Interactive data exploration apparatus and methods
First Claim
1. A business data exploration and analysis apparatus for discovering useful patterns in database information and for interactively specifying one or more operations on business data stored as database information, the apparatus being employed in a system which has a display, an input device, and access to the business data and the apparatus comprising:
- a first acyclical directed graph of one or more nodes and edges in the display, a node in the first acyclical directed graph representing a business data operation and an edge ending in a node in the first acyclical directed graph indicating that the node from which the edge comes is a source of business data for the operation performed by the node at which the edge ends, the first acyclical directed graph providing a derivational history of the operation or operations on the business data, at least one operation comprising a query, segmentation, aggregation or a viewer operation to determine useful patterns in the business data by determining relationships in the business data, andfirst means responsive to the input device for executing operations specified in nodes of the first graph on the business data specified by the edges thereof.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data exploration tool which has a graphical user interface that employs directed graphs to provide histories of the data exploration operations. Nodes in the directed graphs represent operations on data; the edges represent relationships between the operations. One type of the directed graphs is the derivation graph, in which the root of the graph is a node representing a data set and an edge leading from a first node to a second node indicates that the operation represented by the second node is performed on the result of the operation represented by the first node. Operations include query, segmentation, aggregation, and data view operations. A user may edit the derivation graph and may select a node for execution. When that is done, all of the operations represented by the nodes between the root node and the selected node are performed as indicated in the graph. The operations are performed using techniques of lazy evaluation and encachement of results with the nodes. Another type of the directed graphs is the subsumption graph, in which an edge leading from a first node to a second node indicates that the second node stands in a subsumption relationship to the first node. If a result of the operation represented by the first node has been computed, the result is available to calculate the result of the operation represented by the second node.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A business data exploration and analysis apparatus for discovering useful patterns in database information and for interactively specifying one or more operations on business data stored as database information, the apparatus being employed in a system which has a display, an input device, and access to the business data and the apparatus comprising:
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a first acyclical directed graph of one or more nodes and edges in the display, a node in the first acyclical directed graph representing a business data operation and an edge ending in a node in the first acyclical directed graph indicating that the node from which the edge comes is a source of business data for the operation performed by the node at which the edge ends, the first acyclical directed graph providing a derivational history of the operation or operations on the business data, at least one operation comprising a query, segmentation, aggregation or a viewer operation to determine useful patterns in the business data by determining relationships in the business data, and first means responsive to the input device for executing operations specified in nodes of the first graph on the business data specified by the edges thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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- 22. A business data exploration and analysis apparatus for discovering useful patterns in data base information and for interactively specifying one or more operations to determine useful patterns in the business data by determining relationships in the business data, each operation having source data and result data and the apparatus being employed in a system which has a display, an input device for specifying the operations, and access to the data, the apparatus further comprising a first acyclical directed graph of one or more nodes and edges in the display for representing in the display a plurality of different relationships between the result data produced by a first operation and the result data produced by a second operation a node in the first acyclical directed graph representing a business data operation and an edge ending in a node in the first acyclical directed graph indicating that the node from which the edge comes is a source of business data for the operation performed by the node at which the edge ends, the first acyclical directed graph providing a derivational history of the operation or operations on the business data at least one operation comprising a query, segmentation, aggregation or a viewer operation to determine useful patterns in the business data by determining relationships in the business data.
Specification