Patent Document ID: 7797671
Application ID: 11129895
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A device control system for controlling a device, comprising: a device controller that carries out object-based executable code to issue control commands to the device based on control signals received from the device; a state chart structure having tabular state charts that contain logical expressions encoded in reverse polish notation or tabular parsable format, the logical expressions expressing properties and behavior of control laws for the device; wherein the tabular state charts of the state chart structure include: a condition table with logical expressions that capture one or more sets of conditions present in state chart models; an action table with logical expressions that capture actions to be performed while in a particular state; a transition table with logical expressions that capture sets of transitions between states; a parallel state and sub-state table with logical expressions that capture interrelationships within the state chart models; and a timer table with logical expressions that capture delays between state transitions; and wherein the logical expressions of the tables are indexed against each other; and an information storage medium in which the executable code and the state chart structure are stored, the executable code is arranged in a layered object-based architecture as a generalized logic engine that is tolerant to changes made to the tabular state charts without re-verification, the executable code including: an event recognition layer having at least one event recognition object configured to detect the occurrence of a device event that triggers a change in the state of the device controller; a state determination layer including at least one state controller object for condition evaluation, state determination and object coordination; an event response layer including at least one event response object configured to issue the control commands to the device; a logic engine including a conditional recognition object, a logic parser object and a temporary storage object, the logic engine further including objects that process the logical expressions of the tabular state charts; and wherein the event recognition layer and the state determination layer make use of the logic engine objects to evaluate the tabular state charts to set parameters that appear in the state chart structure and drive the event response layer to issue the control commands to the device.