Apparatus and accompanying methods for visualizing clusters of data and hierarchical cluster classifications
First Claim
1. Apparatus for providing a visualized hierarchical display of categorized event data, said data being a collection of records, wherein each record is associated with an occurrence of a corresponding event and comprises a plurality of attribute/value pairs characterizing the event or an individual user associated with the event, the apparatus comprising:
- a processor;
a memory connected to the processor and storing computer executable instructions therein;
circuitry, connected to the processor, for accessing a plurality of data records, residing on a data storage medium, that collectively forms a dataset representing a collection of events and for applying the data records from the medium to the processor; and
a display operative in conjunction with the processor;
wherein the processor, in response to execution of the stored instructions;
classifies the data records, based on the attribute/value pairs associated with each such record, into a plurality of mutually exclusive first clusters;
determines a measure of similarity between each pair of said first clusters so as to yield a plurality of similarity measures for the first clusters representing the dataset; and
forms, based on the similarity measures, a multi-level hierarchical cluster organization such that said first clusters are situated, as leaf nodes, at a lowest level of a hierarchy with second clusters being situated, as cluster group nodes, at successively higher levels of the hierarchy and formed as a result of selectively and iteratively combining clusters that are sufficiently similar to each other so as to form combined clusters in order to define a nodal set wherein each of the combined clusters replaces the clusters so combined to form said each combined cluster; and
visually renders the hierarchical organization on the display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system that incorporates an interactive graphical user interface for visualizing clusters (categories) and segments (summarized clusters) of data. Specifically, the system automatically categorizes incoming case data into clusters, summarizes those clusters into segments, determines similarity measures for the segments, scores the selected segments through the similarity measures, and then forms and visually depicts hierarchical organizations of those selected clusters. The.system also automatically and dynamically reduces, as necessary, a depth of the hierarchical organization, through elimination of unnecessary hierarchical levels and inter-nodal links, based on similarity measures of segments or segment groups. Attribute/value data that tends to meaningfully characterize each segment is also scored, rank ordered based on normalized scores, and then graphically displayed. The system permits a user to browse through the hierarchy, and, to readily comprehend segment inter-relationships, selectively expand and contract the displayed hierarchy, as desired, as well as to compare two selected segments or segment groups together and graphically display the results of that comparison. An alternative discriminant-based cluster scoring technique is also presented.
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Citations
68 Claims
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1. Apparatus for providing a visualized hierarchical display of categorized event data, said data being a collection of records, wherein each record is associated with an occurrence of a corresponding event and comprises a plurality of attribute/value pairs characterizing the event or an individual user associated with the event, the apparatus comprising:
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a processor;
a memory connected to the processor and storing computer executable instructions therein;
circuitry, connected to the processor, for accessing a plurality of data records, residing on a data storage medium, that collectively forms a dataset representing a collection of events and for applying the data records from the medium to the processor; and
a display operative in conjunction with the processor;
wherein the processor, in response to execution of the stored instructions;
classifies the data records, based on the attribute/value pairs associated with each such record, into a plurality of mutually exclusive first clusters;
determines a measure of similarity between each pair of said first clusters so as to yield a plurality of similarity measures for the first clusters representing the dataset; and
forms, based on the similarity measures, a multi-level hierarchical cluster organization such that said first clusters are situated, as leaf nodes, at a lowest level of a hierarchy with second clusters being situated, as cluster group nodes, at successively higher levels of the hierarchy and formed as a result of selectively and iteratively combining clusters that are sufficiently similar to each other so as to form combined clusters in order to define a nodal set wherein each of the combined clusters replaces the clusters so combined to form said each combined cluster; and
visually renders the hierarchical organization on the display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method, for use in conjunction with apparatus, for providing a visualized hierarchical display of categorized event data, said data being a collection of records, wherein each record is associated with an occurrence of a corresponding event and comprises a plurality of attribute/value pairs characterizing the event or an individual user associated with the event, the apparatus having:
- a processor;
a memory connected to the processor and storing computer executable instructions therein;
circuitry, connected to the processor, for accessing a plurality of data records, residing on a data storage medium, that collectively forms a dataset representing a collection of events and for applying the data records from the medium to the processor; and
a display operative in conjunction with the processor;
wherein the method comprises the steps performed by the processor, in response to execution of the stored instructions, of;
classifying the data records, based on the attribute/value pairs associated with each such record, into a plurality of mutually exclusive first clusters;
determining a measure of similarity between each pair of said first clusters so as to yield a plurality of similarity measures for the first clusters representing the dataset; and
forming, based on the similarity measures, a multi-level hierarchical cluster organization such that said first clusters are situated, as leaf nodes, at a lowest level of a hierarchy with second clusters being situated, as cluster group nodes, at successively higher levels of the hierarchy and formed as a result of selectively and iteratively combining clusters that are sufficiently similar to each other so as to form combined clusters in order to define a nodal set wherein each combined cluster replaces the clusters so combined to form said each combined clusters; and
visually renders the hierarchical organization on the display. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
- a processor;
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38. Apparatus for providing a visualized hierarchical display of categorized event data, said data being a collection of records, wherein each record is associated with an occurrence of a corresponding event and comprises a plurality of attribute/value pairs characterizing the event or an individual user associated with the event, the apparatus comprising:
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a processor;
a memory connected to the processor and storing computer executable instructions therein;
circuitry, connected to the processor, for accessing a plurality of data records, residing on a data storage medium, that collectively forms a dataset representing a collection of events and for applying the data records to the processor; and
a display operative in conjunction with the processor;
wherein the processor, in response to execution of the stored instructions;
automatically classifies the data records, based on the attribute/value pairs associated with each such record, into a plurality of mutually exclusive clusters;
determines a measure of similarity between each pair of said clusters so as to yield a plurality of similarity measures for the. first clusters representing the dataset; and
visually renders each one of said pairs of clusters on the display along with a visual indication of a corresponding one of the similarity measures which is associated with said each pair of said clusters. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A method, for use in conjunction with apparatus, for providing a visualized hierarchical display of categorized event data, said data being a collection of records, wherein each record is associated with an occurrence of a corresponding event and comprises a plurality of attribute/value pairs characterizing the event or an individual user associated with the event, the apparatus having:
- a processor;
a memory connected to the processor and storing computer executable instructions therein;
circuitry, connected to the processor, for accessing a plurality of data records, residing on a data storage medium, that collectively forms a dataset representing a collection of events and for applying the data records to the processor; and
a display operative in conjunction with the processor;
the method comprising the steps, performed by the processor, in response to execution of the stored instructions, of;
automatically classifying the data records, based on the attribute/value pairs associated with each such record, into a plurality of mutually exclusive clusters;
determining a measure of similarity between each pair of said clusters so as to yield a plurality of similarity measures for the first clusters representing the dataset; and
visually rendering each one of said pairs of clusters on the display along with a visual indication of a corresponding one of the similarity measures which is associated with said each pair of said clusters. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
- a processor;
Specification