Patent · US Expired

Layout of data structures based on relationships between the data structures

US6801200B1 · kind B1 · utility

13Cited by
9References
32Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 21, 2000
Grant dateOct 5, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 21, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F16/9024
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A rectilinear layout system creates a diagram (graph) from information about items (nodes) and relationships among the items, such as the information which defines data bases, computer networks, and object based systems. The rectilinear layout system designates one of the items as a focus node and partitions the remaining items into clusters (sub-graphs) of related nodes. Multiple location groups are created that are relative to the focus node for the graph and each sub-graph is assigned to a location group. The rectilinear layout system then plots a location for each node in each of the sub-graphs by recursively iterating through the sub-graphs, designating focus nodes for each sub-graph, creating lower level sub-graphs, and assigning the lower level sub-graphs to location groups relative to the corresponding focus node until a lower level sub-graph contains only a single node. At that point, the rectilinear layout system plots the single node on to a layout surface for the lower level sub-graph and returns up a level. Once all nodes in a sub-graph have been plotted, the rectilinear layout system routes connectors among the nodes to represent the relationship among the nodes. The …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.