Visualizing relationships between data elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9767100-B2
Application number	US-62948309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2009
Priority date	Dec 2, 2008
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

In general, a specification of multiple contexts that are related according to a hierarchy is received. Relationships are determined among three or more metadata objects, and at least some of the metadata objects are grouped into one or more respective groups. Each of at least some of the groups is based on a selected one of the contexts and is represented by a node in a diagram. Relationships among the nodes are determined based on the relationships among the metadata objects in the groups represented by the nodes, and a visual representation is generated of the diagram including the nodes and the relationships among the nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method including:
receiving a specification of multiple contexts, in which some of the contexts are related according to a hierarchy;
determining relationships among three or more metadata objects, in which at least some of the metadata objects represent data elements and at least some of the metadata objects represent transformations of data provided by the data elements, for a given metadata object of the metadata objects, the relationships among the metadata objects include one or more of:
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects on which the given metadata object depends, and
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects that depend on the given metadata object;

grouping at least some of the metadata objects into one or more respective groups, each of at least some of the groups being based on a selected one of the contexts, at least two groups being associated with different contexts;
representing the at least some metadata objects by a diagram having nodes, each node representing a metadata object or a group of metadata objects;
determining relationships among the nodes based on the relationships among the metadata objects or the groups;
determining groupings of the nodes based on the groupings of the metadata objects; and
generating a visual representation of the diagram including the nodes and the relationships among the nodes, the diagram including a first group of two or more nodes representing two or more data elements, the first group of two or more nodes being associated with a first context in the received specification, and a second group of two or more nodes representing two or more transformations of data, the second group of two or more nodes being associated with a second context in the received specification, the second context being different from the first context.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data elements are grouped in contexts including data sets, applications, or systems.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the transformations of data are grouped in contexts including executables, applications, or systems.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the nodes are configured to be expanded or collapsed to display different levels of resolution.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein a user selects the level of resolution to display.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein a user selects a particular node for which to calculate relationships.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein each node not containing the selected data node are collapsed to a least detailed level of resolution according to an algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein nodes meeting a preselected condition are filtered out of the visual representation.

9. A system including:
a computer including one or more processors;
means for receiving a specification of multiple contexts, in which some of the contexts are related according to a hierarchy;
means for determining relationships among three or more metadata objects, in which at least some of the metadata objects represent data elements and at least some of the metadata objects represent transformations of data provided by the data elements, for a given metadata object of the metadata objects, the relationships among the metadata objects include one or more of:
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects on which the given metadata object depends, and
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects that depend on the given metadata object;

means for grouping at least some of the metadata objects into one or more respective groups, each of at least some of the groups being based on a selected one of the contexts, at least two groups being associated with different contexts;
means for representing the at least some metadata objects by a diagram having nodes, each node representing a metadata object or a group of metadata objects;
means for determining relationships among the nodes based on the relationships among the metadata objects or the groups;
means for determining groupings of the nodes based on the groupings of the metadata objects; and
means for generating a visual representation of the diagram including the nodes and the relationships among the nodes, the diagram including a first grouping of two or more nodes representing two or more data elements, the first group of two or more nodes being associated with a first context in the received specification, and a second group of two or more nodes representing two or more transformations of data, the second group of two or more nodes being associated with a second context in the received specification, in which the second context is different from the first context.

10. A computer system including:
one or more computing devices configured to:
receive a specification of multiple contexts, in which some of the contexts are related according to a hierarchy;
determine relationships among three or more metadata objects, in which at least some of the metadata objects represent data elements and at least some of the metadata objects represent transformations of data provided by the data elements, for a given metadata object of the metadata objects, the relationships among the metadata objects include one or more of:
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects on which the given metadata object depends, and
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects that depend on the given metadata object;

group at least some of the metadata objects into one or more respective groups, each of at least some of the groups being based on a selected one of the contexts, at least two groups being associated with different contexts;
represent the at least some metadata objects by a diagram having nodes, each node representing a metadata object or a group of metadata objects;
determine relationships among the nodes based on the relationships among the metadata objects or the groups;
determine groupings of the nodes based on the groupings of the metadata objects; and
generate a visual representation of the diagram including the nodes and the relationships among the nodes, the diagram including a first grouping of two or more nodes representing two or more data elements, the first group of two or more nodes being associated with a first context in the received specification, and a second group of two or more nodes representing two or more transformations of data, the second group of two or more nodes being associated with a second context in the received specification, in which the second context is different from the first context.

11. A computer-readable device storing a computer program, the computer program including instructions for causing a computer to:
receive a specification of multiple contexts, in which some of the contexts are related according to a hierarchy;
determine relationships among three or more metadata objects, in which at least some of the metadata objects represent data elements and at least some of the metadata objects represent transformations of data provided by the data elements, for a given metadata object of the metadata objects, the relationships among the metadata objects include one or more of:
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects on which the given metadata object depends, and
relationships between the given metadata object and one or more metadata objects that depend on the given metadata object;

group at least some of the metadata objects into one or more respective groups, each of at least som

Assignees

• Bator Erik
• Gould Joel
• Radivojevic Dusan
• Wakeling Tim
• Ab Initio Technology Llc

Inventors

• Bator Erik
• Gould Joel
• Radivojevic Dusan
• Wakeling Tim

Classifications

• G06F16/26 Primary

  Visual data mining; Browsing structured data · CPC title

• G06F16/40 Primary

  of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data (retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70) · CPC title

• G06F16/907 Primary

  Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually · CPC title

• G06F17/30017 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30572

  Physics · mapped topic