Data Management Apparatus And Method For Organizing Data Elements Into Multiple Categories For Display

• US 20090106705A1
• Filed: 09/26/2008
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Takamura, Seiichi, Ishida, Takayuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,633 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A data management apparatus includes a storage operative to organize a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories, to assign a subspace to each of the plurality of categories, to place a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space, to create a data element space by distributing, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category, and to store positional information on the objects in the data element space thus created; a display unit operative to establish a viewing position and a viewing direction in the data element space, and to generate and display an image of the data element space by referring to the storage and by rendering the objects located in the data element space; and a control operative to acknowledge an instruction for updating the viewing position or viewing direction so as to update the viewing position or viewing direction.

Claims

1. A data management apparatus comprising:

a storage operative to store positional information on objects in a data element space, the data element space being created by organizing a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories, assigning a subspace to each of the plurality of categories, placing a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space, and distributing, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, the objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category;

a display unit operative to establish a viewing position and a viewing direction in the data element space, and to generate and display an image of the data element space by referring to the storage and by rendering the objects located in the data element space; and

a control operative to acknowledge an instruction for updating the viewing position or viewing direction so as to update the viewing position or viewing direction.

2. The data management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a selector operative to extract objects within a predetermined distance from the viewing position by referring to the storage, and to acknowledge user selection from the data elements corresponding to the objects thus extracted.

3. The data management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the control is capable of seamless movement of the viewing position from a subspace to which the viewing position belongs to an adjacent subspace.

4. The data management apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

when the control moves the viewing position to a different subspace, the display unit displays the movement as such in an identifiable manner.

5. The data management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the storage further stores positional information on the subspaces in the data element space,

the selector extracts subspaces within a predetermined distance from the viewing position by referring to the storage, and to acknowledge user selection from the categories corresponding to the subspaces thus extracted;

and

the control moves the viewing position to a predetermined position in the subspace corresponding to the category selected by the selector.

6. The data management apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a map display unit operative to display a map showing the entirety of the data element space, wherein

the selector acknowledges user selection from the categories corresponding to the subspaces displayed in the map.

7. The data management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the storage further stores positional information on a guide indicating the position of a data element, in the data element space, having a certain characteristic,

the selector extracts guides within a predetermined distance from the viewing position by referring to the storage, and to acknowledge user selection from the guides thus extracted;

and

the control moves the viewing position to a predetermined position in the neighborhood of the guide selected by the selector.

8. The data management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a category information display unit operative to display information related to the category corresponding to the subspace to which the viewing position belongs to or a subspace close to the viewing position.

9. The data management apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the category information display unit displays the direction of a subspace close to the viewing position and information related to the category corresponding to the subspace.

10. The data management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit displays an object belonging to a subspace different from the subspace to which the viewing position belongs to in a display format different from an object belonging to the subspace to which the viewing position belongs to.

11. The data management apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the plurality of data elements are organized into categories in a plurality of layers, subspaces hierarchized according to the layers of categories are placed in the data element space, and the control acknowledges an instruction for moving the viewing position to a subspace at a layer different from that of the subspace to which the viewing position belongs to, so as to move the viewing position to a predetermined position in the destination subspace.

12. A data management method comprising:

generating and displaying an image of a data element space by referring to positional information stored, establishing a viewing position and a viewing direction in the data element space, and by rendering objects located in the data element space accordingly, the data element space being created by organizing a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories, assigning a subspace to each of the plurality of categories, placing a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space, and distributing, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category, the positional information stored indicating the position of the objects in the data element space; and

acknowledging an instruction for updating the viewing position or viewing direction so as to update the viewing position or viewing direction.

13. A computer program product comprising:

a module that generates and displays an image of a data element space by referring to positional information stored, establishing a viewing position and a viewing direction in the data element space, and by rendering objects located in the data element space accordingly, the data element space being created by organizing a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories, assigning a subspace to each of the plurality of categories, placing a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space, and distributing, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category, the positional information stored indicating the position of the objects in the data element space; and

a module that acknowledges an instruction for updating the viewing position or viewing direction so as to update the viewing position or viewing direction.

14. A computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon the program product according to claim 13.

15. A data management apparatus comprising:

a categorizer operative to organize a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories;

a subspace placement unit operative to assign a subspace to each of the plurality of categories and to place a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space comprising the data elements; and

a subspace generating unit distributing, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category.

16. The data management apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the categorizer organizes the plurality of data elements into the plurality of categories based upon attribute information of the data elements.

17. The data management apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the subspace placement unit defines an attractive force or a repulsive force exerted between the subspaces according to the similarity between attribute information of the plurality of categories and places the subspaces in the multidimensional space based upon the attractive force or the repulsive force.

18. The data management apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the subspace generating unit distributes the objects in the subspace based upon the attribute information of data elements.

19. The data management apparatus according to claim 18, wherein

the subspace generating unit bases the distribution of objects in the subspaces upon different attribute information for at least two categories.

20. The data management apparatus according to claim 18, wherein

the subspace placement unit defines an attractive force or a repulsive force exerted between the objects according to the similarity between attribute information of the plurality of data elements and places the objects in the subspace based upon the attractive force or the repulsive force.

21. The data management apparatus according to claim 16, wherein

the subspace placement unit modifies the shape of the subspace or rotate the subspace according to a relation between distributions of objects in the respective subspaces.

22. The data management apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the categorizer organizes the plurality of data elements into categories in a plurality of layers,

if a given category includes a category lower in the hierarchy, the subspace placement unit places the subspace assigned to the lower category in the subspace of said given category, and

if a category includes data elements, the subspace generating unit distributes the objects representing the data elements belonging to that category in the subspace assigned to that category.

23. The data management apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising:

an image generator operative to generate an image of the multidimensional space by establishing a viewing position and a viewing direction in the multidimensional space and rendering the objects located in the multidimensional space; and

a control operative to acknowledge an instruction for updating the viewing position or viewing direction so as to update the viewing position or viewing direction.

24. A data management method comprising:

organizing a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories;

assigning a subspace to each of the plurality of categories and placing a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space comprising the data elements; and

distributing, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category.

25. A computer program product comprising:

a module that organizes a plurality of data elements into a plurality of categories;

a module that assigns a subspace to each of the plurality of categories and places a plurality of subspaces in a multidimensional space comprising the data elements; and

a module that distributes, in each of the subspaces respectively assigned to the plurality of categories, objects representing data elements belonging to the associated category.

26. A computer readable recording medium having embodied thereon the program product according to claim 25.