Hyperlinked relational database visualization system

• US 6,282,547 B1
• Filed: 08/25/1998
• Issued: 08/28/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Informix Software, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirsch, Peter Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Application Number:
  US09/139,793
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102-103, 707/1-6, 707/501, 707/513, 707/104, 345/356, 345/357, 345/340-341, 345/346, 705/8-10, 705/36-37, 717/1, 717/11
• US Class Current: 715/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A computer operated apparatus for generating a visual information system is disclosed. A virtual world associated with an application is built using building blocks such as scenes, data sources, global parameters, and resources. A scene is a visual display of information much like a presentation slide, except that the information may be linked to data stored in a database or other data storage systems. Within a scene, values resulting from a data source are represented graphically as user-defined data elements. Data sources are built with a block diagraming tool which generates one or more database queries. The queries may be SQL queries. Scenes are created with a drawing editor which transparently binds data sources to the graphical elements of the scenes. When the virtual world is completed, an execution image of the virtual world may be represented as byte code. The byte code representing the virtual world may be executed by a runtime control to provide desired information to users.

Claims

1. A hyperlink system for viewing a plurality of visualization scenes of a relational database from a viewpoint, comprising:

a first visualization scene located at a first distance from the viewpoint, wherein the first visualization scene includes context information;

a second visualization scene nested in the first scene and located at a second distance from the viewpoint, wherein the second visualization scene is configurable by the context information in the first visualization scene; and

a wormhole projecting from the first visualization scene to the second visualization scene based on the first and second distances, wherein the wormhole provides context information from the first scene to the second scene.

2. The hyperlink system of claim 1, wherein the second scene is characterized by one or more scene parameters and wherein the wormhole has a context information attribute to provide context information from the first scene to the second scene by setting the value of the one or more scene parameters that characterize the second scene.

3. The hyperlink system of claim 1, wherein each scene is displayed in one or more nested windows.

4. The hyperlink system of claim 1, wherein each scene contains one or more objects representing the content of the relational database.

5. The hyperlink system of claim 4, wherein each object is associated with a behavior, further comprising one or more notification events for triggering the object behavior as a user navigates the hyperlink system.

6. The hyperlink system of claim 1, wherein the first scene has a first zoom factor, and the first distance is proportional to the inverse of the first zoom factor.

7. The hyperlink system of claim 6, wherein the second scene has a second zoom factor, and the second distance is determined from the first distance and the inverse of the second zoom factor.

8. The hyperlink system of claim 7, further comprising a query generator coupled to the wormhole, wherein the query generator dynamically generates queries to the relational database to generate visualizations for the first and second scenes based on the first and second zoom factors.

9. A method for navigating a plurality of visualization scenes of a relational database, comprising:

navigating a first visualization scene having context information and containing a wormhole having a context information attribute to store the first visualization scene'"'"'s context information;

receiving a notification event to jump through the wormhole from the first visualization scene to a second visualization scene by rendering the second visualization scene according to the context information stored in the wormhole'"'"'s context information attribute.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second scene has a scene parameter and the wormhole provides the context information from the first scene to the second scene by setting the value of the scene parameter using the context information from the first scene.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the context information from the first scene is a global parameter, a scene parameter, or a query parameter.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the context information from the first scene comprises one or more global parameters.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the first scene is located a first distance from a viewpoint, the second scene is located a second distance from the viewpoint, and the wormhole projects from the first scene to the second scene based on the first and second distances.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising dynamically generating a relational database query in response to the received notification event based on the first and second distances.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first scene has a first zoom factor and the first distance is proportional to the inverse of the first zoom factor.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second scene has a second zoom factor and the second distance is determined from the first distance and the inverse of the second zoom factor.

17. A computer program product stored on a machine readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

navigate a first visualization scene of a relational database in response to a user input, wherein the first visualization scene has context information and contains a wormhole having a context information attribute to store the first visualization scene'"'"'s context information; and

receive a notification event to jump through the wormhole from the first visualization scene to a second visualization scene by rendering the second visualization scene according to the context information stored in the wormhole'"'"'s context information attribute.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the second scene has a scene parameter, further comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to provide the context information from the first scene to the second scene by setting the value of the scene parameter using the context information from the first scene.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the context information from the first scene is a global parameter, a scene parameter, or a query parameter.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the context information from the first scene comprises one or more global parameters.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the first scene is located a first distance from a viewpoint, the second scene is located a second distance from the viewpoint, and the wormhole projects from the first scene to the second scene based on the first and second distances.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to dynamically generate a relational database query in response to the received notification event.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the first scene has a first zoom factor and the first distance is proportional to the inverse of the first zoom factor.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second scene has a second zoom factor and the second distance is determined from the first distance and the inverse of the second zoom factor.