Patent ID: 7949422

Claim:
A method of controlling a machine tool comprising: providing a machine tool controller adapted to receive commands from an input source and provide control instructions to a machine tool based at least in part on the commands; providing an operator interface for inputting commands to the controller, the interface including a display screen having images thereon of command functions, the command functions including single operations and compound operations having a plurality of single operations in a defined sequence initially provided and visible on a menu portion of the display screen, the images being selectable on the screen to place into a sequence of command functions selected by an operator, the interface further including a sequence generator to indicate sequential ordering of the command functions represented by the sequence of images on the screen; selecting a plurality of images representing the command functions that the operator desires to have performed by the machine tool, the command functions including at least one compound operation containing a plurality of single operations in a defined sequence; copying the selected images from the menu portion of the display screen onto a working portion of the screen; designating a sequence of the images on the working portion of the screen representing the order in which the operator desires the machine tool to perform the selected command functions, the working portion of the screen including an indication that the at least one compound operation contains a defined sequence of single operations without showing in the sequence of images on the working portion of the screen the defined sequence of single operations in the at least one compound operation; and using the operator controller sequence generator, translating the designated sequence of selected images into a sequence of commands and inputting the sequence of commands into the controller to control the machine tool to perform the selected command functions in the order designated by the operator.