Generating Scenes and Tours In A Spreadsheet Application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016196674-A1
Application number	US-201615069166-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Aug 10, 2012
Publication date	Jul 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are described herein for generating scenes and tours in a spreadsheet application. In accordance with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a computer system executes a visualization component. Selection of an option to create a tour can be detected by the computer system. In response to detecting selection of the option, the computer system can create a tour. The computer system also can detect selection of an option to add a scene to the tour. The tour can be saved. Playback of the tour can be started in response to detecting selection of a play option. If the playback is paused, changes made to the tour and/or the scenes can be tracked by the computer system, and an updated version of the tour can be saved.

First claim

1 . (canceled)

2 . A computer-implemented method for creating a visualization of data, comprising:
creating a tour at a computer system executing a visualization component; adding a scene to the tour, the scene comprising a view of data, the data comprising spreadsheet data obtained from a data source in communication with the computer system; and saving, by the computer system, the tour as an updated version of the spreadsheet data.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising generating a user interface (UI) comprising a tour explorer window, the tour explorer window comprising a UI control which, when selected, will cause the tour to be created, another UI control which, when selected, will cause the scene to be added to the tour, and a play control for playing the tour.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
detecting selection of the play control; in response to detecting selection of the play control, beginning playing of the tour; presenting playback controls during playing of the tour, the playback controls comprising a back control; detecting selection of the back control to initiate an edit mode; and in response to determining that changes are made to the tour during the edit mode, saving an updated version of the tour.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the scene further comprises an effect, the effect comprising a still effect, an orbit effect, a fly-by effect, a FIG. 8 idle effect, a fly-over effect, or a push-in effect.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the tour explorer window comprises:
a thumbnail corresponding to the scene; a further thumbnail corresponding to a further scene; a caption that is editable to modify a name of the tour; and thumbnail captions that are editable to modify a name of at least one of the scene or the further scene.

7 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining if a further scene is to be added to the tour; in response to determining that the further scene is to be added, adding the further scene to the tour; and adding a transition between the scene and the further scene, wherein the transition comprises an arc transition.

8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein saving the tour comprises exporting a video file corresponding to the tour.

9 . An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and a computer storage medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to
create a tour,
add a scene to the tour, the scene comprising a view of data, the data comprising spreadsheet data obtained from a data source in communication with the apparatus, and
save the tour as an updated version of the spreadsheet data.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the computer storage medium has further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to detect a selection of a start time and an end time of the tour.

11 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the scene further comprises an effect, the effect adjusted based on the analysis of the data.

12 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the computer storage medium has further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to generate a user interface (UI) comprising a tour explorer window, the tour explorer window comprising a UI control which, when selected, will cause the tour to be created, another UI control which, when selected, will cause the scene to be added to the tour, and a play control for playing the tour.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the computer storage medium has further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to:
detect selection of the play control; in response to detecting selection of the play control, begin playing of the tour; present playback controls during playing of the tour, the playback controls comprising a back control; initiate an edit mode responsive to selection of the back control; and in response to determining that changes are made to the tour during the edit mode, save an updated version of the tour.

14 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the tour is automatically generated based upon an analysis of the spreadsheet data.

15 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the computer storage medium has further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to:
analyze the spreadsheet data to determine a nexus of the data; and start the tour at the nexus of the data.

16 . A computer storage medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
create a tour; add a first scene to the tour, the first scene comprising a view of data, the data comprising spreadsheet data obtained from a data source in communication with the computer; and save the tour as an updated version of the spreadsheet data.

17 . The computer storage medium of claim 16 , having further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to determine a tour time that specifies a duration of the tour.

18 . The computer storage medium of claim 17 , having further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to adjust a time component of the spreadsheet data based on the determination of the tour time.

19 . The computer storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the scene comprises an effect, the effect comprising a still effect, an orbit effect, a fly-by effect, a figure eight idle effect, a fly-over effect, or a push-in effect.

20 . The computer storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the tour is automatically generated based upon an analysis of the spreadsheet data.

21 . The computer storage medium of claim 20 , having further computer readable instructions stored thereupon to:
analyze the spreadsheet data to determine a nexus of the data; and start the tour at the nexus of the data.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Ruble B Scott
• Sobhy Ehab
• Peev Igor Borisov
• Wong Curtis G
• Payne John Alfred
• Fay Jonathan Edgar
• Fan Kevin

Classifications

• G06T11/26 Primary

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06F40/169

  Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes · CPC title

• G06F40/166

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title

• G06F40/18

  of spreadsheets (form-filling G06F40/174) · CPC title

• G06F3/0488 Primary

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title