Systems, Methods, and Apparatuses for Creating, Linking and Discovering Navigation Maps for Analyzing Data
An aspect of the present invention includes a system for creating navigation maps comprising a host module, said host module being adapted to receive data point markers about at least one data point of interest to a user and including a data input link for receiving information about said at least one data point of interest, a first logic processing module programmed to associate at least one data point of interest with at least one report, wherein said logic processing module uses predefined criteria to tag the at least one data point of interest as relevant to the at least one report; and a database module, said database module being adapted to store and obtain the at least one data point of interest, data point markers, and the at least one report. Another aspect of the present invention includes a method for navigating through business reports, comprising adapting a host module to receive data point markers about at least one data point of interest to a user, providing a data input link for receiving information about the at least one data point of interest, associating at least one data point of interest with at least one report, by adapting a logic processing module using predefined criteria to tag the at least one data point of interest as relevant to the at least one report, and accessing a database module to store and obtain the at least one data point of interest, at least one data point marker, and the at least one report.
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/539,926, filed Sep. 27, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
FIELDThe present invention relates to navigation through complex date, and more particularly to providing systems and methods to navigate through reports and enable review of the relationships between multiple reports.
BACKGROUNDCurrent methods for linking reports are very limited and don't provide an easy way to navigate complex data. Hard coded drill downloads or pre-determined hierarchies are a major limitation with current business intelligence software, as there is no way to discover the relationships between reports dynamically and move forward and backward between reports. The novel method presented herein provides for a distinct way to navigate reports.
SUMMARYAn aspect of the present invention includes a system for creating navigation maps comprising a host module, said host module being adapted to receive data point markers about at least one data point of interest to a user and including a data input link for receiving information about said at least one data point of interest, a first logic processing module programmed to associate at least one data point of interest with at least one report, wherein said logic processing module uses predefined criteria to tag the at least one data point of interest as relevant to the at least one report; and a database module, said database module being adapted to store and obtain the at least one data point of interest, data point markers, and the at least one report. Another aspect of the present invention includes a method for navigating through business reports, comprising adapting a host module to receive data point markers about at least one data point of interest to a user, providing a data input link for receiving information about the at least one data point of interest, associating at least one data point of interest with at least one report, by adapting a logic processing module using predefined criteria to tag the at least one data point of interest as relevant to the at least one report, and accessing a database module to store and obtain the at least one data point of interest, at least one data point marker, and the at least one report.
Although the scope of the present invention is much broader than any particular embodiment, a detailed description of the preferred embodiment follows together with drawings. These drawings are for illustration purposes only and are not drawn to scale. Like numbers represent like features and components in the drawings. The invention may best be understood by reference to the ensuing detailed description in conjunction with the drawings in which:
The embodiments of the present invention are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Among other things, the present invention may be embodied as systems, methods or devices. The following detailed description should not to be taken in a limiting sense. Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, though it may. Furthermore, the phrase “in another embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment, although it may. Thus, as described below, various embodiments of the invention may be readily combined, without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In addition, as used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or” operator, and is equivalent to the term “and/or,” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The term “based on” is not exclusive and allows for being based on additional factors not described, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, throughout the specification, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.” The term “coupled” implies that the elements may be directly connected together or may be coupled through one or more intervening elements. Further reference may be made to an embodiment where a component is implemented and multiple like or identical components are implemented.
As used in this specification and claims, the terms “for example,” “for instance,” “such as,” and “like,” and the verbs “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and their other verb forms, when used in conjunction with a listing of one or more components or other items, are each to be construed as open-ended, meaning that that the listing is not to be considered as excluding other, additional components or items. Other terms are to be construed using their broadest reasonable meaning unless they are used in a context that requires a different interpretation.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method to record user navigation within the tree including all report selections, selected dimension variables and last position of user navigation within navigation tree. This may be accomplished by the system building the list of user selections which are then passed to the other reports to filter the data based on the previous selections The process of remembering the user selections at each interaction will generate a dynamic selection list at the runtime based on user navigation between different reports and will be instrumental for root-cause analysis for a specific scenario even for large data volumes. In another embodiment, aspects of the present invention permit the dimension attributed values selected during navigation to other reports within the tree navigation.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method provides a way for users to navigate information in the form of a visually displayed navigation tree. In one embodiment, the navigation tree is built dynamically when, for example, a user clicks on the graph, table, or any other form of organization of data. In another embodiment, the tree parent and children nodes may be determined based on what is clicked and what information is relevant for that report. Similar to a map, in one embodiment, a navigation tree will visually display the current location of user navigation within the tree.
In another embodiment, the navigation tree is built statically by the user, enabling the user to link the current report to any other report the user deems relevant. The static linkage may be based on any number of data points within the present report and the reports being linked, and any other criteria deemed relevant by the user, such as, for example, practice area, scope of relevance, organizational structure, etc.
In yet another embodiment the method provides for users to build new navigation map-like reports. For example, instead of just providing a single report in a dashboard, the system enables a way to display a navigation map to users that will make it very easy for them to analyze data without having to figure out the correct sequence of report navigation to determine the root cause of an issue or a trend.
In another embodiment, the system presents a drill-down/drill through search functionality in a form of, for example, a tree with nodes and branches. When a user clicks on a report, a tree is built dynamically with link nodes representing dynamically or statically link reports that are relevant to the current report. It is asserted that the “tree with nodes and branches” is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. However, any form of graphical representation may be used, including but not limited to 2-D or 3-D format, to accomplish the desired result.
Aspects of the present invention may be implemented in various configurations. For example, in one embodiment the invention may be implemented as a desktop personal computer, stand alone computer, workstation computer, mobile computer, portable computing device, personal digital assistant (PDA) device, cellular telephone, digital audio or video playback device, or any other similar type of computing device. Examples of suitable network connections include a controller area network (CAN), a media oriented system transfer (MOST), a local interconnection network (LIN), a local area network (LAN), and other appropriate connections such as Ethernet or others that conform with known ISO, SAE and IEEE standards and specifications, to name but a few.
Aspects of the present invention may be implemented on one or more computers executing software instructions. According to one embodiment of the present invention, server and client computer systems transmit and receive data over a computer network or a fiber or copper-based telecommunications network. The steps of accessing, downloading, and manipulating the data, as well as other aspects of the present invention are implemented by central processing units (CPU) in the server and client computers executing sequences of instructions stored in a memory. The memory may be a random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a persistent store, such as a mass storage device, or any combination of these devices. Execution of the sequences of instructions causes the CPU to perform steps according to embodiments of the present invention. The CPU may include one or more software modules, host modules, and logic processing modules.
The instructions may be loaded into the memory of the server or client computers from a storage device or from one or more other computer systems over a network connection. For example, a client computer may transmit a sequence of instructions to the server computer in response to a message transmitted to the client over a network by the server. As the server receives the instructions over the network connection, it stores the instructions in memory. The server may store the instructions for later execution, or it may execute the instructions as they arrive over the network connection. In some cases, the CPU may directly support the downloaded instructions. In other cases, the instructions may not be directly executable by the CPU, and may instead be executed by an interpreter that interprets the instructions. In other embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with, software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software, nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the server or client computers. In some instances, the client and server functionality may be implemented on a single computer platform.
Aspects of the present invention can be used in a distributed electronic commerce application that includes a client/server network system that links one or more server computers to one or more client computers, as well as server computers to other server computers and client computers to other client computers. The client and server computers may be implemented as desktop personal computers, workstation computers, mobile computers, portable computing devices, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, cellular telephones, digital audio or video playback devices, or any other similar type of computing device. The terms “computer network” and “online” may be used interchangeably and do not imply a particular network embodiment or topography. In general, any type of network (e.g., LAN, WAN, or Internet) may be used to implement the online or computer networked implementation of the system, method, device, and apparatus for creating, linking and discovering navigation maps for analyzing data. Thus, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein and the constituent elements of the invention can be modified in various manners without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Various aspects of the invention can also be extracted from any appropriate combination of a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiments. Some constituent elements may be deleted in all of the constituent elements disclosed in the embodiments. The constituent elements described in different embodiments may be combined arbitrarily.
While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions.
Claims
1. A system for creating navigation maps comprising:
- a host module, said host module being adapted to receive data point markers about at least one data point of interest to a user and including a data input link for receiving information about said at least one data point of interest;
- a first logic processing module programmed to associate at least one data point of interest with at least one report, wherein said logic processing module uses predefined criteria to tag the at least one data point of interest as relevant to the at least one report; and
- a database module, said database module being adapted to store and obtain the at least one data point of interest, data point markers, and the at least one report.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data point marker is created by the user.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data point marker is predefined.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one report is a new report.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one report is an existing report.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria is relational.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria is a manual decision by the user.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria is determined by link management software.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first logic processing module further enables the linking of the at least one report with another report.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the navigational map created is a graphical representation.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the linking of the at least one report with another report is dynamic.
12. A method for navigating through business reports, comprising:
- adapting a host module to receive data point markers about at least one data point of interest to a user;
- providing a data input link for receiving information about be at least one data point of interest;
- associating at least one data point of interest with at least one report, by adapting a logic processing module using predefined criteria to tag the at least one data point of interest as relevant to the at least one report; and
- accessing a database module to store and obtain the at east one data point of interest, at least one data point marker, and the at least one report.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- creating at least one new data point marker;
- associating the at least one report with the at least one new data point marker;
- identifying the at least one report with relevant new data point markers;
- linking the at least one reports with the common new data point marker; and
- displaying graphically the link between the at least one reports with the common at least one new data point markers.
14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- creating at least one new data point marker;
- associating the at least one report with the at least one new data point marker;
- identifying the at least one report with relevant new data point markers;
- linking statically the at least one reports with the common new data point marker; and
- displaying graphically the link between the at least one reports with the common at least one new data point markers.
15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- creating at least one new data point marker;
- associating the at least one report with the at east one new data point marker;
- identifying the at least one report with relevant new data point markers;
- linking dynamically the at least one reports with the common new data point marker; and
- displaying graphically the link between the at least one reports with common at least one new data point markers.
16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- creating at least one new data point marker;
- associating at least one new report with the at least one new data point marker;
- associating the at least one report with the at least one new data point marker;
- identifying the at least one report and the at least one new report with relevant new data point markers;
- linking the at least one report and the at least one new report with the common new data point marker; and
- displaying graphically the link between the at least one report and the at least one new report with the common at least one new data point markers.
17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- creating at least one new report;
- building a new navigation map;
- linking a previously created at least one report from a repository to the new navigation map; and
- storing the new navigation map, the link between the previously created one report to the new navigation map, and the at least one new report in a database.
18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- viewing the at least one report;
- loading a navigation map; and
- gathering information to dynamically create a link to the navigation map.
19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- loading a previously created navigation map;
- linking the at least one report to the navigation map; and
- storing the navigation map in a in a database.
20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- updating a navigation map by locating the navigation map;
- adding at least one new report to the map; and
- storing the navigation map in a database.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 27, 2012
Publication Date: Nov 28, 2013
Inventor: Shariq Mansoor (Dublin, CA)
Application Number: 13/629,582
International Classification: G06Q 10/06 (20060101);