VISUALIZATION AND NAVIGATION OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS

• US 20140108980A1
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Werner, Horst
• Application Number:
  US13/650,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108980A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• 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: G06T 3/047 Fisheye or wide-angle transformations

Abstract

A system stores visual content in a computer storage device, and displays the visual content on a display unit in an undistorted projection in an overview mode. The system receives input from a user to focus on a specific topic in the undistorted projection, and converts the undistorted projection into a distorted projection that focuses on the topic selected by the user. The system then displays a relatedness, using geometric proximity, between the selected topic and one or more other topics in the distorted projection.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computer processor and a computer storage device configured to;

store visual content in the computer storage device;

display the visual content on a display unit in an undistorted projection;

receive input from a user to focus on a topic in the undistorted projection;

convert the undistorted projection into a distorted projection that focuses on the topic selected by the user; and

display a relatedness, using geometric proximity, between the selected topic and one or more other topics in the distorted projection.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the distorted projection comprises a decreased scaling factor with increased distance from the selected topic, thereby generating a fisheye view of the visual content.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a downscaled view of visual content in the fisheye view serves as a hyperlink, and wherein the computer processor is configured to receive user input via the hyperlink and invoke a virtual camera movement toward the hyperlink.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is configured to receive user input to switch from the distorted projection to the undistorted projection.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the user input comprises clicking on a background of the distorted projection.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer processor is configured to decrease an effect of the distorted projection such that less relevant topics become visible in the display.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the less relevant topics comprise a transparency value.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is configured to display the undistorted projection onto a plane and to camber the undistorted projection into a hyperboloid, thereby forming the distorted projection.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer processor is configured to:

determine a relation among displayed topics; and

fade out topics that are not related to the selected topic during the conversion from the undistorted projection to the distorted projection.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the geometric proximity comprises one or more of a fading out, a reduction in size, an increase in distortion of unrelated topics during the transition from the undistorted projection to the distorted projection, a distance between pieces of visual content, and an overlap of visual content.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the undistorted projection comprises a zoomable projection.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the undistorted projection is displayed in an overview mode.

13. A process comprising:

storing visual content in the computer storage device;

displaying the visual content on a display unit in an undistorted projection;

receiving input from a user to focus on a topic in the undistorted projection;

converting the undistorted projection into a distorted projection that focuses on the topic selected by the user; and

displaying a relatedness, using geometric proximity, between the selected topic and one or more other topics in the distorted projection.

14. The process of claim 13, wherein the distorted projection comprises a decreased scaling factor with increased distance from the selected topic, thereby generating a fisheye view of the visual content.

15. The process of claim 14, wherein a downscaled view of visual content in the fisheye view serves as a hyperlink, and comprising receiving user input via the hyperlink and invoking a virtual camera movement toward the hyperlink.

16. The process of claim 13, comprising receiving user input to switch from the distorted projection to the undistorted projection.

17. A computer readable storage device comprising instructions that when executed by a processor execute a process comprising:

storing visual content in the computer storage device;

displaying the visual content on a display unit in an undistorted projection;

receiving input from a user to focus on a topic in the undistorted projection;

converting the undistorted projection into a distorted projection that focuses on the topic selected by the user; and

displaying a relatedness, using geometric proximity, between the selected topic and one or more other topics in the distorted projection.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, comprising instructions for decreasing an effect of the distorted projection such that less relevant topics become visible in the display;

and wherein the less relevant topics comprise a transparency value.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, comprising instructions for:

determining a relation among displayed topics; and

fading out topics that are not related to the selected topic during the conversion from the undistorted projection to the distorted projection.

20. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the geometric proximity comprises one or more of a fading out, a reduction in size, and an increase in distortion of unrelated topics during the transition from the undistorted projection to the distorted projection.