Method and system for displaying an image instead of data

• US 7,207,009 B1
• Filed: 11/01/2000
• Issued: 04/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Snapkauskas, Darius, Aamodt, Jeffrey R., Levin, David E., Bentsen, Brett A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): BASOM, BLAINE T
• Application Number:
  US09/704,171
• Time in Patent Office: 2,358 Days
• Field of Search: 345/968, 345/780, 345/835, 345/839, 707/2, 715/503, 715/509, 715/968, 715/780, 715/835, 715/839, 715/772, 715/504, 715/505, 715/506, 715/507, 715/508, 715/746, 715/775, 705/8, 705/9
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

Displaying graphical indicators, instead of data, based on user-defined conditions. The user can specify conditions for displaying graphical indicators instead of actual data by specifying a test, values, and an image. The graphical indicators can be pre-assigned images that are dynamically applied based on the underlying text or numeric data values. Graphical indicators allow the user to visually represent data types or categories with graphics, based on the user'"'"'s conditions. Different conditions can be specified for a given data field and each condition can be associated with a particular graphical indicator. Prioritized processing of data conditions allow for complex control of which indicator will be displayed to visually represent the data. When the underlying data in a field changes, the criteria can be reapplied and the field dynamically updated to the appropriate indicator.

Claims

1. A method in a computer implemented project information management system, the method comprising:

providing a project having summary tasks and non-summary tasks, each summary task and non-summary task having a cost field with project cost information and each summary task including a plurality of non-summary tasks;

for each summary task and non-summary task, receiving from a user a display option indicating whether to display text data or graphical indicators for the cost field;

receiving from the user a summary under budget threshold, a summary under budget graphical indicator, a summary over budget threshold, and a summary over budget graphical indicator for summary data contained in the cost field; and

receiving from the user a non-summary under budget threshold, a non-summary under budget graphical indicator, a non-summary over budget threshold, and a non-summary over budget graphical indicator for non-summary data contained in the cost field, wherein the received thresholds and indicators can be different for each summary task and non-summary task;

validating and storing the received thresholds, indicators, and display option;

processing the cost field for each summary task and non-summary task;

when processing the cost field for each summary task and non-summary task,

determining whether the display option indicates displaying graphical indicators or text data for the field;

if the display option indicates to display text data, displaying text data for the cost field;

if the display option indicates to display graphical indicators and the cost field contains summary data,

retrieving the stored summary under budget and summary over budget thresholds;

comparing the project cost information contained in the cost field with the summary under budget threshold;

if the project cost information is less than the under budget threshold, displaying the summary under budget graphical indicator;

comparing the project cost information contained in the cost field with the summary over budget;

if the project cost information threshold is greater than the summary over budget threshold, displaying the summary over budget indicator;

if the display option indicates to display graphical indicators and the cost field contains non-summary data,

retrieving the stored non-summary under budget and summary over budget thresholds;

comparing the project cost information contained in the cost field with the non-summary under budget threshold;

if the project cost information is less than the non-summary under budget threshold, displaying the non-summary under budget graphical indicator;

comparing the project cost information contained in the cost field with the non-summary over budget threshold; and

if the project cost information is greater than the non-summary over budget threshold, displaying the non-summary over budget indicator.

2. A method in a computer-implemented project information management system, the method comprising:

receiving a project having a plurality of tasks, each task having a cost field;

receiving from a user a display option indicating whether to display text data or graphical indicators for the cost field of a task;

receiving from a user an under budget threshold, a under budget graphical indicator, an over budget threshold, and an over budget graphical indicator for data contained in the cost field of the task, wherein the received thresholds and indicators can be different for each task;

processing the cost field for a task; and

when processing the cost field for a task,

determining whether the display option indicates displaying graphical indicators or text data for the cost field of the task;

when the display option indicates to display text data, displaying text data for the cost field; and

when the display option indicates to display graphical indicators,

when the cost field is less than the under budget threshold, displaying the under budget graphical indicator; and

when the cost field is greater than the over budget threshold, displaying the over budget graphical indicator.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the determining and displaying are performed in a prioritized order.

4. The method of claim 2 including when it is determined that the project cost information does not satisfy any of the thresholds, displaying the data value.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the graphical indicators is pre-defined.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the project cost information corresponds to an attribute of the project.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the thresholds and the graphical indicators are received via a user interface that provides pre-defined tests for use in a condition.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the thresholds and the graphical indicators are received via a user interface through which the user can specify whether the thresholds applies to summary or nonsummary data.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the summary data includes a project summary data.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein when a threshold applies to nonsummary data, receiving an indication as to whether the summary data inherits the same threshold.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps according to claim 2.

12. A project information management system, the system comprising:

a user interface that receives a project having a plurality of tasks, each task having a cost field;

memory storage that for each task, stores a display option indicating whether to display text data or graphical indicators for the cost field, and that for each task with a display option indicating to display graphical indicators, stores an under budget threshold, an under budget graphical indicator, an over budget threshold, and an over budget graphical indicator for the cost field of the task, wherein the received thresholds and indicators can be different for each task;

a graphical indicator engine that processes the cost field of a task, when processing the cost field for a task,

determines whether the display option indicates displaying graphical indicators or text data for the cost field;

when the display option indicates to display text data, displays text data for the cost field; and

when the display option indicates to display graphical indicators, retrieves the stored under budget and over budget thresholds;

compares project cost information contained in the cost field with the under budget threshold;

when the project cost information is less than the under budget threshold, displays the under budget graphical indicator;

compares the project cost information contained in the cost field with the over budget threshold; and

when the project cost information is greater than the over budget threshold, displays the over budget graphical indicator.

13. The project information management system of claim 12 wherein the determining and displaying are performed in a prioritized order.

14. The project information management system of claim 12 wherein when processing the cost field for a task, if the component determines that the project cost information does not satisfy any of the thresholds, the component displays the data value.

15. The project information management system of claim 12 wherein at least one of the graphical indicators is pre-defined.

16. The project information management system of claim 12 wherein the project cost information corresponds to an attribute of the project.

17. The project information management system of claim 12 further comprising a component that receives the thresholds and the graphical indicators via a user interface that provides pre-defined tests for use in a condition.

18. The project information management system of claim 12 further comprising a component that receives the thresholds and the graphical indicators via a user interface through which the user can specify whether the thresholds applies to summary or nonsummary data.

19. The project information management system of claim 18 wherein the summary data includes a project summary data.

20. The project information management system of claim 18 wherein when a threshold applies to nonsummary data, the component receives an indication as to whether the summary data inherits the same threshold.