Nested sorting of data marks in data visualizations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12013872-B2
Application number	US-202217741380-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2022
Priority date	Oct 9, 2017
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

A data visualization application receives user actions to (i) associate a first data field with a first shelf and (ii) associate second and third data fields with a second shelf. The method receives an additional user action to specify a nested sort according to data for the first and third data fields. The method generates and displays a data visualization in accordance with the received actions, including: (i) partitioning retrieved data into groups of tuples, each tuple including data for the data fields, and each group of tuples corresponding to a distinct value of the second data field, (ii) forming panes, each pane corresponding to a respective group of tuples, and (iii) within each pane, displaying data marks, each data mark corresponding to a respective tuple.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method 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:
displaying a user interface on the display, wherein the user interface displays a plurality of data fields and a plurality of shelves;
receiving user actions to (i) associate a first data field of the plurality of data fields with a first shelf of the plurality of shelves and (ii) associate a second data field and a third data field of the plurality of data fields with a second shelf of the plurality of shelves, wherein the first data field is a measure, and the third data field is a dimension;
receiving an additional user action to specify an inner sort operation according to data for the first data field and the third data field; and
in response to the additional user action, generating and displaying a first data visualization in accordance with the user actions and the additional user action, including:
partitioning retrieved data into groups of tuples, each tuple including data for the first, second, and third data fields, wherein each group of tuples corresponds to a respective distinct value of the second data field;
forming a plurality of panes, each pane corresponding to a respective group of tuples; and
within each pane, displaying a respective sorted set of data marks, each data mark corresponding to a respective tuple in the respective group of tuples, wherein the respective sorted set of data marks is sorted according to aggregated data values for the first data field in the respective tuples.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data for the first data field in each tuple is a respective computed aggregate of the first data field corresponding to respective data values for the second and third data fields in the respective tuple.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, at the computer:
receiving a second additional user action to associate a fourth data field of the plurality of data fields with the second shelf; and
in response to receiving the second additional user action, generating and displaying a second data visualization, including:
repartitioning retrieved data into subgroups of tuples, each tuple including data for the first, second, third, and fourth data fields, wherein each subgroup of tuples corresponds to a respective distinct combination of values of the second and third data fields;
forming a plurality of subpanes, each subpane corresponding to a respective subgroup of tuples; and
within each subpane, displaying a respective plurality of data marks, each data mark corresponding to a respective tuple in the respective subgroup of tuples, wherein displaying the respective plurality of data marks comprises displaying the respective plurality of data marks in order according to data values for the first data field in the respective tuples.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, at the computer:
selecting a first graph type for the first data visualization according to data types of the first, second, and third data fields; and
selecting a second graph type for the second data visualization according to data types of the first, second, third, and fourth data fields, wherein the second graph type is different from the first graph type.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, at the computer:
receiving a second additional user action to associate a fourth data field of the plurality of data fields with the second shelf; and
in response to receiving the second additional user action, generating and displaying a second data visualization, including:
repartitioning retrieved data into subgroups of tuples, each tuple including data for the first, second, third, and fourth data fields, wherein each subgroup of tuples corresponds to a respective distinct combination of values of the second and fourth data fields;
forming a plurality of subpanes, each subpane corresponding to a respective subgroup of tuples; and
within each subpane, displaying a respective plurality of data marks, each data mark corresponding to a respective tuple in the respective subgroup of tuples, wherein displaying the respective plurality of data marks comprises displaying the respective plurality of data marks in order according to data values for the first data field in the respective tuples.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising before receiving the additional user action to perform the inner sort operation:
for each distinct value of the third data field, computing a respective single aggregate value of the first data field, irrespective of the second data field; and
generating and displaying an initial data visualization including sorting the respective set of data marks in each of the plurality of panes according to the computed aggregate values of the first data field.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the additional user action is received via an affordance displayed in the initial data visualization.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second additional user action that corresponds to the second data field, to perform a header sort operation that sorts the plurality of panes in a pane sort order; and
performing the header sort operation based on data for the second data field in each respective tuple of data.

9. A computer system for sorting data marks in a data visualization, 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 on the display including a plurality of data fields and a plurality of shelves;
receiving user actions to (i) associate a first data field of the plurality of data fields with a first shelf of the plurality of shelves and (ii) associate a second data field and a third data field of the plurality of data fields with a second shelf of the plurality of shelves, wherein the first data field is a measure, the third data field is a dimension;
receiving an additional user action to specify an inner sort operation according to data for the first data field and the third data field; and
in response to the additional user action, generating and displaying a first data visualization in accordance with the user actions and the additional user action, including:
partitioning retrieved data into groups of tuples, each tuple including data for the first, second, and third data fields, wherein each group of tuples corresponds to a respective distinct value of the second data field;
forming a plurality of panes, each pane corresponding to a respective group of tuples; and
within each pane, displaying a respective sorted set of data marks, each data mark corresponding to a respective tuple in the respective group of tuples, wherein the respective sorted set of data marks is sorted according to aggregated data values for the first data field in the respective tuples.

10. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the data for the first data field in each tuple is a respective computed aggregate of the first data field corresponding to respective data values for the second and third data fields in the respective tuple.

11. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:
receiving a second additional user action to associate a fourth data field of the plurality of data fields with the second shelf; and
in response to receiving the second additional user action, generating and displaying a second data visualization, including:
repartitioning retrieved data into subgroups o

Assignees

• Tableau Software Inc

Inventors

• Talbot Justin
• Cory daniel
• Frazier Boone Jeannine
• Coe Ian A

Classifications

• G06F16/9024

  Graphs; Linked lists (G06F16/9027 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F16/278

  Data partitioning, e.g. horizontal or vertical partitioning · CPC title

• G06F16/252

  between a Database Management System and a front-end application · CPC title

• G06F16/26 Primary

  Visual data mining; Browsing structured data · CPC title