API Usage Visualization via Directed Graph Node Sizing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional API management methods are inconvenient as they do not effectively allow system administrators to grasp the usage patterns, usefulness, and relationships between multiple APIs, making it difficult to assess their development costs and quality.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus and API use history display program that extract and analyze API usage data to display APIs in a directed graph, with node sizes representing usage frequency and edge thickness indicating the number of API call patterns, enabling visualization of API usage states and relationships.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If individual log data is viewed to manage API use history, then the number of APIs that can be managed increases, but the ease of grasping usage states deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments API usage information into distinct visual elements within a graph: nodes represent individual APIs, edges represent API call patterns, node sizes encode usage frequency, and edge thicknesses encode call pattern frequencies. This segmentation allows multiple APIs to be managed simultaneously while maintaining visual clarity and ease of comprehension.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms one-dimensional log data into a two-dimensional graphical representation where APIs are positioned spatially. The graph adds visual dimensions (node size, edge thickness, spatial arrangement) to encode multiple attributes of API usage, enabling administrators to grasp usage states of numerous APIs at once through visual perception rather than textual inspection.
2Measurement precision
If detailed API usage data is collected, then the precision of usage analysis improves, but the complexity of data processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates visual copies of API usage data in the form of a graph where numerical metrics are represented as graphical properties. Node sizes copy usage frequency information, edge thicknesses copy call pattern frequencies, and spatial positions copy relationship structures. This copying transforms complex numerical data into intuitive visual forms that preserve precision while reducing processing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter representation from numerical values to visual attributes. Instead of displaying numbers for usage frequency and call patterns, the system transforms these parameters into node sizes and edge thicknesses. This parameter transformation maintains the precision of usage analysis while simplifying the complexity of data presentation and interpretation.
3Ease of operation
If API usage history is visualized in a graph, then the ease of understanding usage patterns improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a multi-functional graph visualization that simultaneously serves multiple purposes: nodes identify APIs, node sizes show usage frequency, edges show API call patterns, and edge thicknesses show call pattern frequencies. This universal visualization approach enables administrators to understand diverse usage patterns through a single graphical interface, improving ease of understanding while consolidating device functions.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing apparatus including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to perform processing, the processing including: executing a display form determination processing that includes extracting, from use history data of a computer service that uses a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs), the numbers of times of execution of the APIs, and determining display forms for the APIs according to the numbers of times of execution of the APIs; and executing a display control processing that includes displaying, in a directed graph that represents a node that corresponds to each of the plurality of APIs, the nodes that correspond to the APIs in the determined display forms.