User interface controls for specifying data hierarchies

• US 9,396,241 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Helfman, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhatia, Ajay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jiang, Haimei
• Application Number:
  US12/503,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016432A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,561 Days
• Field of Search: 715/843, 707/778
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]

Abstract

User interface controls that facilitate the specification/modification of data hierarchies. In one set of embodiments, a first UI control component can be provided that comprises an ordered group of drop-down menus. Each drop-down menu in the ordered group can be populated with a selectable list of attributes from a data set and can be associated with a level in a data hierarchy. By selecting values using the various drop-down menus, a user can interactively specify a data hierarchy for the data set. The data set can then be visualized according to the specified hierarchy. In further embodiments, a second UI control component can be provided in addition to the first UI control component. The second UI control component can allow a user to interactively enable or disable certain drop-down menus in the ordered group, thereby acting as a “depth filter” for controlling the depth of the data hierarchy.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computer system, a data set to be provided in a hierarchical visualization, the data set including values for a plurality of attributes of the data set;

generating, by the computer system, a user interface including a first control component comprising an ordered group of drop-down menus arranged in a row, each drop-down menu being populated with a blank value and having a selectable list of attributes from the plurality of attributes and being operable to select a particular attribute as a level in a data hierarchy of the data set;

generating a slide bar control interface that spans the length of the row associated with the ordered group of drop-down menus and is adjacent to the row of the ordered group of drop-down menus, the slide bar control configured to control a depth of the ordered group of drop-down menus, the depth indicating a number of drop-down menus to be enabled at a particular time;

receiving, from a user, a first selection corresponding to the slide bar control interface;

disabling one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus based at least in part on the received first selection to generate a subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

receiving, from the user, a second selection for at least one of the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

providing the hierarchical visualization of the data set based at least in part on the received second selection;

receiving, from the user, a selection change for a first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

updating, based at least in part on the selection change, the selectable list of attributes for a second drop-down menu following the first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

determining, based at least in part on the selection change, an attribute in the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu that results in an invalid data hierarchy for the data set;

deleting the attribute from the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu; and

updating the hierarchical visualization of the data based at least in part on the received selection change.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each drop-down menu in the ordered group of drop-down menus is configured to display its current selection.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the slide bar control interface is operable to disable the one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus, thereby disabling one one or more levels in the data hierarchy and affecting an amount of the data provided in the hierarchical visualization.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the slide bar control interface is operable to disable a particular drop-down menu in the ordered group of drop-down menus only if all drop-down menus following the particular drop-down menu in the ordered group have been disabled.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein disabling a drop-down menu comprises preventing a user from operating the drop-down menu to change its selection.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical visualization of the data set is a treemap.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical visualization of the data set is a clustered bar graph.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a computer system, the program code comprising:

program code that causes the computer system to receive a data set to be provided in a hierarchical visualization, the data set including values for a plurality of attributes of the data set;

program code that causes the computer system to generate a user interface including a first control component comprising an ordered group of drop-down, each drop-down menu being populated with a blank value and having a selectable list of attributes from the plurality of attributes and being operable to select a particular attribute as a level in a data hierarchy of the data set;

program code that causes the computer s stem to generate a slide bar control interface that is adjacent to the ordered group of drop-down menus, the slide bar control configured to control a depth of the ordered group of drop-down menus, the depth indicating a number of drop-down menus to be enabled at a particular time;

program code that causes the com outer s stem to receive, from a user, a first selection corresponding to the slide bar control interface;

program code that causes the computer system to disable one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus based at least in part on the received first selection to generate a subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

program code that causes the computer system to receive, from the user, a second selection for at least one of the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

program code that causes the computer system to provide the hierarchical visualization of the data set based at least in part on the received second selection;

program code that causes the computer system to receive, from the user, a selection change for a first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

program code that causes the computer system to update, based at least in part on the selection change, the selectable list of attributes for a second drop-down menu following the first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

program code that causes the computer system to determine, based at least in part on the selection change, an attribute in the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu that results in an invalid data hierarchy for the data set;

program code that causes the computer system to delete the attribute from the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu; and

program code that causes the computer system to update the hierarchical visualization of the data based at least in part on the received selection change.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the slide bar control interface is operable to disable the one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus, thereby disabling one or more levels in the data hierarchy.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the ordered group of drop-down menus are arranged in a row, and wherein the slide bar control interface spans the length of the row.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the user interface further includes a visualization component comprising the hierarchical visualization of the data set according to the data hierarchy.

12. A system comprising:

a non-transitory storage component configured to store a data set to be provided in a hierarchical visualization, the data set including values for a plurality of attributes of the data set; and

a processing component in communication with the storage component, the processing component being configured to;

generate a user interface including a first control component comprising an ordered group of drop-down menus, each drop-down menu being populated with a blank value and having a selectable list of attributes from the plurality of attributes and being operable to select a particular attribute as a level in a data hierarchy of the data set;

generate a slide bar control interface that is adjacent to the ordered group of drop-down menus, the slide bar control configured to control a depth of the ordered group of drop-down menus, the depth indicating a number of drop-down menus to be enabled at a particular time;

receive, from a user, a first selection corresponding to the slide bar control interface;

disable one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus based at least in part on the received first selection to generate a subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

receive, from the user, a second selection for at least one of the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

provide the hierarchical visualization of the data set based at least in part on the received second selection;

receive, from the user, a selection change for a first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

update, based at least in part on the selection change, the selectable list of attributes for a second drop-down menu following the first drop-down menu in the subset of the ordered group of drop-down menus;

determine, based at least in part on the selection change, an attribute in the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu that results in an invalid data hierarchy for the data set;

delete the attribute from the selectable list of attributes for the second drop-down menu; and

update the hierarchical visualization of the data based at least in part on the received selection change.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the slide bar control is operable to disable one or more drop-down menus in the ordered group of drop-down menus, thereby disabling one or more levels in the data hierarchy.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the ordered group of drop-down menus are arranged in a row, and wherein the second control component is a slider bar that spans the length of the row.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the user interface further includes a visualization component comprising the hierarchical visualization of the data set according to the data hierarchy.