VISUALLY REPRESENTING QUERIES OF MULTI-SOURCE DATA

• US 20140280045A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Smolinski, Adam, Ebstyne, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,128,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for visually representing queries of multi-source data. Embodiments of the invention can be used to visually represent queries of multi-source data. Visual cues can be used to help surface insights into data sets. For example, keywords can be assigned colors. Within a data set, the keywords can be presented as colored highlights (i.e., individual keywords can be displayed using different colors). Presentation of multiple colored highlighted keywords can be optimized for quick visual consumption. As such, a user can more easily determine the volume of keywords within a data set and can identify trends in keyword volume over time. A “mountaintop view” of an entire data set can be presented to show highlighted words within the data set as color blocks without having to scroll.

Claims

1. At a computer system, the computer system including a display device, a method for visually representing a query of multi-source data, the method comprising:

accessing a data set, the data set including data combined from a plurality of different sources;

presenting a portion of the data set on the display device;

receiving a query term for searching the data set;

assigning a visual cue to the query term; and

supplementing presentation of the data set portion on the display device by using the visual cue to visually indicate any occurrences of the query term within the data set portion, visually indicating occurrences of the query term highlighting the volume of the query term within the data set portion.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set, the larger portion of the dataset including the portion of data set and additional data from the data set;

removing presentation of the data set portion from the display device; and

representing the larger portion of the data set at the display device by presenting instances of the visual cue without data from the data set, instances of the visual cue presented at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set comprises receiving a command to zoom out to present the entire data set;

and

wherein representing the larger portion of the data set at the display device comprises representing the entire data set at the display device by presenting instances of the visual cue at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the entire data set were presented, the visual cue visually indicating the volume of the query term within the entire data set.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual cue is color.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second query term for searching the data set; and

assigning a second different visual cue to the second query term; and

wherein supplementing presentation of the data set portion comprises supplementing presentation of the data set portion by using the visual cue and the second different visual cue to visually indicate any occurrences of the query term and the second query term respectively within the data set portion, visually indicating occurrences of the query term and the second query term within the data set portion indicating the relative differences in volume between the query term and the second query term within the data set portion.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the visual cue is a color and the second different visual cue is a second different color.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set, the larger portion of the dataset including the portion of data set and additional data from the data set;

removing presentation of the data set portion from the display device; and

representing the larger portion of the data set at the display device by presenting instances of the visual cue and the second different visual without data from the data set, instances of the visual cue presented at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented, instances of the second different visual cue presented at approximate locations where the second query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set comprises receiving a command to zoom out to present the entire data set;

and

wherein representing the larger portion of the data set at the display device comprises representing the entire data set at the display device by;

presenting instances of the visual cue at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the entire data set were presented; and

presenting instances of the second different visual cue at approximate locations where the second query term would otherwise be presented if data from the entire data set were presented; and

wherein the visual cue and the second different visual cue indicate the volume of the query term relative to the volume of the second query term within the entire data set.

9. A computer program product for use at computer system, the computer system including a display device, the computer program product for implementing a method for visually representing a query of multi-source data, the computer program product comprising one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method, including the following:

access a data set, the data set including data combined from a plurality of different sources;

present a portion of the data set on the display device;

receive a query term for searching the data set;

assign a visual cue to the query term; and

supplement presentation of the data set portion on the display device by using the visual cue to visually indicate any occurrences of the query term within the data set portion, visually indicating occurrences of the query term highlighting the volume of the query term within the data set portion.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to:

receive a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set, the larger portion of the dataset including the portion of data set and additional data from the data set;

remove presentation of the data set portion from the display device; and

represent the larger portion of the data set at the display device by presenting instances of the visual cue without data from the data set, instances of the visual cue presented at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to receive a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to receive a command to zoom out to present the entire data set;

and

wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to represent the larger portion of the data set at the display device comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to represent the entire data set at the display device by presenting instances of the visual cue at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the entire data set were presented, the visual cue visually indicating the volume of the query term within the entire data set.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the visual cue is color.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to:

receive a second query term for searching the data set; and

assign a second different visual cue to the second query term; and

wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to supplement presentation of the data set portion comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to supplement presentation of the data set portion by using the visual cue and the second different visual cue to visually indicate any occurrences of the query term and the second query term respectively within the data set portion, visually indicating occurrences of the query term and the second query term within the data set portion indicating the relative differences in volume between the query term and the second query term within the data set portion.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the visual cue is a color and the second different visual cue is a second different color.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to:

receive a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set, the larger portion of the dataset including the portion of data set and additional data from the data set;

remove presentation of the data set portion from the display device; and

represent the larger portion of the data set at the display device by presenting instances of the visual cue and the second different visual without data from the data set, instances of the visual cue presented at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented, instances of the second different visual cue presented at approximate locations where the second query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to receive a command to zoom out to present a larger portion of the data set comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to receiving a command to zoom out to present the entire data set;

and

wherein computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to represent the larger portion of the data set at the display device comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to represent the entire data set at the display device by;

presenting instances of the visual cue at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the entire data set were presented; and

presenting instances of the second different visual cue at approximate locations where the second query term would otherwise be presented if data from the entire data set were presented; and

wherein the visual cue and the second different visual cue indicate the volume of the query term relative to the volume of the second query term within the entire data set.

17. At a computer system, the computer system including a display device, a method for visually representing a query of multi-source unstructured data, the method comprising:

accessing a data set, the data set including unstructured data combined from a plurality of different sources;

presenting a portion of the data set on the display device;

receiving a query term for searching the data set;

assigning a visual cue to the query term; and

supplementing presentation of the data set portion by highlighting locations where the query term occurs with the visual cue, the visual cue visually indicating the volume of the query term within the data set portion such that a feature of the data set portion can be distilled for further use.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a command to zoom out to a mountaintop view of the data set;

removing presentation of the data set portion from the display device; and

presenting a mountaintop view of the data set by presenting instances of the visual cue without data from the data set, instances of the visual cue presented at approximate locations where the query term would otherwise be presented if data from the data set were being presented.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a second portion of the data set from within the mountaintop view; and

zooming in to present the second data portion, including;

presenting data contained in the second data portion; and

highlighting locations in the second data portion where the query term occurs with the visual cue, the visual cue visually indicating the volume of the query term within the second data set portion.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein accessing a data set comprises accessing a data set including one of:

stock ticker data, sensor data, text, tweets, resumes, Web pages, hand written comments on a survey, doctor'"'"'s notes, photos, movies, audio clips, and log data.