Preventing interference between subsystem blocks at a design time

Abstract

A method of preventing interference between subsystem blocks includes obtaining an integrity level for a first subsystem block, obtaining an integrity level for a second subsystem block, assigning an integrity level property to at least one input port of the first block, the integrity level property assigned to the input port of the first block being based on the integrity level defined for the first block, and assigning an integrity level property to at least one output port of the second block, the integrity level property assigned to the output port of the second block being based on the integrity level defined for the second block. The method further includes evaluating the integrity level property of at least one input/output pair to determine whether an inappropriate connection exists, and performing a first action when an inappropriate connection exists, or performing a second action when an appropriate connection exists.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
 provide a user interface to generate a computerized graphical model representing a system, the graphical model including a plurality of subsystem blocks and a connection between a first subsystem block and at least one other subsystem block of the plurality of subsystem blocks;   obtain an integrity level of the first subsystem block and an integrity level associated with the at least one other subsystem block;   evaluate a predicted impact on an overall integrity level of the graphical model from a change to the integrity level of the first subsystem block, wherein the evaluation is based on the integrity level associated with the at least one other subsystem block; and   determine whether to change the integrity level of the first subsystem block based on the result of the evaluation.   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further configured such that the at least one processor changes the integrity level of the first subsystem block when the changing produces a greater increase in the overall integrity level than increasing the integrity level associated with one or more of the at least one other subsystem block. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 3 , wherein increasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block includes adding redundancy. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further configured such that the at least one processor decreases the integrity level of the first subsystem block in response to determining that decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block will not change the overall integrity level. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further configured such that the at least one processor determines whether decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block will violate a rule that the first subsystem block cannot connect to a subsystem block with a higher integrity level. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the determination further determines whether decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block will affect an inferred integrity level of the at least one other subsystem block. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein obtaining an integrity level associated with the first subsystem block and the at least one other subsystem block includes inferring the one or more integrity levels from at least one of:
 an input to one of the first subsystem block and the at least one other subsystem block;   an output from the first subsystem block and the at least one other subsystem block; and   one or more connections linking the first subsystem block and the at least one other subsystem block.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of subsystem blocks is a hierarchical subsystem block containing other subsystem blocks. 
     
     
         10 . A computerized method comprising:
 providing a user interface to generate a graphical model representing a system, the graphical model including a plurality of subsystem blocks and a connection between a first subsystem block and at least one other subsystem block of the plurality of subsystem blocks;   obtaining an integrity level of the first sub system block and an integrity level associated with the at least one other subsystem block;   evaluating a predicted impact on an overall integrity level of the graphical model from a change to the integrity level of the first subsystem block, wherein the evaluation is based on the integrity level associated with the at least one other subsystem block; and   determining whether to change the integrity level of the first subsystem block as a function of the result of the evaluation.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein determining further includes changing the integrity level of the first subsystem block when the changing produces a greater increase in the overall integrity level than increasing the integrity level associated with one or more of the at least one other subsystem block. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein increasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block includes adding redundancy. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block in response to determining that decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block will not change the overall integrity level. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising determining whether decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block will violate a rule that the first subsystem block cannot connect to a subsystem block with a higher integrity level. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising determining whether decreasing the integrity level of the first subsystem block will affect an inferred integrity level of the at least one other subsystem block. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
 provide a user interface to generate a computerized graphical model representing a system, the graphical model including a plurality of subsystem blocks;   obtain one or more integrity levels associated with at least some of the plurality of subsystem blocks;   determine whether a first and a second subsystem block of the plurality of subsystem blocks interfere with each other; and   when the first and the second subsystem blocks do not interfere with each other, execute the first and the second subsystem blocks in parallel.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16  wherein the at least one processor determines whether the first and the second subsystem blocks interfere with each other based on integrity levels associated with the first and second subsystem blocks. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the first and second subsystem blocks interfere with each other when a connection therebetween violates a rule that a subsystem block with higher integrity cannot have its computational behavior influenced by a subsystem block of lower integrity. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 16 , wherein one or more subsystem blocks in the graphical model is a hierarchical subsystem block containing other subsystem blocks.