A universal client for distributed networked design and computing

ABSTRACT

We introduce a universal client (OmniFlow) whose GUI can be readily configured by the user to invoke any number of applications, concurrently or sequentially, anywhere on the network. The design and the implementation of the client is based on the principles of taskflow-oriented programming, whereby we merge concepts from structured programming, hardware description, and mark-up languages. A mark-up language such as XML supports a well-defined schema that captures the decomposition of a program into a hierarchy of tasks, each representing an instance of a blackbox or a whitebox software component. The HDL-like input/output port definitions capture data-task-data dependencies. A highly interactive hierarchical GUI, rendered from the hierarchical taskflow descriptions in extended XML, supports structured programming language constructs to control sequences of task synchronization, execution, repetition, and abort.Experimental evaluations of the prototype, up to 9150 tasks and the longest path of 1600 tasks, demonstrate the scalability of the environment and the overall effectiveness of the proposed architecture for a number of networked design and computing projects.

REFERENCES

• 1: Toolwire, 2000. See http://www.toolwire.com.
• 2: Hemang Lavana , Amit Khetawat , Franc Brglez , Krzysztof Kozminski, Executable workflows: a paradigm for collaborative design on the Internet, Proceedings of the 34th annual conference on Design automation, p.553-558, June 09-13, 1997, Anaheim, California, United States [doi>10.1145/266021.266283]
• 3: D. Linder, R. Reese, J. Robinson, and S. Russ. JavaCADD: A Java-based Server and GUI for Providing Distributed ECAD Services, April 1998. Technical Report MSSU-COE-ERC-98-07. See http://WWW.ERC.MsState.Edu/mpl/publications/- papers/javacadd/JCaddTR.pdf.
• 4: Francis L. Chan , Mark D. Spiller , A. Richard Newton, WELD—an environment for Web-based electronic design, Proceedings of the 35th annual conference on Design automation, p.146-151, June 15-19, 1998, San Francisco, California, United States [doi>10.1145/277044.277077]
• 5: Gangadhar Konduri , Anantha Chandrakasan, A framework for collaborative and distributed web-based design, Proceedings of the 36th ACM/IEEE conference on Design automation, p.898-903, June 21-25, 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States [doi>10.1145/309847.310095]
• 6: H. Lavana , G. Konduri, OpenDesign: An Open User-Configurable Project Environment for Collaborative Design and Execution on the Internet, Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Conference on Computer Design: VLSI in Computers & Processors, p.567, September 17-20, 2000
• 7: Hemang Lavana , Mladen Vouk , Franc Brglez, A universally configurable architecture for taskflow-oriented design of a distributed collaborative computing environment, 2001
• 8: F. Brglez. OpenProjects Home Page, with links to DAC'2000 Vela Project Demos and Software., June 2000. See http://www.cbl.ncsu.edu/OpenProjects/.
• 9: Flow: Internet Enabled Workflow, 2000. See http://www.justdotit.com.au/html/- iflow frame.htm.
• 10: ActionWorks Metro: Web-based workflow software, 2000. See http://www.actiontech.com/Action/.
• 11: XML Schema Home Page, September 2000. See http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema.html.
• 12: S. Jablonski and C. Bussler. Workflow Management Modeling Concepts, Architecture and Implementation. Thomson Computer Press, 1996.
• 13: Daniel D. Gajski , Nikil D. Dutt , Allen C.-H. Wu , Steve Y.-L. Lin, High-level synthesis: introduction to chip and system design, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA, 1992
• 14: Clemens Szyperski, Component software: beyond object-oriented programming, ACM Press/Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., New York, NY, 1998

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.4 PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEMS

  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.2 Document Preparation

          Nouns: XML

  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
      Subjects: Electronics
  J.6 COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Languages, Management, Performance, Theory