Generating a focused data set from an original data set

• US 6,963,878 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2001
• Issued: 11/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Anson, David L. A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Assistant Examiner(s): FILIPCZYK, MARCIN R
• Application Number:
  US09/961,720
• Publication Number:
  US 20030061193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-102, 707/200, 707 2- 4, 715/500, 715/501.1, 345/204, 345/418, 382/173, 382/181
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating a focused data. An original data set contains lines of data that are of interest to a user. The data set is filtered using inclusive filters, exclusive filters, and markers to identify the lines of interest to the user without losing the context of those lines with respect to other lines in the data set. The lines of interest are then displayed in a focused view, where only the lines of interest are displayed to the user, or in a contextual view, where additional lines of data that are related to the lines of interest are also displayed to the user. In the contextual view, the lines of interest are usually highlighted to distinguish them from the lines that provide context. Also, the other lines in the data set are usually not displayed, even though they may be included in the focused data set.

Claims

1. In a system that includes a data set that includes lines that have information that is relevant to a user and wherein the lines are dispersed among a plurality of extraneous lines in the data set, a method for processing the data set to identify and display the lines to the user without losing a context of the lines with respect to other lines in the data set, the method comprising:

a step for providing a plurality of filters at an analysis module, wherein the filters include at least one inclusive filter and at least one exclusive filter;

a step for processing the data set through the filters to create a focused data set that satisfies the filters;

a step for generating the focused data set by (a) applying the at least one inclusive filter to the data set to identify focused lines of data that comprise the focused data set, and (b) after applying the at least one inclusive filter, applying at least one exclusive filter to the data set to identify data that is to be excluded from being displayed with the focused data set and without removing the data identified by the at least one exclusive filter from the data set, such that the exclusive filter identifies lines of the data set that are to be excluded from the focused data set in such a way that the exclusive filter further focuses data to be displayed in the focused data set; and

a step for displaying the focused data set to the user by visually isolating the focused lines included in the focused data set, and wherein lines that are excluded by the at least one exclusive filter from being displayed to the user with the focused data set are indistinguished from the focused data set in such a way that they are effectively excluded from being displayed without being removed from the data set.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set includes visually isolating the lines included in the focused data set while displaying related lines that provide context for the lines included in the focused data set.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set to the user further comprises a step for toggling between a first view of the focused data set and a second view of the focused data set, wherein the first view only displays lines that are included in the focused data set and wherein the second view displays both the focused data set and the related lines that provide context.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set to the user further comprises a step of distinguishing the lines included in the focused data set by highlighting the included lines, and wherein the lines that are not included in the focused data set are darkened.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the act of providing the one or more filters further comprises an act of configuring the one or more filters to identify text.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step for generating the focused data set includes highlighting the focused lines of data.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step for visually isolating the focused lines includes indistinguishing the lines of data identified by each exclusive filter by darkening the lines of data identified by each exclusive filter.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set further comprises an act of providing a contextual view of the focused data set by displaying additional lines of data that are related to the focused lines of data with the focused lines of data.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the additional lines of data are related to the focused lines of data according to a temporal order in which the additional lines and focused lines occurred in the data set.

10. A method as defined in claim 8, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set further comprises toggling between the contextual view of the focused view of the focused data set and a focused view of the focused data set where only the focused lines of data are displayed.

11. A method as defined in claim 10, further comprising:

creating a normal view of the focused data set in which all lines of the data set are displayed, wherein the focused lines of data are still distinguished from other lines in the data set, and

providing means for toggling between the normal view, the focused view and the contextual view, each view having been created with said set of filters.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising an act of navigating from a first focused line of data to a second focused line of data.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data set comprises one of a log file and an event file.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one line identified by an inclusive filter is also identified by an exclusive filter.

15. In a system that includes a data set that includes particular lines that have information that is relevant to a user and wherein the particular lines are dispersed among a plurality of extraneous lines in the data set, a computer program product for implementing a method for processing the data set to identify and display the particular lines to the user without losing a context of the particular lines with respect to other lines in the data set, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 1.

16. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set includes visually isolating the lines included in the focused data set while displaying related lines that provide context for the lines included in the focused data set.

17. A computer program product as defined in claim 16, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set to the user further comprises a step for toggling between a first view of the focused data set and a second view of the focused data set, wherein the first view only displays lines that are included in the focused data set and wherein the second view displays both the focused data set and the related lines that provide context.

18. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set to the user further comprises a step of distinguishing the lines included in the focoused data set by highlighting the included lines, and wherein the lines that are not included in the focused data set are darkened.

19. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the act of providing the one or more filters further comprises an act of configuring the one or more filters to identify text.

20. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the step for generating the focused data set includes highlighting the focused lines of data.

21. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the step for visually isolating the focused lines includes indistinguishing the lines of data identified by each exclusive filter by darkening the lines of data identified by each exclusive filter.

22. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set further comprises an act of providing a contextual view of the focused data set by displaying additional lines of data that are related to the focused lines of data with the focused lines of data.

23. A computer program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the additional lines of data are related to the focused lines of data according to a temporal order in which the additional lines and focused lines occurred in the data set.

24. A computer program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the step for displaying the focused data set further comprises toggling between the contextual view of the focused view of the focused data set and a focused view of the focused data set where only the focused lines of data are displayed.

25. A computer program product as defined in claim 24, the method further comprising:

creating a normal view of the focused data set in which all lines of the data set are displayed, wherein the focused lines of data are still distinguished from other lines in the data set, and

providing means for toggling between the normal view, the focused view and the contextual view, each view having been created with said set of filters.

26. A computer program product as recited in claim 15, wherein the data set comprises one of a log file and an event file.

27. A computer program product as defined in claim 15, the method further comprising an act of navigating from a first focused line of data to a second focused line of data.

28. In a system including application that generate data sets that contain lines of data that are of interest to a user, and wherein the user does not know where the lines of data are located in the data set, a method of displaying lines of data that are of interest to the user while retaining a context of the lines of data with respect to the data set even though the lines of data are interspersed in the data set among other extraneous lines of data, the method comprising:

receiving a data set into an analysis module, wherein the analysis module having filters including one or more inclusive filters, one or more markers, and one or more exclusive filters, wherein the filters are configured to identify the lines of data of interest to the user;

filtering the data set with the filters, wherein the lines of data identified by those filters that are inclusive filters or markers are included in a focused data set and wherein the lines of data identified by those filters that are exclusive filters are excluded from the focused data set;

creating multiple different filtered views of the focused data set, with a same set of filters, the multiple different filtered views including a focused view and a contextual view, wherein the focused view only includes lines of data that are identified by those filters that are inclusive filters and markers, and wherein the contextual view displays additional lines of data that are related to the lines of data that are included in the focused data set;

displaying the focused data set in either the focused view or the contextual view while providing the user with the ability to toggle between the focused view and the contextual view.

29. A method as defined in claim 28, wherein the step for receiving a data set further comprises one or more of:

receiving a log file into the analysis module;

receiving an event log into the analysis module;

receiving a database into the analysis module;

receiving a spreadsheet into the analysis module;

receiving network packets into the analysis module; and

receiving search results into the analysis module.

30. A method as defined in claim 28, wherein the step for filtering the data set with the filters further comprises an act of filtering the data set with inclusive filters and markers before filtering the data set with exclusive filters.

31. A method as defined in claim 28, further comprising an act of distinguishing the focused lines of data in the contextual view from the related lines of data by one of highlighting the focused lines of data and darkening the related lines.

32. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the data set comprises one of a log file and an event file.

33. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the focused view separates the lines that were not originally displayed next to each other in the data set by extra spacing to reflect a corresponding temporal relationship that existed between the lines in the data set before the data set was filtered.

34. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the multiple different filtered views includes a normal view in which all lines of the data set are displayed, with the lines of the focused data set being distinguished from lines of the data set that are not part of the focused data set.

35. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the related lines are textually related to the lines of data in the focused data set.

36. In a system including applications that generate data sets that contain lines of data that are of interest to a user, and wherein the user does not know where the lines of data are located in the data set, a computer program product for implementing a method of displaying lines of data that are of interest to the user while retaining a context of the lines of data with respect to the data set even though the lines of data are interspersed in the data set among other extraneous lines of data, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable instructions for performing the method of claim 31.

37. A computer program product as defined in claim 36, wherein the step for receiving a data set further comprises one or more of:

receiving a log file into the analysis module;

receiving an event log into the analysis module;

receiving a database into the analysis module;

receiving a spreadsheet into the analysis module;

receiving network packets into the analysis module; and

receiving search results into the analysis module.

38. A computer program product as defined in claim 37, the method further comprising an act of distinguishing the focused lines of data in the contextual view from the related lines of data by one of highlighting the focused lines of data and darkening the related lines.

39. A computer program product as defined in claim 36, wherein the step for filtering the data set with the filters further comprises an act of filtering the data set with inclusive filters and markers before filtering the data set with exclusive filters.

40. A computer program product as recited in claim 36, wherein the data set comprises one of a log file and an event file.

41. A computer program product as recited in claim 36, wherein the multiple different filtered views includes a normal view in which all lines of the data set are displayed, with the lines of the focused data set being distinguished from lines of the data set that are not part of the focused data set.