Chart animation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9721374-B2
Application number	US-201614991147-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2016
Priority date	Nov 14, 2011
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

Chart animation control may be provided. Upon receiving a change to a displayed visualization comprising a plurality of data elements, a determination may be made as to whether to animate an update of the visualization according to the change to the displayed visualization. In response to determining to animate the update of the visualization according to the change to the data value, an animation of the update may be constructed and rendered and the updated visualization may be displayed.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for providing chart animation control, the method comprising:
receiving a change to a displayed visualization, wherein the visualization comprises a chart, the chart comprising a plurality of data elements, the plurality of data elements comprising parts of the chart that represent a series value;
determining whether or not to construct an animation of an update of the visualization according to a result of an analysis of the change to the displayed visualization, wherein the analysis comprises determining whether a storyboard construction of required frames for animating the change exceeds a threshold time,
wherein the result is a determination to construct the animation of the update of the visualization because the storyboard construction of required frames for animating the change does not exceed the threshold time;
in response to the result:
constructing storyboards of the required frames of the animation of the update,
rendering the animation of the update,
displaying the animation of the update, and
displaying the update of the visualization after the displaying of the animation of the update.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis further comprises determining whether a render time of the animation does not exceed a threshold time,
wherein the determination to animate the update of the visualization is also because the render time of the animation does not exceed the threshold time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis further comprises determining whether the change to the displayed visualization is not associated with a preconfigured animation rule that prevents the animation,
wherein the determination to animate the update of the visualization is also because the displayed visualization is not associated with the preconfigured animation rule that prevents the animation.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the change comprises a user adjustment of at least one of the following: an x-axis size, a y-axis size, and a display size of the visualization.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the animation of the update is at least one of a translation or a property change.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the change comprises a change to one or more underlying data values.

7. A system for providing chart animation control, the system comprising:
a memory storage; and
a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operable to:
receive a change to a displayed visualization, wherein the visualization comprises a chart, the chart comprising a plurality of data elements, the plurality of data elements comprising parts of the chart that represent a series value,
determine whether or not to construct an animation of an update of the visualization according to a result of an analysis of at least one first animation decision rule, the at least one first animation decision rule comprising determining whether storyboard construction of required frames for animating the change exceeds a threshold time,
wherein the result is a determination to construct the animation of the update of the visualization because the storyboard construction of the required frames for animating the change does not exceed the threshold time;
in response to the result, construct the animation of the update by constructing storyboards of the required frames,
render and display the animation of the update, and
display the update of the visualization after the constructed animation has been displayed.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one first animation decision rule further comprises a binary cutoff rule.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one first animation decision rule further comprises a performance heuristic cutoff rule.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the performance heuristic cutoff rule calculates a performance cost of rendering the animation of the update.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the performance cost comprises a reduction in frames per second.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the performance heuristic cutoff rule comprises a system performance history.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one first animation decision rule is a count of the plurality of data elements comprising the parts of the chart that represent the series value that does not exceed a threshold number of data elements.

14. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one first animation decision rule determines a number of data points greater than a threshold value.

15. The system of claim 7 , wherein the change comprises a user adjustment of at least one of the following: an x-axis size, a y-axis size, and a display size of the visualization.

16. The system of claim 7 , wherein the change comprises a change to one or more underlying data values.

17. The system of claim 7 , wherein render and display the animation of the update is performed in response to meeting a second animation decision rule.

18. A system for providing chart animation control, the system comprising:
a memory storage; and
a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operable to:
receive a change to a displayed visualization, wherein the visualization comprises a chart, the chart comprising a plurality of data elements, the plurality of data elements comprising parts of the chart that represent a series value;
determine whether or not to construct an animation of an update of the visualization according to a result of an analysis of the change to the displayed visualization, the analysis comprising determining whether storyboard construction of required frames exceeds a threshold time,
wherein the result is a determination to not construct the animation of the update of the visualization because the storyboard construction of the required frames for animating the change exceeds the threshold time; and
in response to the result, display a cross-fade to an updated visualization.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the change comprises a user adjustment of at least one of the following: an x-axis size, a y-axis size, and a display size of the visualization.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the change comprises a change to one or more underlying data values.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Fan Kevin
• Berger Damien
• Hufnagel Peter
• Hu Bide
• Dallal Justin
• Poinescu Monica

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06T13/80 Primary

  Two-dimensional [2D] animation, e.g. using sprites · CPC title

• G06T13/00 Primary

  Animation · CPC title

• G06T11/206

  Physics · mapped topic