摘要 |
A method for using a computer system to dynamically represent the state of any device comprising a plurality of sub-systems. The method includes the steps of providing a modeling language for permitting a user to define a hierarchical data structure comprised of a plurality of leaves. Each leaf represents a discrete symbol associated with a sub-system of the device. A parent symbol is similarly defined representing a level of abstraction of the device which is higher in said hierarchy than the plurality of leaves. In response to updated data received for any said leaf symbol, the system automatically determines an updated state of the leaf symbol based on the updated data and automatically propagates the updated state to the parent symbol. Consequently, a state of any device and its sub-systems can be dynamically represented, without the need for customized computer programming, once the hierarchical data structure has been defined by a user.
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