Alarm displaying method and apparatus
There is provided a method for displaying alarm events to an operator. Alarm events, each being associated with the properties age, state and priority, are received from an alarm generating system. The alarm events are represented by graphical objects which are displayed in a graphical user interface. The sizes of the graphical objects are determined based on at least two of the properties being associated with the alarm event, and the position of the graphical objects is related to the size of the graphical object and/or one or more of the properties being associated with the alarm event represented by the graphical object.
1. A method for displaying alarm events to an operator, comprising the steps of:
receiving alarm events from an alarm generating system, each alarm event being associated with properties being selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event;
representing each alarm event by a graphical object, wherein the size of the graphical object is determined based on at least two of the properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event; and
displaying each graphical object in a graphical user interface at a position being related to at least two parameters selected from the group consisting of the size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event,
wherein the graphical objects are ordered:
along a first axis depending on a first parameter selected from the group consisting of size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event, and
along a second axis depending on a second parameter selected from the group consisting of size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event,
wherein the first parameter is different from the second parameter.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first parameter is selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event, and the second parameter is selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position of each graphical object is related to at least the size of the graphical object.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the graphical objects are ordered along the first axis depending on the size of the graphical objects.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the size of each graphical object is determined based on all properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the size is determined as a weighted sum of numerical values which represent said at least two of the properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event varies over time, the method further comprising the step of:
updating at least one of the size and the position of the graphical objects representing the alarm events over time.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
receiving a user input relating to at least one alarm event, the user input relating to a change of at least one of the properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event; and
updating at least one of the size and the position of the graphical object representing the at least one alarm event in response to receiving the user input.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the graphical objects are displayed in a first display area of the graphical user interface, the method further comprising the steps of:
displaying, in a second display area of the graphical user interface separate from the first display area, the alarm events in a list, wherein the user input is received via the first display area or the second display area; and
updating the list of alarm events in response to receiving the user input.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
accessing authorization data defining a subset of the alarm events which the operator is authorized to handle,
wherein the step of displaying the graphical objects representing the alarm events comprises displaying only the graphical objects representing the subset of alarm events.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of a color and a shape of the graphical objects depend on the state of the corresponding alarm events.
12. Non-transitory Computer readable medium comprising computer code instructions which are adapted to carry out the method according to claim 1 when executed on a device having processing capability.
13. An apparatus for displaying alarm events to an operator, comprising:
a graphical user interface;
a receiver configured to receive alarm events from an alarm generating system, each alarm event being associated with properties being selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event; and
a processor configured to:
represent each alarm event by a graphical object, wherein the size of the graphical object is determined based on at least two of the properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event; and
display each graphical object in a graphical user interface at a position being related to at least two parameters selected from the group consisting of the size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event,
wherein the graphical objects are ordered:
along a first axis depending on a first parameter selected from the group consisting of size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event, and
along a second axis depending on a second parameter selected from the group consisting of size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event,
wherein the first parameter is different from the second parameter.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the position of each graphical object along the first axis is based on importance.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphical objects are further ordered along a third axis depending on a third parameter selected from the group consisting of size of the graphical object, age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event and priority of the alarm event, and
wherein the third parameter is different from both the first parameter and the second parameter.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first axis represents the age of the alarm event, the second axis represents the state of the alarm event, and the third axis represents the priority of the alarm event.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein each alarm event is associated with each of the properties selected from the group consisting of age of the alarm event, state of the alarm event, and priority of the alarm event.