Temporal graph visualization

摘要

An embodiment provides a timeline upon which a playhead indicator is moved or positioned. Changes to a displayed graph that are within a predetermined interval of the playhead indicator's time position are shown graphically on or near the graph. Actor icons are positioned on or near the displayed graph. The actor icons correspond to different entities (e.g., a person, group, organization, software agent, etc.) that has made a change to the graph. Change indicators both on the timeline and in association with the actor icons can be color-coded to indicate addition, deletion, modification or other operations to graph items or to other objects being displayed.

主权项

1. A method for analyzing operations performed on a node-edge graph over time, the method comprising:
displaying the node-edge graph; displaying a timeline; obtaining data indicating multiple operations made to the node-edge graph, wherein the data further includes corresponding timestamps at which each operation occurred; showing one or more of the operations on the timeline at the time indicated by the corresponding timestamps; accepting a signal from a user input device to allow a user to position a playhead indicator at a particular time on the timeline; determining which operations have timestamps that are within a predetermined interval of the playhead indicator's particular time position; and illustrating the determined operations in the display of the node-edge graph.