Method for displaying bar graph without totaling data and program storage medium thereof

• US 6,429,869 B1
• Filed: 05/13/1999
• Issued: 08/06/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yoshikawa, Kohei, Kamakura, Kazushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Shalwala, Bipin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Said, Mansour M.
• Application Number:
  US09/311,256
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 345/140, 345/173, 345/156, 345/163, 345/35, 345/36, 345/39, 345/440, 345/349, 345/839, 345/440.2, 340/825.37
• US Class Current: 345/440.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 1/162 for displaying digital inputs as analog magnitudes, e.g. curves, bar graphs, coordinate axes, singly or in combination with alpha-numeric characters cathode-ray oscilloscopes for displaying analog inputs, singly or in combination with alpha-numeric characters G01R13/20; television receiver circuitry for displaying supplementary, e.g. alpha-numeric, information H04N5/445
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

There is provided a bar graph displaying method as well as a program storage medium of the method capable of easily displaying a bar graph in which each of bar portions is divided into two regions without requiring a user to perform calculation of totaling a large amount of data. A set of elements having a name attribute, a residence attribute and an age attribute is classified into subsets having no common elements by the residence attribute. Each of the subsets is divided into two regions on the basis of a threshold value of the age attribute, and the bar graph in which the bar portions corresponding to the subsets are each divided is displayed. The threshold value is displayed by the position of a bar arranged on a slider in which a setting range and a unit of the above threshold value are shown. If the bar on the slider is slid to vary the threshold value, then the subsets are each redivided on the basis of the varied threshold value, and the bar graph of the redivided subsets is redisplayed.

Claims

1. A bar graph displaying method for classifying a set of elements having a plurality of attributes into subsets by one attribute among the plurality of attributes, the subsets having no common part, and displaying the number of elements of the subsets in the form of a bar graph, comprising the steps of:

dividing each of the subsets into two regions on the basis of a more detailed division condition relevant to the attribute used for classifying the set into the subsets or a division condition relevant to another attribute among the plurality of attributes;

displaying a bar graph in which a bar portion corresponding to each of the subsets is divided; and

wherein the division condition relevant to the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is a threshold value within a range of a value representing the attribute.

2. A program storage medium that stores a program for implementing the bar graph displaying method claimed in claim 1.

3. A bar graph displaying method for classifying a set of elements having a plurality of attributes into subsets by one attribute among the plurality of attributes, the subsets having no common part, and displaying the number of elements of the subsets in the form of a bar graph, comprising the steps of:

dividing each of the subsets into two regions on the basis of a more detailed division condition relevant to the attribute used for classifying the set into the subsets or a division condition relevant to another attribute among the plurality of attributes;

displaying a bar graph in which a bar portion corresponding to each of the subsets is divided;

wherein;

the division condition relevant to the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is a threshold value within a range of a numeric value representing the attribute, and

a slider area representing a range and a unit of the threshold value and a position of a slide section arranged on the slider area representing the threshold value are displayed.

4. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 3, wherein

detailed information of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of each of the subsets is displayed by a shape that represents a feature of the elements or an attribute that the elements own.

5. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 3, wherein

the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is varied by sliding the slide section on the slider area, each of the subsets is redivided into two regions on the basis of the varied threshold value, and a bar graph of the redivided subsets is redisplayed.

6. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 3, wherein

the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is varied by sliding the slide section on the slider area, each of the subsets is redivided into two regions on the basis of the varied threshold value, a bar graph of the redivided subsets is redisplayed, and detailed information of elements belonging to either one of the redivided regions of each of the subsets is displayed by a shape that represents a feature of the elements or an attribute that the elements own.

7. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 3, wherein

the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is determined so that the number of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of each of the subsets is kept approximately constant.

8. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 3, wherein

the threshold value of the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions is determined so that a ratio of the number of elements belonging to either one of the divided two regions of each of the subsets relative to the number of all the elements of the set is kept approximately constant.

9. A program storage medium that stores a program for implementing the bar graph displaying method claimed in any one of claims 4-8.

10. A program storage medium that stores a program for implementing the bar graph displaying method claimed in claim 3.

11. A bar graph displaying method comprising the steps of:

classifying a set of elements having a plurality of attributes into subsets by one attribute among the plurality of attributes, the subsets having no common part; and

displaying the number of elements of the subsets in the form of a bar graph including one or more bar portions, one for each subset,

said displaying including;

dividing each of the subsets into two regions on the basis of a more detailed division condition relevant to the attribute used for classifying the set into the subsets or a division condition relevant to another attribute among the plurality of attributes,

retrieving records of each element in each of the two regions of each of the subsets, and

dividing the bar portion for each of the subsets based on information determined from said retrieving records of each element in each of the two regions.

12. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said dividing includes:

determining a number of records retrieved in each of the two regions of each of the subsets, and

dividing the bar portion for each of the subsets based on the number or records retrieved in each of the two regions of each of the subsets.

13. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in either of claims 11 or 12, wherein said displaying further includes setting a threshold value within a range of a numeric value representing the attribute as the division condition relevant to the attribute for dividing each of the subsets into the two regions.

14. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said displaying further includes displaying a slider area representing a range and a unit of the threshold value and a position of a slide section arranged on the slider area representing the threshold value.

15. A bar graph displaying method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said displaying further includes performing said dividing of each of the subsets and said retrieving for all subsets before the bar graph is displayed.