Thread Subject: Matlab Interrupt

Hi there

I'm programming a GUI in Matlab. With this GUI, I'm steering an electrical table with some engines to move the table towards x- and y- position. There is also a joystick connected directly to the table, with which you can steer the table as well. The point is: I want to know in Matlab if the table position is changed by the joystick. In my oppinion, there are two possibelities to do this:

1. Software interrupt: With the command "?pos" sent over the RS232 interface, you can ask the current table position. If the position changes, the table is moving. Is it possible to do this in a loop as a kind of a background-task? That means, I generate a task where I have a loop where I always ask if the position is changing. If yes, I call a function...

2. Hardware interrupt: I can generate a trigger signal from the table via the RS232 interface. Is it possible to execute a Matlab-function with a hardware interrupt?

Tnx for your answers
Stephan