Producing Visualizations of Elements in Works of Literature

• US 20150154166A1
• Filed: 09/17/2014
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Allen, Corville O., Carrier, Scott Robert, Woods, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,552,346 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A visualization of literary elements of a work of literature, such as a novel or short story, is generated from meta-data records representing a digital work of literature including literary elements (humor, drama, adventure, etc.), characters, and plot devices related to a position within the work of literature where each appears. A significance level is determined for each of the elements, characters and plot devices at each position within the work of literature, and these are plotted into a sequential graph having position (e.g. timeline) axis and a significance level axis. The sequential graph is then output for printing or display. Human-generated and machine-generated meta-data may be ingested equally well by the method. Colors, line thickness, and a broken line patterns may be employed for greater visual meaning. And, the sequential graph may be annotated according to segments (e.g. chapters, sections) and dominant genre within each segment.

Claims

1. A method for visualizing literary elements as a graph comprising:

receiving by a computer system a set of meta-data records representing the contents of a digital work of literature, wherein each meta-data record comprises a significance value for a literary element and a relationship the literary element to one or more items selected from the group consisting of a character, and a plot device, and a position within the work of literature where the literary element appears;

graphing by a computer system the literary elements, characters and plot devices in a sequential graph having at least two axes, wherein the first axis corresponds to the position within the work of literature, and the second axis corresponds to the significance level of the graphed literary element and the one or more related items; and

rendering by a computer the sequential graph to an output of the computer system.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the literary element comprises one or more categories selected from the group consisting of humor, suspense, mystery, drama, action, adventure, romance, science fiction, science research, and legal analysis.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the rendering to an output comprises one or more steps selected from the group consisting of creating a digital image file, creating a digital movie file, printing to a printable material, and displaying on a digital display.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the receiving of meta-data records comprises receiving converted data from human reviews, synopses, or both review and synopses of the work of literature.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the receiving of meta-data records comprises receiving meta-data created by a computer using natural language processing and deep semantic analysis.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the graphing comprises plotting a smooth curve for each literary element along a set of coordinates corresponding to each literary element.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising encoding the smooth curve to correspond to the literary element using at least one indicia selected from the group consisting of line color, line thickness, and a broken line pattern.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

breaking the meta-data records by a computer into segments of the work of literature; and

marking by a computer the sequential graph according to the segments.

9. The method as set forth in claim 8 wherein the breaking comprises one or more methods selected from the group consisting of breaking according to chapters, breaking according to sections, breaking according to number of pages, breaking according to number of paragraphs, and breaking according to shifts in subject matter.

10. The method as set forth in claim 8 further comprising:

determining by a computer system a dominant genre of each segment; and

annotating by a computer each segment on the sequential graph according to the dominant genre corresponding to each segment.