System and Method for Providing Graphical User Interface Displaying Muiltiple Views

• US 20110055767A1
• Filed: 09/18/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Budavari, Peter, Singh, Prashant, Challenger, Julian, Uysal, Aylin, Bezuayehu, Lulit, Baggett, Sally, Chen, Chun-Yi
• Granted Patent: US 8,205,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/841
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• 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

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for displaying hierarchy information. In one embodiment, a graphical user interface (“GUI”) is provided that displays hierarchy information, the displayed information comprising multiple nodes and hierarchical relationships between the nodes. Different sets of information may be associated with one or more of the displayed nodes. Techniques are provided to enable a user to individually change the set of information displayed in one or more of the displayed nodes. In this manner, a user is able to change the set and/or category of information displayed for one or more selected nodes. More specifically, different sets and/or categories of information contained in the nodes are displayed based on the view selected by the user. In an embodiment, a user is able to choose which nodes need to change the view levels. There are other features in the graphical interface as well.

Claims

1. In a computer system having a processor, a graphical user interface including a display and a user interface device communicatively coupled to the processor, the processor being configured to execute codes stores in a computer-readable medium for operating the user interface device, the computer-readable medium comprises:

codes for obtaining information representing a plurality of entities and relationship data associated with the plurality of entities, the plurality of entities and the relationship data associated with the plurality of entities being stored in a memory, each of the plurality of entities including data being associated with a plurality of categories, the plurality of categories including a first category and a second category, the plurality of entities including a first entity and a second entity, the first entity including a first data set associated with the first category and a second data set associated with the second category, the second entity including a third data set associated with the first category and a fourth data set associated with the second category;

codes for defining a menu region and a display region within the graphical user interface, the menu region including a global selection menu, the global selection menu including selections for the first category and the second category;

codes for displaying the plurality of entities within the display region, the plurality of entities being displayed as nodes of a hierarchical chart based on at least the relationship data, each of the nodes displaying a default data set, each of nodes including a selection menu, the first entity including a first selection menu, the second entity including a second selection menu;

codes for receiving a first user input by the user interface device;

codes for processing the first user input;

codes for updating data displayed on one or more nodes based on the user input;

wherein;

each of the plurality of nodes displays information associated with the first category if the first category is selected at the global selection menu;

if the first category from the first selection menu is selected, a first node corresponding to the first entity displays information from the first data set and information displayed at a second node corresponding to the second entity is unaffected by the user input.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

codes for receiving a second user input selecting the second category from the first selection menu;

codes for updating the first node to display information associated with the second data set.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2 further comprising:

codes for receiving a third user input selecting the first category from the second selection menu;

codes for updating the second node to display information associated with the third data set;

wherein the first node displays information associated with the second data set.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 further comprising:

codes for receiving a fourth user input selecting the first category at the global selection menu;

codes for updating each of the nodes to display information associated with the first category.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising:

codes for processing information from the entities;

codes for generating category information for the entities.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising codes for storing a category state for each of the nodes.

7. A system for providing graphical user interface, the system comprising:

a processor for obtaining information for a plurality of entities from a memory, relationship data associated with the plurality of entities being stored in the memory, each of the plurality of entities including data being associated with a plurality of categories, the plurality of categories including a first category and a second category, the plurality of entities including a first entity and a second entity, the first entity including a first data set associated with the first category and a second data set associated with the second category, the second entity including a third data set associated with the first category and a fourth data set associated with the second category;

a user input device for receiving one or more user inputs;

a display for displaying a menu region and a display region within the graphical user interface, the menu region including a global selection menu, the global selection menu including selections for the first category and the second category, the display configured for displaying the plurality of entities within the display region, the plurality of entities being displayed as nodes of a hierarchical chart based on at least the relationship data, each of the nodes displaying a default data set, each of the nodes including a selection menu, the first entity including a first selection menu, the second entity including a second selection menu;

a memory for storing category states for each of the nodes;

wherein;

each of the plurality of nodes displays information associated with the first category if the first category is selected at the global selection menu;

if the first category from the first selection menu is selected, a first node corresponding to the first entity displays information from the first data set and information displayed at a second node corresponding to the second entity is unaffected by the user input.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein each of the nodes comprises a category selection region.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein each of the nodes is displayed as a stack of views, each of the views being associated with a set of data of an entity.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the user input devices comprise a mouse and a keyboard.

11. The system of claim 7 further comprising a network interface, the processor being configured to obtain information from the network interface.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the memory comprises a hard drive.

13. A computer-readable medium for providing a graphical user interface, the computer-readable medium having codes executable by processor, the computer-readable medium comprising:

code for obtaining information for a plurality of entities and relationship data associated with the plurality of entities, the information for the plurality of entities and the relationship data associated with the plurality of entities being stored in a memory, each of the plurality of entities including data being associated with a plurality of categories, the plurality of categories including a first category and a second category, the plurality of entities including a first entity and a second entity, the first entity including a first data set associated with the first category and a second data set associated with the second category, the second entity including a third data set associated with the first category and a fourth data set associated with the second category;

code for defining a menu region and a display region within the graphical user interface, the menu region including a global selection menu, the global selection menu including selections for the first category and the second category;

code for displaying the plurality of entities within the display region, the plurality of entities being displayed as nodes of a hierarchical chart based on at least the relationship data, each of the nodes displaying a default data set, each of nodes including a selection menu, the first entity including a first selection menu, the second entity including a second selection menu;

code for processing a first user input by the user interface device;

code for updating data displayed on one or more nodes based on the user input;

code for causing each of the plurality of nodes to display information associated with the first category if the first category is selected at the global selection menu;

code for causing the first node to display information associated with the second data set, if a first node is selected to display information associated with the second category, while a third node displays information associated with the third data set, the first node corresponding to the first entity.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for displaying a view selection menu for each node.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for determining a hierarchical relationship among the nodes.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for all categories of information associated with a first node of the hierarchical chart upon receiving a second user input, the display region showing a hierarchical relationship between the first node and the other nodes.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for displaying a first node, the first node corresponding to a first entity, the first node including a stack of selectable views, each of the selectable views corresponding to a set of data of the first entity.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for processing information from the memory to determine category information.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for associating data sets of the entities with a plurality of categories.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising code for rendering links among nodes based on the relationship data.