The Hyperbolic TreeTM Visual User Interface

How a warped view improves your vision.

The Hyperbolic Tree ™ is a general-purpose user interface component for interacting with large hierarchies containing thousands of nodes. Hierarchical data is commonly represented in datasets such as in product catalogs, document collections, organization charts, file system hierarchies, and the link structure of the World Wide Web.

The Hyperbolic Tree overcomes the limitations of ordinary data displays by allowing users to see hundreds or even thousands of nodes at a glance. It has demonstrated success in applications that involve accessing, managing, organizing and exploiting large hierarchies including:

• Business Intelligence software, such as executive information systems, multidimensional analysis tools and end-user query & reporting tools.
• Document Management and analysis software as well as web site publishing and management tools.
• Electronic Commerce tools including storefront creation software, digital content distribution software, electronic catalog software and ad management software.
• Network and systems management software such as configuration management, security management, performance management, network traffic control, server management and other systems management utilities.

The Hyperbolic Tree™ leverages many of the principles articulated and exploited in over 10 years of research and invention at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) on the next-generation of user interfaces. These principles include Focus+Context display, rendering information graphically, and animating transitions enabling direct interaction with large quantities of data.

• Focus + Context technique allows for viewing more about a few as well as little about many. Click on a node to bring it into focus still keeping it in context to the whole.
• Graphical representations of data or documents that increases the amount of information presented on the screen
• Animated transitions that allow the user to keep track of the interactive manipulation of the view no matter the size of the data set or the computer’s clock speed.

Benefits to Users

The Hyperbolic Tree allows users to make sense of information so they can focus on achieving their real objectives efficiently and effectively, including:

• Navigate around and explore large collections of information and quickly learn what is there and where things are
• Focus on specific items of information placed in the broad context of the entire collection
• Spot meaningful properties of the information, patterns and trends as well as aberrations and abnormalities

Benefits to Developers

Access to next generation user interface technology from the world’s leading research center provides:

• Product differentiation
• Promotes user preference
• Focus on core competencies
• Rapid integration of powerful user interface innovations

Inxight Software Inc., A Xerox New Enterprise Company 3400 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto, California 94303-0816. Phone 650-852-0290. Fax 650-813-7499. Visit our home page at www.Inxight.com.

Copyright 1996,1998 by Inxight Software. All rights reserved. Copyright protection claimed includes all forms and matters of copyrightable material and information now allowed by statutory or judicial law or hereinafter granted, including without limitation, material generated from the software programs which are displayed on the screen such as icons, screen display looks, etc. Xerox, Inxight, VizControls and the Hyperbolic Tree are trademarks of Xerox Corporation.