Methods and systems for implementing a dynamic hierarchical data viewer

• US 8,402,361 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Goldberg, Joseph H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paula, Cesar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Faber, David
• Application Number:
  US12/241,116
• Publication Number:
  US 20090049372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 715/200, 715212-220
• US Class Current: 715/212
• 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 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

Methods, systems, and machine-readable mediums are disclosed for viewing multiply-dimensioned data. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed which comprises displaying multiply-dimensioned data in a table format, the table format having a plurality of rows, a plurality of columns, and a plurality of cells displaying data, a first column of the plurality of columns including data having at least two hierarchical levels. Data for at least a first set of the plurality of cells is displayed in a graphical format, the first set including cells in the first column, the graphical format of the cells in the first set in the first column indicating a hierarchical level associated with the cell data and a mechanism is displayed for a first one of the rows to display at least one additional row having data in the first column associated with a lower hierarchical level of the first row data.

Claims

1. A method of displaying graphical representations of multiply-dimensioned data, the method comprising:

displaying multiply-dimensioned data in a table format, the table format comprising a plurality of cells arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, one or more cells of the plurality of cells being capable of displaying data graphically, and a column of the plurality of columns having at least two hierarchical levels, the at least two hierarchical levels comprising a parent hierarchical level and a child hierarchical level, wherein a display of a non-character and non-numerical based graphical representation of data at a parent row of the plurality of rows at the parent level represents an aggregating of data from child rows of the plurality of rows at the child level, wherein the aggregation of the data comprises using one or more aggregation functions, wherein the aggregation function for at least one child row differs from the aggregation function for at least one parent row;

displaying in each cell of one or more cells of the plurality of cells of the child rows, wherein the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data is associated with the cell;

automatically providing, using a processor, a visual correlation within the plurality of cells between the display of the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data of the parent row and the display of the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data of the child rows, wherein the displaying of the non-character and non-numerical based graphical representation of the parent hieratical level and child hierarchal level comprises displaying graphical bars indented to indicate the respective hierarchal level of the data in the respective parent or child rows, and wherein each cell of the plurality of columns in the child hierarchal level comprises at least one of the graphical bars;

detecting a mouse rollover event for a first row;

changing, in response to the mouse rollover event, the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data in the cells of the first row to a numerical representation of the data; and

dividing a parent row horizontally into two halves, wherein a first half displays the data of the parent row as a graphical bar, and wherein a bottom half displays the aggregated data of the respective child rows in textual format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more aggregation functions comprise at least one or more of the following:

a sum function, an average function, a mean function, a median function, a maximum function, a minimum function, and a statistical function based on data distribution of one or more columns in the table.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one of the child rows utilizes the average function for aggregation and the at least one parent row utilizes the sum function for aggregation.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

dynamically selecting the aggregation function for each row based at least in part on one or more of the following;

the level of the row in the hierarchy, a number of child rows associated with the row, a number of parent rows above the child row in the hierarchy, and the row'"'"'s numeric value.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing a user with an interface configured to receive input, wherein the input defines the aggregation function for each row.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation comprises one or more of the following:

a line graph, a histogram, and a picture chart.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the displaying the graphical representation from at least one child differs from the displaying of the graphical representation of at least one parent.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregation of the data is performed simultaneously with the providing of the visual correlation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregation of the data is performed using pre-defined aggregation computations computed prior to the providing of the visual correlation.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising scaling the graphical representation of the data for each of the plurality of rows.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the scaling comprises one or more of the following scaling functions:

absolute scaling, set width scaling, scaling relative to child and parent rows associated with the row, and cross column scaling.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the scaling of the graphical representation of the data for at least one child row differs from the scaling of at least one parent row.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein a scaling function selected for a row is based at least in part on an aggregation function used for the row.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation for a row represents the row and at least one child row or parent row.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting an activation of a mechanism associated with the plurality of rows, the plurality of rows having cell data in a column at the parent hierarchical level; and

displaying one or more of the plurality of rows having data in the column at the child hierarchical level, the data at the child hierarchical level sharing at least one data dimension with the cell data.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

display multiply-dimensioned data in a table format, the table format comprising a plurality of cells arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, one or more cells of the plurality of cells being capable of displaying data graphically, and a column of the plurality of columns having at least two hierarchical levels, the at least two hierarchical levels comprising a parent hierarchical level and a child hierarchical level, wherein a display of a non-character and non-numerical based graphical representation of data at a parent row of the plurality of rows at the parent level represents an aggregating of data from child rows of the plurality of rows at the child level, wherein the aggregation of the data comprises using one or more aggregation functions, wherein the aggregation function for at least one child row differs from the aggregation function for at least one parent row;

display in each cell of one or more cells of the plurality of cells of the child rows, wherein the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data is associated with the cell; and

automatically provide, using a processor, a visual correlation within the plurality of cells between the display of the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data of the parent row and the display of the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data of the child rows, wherein the displaying of the non-character and non-numerical based graphical representation of the parent hieratical level and child hierarchal level comprises displaying graphical bars indented to indicate the respective hierarchal level of the data in the respective parent or child rows, and wherein each cell of the plurality of columns in the child hierarchal level comprises at least one of the graphical bars;

detect a mouse rollover event for a first row;

chance, in response to the mouse rollover event, the non-character and non-numerical graphical representation of the data in the cells of the first row to a numerical representation of the data; and

divide a parent row horizontally into two halves, wherein a first half displays the data of the parent row as a graphical bar, and wherein a bottom half displays the aggregated data of the respective child rows in textual format.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the one or more aggregation functions comprise at least one or more of the following:

a sum function, an average function, a mean function, a medium function, a maximum function, and a minimum function.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one of the child rows utilizes the average function for aggregation and the at least one parent row utilizes the sum function for aggregation.