System and method for interactive grouping of pie chart slices

• US 20030218611A1
• Filed: 05/21/2002
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Asnash, Liviu, Ben-Tovim, Yariv, Hoter, Dany
• Granted Patent: US 6,972,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

Described is a system and method for grouping elements whose data falls below a grouping threshold, and for displaying the grouped elements as a single portion of a graphical chart. Briefly stated, the system and method allow a user to dynamically increase a grouping threshold from a default value to an adjusted value. The data for each elements falling below the adjusted grouping threshold is aggregated. The grouped elements are then displayed as a single slice with a value of the aggregated data rather than being displayed as individual slices. In this way, the important information, which normally means the bigger and more significant slices, is more clearly visible. Further more, a single label may be associated with the group, thereby eliminating problems associated with the layout of multiple labels for each individual grouped element.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying a graphical representation of tabular data, the tabular data including a plurality of elements, each element having an associated value, comprising:

displaying the graphical representation with each of the plurality of elements having a unique portion of the graphical representation;

in response to a message requesting a grouping operation, aggregating at least two elements of the plurality of elements, each of the at least two elements having values below a grouping threshold established by the message; and

redisplaying the graphical representation with the at least two elements sharing a group portion of the graphical representation.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation comprises a pie chart.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein each of the unique portions of the graphical representation comprises a slice of the pie chart.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, the unique portion of the graphical representation comprises a slice of the pie chart associated with each of the plurality of elements.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the message requesting the grouping operation comprises a signal issued by an input device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the input device comprises a wheel mouse, and the signal is associated with a rotation of the wheel of the wheel mouse.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein aggregating the at least two elements comprises evaluating the plurality of elements to identify those elements having an associated value below the grouping threshold, and including those elements within the group portion.

8. A computer-implemented method for displaying elements of tabular data in a pie chart, comprising:

displaying the pie chart with each element in a unique slice of the pie chart;

receiving a message indicating a grouping operation; and

in response to the message, aggregating two or more of the elements of tabular data into a single group slice; and

displaying the pie chart including the group slice.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the message indicating the grouping operation comprises a signal generated by an input device having a rotational input mechanism.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the input device comprises a wheel mouse.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein aggregating the two or more elements comprises aggregating values associated with each of the two or more elements and displaying a group slice on the pie chart, the group slice having a value corresponding to the aggregated values.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the message is generated dynamically as the pie chart is displayed.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the message is generated by a wheel mouse.

14. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for displaying a pie chart, comprising:

receiving an indication that a grouping threshold has been modified;

in response to the indication, determining which of a plurality of elements have values below the modified grouping threshold; and

displaying the pie chart with the elements with values below the modified grouping threshold as a group slice of the pie chart.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the indication that the grouping threshold has been modified is received from an input device having a rotational input mechanism.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein displaying the pie chart comprises aggregating the elements with values below the modified grouping threshold into a single slice of the pie chart.

17. A system for displaying a pie chart, comprising:

a data analysis application including a grouping module programmed to modify a grouping threshold associated with a graphical representation of data, the grouping threshold defining a value below which elements of tabular data are aggregated into a single portion of the graphical representation of data.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical representation of data comprises a pie chart, and wherein the single portion of the pie chart comprises a group slice of the pie chart.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising an input device for issuing a signal that causes the grouping threshold to be modified.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the input device further comprises a rotational input mechanism.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the input device comprises a computer mouse, and wherein the rotational input mechanism comprises a wheel of the computer mouse.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein issuing the signal comprises a rotation of the wheel by an increment, and wherein the modification of the grouping threshold is based on an incremental value associated with the increment.