System and method for visualizing and navigating dynamic content in a graphical user interface

• US 8,010,903 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2001
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dieberger, Andreas, Ponceleon, Dulce Beatriz
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitaro; Ryan F
• Application Number:
  US10/034,499
• Publication Number:
  US 20030122874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,532 Days
• Field of Search: 715/758, 715/764, 715/712, 715/707, 715/711, 715/715, 715/723, 715/768, 715/853, 715/854
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A system and method for visualizing and navigating dynamic documents including data from an ongoing process and including instances of specified search terms. A summary view including a condensed abstract representation of a dynamic document provides a global overview of the distribution of search terms. The invention updates the document and aggregates the instances of search terms when the representation includes a nonlinear scale or uses multiple display regions having different resolution levels. The invention supports rapid skimming of dynamic documents and dynamic document collections, including enhancements triggered by cursor brushing, while keeping the user in context. Navigation to a segment of the dynamic document by selecting a corresponding portion of the summary view can replace the use of conventional scrolling techniques.

Claims

1. A method for visualizing dynamic documents in a graphical user interface of a web browser, comprising:

generating a summary view that depicts structure of a dynamic document from a data stream, the summary view including distribution and frequency of search terms, within segments of the dynamic document to indicate relevance of the dynamic document based on said search terms, the distribution and frequency of said search terms are represented using a condensed abstract representation of a search term density distribution, wherein;

said condensed abstract representation comprises a marker selected from the group consisting of;

color, pattern, and relative darkness, and

said summary view comprises a plurality of rows, columns, and markers in a rectangular arrangement, each of said markers comprises content that represents frequency with which one of said search terms occur in a position of the dynamic document;

updating said summary view to reflect changes that occur in said dynamic document from said data stream; and

triggering an enhancement of said summary view by cursor brushing a particular marker, said enhancement providing additional information of the structure of the dynamic document.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising navigating to at least one segment of said dynamic document by selecting a corresponding portion of said summary view.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing a statistical summary of contents of a portion of a selected dynamic document.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying dynamic documents that are relevant to said search terms using at least one search engine.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising aggregating information to enable a more condensed abstract representation of said dynamic document.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said updating is performed periodically.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said updating is performed continuously.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one segment of said dynamic document is navigated to by selection of a corresponding portion of said summary view.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said search terms include user-specified events defined by significant changes in said distribution and frequency from said data stream.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said summary view comprises a number of distinct regions, each region having a different resolution scale, enabling information to be depicted at different levels of detail.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said resolution scale is a time scale.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said abstract representation is nonlinear.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said summary view depicts more recent events with higher resolution than less recent events.

14. A computer program product for visualizing dynamic documents in a graphical user interface of a web browser, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-executable program instructions embodied therewith:

first code instructions for generating a summary view that depicts structure of a dynamic document from a data stream, the summary view including distribution and frequency of search terms within segments of the dynamic document to indicate relevance of the dynamic document based on said search terms, the distribution and frequency of said search terms are represented using a condensed abstract representation of a search term density distribution, wherein;

said condensed abstract representation comprises a marker selected from the group consisting of;

color, pattern, and relative darkness, and

said summary view comprises a plurality of rows, columns, and markers in a rectangular arrangement, each of said markers comprises content that represents frequency with which one of said search terms occur in a position of the dynamic document;

second code instructions for updating said summary view to reflect changes that occur in said dynamic document from said data stream; and

third code instructions for triggering an enhancement of said summary view by cursor brushing a particular marker, said enhancement providing additional information of the structure of the dynamic document.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

fourth code instructions for navigating to at least one segment of said dynamic document by selecting a corresponding portion of said summary view.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

fourth code instructions for computing a statistical summary of contents of a portion of a selected dynamic document.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

fourth code instructions for identifying dynamic documents that are relevant to said search terms using at least one search engine.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

fourth code instructions for aggregating information to enable a more condensed abstract representation of said dynamic document.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said updating is performed periodically.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said updating is performed continuously.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein at least one segment of said dynamic document is navigated to by selection of a corresponding portion of said summary view.

22. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said search terms include user-specified events defined by significant changes in said distribution and frequency from said data stream.

23. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said summary view comprises a number of distinct regions, each region having a different resolution scale, enabling information to be depicted at different levels of detail.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said resolution scale is a time scale.

25. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said abstract representation is nonlinear.

26. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said summary view depicts more recent events with higher resolution than less recent events.