Data analysis system

Abstract

A data analysis system ( 1 ) for displaying data facilitating visual analysis of communication transaction includes a transactions database ( 3 ) operable to cause representations of the communication transactions to be displayed on a display screen ( 13 ) by determining for each transaction a first set of control co-ordinates; determining for each transaction a set of control co-ordinates for drawing a straight line between co-ordinates associated with the source and destination associated with the communication transaction; calculating as a set of control co-ordinates for representing a transaction weighted averages of corresponding co-ordinates in the first and second set, weighted by a bundling factor; and representing each of the communication transaction as a line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates for each transaction.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of generating a display, displaying data representing a plurality of communication transactions, the method comprising:
 determining a hierarchy having a tree structure wherein leaf nodes in the lowest level of the hierarchy correspond to sources and destinations associated with communication transactions to be represented;   associating elements of the hierarchy with co-ordinates on a display screen; and   representing each of the plurality of communication transactions by:
 determining for each transaction a first set of control co-ordinates comprising the co-ordinates associated with elements in a path in the tree structure connecting the source and destination associated with a communication transaction via the closest common parent in the hierarchy common to the source and destination; 
 determining for each transaction a second set of control co-ordinates for drawing a straight line between co-ordinates associated with the source and destination associated with the communication transaction; 
 calculating as a set of control co-ordinates for representing a transaction weighted averages of corresponding co-ordinates in the first and second set, weighted by a bundling factor; and 
 representing each of the communication transactions as a line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates for each transaction. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining for each transaction a first set of control co-ordinates comprising the co-ordinates associated with elements in a path in the tree structure connecting the source and destination associated with a communication transaction via the closest common parent in the hierarchy common to the source and destination comprises:
 determining a list of nodes on the tree structure for connecting the source and destination associated with a communication transaction via the closest common parent in the hierarchy common to the source and destination and removing the node corresponding to the closest common parent if the source and destination for the transaction are not both child nodes of a single parent node. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising appending as control co-ordinates in the set of control co-ordinates for representing a transaction multiple sets of control co-ordinates associated with the source and destination of the transaction to be represented. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein representing each of the communication transaction as a line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates for each transaction comprises representing each communication transaction as an appended series of b-splines as defined by groups of control co-ordinates in the calculated set. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein representing each communication transaction as an appended series of b-splines comprises:
 determining co-ordinates for a number of points lying on the curve defined by the appended series of b-splines; and 
 calculating co-ordinates for a set of quadrilaterals for representing the transaction on the basis of the co-ordinates of the number of points. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the calculation of the co-ordinates for a set of polygons is such to cause the points lying on the curve defined by the appended series of b-splines to lie on the midpoints of opposing ends of the quadrilaterals and the other sides of the quadrilaterals are parallel to a line connecting the midpoints of the opposing ends. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising representing said transactions by coloring said quadrilaterals. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the coloring of the quadrilaterals is determined based upon a criterion associated with the transaction represented by the quadrilateral. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the criterion associated with a transaction comprises a criterion associated with any of: the timing, frequency or amount associated with a transaction. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the coloring of said quadrilaterals varies along the length of the line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein representing each of the communication transactions as a line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates for each transaction comprises rendering each of the lines in a graphics buffer and then combining the rendered images. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein combining the rendered images comprises:
 determining maximum color values for areas where lines overlap; 
 determining color values for rendering lines in a constant color and calculating an alpha blend of the rendered lines; and 
 utilizing the calculated maximum color values and the values of the determined alpha blend of constant color lines to determine the colors to be included in a final display. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the communication transactions comprise transactions selected from the group comprising: telephone calls, emails, text messages, instant messages, social media messages or posts, and communications between computers. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the hierarchy is geospatial such that the tree structure defines a hierarchical arrangement of geographical areas and leaf nodes correspond to geographical locations of sources and destinations. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the elements of the hierarchy are associated with co-ordinates on the display screen that correspond to relative geospatial coordinates of the elements. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the data representing a plurality of communication transactions includes a time at which each communication transaction occurred. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein only those transactions that occurred within a defined period of time are represented on the display. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  and further comprising, upon a selection of a representation of a communication transaction, querying a database of event information using data associated with the communication transaction, and displaying the event information provided in response to the query. 
     
     
         19 . A data analysis system for displaying data facilitating visual analysis of communication transactions: the system comprising:
 a transactions database operable to store transaction records defining communication transactions;   a display screen operable to display representations of communication transactions as lines connecting positions associated with a source and a destination for a communication transaction; and   a processing module operable to   determine a hierarchy having a tree structure wherein leaf nodes in the lowest level of the hierarchy correspond to sources and destinations associated with communication transactions represented by transaction records stored in the transactions database;   associate elements of the hierarchy with co-ordinates on a display screen; and   cause the display screen to show the representations of the communication transactions by:
 determining for each transaction a first set of control co-ordinates comprising the co-ordinates associated with elements in a path in the tree structure connecting the source and destination associated with a communication transaction via the closest common parent in the hierarchy common to the source and destination; 
 determining for each transaction a second set of control co-ordinates for drawing a straight line between co-ordinates associated with the source and destination associated with the communication transaction; 
 calculating as a set of control co-ordinates for representing a transaction weighted averages of corresponding co-ordinates in the first and second set, weighted by a bundling factor; and 
 representing each of the communication transactions as a line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates for each transaction. 
   
     
     
         20 . A computer readable medium storing computer implementable instructions which when implemented by a programmable computer cause the computer to:
 determine a hierarchy having a tree structure wherein leaf nodes in the lowest level of the hierarchy correspond to sources and destinations associated with communication transactions to be represented;   associate elements of the hierarchy with co-ordinates on a display screen; and   represent each of the plurality of communication transactions by:
 determine for each transaction a first set of control co-ordinates comprising the co-ordinates associated with elements in a path in the tree structure connecting the source and destination associated with a communication transaction via the closest common parent in the hierarchy common to the source and destination; 
 determine for each transaction a second set of control co-ordinates for drawing a straight line between co-ordinates associated with the source and destination associated with the communication transaction; 
 calculate as a set of control co-ordinates for representing a transaction weighted averages of corresponding co-ordinates in the first and second set, weighted by a bundling factor; and 
 represent each of the communication transactions as a line drawn utilizing the calculated control co-ordinates for each transaction.