User interface to prepare and curate data for subsequent analysis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10838975-B2
Application number	US-201816153615-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2018
Priority date	Nov 7, 2016
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

A computer system prepares data for subsequent analysis. The system displays a user interface that includes a data flow pane, a profile pane, and a data pane. The data flow pane displays a node/link diagram, including a first node representing a join between first and second data sources. When the first node is selected, the system updates the profile pane to display data value histograms for a plurality of data fields and updates the data pane to display rows from the data sources. The system also displays a join control region, including: join type selector; data field pairs that define the join between the data sources; and a join overview graphic including three portions, showing aggregate proportion of rows having an inner join, left outer join, or right outer join relationship. Selecting a portion from the join overview graphic updates the data value histograms and rows in the data pane.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system for preparing data for subsequent analysis, comprising:
one or more processors;
memory; and
one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
displaying a user interface that includes a data flow pane, a profile pane, and a data pane, wherein the data flow pane displays a node/link flow diagram that identifies data sources, operations, and output data sets;
in response to user selection of a node, in the flow diagram, representing a join between a first data source and a second data source:
updating the profile pane to display data value histograms for a plurality of data fields in the first data source and a plurality of data fields in the second data source;
updating the data pane to display a plurality of rows of data from the first data source and a plurality of rows of data from the second data source;
displaying a join control region, including:
a join type selector;
one or more pairs of data fields from the first data source and the second data source that define the join between the first data source and the second data source; and
a join overview graphic including three portions, each portion showing a respective aggregate proportion of rows from the first and second data sets having an inner join, left outer join, or right outer join relationship; and

in response to user input on the join overview graphic:
identifying the portion of the join overview graphic where the user input occurred;
updating the data value histograms in the profile pane to display data only for the rows from the first and second data sets corresponding to the identified portion of the join overview graphic; and
updating the data pane to display a sampling of rows from the first and second data sets corresponding to the identified portion of the join overview graphic.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein each data value histogram corresponds to a single data field from either the first data source or the second data source and each bar in the respective data value histogram indicates a count of data rows that have a single specific data value or range of data values.

3. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the join type selector displays four icons graphically depicting a left outer join, an inner join, a right outer join, and a full outer join, respectively.

4. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the four icons are Venn diagrams.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pairs of data fields from the first data source and the second data source comprise interactive controls, and in response to user selection of a first control of the interactive controls, the first control expands to display joined data values for the first and second data sources.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the join overview graphic includes:
a left outer join portions, indicating a respective number of rows in the first data source that do not match to rows of the second data source according data fields defining the join;
an inner join portion, indicating a respective number of rows in the first data source that do match to rows of the second data source according the data fields defining the join; and
a right outer join portion, indicating a respective number of rows in the second data source that do not match to rows of the first data source according the data fields defining the join.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer system having one or more processors, memory, and a display, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
displaying a user interface that includes a data flow pane, a profile pane, and a data pane, wherein the data flow pane displays a node/link flow diagram that identifies data sources, operations, and output data sets;
in response to user selection of a node, in the flow diagram, representing a join between a first data source and a second data source:
updating the profile pane to display data value histograms for a plurality of data fields in the first data source and a plurality of data fields in the second data source;
updating the data pane to display a plurality of rows of data from the first data source and a plurality of rows of data from the second data source;
displaying a join control region, including:
a join type selector;
one or more pairs of data fields from the first data source and the second data source that define the join between the first data source and the second data source; and
a join overview graphic including three portions, each portion showing a respective aggregate proportion of rows from the first and second data sets having an inner join, left outer join, or right outer join relationship; and

in response to user input on the join overview graphic:
identifying the portion of the join overview graphic where the user input occurred;
updating the data value histograms in the profile pane to display data only for the rows from the first and second data sets corresponding to the identified portion of the join overview graphic; and
updating the data pane to display a sampling of rows from the first and second data sets corresponding to the identified portion of the join overview graphic.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein each data value histogram corresponds to a single data field from either the first data source or the second data source and each bar in the respective data value histogram indicates a count of data rows that have a single specific data value or range of data values.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the join type selector displays four icons graphically depicting a left outer join, an inner join, a right outer join, and a full outer join, respectively.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the four icons are Venn diagrams.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the one or more pairs of data fields from the first data source and the second data source comprise interactive controls, and in response to user selection of a first control of the interactive controls, the first control expands to display joined data values for the first and second data sources.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the join overview graphic includes:
a left outer join portions, indicating a respective number of rows in the first data source that do not match to rows of the second data source according data fields defining the join;
an inner join portion, indicating a respective number of rows in the first data source that do match to rows of the second data source according the data fields defining the join; and
a right outer join portion, indicating a respective number of rows in the second data source that do not match to rows of the first data source according the data fields defining the join.

13. A method of preparing data for subsequent analysis, comprising:
at a computer system having a display, one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors:
displaying a user interface that includes a data flow pane, a profile pane, and a data pane, wherein the data flow pane displays a node/link flow diagram that identifies data sources, operations, and output data sets;
in response to user selection of a node, in the flow diagram, representing a join between a first data source and a second data source:
updating the profile pane to display data

Assignees

• Tableau Software Inc

Inventors

• Kim Jun
• Pugh Will
• Kunen Isaac

Classifications

• G06F16/2455

  Query execution · CPC title

• G06F16/2453

  Query optimisation · CPC title

• G06F16/258 Primary

  Data format conversion from or to a database · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title