Applied Artificial Intelligence Technology for Interactively Using Narrative Analytics to Focus and Control Visualizations of Data

Abstract

To provide users with more flexibility for focusing and controlling visualizations of data, the inventors disclose new data structures and artificial intelligence logic that can be utilized in conjunction with notional specifications of focus criteria for visualizations. In an example embodiment, the inventors disclose technology that can be used to generate data structures that represent notional characteristics of the visualization data which in turn can be tied to specific elements of the visualization data to support interactive focusing of visualizations in notional terms that correspond to interesting aspects of the data. This allows a user to specify using notional criteria how a visualization should be focused on specific elements without needing to know in advance what those specific elements are.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for applying artificial intelligence technology to focus and control visualizations of visualization data, wherein the visualization data comprises a plurality of elements, the system comprising:
 a processor configured to:
 translate a specification of notionally expressed focus criteria regarding a first visualization of the visualization data into a focus configuration, wherein the translation includes an analysis of the visualization data based on processing logic to identify a specific element of the visualization data that satisfies the notionally expressed focus criteria; and 
 generate (1) a second visualization that is a focused version of the first visualization or (2) a focused narrative based on the focus configuration, wherein the second visualization or focused narrative addresses the identified specific element of the visualization data; 
   wherein the processor is configured to perform the translation and generation without the processor knowing which of the elements of the visualization data qualifies as the specific element according to the notionally expressed focus criteria prior to the translation.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to provide an interface through which a user specifies the notionally expressed focus criteria in notional terms. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the notional terms comprise a plurality of characteristics that an element of the visualization data must satisfy to be identified as the specific element to be used as part of the focus configuration. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3  wherein the processor is configured to, as part of the analysis, process data within or derived from the visualization data with respect to the characteristics to identify the specific element that satisfies the characteristics. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the interface comprises a graphical user interface (GUI). 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the processors includes a first processor that is part of a narrative generation platform and a second processor that is part of a visualization platform, wherein the first processor is configured to generate the focused narrative, and wherein the second processor is configured to generate the second visualization. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the first processor is configured to (1) perform the translate operation in response to notionally expressed focus criteria received via an interface with a visualization platform and (2) communicate the focus configuration to the second processor via the interface with the visualization platform. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to map the focus configuration to a story configuration, the story configuration for use to automatically generate the focused narrative. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the processor is further configured to (1) instantiate the mapped story configuration based on the visualization data and (2) generate the focused narrative based on the instantiated story configuration. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the elements comprise a plurality of entities which correspond to a dimension of the first visualization;
 wherein the visualization data further comprises a plurality of data values which correspond to a measure of the first visualization that is applicable to the dimension; and 
 wherein the notionally expressed focus criteria comprise a specification of a metric by which to analyze the data values of the measure for the dimension to determine which of the entities qualifies as the specific element. 
 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the notionally expressed focus criteria further comprise a specification of a rank group and a number of items;
 wherein the specified rank group defines a rank criterion by which to rank the entities according to the data values of the measure for the dimension; and 
 wherein the specified number of items defines how many of the ranked entities are to be selected as the specific element according to the rank criterion. 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the visualization data further comprises a plurality of data values which correspond to a plurality of measures of the first visualization that are applicable to the dimension; and
 wherein the notionally expressed focus criteria further comprise a specification of a measure to define which of the data values are to be analyzed according to the specified metric to determine which of the entities qualifies as the specific element. 
 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the processor, as part of the translation, is further configured to (1) instantiate code for analyzing the data values of the measure for the dimension according to the metric and (2) execute the instantiated code with respect to the visualization data to identify the entity to serve as the specific element. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the elements comprise a plurality of entities which correspond to a plurality of dimensions of the first visualization;
 wherein the visualization data further comprises a plurality of data values which correspond to a plurality of measures of the first visualization that are applicable to the dimensions; 
 wherein the notionally expressed focus criteria comprise a specification of a dimension, a measure, and a metric; and 
 wherein the specified metric defines how the data values of the specified measure for the specified dimension are to be analyzed to determine which of the entities qualifies as the specific element. 
 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the notionally expressed focus criteria further comprise a specification of a rank group and a number of items;
 wherein the specified rank group defines a rank criterion by which to rank the entities according to the data values of the specified measure for the specified dimension; and 
 wherein the specified number of items defines how many of the ranked entities are to be selected as the specific element according to the rank criterion. 
 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the elements comprise a plurality of measures that are applicable to a dimension of the first visualization;
 wherein the visualization data further comprises a plurality of data values which correspond to the measures; 
 wherein the notionally expressed focus criteria indicate a request to focus on a driver of a measure presented by the first visualization; 
 wherein the processor, as part of the analysis, is further configured to (1) access additional data associated with the visualization data, wherein the additional data defines a plurality of driver relationships between a plurality of the measures of the visualization data and (2) based on the accessed additional data, identify at least one of the measures of the visualization data as a driver of the measure presented by the first visualization, wherein the specific element comprises the identified at least one measure; and 
 wherein the focused narrative comprises a driver explanation for the measure presented by the first visualization in terms of the identified at least one measure. 
 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the specific element comprises a plurality of specific elements of the visualization data. 
     
     
         19 . A method for applying artificial intelligence technology to focus and control visualizations of data, wherein the visualization data comprises a plurality of elements, the method comprising:
 translating a specification of notionally expressed focus criteria regarding a first visualization of the visualization data into a focus configuration, wherein the translating step includes analyzing the visualization data based on processing logic to identify a specific element of the visualization data that satisfies the notionally expressed focus criteria; and   generating (1) a second visualization that is a focused version of the first visualization or (2) a focused narrative based on the focus configuration, wherein the second visualization or focused narrative addresses the identified specific element of the visualization data;   wherein the translating and generating steps are performed by a processor without the processor knowing which of the elements of the visualization data qualifies as the specific element according to the notionally expressed focus criteria prior to the translating step.   
     
     
         20 . A computer program product for applying artificial intelligence technology to focus and control visualizations of data, wherein the visualization data comprises a plurality of elements, the computer program product comprising:
 a plurality of processor-executable instructions resident on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the instructions are configured for execution by a processor to cause the processor to:
 translate a specification of notionally expressed focus criteria regarding a first visualization of the visualization data into a focus configuration, wherein the translation includes an analysis of the visualization data based on processing logic to identify a specific element of the visualization data that satisfies the notionally expressed focus criteria, wherein the processor does not know which of the elements of the visualization data qualifies as the specific element according to the notionally expressed focus criteria prior to execution of the translate instructions; and 
 generate (1) a second visualization that is a focused version of the first visualization or (2) a focused narrative based on the focus configuration, wherein the second visualization or focused narrative addresses the identified specific element of the visualization data.