Systems and methods for providing visualization and network diagrams

• US 20040150644A1
• Filed: 01/30/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kincaid, Robert, Kuchinsky, Allan, Moh, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,224,362 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 45/00 ICT specially adapted for bioinformatics-related data visualisation, e.g. displaying of maps or networks

Abstract

Visualization techniques tools and systems for displaying network diagrams to convey both focus and context to a user of the display. Network diagrams may be displayed to emulate a three dimensional presentation. Network diagrams may be presented with items of interest in sharp definition and the remainder of a diagram or diagrams being blurred or having relative degrees of sharpness/blurriness.

Claims

1. A method of displaying network diagram visualizations for intuitive interpretation by a user, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying a network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device, wherein the nodes are displayed having a default size and brightness and the links are displayed having a default thickness and brightness;

selecting at least one node of interest to be viewed;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the at least one node of interest; and

displaying the at least one node of interest with at least one of the increased size and brightness.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

identifying secondary nodes which are directly linked to said at least one node of interest;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the secondary nodes to a secondary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the increases size or brightness of the at least one node of interest; and

displaying the secondary nodes with the at least one of increased size and brightness.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

identifying tertiary nodes which are directly linked to at least one secondary node, but not directly linked to a node of interest;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the tertiary nodes to a tertiary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the secondary size or brightness; and

displaying the tertiary nodes with at least one of tertiary size and tertiary brightness.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

identifying quaternary nodes which are directly linked to at least one tertiary node, but not directly linked to a secondary node;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the quaternary nodes to a quaternary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the tertiary size or brightness; and

displaying the quaternary nodes with at least one of quaternary size and quaternary brightness.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one node of interest is displayed on top of any other node, link or portion of a node or link where overlap occurs in the resulting display.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein any overlapping that occurs in the display is rendered such that the largest sized nodes are displayed on top of the visualization with concurrent layers of the visualization descending according to size assignments of the nodes displayed, such that the default size is displayed as the bottom layer.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein any overlapping that occurs in the display is rendered such that the largest sized nodes are displayed on top of the visualization with concurrent layers of the visualization descending according to size assignments of the nodes displayed, such that the default size is displayed as the bottom layer.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein any overlapping that occurs in the display is rendered such that the largest sized nodes are displayed on top of the visualization with concurrent layers of the visualization descending according to size assignments of the nodes displayed, such that the default size is displayed as the bottom layer.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying primary links interconnecting said at least one node of interest and said secondary nodes;

increasing at least one of the thickness and brightness of the primary links; and

displaying the primary links with at least one of the increased thickness and brightness.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

identifying secondary links which are connected to secondary nodes, but not to said at least one node of interest;

increasing at least one of the thickness and brightness of the secondary links to a secondary link thickness or brightness greater than the default thickness or brightness, but less than the increased thickness or brightness of the primary links; and

displaying the secondary links with the at least one of secondary link thickness and secondary link brightness.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

identifying tertiary links which are connected to said tertiary nodes, but not to said secondary nodes;

increasing at least one of the thickness and brightness of the tertiary links to a tertiary link thickness or brightness greater than the default thickness or brightness, but less than the increased thickness or brightness of the secondary links; and

displaying the tertiary links with the at least one of tertiary link thickness and tertiary link brightness.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the display of at least one node which has not been selected to appear less prominently.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said modifying comprises displaying said at least one non-selected node transparently.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said modifying comprises decreasing at least one of the size and brightness of said at least one non-selected node and displaying said at least one non-selected node with at least one of said decreased size and brightness.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein said modifying comprises blurring said at least one non-selected node and displaying said at least one blurred non-selected node.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said nodes are colored, said method further comprising changing the color of said at least one node of interest and displaying said at least one node of interest in the changed color.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein said nodes are colored, said method further comprising changing the color of said at least one node of interest;

changing the color of said secondary nodes; and

displaying said at least one node of interest and said secondary nodes in the changed colors.

18. The method of claim 4, wherein said nodes are colored, said method further comprising changing the color of at least one of at least one node of interest, secondary nodes, tertiary nodes and quaternary nodes;

and displaying the nodes according to colors as a result of said changing.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the colors of each of the nodes changed are the same.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein at least two of the at least one node of interest, secondary nodes, tertiary nodes and quaternary nodes are changed to colors different from one another.

21. A method of overlaying network diagram visualizations for visual interpretation by a user, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying a first network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device;

overlaying at least one additional network diagram having nodes and links positioned in a corresponding manner to at least a portion of the nodes and links of the first diagram network;

displaying only one of the first network diagram and at least one additional network diagrams in sharp definition; and

blurring the remaining network diagrams and displaying said remaining network diagrams in a blurred state.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein at least said nodes of each said network diagram are color-coded, and wherein said nodes in said remaining network diagrams are displayed in color even after blurring.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising decreasing the brightness of said remaining networks displayed in a blurred state, relative to a brightness of said network displayed in focus.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

selecting one of the network diagrams that are blurred;

displaying the selected network diagram in sharp definition, and overlaying all other diagrams; and

blurring the network diagram having been previously displayed in sharp definition.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising skewing positions of said nodes of the remaining diagrams so that they do not exactly correspond to positions of the corresponding nodes in said network diagram in sharp definition, but under lap said nodes.

26. A method of visualizing a network diagram for facilitating visual interpretation by a user, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying a network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device;

selecting a portion of the network diagram that defines interconnected nodes of interest;

displaying the interconnected nodes of interest in sharp definition; and

blurring the nodes in the remainder of the network diagram and displaying in a blurred state.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising displaying in sharp definition links that interconnect said nodes of interest.

28. A method of visualizing network diagrams for facilitating visual interpretation by a user, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying at least one network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device;

displaying nodes having a relatively low error statistic in sharp definition and node having a relatively higher error statistic as blurred.

29. A method of visualizing network diagrams for facilitating visual interpretation by a user, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying at least one network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device;

correlating error statistics of said nodes with a degree of sharpness scale to be applied to display of said nodes; and

displaying said nodes in degrees of sharpness relative to said error statistics, wherein nodes having the lowest relative error statistics are displayed in sharp definition and nodes having the highest relative error statistics are displayed blurriest, with nodes having intermittent relative error statistics having varying degrees of blurriness relative to the error statistics.

30. A system for displaying network diagram visualizations for intuitive interpretation by a user comprising

means for displaying a network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device, wherein the nodes are displayed having a default size and brightness and the links are displayed having a default thickness and brightness;

means for selecting at least one node of interest to be viewed;

means for increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the at least one node of interest; and

means for displaying the at least one node of interest with at least one of the increased size and brightness.

31. The system of claim 30, further comprising:

means for identifying secondary nodes which are directly linked to said at least one node of interest; and

means for increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the secondary nodes to a secondary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the increases size or brightness of the at least one node of interest, wherein said secondary nodes are displayed by said displaying means with the at least one of increased size and brightness.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

means for identifying tertiary nodes which are directly linked to at least one secondary node, but not directly linked to a node of interest; and

means for increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the tertiary nodes to a tertiary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the secondary size or brightness;

wherein the tertiary nodes are displayed with at least one of tertiary size and tertiary brightness.

33. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

means for identifying quaternary nodes which are directly linked to at least one tertiary node, but not directly linked to a secondary node; and

means for increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the quaternary nodes to a quaternary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the tertiary size or brightness, wherein the quaternary nodes are displayed with at least one of quaternary size and quaternary brightness.

34. The system of claim 30, further comprising means for overlaying at least a portion of said at least one node of interest when said at least a portion is positioned on the same portion of the display as another node or link of the network diagram.

35. The system of claim 33, further comprising means for overlaying the visualization of said nodes, wherein any overlapping that occurs in the display is rendered such that the largest sized nodes are displayed on top of the visualization with concurrent layers of the visualization descending according to size assignments of the nodes displayed, such that the default size is displayed as the bottom layer.

36. The system of claim 30, further comprising means for modifying the display of at least one node which has not been selected to appear less prominently.

37. The system of claim 30, further comprises means for coloring the displayed nodes and means for changing the color of said at least one node of interest and displaying said at least one node of interest in the changed color.

38. A system for overlaying network diagram visualizations for visual interpretation by a user, comprising:

means for displaying a first network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device;

means for overlaying at least one additional network diagram having nodes and links positioned in a corresponding manner to at least a portion of the nodes and links of the first diagram network;

means for displaying only one of the first network diagram and at least one additional network diagrams in sharp definition; and

means for blurring the remaining network diagrams and displaying said remaining network diagrams in a blurred state.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein at least said nodes of each said network diagram are color-coded, and wherein said nodes in said remaining network diagrams are displayed in color even after blurring.

40. The system of claim 38, further comprising means for decreasing the brightness of said remaining networks displayed in a blurred state, relative to a brightness of said network displayed in sharp definition.

41. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

means for selecting one of the network diagrams that are blurred;

means for displaying the- selected network diagram in sharp definition, and overlaying all other diagrams; and

means for blurring the network diagram having been previously displayed in sharp definition.

42. The system of claim 38, further comprising means for skewing positions of said nodes of the remaining diagrams so that they do not exactly correspond to positions of the corresponding nodes in said network diagram displayed in sharp definition, but under lap said nodes.

43. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

means for selecting a portion of the network diagram displayed in sharp definition that defines interconnected nodes of interest; and

means for blurring the nodes in the remainder of the sharp definition network diagram and displaying the remainder in a blurred state.

44. A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions from a user of a computer system for visualizing one or more data sets, wherein execution of one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

displaying a network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device, wherein the nodes are displayed having a default size and brightness and the links are displayed having a default thickness and brightness;

selecting at least one node of interest to be viewed;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the at least one node of interest; and

displaying the at least one node of interest with at least one of the increased size and brightness.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the following further steps are performed:

identifying secondary nodes which are directly linked to said at least one node of interest;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the secondary nodes to a secondary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the increases size or brightness of the at least one node of interest; and

displaying the secondary nodes with the at least one of increased size and brightness.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 45, wherein the following further steps are performed:

identifying tertiary nodes which are directly linked to at least one secondary node, but not directly linked to a node of interest;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the tertiary nodes to a tertiary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the secondary size or brightness; and

displaying the tertiary nodes with at least one of tertiary size and tertiary brightness.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein the following further steps are performed:

identifying quaternary nodes which are directly linked to at least one tertiary node, but not directly linked to a secondary node;

increasing at least one of the size and brightness of the quaternary nodes to a quaternary size or brightness greater than the default size or brightness, but less than the tertiary size or brightness; and

displaying the quaternary nodes with at least one of quaternary size and quaternary brightness.

48. A computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions from a user of a computer system for visualizing one or more data sets, wherein execution of one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

displaying a first network diagram having nodes interconnected with links on a display device;

overlaying at least one additional network diagram having nodes and links positioned in a corresponding manner to at least a portion of the nodes and links of the first diagram network;

displaying at least a portion of only one of the first network diagram and at least one additional network diagrams in sharp definition; and

blurring the remaining network diagrams and displaying said remaining network diagrams in a blurred state.