Attraction-based data visualization

• US 8,775,955 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2010
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Zendler, Holger, Spieler, Benjamin, Gaertner, Nadine
• Primary Examiner(s): Hur, Ece
• Application Number:
  US12/958,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20120144309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 715/961, 715/764, 715/739, 715/848, 707/E17.108, 707/E17.107, 707/999.005
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/961 Operator interface with visual structure or function dictated by intended use

Abstract

A plurality of digital resources are identified in a set of digital resources. An indication of a user selection of at least one criteria is received, the user selection received through a user interface. A degree of correlation is determined between each digital resource in the plurality and each of the criteria. Data is sent that is configured for use in presenting, in a window of the user interface, a plurality of graphical resource objects and at least one graphical attractor object, each graphical resource object representing a digital resource in the plurality of digital resources and each graphical attractor object representing one of the criteria. Each resource object is presented a distance from each attractor object, the distance based at least in part on the corresponding degree of correlation between the digital resource represented by the resource object and the criteria represented by the attractor object.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying, in a user interface, a plurality of graphical resource objects representing a corresponding plurality of digital resources in a window, the plurality of digital resources stored in at least one computer-readable storage medium;

displaying, in the user interface, a tray adjacent the window;

displaying, in the tray, a plurality of graphical attractor objects representing a corresponding plurality of criteria, wherein each digital resource has a degree of correlation to each criteria;

receiving a user selection to transfer a first graphical attractor object and a second graphical attractor object from the tray into the plurality of graphical resource objects shown in the window, the user selection received through the user interface, the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object representing a first criterion and a second criterion, respectively;

in response to receiving the user selection, displaying the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object among the plurality of graphical resource objects; and

automatically re-arranging respective positions of one or more of the plurality of graphical resource objects to be displayed at one or more distances from the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object, wherein each of the one or more distances is based at least in part on the corresponding degree of correlation between the digital resource represented by the graphical resource object in the window and the first and second criteria represented by the first and second graphical attractor objects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a remote client computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the attractor object models an attraction force applied to each resource object presented together with the attractor object, each attraction force having a magnitude based at least in part on the corresponding degree of correlation between the digital resource represented by the resource object and the criteria represented by the attractor object.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the attraction force of an attractor object is further based on a weighting of the criteria represented by the attractor object, wherein a higher weighting of a particular criteria corresponds to a higher attraction force of a particular attractor object, representing the particular criteria, on resource objects presented together with the particular attractor object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least a first and a second criteria are selected and a first and a second attractor object presented with the resource objects, the first and second criteria having different weightings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each criteria includes at least one value and the degrees of correlation between the digital resources and each criteria are each based, at least in part, on a correlation between the digital resource and the at least one value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular resource object is color-coded to represent the degree of correlation between a particular digital resource represented by the particular resource object and a particular criteria represented by a particular attractor object presented together with the particular resource object.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular resource object is color-coded to represent a value associated with a particular digital resource represented by the particular resource object, the value relevant to a particular criteria represented by a particular attractor object presented together with the particular resource object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of digital resources includes a plurality of business objects, each business object in the plurality of business objects including at least one of a set of attributes.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of digital resources includes a plurality of internet resources, including at least one webpage.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of digital resources are identified in response to a user search query, the plurality of digital resources identified as satisfying the search query.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each attractor object is adapted to allow a user to change the position of the attractor object in the window of the user interface, wherein resource objects are adapted to automatically re-position in response to and consistent with the changed position of an attractor object.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises sending data defining starting positions of resource objects presented in the window of the user interface, wherein the plurality of resource objects are presented in the window according to the respective starting positions of the resource objects prior to the presentation of an attractor object in the window.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the starting positions are at least one of a random starting position, an ordered position based on a type of the digital resource represented by the corresponding resource object, and an order position based on an initial score for the digital resource represented by the corresponding resource object.

15. An article comprising a non-transitory, machine-readable storage device storing instructions operable to cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

displaying, in a window of a user interface of a computing device, a plurality of graphical resource objects representing a corresponding plurality of digital resources in a set of digital resources stored in at least one computer-readable storage medium;

displaying, in a tray displayed adjacent the window, a plurality of graphical attractor objects representing a corresponding plurality of criteria, wherein each digital resource has a degree of correlation to each criteria;

detecting input to transfer a first graphical attractor object and a second graphical attractor object from the tray into the plurality of graphical resource objects in the window, the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object representing a first criterion and a second criterion, respectively;

in response to detecting the input to transfer, displaying the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object among the plurality of graphical resource objects; and

automatically re-arranging respective positions of one or more of the plurality of graphical resource objects to be displayed at respective one or more distances from the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object, wherein each of the one or more distances is based at least in part on a corresponding degree of correlation between the digital resource represented by the graphical resource object and the first and second criteria represented by the first and second graphical attractor objects.

16. A system comprising one or more computers having one or more computer storage devices storing instructions for causing the one or more computers to:

display, in a window of a user interface, a plurality of graphical resource objects representing a corresponding plurality of digital resources in a set of digital resources stored in at least one computer-readable medium;

display, in a tray displayed adjacent the window, a plurality of graphical attractor objects representing a corresponding plurality of criteria, wherein each digital resource has a degree of correlation to each criteria;

receive a first input to transfer a first graphical attractor object and a second graphical attractor object that represents a first criterion and a second criterion, respectively, of the plurality of criteria from the tray into the plurality of graphical resource objects in the window;

in response to receiving the first input, display the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object among the plurality of graphical resource objects in the window; and

automatically re-arrange positions of the plurality of graphical resource objects to be presented at a distance from the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object, wherein a distance between a graphical resource object and the first graphical attractor object is based at least in part on a corresponding degree of correlation between the digital resource represented by the resource object and the first criterion and the second criterion represented by the first graphical attractor object and the second graphical attractor object, respectively.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising a plurality of data repositories, each repository including at least one computer-readable storage device, the plurality of data repositories storing a corpus of digital resources.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising a search engine operable to identify the plurality of digital resources in the corpus of digital resources as satisfying a search query.