SELF-CENTERING ZOOM BAR GRAPH

Abstract

A self-centered zoom system includes a display device to indicate a measured quantity, and first and second bar graphs displayed on the display device. The first bar graph displays both a current value and a peak value of the measured quantity. The second bar graph displays an automatically zoomed range generally centered about one of the peak value, the current value, and a point lying between the peak and current values of the measured quantity.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present embodiments will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that the accompanying drawings depict only typical embodiments and are therefore not to be considered to limit the scope of the disclosure, the embodiments will be described and explained with specificity and detail in reference to the accompanying drawings, herein described.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are embodiments of a graphical display with a bar graph scale showing maximum, minimum, and current values.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are embodiments of a graphical display with a dual bar graph scale, showing auto-ranging and self-centering on the maximum or minimum values, and the current measured value.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are alternative embodiments of the graphical displays shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

FIG. 4A is an embodiment of a basic layout of a current value measurement bar graph juxtaposed with an auto-scaling strip chart.

FIG. 4B includes the bar graph and chart of FIG. 4A showing historical display of peak values.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are embodiments of the bar graph and chart of FIG. 4A showing the chart's auto-scaling function.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7A, and 7B are embodiments of the bar graph and chart of FIG. 4A showing the chart's zooming function.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B are embodiments of the bar graph and chart of FIG. 4A showing the chart used as a statistical strip chart.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for providing decisional options to a user of the graphical display of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 3A, and 3B.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for providing decisional options to a user of the graphical display of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, 9A, and 9B.

Claims

1. A system comprising: a display device to indicate a measured quantity; andfirst and second bar graphs displayed on the display device, the first bar graph to display both a current value and a peak value of the measured quantity, the second bar graph to display an automatically zoomed range generally centered about one of the peak value, the current value, and a point lying between the peak and current values of the measured quantity.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the peak value is a maximum value.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the peak value is a minimum value.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein for a zoomed range centered about a peak value, the second bar graph stops displaying the current value when the current value falls outside the zoomed range.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein for a zoomed range centered about a current value, the second bar graph stops displaying the peak value when the peak value falls outside the zoomed range.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the measured quantity is optical power.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the measured quantity is optical energy.

8. A system comprising: a display device to indicate a measured quantity;a bar graph displayed on the display device to display the measured quantity; anda strip chart to display a zoomed range of the measured quantity and a plurality of historical peak values of the measured quantity, wherein a furthest extremum value of the measured quantity is used to automatically rescale the strip chart so that the zoomed range is bounded by the furthest extremum value.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the furthest extremum value is the largest maximum peak value in a time period.

10. A system according to claim 8, wherein the furthest extremum value is the smallest minimum peak value in a time period.

11. A system according to claim 8, wherein the peak values include the maximums and the minimums of the measured quantity over time.

12. A system according to claim 8, wherein the zoomed range includes a user-adjustable zoom factor to vary a degree of magnification.

13. A system comprising: a display device to indicate a measured quantity, the measured quantity varying over time and including minimum and maximum peak values over a time period;a bar graph displayed on the display device to display the measured quantity in real-time; anda strip chart to display the minimum peak average value and the maximum peak average value of a user-defined number of samples of the measured quantity.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the higher the number of samples defined by the user, the higher the number of sets of minimum and maximum peak average values that will be displayed.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein each data set is represented by a single display line, the display line showing the maximum and minimum peak average values with one of distinguishable colors and patterns.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the strip chart is to display other statistical information calculated from the measured quantity during the time period.

17. A method for displaying a zoomable bar graph, the method comprising: accepting a first user option to choose from one or both of the maximum and minimum peak values of a measured quantity;in response to the first user option, displaying the user selection on a first bar graph together with the measured quantity;accepting a second user option to auto-zoom the first bar graph;in response to the second user option, providing a second bar graph in which to display an automatically zoomed range of the measured quantity; andtranslating the measurements taken of the measured quantity to a scale required for display on the first and second bar graphs.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the zoomed range is generally centered about a peak value, the measured value, or a point lying between the peak and measured values of the measured quantity.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: accepting a third user option to choose to reset a measuring device; andin response to the third user option, resetting the first and second bar graphs.

20. A computer-readable medium on which is embedded computer software instructions performing the method of claim 17.

21. A method for displaying a zoomable strip chart, the method comprising: accepting a first user option to select a zoomed range of a measured quantity; andin response to the first user option: recording a furthest extremum value of the measured quantity over a time period; anddisplaying a plurality of peak values of the measured quantity on the strip chart, wherein the furthest extremum value is used to automatically rescale the strip chart, providing for at least one bound of the zoomed range.

22. A method according to claim 21, further comprising: accepting a second user option to select a zoom factor; andin response to the second user option, automatically resealing the strip chart to a degree of magnification commensurate with the zoom factor, wherein the furthest extremum value remains the bound of one side of the strip chart.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the furthest extremum value is the largest maximum peak value in the time period.

24. A method according to claim 22, wherein the furthest extremum value is the smallest minimum peak value in the time period.

25. A method according to claim 22, wherein the peak values include the maximums and the minimums of the measured quantity in the time period.

26. A method according to claim 21, further comprising, in response to selecting a user option to clear the strip chart, erasing the display of all peak values.

27. A method according to claim 21, further comprising, in response to selecting a user option to save the strip chart, outputting the strip chart display to a recordable medium.

28. A computer-readable medium on which is embedded computer software instructions performing the method of claim 22.

29. A method for displaying a statistical strip chart, the method comprising: accepting a first user option to average a measured quantity; andin response to the first user option: calculating the average of a plurality of maximum and minimum historical peak values of the measured quantity at a sample number rate, wherein a data set having a calculated maximum peak value and a calculated minimum peak value is generated for each sample; anddisplaying each data set along a strip chart scale, wherein the scale is determined by the sample number rate.

30. A method according to claim 29, wherein the sample number rate is user-selected.

31. A method according to claim 29, further comprising accepting a second user option to obtain other statistical information of the measured quantity; and in response to the second user option: calculating a plurality of data sets in accordance with an algorithm matching the statistical information sought; anddisplaying the data sets along a strip chart scale over the time period, wherein the scale is further determined by the algorithm.

32. A computer-readable medium on which is embedded computer software instructions performing the method of claim 29.