Animated Timeline Visualization for Project Event Sequences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computer-based tools for managing project timelines and event data fail to effectively display how plans change over time and handle unplanned events, making it difficult to present large amounts of time-dependent data in a comprehensible manner.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented system that imports, selects, edits, filters, and organizes historical event and plan data for animated presentation, using a database schema to display events chronologically with a moving cursor, highlighting transient and persistent events, and allowing users to pause for detailed exploration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If current computer-based tools display all time-sequenced events and plan data, then complete information is provided, but the data becomes voluminous and difficult to comprehend
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complete event data into discrete, individually selectable events that can be displayed or hidden based on relevance. Each event is treated as a separate unit that can be independently controlled in the visualization, allowing the system to present manageable portions of the complete dataset rather than overwhelming the user with all data at once.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic filtering and selection capabilities that allow the presentation to adapt to user needs. The system can dynamically adjust which events are displayed based on user interactions, time windows, and relevance criteria, transforming the static complete dataset into a dynamic, user-tailored presentation that maintains comprehensibility.
2Reliability
If traditional project management tools display project plans and timelines, then basic scheduling information is provided, but they cannot display how plans changed over time or handle unplanned events
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a temporal evolution dimension to traditional Gantt chart visualization. By incorporating time-based animation and showing plan versions across different time periods, the system transforms a static 2D plan view into a dynamic representation that captures how plans changed over time, allowing users to trace the evolution of project schedules and understand the impact of unplanned events.
3Loss of information
If users analyze detailed project history data, then comprehensive understanding is achieved, but time is spent reviewing voluminous disorganized data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary organization and structuring of historical project data before presentation. The system pre-processes voluminous disorganized data into a structured format with established relationships between events and plans, creating an organized foundation that enables efficient analysis. This preliminary action eliminates the need for users to manually sort through disorganized data, reducing review time while maintaining analytical depth.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary computational layer that mediates between the voluminous raw historical data and the user's analysis needs. This intermediary system automatically processes, filters, and structures the data, presenting only the relevant information in an organized manner. The intermediary handles the time-consuming data organization task, allowing users to focus on analysis rather than data preparation.
4Loss of information
If static timelines display all events at once, then complete event sequence is shown, but they lack capability to sequentially display limited time windows in animated fashion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms static timeline visualization into a dynamic animated presentation. The system sequentially displays events in time-ordered animation, allowing users to observe the progression of events and plan changes over time. This dynamic approach maintains the complete event sequence information while presenting it in a manageable, time-windowed manner that enhances understanding of temporal relationships.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for collecting, animating in chronological sequence, and presenting the progression of events is disclosed. The method includes providing a set of event data to form a database, the data relating to events that constrained, summarized, or led up to some of the events. Then presenting the database graphically to allow user selection and editing of the Event data in the database to create a set of Events to be presented in an animated manner, and then assigning properties to the manner of presentation of the set of Events to be presented in an animated manner to create a movie. The movement of the movie is provided by an engine that moves a cursor along the timeline to represent the forward or backward change of time and displaying a marker representing an Event from Event data contained in the database.