System and method for the simultaneous display and manipulation of hierarchical and non-hierarchical data

• US 20030214517A1
• Filed: 05/20/2002
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Gossweiler, Richard Carl III, Mackinlay, Jock D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,856,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/005 Tree description, e.g. octree, quadtree

Abstract

A system and method for the analysis of hierarchical and non-hierarchical relationships between a set of related nodes and for the creation of a cone graph structure based on the hierarchical and non-hierarchical relationships. The cone graph structure is a three-dimensional or pseudo-three-dimensional object which can be altered and manipulated by the actions of a user. The cone graph structure is an interface for providing a user with a structural understanding of the relationships between different nodes such as files in a file structure of web pages within a web site.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of graphically displaying relationships between a plurality of nodes, comprising:

identifying at least one hierarchical relationship between at least two of said plurality of nodes; and

generating a virtual three dimensional cone having;

graphical representations of each node on a surface of the cone; and

graphical representations of the at least one hierarchical relationship.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying at least one non-hierarchical relationship between at least two of said plurality of nodes; and

generating representations of the at least one non-hierarchical relationship.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the hierarchical and non-hierarchical links are hypertext links between nodes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the nodes are web pages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representations of the hierarchical relationships between the pairs of hierarchically linked nodes are lines on the surface of the cone.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the graphical representations of the non-hierarchical relationships between the pairs of non-hierarchically linked nodes are lines extending through the interior of the cone.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein nodes having the same hierarchy in the node set are represented on a single ring around the cone.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a vertex of the cone is a home page of a web site.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one hierarchical relationship comprises a parent node with a plurality of associated child nodes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

a first child node includes a pointer to the parent node; and

a second child node includes a pointer to the first child node.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a third child node includes a pointer to the second child node.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of associated child nodes each include a pointer to the parent node.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying at least one hierarchical relationship between at least two of said plurality of nodes further includes:

identifying a hierarchical relationship between a vertex node and a child of the vertex node; and

identifying at least one hierarchical relationship between the child node and all descendants of the child node.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying at least one hierarchical relationship between at least two of said plurality of nodes further includes:

identifying a plurality of hierarchical relationships between a vertex node and a plurality of children of the vertex node; and

identifying a plurality of hierarchical relationships between the plurality of children nodes and all descendants of the plurality of children.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of identifying at least one hierarchical relationship between the grandchild node and at least one descendant of the grandchild node,

a first child node includes a pointer to the parent node;

and

at least a second child node includes a pointer to the parent node.