The present invention generally relates to the field of generating a graphic representation of relationships among elements, where the graphic representation is automatically generated by a programmed processing system. More specifically, the invention relates to a process for creating and displaying a variation of a pie chart.
A pie chart is a conventional graphic used to convey the relative proportions of quantities associated with different elements.
In some situations, it would be helpful to also know other proportions related to the elements, based on other criteria, where quantities associated with these other proportions are not directly entered by the user. Such other proportions may convey macro-proportions (created by grouping the individual elements) derived from the data entered by the user. In the past, the user must generate a separate pie chart for each relationship of interest, and the software creates the separate pie charts directly from the input data. It is then up to the user to visually compare the independently generated pie charts, side-by-side, to determine the interrelationships between the two or more separate pie charts. Since, typically, the arrangement of the arc-sections making up each pie chart is arbitrary, it is difficult for the user to fully grasp relationships between the two pie charts.
What is needed is an automated process for generating a graphic for a user to readily understand two or more different relationships between elements.
In one embodiment, one or more users enter raw data into a programmed computer system via an interface such as a keyboard, or the data may be entered automatically. Each user's computer display may then convey options to the user for graphically displaying processed information to the user relating to the data entered.
A specific example will be given to illustrate the invention. Assume the data entered by the users over a period of time is used to calculate the quantity of CO2e emissions, in tonnes, for each of the following countries: Mexico plus other Latin American countries, Japan, China, Korea, United States, Canada, Brazil and other South American countries, and France and other European countries. Assume a user of the system now wants to graphically see the relationships between the CO2e emissions of all of the countries. The user then navigates through menu driven displays using a mouse or other I/O interface to identify that the user wants the system to graphically display the relationships between the CO2e emissions of all of the countries. Assume the user also wants to see the proportions of the total CO2e emissions generated by each geographic region—Latin America, North America, Asia, and South America. The user then requests the system to also graphically display these relationships. Note that the users had not tagged the data to each geographic region when entering the data, but only tagged the data to the individual countries.
The computer system then automatically generates a first pie chart showing relationships between the CO2e emissions of all of the countries. Based upon the information requested by the user, the system automatically arranges the countries of each geographic region adjacently in the first pie chart. The system then generates a second but smaller pie chart that shows the proportion of the total CO2e emissions generated by each geographic region. The two pie charts are overlaid to be coaxial, with the first (outer) pie chart being effectively behind and larger than the second (inner) pie chart. The pie charts are created by the system so that the Latin American segment of the second pie chart precisely aligns with the outer borders of the group of Latin American countries in the first pie chart, the South American segment precisely aligns with the outer borders of the group of South American countries in the first pie chart, and so on.
The interrelationships of the two pie charts are readily understood by the user, due to the coordinated arrangements of the arc-sections in both pie charts. Therefore, there is synergy in the arrangement and coaxial positioning of the two pie charts.
In another embodiment, the pie chart showing the relationships is the outer pie chart, and the pie chart showing the proportions for the individual elements is the inner pie chart. However, since the proportions for the individual elements will create a more crowded pie chart, it is preferred that the pie chart identifying the proportions for the individual elements be the outer pie chart.
The user may position a curser over any segment of the pie charts to see a pop up window conveying more detail about the segment.
There may be more than two coaxial pie charts to convey even higher level relationships between the elements in the second pie chart.
Any information may be conveyed by the multiple coaxial pie charts.
The creation of the coaxial pie charts is performed by a programmed processing system, which may be a single microprocessor or a processing system including processors specifically programmed for displaying graphics.
Although the server 12 has many functions, and there may be a plurality of servers, only one server and its software routines related to the present invention are illustrated. The programs illustrated are algorithms 18, 20, and 22, discussed in detail below.
There may be thousands of clients using the system. Each client can view its own results and, in some cases, data from all clients is combined for use by all clients.
The present invention applies to the graphical representation of any type of data involving quantities. Such data may be, for example, the quantity of CO2e emissions or energy usage by various countries, companies, facilities, etc. Any other data may be used with the invention.
The client may input available data into the system via a menu-driven website, or data may be entered from any other source, including data automatically entered.
In the example used in
In describing the computer display of
In the example, it is assumed that the data uploaded to the server 12 is used to identify the CO2e emission quantities (in tonnes) for the following countries. The section (an arc-section) of the chart of
CO2e Emissions per Country
Mexico (section 30)
Costa Rica, etc. (section 31)
Japan (section 32)
China (section 33)
Korea (section 34)
United States (section 35)
Canada (section 36)
Brazil (section 37)
Argentina, etc. (section 38)
France (section 39)
UK, etc. (section 40)
In the more generic flowchart of
It is also assumed that the client wishes to know the total CO2e emission for the following regions. The section of the chart of
CO2e Emissions Per Region
Asia (section 41)
Latin America (section 42)
North America (section 43)
South America (section 44)
Europe (section 45)
Step 52 in
The server 12 then applies the algorithms 18 (
The server 12 creates the outer pie chart shown in
In the example of
In the example of
The default relationships for the inner pie chart, identifying the groupings (sections 41-45), may be offered to the client in a menu-driven website, and the server 12 generates the coaxial pie charts in response to the client's selections. There may be many different relationships for the client to select from, and the server 12 will automatically arrange the sections in the outer pie chart based on the client's selection of a particular relationship (or grouping) so that all sections in a particular group are arranged to be adjacent one another in the outer pie chart. For example, using the same countries and emissions identified in
The same arc-sections in the outer pie chart may be automatically rearranged multiple times by the server 12 depending on the client changing the groupings (relationships) for the inner pie chart, and each composite chart may be separately displayed for comparison by the client.
As shown in step 58, once the coaxial pie charts are created (as a digital code representing the final pie chart graphic), the processing system transmits the code for displaying the coaxial pie charts on a display screen (
In some cases, an element in the outer pie chart may not be grouped with any other element in the outer pie chart.
When the website presents a list of countries to a client for uploading data or selecting countries for the chart, the listing may be in alphabetical order or another order not related to the arrangement of sections in the outer pie chart.
Any type of data may be graphically shown in the coaxial pie chart. For example, the elements in the outer pie chart may be CO2e emissions corresponding to each of the various types of resources used by the client and activities by the client that use resources, such as CO2e emissions due to gasoline usage, electricity usage, natural gas usage, airline travel, automobile travel, etc., where the total of all the CO2e emissions is the total CO2e emissions by the client (a company). The inner pie chart may group the elements by resources used and activities, so the client can see the effects of cutting down on resources used or activities.
In another example, the outer pie chart may include elements that represent energy usage from all forms of transportation used by employees of the client, and the inner pie chart may group the elements by ground and air transportation.
In another example, the outer pie chart may include elements that represent energy usage by different companies or different facilities in a company, and the inner pie chart may group the elements by types of companies or facilities (e.g., manufacturing vs. office).
The client may generate multiple related composite pie charts. One composite pie chart may represent the CO2e emissions by various facilities, and another composite pie chart may represent the resources used by the facilities (normalized to a single unit of measurement). In this way the emission efficiency for each facility can be determined. The charts may be generated for the entire company or individual facilities owned by the client. Many other types of data can be charted.
More than two coaxial pie charts may be displayed to convey two or more groupings of the elements in the different pie charts. An example of such a composite pie chart may convey revenue numbers of a certain company from large-area geographies (e.g., Americas, APA, EMEA, etc.) in the most inner pie chart, individual countries (e.g., USA, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Japan, France, etc.) in a middle pie chart, and regions within each country (e.g., California, Alaska, Texas, etc.) in the most outer pie chart. The arrangements of the arc-sections in each pie chart are automatically determined by the designated groupings so that the arc-sections in each grouping are adjacent.
Another composite pie chart may have information divided by geography (most inner pie chart), region (middle pie chart), and facility (most outer pie chart). Another composite pie chart may divide resource consumption by identifying the actual resources in the outer pie chart, and grouping the resources in one or more inner pie charts.
Additional information may be conveyed by the relative thicknesses (heights) of each arc-section. In such a case, the composite pie chart would be displayed using a perspective view to show the third dimension (height). The thickness of an arc-section could represent cost, regulatory risk, etc. associated with that arc-section.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.