Interval generation for numeric data

• US 7,937,426 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 05/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Covington, Clinton D., Getsch, Timothy E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mai; Tan V
• Application Number:
  US11/479,590
• Publication Number:
  US 20080005210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,768 Days
• Field of Search: 708/200
• US Class Current: 708/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the generation of intervals from a selection of numeric data. An interval is a set of numeric data that is organized between two numeric values that may include one or both of those numeric values. In an embodiment, a data program 100 receives 502 a selection of data 118. A number of intervals 132 are generated 506 for the selected data set 118. The selected data 118 is organized into the several intervals 132. The intervals 132 are then provided 508 to the user.

Claims

1. A computer storage medium, executable on a computing system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer implemented method for providing intervals, the method comprising:

receiving a selection of data;

receiving a request to provide intervals, wherein each interval represents a numeric range of a portion of the selected data;

generating a first set of intervals comprising two or more intervals, the two or more intervals associated with the data;

providing the two or more intervals of the first set of intervals;

receiving an indication that the data in the selection of data has changed;

receiving a next request to provide intervals;

generating a second set of intervals comprising two or more intervals associated with the changed data, wherein at least one interval in the second set of intervals is different from the intervals in the first set of intervals; and

providing the two or more intervals of the second set of intervals.

2. The computer storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein generating the two or more intervals comprises:

determining a mean of the data; and

determining a standard deviation of the data.

3. The computer storage medium defined in claim 2, further comprising;

determining if there are one or more outliers in the data.

4. The computer storage medium defined in claim 3, wherein determining if there are one or more outliers comprises determining if one or more data values is more than a predetermined number of standard deviations from the mean.

5. The computer storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein generating the two or more intervals comprises:

determining a number of interval divisions for the data.

6. The computer storage medium defined in claim 5, wherein determining a number of interval divisions comprises determining human-understandable intervals.

7. The computer storage medium defined in claim 6, wherein determining human-understandable intervals comprises:

determining a target interval size based on a factor of a standard deviation;

generating two or more human-understandable interval sizes;

comparing the target interval size to the two or more human-understandable interval sizes; and

selecting the human-understandable interval size that is nearest the target interval size.

8. The computer storage medium defined in claim 7, wherein determining human-understandable intervals further comprises:

determining a human-understandable midpoint; and

generating human-understandable intervals by adding multiples of the human understandable

interval size to the midpoint.

9. The computer storage medium defined in claim 8, wherein determining the human-understandable midpoint comprises determining the nearest human-understandable interval separation point.

10. The computer storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising generating one or more subintervals.

11. A computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a user interface selection device, the computer system further comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform a method of providing and selecting from a filter menu on the display, the method comprising;

receiving a selection of data;

receiving a selection for filtering by an interval, wherein each interval represents a numeric range of a portion of the selected data;

generating a first set of intervals comprising two or more intervals;

providing the two or more intervals of the first set of intervals in a filter selection menu, the two or more intervals associated with the selection of data;

receiving an indication that the data in the selection of data has changed;

generating a second set of intervals comprising two or more intervals associated with the changed selection of data, wherein at least one interval in the second set of intervals is different from the intervals in the first set of intervals;

providing the two or more intervals of the second set of intervals in the filter selection menu;

receiving a selection of one of the intervals;

filtering by the selected interval; and

providing the filtered data.

12. The computer system as defined in claim 11, wherein receiving a selection of interval to filter the selection of data;

and in response to the selection of an interval, displaying the filtered data associated with the selected interval.

13. A computer storage medium, executable on a computing system and encoding computer program components for generating intervals, the components comprising:

a user interface component that generates a data display, receives a selection of data, and receives a selection to generate two or more intervals, wherein each interval represents a numeric range of a portion of the selected data; and

an interval generation component coupled to the user interface component, the interval generation component operable to determine intervals for the selection of data and generate the intervals for display by the user interface component, wherein the interval generation component generates a first set of intervals based on the selection of data, and wherein the interval generation component generates a second set of intervals after receiving an indication that the data in the selection of data has changed, and wherein the second set of intervals is based on the changed selection of data and comprises at least one interval that is different from the intervals of the first set of intervals.

14. The computer storage medium as defined in claim 13, further comprising:

a filter coupled to the user interface component, the filter operable to filter the selection of data according to the selection of interval.

15. The computer storage medium defined in claim 13, wherein the interval generation component is operable to determine a number of interval divisions for the data.

16. The computer readable storage medium defined in claim 15, wherein the interval generation component is operable to determine human-understandable intervals.

17. The computer storage medium defined in claim 16, wherein the human-understandable interval has separation points on whole integers and is a factor of the power of ten.

18. The computer storage medium defined in claim 16, wherein the interval generation component is operable to determine a target interval size based on a factor of a standard deviation, generate two or more human-understandable interval sizes, compare the target interval size to the two or more human-understandable interval sizes, select the human understandable interval size that is nearest the target interval size, determine a human-understandable midpoint, and generate human-understandable intervals by adding multiples of the human-understandable interval size to the midpoint.

19. The computer storage medium defined in claim 18, wherein a user selects the factor of a standard deviation used to generate the two or more human-understandable interval size, and the selected factor of a standard deviation controls the number of intervals generated.

20. The computer storage medium defined in claim 18, wherein in the human-understandable midpoint is the nearest, whole integer value to the mean.