JP5878500B2 - Flow diagram creation system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a flow diagram creation system that creates a flow diagram representing an influence relationship between processing steps by connecting each processing step with a line or an arrow using cluster analysis.

  In order to show the overall flow of a certain process, there is a flow diagram showing the influence relationship between nodes by connecting each process step (hereinafter referred to as “node”) with a line or an arrow. Flow diagrams are used in various fields. An example of a flow diagram is FIG.

  For example, a telephone service provider, when calculating a customer's telephone charge, has various charges such as a chargeable call charge, free call charge, and optional use charge, depending on the charge plan, call time, call time zone, contract year, etc. It is necessary to distribute each. At that time, a plurality of nodes (processing steps) are associated with each other to calculate a final amount. Also, when the charge calculation method is changed, such as when a new service for telephone charges is started, refer to this flow diagram to modify or add any processing steps to incorporate the new charge calculation method. , Whether or not to delete. Therefore, when creating a flow diagram, it is desirable to create a flow diagram with as high a visibility as possible.

  However, since the flow diagram has been created mainly by humans, the visibility is highly variable even if the flow diagram shows the same processing. In particular, when the number of nodes increases and the influence relationship becomes complicated, the tendency becomes remarkable.

  Therefore, a method for automatically creating a flow diagram is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 below. Patent Document 1 is a system that automates a business flow, and Patent Document 2 is a system that automates a flowchart of a computer program.

International Publication No. WO2007 / 132547 JP-A-9-212630

  The purpose of creating the flow diagram is to make it easy to recognize the influence relationship between nodes. A flow diagram with high visibility for easily recognizing the influence relationship between the nodes, that is, a flow diagram in which lines and arrows indicating the influence relationship between the nodes do not intersect as much as possible (the number of intersection points is small) is desired.

  Although the invention described in the above-mentioned patent document can automatically create a flow diagram, it does not take into account the influence relationship between nodes, so it is not always possible to automatically create a highly visible flow diagram. There is a problem.

  In view of the above problems, the present inventors have invented a flow diagram creation system that can automatically create a highly visible flow diagram.

A first invention is a flow diagram creation system for creating a flow diagram, and a mapping that indicates an influence relationship between nodes based on a node in the flow diagram to be processed and information indicating an influence relationship between the nodes. An impact relationship mapping processing unit that generates information , a cluster analysis mapping processing unit that executes a mapping process for cluster analysis based on mapping information indicating the impact relationship between the nodes generated by the impact relationship mapping processing unit, , A cluster analysis processing unit that generates a dendrogram by executing a cluster analysis on the execution result of the mapping process in the cluster analysis mapping processing unit, a node arrangement order in the generated dendrogram, and the influence impact relationship between the nodes generated in relation mapping processor By using the mapping information indicating a flow diagram creation system comprising: the node arrangement processing unit that performs processing for arranging the nodes, the.

  Cluster analysis is an analysis method for grouping similar individuals and variables, and dendrograms can be generated as a result of cluster analysis. In the dendrogram, similar individuals and variables are expressed as a group. Since the mapping process generated by the influence relation mapping processing unit includes information indicating the influence relation between nodes, it is based on the criteria grouped in the dendrogram and the information indicating the influence relation of each node. By arranging each node, similar nodes can be arranged close to each other. Therefore, by creating a flow diagram using cluster analysis as in the present invention, similar nodes can be grouped together, so that a highly visible flow diagram can be created automatically.

In the above-described invention, the influence relationship mapping processing unit generates mapping information indicating a direct influence relationship between nodes based on the node to be processed and information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes. And a mapping process for generating mapping information indicating an indirect influence relationship between nodes, and the cluster analysis mapping processing unit performs mapping information indicating a direct and indirect influence relation between the nodes. The cluster analysis processing unit executes a mapping process for executing a cluster analysis mapping process, the cluster analysis processing unit generates the dendrogram by executing the cluster analysis, and the node arrangement processing unit generates the generated in accordance with the arrangement order of the nodes in the dendrogram, map indicating a direct effect relationships between the nodes With ring information, it executes arrangement process of nodes can also be configured as a flow diagram creation system.

  In the above-described invention, the influence relationship mapping processing unit includes a direct influence relationship mapping array for a direct influence relationship between nodes based on the node to be processed and information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes, A direct / indirect influence relation mapping array for direct and indirect influence relations between nodes is generated, and the mapping processing unit for cluster analysis generates a cluster for cluster analysis based on the direct / indirect influence relation mapping array. An analysis mapping sequence is generated, and the cluster analysis processing unit generates a dendrogram by executing the cluster analysis on the cluster analysis mapping sequence, and the node arrangement processing unit is configured to perform the direct influence relationship. Based on the mapping array, it is a direct influence function that does not take into account the preceding and following relationship between nodes. A certain array is generated, and the direct influence relationship between the node to be processed and the already arranged node is determined according to the arrangement order of the nodes in the generated dendrogram. Judgment is based on an array that has a direct influence relationship that does not consider the relationship, and if it is determined that there is a direct influence relationship, the preceding and following relationship between nodes is determined based on the direct influence relationship mapping array However, it can be configured like a flow diagram creation system in which nodes to be processed are arranged.

  The technical effects similar to those described above can also be obtained by executing processing such as these inventions.

The above flow diagram creation system can also be realized by executing the program of the present invention on a computer. That is, the computer is based on a flow diagram input reception processing unit that receives inputs of nodes in the flow diagram and information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes, the node to be processed, and the information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes. An impact relationship mapping processing unit that generates mapping information indicating the impact relationship between nodes , a cluster analysis mapping processing unit that executes a mapping process for cluster analysis based on the mapping information indicating the impact relationship between the nodes , A cluster analysis processing unit that generates a dendrogram by executing a cluster analysis on the execution result of the mapping processing in the cluster analysis mapping processing unit, an arrangement order of nodes in the generated dendrogram, and the influence relationship mapping the impact relationship between the generated node in the processing unit By using the to mapping information, it can be configured as a flow diagram generation program to function as a node arrangement processing unit, which executes arrangement process of a node.

A second invention is a drawing system for drawing an influence relationship between nodes, and an influence relationship for generating mapping information indicating an influence relationship between nodes based on the node and information indicating the influence relationship between nodes. Based on the mapping processing unit, mapping information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes , a cluster analysis mapping processing unit that executes a mapping process for cluster analysis, and a mapping processing execution result in the cluster analysis mapping processing unit On the other hand, a cluster analysis processing unit that generates a dendrogram by executing cluster analysis, an arrangement order of nodes in the generated dendrogram, and an influence relationship between the nodes generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit are shown. by using the mapping information, the node arrangement processing of interleaving processing nodes And parts, a drawing system with a.

  The above-described invention is not limited to creating a flow diagram. The present invention can also be applied to a drawing system such as board circuit design and plant design. In other words, each device on the board or each device in the plant is handled as a node, and wiring and piping between each device are handled as information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes, so that drawing with wiring and piping with little crossing can be performed. , Efficient design is possible.

  With the flow diagram creation system of the present invention, it is possible to create a flow diagram that reduces the number of intersections (number of intersections) of lines and arrows indicating the relationship between nodes. As a result, the visibility of the created flow diagram does not change depending on who the creator is, and a flow diagram with a certain quality can be created automatically.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows typically an example of the system configuration | structure of the flowchart production system of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows typically an example of the hardware constitutions of the computer for implementing this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process of this invention typically. It is an example of a flowchart. It is a figure which shows an example of the direct influence relationship mapping arrangement | sequence which mapped the direct influence relation between nodes to an arrangement | sequence based on the flowchart of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping arrangement | sequence which mapped the direct and indirect influence relationship between nodes to the arrangement | sequence. It is a figure which shows the arrangement | sequence which transposed the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping arrangement | sequence of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the mapping arrangement | sequence for cluster analysis produced | generated by superimposing the arrangement | sequence of FIG. 6 and FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the other production | generation method of the mapping sequence for cluster analysis. It is a figure which shows typically the process of cluster analysis based on the mapping sequence for cluster analysis. It is a figure which shows each method in a cluster analysis. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the dendrogram produced | generated based on a cluster analysis. It is a flowchart which shows typically an example of the process of a node arrangement | positioning process. It is a figure which shows an example of the corrected direct influence relationship mapping arrangement | sequence produced | generated based on the direct influence relation mapping arrangement | sequence. It is a figure which shows typically the arrangement | positioning order of a node based on a dendrogram. It is a figure which shows an example of the sorted direct influence relationship mapping arrangement | sequence. It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "1". It is a figure which shows the arrangement | positioning process of a node typically. It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "a". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "6". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "E". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "7". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "B". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "2". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "C". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "3" and node "b". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "F". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "5". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "4" and node "D". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "d". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "8". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "9". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "c". It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange | positioned node "A". It is a figure which shows typically the number of the intersections of the flowchart of FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the number of the intersections of the produced | generated flowchart.

  FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of an example of the system configuration of the flow diagram creation system 1 of the present invention. An example of the hardware configuration of the computer 2 for executing the flow diagram creation system 1 is shown in FIG.

  A computer 2 for executing the flow diagram creation system 1 includes an arithmetic device 70 such as a CPU that executes arithmetic processing of a program, a storage device 71 such as a RAM and a hard disk for storing information, and a display device 72 such as a display. , And an input device 73 such as a keyboard or a pointing device (such as a mouse or a numeric keypad).

  Although FIG. 1 shows a case where the flow diagram creation system 1 of the present invention is realized by a single computer 2, the functions may be distributed and realized in a plurality of computers 2.

  Each means in the present invention is only logically distinguished in function, and may be physically or virtually the same area.

  The flow diagram creation system 1 includes a flow diagram input reception processing unit 20, an influence relationship mapping processing unit 21, a cluster analysis mapping processing unit 22, a cluster analysis processing unit 23, and a node arrangement processing unit 24.

  The flow diagram input reception processing unit 20 receives an input of a flow diagram to be processed in the flow diagram creation system 1 of the present invention. There are various ways to accept the input of the flow diagram. For example, in the case of the flow diagram shown in FIG. 4, lines and arrows (in the case of FIG. 4, arrows) indicating the nodes and their influence relationships are displayed in a graph format. Accept input. As another example, information indicating the influence relationship between nodes is, for example, “1 → a”, “1 → F”, “2 → C”, “3 → b”, “4 → c”, “4”. → d ”,“ 5 → b ”,“ 5 → C ”,“ 6 → a ”,“ 7 → B ”,“ 8 → A ”,“ 8 → E ”,“ 9 → c ”,“ a → B ” ”,“ A → E ”,“ b → F ”,“ c → A ”,“ c → D ”,“ d → D ”, and so on. That is, it is only necessary to accept input of information indicating the nodes in the flowchart and the influence relationship between the nodes. In the flowchart, the horizontal direction is referred to as the row direction and the vertical direction is referred to as the column direction. The nodes in the flow diagram are appropriately arranged along the row direction and the column direction. Therefore, the position of the node is preferably controlled in the program processing as coordinates formed from the row direction and the column direction.

  In the same row of the flow diagram, the first column is the most advanced position, the second column is the second preceding position, and the third column is the third preceding position in order from the left side in the row direction. For this reason, when executing the processing on the program for the nodes in the flow diagram, it is preferable to execute the processing in the order of the first column, the second column, and the third column. In the same column, processing is executed in order from the top, such as the first row, the second row, and the third row. In this case, the priority order may or may not be given to the order of rows. Note that the processing may be executed in other processing order. That is, the process may be executed first in the column direction and then in the row direction.

  The influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 affects one node from another node based on the flow diagram received by the flow diagram input reception processing unit 20 (information indicating the relationship between nodes in the flow diagram and the nodes). The mapping process is executed by substituting the information indicating that into the array. At this time, the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 receives the input by the flow diagram input reception processing unit 20 and directly affects the node based on information indicating whether a certain node affects other nodes. A process for mapping relationships to arrays (direct influence relationship mapping array), a process for adding indirect influence relationships between nodes to a direct influence relationship mapping array, and mapping to an array (direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array) Execute. Here, a direct influence relationship is a case where two nodes are directly connected by a line or an arrow, and an indirect influence relationship is a case where two nodes are connected to each other via a line or an arrow. This is the case where they are connected indirectly by arrows. For example, in the case of FIG. 4, the node “1” and the node “a” have a direct influence relationship, and the node “1” and the node “B” have an indirect influence relationship.

  For example, in the case where the input flow chart is FIG. 4, there are 1 to 9, a to d, and A to F as nodes. In this case, the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 directly assigns information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relation to a node having a direct influence relation from a certain node in the direct influence relation mapping array. Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship is assigned to a direct influence relationship mapping array for a node having no direct influence relationship. At this time, the node may set “1” because it has an influence on itself, or may set “0” because it does not affect itself. An example of the direct influence relationship mapping array thus generated based on FIG. 4 is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 5, nodes are stored in the column direction, and information indicating whether or not there is an influence relationship directly from the nodes in the row direction is stored. Note that the relationship between rows and columns is an example, and this may be transposed. Also, the values of “0” and “1” are not limited to this, and other values may be used. In FIG. 5, for easy understanding, the portion where “1” is entered is shaded, but is not necessary for actual processing.

  When performing the above-described mapping process, first, the influence relationship of the same column is mapped, and after all the influence relationships of the nodes in the column are mapped, the influence relationship of the next column may be mapped.

  Further, the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 adds and substitutes information “1” indicating that there is an indirect influence relationship with respect to a node having an indirect influence relation from a certain node in the direct influence relation mapping array. , Generate a direct / indirect impact mapping array. FIG. 6 shows an example of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array.

  The cluster analysis mapping processing unit 22 transposes the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 and superimposes the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array and the transposed direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array. By combining, a mapping sequence for cluster analysis is generated. Logical operation is an example of overlay processing, and the logical sum (logical operation "OR") of each element of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array and each element of the transposed direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array is calculated. However, this is not a limitation.

  For example, by transposing the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 6, the array of FIG. 7 is obtained. Then, by superimposing each element of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 6 and the transposed direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 7, superposition is performed, and a mapping array for cluster analysis is generated. . FIG. 8 shows the cluster analysis mapping sequence after superposition.

  As another method, the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 substitutes information “1” indicating that there is a direct or indirect influence relation, and sets the value to φ (empty) if there is no such relation. substitute. Then, the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 is transposed, and each element of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 is transposed in the same manner as described above. Calculate a logical sum with each element of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array. Then, “0” may be substituted for the element containing φ after calculation.

  As another method, as shown in FIG. 9, each element on the upper right side of the oblique line in the array of FIG. 6 may be transposed and substituted for each element on the lower left with the oblique line as the center. .

  The cluster analysis processing unit 23 performs cluster analysis on the sequence generated by the cluster analysis mapping processing unit 22 and generates a dendrogram (a tree diagram). The cluster analysis process may use a known method.

The concept of cluster analysis processing is shown in FIG. First, for n individuals, there are p variables X _i1 , X _i2 ,..., X _ip (i = 1, 2,..., N), and there are n clusters as an initial state. In this case, the Euclidean square distance d _ij ² between the nodes is calculated by using the array generated by the cluster analysis mapping processing unit 22 according to Equation 1.

Next, the node c having the closest Euclidean square distance is merged to form one node. For example, when node a and node b are merged to create node c, when d _ab , d _xa , and d _xb are distances between nodes before node a and node b are merged, The distance between the node c and the node x (x ≠ a, x ≠ b) is expressed by Equation 2 or Equation 3. Note that α _a , α _b , β, and γ in Equations 2 and 3 differ depending on the method used for merging nodes. In other words, the node merging method includes the shortest distance method, the longest distance method, the median method, the center of gravity method, the group average method, the variable method, the Ward method, etc., depending on which merging method is used, Expression 3 is used, or the values of α _a , α _b , β, and γ are changed as shown in FIG.

  By merging the nodes according to Equation 2 or Equation 3, the number of nodes is reduced by one. Therefore, the processing of Formula 1, Formula 2 or Formula 3 is executed until the number of nodes becomes 1.

  When the above processing is repeated and the number of nodes becomes 1, a dendrogram as shown in FIG. 12 can be generated.

  The node arrangement processing unit 24 executes a process for arranging nodes based on the dendrogram generated by the cluster analysis in the cluster analysis processing unit 23 and the direct influence relationship mapping array generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21.

  The node arrangement processing unit 24 transposes the direct influence relationship mapping array, and superimposes the direct influence relation mapping array and the transposed direct influence relation mapping array (calculates the logical sum of each element), thereby correcting the direct influence. Generate a relationship mapping array. Then, the elements of the generated corrected direct influence relationship mapping array are rearranged based on the order of the nodes of the dendrogram generated by the cluster analysis processing unit 23 to generate a sorted direct influence relationship mapping array. And the process which arrange | positions a node based on the sorted direct influence relationship mapping arrangement | sequence is performed. An example of the flowchart created in this way is shown in FIG. A dendrogram and a modified direct influence relationship mapping array may be used instead of the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array.

  Next, an example of the processing process of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the flowchart of FIG. The flow chart to be processed is shown in FIG.

  First, when executing the processing of the present invention, information indicating the direct influence relationship between nodes in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is input, and the input is received by the flowchart input reception processing unit 20 ( S100). When receiving the input of the information indicating the direct influence relationship between the nodes in the flow diagram, the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 maps the direct influence relationship of each node to the direct influence relationship mapping array (S110).

  That is, in the case of FIG. 4, since the node “1” has a direct influence relationship with the node “a” and the node “F”, the node “1” is directly related to the node “a” and the node “F”. For example, “1” is substituted.

  Since node “2” has a direct influence relationship with node “C”, information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship is assigned to node “C” for node “2”.

  Since node “3” has a direct influence relationship with node “b”, information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship is assigned to node “b” for node “3”.

  As described above, the direct influence relation of each node is substituted into the direct influence relation mapping array. Note that information indicating that there is no influence, for example, “0” is substituted between nodes that do not have a direct influence relationship. FIG. 5 shows the direct influence relationship mapping array generated in this way.

  Next, the influence relationship mapping processing unit 21 adds an indirect influence relation between nodes to the direct influence relation mapping array, and generates a direct / indirect influence relation mapping array (S120).

  That is, in the case of FIG. 4, the node “1” has an indirect influence relationship with the node “B” and the node “E” via the node “a” having a direct influence relationship. For “1”, information indicating that there is an indirect influence relationship between the node “B” and the node “E”, for example, “1” is substituted.

  In addition, since node “2” has no direct influence because node “C” that has a direct influence relationship is not connected to other nodes, all other things about node “2” Information indicating that there is no indirect influence relationship with the node, for example, “0” is substituted.

  Since the node “3” has an indirect influence relationship with the node “F” via the node “b” having a direct influence relationship, the node “3” is indirectly related to the node “F”. Information “1” indicating that there is a significant influence relationship is substituted.

  As described above, the direct and indirect influence mapping array that maps the direct and indirect influence relation of each node by adding and assigning the indirect influence relation of each node to the direct influence relation mapping array. Is generated. The direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array generated in this way is shown in FIG.

  Next, the mapping processing unit for cluster analysis 22 transposes the array based on the generated direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array (FIG. 6) (FIG. 7). A cluster analysis mapping array is generated by calculating the logical sum of each element of the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array and each element of the transposed direct / indirect influence relationship mapping array (FIG. 8).

  When the cluster analysis mapping sequence is generated, the cluster analysis processing unit 23 performs cluster analysis on the cluster analysis mapping sequence to generate a dendrogram (S140). A dendrogram generated by the cluster analysis of S140 is shown in FIG.

  After generating the dendrogram, the node arrangement processing unit 24 first transposes the direct influence relationship mapping array (FIG. 5) generated by the influence relation mapping processing unit 21, and generates a transposed direct influence relationship mapping array (S150). Then, by calculating the logical sum of each element of the direct influence relationship mapping array and each element of the transposed direct influence relation mapping array, these arrays are overlapped to generate a corrected direct influence relation mapping array. This is FIG. In the direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 5, the preceding and following relationship of nodes is considered, but in the corrected direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 14, the preceding and following relationship of nodes is not considered.

  Then, the node arrangement processing unit 24 arranges each element in the modified direct influence relationship mapping array (FIG. 14) based on the arrangement order of the nodes of the dendrogram generated by the cluster analysis processing unit 23 as shown in FIG. Instead, a sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is generated (S160). This is FIG.

  When the node arrangement processing unit 24 generates the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array, the node arrangement processing unit 24 arranges the nodes by using the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array (FIG. 16) and the direct influence relationship mapping array (FIG. 5) (S170). ).

  The node arrangement processing in S170 will be described below using the flowchart in FIG.

  The node arrangement processing unit 24 identifies the node to be processed according to the arrangement order of the nodes in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array (S200), and the direct influence between the identified node and other nodes already arranged. The relationship is determined based on the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array (S210). If there is no direct influence relationship with other nodes already arranged, the identified node is arranged at the position of the most preceding node (first column) (S220). On the other hand, if there is a direct influence relationship with other nodes that have already been placed, based on the direct influence relationship mapping array, the node identified as having a direct influence relationship that has already been placed Is determined (S230).

  If there is a contradiction between the preceding and following relationship determined in S230 and the preceding and following relationship with the already arranged node (S240), a correction process is performed (S250). As this correction processing, the rearrangement processing of the already arranged nodes is executed based on the preceding and following relationship determined in S230.

  On the other hand, if there is no contradiction, when the identified node is placed in advance (S260), another node has already been placed in the previous column in the same row as the subsequent node having an influence relationship. (S270), if not, the identified node is placed in the previous row in the same row as the subsequent node (S280). If it is arranged, the identified node is arranged in the bottom row of the previous column of the subsequent node (S290).

  In S260, when the specified node is arranged in the subsequent row, it is determined whether another node is already arranged in the next column in the same row as the preceding node having an influence relationship (S300). If not, the identified node is placed in the next column in the same row as the preceding node (S310). If it is arranged, the identified node is arranged in the bottom row of the column immediately after the preceding node (S320).

  The above process is executed for all nodes (S330).

  Hereinafter, the node arrangement processing in the node arrangement processing unit 24 will be described in more detail using the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 16 and the direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 5 based on the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array, the node “1” in the arrangement order 1 is specified as a processing target (S200). Since no other node has been arranged yet (S210), the node “1” is arranged at the lowest row of the frontmost column, that is, at the position of the first column of the first row (S220). FIG. 17 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “a” in the arrangement order 2 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). When the direct influence relationship between the identified node “2” and the already placed node “1” is determined based on the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 16 (S210), the array of the node “a” Since information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “1” is included as an element, it can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Then, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5, the node “1” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “a”, and the node “a” has the node “ Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship with “1”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “1” is ahead of the node “a” (S230). At this time, there is no contradiction in the arrangement relationship of the preceding and following lines (S240). For the node “a” arranged in the subsequent row, since no other node is arranged in the second column of the first row (S260, S300), the node “a” is the same row as the node “1”. It is arranged at the position of the subsequent row, that is, in the second column of the first row (S310). When a node is arranged, an arrow or a line is drawn from the preceding node to the subsequent node (the same applies hereinafter). This process is schematically shown in FIG. FIG. 19 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “6” in the arrangement order 3 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). When the direct influence relation between the identified node “6” and the already arranged nodes “1” and “a” is determined based on the sorted direct influence relation mapping array of FIG. Since information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “a” is included as an element of the array “6”, it can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Then, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5, the node “6” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “a”, and the node “a” has the node “ Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship to “6”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “6” is ahead of the node “a” (S230). At this time, there is no contradiction in the arrangement relationship of the preceding and following lines (S240). As for the node “6” to be arranged in advance, the node “1” is already arranged in the first row of the subsequent node “a” (S260, S270). The node “6” is arranged in the lowest row (second row) of the previous column (first column), that is, the first column of the second row (S290). FIG. 20 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “E” in the arrangement order 4 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). When the direct influence relationship between the identified node “E” and the already arranged nodes “1”, “a”, and “6” is determined based on the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. (S210) Since the information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “a” is included as an element of the array of the node “E”, it can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Then, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5, the node “a” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “E”, and the node “E” has the node “E”. Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship with “a”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “E” is in a position subsequent to the node “a” (S230). At this time, there is no contradiction in the arrangement relationship of the preceding and following lines (S240). As for the node “E” arranged in the subsequent row, no other node is arranged in the next column (first row, third column) of the node “a” (S260, S300). “E” is arranged in the next column of the same row as the node “a”, that is, in the third column of the first row (S310). FIG. 21 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “7” in the arrangement order 5 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). The direct influence relationship between the identified node “7” and the already arranged node “1”, node “a”, node “6”, and node “E” is the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. If it is determined based on (S210), the information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship with the node “1”, the node “a”, the node “6”, and the node “E” as the elements of the array of the node “7”. ", It can be determined that there is no direct influence. Therefore, the node “7” is arranged at the lowest row at the most preceding position, that is, below the node “1” and the node “6” (third row, first column) (S220). FIG. 22 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “B” in the arrangement order 6 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). The direct influence relationship between the identified node “B” and the node “1”, node “a”, node “6”, node “E”, and node “7” already arranged is shown in FIG. When the determination is made based on the influence relationship mapping array (S210), information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship between the node “7” and the node “a” is included. It can be determined that there is a relationship. Referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 5, node “7” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with node “B”, and node “B” has node “B”. Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence on “7”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “7” is ahead of the node “B” (S230). Further, there is information “1” indicating that the node “a” has a direct influence relationship with the node “B”, and the node “B” has no direct influence relationship with the node “a”. This is information “0”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “a” is ahead of the node “B” (S230). Then, it can be determined that the node “B” is in a positional relationship subsequent to the node “7” and the node “a”. At this time, there is no contradiction in the arrangement relationship of the preceding and following lines (S240). Since the node “7” is at the most preceding position (first column) and the node “a” is at the second preceding position (second column), the node “B” is more than the node “a”. Is also the third position (third column) in the subsequent row (S260, S300). Then, since the node “E” is arranged in the third column of the first row, the node “B” has the lowest row (third column) immediately after the preceding node “a” (third column). It can be determined to arrange in the second row) (S310). FIG. 23 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “2” in the arrangement order 7 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). Diagram showing the direct influence relationship between identified node “2” and node “1”, node “a”, node “6”, node “E”, node “7”, and node “B” that have already been placed When the determination is made based on the 16 sorted direct influence relationship mapping arrays (S210), each node (node "1", node "a", node "6") that has already been arranged as an element of the array of node "2" is determined. , Node “E”, node “7”, and node “B”) contains information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship, and therefore it can be determined that there is no direct influence relationship. Therefore, the node “2” is arranged in the lowest row at the most preceding position, that is, below the node “1”, the node “6”, and the node “7” (S220). FIG. 24 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “C” in the arrangement order 8 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200). When the direct influence relationship between the identified node “C” and each already arranged node is determined based on the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 16 (S210), as an element of the array of the node “C” , Information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with node “2” is entered, so it can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5, node “2” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with node “C”, and node “C” has node “C”. Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship with “2”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “C” is in a position subsequent to the node “2” (S230). At this time, there is no contradiction in the arrangement relationship of the preceding and following lines (S240). Therefore, the node “C” is arranged at a position subsequent to the node “2” (S260). Since no other node is arranged at the position following the node “2” (S300), the node “C” is arranged in the next column in the same row as the node “2” (S310). . FIG. 25 schematically shows this state.

  Similarly, in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array, the node “3” with the placement order 9 and the node “b” with the placement order 10 are based on the sorted direct impact relationship mapping array and the direct impact relationship mapping array as described above. The nodes “2” and “C” can be arranged in the same manner. FIG. 26 schematically shows a state after arrangement of the node “3” and the node “b”.

  Next, the node “F” in the arrangement order 11 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is the same as the node “B” in the arrangement order 6 based on the sorted direct influence relation mapping array and the direct influence relationship mapping array. Can be placed. FIG. 27 schematically shows the state after the arrangement of the node “F”.

  Next, the node “5” in the arrangement order 12 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200), and the direct influence relationship with each already arranged node is shown in FIG. When the determination is made based on the mapping array (S210), the information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “b” and the node “C” is included as an element of the array of the node “5”. It can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Therefore, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5 next, there is information “1” indicating that the node “5” has a direct influence relationship with the node “b”, and the node “b”. Is information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship with the node “5”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “5” is ahead of the node “b” (S230). The node “5” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “C”, and the node “C” has no direct influence relationship with the node “5”. This is information “0”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “5” is ahead of the node “C” (S230). At this time, there is no contradiction in the arrangement relationship of the preceding and following lines (S240). Therefore, the node “5” is arranged at a position preceding the nodes “b” and “C”. Since the positions of the node “b” and the node “C” are in the same column (second column), the node “5” can be determined as the first column. Since the node “3” is already arranged in the first column of the same row (5th row) as the node “b” (S260, S270), the node “5” is changed to the node “b” in the subsequent row. Arranged in the lowest row (6th row, 1st column) of the previous column (S290). FIG. 28 schematically shows this state.

  Next, in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array, the node “4” of the arrangement order 13 and the node “D” of the arrangement order 14 are arranged on the basis of the sorted direct influence relation mapping array and the direct influence relation mapping array. 7 can be arranged in the same manner as the node “2”. FIG. 29 schematically shows a state after arrangement of the node “4” and the node “D”.

  Next, the node “d” in the arrangement order 15 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200), and the direct influence relationship with each already arranged node is shown in FIG. When the determination is made based on the mapping array (S210), the information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “4” and the node “D” is included as an element of the array of the node “d”. It can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Therefore, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5 next, there is information “1” indicating that the node “4” has a direct influence relationship with the node “d”. Is information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence relationship with the node “4”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “4” is ahead of the node “d” (S230). The node “d” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “D”, and the node “D” does not have a direct influence relationship with the node “d”. This is information “0”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “d” is ahead of the node “D” (S230). That is, it can be determined that the node “d” is in a position subsequent to the node “4” and is in a position preceding the node “D”. Then, since consistency is not obtained with the fact that node “4” and node “D” are already arranged in the first column, it can be determined that there is a contradiction (S240), and the arrangement relationship of the preceding and succeeding lines determined in S230 Based on this, the arrangement of each node is corrected (S250). That is, the node “d” is arranged at the position of the subsequent row of the node “4” (the seventh row, the first column) (the seventh row, the second column), and the node “D” is arranged at the position of the subsequent row (7 Row 3rd column). FIG. 30 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “8” in the arrangement order 16 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200), and the direct influence relationship with each already arranged node is shown in FIG. When the determination is made based on the mapping array (S210), information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “E” is included as an element of the array of the node “8”. It can be determined that there is. Then, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array of FIG. 5, there is information “1” indicating that the node “8” has a direct influence relationship with the node “E”, and the node “E” has the node “E”. Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence on “8”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “8” is ahead of the node “E” (S230). At this time, no contradiction has occurred (S240). Therefore, the node “8” is arranged before the node “E” (S260), and since the node “E” is in the first row and the third column, the node “8” is arranged in the first row and the second column. It will be. However, the node “a” is already arranged there (S270). Therefore, it is arranged in the lowest row of the arrangement column (that is, the row below the node “d”) (S290). That is, the node “8” is arranged in the eighth row and the second column. FIG. 31 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “9” of the arrangement order 17 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is the same as the node “2” of the arrangement order 7 based on the sorted direct influence relation mapping array and the direct influence relation mapping array. Can be placed. FIG. 32 schematically shows the state after the node “9” is arranged.

  Next, the node “c” in the arrangement order 18 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is specified as a processing target (S200), and the direct influence relationship with each already arranged node is shown in FIG. When the determination is made based on the mapping array (S210), the information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “4”, the node “9”, and the node “D” as elements of the array of the node “c”. Because it is in, it can be determined that there is a direct influence relationship. Then, referring to the direct influence relationship mapping array in FIG. 5, the node “4” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “c”, and the node “c” has the node “ Information “0” indicating that there is no direct influence on “4”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “c” is in a position subsequent to the node “4” (S230). The node “9” has information “1” indicating that there is a direct influence relationship with the node “c”, and the node “c” has no direct influence relationship with the node “9”. This is information “0”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “c” is in a position subsequent to the node “9” (S230). Further, there is information “1” indicating that the node “c” has a direct influence relationship with the node “D”, and the node “D” has no direct influence relationship with the node “c”. This is information “0”. Therefore, it can be determined that the node “c” is ahead of the node “D” (S230). At this time, no contradiction has occurred (S240). Since the node “4” and the node “9” are in the first column and the node “D” is in the third column, it can be determined that the node “c” is arranged at the second position. ”And the same row as the node“ D ”, another node is already arranged, so the node“ c ”is arranged in the bottom row (the ninth row) of the second column (S290, S310). . FIG. 33 schematically shows this state.

  Next, the node “A” in the arrangement order 19 in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array is the same as the node “E” in the arrangement order 4 based on the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array and the direct influence relationship mapping array. Can be placed. FIG. 34 schematically shows the state after the arrangement of the node “A”.

  The node arrangement processing unit 24 can execute the arrangement process of all the nodes in the sorted direct influence relationship mapping array by executing the above process (S330). A diagram generated by the node arrangement processing unit 24 is a flowchart after processing. By executing such processing, a flowchart as shown in FIG. 4 can be generated as a flowchart as shown in FIG. In the case of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the number of intersections is “48” (FIG. 35). The fact that there are many intersections means that the relationships among the nodes are intertwined, so the context of the nodes cannot be easily recognized. However, by executing the processing of the present invention, the flow chart shown in FIG. 34 can be generated. In this case, the number of intersections is “9” (FIG. 36). As a result, the number of intersections is reduced, so that the influence relationship of the nodes is easier to recognize than in the case of FIG. 4, and the visibility is improved.

  In the first embodiment, the connection between the elements of each node of the flowchart to be processed is indicated by “0” and “1”. However, it is also possible for a person skilled in the art to execute the processing using a vector such as (x, y). Can be designed easily. When using a vector representation, the flow diagram is (x, y) when the flow diagram is two-dimensional, but (x, y, z) when the flow diagram is three-dimensional. For those skilled in the art, the number of dimensions can be easily increased by increasing the number of vector elements.

  In the first embodiment, an array is used as the mapping process. However, as described above, a vector expression may be used, or the process may be executed using a pointer or the like.

  Furthermore, the flow diagram creation system 1 of the present invention can be applied not only to a flow diagram but also to a drawing system such as a board circuit design and a plant design. In this case, the node is each device such as an IC on the substrate and each device in the plant, and the wiring and piping between the devices are indicated by an array, a vector, a pointer, and the like as information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes. As a result, it can also function as a drawing system. In particular, when expressing using vectors, it is only necessary to express the connection on the plane with x and the connection on the elevation surface with y.

  By using the flow diagram creation system 1 of the present invention, it is possible to create a flow diagram that reduces the number of intersections (number of intersections) of lines and arrows indicating the influence relationship between nodes. As a result, the visibility of the created flow diagram does not change depending on who the creator is, and a flow diagram with a certain quality can be created automatically.

1: flow diagram creation system 2: computer 20: flow diagram input reception processing unit 21: influence relationship mapping processing unit 22: mapping processing unit for cluster analysis 23: cluster analysis processing unit 24: node arrangement processing unit 70: arithmetic device 71: Storage device 72: Display device 73: Input device

Claims (5)

A flow diagram creation system for creating a flow diagram,
An influence mapping processing unit that generates mapping information indicating the influence relation between the nodes based on the node in the flowchart to be processed and the information indicating the influence relation between the nodes;
A cluster analysis mapping processor that executes a mapping process for cluster analysis based on mapping information indicating an influence relationship between the nodes generated by the influence relationship mapping processor;
A cluster analysis processing unit that generates a dendrogram by executing cluster analysis on the execution result of the mapping processing in the mapping processing unit for cluster analysis;
A node arrangement processing unit that executes node arrangement processing using the arrangement order of nodes in the generated dendrogram and mapping information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit;
A flow diagram creation system characterized by comprising: The influence relationship mapping processing unit
Based on the processing target node and the information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes, the mapping process for generating the mapping information indicating the direct influence relationship between the nodes, and the indirect influence relationship between the nodes are indicated. Execute mapping process to generate mapping information ,
The cluster analysis mapping processing unit includes:
Based on the mapping information indicating the direct and indirect influence relationship between the nodes, execute the mapping process to execute the mapping process for cluster analysis,
The cluster analysis processing unit
A dendrogram is generated by executing the cluster analysis,
The node arrangement processing unit
In accordance with the arrangement order of the nodes in the dendrogram was the product, using the mapping information indicating a direct effect relationships between the nodes, and executes arrangement process of nodes,
The flow diagram creation system according to claim 1. The influence relationship mapping processing unit
Based on the nodes to be processed and the information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes, the direct influence relationship mapping array for the direct influence relationship between the nodes and the direct and indirect influence relationship between the nodes.・ Generate an indirect influence relationship mapping array,
The cluster analysis mapping processing unit includes:
A cluster analysis mapping sequence for cluster analysis is generated based on the direct / indirect influence relationship mapping sequence,
The cluster analysis processing unit
A dendrogram is generated by executing the cluster analysis on the cluster analysis mapping sequence,
The node arrangement processing unit
Based on the direct influence relationship mapping array, an array having a direct influence relation that does not consider the preceding and following relation between nodes is generated.
According to the arrangement order of the nodes in the generated dendrogram, the direct influence relationship between the node to be processed and the already arranged node is directly considered without considering the preceding and following relationship between the generated nodes. If a determination is made based on an array having an influence relationship and it is determined that there is a direct influence relationship, a preceding / following relationship between the nodes is determined based on the direct influence relationship mapping array, and the node to be processed ,
The flow diagram creation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein Computer
A flow diagram input reception processing unit that receives input of nodes in the flow diagram and information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes,
An influence relationship mapping processing unit that generates mapping information indicating the influence relation between the nodes based on the node to be processed and the information indicating the influence relation between the nodes;
A mapping processing unit for cluster analysis that executes mapping processing for cluster analysis based on mapping information indicating an influence relationship between the nodes ;
A cluster analysis processing unit that generates a dendrogram by executing cluster analysis on the execution result of the mapping processing in the mapping processing unit for cluster analysis;
A node placement processing unit for executing node placement processing using the order of node placement in the generated dendrogram and mapping information indicating the influence relationship between nodes generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit;
A flow diagram creation program characterized by functioning as A drawing system that draws influence relationships between nodes,
An influence mapping processing unit for generating mapping information indicating the influence relation between the nodes based on the node and the information indicating the influence relation between the nodes;
A mapping processing unit for cluster analysis that executes mapping processing for cluster analysis based on mapping information indicating an influence relationship between the nodes ;
A cluster analysis processing unit that generates a dendrogram by executing cluster analysis on the execution result of the mapping processing in the mapping processing unit for cluster analysis;
A node arrangement processing unit that executes node arrangement processing using the arrangement order of nodes in the generated dendrogram and mapping information indicating the influence relationship between the nodes generated by the influence relationship mapping processing unit;
A drawing system comprising:

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