Patent ID: 8165863

Claim:
A method for visually representing an electrical machine operation model on a display space, the method comprising; (A) using a computer connected to a display, apportioning the display space into device subspaces, each subspace corresponding to a different device represented by the electrical machine operation model; (B) for each device subspace, using a common time axis for all subspaces, performing the following for a represented device: (1) creating a first region for displaying sequence information; (2) creating a second region for displaying signal information; (3) in the first region, displaying a representation of mechanical device movement including mechanical steps of the represented device as a function of time; (4) in the first region, superimposing over the representation of mechanical device movement, representations of electrical steps, each representation of an electrical step overlaying a corresponding representation of a mechanical step, each electrical step representing information about plural sensor and actuator signals during a time period and derived from the mechanical model; and (5) in the second region, displaying representations of electrical signal values of electrical signals associated with the represented device as a function of time; and (C) for all device subspaces collectively, performing the following: (1) connecting each pair of electrical step representations that are sequential in time, with a graphical connection representing an electrical transition in which a state of the plural sensor and actuator signals changes from that of an earlier electrical step to that of a later electrical step; and (2) for at least one representation of an electrical transition, displaying at least one representation of a condition graphically connecting the representation of the electrical transition with one of the representations of electrical signal values upon which the transition is conditioned.