Patent ID: 7752189

Claim:
A signal processing apparatus for performing signal processing using a plurality of signal processing modules associated with a corresponding plurality of signal processing functions, the signal processing apparatus comprising: graphical display means for graphically displaying the plurality of signal processing modules; input command receiving means for receiving one or more of a plurality of available commands from a user, the plurality of available commands including a command to generate at least one of the plurality of signal processing modules, a command to delete at least one of the plurality of signal processing modules, and a command to connect an input of a given one of the plurality of signal processing modules to an output of a further one of the plurality of signal processing modules; signal processing module interconnection means for setting a virtual connection state of the plurality of signal processing modules that defines connections among the inputs and outputs of the plurality of signal processing modules in response to the one or more received commands; circuit arrangement information storage and management means for storing and managing the virtual connection state of the plurality of signal processing modules set by the signal processing module interconnection means; signal processing sequence determining means for determining, through one or more of an initial path search and a loop search, a sequence of corresponding signal processing functions based on the virtual connection state of the plurality of signal processing modules stored in the circuit arrangement information storage and management means; and signal processing executing means for performing signal processing in accordance with the sequence of signal processing functions determined by the signal processing sequence determining means, wherein the signal processing sequence determining means (a) performs an initial path search to determine an initial sequence of signal processing functions which corresponds to an initial virtual connection state of the stored signal processing modules, (b) performs an initial loop search to detect respective ones of the plurality of signal processing modules that form a closed feedback loop, and (c) re-orders the initial sequence of signal processing functions if, in the initial sequence of signal processing functions, one of the signal processing modules which are not of the closed loop is interposed between two of the signal processing modules that form the closed loop, so that the interposed one of the signal processing modules is moved ahead of, in processing sequence, the signal processing modules that form the closed loop.