Custom heatmaps

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10181208-B2
Application number	US-201615199679-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Feb 10, 2016
Publication date	Jan 15, 2019
Grant date	Jan 15, 2019

Abstract

Performance and capability improvements of computer devices that provide digital images of heatmap visualizations for datasets are provided via both systems and methods. A value-color spectrum is correlated to the dataset via a multi-pass rendering. The multi-pass rendering yields a two-channel mask, which is applied to a map to show the dataset in a heatmap visualization on that map, and may be continually used as the map is manipulated by a user. User interface tools are also provided to enable a user to specify a custom value-color spectrum, how the dataset is to be aggregated, the area of effect for a data point in the visualization, the strength of effect for a data point in the visualization, and which specifies how a dataset will be visually represented in a heatmap.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a custom heatmap, comprising:
receiving a background image associated with a coordinate space;
receiving a first reference color;
receiving a second reference color;
generating, with a processor, a value-color spectrum by creating a gradient between the first reference color and the second reference color;
storing the value-color spectrum in a first memory location;
receiving a dataset having value information and location information;
generating, with the processor, a two-channel mask having a first channel and a second channel, wherein the first channel encodes sums of the value information sharing location information and the second channel encodes weights of the value information sharing location information;
storing the two-channel mask in a second memory location;
producing an output texture as a two-dimensional image having a plurality of values corresponding to the two-channel mask expanded in two-dimensions to include interstitial values for interstitial locations based on a radius of influence and values from the first channel and the second channel;
normalizing the plurality of values in the output texture according to the value-color spectrum;
comparing, with the processor, the output texture with the value-color spectrum to produce a heatmap layer, wherein the heatmap layer assigns a plurality of colors at a plurality of locations in the two-dimensional image of the output texture corresponding to the location information, wherein the plurality of colors are selected from the value-color spectrum according to the normalized plurality of values;
aligning the heatmap layer with the background image according to the coordinate space and the location information; and
displaying the heatmap layer over the background image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the two-channel mask further comprises:
creating a blended value, according to a radius of influence parameter for the dataset, based on the value information from data points of the dataset having different location information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first reference color and the second reference color each specify a transparency value.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a third reference color; and
wherein generating the value-color spectrum further comprises creating a second gradient between the second reference color and the third reference color.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an aggregation option selected from the group consisting of:
a minimum value at a given location;
a maximum value at the given location;
a median value at the given location;
a mode for the value information at the given location;
a mean for the value information at the given location;
a count of entries of the value information at the given location; and
a sum of the value information at the given location; and

wherein producing the output texture having the plurality of values produces the plurality of values according to the aggregation option selected.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first reference color is selected as a lowest color in the value-color spectrum to map to a lowest normalized value and the second reference color is selected as a highest color in the value-color spectrum to map to a highest normalized value.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising locking a scale of the heatmap, wherein locking the scale of the heatmap enables the heatmap to remain a constant size as the background image is viewed with different zoom settings.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coordinate space and the location information use different data formats, further comprising converting a data format of the location information to a data format of the coordinate space.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the background image is a three-dimensional image, wherein the heatmap layer is a two-dimensional image, and wherein aligning the heatmap layer with the background image according to the coordinate space and the location data further comprises projecting the two-dimensional image of the heatmap layer to the three-dimensional image of the background image.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the value-color spectrum in the first memory location stores the value-color spectrum as file for the custom heatmap.

11. A data visualization application for generating a custom heatmap, comprising:
a first memory location for storing a first reference color;
a second memory location for storing a second reference color;
a third memory location for storing a background image;
a fourth memory location for storing a dataset comprising data having both value information and location information;
a processor that generates a value-color spectrum, a two-channel mask, an output texture, and a heatmap layer, and that aligns the heatmap layer with the background image for display over the background image;
wherein the value-color spectrum comprises a gradient between the first reference color and the second reference color;
wherein the two-channel mask comprises a first channel encoding sums of the value information for the data that share location information and a second channel encoding weights of the value information for the data that share location information;
wherein the output texture is a two-dimensional image encoding normalized values which are organized in two-dimensions according to the location data,
wherein the normalized values include interstitial value information based on the first channel and the second channel normalized according to the value-color spectrum; and
wherein the heatmap layer assigns a plurality of colors from the value-color spectrum according to the normalized values in the output texture.

12. The data visualization application of claim 11 , wherein the first channel and the second channel summarize a plurality of data points from the dataset that share the location information in the dataset.

13. The data visualization application of claim 12 , wherein the weights are a count of the data points of the plurality of data points from the dataset that share the location information in the dataset.

14. The data visualization application of claim 13 , wherein a user is enabled to specify to whether the normalized values are based on an average or the count for the data points.

15. The data visualization application of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further operable to lock a scale of the heatmap to enable the heatmap to remain a constant size as the background image is viewed with different zoom settings.

16. The data visualization application of claim 11 , wherein the location information specifies location names.

17. The data visualization application of claim 16 , wherein a coordinate space of the background image is formatted according to a different format than the location information, the processor converting the location information into the different format.

18. A computer readable storage medium including instructions configured to perform the method comprising:
receiving a background image associated with a coordinate space;
receiving a first reference color;
receiving a second reference color;
generating, with a processor, a value-color spectrum by creating a gradient between the first reference color and the second reference color;
storing the value-color spectrum in a first memory location;
receiving a dataset having value information and location information;
generating, with the

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Witriol Daniel Benjamin
• Asplund Matthew W
• Geselowitz Lewey Alec
• Peev Igor Borisov
• Deraz Ehab Sobhy

Classifications

• G06T11/10

  Texturing; Colouring; Generation of textures or colours (retouching, inpainting or scratch removal G06T5/77) · CPC title

• G06T11/26 Primary

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06T11/001

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T11/206 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic