Interactive layout-aware construction of bespoke charts

• US 10,586,362 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2018
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Bongshin, Brehmer, Matthew Michael, Ren, Donghao
• Primary Examiner(s): Ries, Laurie A
• Application Number:
  US16/011,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20190385348A1
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/183 Tabulation, i.e. one-dimensional positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

A chart creation tool is provided that operatively, specifies chart layouts interactively in lieu of programmatically specifying data transformations. Operatively, the herein described systems and methods can convert user-specified layouts into mathematical constraints, and a constraint solver is employed to draw the resulting chart. An illustrative user interface is provided that can allow a user to input data representative of one or more chart layouts through the interaction with one or more illustrative controls of the user interface. Responsive to such interactions (i.e., data input), one or more mathematical constraints can be calculated/generated from the inputted user-specified one or more chart layout input data. Illustratively, the chart layout can comprise a reusable layout.

Claims

1. A system for the creation of a bespoke chart on a computing environment, the system comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory component; and

at least one memory in communication with the at least one processor, the at least one memory having computer-readable instructions stored thereupon that,

when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive input data representative of tabular data having at least one row and one column;

receive one or more user interactions, associated with the tabular data, to create a chart through a cooperating user interface;

translate the received user interactions into one or more mathematical constraints;

solve the one or more mathematical constraints to generate one or more solutions comprising at least a two-stage layout solver operable to perform linear or non-linear solutions to the one or more mathematical constraints; and

create a chart layout using the generated one or more solutions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the at least one processor to display the created chart on a cooperating output display.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the at least one processor to create a chart layout comprising a reusable template.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause at least one processor to translate on-the-fly, the received one or more user interactions with one or more controls of a cooperating chart creation user interface into the one or more mathematical constraints.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the cooperating chart creation user interface comprises one or more controls operative to separate mark/glyph editing from chart editing.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein instructions are inputted by a participating user using one more input devices, the input devices operative to allow a user to drag elements between portions of a created chart to generate one or more chart links.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving input data representative of tabular data having at least one row and one column;

receiving one or more user interactions, associated with the tabular data, to create a chart;

translating the received user interactions into one or more mathematical constraints, wherein the one or more mathematical constraints comprising scope levels comprising individual glyphs, within a chart, and between charts;

solving the one or more mathematical constraints to generate one or more solutions;

creating a chart layout using the generated one or more solutions, the created chart layout comprising a reusable template; and

displaying the created chart on a cooperating output display.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising receiving one or more mathematical constraints comprising scope levels comprising individual glyphs, within a chart, and between charts.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising translating the received one or more user interactions on-the-fly responsive to an instruction originating from the execution of one or more controls in a cooperating chart creation user interface.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising separately editing mark/glyph data from chart data within a cooperating user interface operable to receive one or more user interactions.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising inputting the one or more user interactions using one or more input devices, the input devices operative to allow a user to drag elements between portions of a created chart within the cooperating user interface.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising generating one or more links between the one or more elements of the portions of a created chart.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising generating one or more non-linear solutions for the one or more mathematical constraints.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising generating one or more linear solutions for the one or more mathematical constraints.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors of the computing device to:

receive input data representative of tabular data having at least one row and one column;

receive one or more user interactions, associated with the tabular data, to create a chart;

translate the received user interactions into one or more mathematical constraints;

solve the one or more mathematical constraints to generate one or more solutions comprising at least a two-stage layout solver operable to perform linear or non-linear solutions to the one or more mathematical constraints; and

create a chart layout using the generated one or more solutions, the created chart layout comprising a reusable template.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors of the computing device to:

display the created chart on a cooperating output display.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors of the computing device to:

input the one or more user interactions using one or more input devices, the input devices operative to allow a user to drag elements between portions of a created chart within the cooperating user interface.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors of the computing device to:

to generate the one or more solutions comprising linear and non-linear solutions to the one or more mathematical constraints.