Visual Sort Key Markers for Tabular Data Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital data processing systems for tabular data sorting are limited by requiring users to navigate through menus or dialog boxes to select and manage sort keys, lacking a straightforward and visual representation of the sort key order.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for interacting with a graphical user interface that allows users to select and manage sort keys through intuitive gestures, such as clicking or dragging markers, which are associated with rows or columns, and visually represents the sort key order using distinct properties like colors or symbols, enabling real-time sorting without the need for menus or dialog boxes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users navigate through menus or dialog boxes to select and manage sort keys, then the system provides a structured way to configure sorting, but the user interaction becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sort key configuration from complex menus and dialog boxes, presenting it instead as a simplified visual list directly in the table view. Users can see and manipulate sort keys through intuitive markers on table rows or columns, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple interface layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces visual markers as intermediaries between the user and the sort key configuration system. These markers provide a direct visual representation of sort keys on table elements, serving as a mediator that simplifies the interaction without requiring users to engage with complex menu structures.
2Loss of information
If the system uses traditional menu-based sort key selection, then it provides comprehensive sorting control, but it lacks visual representation of the sort key order
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs color-coded visual markers to represent different sort keys and their positions in the sort key order. Each sort key is visually distinguished through color or pattern variations, providing immediate visual feedback about the sorting configuration without requiring users to interpret complex interface elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a visual dimension to sort key representation by placing markers directly on table rows or columns. This spatial arrangement provides an intuitive visual hierarchy that reflects the sort key order, transforming abstract configuration data into a concrete visual representation within the table structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus, including a computer program product, implementing techniques for displaying a table of data including a set of markers associated with rows or columns of the table, the table having one or more sort keys having a sort key order including a most significant sort key, each sort key being a row or column of the table; receiving a user input gesture selecting a marker; establishing the row or column associated with the user-selected marker as the most significant sort key, and maintaining the positions of the remaining sort keys in the sort key order; sorting the data using the sort key order; and displaying the sorted data. The techniques also include representing visually a sort key order for a table of data by displaying on a graphical user interface display one or more markers with a pattern of distinct visual properties.