US 8,803,884 B2Granted

Event data visualization tool

AssigneeFlorida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Inc.

InventorsJeffrey M. Bradshaw, Lawrence K. Bunch, Marco M. Carvalho, Thomas C. Eskridge, Paul J. Feltovich, Matthew Johnson

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Abstract

A method for visually depicting complex events. Software agents are preferably employed to assist the human operator by collecting, enriching, selecting, aggregating, and analyzing data so that patterns of interest can be visually flagged or otherwise emphasized in the visual display. Events are depicted as an “event flow” from a source surface to a destination surface. Intervening surfaces may also be defined. The point of origin on the source surface reveals some information about the event flow, as does the point of impact on the destination surface. The event flow may be mapped to one or more intervening surfaces in order to visually depict other characteristics of the event. The entire depiction is rendered in a simulated three-dimensional view. The user is preferably given the ability to pan, zoom, and reorient the vantage point from which the user “views” the depiction on the computer display.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A method for visually depicting events, comprising:

a. providing a computer, said computer being connected to a computer display;
b. providing display software running on at least one computer, including said computer;
c. providing a set of information describing said events to said display software, said information including source identifying information and destination identifying information for each of said events;
d. using said display software to create a source map, said source map being projected as a first surface on said computer display;
e. using said display software to create a destination map, said destination map being projected as a second surface on said computer display;
f. using said software to map each of said events to said source map using said source identifying information associated with said event;
g. using said software to map each of said events to said destination map using said destination identifying information associated with said event;
h. using said display software to graphically depict said second surface as being separated in space from said first surface on said computer display;
and
i. using said display software to depict said events on said computer display as event paths flowing from said first surface to said second surface, with each of said event paths originating at a source address on said first surface and terminating at a destination address on said second surface, and with said separation between said first and second surfaces representing a value selected from the group consisting of time and distance.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.