Analyzing data using data fields from multiple objects in an object model

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11599533-B2
Application number	US-202117553162-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2021
Priority date	Jul 30, 2020
Publication date	Mar 7, 2023
Grant date	Mar 7, 2023

Abstract

A method for analyzing data from data sources includes receiving user selection of a data source and displaying an interface that includes a schema region and a plurality of shelf regions. Each data field in the schema region is associated with a respective system-defined object from the data source. In a first display mode, each data field is displayed as associated with a respective system-defined object. In a second display mode, each data field is displayed in a respective user-defined folder. The method also includes displaying a data visualization according to a user placement of first and second data fields into the first and second shelf regions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for analyzing data from data sources, comprising:
at a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors:
receiving user selection of a data source;
displaying a data visualization user interface, including a schema region, and a plurality of shelf regions, each shelf region configured to define a respective characteristic of a displayed data visualization according to placement of data fields from the schema region into the respective shelf region, wherein:
each data field in the schema region is associated with a respective system-defined object from the data source; and
while in a first display mode, displaying the schema region includes hierarchically displaying each system-defined object and the data fields associated with the respective system-defined object;
while in a second display mode, displaying the schema region includes displaying each data field hierarchically in a respective user-defined folder;

receiving user selection of a first data field from the schema region and user placement of the first data field into a first shelf region; and
receiving user selection of a second data field from the schema region and user placement of the second data field into a second shelf region; and
in accordance with placement of the first data field into the first shelf region and placement of the second data field into the second shelf region, displaying a data visualization using data for the first data field and the second data field retrieved from the data source.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically generating a new data field, the new data field specifying a number of records in a first system-defined object;
automatically associating the new data field with the first system-defined object;
in the first display mode, displaying the new data field in association with the first system-defined object.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, while in the second display mode:
detecting a user gesture corresponding to the first data field; and
in accordance with detecting the user gesture corresponding to the first data field, displaying a system-defined object that is associated with the first data field.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data field corresponds to a first system-defined object and the second data field corresponds to a second system-defined object distinct from the first system-defined object.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, in accordance with placement of the first data field into the first shelf region and placement of the second data field into the second shelf region:
automatically joining the first system-defined object with the second system-defined object, including:
determining a join type between the first system-defined object and the second system-defined object based on the placement of the first and second data fields into the first and second shelf regions, respectively; and
generating a joined table based on the join type; and

generating a data visualization based on the joined table.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first system-defined object is linked to the second system-defined object through a sequence of one or more relationships and at least one of the relationships in the sequence of one or more relationships is a many-to-many relationship.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving user input to create a calculation using a fourth data field belonging to a third system-defined object; and
in accordance with receiving the user input to create the calculation, automatically generating a name and a caption for the calculation.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, in accordance with receiving the user input to create the calculation:
automatically associating the calculation with the third system-defined object.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying a search box in the schema region;
receiving user input in the search box, the user input including a predefined contiguous string of characters specifying a parameter of a search; and
in response to the user input in the search box, filtering the data fields displayed in the schema region, displaying only data fields whose data type matches a data type specified by the search parameter.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the second display mode:
receiving user input to associate a fifth data field with a first user-defined folder, the fifth data field being associated with a sixth system-defined object;
receiving user input to associate a sixth data field with the first user-defined folder, the sixth data field being distinct from the fifth data field and associated with a seventh system-defined object that is distinct from the sixth system-defined object; and
displaying the fifth data field and the sixth data field in association with the first user-defined folder;

receiving user input to switch from the second display mode to the first display mode; and
in the first display mode, displaying, in the schema region, the fifth data field as associated with the sixth system-defined object and the sixth data field as associated with the seventh system-defined object.

11. A computing device, comprising:
one or more processors;
memory;
a display; 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:
receiving user selection of a data source;
displaying a data visualization user interface, including a schema region, and a plurality of shelf regions, each shelf region configured to define a respective characteristic of a displayed data visualization according to placement of data fields from the schema region into the respective shelf region, wherein:
each data field in the schema region is associated with a respective system-defined object from the data source; and
while in a first display mode, displaying the schema region includes hierarchically displaying each system-defined object and the data fields associated with the respective system-defined object;
while in a second display mode, displaying the schema region includes displaying each data field hierarchically in a respective user-defined folder;

receiving user selection of a first data field from the schema region and user placement of the first data field into a first shelf region; and
receiving user selection of a second data field from the schema region and user placement of the second data field into a second shelf region; and
in accordance with placement of the first data field into the first shelf region and placement of the second data field into the second shelf region, displaying a data visualization using data for the first data field and the second data field retrieved from the data source.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
automatically generating a new data field, the new data field specifying a number of records in a first system-defined object;
automatically associating the new data field with a first object;
in the first display mode, displaying the new data field in association with the first object.

13. The computing device of claim 11 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
while in the second display mode:
detecting a user gesture corresponding to the first data field; and
in accordance with detecting the user gesture corresponding to the first data field, displaying a system-defined object t

Assignees

• Tableau Software Llc

Inventors

• Nhan Thomas
• Sulc Elaine Weatherfield
• Doan Susan Denise
• Pace David
• Luebbert Mathew Henry
• Kim Minkyeong

Classifications

• G06F16/26

  Visual data mining; Browsing structured data · CPC title

• G06F16/2423 Primary

  Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F16/287

  Visualization; Browsing · CPC title

• G06F3/04812

  Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects · CPC title