DISCOVERING AND CONFIGURING REPRESENTATIONS OF DATA VIA AN INSIGHT TAXONOMY

• US 20120154402A1
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mital, Vijay, Rubin, Darryl Ellis, Poozhiyil, Suraj T., Green, David G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,024,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

An insight that a user desires to obtain from graphically presenting and manipulating a data set may be identified. A graphical object may be selected for representation and analysis of the data set based on whether the graphical object is capable of revealing the desired insight. The selection may be made based visual characteristic(s) of the graphical object and parameters, such as a type, of data in the data set. Different graphical objects may be selected to gain different insights about the data set. For example, a bar chart may be selected to gain an insight such as a trend in the data. The selected graphical object may be provided as a suggestion on a user interface for potentially using the graphical object to represent the data. A graphical object may include visually interactive components for use within a graphical user interface. The interactive components may be used to receive user input indicating a change in representation of the data set so that appearance of visual characteristics of the graphical object is modified to reflect the change.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computing device to create a representation of a data set, the method comprising:

with at least one processor;

identifying an insight that a user desires to gain from graphically presenting at least one portion of the data set;

selecting at least one graphical object adapted to receive user input indicating a change in the at least one portion of the data set so that effecting the change reveals the insight, wherein the selection is performed based on a type of the data set and at least one visual characteristic of the at least one graphical object; and

presenting to the user a suggestion for incorporating the at least one graphical object in a user interface configured for interaction with the data set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the insight comprises receiving user input indicative of the insight.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the insight comprises identifying the insight from at least one prior interaction with the data set via the user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of the data set comprises at least one of continuous or discrete data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the at least one graphical object is associated with metadata comprising information on at least one insight that can be revealed from representing data using the at least one graphical object; and

selecting the at least one graphical object comprises matching the at least one insight that can be revealed from representing data using the at least one graphical object with the identified insight that the user desires to gain from graphically presenting the at least one portion of the data set.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises selecting the at least one graphical object from a library comprising graphical objects, wherein each graphical object is stored in the library in association with information on an insight revealed by displaying data using the at least one graphical object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one graphical object comprises determining whether the at least one graphical object is capable of receiving user input representing the change in the at least one portion of the data set.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting the at least one graphical object further comprises matching at least one parameter of the at least one portion of the data set with the at least one visual characteristic of the at least one graphical object.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to user input selecting the at least one graphical object, presenting the at least portion of the data set on the user interface through the at least one graphical object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one graphical object comprises at least one graphical object.

11. A computer system, comprising:

a storage device comprising a library of graphical objects, wherein each graphical object in the library is associated with an insight revealed from displaying data using the graphical object;

a data set of a type; and

at least one processor configured to;

identify a desired insight to be revealed from graphically presenting at least one portion of the data set, wherein a type of the identified desired insight is determined from an insight taxonomy;

identify in the library, based on the type of the data set and the type of the identified insight, at least one graphical object capable of representing the at least one portion of the data set so that the user gains the insight;

generate an output suggesting use of the identified at least one graphical object; and

in response to user input requesting use of the identified at least one graphical object, represent the data set using the graphical object via a graphical user interface.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the insight comprises at least one of a trend in the data set, identification of a correlation between a first subset of the data set with a second subset of the data set, determination of a similarity between a third subset of the data set and a fourth subset of the data set or determination of a difference between a fifth subset of the data set and a sixth subset of the data set.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the at least one portion of the data set comprises at least one dimension of variability of data in the data set.

14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein identifying the insight comprises receiving the insight from a user.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein identifying the insight comprises identifying the insight from at least one prior interaction with the data set via the graphical user interface.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein:

the graphical object comprises at least one visual characteristic representing the at least one portion of the data set, and

representing the data set using the graphical object comprises representing the at least one portion of the data set through the at least one visual characteristic so that the user gains the insight.

17. A method of interacting with a data set, the method comprising:

through at least one processor;

identifying an insight that a user desires to gain from graphically presenting at least one portion of the data set;

selecting at least one graphical object capable of representing the at least one portion of the data set so that to reveal the insight, wherein the selection is performed based on a type of the data set and at least one visual characteristic of the at least one graphical object;

presenting to the user a suggestion for incorporating the at least one graphical object in a user interface configured for interaction with the data set; and

in response to user input requesting use of the at least one graphical object, representing the at least one portion of the data though the at least one graphical object so that to reveal the insight.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the at least one graphical object is selected from a library comprising graphical objects, wherein each graphical object is stored in the library in association with information on at least one insight that can be revealed by displaying data using the graphical object.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the graphical objects are stored in the library as organized in accordance with a taxonomy of the graphical objects.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein selecting the at least one graphical object comprises matching the at least one insight that can be revealed by displaying data using the graphical object with the identified insight that the user desires to gain from graphically presenting the at least one portion of the data set.