Attaching and displaying annotations to changing data views

• US 7,870,152 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2003
• Issued: 01/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tran, Hoa T., Rapp, William C., Fish, Douglas R., Rath, Cale T., Cragun, Brian J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil; Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hicks; Michael J
• Application Number:
  US10/691,287
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,638 Days
• Field of Search: 707/781
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata

Abstract

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture that may be used to attach annotations to a particular view of data described by the annotation are provided. The annotation may be attached in a manner that allows the annotation to be viewed when subsequent views having at least some visible cells in common with the annotated view are displayed. An annotation created for a view of data may be stored with links to each cell visible in the view. When a predetermined set of cells visible in the annotated view are subsequently displayed in another view, the annotation may be retrieved via the cell links and an indication of the annotation may be provided.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing an indication of an annotation to a portion of a first view of data, comprising configuring one or more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:

receiving an annotation to the portion of the first view of data, wherein a view of data is any collection of tabular data containing visible query-related sub-objects and returned from executing a database query, and wherein the portion of the first view of data comprises a subset of the visible query-related sub-objects, wherein the subset includes at least two of the visible query-related sub-objects;

receiving user input specifying one or more visible query-related sub-objects of the annotated portion of the first view of data, for which the annotation is visible

storing the annotation to the portion of the first view of data;

generating a relationship between the annotation and at least one visible query-related sub-object of the portion of the first view of data, responsive to receiving to receiving the annotation to the portion of the first view of data;

storing the relationship between the annotation and at least one visible query-related sub-object of the portion of the first view of data;

providing an interface, wherein a second view of data is displayed via the interface;

analyzing, by operation of the one or more computer processors, the second view of data to identify query-related sub-objects visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data, based on the generated relationship; and

providing an indication of the annotation in the interface, upon determining that the specified one or more query-related sub-objects is visible in the second view of data, wherein providing an indication of the annotation in the interface comprises displaying an icon proximate one or more query-related sub-objects visible in the second view of data that are also visible in the annotated portion of the first view of data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein more than one annotation is associated with one or more portions of data in the second view and separate icons for each annotation are displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises displaying the annotation in response to a user selecting the icon.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises providing an indication of one or more query-related sub-objects visible in the second view of data that are also visible in the annotated portion of the first view of data.

5. A computer implemented method of creating and displaying an annotation associated with an annotated portion of a first view of data, comprising configuring one or more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:

providing an interface, wherein the annotated portion of the first view of data is selected via the interface, wherein the annotation is created via the interface, wherein the annotated portion comprises at least two cells visible in the first view of data and wherein a view of data is any collection of tabular data containing visible query-related sub-objects;

receiving user input specifying one or more cells visible in the annotated portion of the first view of data, for which the annotation is visible

creating a record containing the annotation and a link to at least one cell in the annotated portion;

creating an entry in a link table for at least one cell in the annotated portion, wherein the entry for at least one cell contains an indication of the record;

presenting a second view of data;

analyzing, by operation of the one or more computer processors, the second view of data, the record, and the link table to identify cells visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data; and

providing an indication of the annotation, upon determining the specified one or more cells visible in the first view of data are visible in the second view of data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more cells are specified by a user via the interface allowing selection of the annotated portion of the first view of data and creation of the annotation.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the operation further comprises providing a mechanism for identifying the one or more cells, wherein the mechanism is accessible by a human user or a software application.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the entry for the at least one cell contains an identifier uniquely identifying the record containing the annotation.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein analyzing the second view of data to identify cells visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data comprises:

querying the link table to identify one or more annotations describing views of data containing cells in the second view of data;

retrieving annotation records for the one or more identified annotations; and

identifying one or more cells visible in both the second view of data and views described by the identified annotations, based on cell links stored in the retrieved annotation record.

10. A computer implemented method for providing an indication of an annotation to a portion of a first view of data, comprising configuring one or more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:

receiving an annotation to a portion of the first view of data, wherein a view of data is any collection of tabular data containing visible query-related sub-objects and returned from executing a database query, and wherein the portion of the first view of data comprises a subset of the visible query-related sub-objects, wherein the subset includes at least two of the visible query-related sub-objects;

receiving user input specifying one or more visible query-related sub-objects of the annotated portion of the first view of data, for which the annotation is visible

storing at least one query-related sub-object link for the annotation to the portion of the first view of data;

providing an interface, wherein a second view of data is displayed via the interface;

analyzing, by operation of the one or more computer processors, the second view of data and the at least one query-related sub-object link to identify query-related sub-objects visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data, comprising;

obtaining the at least one query-related sub-object link stored with the annotation; and

identifying query-related sub-objects identified by the at least one query-related sub-object link that are visible in the second view of data, and

providing an indication of the annotation in the interface, upon determining that the specified one or more query-related sub-objects is visible in the second view of data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein analyzing the second view of data to identify query-related sub-objects visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data further comprises:

obtaining, based on query-related sub-objects visible in the second view of data, an indication of the annotation from a table; and

wherein obtaining at least one query-related sub-object link stored with the annotation comprises retrieving a record containing the annotation and the query-related sub-object link using the indication of the annotation obtained from the table.

12. A computer implemented method for providing an indication of an annotation to a portion of a first view of data, comprising configuring one or more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:

receiving an annotation to a portion of the first view of data, wherein a view of data is any collection of tabular data containing visible query-related sub-objects and returned from executing a database query, and wherein the portion of the first view of data comprises a subset of the visible query-related sub-objects, wherein the subset includes at least two of the visible query-related sub-objects;

receiving user input specifying one or more visible query-related sub-objects of the annotated portion of the first view of data, for which the annotation is visible

storing the annotation to the portion of the first view of data;

providing an interface, wherein a second view of data is displayed via the interface;

analyzing, by operation of the one or more computer processors, the second view of data and the annotation to the portion of the first view of data to identify query-related sub-objects visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data; and

providing an indication of the annotation in the interface, upon determining that both;

(i) the specified one or more query-related sub-objects visible in the second view of data are visible in the annotated portion of the first view of data and (ii) at least one query-related sub-object of the subset is visible in the second view of data.

13. A computer readable storage medium containing a view annotation program which, when executed, performs an operation for providing an indication of an annotation to a portion of a first view of data, the operation comprising:

receiving an annotation to the portion of the first view of data, wherein a view of data is any collection of tabular data containing visible query-related sub-objects and returned from executing a database query, and wherein the portion of the first view of data comprises a subset of the visible query-related sub-objects, wherein the subset includes at least two of the visible query-related sub-objects;

receiving user input specifying one or more visible query-related sub-objects of the annotated portion of the first view of data, for which the annotation is visible

storing the annotation to the portion of the first view of data;

generating a relationship between the annotation and at least one visible query-related sub-object of the portion of the first view of data;

storing the relationship between the annotation and at least one visible query-related sub-object of the portion of the first view of data;

providing an interface, wherein a second view of data is displayed via the interface;

analyzing the second view of data to identify query-related sub-objects visible in both the second view of data and the annotated portion of the first view of data, based on the generated relationship; and

providing an indication of the annotation in the interface, upon determining that the specified one or more query-related sub-objects is visible in the second view of data, wherein providing an indication of the annotation in the interface comprises displaying an icon proximate one or more query-related sub-objects visible in the second view of data that are also visible in the annotated portion of the first view of data.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein more than one annotation is associated with one or more portions of data in the second view and separate icons for each annotation are displayed.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operation further comprises displaying the annotation in response to a user selecting the icon.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operation further comprises providing an indication of one or more query-related sub-objects visible in the second view of data that are also visible in the annotated portion of the first view of data.