IT Heat Map Overlay for Topology Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IT system monitoring tools fail to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire system's condition, limiting administrators' ability to quickly identify the root cause of issues due to their focus on specific areas and lack of visual representation of interdependencies between system components.
Innovation Solution
A method that determines severity values for each configuration item, generates a graph with a heat map overlay showing topological relationships, and assigns pixel colors based on severity, allowing administrators to visualize and understand the global impact of issues within the IT system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional monitoring tools (graphs, gauges, dashboards) are used to display IT system conditions, then specific parameters can be monitored in detail, but administrators cannot obtain a global overview of the entire system's condition and interdependencies between components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from traditional 2D graphs and gauges to a 3D spatial visualization where configuration items are represented as nodes in a network graph with x, y, and z coordinates. This dimensional expansion allows administrators to perceive the entire IT system topology and interdependencies in a single view, overcoming the limitation of traditional monitoring tools that can only display specific parameters in isolation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs color-coded heat map overlays on the 3D visualization to represent different severity levels of system conditions. Configuration items are displayed with colors ranging from green (normal) to yellow (degraded) to red (critical), enabling administrators to quickly identify problematic areas across the entire system without analyzing individual parameter values, thus providing a global overview while maintaining visual simplicity.
2Measurement precision
If administrators search through lists, tables, or detailed indicators to find root causes, then specific issue details can be examined, but significant time is lost in the search process
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and displays severity scores for all configuration items before an administrator needs to diagnose an issue. By continuously monitoring and updating the visual representation with current system state, the root cause indicators are already prepared and highlighted when an administrator views the dashboard, eliminating the need to search through lists or tables to identify problematic components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary visual layer (the 3D heat map overlay) between the raw monitoring data and the administrator's decision-making process. This intermediary translation of complex system states into intuitive visual cues with color-coded severity indicators allows administrators to quickly identify root causes without manually searching through detailed technical data, significantly reducing diagnosis time while maintaining accurate identification.
3Reliability
If monitoring tools focus on specific areas of the IT system, then detailed monitoring of individual components is achieved, but a comprehensive view of system-wide conditions and interdependencies is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the IT system into discrete configuration items represented as individual nodes in a 3D graph, where each node can be monitored for specific parameters while maintaining its position in the overall system topology. This segmentation allows detailed monitoring of individual components through their respective nodes while the spatial arrangement and connections between nodes preserve and display system-wide relationships and interdependencies simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The 3D visualization system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it displays individual component status through colored nodes, shows system-wide topology through spatial relationships and connections, highlights interdependencies through proximity and link visualization, and identifies problematic areas through heat map overlays. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate monitoring tools for different aspects, providing both detailed component monitoring and comprehensive system-wide views in a single unified interface.
Data Source
AI summary
Displaying information technology conditions with heat maps includes determining a severity value of current issues for each configuration item in an information technology system; generating a graph of the configuration items that visually depicts topological relationships between the configuration items, the graph having a heat map overlay; and assigning pixel colors for each configuration item in the heat map overlay according to their severity value.