System and method for graphically illustrating external data source information in the form of a visual hierarchy in an electronic workspace

• US 20060005164A1
• Filed: 07/01/2004
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corel Corporation (Corel Holdings LP)
• Original Assignee: MindJet LLC (Corel Holdings LP)
• Inventors: Funk, Stefan, Hizalev, Petro, Scherotter, Michael S., Bashford, Steven, Jetter, Michael B., Holmes, Christopher C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,038,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• 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: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

A system and method enable automatic importation of data from an external data source into an electronic workspace in the form of a visual hierarchy. To display data from a data source, data is retrieved from the external data source, and a visual presentation format for the data is created based on characteristics of the data (e.g., the field to which the data is assigned in the data source, the type of data, the value of the data, etc), where the visual presentation format is hierarchical. The data is then displayed in an electronic workspace in the form of visual hierarchy that is accordance with such visual presentation format. In the electronic workspace, a user can manipulate and supplement the data without affecting the data source, unless there is a trigger event that causes modifications to the data to be written back to the data source. A further embodiment of the present invention enables modifications to the data in the workspace to be written back to the data source upon the occurrence of one or more select events. When such an event occurs, rules, which are essentially the inverse of the rules applied to create the visual presentation format, are used to convert the visual presentation format back to the data source format. The modified data is then written back to the data source.

Claims

1. A method for illustrating data from a data source, the method comprising:

retrieving the data from the data source;

creating a visual presentation format for the data based on characteristics associated with the data in the data source, where the visual presentation format is hierarchical and where the visual presentation format is different from the format that the data exists in the data source; and

illustrating the data in the form of a visual hierarchy in accordance with the visual presentation format, where the data is illustrated in an electronic workspace that, absent an occurrence of an event designated to trigger a connection with the data source, enables a user to edit or supplement the data without affecting the data source.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting an occurrence of an event designated to trigger a connection with the data source;

detecting select changes to the visual hierarchy;

converting data affected by the select changes in the visual hierarchy into a format compatible with the data source; and

modifying the data source to reflect the select changes to the visual hierarchy.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein converting the data into a format compatible with the data source involves applying rules that specify how the structure and content of the visual hierarchy translates into a format for the data source.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the event is the passage of select amount of time.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the event is an input of a select command by a user.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving data from a plurality of databases and organizing all the retrieved data into the visual presentation format.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual hierarchy has a nodal tree structure with subnodes extending from a main parent node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, in response to a user selecting a node, further information related to the selected node is illustrated.

9. The method of claim 8, where the further information includes further subnodes of the selected node.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieved data includes information about non-hierarchical relationships between data items and wherein the visual hierarchy includes a graphical representation of non-hierarchical relationships between data items.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual presentation format is created by applying rules as to how certain data characteristics are to be illustrated.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual presentation format is created by applying rules that associate select data characteristics with select graphical features.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include select line colors.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include select text colors.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include select fill colors.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include icons.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include select geometric shapes.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include select line styles.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include select text formatting.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the select graphical features include spatial positioning of data on a display.

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the select data characteristics include select data values.

22. The method of claim 12 wherein the select data characteristics include hierarchical associations within the data.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual presentation format is created by applying rules specifying how data from select data fields is to be illustrated.

24. The method of claim 1 where the data in the visual hierarchy is refreshed by retrieving data from the data source again after a select period of time has passed.

25. A software application stored on a computer readable medium comprising:

a data retrieval module for retrieving data from an external data source

a data processing module, in communication with the data retrieval module, for creating a visual presentation format for the data based on characteristics associated with the data, where the visual presentation format is hierarchical and where such visual presentation format is different from the format that the data exists in the data source; and

a visual hierarchy module, in communication with the data retrieval module, for depicting the data in the form of a visual hierarchy (i) in accordance with the visual presentation format and (ii) in an electronic workspace that, absent an occurrence of an event designated to trigger a connection with the data source, enables a user to edit or supplement the data without affecting the data source.

26. The software application of claim 25 further comprising:

an event listener for detecting the occurrence of an event designated to trigger a connection with the data source;

a hierarchy analysis module, in communication with the event listener and the visual hierarchy module, for detecting changes to the visual hierarchy; and

a data storage module, in communication with the hierarchy analysis module, for writing changes to the data to the data source.

27. The software application of claim 25 wherein the data processing module includes a style and formatting component that applies style and formatting rules to the data to create aspects of the visual presentation format.

28. The software application of claim 25 wherein the data processing module includes a structure component that applies rules that specify how the data is to be organized in a visual hierarchy.

29. The software application of claim 25 wherein the data processing module includes a data merging component that applies rules that specify how data from multiple sources is to be merged into a single visual presentation format.

30. The software application of claim 25 wherein the data processing module includes a relationship mapping component that applies rules that specify how non-hierarchical relationships within the data are to be illustrated in a visual hierarchy.

31. The software application of claim 25 wherein the characteristics include select data values and select hierarchical associations within the data.