Dynamic control of graphic representations of data

• US 7,460,123 B1
• Filed: 05/05/2008
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Hull, Doug
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung; Kee M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMS, MICHELLE L
• Application Number:
  US12/151,351
• Time in Patent Office: 211 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 345/440.1, 715/974, 715/833
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

The present invention provides user selections to control of one or more graphical representations of data in a graphical display. User selections can include parts of the graphical display, such as tick marks, offset bars scale values, combination bars and/or the graphical representations themselves. Repositioning and rescaling of the graphical representations may be performed without rescaling of the underlying data. Multiple series of data may be viewed and quickly moved and/or rescaled to determine trends and/or relationship between and/or among the series of data.

Claims

1. One or more device readable media storing executable instructions that when executed by a processor vary a relationship between series of data, the media storing one or more instructions for:

identifying;

a first series of data, the first series of data associated with;

a first axis,

a second axis, and

a first scale bracket that is related to the first series of data such that the first series of data is displaced or rescaled based on an interaction with the first scale bracket, the first scale bracket including;

a lower tick mark, and

an upper tick mark,

where the first scale bracket is rescaled based on an instruction related to the lower tick mark or the upper tick mark, and

a second series of data, the second series of data having a relationship with the first series of data, the second series of data associated with;

a second scale bracket that is related to the second series of data such that the second series of data is displaced or rescaled based on an interaction with the second scale bracket;

receiving the instruction associated with the lower tick mark or the upper tick mark;

rescaling the first scale bracket in response to the instruction;

modifying the first series of data, the modifying varying the relationship between the first series of data and the second series of data;

displaying;

the modified first series of data, and

the second series of data,

where the displaying visually presents the varied relationship; and

displacing;

the first series of data on a display, or

the second series of data on the display.

2. The one or more media of claim 1, wherein the first series of data represents a time-varying signal.

3. The one or more media of claim 1, wherein the lower tick mark represents a lower limit and the upper tick mark represents an upper limit.

4. The one or more media of claim 1, wherein the first series of data or the second series of data are changed in response to a user selection associated with a component in the display.

5. The one or more media of claim 1, wherein the modified first series of data or the second series of data are displayed in response to execution of one or more MATLAB compatible instructions.

6. One or more device readable media storing executable instructions that when executed by a processor display data, the media storing one or more instructions for:

identifying a first series of data, the first series of data associated with;

a first axis,

a second axis,

a third axis, and

one or more displaceable axis segments, the one or more displaceable axis segments related to the first series of data, where the one or more displaceable axis segments are displaced in one or more dimensions on a graphical display in response to an instruction, the displaceable axis segment including;

a first limit, and

a second limit, where

the displaceable axis segment is rescaled based on an interaction with the first limit or the second limit;

identifying a second series of data, where the second series of data has an initial relationship with the first series of data;

modifying at least one of the one or more displaceable axis segments, the modifying altering a visual representation of the first series of data on the graphical display, the modifying further producing a modified relationship between the first series of data and the second series of data;

displaying;

the first series of data in the graphical display according to the altered visual representation, and

the second series of data on the graphical display,

where the displaying visually represents the modified relationship between the first series of data and the second series of data.

7. The one or more media of claim 6, wherein the identifying the first series of data, the identifying the second series of data, the modifying, or the displaying are performed using one or more MATLAB compatible instructions.

8. One or more device readable media storing executable instructions that when executed by a processor display acquired data, the media storing one or more instructions for:

acquiring data;

forming the acquired data into a first series of data;

displaying;

the first series of data with respect to a first axis or a second axis, and

a second series of data, where the second series of data has a visual relationship with the first series of data;

modifying the first series of data using a scale bracket that is associated with the first axis or the second axis such that modifying a value of a first tick mark or of a second tick mark associated with the scale bracket rescales the scale bracket, the modifying further altering the visual relationship between the first series of data and the second series of data producing an altered visual relationship; and

redisplaying the first series of data, where

the redisplaying provides the rescaled first series of data and the second series of data on a display such that the altered visual relationship is visible in a graphical display, and where

a location of the first series of data is determined by a position of the scale bracket on the graphical display.

9. The one or more media of claim 8, where the redisplaying occurs while the data is acquired.

10. The one or more media of claim 8, wherein the acquiring, the forming, the displaying, the modifying, or the redisplaying are performed by executing one or more MATLAB compatible instructions.

11. The one or more media of claim 8, further comprising:

displacing the first series of data or displacing the rescaled first series of data in response to a user selection associated with the scale bracket.

12. The one or more media of claim 8, wherein the value of the first tick mark or the value of the second tick mark is modified in response to movement of a cursor.

13. One or more device readable media storing executable instructions that when executed by a processor display a graphical representation in an object based graphical user interface, the media storing one or more instructions for:

identifying a first graphical representation;

relating the first graphical representation to a first object that represents an axis segment that can be associated with a first value and a second value;

displaying the first graphical representation in the graphical user interface, where the first graphical representation is displayed with respect to a first axis or a second axis, where the first axis or the second axis are represented via an object;

displaying a second graphical representation in the graphical user interface, where the second graphical representation has a display relationship with the first graphical representation;

modifying the first graphical representation based on a selection related to the first value or the second value;

redisplaying the first graphical representation with respect to the second graphical representation in the graphical user interface, where

the redisplaying displays the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation in a modified display relationship that differs from the display relationship; and

receiving an instruction for displacing the first graphical representation or the second graphical representation in the graphical user interface, where the displacing increases or decreases a distance between the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation in the graphical user interface.

14. The one or more media of claim 13, wherein the identifying, the relating, the displaying the first graphical representation, the displaying the second graphical representation, the modifying, or the redisplaying are performed in response to executing one or more MATLAB compatible instructions.

15. A method for establishing a relationship between a graphical representation and an axis, the method comprising:

identifying a first graphical representation;

relating the first graphical representation to a first axis and a second axis, the relating forming a relationship between;

the first axis and the first graphical representation, or

the second axis and the first graphical representation, where the relationship causes the first graphical representation to display in a first manner in a graphical user interface;

identifying a first relationship between the first graphical representation and a second graphical representation, where

the first relationship determines an appearance of the first graphical representation with respect to the second graphical representation in the graphical user interface;

modifying the first axis or the second axis in response to an instruction associated with an axis segment displayed proximate to the axis being modified, the modifying causing the first graphical representation to display in a second manner in the graphical user interface; and

displaying the first graphical representation in the second manner, the second manner representing a second relationship between the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation in the graphical user interface.

16. One or more device readable media storing executable instructions that when executed by a processor display graphical representations, the media storing one or more instructions for:

receiving a first graphical representation from a remote device, the first graphical representation including underlying data;

providing a second graphical representation;

identifying a visual relationship between the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation;

displaying the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation according to the relationship;

identifying a first axis and a second axis associated with the first graphical representation, where the first axis or the second axis is related to an axis segment that is used to change one or more characteristics of the first axis or the second axis, the axis segment including a limit;

receiving a modified first graphical representation, where the modified first graphical representation is produced in response to an interaction with the limit of the axis segment, where the modifying alters a visual relationship between the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation without changing the underlying data associated with the first graphical representation; and

redisplaying the first graphical representation, the redisplaying providing the first graphical representation in the changed visual relationship with respect to the second graphical representation, where

the redisplayed first graphical representation can be displaced in at least one dimension via an instruction associated with;

the first graphical representation,

the axis segment,

the first axis, or

the second axis.

17. The one or more media of claim 16, where one or more of the executable instructions are MATLAB compatible instructions.

18. The one or more media of claim 16, further holding one or more instructions for:

extracting a relationship between;

the first graphical representation and the modified graphical representation,

the first graphical representation and the second graphical representation, or

the modified graphical representation and the second graphical representation.

19. The one or more media of claim 16, where the redisplaying includes dynamically updating a user interface.

20. The one or more media of claim 16, wherein the axis segment, the first axis, or the second axis are implemented using one or more objects.