Representation of operations for making changes to a graph

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9514557-B2
Application number	US-201514835350-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 25, 2015
Priority date	Sep 20, 2013
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

An embodiment provides a system to generate visualization layouts. A timeline upon which a playhead indicator is moved or positioned. Changes to a displayed visualization (such as a node-edge graph) that are within a predetermined interval of the playhead indicator's time position are shown graphically on or near the graph. Actor icons are positioned on or near the displayed graph. The actor icons correspond to different entities (e.g., a person, group, organization, software agent, etc.) that has made a change to the graph. Change indicators both on the timeline and in association with the actor icons can be color-coded to indicate addition, deletion, modification or other operations to graph items or to other objects being displayed.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for displaying a layout of at least a portion of a node-edge graph, wherein the layout changes over time according to operations performed on the node-edge graph, the node-edge graph including nodes coupled by edges, the method comprising:
representing an operation as a tuple of operation type, data tuple, actor and time, wherein the operation type describes a type of operation performed on a data item, wherein the data tuple specifies an item that is the subject of the operation type, wherein the actor identifies an entity that is changed in the graph by causing the operation on the data item, and wherein the time specifies a time at which the operation occurred;
determining a time interval;
identifying the operations that occurred within the time interval; and
using operation representations corresponding to the identified operations to generate a display of the layout that changes over the time interval.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation type includes add, delete, modify, or move.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data item includes an edge, node or position.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein time includes a logical time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein time includes a timestamp.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a subset of operations is ordered in time.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the actor includes one or more of a person, group, business, organization, or software agent.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
pre-planning at least a portion of the layout.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
Creating two or more partitions of the layout; and
Processing two or more of the two or more partitions independently of one another.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
using at least a portion of a static layout with at least a portion of a force layout.

11. A non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium including one or more instructions executable by one or more processors for:
displaying a layout of at least a portion of a node-edge graph, wherein the layout changes over time according to operations performed on the node-edge graph, the node-edge graph including nodes coupled by edges, the method comprising:
representing an operation as a tuple of operation type, data tuple, actor and time, wherein the operation type describes a type of operation performed on a data item, wherein the data tuple specifies an item that is the subject of the operation type, wherein the actor identifies an entity that is changed in the graph by causing the operation on the data item, and wherein the time specifies a time at which the operation occurred;
determining a time interval;
identifying the operations that occurred within the time interval; and
using operation representations corresponding to the identified operations to generate a display of the layout that changes over the time interval.

12. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein the operation type includes add, delete, modify, or move.

13. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein the data item includes an edge, node or position.

14. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein time includes a logical time.

15. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein time includes a timestamp.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein a subset of operations is ordered in time.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein the actor includes one or more of a person, group, business, organization, or software agent.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , further comprising one or more instructions executable by one or more processors for:
pre-planning at least a portion of the layout.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 18 , further comprising one or more instructions executable by one or more processors for:
creating two or more partitions of the layout; and
processing two or more of the two or more partitions independently of one another.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , further comprising one or more instructions executable by one or more processors for:
using at least a portion of a static layout with at least a portion of a force layout.

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Beckett Ken
• B'Far Reza
• Golden Ryan
• King Nigel
• Spaulding Kent
• Jackson Todd A

Classifications

• G06T11/26 Primary

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06F16/2477

  Temporal data queries · CPC title

• G06T11/60 Primary

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title

• G06F16/9024

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

• G06F16/26

  Visual data mining; Browsing structured data · CPC title