Visualizing a scatter plot using real-time backward rewrite
View Patent ↗A scatter plot that represents plural periodic time intervals is animated as new data points are received, where the animating includes performing real-time backward rewriting. The real-time backward rewriting includes overlaying a subset of previously written data points with the new data points, and painting a remainder of previously written data points outside the subset in the scatter plot, where painting the remainder of previously written data points is performed without shifting pixels corresponding to the remainder. A divider structure is drawn in the scatter plot to indicate a position in the scatter plot between a current time point and a previous time point.
1. A method executed by a system having a processor, comprising:
presenting a scatter plot that represents plural periodic time intervals for visualization;
animating the scatter plot as new data points are received, wherein the animating includes performing real-time backward rewrite comprising:
overlaying a subset of previously written data points with the new data points, and
painting a remainder of previously written data points outside the subset in the scatter plot, where painting the remainder of previously written data points is performed without shifting pixels corresponding to the remainder;
drawing a divider structure in the scatter plot to indicate a position in the scatter plot between a current time point and a previous time point; and
presenting for display a control element activatable by a user to control an amount of overlapping pixels allowed in the scatter plot.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the new data points according to a moving window that specifies a number of the new data points to input together for visualization by the scatter plot.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
after inputting the new data points for visualization by the scatter plot, waiting a predefined wait time interval; and
after waiting the predefined wait time interval, receiving a next group of new data points according to the moving window for visualization by the scatter plot.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising causing display of a graphical user interface screen having fields to allow setting of the number of data points in the moving window and setting of the predefined wait time interval.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the real-time backward rewrite comprises painting pixels of the scatter plot in a backward direction starting at a later time point and proceeding backwardly to earlier time points.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a further group of new data points;
in response to receiving the further group, moving the divider structure and repeating the animating for the further group.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning colors to pixels of the scatter plot based on a first attribute of corresponding ones of the data points visualized by the scatter plot, wherein the scatter plot correlates a second attribute and a third attribute of the data points.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
presenting periodic plural time intervals in the scatter plot, wherein each of the plural time intervals includes pixels representing a respective subset of the data points visualized by the scatter plot, where each periodic time interval repeats over time.
9. An article comprising at least a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions for visualizing a scatter plot, the instructions that upon execution cause a system to:
receive a group of new data points;
in response to the received group, move a time divider structure in the scatter plot that divides a current time point and a previous time point, wherein the scatter plot represents plural periodic time intervals;
perform real-time backward rewriting to overlay pixels representing the new data points over pixels representing a subset of previously written data points to animate the scatter plot, and paint pixels of a remainder of the previously written data points outside the subset in the scatter plot without shifting the pixels of the remainder; and
present for display a control element activatable by a user to control an amount of overlapping pixels allowed in the scatter plot.
10. The article of claim 9 , wherein performing the real-time backward rewriting comprises processing the new data points and the previously written data points backwardly starting from a later point in time to earlier points in time.
11. The article of claim 10 , wherein processing the new data points and the previously written data points backwardly starts at a current time corresponding to the time divider structure.
12. The article of claim 10 , wherein the instructions upon execution cause the system to further:
receive the group of new data points according to a moving window that specifies a number of the new data points to input together for visualization by the scatter plot.
13. The article of claim 10 , wherein the instructions upon execution cause the system to further:
assign colors to the pixels representing the new data points and the previously written data points visualized by the scatter plot, wherein the assigned colors are based on values of a first attributed of the new data points and the previously written data points, and wherein the scatter plot correlates a second attribute and a third attribute of the new data points and the previously written data points.
14. The article of claim 9 , wherein overlaying the pixels representing the new data points over pixels representing the subset of previously written data points comprises:
placing the pixels representing the new data points over pixels representing the subset of previously written data points, or
overwriting the subset of previously written data points with the new data points.
15. The article of claim 9 , wherein the control element comprises a slider.
16. A system comprising:
a storage medium to store a data set; and
at least one processor to:
present a scatter plot that represents plural periodic time intervals for visualization of data points in the data set;
animate the scatter plot as new data points are received, by performing real-time backward rewrite comprising:
overlaying a subset of previously written data points with the new data points, and
painting a remainder of previously written data points outside the subset in the scatter plot, where painting the remainder of previously written data points is performed without shifting pixels corresponding to the remainder;
draw a divider structure in the scatter plot to indicate a position in the scatter plot between a current time point and a previous time point; and
present for display a control element activatable by a user to control an amount of overlapping pixels allowed in the scatter plot.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the divider structure comprises a time divider line.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the pixels have assigned colors according to values of an attribute of the data points.