Behavior Visualization Device Using Hierarchical Whereabouts Tree
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing behavior visualization techniques, such as those using horizontal bar graphs, face challenges in effectively visualizing the behavior of a target, particularly when the target stays in a location for a short time, leading to poor visibility due to narrow bar graphs.
Innovation Solution
A behavior visualization device and method that utilize a summary condition setting unit, important whereabouts extracting unit, and figure generating unit to extract and display deeply associated whereabouts of a target in a hierarchical structure, enhancing visibility by calculating occupancy time and movement frequency between locations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a horizontal bar graph is used to display whereabouts, then the visibility is high when the target stays in the same room for a long time, but the visibility deteriorates when the target stays in the same room only for a short time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a one-dimensional horizontal bar graph to a two-dimensional hierarchical tree structure where the vertical dimension represents the hierarchy of whereabouts (summary whereabouts at top, associated whereabouts below) and the horizontal dimension represents time. This dimensional change allows short-duration whereabouts to be visible through their hierarchical relationship rather than relying solely on bar width, thus resolving the visibility issue for short occupancy periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested hierarchical structure where associated whereabouts are nested within or connected to summary whereabouts. The tree structure shows parent-child relationships between different levels of whereabouts, allowing the visualization to preserve hierarchical associations even when individual occupancy durations are short. This nesting approach maintains the structural relationships that provide contextual visibility.
2Illumination intensity
If the bar graph width is increased to improve visibility, then short-duration whereabouts become more visible, but the information density and hierarchical relationships are lost
Solution Approach 1:
By introducing the vertical dimension for hierarchical organization, the patent preserves hierarchical information without needing to increase horizontal bar widths. The tree structure naturally encodes hierarchical relationships through its vertical arrangement, eliminating the need to trade off bar width for information density.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the whereabouts information into hierarchical levels (summary whereabouts and associated whereabouts) displayed at different vertical positions in the tree structure. This segmentation allows each level to be clearly distinguished while maintaining their relationships, preserving information density without requiring increased visibility through width expansion.
Data Source
AI summary
Included are: a summary condition setting unit (104) for setting a summary condition for extracting whereabouts deeply associated with a target of interest; an important whereabouts extracting unit for extracting whereabouts deeply associated with the target of interest in each of a plurality of time zones based on whereabouts information indicating whereabouts of the target of interest and a summary condition set by the summary condition setting unit (104); a figure generating unit (106) for calculating the areas of figure regions of figures representing whereabouts deeply associated with the target of interest, extracted by the important whereabouts extracting unit, and a distance between the figure regions, and generating drawing figure data for displaying a figure representing whereabouts deeply associated with the target of interest in a hierarchical structure; and a drawing unit (109) for displaying drawing figure data generated by the figure generating unit (106) on a display device (4).