host saves configuration information for the second system. The second system receives user input requesting a power down condition. The drivers enters a quiescent state, generating an indication of a power down condition. The user powers down and reconfigures the second system. The host detects a link down condition between the host and the second system, and monitors a link status between the host and second system. The user powers up the second system. The host detects a link up condition, restores second system configuration, and performs a discovery process on the second system.

Abstract: A system and method for analyzing an input signal comprising one or more sinusoidal tones. A processor of the system receives samples of an input signal and operates on the samples to generate a transform array. The processor identifies positive frequency peaks of the transform array, and estimates a set of signal parameters (e.g. tone frequency and complex amplitude) for each of the positive frequency peaks. Each tone is represented in the transform array as a positive frequency image and a corresponding negative frequency image. Using the parameter sets, the processor may estimate the amount of cross-interaction between the images, i.e., may compute the amounts by which each positive frequency peak is effected by the negative frequency images and other positive frequency images. These amounts may be subtracted from each positive frequency peak to generate improved peak values. The processor may use the improved peak values to compute improved estimates for the signal parameters.

Abstract: A measurements expert system and method for generating a high-performance measurements software driver. The measurements expert system translates a user's measurement task specification (MTS) specifying a measurement task into a solution, e.g., a run-time specification (RTS), suitable for the user's measurement system. The expert system includes programs for analyzing and validating the received MTS, and for generating the RTS. The RTS is useable to configure measurement devices to perform the measurement task, and to generate a run-time which is executable to perform the specified measurement task. The expert system includes a plurality of experts, e.g., device, channel, timing, reader/writer, control, and streaming experts, etc., each class of which manages different aspects of the MTS. The expert system creates a device expert call tree of associated experts according to the configuration specified by the user, manages the configuration of the MTS, verifies the MTS, and compiles the MTS into the RTS.

Abstract: A system and method for locating regions in a target image that match a template image with respect to color and pattern information. The method may comprise performing a first-pass search using color information obtained in a color characterization analysis of the template image in order to find a plurality of color match candidate locations. For each color match candidate location, a region proximal to the location may then be searched in detail, based on pattern information obtained in a pattern analysis of the template image.

Abstract: A system and method for selecting a best match of a received input signal from a set of candidate signals, wherein two or more of the candidate signals are uncorrelated. In a preprocessing phase a unified signal transform (UST) is determined from the candidate signals. The UST converts each candidate signal to a generalized frequency domain. The UST is applied at a generalized frequency to each candidate signal to calculate corresponding generalized frequency component values (GFCVs) for each candidate signal. At runtime, the input signal of interest is received, and the UST is applied at the generalized frequency to the input signal of interest to calculate a corresponding GFCV. The best match is determined between the GFCV of the input signal of interest and the GFCVs of each of the set of candidate signals. Finally, information indicating the best match candidate signal from the set of candidate signals is output.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for generating a hardware implementation of graphical code. The method comprises first creating a graphical program. A first portion of the graphical program may optionally be compiled into machine code for execution by a CPU. A second portion of the graphical program is converted into a hardware implementation according to the present invention. The operation of converting the graphical program into a hardware implementation comprises exporting the second portion of the graphical program into a hardware description, wherein the hardware description describes a hardware implementation of the second portion of the graphical program, and then configuring a programmable hardware element utilizing the hardware description to produce a configured hardware element. The configured hardware element thus implements a hardware implementation of the second portion of the graphical program.

Abstract: A system and method for scanning for an object within a region using a Low Discrepancy Sequence scanning scheme. The system may comprise a computer which includes a CPU and a memory medium which is operable to store one or more programs executable by the CPU to perform the method. The method may: 1) calculate a Low Discrepancy Sequence of points in the region; 2) generate a motion control trajectory from the Low Discrepancy Sequence of points (e.g., by generating a Traveling Salesman Path (TSP) from the Low Discrepancy Sequence of points and then re-sampling the TSP to produce a sequence of motion control points comprising the motion control trajectory); 3) scan the region along the motion control trajectory to determine one or more characteristics of the object in response to the scan. The method may also generate output indicating the one or more characteristics of the object.

Abstract: A system for generating waveforms may include a memory configured to store a plurality of waveform segments, a plurality of waveform segment queues each coupled to receive waveform segments output by the memory, and a selection unit coupled to each of the waveform segment queues and configured to read waveform segments out of a selected one of the waveform segment queues. Each of the waveform segment queues may be configured to store a series of one or more waveform segments. The selection unit may be configured to access the first waveform segment queue during a first time period and to access the second waveform segment queue if a first trigger occurs.

Abstract: A system and method for creating a graphical program operable to configure one or more switch devices. A first node may be displayed in the graphical program, wherein the first node is operable to use route information to control or configure one or more of switch devices in a switching system. The first node may be configured with route information. For example, the route information may comprise information specifying one or more routes previously configured and stored. Also, the route information may comprise information specifying two endpoints of a route, as in the case of run-time auto-routing, or may comprise information explicitly specifying a complete route. The first node may be operable to perform various types of operations to control or configure the one or more switch devices, such as a connect operation to connect specified routes.