DIMENSION-BASED RELATION GRAPHING OF DOCUMENTS

• US 20120005242A1
• Filed: 09/06/2010
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: FENG, Zhichun, XIONG, Wuzhen, CHANG, Zhigang, YE, Catherine
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,818 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

Described herein is a technology for visualizing data. In accordance with some implementations, dimension metadata is automatically extracted from multiple documents. The extracted dimension metadata may be used to populate one or more relation dimensions. Based on the dimension metadata, one or more relations between the documents are determined along the one or more relation dimensions. A relation graph is presented to represent the documents interconnected by the one or more relations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of visualizing data on a display device, comprising:

extracting dimension metadata from multiple documents;

populating one or more relation dimensions with the extracted dimension metadata;

determining, based on the extracted dimension metadata, one or more relations between the documents along the one or more relation dimensions; and

presenting, on the display device, a relation graph that represents the documents interconnected by the one or more relations.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the documents comprise reports.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the populating the one or more relation dimensions comprises storing the extracted dimension metadata in a document dimension table.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the presenting the relation graph comprises dynamically generating the relation graph while a user navigates the relation graph.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the relation graph comprises nodes interconnected by edges, wherein the nodes represent the documents and the edges represent the one or more relations.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more relations comprise a semantic relation, a context relation, a set relation, a hierarchical relation, a numerical relation, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more relations comprise at least one database field relation.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the determining the one or more relations between the documents comprises:

defining at least one database field set comprising one or more database elements; and

determining the one or more relations between the documents that use at least one database element in the database field set.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the database field relation comprises a set relation.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the determining the one or more relations between the documents comprises:

defining at least one hierarchy of dimensions; and

determining the one or more relations between the documents that use at least one dimension in the hierarchy of dimensions.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more relations comprise at least one semantic hierarchical relation.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more relations comprise at least one database hierarchical relation.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more relations comprise at least one filter relation.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the determining the one or more relations between the documents comprises comparing filter fields of the documents to determine a filter field relation.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the determining the one or more relations between the documents comprises identifying a filter set relation between result sub-sets of database fields corresponding to the documents.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the filter set relation comprises an “

include”

relation, a “

lie-in”

relation, or an equality relation.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the determining the one or more relations between the documents comprises identifying a filter semantic relation between filters corresponding to the documents.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more relations comprise at least one parameter relation.

19. A computer usable medium having a computer readable program code tangibly embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed by a processor to implement a method for visualizing data, comprising:

extracting dimension metadata from multiple documents;

populating one or more relation dimensions with the extracted dimension metadata;

determining, based on the extracted dimension metadata, one or more relations between the documents along the one or more relation dimensions; and

presenting a relation graph that represents the documents interconnected by the one or more relations.

20. A relation graphing system, comprising:

a memory device for storing computer readable program code; and

a processor in communication with the memory device, the processor being operative with the computer readable program code to;

extract dimension metadata from multiple documents;

populate one or more relation dimensions with the extracted dimension metadata;

determine, based on the extracted dimension metadata, one or more relations between the documents along the one or more relation dimensions; and

present a relation graph that represents the documents interconnected by the one or more relations.