A CNC model well-suited for the requirements of CNC software construction environment

Any environment allowing operator-assisted design and construction of computerized numerical controller (CNC) software should rely upon an underlying generic CNC architecture meeting certain requirements, such as: support for a high degree of reusability; real-time system support; an associated method; and a hierarchical approach. The requirements of such an environment for a generic CNC architecture or model are specified. Most existing architectures are considered and are shown to be incapable of satisfying these requirements properly. A new model meeting the needs of the environment is then proposed, and the real-time part of this model, the executive, is described in detail. Elements of an associated method that provides the human operator with a sequence of steps guiding the specification of requirements of a specific CNC to be built in the model of the environment are presented