Obtaining and displaying relationships between elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9685142-B2
Application number	US-201514930990-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2015
Priority date	Nov 3, 2015
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and system to optimize the display of related elements. The method includes a processor obtaining data elements and groups of data elements, and relationships between data elements in different groups and identifying parent-child dependencies between the groups. The processor identifies a root group among the groups: the root group has no parent dependency. The processor orders data elements in the root group, based on a predetermined policy and determines a display order of data elements in groups that are not root groups by optimizing a length of relationship lines representing the relationships between the data elements in different groups. The processor also determines a scroll position for each group and displays, in a graphical user interface on the display, the groups with a scroll bars at the scroll position in each group, and the relationships between data elements in different groups.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for obtaining and displaying relationships between data elements in a computer system, comprising:
obtaining, by a processor, data elements and groups of data elements, and relationships between data elements in different groups, wherein each data element is associated with a group;
identifying, by the processor, parent-child dependencies between the groups;
based on identifying the parent-child dependencies, identifying, by the processor, a root group among the groups, wherein the root group has no parent dependency;
ordering, by the processor, data elements in the root group, based on a predetermined policy;
determining, by the processor, a display order of data elements in groups that are not root groups by optimizing a length of relationship lines representing the relationships between the data elements in different groups, wherein the relationship lines are visible elements in a graphical user interface that form a visual linkage between the data elements in different groups in the relationships, wherein the optimizing comprises:
selecting, by the processor, from the groups, a child group;
determining, by the processor, an initial order for data elements a in the child group by placing data elements in the child group related to data elements in a parent group before data elements in the child group not related to data elements in the parent group;
displaying, by the processor, relationship lines representing relationships between data elements in the child group to data elements in the parent group;
obtaining, by the processor, a sum of the lengths of the relationship lines; and
minimizing, by the processor, the sum, wherein the minimizing comprises:
identifying, by the processor, a first data element in a first position in the child group and a second data element in a second position in the child group, wherein moving the first data element to the second position and moving the second data element to the first position reduces the sum; and
exchanging, by the processor, the positions of the first data element and the second data element; and

obtaining, by the processor, attributes of a display communicatively coupled to the processor and based on these attributes, determining a scroll position for each group; and
displaying, by the processor, in a graphical user interface on the display, the groups with a scroll bar at the scroll position in each group, and the relationships between data elements in different groups with the relationship lines of optimized length connecting related data elements.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the display order of the data elements in the groups comprises determining a display order of the data elements in a child group based on a display order of data elements in a parent group of the child group.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the optimizing further comprises:
determining, by the processor, a local minimum value of a sum total of the lengths of the relationship lines.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the optimizing the lengths of the relationship lines comprises measuring the relationship lines in a vertical direction.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining, by the processor, an indicator that a scroll position of a first group has changed to a new scroll position; and
based on the new scroll position, changing, by the processor, a scroll position of a second group, wherein at least one data element in the second group is related to at least one data element in the first group.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the changing is completed over a pre-determined period of time.

7. The computer-implemented of claim 1 , wherein the displaying comprises displaying a first portion of data elements in a first group in the display and not displaying a second portion of the data elements in the first group, wherein the first portion precedes the second portion in an order of the data elements in the first group.

8. The computer-implemented of claim 7 , further comprising:
displaying, by a processor, in the graphical user interface, a visual indicator of a relationship between a data element in the second portion and another data element.

9. The computer-implemented of claim 1 , wherein the determining further comprises, identifying, by the processor, which data elements in each group will be displayed at the scroll position.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined policy is selected from the group consisting of: alphabetical order and an attribute value order.

11. A computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by one or more processor and storing instructions for execution by the one or more processor for performing a method comprising:
obtaining, by a processor, data elements and groups of data elements, and relationships between data elements in different groups, wherein each data element is associated with a group;
identifying, by the processor, parent-child dependencies between the groups;
based on identifying the parent-child dependencies, identifying, by the processor, a root group among the groups, wherein the root group has no parent dependency;
ordering, by the processor, data elements in the root group, based on a predetermined policy;
determining, by the processor, a display order of data elements in groups that are not root groups by optimizing a length of relationship lines representing the relationships between the data elements in different groups, wherein the relationship lines are visible elements in a graphical user interface that form a visual linkage between the data elements in different groups in the relationships, wherein the optimizing comprises:
selecting, by the processor, from the groups, a child group;
determining, by the processor, an initial order for data elements a in the child group by placing data elements in the child group related to data elements in a parent group before data elements in the child group not related to data elements in the parent group;
displaying, by the processor, relationship lines representing relationships between data elements in the child group to data elements in the parent group;
obtaining, by the processor, a sum of the lengths of the relationship lines; and
minimizing, by the processor, the sum, wherein the minimizing comprises:
identifying, by the processor, a first data element in a first position in the child group and a second data element in a second position in the child group, wherein moving the first data element to the second position and moving the second data element to the first position reduces the sum; and
exchanging, by the processor, the positions of the first data element and the second data element; and

obtaining, by the processor, attributes of a display communicatively coupled to the processor and based on these attributes, determining a scroll position for each group; and
displaying, by the processor, in a graphical user interface on the display, the groups with a scroll bar at the scroll position in each group, and the relationships between data elements in different groups with the relationship lines of optimized length connecting related elements.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the determining the display order of the data elements in the groups comprises determining a display order of the data elements in a child group based on a display order of data elements in a parent group of the child group.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Mitsui Kinichi

Classifications

• G09G5/34 Primary

  for rolling or scrolling · CPC title

• G09G5/32

  with means for controlling the display position {(see provisionally G09G5/42)} · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

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

• G06F3/04855

  Interaction with scrollbars · CPC title

• G09G2340/0464

  Positioning · CPC title