METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USER CONTROL BY DERIVING NEXT STATES OF A PROCESS FROM A CURRENT STATE AND BY PROVIDING A VISUAL PRESENTATION OF THE DERIVED NEXT STATES

摘要

A user interface includes a process model unit (34) for predicting one or more allowable next states, from a current state of a process, and a display processing unit (26) for deriving, for each of the allowable next states, a representation of the allowable next state. The display processing unit has an output coupled to a display screen (30) for displaying each of the representations (30b-30g) in conjunction with a representation (30a) of a current state of the process. The user interface further includes an actuator control unit (22) that is coupled to an input mechanism whereby a user selects one of the displayed representations of one of the allowable next states. The motor control unit controls the process to cause it to enter a new current state that corresponds to the selected derived representation. In one embodiment, the display screen has a touchscreen capability whereby the user selects one of the representations by physically touching the display screen within an area associated with a selected one of the derived allowable states.