GUI with axes having directional indicators of the absence of data

Inventors

Wilson, Jefferson

Assignees

Altera Digital Health Inc • Harris Dawn Holdings Inc

Abstract

A method of displaying a GUI including a multidimensional array of axes includes constructing a multidimensional array of axes, each axis comprising a plurality of entities located therealong, each entity configured to contain data for display on the axis; for a particular axis of the axes of the array, determining an entity first encountered in a first direction along the particular axis which contains data for display on the particular axis; displaying a view of the array of axes, which view comprises at least a portion of the particular axis that precedes the first encountered data-containing entity in the first direction; and, in conjunction with the displaying of the view of the array of axes, providing an indicator of an absence of data for display being contained in each entity of the particular axis preceding the first data-containing entity encountered in the first direction.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a graphical user interface technique for evaluating a spreadsheet having a first spreadsheet portion presently being displayed and a second spreadsheet portion not being displayed, where the spreadsheet comprises rows and cells arranged along an axis. A cell in a row that comprises data within the first spreadsheet portion is identified, and the spreadsheet is evaluated to determine whether cells in a given direction contain data within the second spreadsheet portion or fail to comprise data.

After identifying that all cells to the right of the cell in the row fail to comprise data within the second spreadsheet portion, an indicator is displayed in each cell in the first cells to the right of the cell in the row. The displayed indicator indicates that each cell in the first cells and the second cells to the right of the displayed cell in the row fails to comprise data, thereby conveying absence of data for a preceding portion along the row direction.

The concept is extended with directional variants including cell evaluation for absence within a column above or below a cell and evaluation to the left of a specified cell in a row, and with refinements that include displaying indicators for an entire second row. Example indicator modalities are specified as symbols, color, and pattern, and the disclosed concept is described as applicable in a client electronic health records context by identifying cells that comprise clinical data pertaining to a patient within the first spreadsheet portion.

Claims Coverage

The document contains three independent claims, covering a client computing device, a method executed by a client computing device, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Across these independent claims, the core coverage includes spreadsheet portion evaluation and displaying indicators that communicate absence of data in cells in a specified direction, with emphasis on rightward absence and extensions to other directions and contexts.

Across the independent claims, the coverage is directed to evaluating a displayed versus not-displayed spreadsheet portion, identifying a data-containing cell in a row within the first portion, determining that all cells in a specified direction fail to comprise data in the second portion, and displaying in corresponding visible cells an indicator that conveys the absence-of-data condition for the cells in that directional region. Dependent claims further cover similar directional absence evaluations and indicator variations, including symbol, color, pattern, and row-level indication.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications