Method and apparatus for displaying data stored in linked nodes

• US 8,799,323 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2011
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Nevin, Rocky Harry W. III
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, SHEW FEN
• Application Number:
  US13/198,301
• Publication Number:
  US 20120005239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: 707/797, 707/798
• US Class Current: 707/797
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2425 Iterative querying; Query formulation based on the results of a preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/20 Drawing from basic elements, e.g. lines or circles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A computer implemented method of storing, manipulating, assessing, and displaying data and its relationships, and a computer system (with memory) programmed to implement such method. The data is stored into nodes, and visualized as a sea of linked nodes.

Claims

1. A method for constructing dynamic relationships between data for presentation on a display, comprising:

accessing two or more data sources having two or more formats that are distinct in structure;

parsing data from the two or more data sources to produce a plurality of nodes that contain data from the two or more data sources;

initially generating links among the plurality of nodes, the links being generated based on data contained in the plurality of nodes, wherein the parsing of the data includes parsing textual data such that the textual data is used to define the generated links among the plurality of nodes without relying on data structure of database tables and entity relationships in a relational database to identify relationships among the plurality of nodes;

setting a point of view from one of the nodes of the plurality of nodes, the setting of the point of view acting to create links to a reordering of certain ones of the plurality of nodes, in response to the setting of the point of view, to produce a representation from the set point of view, the representation positioning certain nodes having an increased magnitude at a closer link distance from the set point of view and nodes having a decreased magnitude at a farther link distance from the set point of view, wherein based on the set point of view, certain ones of the plurality of nodes are excluded from the representation and the created links for the set point of view include at least one link different from the initially generated links;

generating visual data that illustrates the representation of the plurality of nodes from the set point of view; and

providing the visual data for rendering on a display of a device, wherein the method is executed by a processor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, receiving a request to,

(i) select a different node to be set as a new point of view;

or

(ii) add a new node to be set as the new point of view, and in response to either (i) or (ii),

(a) adjusting the ordering of the plurality of nodes for the new point of view; and

(b) regenerating the visual data to provide a new representation of the plurality of nodes from the new point of view.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

repeating (a)-(b) each time a request for either (i) or (ii) is received.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request is made through a user interface (UI) rendered on the display of the device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the UI provides the representation in a textual or graphical format, or combination of textual and graphical formats, and provides controls for receiving the request for either (i) or (ii).

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the request is received from an external application or is received through a program that in part renders a user interface (UI) for illustrating the representation in a textual format or a textual and graphical format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an application programming interface (API) request from one or more servers, the one or more servers setting the point of view to produce the representation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data contained in the plurality of nodes includes one or more of, (a) information in data fields of the one or more data sources, (b) relationship information associated with the data fields, (c) instance field definitions from the one or more data sources, (d) semantic meanings found in the one or more data sources, (e) programming code, or (f) programming data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the reordering of the plurality of nodes includes calculating distances between the plurality of nodes relative to the node set as the point of view.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the distances are represented by providing magnified emphasis on certain nodes relative to other nodes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein setting the point of view is in response to a query that identifies selection of the one node from the plurality of nodes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the query is generated by a program that uses an application programming interface (API) to access the data in the plurality of nodes.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more data sources are updated with new data from time to time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein certain nodes of the plurality of nodes include information regarding names of individual persons.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the certain nodes that include information regarding names of individual persons have relationships to other nodes in the plurality of nodes and data associated with the named individual persons.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the relationships between the nodes are graphically illustrated using the representation in a timeline.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the graphical illustration of the representation is provided with visual transitions in response to changes in the set point of view.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the representation changes in response to changes in the data in of the plurality of nodes, the changes in the data of the plurality of nodes occurring over time, or based on interactions with the plurality of nodes.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

providing the visual data to a plurality of devices that execute a plurality of applications, each of the plurality of devices having access to certain ones of the plurality of nodes stored on a server, the accessing being through an application programming interface (API), and the access through the API allowing each of the plurality of applications to present its own representation of the plurality of nodes from the set point of view of one node that is defined or associated with one of the applications.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein one or more of the applications are accessible through a browser or user interface of each of the plurality of devices.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

detecting new data being introduced and linked to the existing nodes;

and

creating alternate paths among the plurality of nodes.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein certain nodes of the plurality of nodes include information related to an individual'"'"'s name and relationships between the plurality of nodes are identified in the representation, such that,

changes in the set point of view change the representation, and

changes in the data of the plurality of nodes change the representation, the changes in the data of the plurality of nodes occurring over time.

23. Computer readable code stored in non-transitory storage, the computer readable code having program instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform the following operations:

access two or more data sources having two or more formats that are distinct in structure;

parse data from the two or more data sources to produce a plurality of nodes that contain data from the two or more data sources;

initially generate links among the plurality of nodes, the links being generated based on data contained in the plurality of nodes, wherein the parsing of the data includes parsing textual data such that the textual data is used to define the generated links among the plurality of nodes without relying on data structure of database tables and entity relationships in a relational database to identify relationships among the plurality of nodes;

set a point of view from one of the nodes of the plurality of nodes, the setting of the point of view acting to create links to a reordering of certain ones of the plurality of nodes, in response to the setting of the point of view, to produce a representation from the set point of view, the representation positioning certain nodes having an increased magnitude at a closer link distance from the set point of view and nodes having a decreased magnitude at a farther link distance from the set point of view, wherein based on the set point of view, certain ones of the plurality of nodes are excluded from the representation and the created links for the set point of view include at least one link different from the initially generated links;

generate visual data that illustrates the representation of the plurality of nodes from the set point of view; and

provide the visual data for rendering on a display of a device.

24. A method for constructing dynamic relationships between data for presentation on a display, comprising:

accessing two or more data sources having two or more formats that are distinct in structure;

parsing data from the two or more data sources to produce a plurality of nodes that contain data from the two or more data sources;

initially generating links among the plurality of nodes, the links being generated based on data contained in the plurality of nodes, wherein the parsing of the data includes parsing textual data such that the textual data is used to define the generated links among the plurality of nodes without relying on data structure of database tables and entity relationships in a relational database to identify relationships among the plurality of nodes;

setting a point of view from one of the nodes of the plurality of nodes, the setting of the point of view acting to create links to a reordering of certain ones of the plurality of nodes, in response to the setting of the point of view, to produce a representation from the set point of view, the representation positioning certain nodes having an increased magnitude at a closer link distance from the set point of view and nodes having a decreased magnitude at a farther link distance from the set point of view, wherein based on the set point of view, certain ones of the plurality of nodes are excluded from the representation and the created links for the set point of view include at least one link different from the initially generated links;

generating visual data that illustrates the representation of the plurality of nodes from the set point of view, certain ones of the nodes identifying names of persons and data associated with the named persons, and the nodes are associated with other nodes based on relationships between the nodes, the representation presenting at least some of the relationships between the nodes; and

providing the visual data for rendering on a display of a device, wherein the method is executed by a processor.

25. The method of claim 24, the providing of the visual data further comprising,

forwarding the visual data to the device for execution by an application of the device.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the visual data includes data for a user interface (UI) to be rendered on the device,

the UI providing the representation in a textual format or a textual and graphical format, and

an interaction with the UI is received providing information causing an update to the representation.