Patent ID: 7701869

Claim:
A method for generating a data flow diagram, the method comprising: a computer system providing a data flow diagram, wherein the data flow diagram comprises one or more non-input bound data flow nodes, each with a respective functionality, wherein at least one non-input bound data flow node in the data flow diagram is a subsystem node representing a non-input bound data flow sub-diagram comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes; the computer system converting all non-input bound data flow nodes in the data flow diagram into input bound data flow nodes to produce an input bound data flow diagram, said converting comprising: for each non-input bound data flow node in the data flow diagram: analyzing the non-input bound data flow node to determine two or more input bound data flow nodes executable to perform the functionality of the non-input bound data flow, wherein each of the two or more input bound data flow nodes is independently callable, wherein, for each non-input bound data flow node that is a subsystem node, said analyzing comprises: partitioning the non-input bound data flow sub-diagram into a plurality of input bound data flow sub-diagrams, wherein each of the input bound data flow sub-diagrams operates according to input bound data flow semantics without changing data dependencies of the non-input bound data flow sub-diagram, wherein said determining the two or more input bound data flow nodes comprises determining two or more input bound data flow nodes respectively representing the plurality of input bound data flow sub-diagrams; and including the two or more input bound data flow nodes in the input bound data flow diagram in lieu of the non-input bound data flow node; the computer system storing the input bound data flow diagram on a memory medium.