Appeal No. 95-5061 Application 07/825,979 parallel computer processes and computer simulation models of parallel process systems, particularly to dynamically animating a computer-based simulation model on a display for purposes of controlling, observing and debugging the executing simulation model or the parallel process system itself. Independent claims 1 is reproduced as follows: 1. A method of animating a system having parallel processes for the purpose of debugging the system, the system being modeled as a hierarchical collection of directed process execution graphs, said graphs representing sub-models of the system and having collections of nodes and arcs, and the parallel processes as transactions, the nodes indicating manipulation of physical or logic resources or other process steps in a transaction's life, and the arcs indicating paths along which transactions may flow from one node to another; the method comprising the steps of: (a) executing a computer process having parallel execution threads representing parallel processes in a system; (b) selecting one of the execution threads for animation of preselected events during the execution thread, the execution thread being represented by a transaction in a model of the system, the model including one or more hierarchial directed process execution graphs representing one or more sub-models of the system; (c) animating the selected execution thread on a user's display screen by displaying a graph in which the transaction is located, moving a symbol on the displayed graph representing the single transaction along arcs connecting nodes to which the transaction flows, and terminating animation of the selected execution thread when the transaction is blocked by the occurrence of a predefined event; (d) displaying user-defined inspection data on said 2Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007