Rule based visualization mechanism

• US 8,570,326 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2009
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gorev, Alexandre
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, M Good
• Application Number:
  US12/616,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20110109632A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 345/629
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A visualization mechanism may use two sets of rules having different priorities to generate points of interest for a dataset, and display the dataset with labels for the points of interest. The first set of rules may identify and label points of interest by various mechanisms, including analysis of the dataset and comparison to other datasets. The second set of rules may de-clutter the points interest by filtering and aggregating the points of interest by various mechanisms including the priority of the rule that created the point of interest. A display generator may create the visualization of the dataset along with various labels. In some embodiments, the display generator may allow real time user interaction with the data, which may include resizing the visualization in which the filtering and aggregation may be re-applied.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer processor, said method comprising:

receiving a first dataset comprising datapoints, each of said datapoints comprising a first coordinate, and wherein none of each of said datapoints has a predefined point of interest associated with each of said datapoints;

receiving a set of identifier rules, each of said identifier rules having a priority and capable of identifying points of interest from said dataset;

executing said identifier rules against said first dataset to generate a first set of points of interest;

determining a display configuration comprising at least one display size value;

receiving a set of filtering rules, each of said rules having a filtering priority and capable of identifying a subset of said points of interest meeting a filtering criteria, at least one of said filtering rules using said display configuration to determine at least a portion of said subset of said points of interest;

determining a set of displayed points of interest by executing said set of filtering rules against said first set of points of interest according to said filtering priority, said set of displayed points of interest being a subset of said first set of points of interest; and

creating a displayable illustration comprising a label for each of said displayed points of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, a first identifier rule being dependent on a second identifier rules.

3. The method of claim 2, said second identifier rule creating a first output, said first output being used as an input to said first rule.

4. The method of claim 1, at least one of said filtering rules performing an aggregation of a plurality of said points of interest into a single displayed point of interest.

5. The method of claim 4, said aggregation comprising determining a first priority for a first point of interest and a second priority for a second point of interest and selecting said first point of interest as said single displayed point of interest after determining that said first priority is greater than said second priority.

6. The method of claim 4, said aggregation comprising creating a label for said single displayed point of interest, said label comprising a first parameter defined by a first rule and a second parameter defined by a second rule, said first rule having defined a first point of interest and said second rule having defined a second point of interest, said first point of interest and said second point of interest being within said plurality of said points of interest.

7. The method of claim 1, said filtering comprising:

identifying a minimum spacing for a label based on said display configuration;

identifying a first point of interest created by a first rule and a second point of interest created by a second rule;

determining that said first point of interest and said second point of interest have a spacing less than said minimum spacing;

adding said first point of interest to said displayed points of interest after determining that said first priority is greater than said second priority.

8. The method of claim 1, said filtering comprising:

determining a maximum number of points of interest based on said display configuration; and

selecting said maximum number of points of interest from said first set of points of interest based on a priority for each of said filter rules.

9. The method of claim 1, at least a portion of said label being defined by at least one of said identifier rules.

10. The method of claim 9, said label comprising a value for said point of interest.

11. The method of claim 9, said label comprising a parameter derived from said dataset.

12. The method of claim 9, said label comprising a visual identifier.

13. The method of claim 12, said visual identifier being defined by one of said filter rules.

14. The method of claim 13, said visual identifier being defined in part by a priority of one of said rules.

15. A system comprising:

a processor;

an output device;

a graphic generator configured to perform a method comprising;

receiving a first dataset comprising datapoints, each of said datapoints comprising a first and second coordinate, and wherein none of each of said datapoints has a predefined point of interest associated with each of said datapoints;

receiving a set of identifier rules, each of said identifier rules having a priority and capable of identifying points of interest from said dataset;

executing said identifier rules against said first dataset to generate a first set of points of interest;

determining a display configuration comprising at least one display size value;

receiving a set of filtering rules, each of said rules having a filtering priority and capable of identifying a subset of said points of interest meeting a filtering criteria, at least one of said filtering rules using said display configuration to determine at least a portion of said subset of said points of interest;

determining a set of displayed points of interest by executing said set of filtering rules against said first set of points of interest according to said filtering priority, said set of displayed points of interest being a subset of said first set of points of interest;

creating a displayable illustration comprising a label for each of said subset of points of interest; and

causing said displayable illustration to be presented on said display device.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

an identifier rule editor configured to select said set of identifier rules and define a priority for each of said identifier rules in said set of identifier rules.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

a filter rule editor configured to select said set of filter rules and define a priority for each of said filter rules in said set of filter rules.

18. A method performed by a computer processor, said method comprising:

receiving a first dataset comprising datapoints, each of said datapoints comprising a first and second coordinate, wherein none of each of said datapoints has a predefined point interest associated with each of said datapoints;

receiving a set of identifier rules, each of said identifier rules having a priority and capable of identifying points of interest from said dataset;

executing said identifier rules against said first dataset to generate a first set of points of interest;

determining a first display configuration comprising at least one display size value;

receiving a set of filtering rules, each of said rules having a filtering priority and capable of identifying a subset of said points of interest meeting a filtering criteria, at least one of said filtering rules using said first display configuration to determine at least a portion of said subset of said points of interest;

determining a first set of displayed points of interest by executing said set of filtering rules against said first set of points of interest according to said filtering priority, said first set of displayed points of interest being a subset of said first set of points of interest;

creating a first displayable illustration comprising a label for each of said subset of points of interest;

presenting said first displayable illustration on a graphical user interface;

receiving a change to said display configuration from said graphical user interface, said change defining a second display configuration;

determining a second set of displayed points of interest by executing said set of filtering rules against said first set of points of interest according to said filtering priority, said second set of displayed points of interest being a subset of said first set of points of interest, said set of filtering rules being executed using said second display configuration;

creating a second displayable illustration comprising a label for each of said subset of points of interest; and

presenting said second displayable illustration on a graphical user interface.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving a modified parameter for one of said identifier rules;

executing said identifier rules against said first dataset to generate a second set of points of interest, said executing being performed with said modified parameter;

determining a third set of displayed points of interest by executing said set of filtering rules against said first set of points of interest according to said filtering priority, said third set of displayed points of interest being a subset of said first set of points of interest;

creating a third displayable illustration comprising a label for each of said subset of points of interest;

presenting said third displayable illustration on a graphical user interface.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving an input from said graphical user interface, said input selecting a first label; and

causing an action to be performed, said action being defined within said first label.