NAVIGATION OF HIERARCHICAL DATA USING CLIMB/DIVE AND SPIN INPUTS

• US 20130151564A1
• Filed: 12/07/2011
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: BRINKMAN, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,788,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/797
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees

Abstract

A navigation mechanism for hierarchical data uses a climb/dive and rotate inputs to traverse a hierarchical dataset. The hierarchical dataset may be arranged in a filial-heir arrangement for easy traversal. The navigation mechanism may be used with several different ways of displaying the data, some of which may display both overall context and detailed view of the data. One such example may have a context section and a detail section, where the context section may present the overall context of a focus node in relation to the overall dataset and the detail section may display other nodes that are at the same or lower level than the focus node.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a hierarchical dataset;

selecting a first focus node as a current focus node;

selecting a first child nodes as a current child node;

navigating said hierarchical dataset by;

receiving an climb/dive input from a user and navigating to a first node having a parent/child relationship to said current focus node, said first node being made a second focus node and setting said second focus node as said current focus node; and

receiving a spin input from a user and navigating to a third node having a child node relationship to said current focus node, and setting said third focus node as said current child node.

2. The method of claim 1, said hierarchical dataset being arranged as a filial-heir tree.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying said hierarchical dataset with said current focus node as a highlighted node.

4. The method of claim 3, said hierarchical dataset being displayed with a context portion and a detailed portion.

5. The method of claim 4, said context portion comprising a portion of said hierarchical dataset being higher level nodes than said current node.

6. The method of claim 5, said detailed portion comprising a portion of said hierarchical dataset being lower level nodes than said current node.

7. The method of claim 6, said detailed portion comprising a portion of said hierarchical dataset comprising sibling nodes to said current child node.

8. The method of claim 4, said context portion and said detailed portion being the same size.

9. The method of claim 4, said detailed portion being larger than said context portion.

10. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

animating a transition from said first focus node to said second focus node when said second focus node is set as said current focus node.

11. A system comprising:

a renderer operable on a computer processor, said renderer that;

receives a hierarchical dataset; and

renders said hierarchical dataset with a first focus node as a current focus node and a first child node as a current child node;

a navigator that;

receives input from a user input device, said input comprising an climb/dive input and a spin input;

after receiving an climb/dive input, said navigator navigates to a second node having a parent/child relationship to said current focus node and sets said second node as said current focus node;

after receiving a spin input, said navigator navigates to a third node having a sibling relationship to said current child node and sets said third node as said current child node;

after receiving said input and changing said current focus node, causes said renderer to render said hierarchical dataset with said current focus node.

12. The system of claim 11, said renderer that animates transitions when said current focus node is changed.

13. The system of claim 12, said renderer that animates transitions while said input is being received.

14. The system of claim 13, said renderer that renders said hierarchical dataset in a detail portion and a context portion.

15. The system of claim 14, said hierarchical dataset being stored in a binary tree data structure.

16. The system of claim 15, said binary tree data structure being a filial-heir data representation of a hierarchical tree.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a hierarchical dataset, said hierarchical dataset being a binary tree;

selecting a first focus node as a current focus node;

selecting a first child node as a current child node, said first child node being a child of said first focus node;

rendering said hierarchical dataset using said first focus node as said current focus node and said first child node as said current child node;

navigating said hierarchical dataset by;

receiving an climb/dive input from a user and navigating to a first node having a parent/child relationship to said current focus node, said first node being made a second focus node and setting said second focus node as said current focus node;

receiving a spin input from a user and navigating to a third node having a sibling node relationship to said current child node, and setting said third child node as said current child node; and

rendering said hierarchical dataset with said current focus node and said current child node.

18. The method of claim 17, said binary tree being a filial-heir representation of a hierarchical dataset.

19. The method of claim 18, said rendering comprising presenting a context portion of said hierarchical dataset, said context portion being at least a portion of a zipper tree.

20. The method of claim 19, said rendering comprising a detail portion.