Systems and methods of generating a plurality of data visualizations in a data visualization region

• US 10,042,901 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2017
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Inventors: Stolte, Chris, Tang, Diane L., Hanrahan, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US15/449,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20170177678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 522 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/212 with details for data modelling support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/221 Column-oriented storage; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/282 Hierarchical databases, e.g. IMS, LDAP data stores or Lotus Notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/03 Data mining
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An exemplary method of generating a plurality of data visualizations comprises displaying a graphical user interface that includes a schema information region and a data visualization region. The method further includes receiving user actions to associate first, second, and third fields included in the schema information region with a plurality of shelves of the data visualization region. The method further includes generating a plurality of data visualizations in the data visualization region in accordance with the received user actions, each data visualization includes a plurality of data marks corresponding to a respective retrieved tuple of data having the first, second, and third fields. Moreover, each of the data marks has an x-position and y-position defined according to data for the first and second fields, respectively. In addition, each of the data visualizations corresponds to a respective unique value of the third field, and is displayed in a respective pane.

Claims

1. A method of generating a plurality of data visualizations, the method comprising:

at a computer having a display, one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors;

displaying a graphical user interface on the display, wherein the graphical user interface includes;

a schema information region with a plurality of fields from a multidimensional database that includes at least one data hierarchy; and

a data visualization region with a plurality of shelves;

receiving user actions to;

(i) associate a first field of the plurality of fields with a first shelf of the plurality of shelves;

(ii) associate a second field of the plurality of fields with a second shelf of the plurality of shelves; and

(iii) associate a third field of the plurality of fields with one of the plurality of shelves;

determining a number of unique values for the third field; and

generating the determined number of data visualizations in distinct panes in the data visualization region in accordance with the received user actions, each pane;

(i) corresponding to a respective unique value of the third field, and including a respective plurality of data marks, wherein;

each data mark corresponds to a respective retrieved tuple of data from the multidimensional database, and each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, and third fields;

each of the data marks has an x-position defined according to data for the first field in the respective tuple;

each of the data marks has a y-position defined according to data for the second field in the respective tuple; and

each of the data marks is assigned to a respective pane according to data for the third field in the respective tuple.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the third field is an ordinal field and the unique values of the third field are discrete ordinal values.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an additional user action to associate a fourth field with a fourth shelf that specifies data mark encoding;

wherein generating the plurality of data visualizations includes displaying the data marks according to values of the fourth field.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, third, and fourth fields;

the fourth shelf specifies color encoding of data marks; and

each data mark is displayed with a color corresponding to a value of the fourth field.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein:

each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, third, and fourth fields;

the fourth shelf specifies size encoding of data marks; and

each data mark is displayed with a size corresponding to a value of the fourth field.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein:

each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, third, and fourth fields;

the fourth shelf specifies label encoding of data marks; and

each data mark is displayed with an adjacent label corresponding to a value of the fourth field.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the plurality of data visualizations comprises horizontally arranging the plurality of data visualizations in the data visualization region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the plurality of data visualizations comprises vertically arranging the plurality of data visualizations in the data visualization region.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data visualization region includes a plurality of superimposed pages in which only one of the pages is visible at a time; and

each of the pages displays a unique one of the panes.

10. A computer system for generating data visualizations, comprising:

a display;

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

displaying a graphical user interface on the display, wherein the graphical user interface includes;

a schema information region with a plurality of fields from a multidimensional database that includes at least one data hierarchy; and

a data visualization region with a plurality of shelves;

receiving user actions to;

(i) associate a first field of the plurality of fields with a first shelf of the plurality of shelves;

(ii) associate a second field of the plurality of fields with a second shelf of the plurality of shelves; and

(iii) associate a third field of the plurality of fields with one of the plurality of shelves; and

determining a number of unique values for third field; and

generating the determined number of data visualizations in distinct panes in the data visualization region in accordance with the received user actions, each pane;

(i) corresponding to a respective unique value of the third field, and (ii) including a respective plurality of data marks, wherein;

each data mark corresponds to a respective retrieved tuple of data from the multidimensional database, and each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, and third fields;

each of the data marks has an x-position defined according to data for the first field in the respective tuple;

each of the data r arks has a y-position defined according to data for the second field in the respective topic; and

each of the data marks is assigned to a respective pane according to data for the third field in the respective tuple.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the third field is an ordinal field and the unique values of the third field are discrete ordinal values.

12. The computer system of claim 10, further comprising instructions for receiving an additional user action to associate a fourth field with a fourth shelf that specifies data mark encoding;

wherein generating the plurality of data visualizations includes displaying the data marks according to values of the fourth field.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein:

each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, third, and fourth fields;

the fourth shelf specifies color encoding of data marks; and

each data mark is displayed with a color corresponding to a value of the fourth field.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein:

each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, third, and fourth fields;

the fourth shelf specifies size encoding of data marks; and

each data mark is displayed with a size corresponding to a value of the fourth field.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein:

each retrieved tuple includes the first, second, third, and fourth fields;

the fourth shelf specifies label encoding of data marks; and

each data mark is displayed with an adjacent label corresponding to a value of the fourth field.

16. The computer system of claim 10, wherein generating the plurality of data visualizations comprises horizontally arranging the plurality of data visualizations in the data visualization region.

17. The computer system of claim 10, wherein generating the plurality of data visualizations comprises vertically arranging the plurality of data visualizations in the data visualization region.

18. The computer system of claim 10, wherein:

the data visualization region includes a plurality of superimposed pages in which only one of the pages is visible at a time; and

each of the pages displays a unique one of the panes.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer system having a display, one or more processors, and memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

displaying a graphical user interface on the display, wherein the graphical user interface includes;

a schema information region with a plurality of fields from a multidimensional database that includes at least one data hierarchy; and

a data visualization region with a plurality of shelves;

receiving user actions to;

(i) associate a first field of the plurality of fields with a first shelf of the plurality of shelves;

(ii) associate a second field of the plurality of fields with a second shelf of the plurality of shelves; and

(iii) associate a third field of the plurality of fields with one of the plurality of shelves; and

determining a number of unique values for the third field; and

generating the determined number of data visualizations in distinct panes in the data visualization region in accordance with the received user actions, each pane;

(i) corresponding to a respective unique value of the third field, and (ii) including a respective plurality of data marks, wherein;

each data mark corresponds to a respective retrieved tuple of data from the multidimensional database, and each retrieved topic includes the first, second, and third fields;

each of the data marks has an x-position defined according to data for the first field in the respective tuple;

each of the data marks has a y-position defined according to data for the second field in the respective tuple; and

each of the data marks is assigned to a respective pane according to data for the third field in the respective tuple.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the third field is an ordinal field and the unique values of the third field are discrete ordinal values.