Patent ID: 7542810

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for performing user controllable autotuning of a PID controller, comprising: displaying at least one graphical user input (GUI) element for indicating a desired qualitative performance characteristic of a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller; receiving user input to the at least one GUI element, wherein the user input indicates the desired qualitative performance characteristic of the PID controller after execution of a PID controller autotuning algorithm, wherein the desired qualitative performance characteristic of the PID comprises one or more of: stiffness; or response time; wherein the at least one GUI element comprises: a first graphical user input element for qualitatively indicating the desired stiffness of the PID controller; and a second graphical user input element for qualitatively indicating the desired response time of the PID controller; wherein the stiffness and the response time are inversely related, and wherein user input to one of the first or second graphical user input elements indicating the desired qualitative performance characteristic automatically determines a corresponding qualitative performance characteristic with respect to the other of the first or second graphical user input elements; automatically deriving one or more parameter values for the PID controller autotuning algorithm based on the indicated qualitative performance characteristic; configuring the PID controller autotuning algorithm in accordance with the one or more parameter values by applying the one or more parameter values to the PID controller autotuning algorithm, wherein said configuring produces a configured PID controller autotuning algorithm; and executing the configured PID controller autotuning algorithm to tune the PID controller in accordance with the indicated qualitative performance characteristic.