Time relevance-based visualization of data

• US 7,924,283 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2006
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Keim, Daniel A., Schreck, Tobias, Hao, Ming, Dayal, Umeshwar
• Primary Examiner(s): Chauhan; Ulka
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ricks; Donna J
• Application Number:
  US11/523,240
• Time in Patent Office: 1,666 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619, 345440-4422, 345/660, 715/275
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A method for displaying a time-series data set. The method may include determining a number of data intervals for the data set, determining a data resolution for each data interval, partitioning a display space into a number of substantially equally sized partitions equal to the number of data intervals, partitioning the dataset into a number of time-relevance-based subsets equal to the number of partitions based on the currentness of the data and the desired data resolution for each partition, determining a data layout for each partition, and associating the data values for each subset with the corresponding layout. Furthermore, the first subset may consist of more current data at a first resolution and the second subset may consist of data that is less current than the first subset at a lower resolution than the first resolution.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a time-series data set comprising:

determining, by a computer, a number of data intervals for the data set having data points, wherein the number of data intervals is at least two;

determining, by the computer, a data resolution for each data interval;

partitioning, by the computer, a display space into a number of substantially equally sized partitions equal to the number of data intervals;

partitioning, by the computer, the data set into a number of time-relevance-based subsets equal to the number of partitions based on a currentness of the data and a corresponding data resolution for each partition;

wherein

a first of the subsets includes more current data at a first resolution; and

a second of the subsets includes data that is less current than the first subset at a lower resolution than the first resolution;

determining, by the computer, a data layout for each of the partitions, wherein a first of the partitions contains a first grid of cells displayed at the first resolution, wherein a second of the partitions contains a second grid of cells displayed at the lower resolution, wherein each of the cells represent a corresponding at least one data point in the data set, wherein the cells in the first grid displayed at the first resolution are larger in size than the cells in the second grid displayed at the second resolution;

presenting the partitions for output in the display space;

receiving additional data points; and

automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions in response to receiving the additional data points such that the cells of the first grid are reduced in size, and the cells of the second grid are reduced in size, wherein automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions allows for the additional data points and the data points of the data set to be displayed in the display space without increasing a size of the display space.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the display space is an interactive display space.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising coloring each of the cells, wherein the color of each cell corresponds to at least a first data value associated with the at least one data point represented by the cell.

4. The method of claim 3 where the data intervals are calendar-based intervals and the cells are grouped into units that are laid out to indicate the calendar-based intervals.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

providing a maximum amount of available space for each cell grouping; and

filling up a percentage of the available space with each corresponding cell grouping to indicate a second data value associated with the data points represented by the cells within the corresponding cell grouping.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the cells in the first grid is larger than any of the cells in the second grid.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the cells in the first and second grids are two-dimensional cells having sizes determined by a corresponding one of the first and second resolutions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a first number of cells in the first grid, wherein the first number is dependent upon sizes of the cells in the first grid;

displaying a second number of cells in the second grid, wherein the second number is dependent upon sizes of the cells in the second grid.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions in response to receiving the additional data points is performed without user intervention.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining different types of shapes to use to represent at least two of the partitions, wherein the type of shape to use for each of the partitions is performed on a partition-by-partition basis.

11. A method for displaying time-series data comprising:

obtaining time-series data comprising a plurality of data points;

dividing, by a computer, the data into N data subsets, wherein N is at least 2;

displaying, in a display space on a display device, the N data subsets in N corresponding partitions;

wherein;

the data subset in a first of the partitions is displayed at a first resolution in a first grid of cells; and

the data subset in a second of the partitions is displayed at a second, different resolution in a second grid of cells,

wherein the second resolution being different from the first resolution causes the cells in the first grid to have different sizes than the cells in the second grid,

receiving additional data points; and

automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions in response to receiving the additional data points such that the cells of the first grid are reduced in size, and the cells of the second grid are reduced in size, wherein automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions allows for the additional data points and the data points of the time-series data to be displayed in the display space without increasing a size of the display space.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising assigning a color to at least some of the cells, wherein the assigned color indicates a value associated with the one or more data points represented by the cell.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising dividing the time-series data into calendar-based intervals.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein a first of the subsets comprises data points that are more current than data points in a second of the subsets.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the sizes of the cells in the first grid are controlled by the first resolution, and the sizes of the cells in the second grid are controlled by the second resolution.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions in response to receiving the additional data points is performed without user intervention.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining different types of shapes to use to represent at least two of the partitions, wherein the type of shape to use for each of the partitions is performed on a partition-by-partition basis.

18. A non-transitory computer-usable medium embodying computer program code for commanding a computer to create a time-series data display by performing the steps of:

obtaining a time-series data set comprising a plurality of data points;

dividing the data set into N data subsets based on time currentness of the data, wherein N is at least 2;

simultaneously displaying the N data subsets in a display space, wherein a first data subset is displayed at a first resolution and a second data subset is displayed at a second, different resolution,

wherein displaying the N data subsets comprises displaying the first data subset in a first grid of cells at the first resolution, and displaying the second data subset in a second grid of cells at the second resolution, wherein the cells in the first and second grids represent corresponding data points of the data set, and wherein sizes of the cells are determined by corresponding ones of the first and second resolutions;

receive additional data points; and

automatically decrease the first and second resolutions in response to receiving the additional data points such that the cells of the first grid are reduced in size, and the cells of the second grid are reduced in size, wherein automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions allows for the additional data points and the data points of the data set to be displayed in the display space without increasing a size of the display space.

19. The computer-usable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer program code is for commanding the computer to further perform:

determining a total display area for the display space; and

dividing the total display area into N partitions, wherein the N partitions are substantially of the same size, and wherein the N subsets are displayed in corresponding ones of the N partitions.

20. The computer-usable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer program code is for commanding the computer to further perform:

determining different types of shapes to use to represent at least two of the partitions, wherein the type of shape to use for each of the partitions is performed on a partition-by-partition basis.

21. The computer-usable medium of claim 18, wherein each of the cells in the first grid is larger than any of the cells in the second grid.

22. The computer-usable medium of claim 18, wherein automatically decreasing the first and second resolutions in response to receiving the additional data points is performed without user intervention.