GB2458482A

GB2458482A - Allowing a user to select objects to view either in a map or table

Info

Publication number: GB2458482A
Application number: GB0805104A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Matthew Haynes
Original assignee: Triad Group PLC
Current assignee: Triad Group PLC
Priority date: 2008-03-19
Filing date: 2008-03-19
Publication date: 2009-09-23
Also published as: GB0805104D0

Abstract

A method of displaying objects comprises receiving two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, displaying the plurality of objects according to the position data, receiving a user input selecting one or more of the objects, and displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input. Preferably, the user input defines a square on the displayed plurality of objects, and the selected objects are those lying within the square. In this case, the step of displaying the selected objects in a tabular format comprises displaying a table at substantially the same location as the user input defining a square. For example, this could be used to allow a user to specify a location to display businesses on a map and then, if the user wants to access further information about those businesses, they can draw a square over a portion of the display area and further information about those businesses will be displayed.

Description

DESCRIPTION

OBJECT DISPLAY

S This invention relates to a method of, and system for, displaying objects.

It is known to display objects graphically on a map. For example, known user interfaces in relation to applications such as "yellow pages" will allow a io user to specify a location (via a postcode for example) and a business type (such as restaurants) and display the results of a search on a map, with an object showing each hit from the search in roughly the correct position on the map corresponding to the two-dimensional location of the object. If the user wishes to access further information about an object, then that object is is numbered and a co-displayed list of the objects allows a user to cross-reference the number to more detail about the object. This known method of displaying objects is both inefficient in respect to the use of available display area, and is also inflexible in relation to the user accessing further information about one or more of the displayed objects.

It is therefore an object of the invention to improve upon the known art.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying objects comprising receiving two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, displaying the plurality of objects according to the position data, receiving a user input selecting one or more of the objects, and displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for displaying objects comprising a display controller arranged to receive two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, a display device arranged to display the plurality of objects according to the position data, and a user input device arranged to receive a user input selecting one or more of the objects, the display device arranged to display the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product on a computer readable medium for displaying s objects, the product comprising instructions for receiving two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, displaying the plurality of objects according to the position data, receiving a user input selecting one or more of the objects, and displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input.

io Owing to the invention, it is possible to provide a display system that can maximise the display area for displaying the objects in a geographic view, but also allows the user to easily and simply select one or more of the objects and present information about those objects in a table. Effectively, the system allows the user to switch between a geographic view of the objects to a tabular is view of the selected objects in one user input.

Preferably, the user input defines a square on the displayed plurality of objects, and the selected objects are those lying within the square. In this case, the step of displaying the selected objects in a tabular format advantageously comprises displaying a table at substantially the same location as the user input defining a square. One way in which the invention can be implemented in a simple yet powerful way is to allow the user to draw a square over a plurality of the objects (which will also define a reduced geographical area) and then present a table of the selected objects inside the square that has been drawn by the user.

Ideally, the step of displaying the selected objects in a tabular format comprises accessing further information on each selected object and displaying that further information in the table. The table that is displayed by the system can also include further information about the objects that have been selected. In the example of restaurants displayed on a map, the user can draw a square to select some of the restaurants, which are then converted to a tabular view in that square, with the name of each restaurant and perhaps the average cost of a meal, and/or the type of food supplied etc. Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for displaying objects, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of display data and of the display device of Figure 1, and Figures 3 and 4 are further schematic diagrams of the display device.

Figure 1 illustrates a display system which can be used to display io objects. The system of this Figure could be a conventional personal computer (PC) used in a desktop environment, or could be a task specific workstation, such as used in a industrial environment, for example for controlling machinery or for providing feedback on monitored objects. The system comprises a display device 10, which can be any suitable display such as a CRT display or a flat panel display capable of showing sufficient level of detail.

The system also comprises a processing component 12, which in turn comprises a large number of processing, storage and input/output elements.

Two such elements are illustrated, being a display controller 14 and a database 16. The display controller 14 is arranged to control the image shown by the display device 10. The display controller could be any commercially available video card, which interacts with the main processor (not shown) of the processing component 12 in controlling the image shown on the display 10. The display controller 14 has enough capability that it can provide a sufficient number of frames per second to provide video on the display device 10, in addition to still images.

The database 16 is a local storage device that stores information for presenting on the display device 10 by the display controller 14. In the Figure, the database 16 is shown connected to the display controller 14 by a local bus, but could equally be built into the display controller 14, as is conventional with modern video cards. The main processor of the processing component 12 can write to the database 16 in preparation for display on the device 10. The system also includes conventional user interface devices 18, being a keyboard 1 8a and a mouse 1 8b.

Figure 2 shows an example of a plurality of objects 20 shown on the display device 10. Each object 20 is drawn as a numbered circle, but any s representation of the objects 20 is possible. The objects 20 need not be marked in any specific way, nor need they be the same size and shape. The display of objects 20 shown in Figure 2 is widely used in many different display environments. For example, the objects 20 could represent the results of a search via a "yellow pages" application, as mentioned in the discussion of the io prior art, with each object 20 representing a hit in the search. The objects 20 may signify data results on an x and y axis, for example showing height against weight for a number of different patients. The objects 10 could also signify real objects such as aeroplanes in an air traffic control system, for example, in which case the objects 20 will be moving and not fixed. In the is Figure 2, as illustrated, no background is drawn, but in many applications further display elements such as a background will be present. For example, if the objects are shown in relative position in a geographic context, then a map

may be provided as a background.

The database 16 stores data 22 which comprises the objects and two-dimensional position data 24. The data 22 is shown in the form of a table, but this may not be how the data 22 is stored, and in fact the data 22 may be generated in real time (for example in the air traffic control example listed above). The two-dimensional position data 24 could be expressed in many different ways, such as standard latitude and longitude data for geographic objects 20, or a postcode, or any data that can effectively be expressed in two dimensions.

Figure 3 shows the display of Figure 2 after the receipt of a defined user input at the user interface device 1 8b (the mouse). The user has drawn a square 26 over a portion of the display area. The drawing of a square 26 in this way is a well known user interface task, and can be accomplished, for example, by clicking at two points on the screen 10 with a cursor via the mouse 18b, with the square 26 being defined by these two points as the opposing corners of the square 26. Other methods, including dragging the cursor over an area which defines the square 26, again by the opposing corners of the two points being the start and end of the dragging motion, are also known and can be used.

The user input effectively selects objects 20 that are within the square 26. Other methods of selecting objects 20 can be used, such as drawing a circle, or clicking on individual objects 20 in turn, or indeed a combination of these methods can be used. The principle is that the operator provides some user input or inputs that select a subset of the objects 20 that are currently shown. These are assumed to be objects in which the user is interested. For example, if the objects 20 represent restaurants, following a search in "yellow pages", then the user may wish to select those objects 20 that are within a preferred geographical area. The drawing of the square 26 allows the user to make the selection.

Figure 4 shows the change in view executed by the display controller 14, after receiving the user input selecting one or more of the objects 20. The display controller 14 is arranged to display the selected objects 20 in a tabular format 28, in response to the user input. As stated above, in this example, the user input defines a square 26 on the displayed plurality of objects 20, and the selected objects 20 are those lying within the square 26. The displaying of the selected objects 20 in a tabular format 28 comprises displaying a table 28 at substantially the same location as the user input defining the square 26. The display controller 14 is arranged to access further information on each selected object 20 and to display that further information in the table 28. In this example, the objects 20 represent restaurants, and the further information is about the type of food that is provided by the respective restaurant.

The interface provided by the system allows a user to view objects 20 in a first view, with the objects 20 located according to the two-dimensional data 24, which could be a geographic view of the objects 20. The user can then select a subset of the objects 20 through a defined user interface action, which results in the display controller 14 providing a second view of the selected objects 20 in a tabular format 28. This provides an efficient and intuitive method for the user to select a portion of the objects 20 and to find out further information about those objects. The user can switch back to the first view at any time and make a new selection, as desired.

The system described above can be used in many different applications. For example, it could be used in a recruitment system that shows employees and employers. The format of data influences its ease of assimilation. When looking at where candidates or employers are based, geographic representation provides this information more easily than list based representation. However, when geography has been accomplished and other io factors need to be considered, a list based representation is more appropriate.

By selecting the drag box selector, the user is able to draw a rectangle encompassing the geographically suitable candidates. The candidates selected within the rectangle are collated and then shown in the tabular list, with the associated details.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method of displaying objects comprising * receiving two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, * displaying the plurality of objects according to the position data, * receiving a user input selecting one or more of the objects, and * displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the user input defines a square on the displayed plurality of objects, and the selected objects are those lying within the square.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of displaying the selected objects in a tabular format comprises displaying a table at substantially the same location as the user input defining a square.
4. A method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the step of displaying the selected objects in a tabular format comprises accessing further information on each selected object and displaying that further information inthe table.
5. A system for displaying objects comprising * a display controller arranged to receive two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, * a display device arranged to display the plurality of objects according to the position data, and * a user input device arranged to receive a user input selecting one or more of the objects, * the display device arranged to display the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input.
6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the user input defines a square on the displayed plurality of objects, and the selected objects are those lying within the square.
7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the display controller is further arranged, when displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, to display a table at substantially the same location as the user input defining a square.
8. A system according to claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the display controller is further arranged, when displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, to access further information on each selected object and to display that further information in the table.
9. A computer program product on a computer readable medium for displaying objects, the product comprising instructions for * receiving two-dimensional position data for a plurality of objects, * displaying the plurality of objects according to the position data, * receiving a user input selecting one or more of the objects, and * displaying the selected objects in a tabular format, in response to the user input.
10. A computer program product according to claim 9, wherein the user input defines a square on the displayed plurality of objects, and the selected objects are those lying within the square.
11. A computer program product according to claim 10, wherein the instructions for displaying the selected objects in a tabular format comprise instructions for displaying a table at substantially the same location as the user input defining a square.
12. A computer program product according to claim 9, 10 or 11, wherein the instructions for displaying the selected objects in a tabular format comprise instructions for accessing further information on each selected object and for displaying that further information in the table.