Visual specification of branching time temporal logic

Branching time temporal logic is a descriptive language for the specification of ordering relationships characterizing the execution sequencing of time-varying systems. Considerable work has been done around this model, but its acceptance in nonacademic contexts is still hindered by the asperity of its notation. A visual language is presented which overcomes this hurdle by embedding the formal nucleus of temporal logic within a visual shell. Matching the recursive syntax of the underlying mathematical notation, the visual formalism is defined through a set of recursive visualization rules, which yield a generative approach to the visualization of any generic textual formula. A system is also presented which exploits the visual formalism to provide a graphic representation of branching time formulae within a 3D virtual space. The system supports an intuitive understanding of the meaning of complex formulae by providing a concrete representation for each of the three inherent dimensions of branching time formulae: time, parallelism and nesting.