Display method for time series data and information processor for realizing the same

[0001] [Industrial application field] The present invention provides a method for displaying time-series data and a method for displaying the same when a plurality of data are managed at an associated date and time as in a database or a file system. It is related to the information processing device to be realized.

[0002] Conventional technology In a computer file management system, a database system, or the like, a date and time is treated as an important parameter when managing a large amount of data. For example, in a file management system, the date and time when the file was created or the date and time when the file was modified are automatically added as file attributes. Further, also in the database system, a date and time field can be provided in the field in the data, and the data can be managed according to the date and time entered here.

[0003] As an example, in a personnel management database 30 as shown in FIG. 5, the date of birth is entered in the date and time field 31 for management. Also, in the calendar application software (hereinafter referred to as the scheduler), the schedule itself is managed by the date and time. For example, if the content of the schedule is a meeting and the document file to be used for the meeting is registered as a database. It is convenient to be able to check later what materials were used to attend the meeting.

[0004] Now, when searching for desired data from a database composed of a set of data as described above, the date and time data described above is an important parameter. That is, in the file management system, by displaying the files in order of creation date and time or modification date and time, it is possible to search for desired data together with the memory of the user's file creation and modification work. Also, in a database system, for example, in a personnel management database, it is common practice to search and display in order of date of birth. Further, in the scheduler, the related desired data file can be found by looking at the contents of the schedule in chronological order.

[0005] That is, it can be said that the most common unit of memory for a user is in chronological order. Therefore, if you remember the date when the file was created or modified, usually vaguely, and compare the memory with the date of the file, you can find the desired file even if you forget the file name. It is possible. The same applies to the scheduler, and the desired content can be obtained according to the memory of when. Further, also in the database system, data can be browsed in order by displaying the data in order of date of birth, for example.

[0006] [Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional file management system, the files displayed vertically and adjacently on the list are at a very close date and time or at a distant time. I don't know explicitly. Therefore, on the other hand, each user sees the date and time display, and if it is closer, it is closer, and if it is far, it is far, and it is desired to assume the time interval in the head and compare it with his / her own memory. I was working on finding the file. Figure 4 shows a display example 20 of a conventional example of a file management system. As shown in Figure 4, the files in the specified directory 21 can be displayed in order of new date and time. However, in order to grasp the date and time when the data was created, it was necessary to look at the date and time display fields 22 one by one.

[0007] On the other hand, even in the display on the database system, with respect to the data of a certain person displayed in the order of date of birth, the next data is still the next even if only 1 year old or 10 years old is different. It is displayed in order. On the other hand, the user needs to confirm the date of birth of each data numerically and to estimate the degree of separation in his / her mind. Therefore, it becomes more difficult for users to understand the overall tendency that there are many people of a certain age and not many people of a certain age. In reality, the overall tendency can finally be grasped through the work of displaying the date of birth by chronological order and displaying them in a graph.

[0008] That is, there is a demand for a system that displays data so that the user can grasp the time more intuitively and intuitively. In view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention allows the user to more intuitively and intuitively grasp the time difference and flow.<u style="single">You can search for time series data</u>Like<u style="single">、</u>Time series data<u style="single">Classify into a time range that includes a predetermined date and time</u>Provided is a display method of time-series data to be displayed and an information processing device for realizing the display method.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the time-series data display method of the present invention is a time-series data display method for displaying the accumulated time-series data in a time-series manner. It s a display method,<u style="single">Each ring is specified</u>Date and time<u style="single">Including time range</u>Multiple rings to represent<u style="single">、</u>Nested in chronological order, centered on the center of the display screen,<u style="single">Of the accumulated time series data,</u>Inner ring<u style="single">Belongs to the time range of</u>Data<u style="single">Get along the inner ring</u>small<u style="single">Display</u>, Outer ring<u style="single">Belongs to the time range of</u>Data<u style="single">Get along the outer ring</u>It is displayed in a large size, and while the displayed ring and data are enlarged in response to the zoom-in instruction, a new ring and data are displayed in the center of the display screen, and the outermost ring and data are displayed. It is erased from the display screen, and the ring and data in the center of the display screen are erased from the display screen while the displayed ring and data are reduced in response to the zoom-out instruction, and the outermost frame is erased. It is characterized by displaying a new circle and data.

[0010] Here, each<u style="single">Along the circle</u>display<u style="single">To</u>Limited to a certain number of data<u style="single">Shi</u>, If the number of data exceeds the predetermined number, the data<u style="single">To</u>Finer<u style="single">Time range</u>To<u style="single">Categorize</u>Different<u style="single">Represents a time range</u>in Circle<u style="single">Divide</u>indicate. Further, the zoom-in and zoom-out are instructed from the screen, and the zoom-in and zoom-out speeds.<u style="single">To</u>Change according to the indicated position on the screen<u style="single">Su</u>To. In addition, the above-mentioned display<u style="single">Prescribed</u>Date and time<u style="single">Including time range</u>The ring shown is<u style="single">different</u>Displayed in different colors corresponding to daytime<u style="single">Su</u>To. Also, the same date and time<u style="single">Belongs to a time range that includes</u>data<u style="single">, Correspond</u>ring<u style="single">Along with</u>Display at random positions<u style="single">Su</u>To. Further, the random position is set at the time of data registration.<u style="single">Su</u>To. In addition, the accumulated time-series data corresponds to the data accumulated corresponding to the file creation date and time of the data, the data accumulated corresponding to the file modification date and time, and the designated date and time registered by the user. Including the accumulated data.

[0011] Further, the information processing apparatus of the present invention is an information processing apparatus that displays accumulated time-series data in chronological order, and is a storage means for accumulating data corresponding to each date and time.<u style="single">Each ring is specified</u>Date and time<u style="single">Including time range</u>Multiple rings to represent<u style="single">、</u>Nested in chronological order Centered around the center of the screen<u style="single">Means to do</u>、<u style="single">Of the accumulated time series data,</u>Inner ring<u style="single">Belongs to the time range of</u>Data<u style="single">Get along the inner ring</u>small<u style="single">Display</u>, Outer ring<u style="single">Belongs to the time range of</u>Data<u style="single">Get along the outer ring</u>Display large<u style="single">Have means</u>While enlarging the displayed ring and time-series data in response to the display means and the instruction to zoom in, a new ring and time-series data are displayed in the center of the display screen, and the outermost ring. The zoom-in control means for erasing the data and the time-series data from the display screen, and the ring and the time-series in the center of the display screen while reducing the displayed ring and the time-series data in response to the zoom-out instruction. It is characterized in that the data is deleted from the display screen and a soom-out control means for displaying a new ring and time-series data is provided on the outermost surface.

[0012] Here, the display means is each<u style="single">Along the circle</u>display<u style="single">To</u>Display limiting means that limits the number of data to a predetermined number, and data when the number of data exceeds the predetermined number<u style="single">To</u>Finer<u style="single">Time range</u>To<u style="single">Classification</u>Different<u style="single">Represents a time range</u>in Circle<u style="single">Divide</u>It is provided with a display dividing means for displaying. Further, the storage means is further detailed so that the number of data does not exceed the predetermined number in the data storage unit according to the instruction of the display limiting means.<u style="single">Time range</u>It is provided with a divisional storage means for subdividing and accumulating. Further, it has an instruction input means for instructing zoom-in and zoom-out from the screen, and the zoom-in and out control means changes the zoom-in and zoom-out speeds according to the instruction position on the screen. Further, the display means is displaying the display.<u style="single">Prescribed</u>Date and time<u style="single">Time range to include</u>The ring that shows<u style="single">different</u>Display in different colors according to the day and time. In addition, the display means displays data in the ring.<u style="single">Along with</u>Display at random positions. Further, the storage means sets the random position at the time of data registration. In addition, the accumulated time-series data corresponds to the data accumulated corresponding to the file creation date and time of the data, the data accumulated corresponding to the file modification date and time, and the designated date and time registered by the user. Including the accumulated data.

[Examples] Hereinafter, examples of the present invention and accompanying drawings will be described in detail. &lt;System Configuration Example&gt; FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a personal computer system, which is a platform on which the present invention is implemented.

[0015] In FIG. 1, 301 is a computer system main body, 302 is a display for displaying data, 303 is a mouse which is a typical pointing device, 304 is a mouse button, and 305 is a keyboard. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a hierarchical data management system including software and hardware.

[0016] In FIG. 2, 509 is hardware, 505 is an operating system (OS) running on hardware 509, and 504 is application software running on OS 505. Of the blocks that make up the hardware 509 and OS505, the blocks that are naturally included as configuration requirements but are not directly required to explain this embodiment are not shown. Examples of such blocks (not shown) include a CPU and memory as hardware, and a memory management system as OS.

In FIG. 2, 515 is a hard disk that physically stores files and data, and 508 is a file system that constitutes an OS, so that application software can input and output files without being aware of the hardware. There is a function. 514 is a disk IO interface for the file system 508 to read and write to the hard disk 515.

[0018] The 507 is a drawing management system that constitutes an OS, and has a function that enables application software to draw without being aware of the hardware. The 513 is a video interface for the drawing management system 507 to draw on the display 302. The 506 is an input device management system that composes the OS, and has a function that allows application software to receive user input without being aware of the hardware. 510 is a keyboard interface for the input device management system 506 to receive input from the keyboard 305, and 512 is a mouse interface for allowing the input device management system 506 to receive input from the mouse 303.

[0019] 501 is a date and time data browser, and 502 is a date and time management means for managing data in date and time. The 503 is a data display means for displaying data managed in chronological order at the time interval in the chronological order. &lt;Display example&gt; FIG. 3 is an example of display when the display method of this embodiment is realized.

[0020] 1 is a display screen, and squares such as 2a and 2b represent data (hereinafter, also referred to as a data icon). 3a and 3b are rings representing the days to which the data are associated. On this ring, the data associated with the date represented by the ring is arranged. This ring is heading toward the center of the screen on a daily basis to the past or future, and the data on the ring around the screen is displayed larger. This expresses the depth so that the periphery is in the foreground and the center is in the back. When the user wants to display the data in the back on this screen in a larger size, zoom in. This causes the data icon to be displayed larger, for example, the data 2b grows continuously with the ring 3b, and the ring 3a and the data icon 2a disappear from the screen. On the contrary, in the zoom-out operation, the displayed ring and the data icon are smaller and gather at the center of the ring, and the past or future data icon and the ring appear from the outside of the screen.

[0021] In the file management system, after selecting a certain directory, by specifying to switch to the date and time display in this embodiment, the display line is displayed in the state where the date and time ring at that time is displayed in the foreground. Will be. Also, by default, the back is the past direction and the front is the current direction, and the user can switch this direction in the opposite direction. Then, if the desired data is found, the data file is opened in a separate window by double-clicking the displayed data icon with the mouse, and the contents of this file can be checked or edited.

&lt;Zoom in / Zoom Out&gt; Fig. 6 shows an example of a ring and an example of zooming in / zooming out focusing on the data icon belonging to the ring. This assumes that the back is the past and the front is the future. 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d are display screens, 42a, 42b, 42c, 42d are rings indicating the date and time, and 41a, 41b, 41c, 41d are data icons on the ring (data within the time zone indicated by the ring). ) Is shown.

As shown in FIG. 6, when zooming in (looking at past data continuously), the data icon 41a and the ring 42a first appear small in the center of the screen (upper left), and the zooming operation is continued. Data icon 41b and ring 42b (upper right), data icon 41c and ring 42c (lower right), data icon 41d and ring 42d (lower left), and so on. Since the data icon 41d is displayed large, only a part of it is displayed. If you continue to zoom in, this data will disappear from the screen. When zoomed out, the display is in the opposite direction.

[0024] In the state of the display screen 40a, there is actually a larger ring on the outside of the ring 42a, which is one step ahead of the ring 42a, and on the outside, there is another one step future time zone. There is a larger ring that is. Also, when the display screen is 40d, there is actually a smaller ring inside the ring 42d that is one step past the time zone than the ring 42d, and inside that there is another small ring that is one step past the time zone. There is a ring. Therefore, the display as shown in FIG. 6 is realized as a whole.

[0025] In this way, by arranging the data icons in chronological order and displaying them and displaying them continuously by the zoom-in / zoom-out operation, it is possible to realize a data display close to the user's memory feeling, and also in the time axis direction. It is possible to intuitively grasp the tendency of the data to be organized. &lt;Data structure&gt; Fig. 7 shows a conceptual diagram of the data structure in this embodiment.

[0026] 50 corresponds to one displayed ring and represents a time zone divided by a fixed time interval. In this embodiment, this is set as one day, and this time zone is referred to as a cell. For this cell, the time zone data 51 of the cell is hung from the cell. At the time of display, a ring is drawn in cell units by following this cell, and a data icon of data held by the cell is drawn on the ring. Then, according to the zoom-in / zoom-out operation, the cell arrangement is advanced to the right or left to display the data.

[0027] At this time, in other words, when a large amount of data belongs to a certain cell in a time zone, it is preferable to slowly display the part so that all the data can be sufficiently confirmed. Therefore, cells having more data than a predetermined value are divided into cells in a finer time zone. In the example of FIG. 7, since there is a lot of data belonging to the cell of 10/7, it is further divided into four cells every 6 hours. Among them, since there is a large amount of data in the cells from 12:00 to 18:00, this is further decomposed into hourly cells. In this way, the cells are divided until the number of data belonging to one cell becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, such as every 10 minutes, every minute, every 10 seconds, and every 1 second.

[0028] At the time of display, as shown by an arrow, these layered cells are traced and displayed. Since the display is performed at the speed of each cell, the place where the data is gathered in time will be displayed slowly. &lt;Display of date and time&gt; In order to clearly indicate to the user that the time is being displayed slowly, the ring described in FIG. 6 is supplementarily filled with a dotted arrow as shown in FIG. In the direction of 600, the color of the ring is displayed lighter as the cells become smaller (indicated by the thickness of the ring in FIGS. 8 and 10). The display of the data icon is omitted in FIG. 8 for the sake of explanation. 60 in FIG. 8 is a display screen, and the ring 61 is first in the outermost shell. It is displayed in the darkest color, meaning 10/6 on a daily basis in Figure 7. Next, rings 62a and 62b show the 6-hour unit below them (0:00 to 6:00 and 6: 00 to 12:00), and are shown in a lighter color than ring 61. In addition, rings 63a, 63b indicate time units (12: 00-13: 00 and 13: 00-14: 00), and are shown in lighter colors than rings 62a, 62b. Further, 64 displays the time zone of the outermost ring (ring 61 in FIG. 8) at that time. With the above display method, the user can view the data in a sufficient time while recognizing the change in the time interval even in the place where there is a lot of data.

[0029] Further, as described with reference to FIG. 7, it is whether or not the number of data belonging to the cell is larger than a predetermined value, and the predetermined value determines whether or not the cell is finely divided. Make it the same as the maximum number of data to be displayed on one ring. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, a maximum of eight data icons are placed on one ring. Therefore, the predetermined value is "8".

&lt;Cell data structure&gt; FIG. 9 shows the cell data structure described with reference to FIG. 7. 70 shows the entire list of cells. At the beginning of the cell list 70, there is a cell attribute 71 indicating the attributes of the cells arranged in this cell list 70. The cell attribute 71 stores the cell level 71-1 to indicate which hierarchy this cell belongs to. Since the daily cell in FIG. 7 is a basic cell, the cell level is 0, the cell level is 1 every 6 hours, the cell level is 2, and so on every hour. 71-2 is a cell unit (time interval). The cell unit 71-2 is 24 hours every day, 6 hours every 6 hours, and 1 hour every hour in Fig. 7. 71-3 shows the number of cells in this cell list 70. 71-4 shows the ring color when drawing this cell as a ring. This ring color 71-4 is set as black (V (0) = 0) when the cell level is 0, and is set as V (N) = {255-V (N-1)} / 2 as the level increases. I will do it. 71-5 stores a pointer to return from the child cell list to its parent cell. When the cell level is 0, nothing is entered in this pointer because there is no parent, and the child cell attribute of the child cell list 76 includes a pointer to cell 1 (72).

[0031] In the cell list 70, the cells belonging to the cell list 70 are arranged as 72a, 72b, 72c, ... After the cell attribute 71. Each cell first has a start time and an end time contained in that cell, and the number of data contained in this cell. Further, it has a data list 73 and holds data information belonging to the data list 73. One data 74 in the data list 73 further includes a data icon 74-1, a data pathname 74-2, and a data time 74-3. The data icon 74-1 is a bitmap image 75a obtained by reducing the actual data. You can also refer to the data file 75b on the disk from the data pathname 74-2. The data time 74-3 is the data time when this data belongs to this cell, and is the data creation date / time or the data modification date / time in the file management system.

[0032] When the number of data is larger than a predetermined value (the maximum value of the number of data arranged in one ring), it can be known by checking the number of data when adding new data to this data list. You can. In the display example of FIG. 3, when the number of data becomes larger than "8", the child cell list 76 is generated by further dividing this cell. The structure of this child cell list 76 is also the same as the cell list described so far. When this child cell list 76 is generated, the data contained in the cell is moved to the data list in the child cell at the data time 74-3, and is deleted from the cell 72a. Therefore, when there is a data list in the cell, the child cell list does not exist, and when the child cell list exists, the data list does not exist. Child cell attributes include a value that increases the cell level by one and a ring color that is a lighter color. &lt;Display algorithm example (initial)&gt; Next, the display algorithm for the first display will be described.

(Example of data structure for display management) FIG. 10 shows a data structure for display management. In the case of zoom display, as shown in the display example of FIG. 10, the ring is moved in 32 increments, and the ring is drawn every 8 steps during that period. The display step list 80 shows the size and position of the ring at each step and the size of the data icon drawn on the ring. This is a list corresponding to the previous 32 steps, and each step contains 81a, 81b ... and step information.

[0034] Each step information includes a rectangle 82 (defined by upper left coordinates (x1, y1) and lower right coordinates (x2, y2)) inscribed by the ring of the step. It also includes a data rectangle list 83. The size of the ring is an ellipse tangent to the ring rectangle 82, and the size of the data icon is the size inscribed in the data rectangle in the data rectangle list 83 while maintaining the aspect ratio of the data icon.

Since the number of data icons displayed on one ring is eight, the data rectangle list has eight data rectangles, each of which has size information including the display position. The size of this ring and the size of the data icon display are set so as to gradually increase from the minimum ring to the maximum ring. The settings here are to increase linearly, to make it appear to increase suddenly from the middle, so that various settings can be changed, and it is not necessary to calculate the size and position during the zoom operation. It is tabulated.

(Acquisition of cells in the outermost ring) FIG. 11 first shows an algorithm for acquiring cells to be displayed in the outermost ring. Get the date and time selected in step S1. This is basically the date and time at that time, and if the user explicitly specifies it, it is the specified date and time. Next, in step S2, the cell list at the cell level 0 is acquired as the initial value. In step S3, the cell unit (time interval) 71-2 in the cell list shown in FIG. 9 and the start time of the first cell 72a are acquired. From the information acquired in step S4, the cell number of which the specified date and time is specified is calculated, and the corresponding cell is acquired in step S5. In step S6, it is checked whether or not there is a child cell in the cell. If there are child cells, go to step S7 to get the child cell list, and repeat from step S3. When there is no child cell, the specified date and time is included in the cell currently being focused on, so the process ends.

(Display Algorithm) FIG. 12 shows the first display algorithm. Set the count value to the initial value 0 in step S10. In step S11, the cell to be displayed in the outermost ring acquired by the process described in FIG. 11 is acquired. In step S12, the (count × 8) th step information is acquired from the display step list. This is count x "8" because the inside of the 5 rings is stepped by "8" and has a total of 32 steps. Since the count value = 0 at the beginning, the content of step information 0 (81a) shown in FIG. 10 is acquired. In step S13, the ring rectangle 82 is obtained from this step information. Further, the ring color 74-4 of the cell shown in FIG. 4 is also acquired, and the drawing of the ring is performed with the acquired ring color color and the position and size of the acquired ring rectangle. In step S14, each data icon is sequentially taken out from the data list of the cell, and the data icon is drawn at the drawing position indicated by the data rectangle so as to fit within the size of the data rectangle 83. This means, for example, drawing up to eight pieces in order clockwise from the upper position.

[0038] In step S15, the count value is increased by one, and it is checked in the next step S16 whether or not the number of rings to be drawn at one time is up to five. If up to 5 drawings have been completed, the process proceeds to step S20, and step = 0 is set as the value used in the next FIG. 13 to end. If up to 5 have not been drawn, in step S17, check whether the cell list currently being focused is the last one drawn, and if not, get the next cell in step S18. If it is the end of the cell list, the process proceeds to step S19, the pointer to the parent cell 71-5 returns to the parent cell, and the next cell in the cell list is acquired. Then, the process returns to step S12.

[0039] In step S12, since it is the (count = 1 × 8) th step information, the eighth step information is acquired. This is because each ring is displayed 8 steps apart. After that, the same process as described above is repeated again. The first drawing is done in this way. &lt;Zoom operation example&gt; (i) Zoom in Next, the algorithm during zoom operation is shown. FIG. 13 shows the algorithm (processing) during the zoom operation as a flowchart.

[0040] First, in the present embodiment, the user can switch the zoom-in / zoom-out speed in eight steps, and this is specified by the position of the mouse cursor. Zoom in while holding down the left mouse button and zoom out while holding down the right mouse button. The position of the mouse cursor during this operation is the fastest if it is in the center of the screen, and the slowest if it is around.

Therefore, first, in step S30, the zoom-in / zoom-out speed skip is calculated. When the distance from the center of the screen at the cursor position is d, the speed skip is as follows. skip = 8-int ((d / distance from center to edge) x 8) In step S31, if the left button is pressed, it means zooming in, so proceed to step S32. If not, it will be zoomed out, so it will be the zoom out process of step S50. The zoom-out process is the reverse of the zoom-in process after step S32, so it will be explained briefly later. Steps S32 to S41 are basically the same as the processes from step S10 to step S19 in FIG. The difference is that in step S34, the drawing is performed at the (count * 8-step) th position. The initial value of step in this equation is "0" by step S20 in FIG. 12, but it is incremented by skip according to this zoom operation. This will zoom the data in the specified speed (skip) units. In step S33-1, if ( If the count × 8-step) th is smaller than 0, it means that the outermost ring has already disappeared from the screen, so the process proceeds to step S37 without drawing. In this step S32 to S41, all the rings and data icons to be displayed will be displayed.

[0042] In step S42 and subsequent steps, processing is performed in preparation for the next zoom operation. In step S42, step is first incremented in skip units. Therefore, when the cursor is in the center of the screen, skip = 8, so step increases by 8 units. When the cursor is at the end, skip = 1 and you can go one step at a time. As a result, the user can easily view the data at a desired zoom speed according to the appearance status of the data. If you want to take a closer look, release the mouse button and the event for the flowchart in Fig. 13 will not occur, so you can take a closer look without updating the display. When step is 8 or more in step S43, the remainder obtained by dividing step by 8 in step S44 is put into step, and the cell of the outermost ring is shifted to the next in step S45. If step is less than 8, wait for the event.

[0043] If the left mouse button is continuously pressed, the same event occurs immediately and the above process is repeated. (ii) Zoom-out Next, regarding the zoom-out process, the part different from the zoom-in process will be explained. FIG. 14 shows the flowchart. Basically, the zoom-in process is reversed, and steps S51 to S65 almost correspond to steps S32 to S44, but the differences are as follows.

[0044] In step S53, when the (count × 8 + step) th is 32 or more, the ring is too small to be displayed, so the process proceeds to step S37. If the (count × 8 + step) th is less than 32, the (count × 8 + step) th step information is acquired in step S54. Then, in step S65, the cell of the outermost ring is newly set to the previous cell.

&lt;Algorithm at the time of data addition&gt; Next, the algorithm at the time of data addition will be described. FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of the process when data is added. In step S70, the creation date and time is acquired when the data file is newly created, and the modification date and time is acquired when the data file is modified. Get the cell for that date and time in step S71. This can be obtained by the procedure from step S2 to step S7 shown in FIG. In step S72, the number of data in the acquired cell is checked to see if it is less than 8.

If it is less than 8, the process proceeds to step S73, and how many more places to be displayed are available. In the next step S74, a random number from 0 to 9 is acquired. This is, for example, a random number by taking the last digit of the second of the time at the time of the operation. From this random number, in step S75, the number of empty spaces to be filled with is calculated as p as follows.

[0047] p = int (random number / 10 x number of free spaces) By doing this, the data is not stored from the beginning of the data list, but is randomly entered for the display location of 8 data. Become. This is because when displaying, it is decided that the first data in the data list will be displayed on the ring and then displayed clockwise, so it was decided that the data would always be stored from the beginning of the data list. This is because a large amount of data will be displayed at the display position, and the size of the screen cannot be used effectively. In addition, there is a method of displaying at random when displaying, but since the user may store frequently used data at the display position, it is desirable to fix the position. Therefore, the above method was used. Follow the free space in the data list in step S77, and write the data icon acquired in step S76, the path name of the data file, and the data time at the p-th place.

[0048] On the other hand, when the number of data is already full in step S72, a child cell is generated in this cell. Next, in step S79, child cell attributes and child cells are generated. In step S80, one piece of data is acquired from the parent cell, and data is inserted into the corresponding child cell in step S81 from the data time 74-3. In step S82, check whether all the data in the data list has been processed as described above, and when finished, delete the data list from the parent cell in step S83, proceed to step S71 again, and register a new data file. Do.

[Other Examples] In the above examples, operation examples have been described with a focus on the file management system. In this embodiment, an operation example of the calendar software (scheduler) will be described. Figure 16 shows an example of the scheduler. In a calendar table format, the schedule for the month is displayed centered on the heading (700). If you want to see the schedule of one day in more detail, or if you want to modify the schedule of one day, double-click the day on the calendar to open the window 800 on the right. In this, you can see events, times, places, etc. If there are other data files related to this event, the user can register by dragging and dropping this data icon onto this window. For example, if the content of the schedule is a meeting and the document file to be used for the meeting is registered, it is convenient because it is possible to confirm what material was used for the meeting later.

[0050] When switching from the scheduler display to the date and time display, if no day is selected, the date and time of that day is used as the outermost ring, and if it is selected, the selected date and time is used as the outermost ring. , Start displaying. In this embodiment, the data shown in the above embodiment is searched and displayed in this date and time order according to the date and time information of the registered event. In the data file management system in the above embodiment, the latest data is up to the date and time at that time, but in the case of this scheduler, up to the date and time in the future is the management target.

[0051] The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or a device composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied when it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention,<u style="single">Each ring is specified</u>Date and time<u style="single">Including time range</u>Multiple rings to represent<u style="single">、</u>Nested in chronological order, centered on the center of the display screen,<u style="single">Of the accumulated time series data,</u>Inner ring<u style="single">Belongs to the time range of</u>Data<u style="single">Get along the outer ring</u>small<u style="single">Display</u>, Outer ring<u style="single">Belongs to the time range of</u>Data<u style="single">Get along the inner ring</u>Large display<u style="single">By</u>、<u style="single">Time series data is classified and displayed in a time range including a predetermined date and time.</u>The user can intuitively and intuitively grasp the time difference and flow, and the zoom operation and the characteristic zoom display change have never been seen before.<u style="single">You can search for time series data</u>New display methods and devices can be constructed. By doing this, you can effectively use the display screen, look at the entire data, pick up the data you like from it, grasp the tendency of the entire data to be gathered, etc., and enter the structure of the database. An unprecedentedly flexible display method and device that can search data with such a sense of reality will be realized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [Fig. 1] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a personal computer system of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a hierarchical data management system including software and hardware.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional example of a file management system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional example of a database system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a diagram illustrating a zoom-in / zoom-out display.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a cell showing a cell that manages time.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a ring corresponding to a layered cell.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data structure of a cell list.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data structure of a display step list.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for acquiring cells corresponding to the outermost ring.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart at the time of performing the first display.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a display process during a zoom-in operation.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a display process during a zoom-out operation.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of data addition processing.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a display example of a scheduler.

[Description of code] 1 Display screen 2a, 2b Display data 3a, 3b Ring 301 Computer system main unit 302 Display 303 Pointing device (mouse) 304 Mouse button 305 Keyboard 501 Data date and time display system 502 Date and time management means 503 Data display means 504 Application Software 505 Operating System 506 Input Device Management System 507 Drawing Management System 508 File System 509 Hardware 510 Keyboard Interface 512 Mouse Interface 513 Video Interface 514 Disk IO Interface 515 Hard Disk