System and method for visualizing and navigating dynamic content in a graphical user interface

• US 20030122874A1
• Filed: 12/28/2001
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dieberger, Andreas, Ponceleon, Dulce Beatriz
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A system and method for visualizing and navigating dynamic documents including data from an ongoing process and including instances of specified search terms. A summary view including a condensed abstract representation of a dynamic document provides a global overview of the distribution of search terms. The invention updates the document and aggregates the instances of search terms when the representation includes a nonlinear scale or uses multiple display regions having different resolution levels. The invention supports rapid skimming of dynamic documents and dynamic document collections, including enhancements triggered by cursor brushing, while keeping the user in context. Navigation to a segment of the dynamic document by selecting a corresponding portion of the summary view can replace the use of conventional scrolling techniques.

Claims

1. A method for visualizing dynamic documents in a graphical user interface, comprising the steps of:

generating a summary view of at least one dynamic document including data from an ongoing process and containing instances of search terms, using a condensed abstract representation of a search term density distribution;

updating said summary view to reflect changes in said dynamic document; and

triggering an enhancement of said summary view by cursor brushing.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising the further step of navigating to at least one segment of said dynamic document by selecting a corresponding portion of said summary view.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising the further step of computing a statistical summary of contents of a selected document portion.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising the further step of identifying said relevant dynamic documents with at least one search engine.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising the further step of aggregating information to enable a more condensed abstract representation of said dynamic document.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said updating step is performed periodically.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said updating step is performed continuously.

8. A system for visualizing dynamic documents in a graphical user interface comprising:

a summary view of at least one dynamic document including data from an ongoing process and containing instances of search terms, using a condensed abstract representation to depict a search term density distribution;

an updating mechanism to reflect changes in said dynamic document in said summary view; and

an enhancement of said summary view triggered by cursor brushing.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein at least one segment of said document is navigated to by selection of a corresponding portion of said summary view.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document comprises at least one of:

a text file, an image file, a web page, an audio file, a video file, streaming data.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document includes medical data.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document includes images from a number of cameras.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document includes data from a security system.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document includes data describing the behavior of a number of computer users.

15. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document includes stock market data.

16. The system of claim 8 wherein said dynamic document includes chat room data.

17. The system of claim 8 wherein said search terms include user-specified events defined by significant changes in said data from said ongoing process.

18. The system of claim 8 wherein said summary view includes a number of distinct regions, each region having a different resolution scale, enabling information to be depicted at different levels of detail.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said resolution scale is a time scale.

20. The system of claim 8 wherein said abstract representation is nonlinear.

21. The system of claim 8 wherein said summary view depicts more recent events with higher resolution than less recent events.

22. A system for visualizing and navigating dynamic documents in a graphical user interface comprising:

means for generating a summary view of at least one dynamic document including data from an ongoing process and containing instances of search terms, said summary view depicting a search term density distribution in a condensed abstract representation;

means for updating said summary view to reflect changes in said dynamic document; and

means for triggering an enhancement of said summary view by cursor brushing.

23. A computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium having computer-executable program instructions thereon including:

a first code means for generating a summary view of at least one dynamic document including data from an ongoing process and containing instances of search terms, said summary view depicting a search term density distribution in a condensed abstract representation;

a second code means for updating said summary view to reflect changes in said dynamic document; and

a third code means for triggering an enhancement of said summary view by cursor brushing.