Generating data visualizations according to an object model of selected data sources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11537276-B2
Application number	US-201816236612-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2018
Priority date	Oct 22, 2018
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

The method receives a visual specification, which specifies a data source, visual variables, and data fields from the data source. Each visual variable is associated with data fields and each data field is a dimension or a measure. The method forms dimension tuples comprising distinct ordered combinations of data values for the dimensions D. For each measure, the method: forms a set S of the dimensions D plus dimensions from a primary key corresponding to the measure; retrieves intermediate tuples containing the fields in S and the measure, without aggregation; and aggregates the intermediate tuples according to the dimensions D. For each dimension tuple, the method forms an extended tuple by appending the aggregated data values corresponding to each measure field. The method then builds and displays a data visualization according to the extended tuples and the visual variables to which the data fields are associated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of generating data visualizations, comprising:
at a computer having a display, one or more processors, and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors:
building a visual specification according to one or more data sources source, a plurality of visual variables, and a plurality of data fields from the one or more data sources source, wherein:
each of the visual variables is associated with a respective one or more of the data fields from the one or more data sources source; and
the data fields associated with the visual variables form a set of dimension data fields D and a set of measure data fields;

executing a first query against a plurality of tables of the one or more data sources source to form dimension tuples that comprise unique ordered combinations of data values for the set of dimension data fields D, each of the dimension tuples forming a distinct data row in a data table for generating a data visualization;
for each measure data field in the set of measure data fields:
forming a respective set S of dimensions consisting of the set of dimension data fields D and dimensions from a primary key for a table in the one or more data sources source containing the respective measure data field;
executing a respective query against the one or more data sources source to retrieve intermediate tuples comprising the data fields in S and the respective measure data field, without aggregation; and
aggregating the intermediate tuples according to the set of dimension data fields D to compute aggregate values for the respective measure data field;

for each measure data field in the set of measure data fields, extending the dimension tuples by inserting an additional column in the data table, the additional column containing aggregated data values corresponding to the respective measure data field; and
building and displaying a data visualization according to the data fields in the extended dimension tuples and according to the visual variables to which each of the data fields is associated.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual specification further includes one or more additional visual variables that are not associated with any data fields from the one or more data sources source.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the data visualization in a graphical user interface for the computer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein displaying the data visualization comprises generating a plurality of visual marks, each of the visual marks corresponding to a respective extended tuple.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the graphical user interface includes a data visualization region, the method further comprising displaying the data visualization in the data visualization region.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the visual variables is selected from the group consisting of: rows attribute, columns attribute, filter attribute, color encoding, size encoding, shape encoding, and label encoding.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aggregated data values are computed using an aggregate function selected from the group consisting of: SUM, COUNT, COUNTD, MIN, MAX, AVG, MEDIAN, ATTR, PERCENTILE, STDEV, STDEVP. VAR, and VARP.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data fields is from a plurality of distinct tables in the one or more data sources source.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data sources include source includes an object model having a plurality of objects, and the plurality of data fields belongs belong to two or more distinct objects of the plurality of objects.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the visual specification specifies a plurality of data sources, the visual specification specifies one or more data fields from each of the plurality of data sources, and the object model is an object model for the plurality of data sources.

11. A computer system for generating data visualizations, comprising:
a display;
one or more processors; and
memory;
wherein the memory stores one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors, and the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
building a visual specification according to one or more data sources source, a plurality of visual variables, and a plurality of data fields from the one or more data sources source, wherein:
each of the visual variables is associated with a respective one or more of the data fields from the one or more data sources source; and
the data fields associated with the visual variables form a set of dimension data fields D and a set of measure data fields;

executing a first query against a plurality of tables of the one or more data sources source to form dimension tuples that comprise unique ordered combinations of data values for the set of dimension data fields D, each of the dimension tuples forming a distinct data row in a data table for generating a data visualization;
for each measure data field in the set of measure data fields:
forming a respective set S of dimensions consisting of the set of dimension data fields D and dimensions from a primary key for a table in the one or more data sources source containing the respective measure data field;
executing a respective query against the one or more data sources source to retrieve intermediate tuples comprising the data fields in S and the respective measure data field, without aggregation; and
aggregating the intermediate tuples according to the set of dimension data fields D to compute aggregate values for the respective measure data field;

for each measure data field in the set of measure data fields, extending the dimension tuples by inserting an additional column in the data table, the additional column containing aggregated data values corresponding to the respective measure data field; and
building and displaying a data visualization according to the data fields in the extended dimension tuples and according to the visual variables to which each of the data fields is associated.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the visual specification further includes one or more additional visual variables that are not associated with any data fields from the one or more data sources source.

13. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:
generating a plurality of visual marks, each of the visual marks corresponding to a respective extended tuple; and
displaying the data visualization in a graphical user interface for the computer system.

14. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the graphical user interface includes a data visualization region, the method further comprising displaying the data visualization in the data visualization region.

15. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein each of the visual variables is selected from the group consisting of: rows attribute, columns attribute, filter attribute, color encoding, size encoding, shape encoding, and label encoding.

16. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the aggregated data values are computed using an aggregate function selected from the group consisting of: SUM, COUNT, COUNTD, MIN, MAX, AVG, MEDIAN, ATTR, PERCENTILE, STDEV, STDEVP. VAR, and VARP.

17. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of data fields is from a plurality of distinct tables in the one or more data sources source.

18. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more data sources include source includes an obj

Assignees

• Tableau Software Inc

Inventors

• Talbot Justin
• Hau Roger
• Cory daniel
• Oh Jiyoung
• Roberts Teresa

Classifications

• G06F16/289

  Object oriented databases · CPC title

• G06F16/242

  Query formulation · CPC title

• G06F16/26 Primary

  Visual data mining; Browsing structured data · CPC title

• G06T2200/24

  involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs] · CPC title

• G06F3/04845

  for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour · CPC title