N-column Explorer for Software Object Relationship Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively display and traverse complex relationships between software objects in a human-understandable manner, particularly in hierarchical structures with multiple dependencies, without duplicating objects across different parent nodes.
Innovation Solution
The n-column explorer presents software objects in a graphical user interface with interactive elements, allowing users to navigate and explore relationships by selecting objects, which populates adjacent columns with child objects, enabling hierarchical and associative relationships without object duplication, using a carousel-like arrangement to manage screen space and provide filtering and sorting capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If software objects are displayed in traditional hierarchical views, then the hierarchical structure can be shown, but complex associative relationships between objects cannot be effectively displayed
Solution Approach 1:
The display is segmented into multiple columns, each representing a different level or aspect of the object hierarchy. This allows complex associative relationships to be distributed across multiple segments (columns) rather than forced into a single hierarchical view, preserving relationship information while managing display complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a traditional single-dimension hierarchical tree view to a multi-dimensional columnar layout. Each column represents a different dimension of the object relationships, allowing users to explore associative relationships across multiple dimensions simultaneously without increasing interface complexity.
2Loss of information
If object duplication is used to show relationships with multiple parents, then all relationships can be displayed, but the number of objects increases and data redundancy occurs
Solution Approach 1:
Each software object in the database serves multiple functions and can have multiple parent relationships. The columnar display allows a single object instance to be referenced from multiple columns without duplication, maintaining relationship completeness while avoiding redundant object creation.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of creating duplicate object instances for objects with multiple parents, the system creates virtual references or views of the same object across different columns. This allows complete relationship display without increasing the actual number of object instances in the database.
3Loss of information
If all software objects are displayed at once, then complete data is available, but the interface becomes overwhelming and hard to navigate
Solution Approach 1:
The complete set of software objects is segmented across multiple columns, with each column displaying a manageable subset. Users can navigate through columns to explore different aspects of the data, maintaining access to complete information while avoiding interface overload through progressive disclosure.
Solution Approach 2:
The columnar display is dynamic and can be adjusted based on user interaction. Columns can be added, removed, or reconfigured to match the complexity of the relationships being explored, allowing the interface to adapt to the user's navigation needs rather than presenting a static overwhelming view.
4Adaptability or versatility
If traditional tree views are used, then hierarchical structure is clear, but arbitrary categories and multiple dependencies cannot be represented
Solution Approach 1:
The columnar explorer provides a universal framework that can represent arbitrary categories and multiple dependency types without requiring different display mechanisms. Each column can represent a different category or relationship type, allowing the same interface structure to handle diverse and complex relationship patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
By adding the column dimension to the traditional row-based object display, the system can represent arbitrary categories and multiple dependencies as additional dimensions rather than forcing them into a single hierarchical tree structure. This dimensional expansion increases adaptability while managing representation complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure involves system, methods, and media for displaying and exploring software object relationships in an interactive manner. In general, complex structures can have relationships between objects, such as parent/child relationships, general associations, and dependencies. Additionally, some objects may have multiple dependencies. For example, an object representing “low battery” may be a child object for both a screen failure object and a GPS failure object. The n-column explorer allows for exploring relationships between objects of arbitrary categories and in hierarchies of arbitrary depth, without the need to duplicate objects. For example, the “low battery” object need not be duplicated for both the GPS failure and the screen failure.