Data exploration system

• US 20050179684A1
• Filed: 02/16/2005
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James Harold Wallace, Jr.
• Original Assignee: James Harold Wallace, Jr.
• Inventors: Wallace, James H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

An improved data exploration system and method that can be used to analyze and to explore complex data sets involving multiple data dimensions and multi-variable data presentations. The data exploration system generates visual representations of complex data sets in map, table, and tree view formats. In each of these view formats, both the appearance and the arrangement of the symbols representing the data sets are based on the data itself to facilitate the comprehension of patterns and information relationships within the data sets. Further, the data can be viewed at different levels of density to perform detailed analysis of the data, and to detect the presence of overall trends within the data. Moreover, the data exploration system performs a suite of calculation operations to cast the data in different forms, and to facilitate the acquisition, integration, and analysis of the data.

Claims

1. A data exploration and analysis system for facilitating a user'"'"'s analysis and comprehension of information relationships within one or more groups of data, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one storage device containing at least one software program;

at least one input device; and

at least one output device,

wherein the processor is operative to execute the software program, and to cooperate with the input device and the output device, for;

obtaining one or more groups of data,

organizing the data groups in respective layers, the respective layers being arranged in a hierarchy such that each respective layer within the hierarchy is subordinate to a layer conceptually above the respective layer,

outputting at least one visual representation of the data via the output device,

wherein a representation of at least a portion of at least one data group organized in at least one subordinate layer is capable of being hidden in the visual output representation, and

in response to an input provided by the input device, allowing the hidden data representation corresponding to the subordinate layer to be visible in the visual output representation of the data.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further operative to execute the software program for, in response to an input provided by the input device, allowing the visible data representation corresponding to the subordinate layer to be hidden in the visual output representation of the data.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the visual output representation has a format selected from the group consisting of a map, a tree, and a table.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the processor is further operative to execute the software program for allowing the user to manipulate the visual output representation in the tree format to modify the arrangement of the layer hierarchy.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein each layer has an associated vertical position and an associated horizontal position in the hierarchy, and wherein the processor is operative to execute the software program for allowing the user to modify the associated vertical and horizontal positions of each layer within the hierarchy via the tree format of the visual output representation.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the group of data in each respective layer has a corresponding precedence, the precedence of the data group being determined by the associated vertical position of the respective layer.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the group of data in each respective layer is capable of having parent and child relationships with respect to groups of data in conceptually adjacent layers within the hierarchy, the parent and child relationships being determined by the associated horizontal position of the respective layer.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the subordinate layer corresponding to the hidden data representation has a child relationship with respect to a layer conceptually above the subordinate layer in the hierarchy.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one respective layer within the hierarchy is capable of having more than one parent relationship with respect to layers conceptually below the respective layer in the hierarchy.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor is operative to execute the software program for allowing the user to establish one or more containment relationships for a group of data in a respective layer by modifying the horizontal position of the respective layer.

11. The system of claim 3 wherein each data group includes a plurality of data units, wherein each data unit is represented by a symbol having a corresponding position in the map format of the visual output representation, and wherein the processor is further operative to execute the software program for performing a linear transform operation on selected ones of the data unit symbol positions.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the linear transform operation is performed on a selected data unit according to formulae expressible as

EastTransform=(eastScale*eastPos)+eastOffset
NorthTransform=(northScale*northPos)+northOffset,

wherein “

EastTransform”

, “

eastScale”

, “

eastPos”

, and “

eastOffset”

correspond to a horizontal axis of the map format, and “

NorthTransform”

, “

northScale”

, “

northPos”

, and “

northOffset”

correspond to a vertical axis of the map format,

wherein “

eastScale” and

“

northScale”

correspond to predetermined scale values along the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively,

wherein “

eastPos” and

“

northPos”

correspond to original position coordinates of the selected data unit relative to the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively,

wherein “

eastOffset” and

“

northOffset”

correspond to predetermined offset values along the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively, and

wherein “

EastTransform” and

“

NorthTransform”

correspond to resulting position coordinates of the selected data unit as a result of the linear transform operation.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the linear transform operation is performed on each data unit included in a respective data group.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is operative to execute the software program for obtaining one or more groups of data from a data source selected from the group consisting of a delimited text spreadsheet file and a database implementing a Java database connectivity (JDBC) interface.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein each data group includes a first plurality of data units, and wherein the processor is further operative to execute the software program for calculating a second plurality of data units using a predetermined formula based on at least a portion of the first plurality of data units included in a respective data group.

16. A method of facilitating a user'"'"'s analysis and comprehension of information relationships within one or more groups of data, comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more groups of data;

organizing the data groups in respective layers, the respective layers being arranged in a hierarchy such that each respective layer within the hierarchy is subordinate to a layer conceptually above the respective layer;

providing at least one visual representation of the data, wherein a representation of at least a portion of at least one data group organized in at least one subordinate layer is capable of being hidden in the visual output representation; and

in response to a predetermined event, allowing the hidden data representation corresponding to the subordinate layer to be visible in the visual output representation of the data.

17. The method of claim 16 further including the step of, in response to a predetermined event, allowing the visible data representation corresponding to the subordinate layer to be hidden in the visual output representation of the data.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the visual output representation has a format selected from the group consisting of a map, a tree, and a table.

19. The method of claim 18 further including the step of allowing the user to manipulate the visual output representation in the tree format to modify the arrangement of the layer hierarchy.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein each layer has an associated vertical position and an associated horizontal position in the hierarchy, and wherein the second allowing step includes allowing the user to modify the associated vertical and horizontal positions of each layer within the hierarchy via the tree format of the visual output representation.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the group of data in each respective layer has a corresponding precedence, the precedence of the data group being determined by the associated vertical position of the respective layer.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the group of data in each respective layer is capable of having parent and child relationships with respect to groups of data in conceptually adjacent layers within the hierarchy, the parent and child relationships being determined by the associated horizontal position of the respective layer.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the subordinate layer corresponding to the hidden data representation has a child relationship with respect to a layer conceptually above the subordinate layer in the hierarchy.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein at least one respective layer within the hierarchy is capable of having more than one parent relationship with respect to layers conceptually below the respective layer in the hierarchy.

25. The method of claim 22 further including the step of allowing the user to establish one or more containment relationships for a group of data in a respective layer by modifying the horizontal position of the respective layer.

26. The method of claim 18 wherein each data group includes a plurality of data units, wherein each data unit is represented by a symbol having a corresponding position in the map format of the visual output representation, and further including the step of performing a linear transform operation on selected ones of the data unit symbol positions.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the linear transform operation is performed on a selected data unit according to formulae expressible as

EastTransform=(eastScale*eastPos)+eastOffset
NorthTransform=(northScale*northPos)+northOffset,

wherein “

EastTransform”

, “

eastScale”

, “

eastPos”

, and “

eastOffset”

correspond to a horizontal axis of the map format, and “

NorthTransform”

, “

northScale”

, “

northPos”

, and “

northOffset”

correspond to a vertical axis of the map format,

wherein “

eastScale” and

“

northScale”

correspond to predetermined scale values along the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively,

wherein “

eastPos” and

“

northpos”

correspond to original position coordinates of the selected data unit relative to the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively,

wherein “

eastOffset” and

“

northOffset”

correspond to predetermined offset values along the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively, and

wherein “

EastTransform” and

“

NorthTransform”

correspond to resulting position coordinates of the selected data unit as a result of the linear transform operation.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the performing step includes performing the linear transform operation on each data unit included in a respective data group.

29. The method of claim 16 wherein the obtaining step includes obtaining one or more groups of data from a data source selected from the group consisting of a delimited text spreadsheet file and a database implementing a Java database connectivity (JDBC) interface.

30. The method of claim 16 wherein each data group includes a first plurality of data units, and further including the step of calculating a second plurality of data units using a predetermined formula based on at least a portion of the first plurality of data units included in a respective data group.

31. A data exploration and analysis system for facilitating a user'"'"'s analysis and comprehension of information relationships within one or more groups of data, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one storage device containing at least one software program; and

at least one output device,

wherein the processor is operative to execute the software program, and to cooperate with the output device, for;

obtaining one or more groups of data, each data group including a first plurality of data units, each data unit having information associated therewith, and

outputting at least one visual representation of the data in a map format via the output device, each data unit being represented by a respective symbol in the visual representation of the data, each symbol having a corresponding position in the map format of the visual representation,

wherein the position corresponding to at least one of the respective symbols is based on the information associated with the data unit represented by the respective symbol.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein each data unit has at least one rendering attribute associated therewith, an appearance of the respective symbol representing the data unit being based on the at least one rendering attribute.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein a parameter of the at least one rendering attribute is capable of being determined by the information associated with the data unit.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein the position corresponding to each symbol in the map format of the visual data representation is determined relative to two orthogonal axes, and wherein the corresponding symbol positions relative to the respective axes are based on different portions of the information associated with the data unit represented by the respective symbol.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein the processor is further operative to execute the software program for calculating a second plurality of data units using a predetermined formula based on at least a portion of the first plurality of data units included in a respective data group.

36. A method of facilitating a user'"'"'s analysis and comprehension of information relationships within one or more groups of data, comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more groups of data, each data group including a first plurality of data units, each data unit having information associated therewith; and

outputting at least one visual representation of the data in a map format, each data unit being represented by a respective symbol in the visual representation of the data, each symbol having a corresponding position in the map format of the visual representation,

wherein the position corresponding to at least one of the respective symbols is based on the information associated with the data unit represented by the respective symbol.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein each data unit has at least one rendering attribute associated therewith, an appearance of the respective symbol representing the data unit being based on the at least one rendering attribute.

38. The method of claim 37 further including the step of determining a parameter of the at least one rendering attribute based on the information associated with the data unit.

39. The method of claim 36 further including the step of determining the position corresponding to each symbol in the map format of the visual data representation relative to two orthogonal axes, the corresponding symbol positions relative to the respective axes being based on different portions of the information associated with the data unit represented by the respective symbol.

40. The method of claim 36 further including the step of calculating a second plurality of data units using a predetermined formula based on at least a portion of the first plurality of data units included in a respective data group.