Systems and methods that facilitate process monitoring, navigation, and parameter-based magnification

• US 7,479,970 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2005
• Issued: 01/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Christman, Curtis, Hanswadkar, Kaivalya Laxmikant, Ball, Steven J., Williams, Shane F.
• Primary Examiner(s): HARRISON, CHANTE E
• Application Number:
  US11/137,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20060268018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 345/440.2, 345660-661, 345/664, 345/665, 715/700, 715/708, 715/733, 715/736, 715/744, 715/763
• US Class Current: 345/660
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]

Abstract

The subject invention relates to a system and/or methodology that facilitate navigation and monitoring of one or more processes. Within each process, one or more activities or events can be monitored. In particular, navigation through a process can be improved by employing a parameter-based magnification tool. The invention provides for a magnification component that can navigate through aggregations of activities as they relate to one or more processes according to a parameter or metric unit. As a result, a user can view a business process or scheme, for instance, from multiple perspectives at the same time or individually to observe its state or status, trends or patterns, locate problems areas, inefficiencies, or efficiencies within the process, and/or optimize the process or a sub-part thereof.

Claims

1. A computer implemented user interface that facilitates process monitoring comprising:

one or more bands distributed across a display screen, the one or more bands comprising data corresponding to one or more processes;

a simulation component implemented by a computer that incorporates at least one change into a process and simulates operation of the process to facilitate determining how the at least one change impacts the process;

at least one context magnification control that exposes a contextualized view of at least a portion of the one or more bands, whereby the contextualized view is based in part on one or more selected parameters, wherein the parameters are weighted; and

one or more navigation components implemented by the computer that control navigation and visualization of the one or more bands to facilitate viewing the one or more processes in real-time or near real-time.

2. The user interface of claim 1, the one or more processes comprise one or more activities and one or more objects.

3. The user interface of claim 2, at least one of the one or more activities and the one or more objects exhibit a color that indicates a cuffent state thereof.

4. The user interface of claim 1, the one or more bands comprise a plurality of sub-bands.

5. The user interface of claim 4, the one or more navigation components comprise a band expansion control that opens at least one band to expose the plurality of sub-bands.

6. The user interface of claim 4, the sub-bands comprise data corresponding to at least one of the following:

one or more sub-processes, one or more activities, and one or more objects.

7. The user interface of claim 1, the one or more bands are distributed vertically or horizontally and adjacent to one another.

8. The user interface of claim 1, at least one band exhibits at least one color that indicates a current state of the at least one process.

9. The user interface of claim 1, the one or more navigation components provide toggle control between a state view and a process map view of at least one band or sub-band.

10. The user interface of claim 1, further comprising a band configuration component that configures the one or more bands with at least one process.

11. The user-interface of claim 1, the parameters comprise trend type, trend scope, magnification scale, and context scope of activities associated with the at least one process.

12. The user-interface of claim 1, the context magnification control provides a contextual zoom into at least one process, activity, event, or instance.

13. The user-interface of claim 1, further comprising a storage component that saves the context magnification control for re-use.

14. The user-interface of claim 1, further comprising an association component that permanently associates at least one context magnification control with one or more bands to automatically magnify the one or more band when selected.

15. The user-interface of claim 1, further comprising a view filter that filters contextually magnified views of the one or more bands.

16. A computer implemented user interface that facilitates process monitoring comprising:

one or more bands distributed across a display screen, the one or more bands comprising data corresponding to one or more processes;

a modification component implemented by a computer that suggests at least one change to optimize at least one process; and

a simulation component implemented by the computer that incorporates the at least one change in the process and simulates operation of the process to facilitate determining how the at least one change impacts the process.

17. The user interface of claim 16, further comprising a display component that presents at least one view of the at least one process, the at least one view comprising a state view and a process map view.

18. The user interface of claim 16, the at least one process comprises at least one of the following:

one or more activities, events, instances, and objects.

19. The user interface of claim 16, further comprising:

a navigation component that allows a user to move or copy at least a portion of the process into another process or to a different portion of the same process; and

an integration component that implements such change to the process in real-time or near real-time.

20. The user interface of claim 16, further comprising an incremental view filter that alters the view of the at least one process or portion thereof by displaying various amounts or types of information based on one or more selected parameters.

21. A computer implemented user interface that facilitates process monitoring comprising:

one or more bands distributed across a display screen, the one or more bands comprising data corresponding to one or more processes;

a simulation component implemented by a computer that incorporates at least one modification into at least one process and simulates real-time operation of the process to facilitate determining how the at least one modification impacts the process; and

one or more navigation components implemented by the computer that control navigation and visualization of the one or more bands to facilitate viewing the one or more processes in real-time or near real-time.