Method and apparatus for displaying and navigating a graph
US6285367A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 26, 1998 |
| Grant date | Sep 4, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 26, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0482
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Data is graphically displayed using a set of successive outer sectors of a geometrical shape, such as nested concentric circles, in order to provide easy navigation through related data items. Successive outer portions may be partitioned into sectors and are related to the adjacent inner more sector of the graphical representation. The outer sectors may be dynamic or static in nature. When a user selects an outer sector, that outer sector appropriately regenerates to become the new focus (or center) of the graphical representation and successive outer sectors related to the new focus are generated in order to easily navigate through the nodes of the present invention. If the outer sectors were already displayed, those outer sectors become redisplayed to inner more sectors. The non selected nodes of the same level of the selected node and those nodes related to the non selected nodes are no longer graphically represented when the new outer sectors are generated and previous outer sectors are redisplayed to new inner sectors.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.