WO2005098667A1

WO2005098667A1 - Interactive data tunnel

Info

Publication number: WO2005098667A1
Application number: PCT/AU2004/000477
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jatinder Singh Uppal
Original assignee: Nanak Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2004-04-08
Filing date: 2004-04-08
Publication date: 2005-10-20

Abstract

A method if provided for accessing information from a database. Filter criteria are entered into the computer to create a 'tunnel', being a customised subset of information from the database selected according to the entered filter criteria. The data in the tunnel is then viewed as an interactive table on a computer display. An operator interacts with the data in the tunnel to alter the order of display of items in the interactive table and to display further information relating to individual entries in the interactive table. The filter criteria are entered by means of a filter table which is separate from the interactive table.

Description

INTERACTIVE DATA TUNNEL

Field of the invention The present invention relates to information held in electronic data stores, which store multiple entries, the entries having common parameters. More particularly, the present invention relates to the retrieval and processing of data from one or more such data stores using a filtering technique known as a "tunnel". The present invention has applicability to almost any type of database which stores a large quantity of inter-related information. For the sake of illustration, the invention will be discussed in the context of a database relating to a clothing wholesale business, but it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited.

Background of the invention Typically, sales, purchase, or order information and the like for companies importing or manufacturing goods is held for manipulation by computer in electronic data stores such as tables, for example in spreadsheets, or in relational databases. Each table includes information pertinent to an aspect of the company's business, and there may be a plurality of inter-related tables. For example in clothing importing and manufacture, a sales table would typically hold information relating to the style of the clothing, the quantity in stock, the quantity on order, together with actual and forecast sales for each such style of clothing. A total sales number and value for each style would also typically be given. A typical clothing sales company might have thousands of styles, and searching a database for the required information can be time consuming. This task becomes more difficult when multiple tables are required. For example, one table might contain information about clothing styles, and another table might contain information about the addresses of suppliers. It may be necessary to conduct a search across multiple tables if, for example, it is necessary to identify all of the clothing styles which are supplied by suppliers from a particular country. In order to obtain the many different types of information which may be required in the day to day running of a business, it is often necessary to arrange for a programmer to write a large number of different complex reports. Such reports are time consuming and require skill to implement. Further, the data appearing in typical reports is not interactive, so that a separate report must be run if more information is needed on particular items listed in a report. This process is unwieldy, but it is encountered by the majority of database users.

Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of using a computer to access information from a database, including the following steps:

(a) entering filter criteria into the computer to create a "tunnel", being a customised subset of information from the database selected according to the entered filter criteria;

(b) viewing the data in the tunnel as an interactive table on a computer display; and

(c) interacting with the data in the tunnel to alter the order of display of items in the interactive table and to display further information relating to individual entries in the interactive table; wherein the filter criteria are entered by means of a filter table which is separate from the interactive table. According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided computer data storage media programmed with instructions for a computer connected to a database to perform the following steps:

(a) prompting for entry of filter criteria into the computer to create a "tunnel", being a customised subset of information from the database selected according to the entered filter criteria;

(b) displaying the data in the tunnel as an interactive table on a display associated with the computer; and

(c) allowing a user to interact with the data in the tunnel to alter the order of display of items in the interactive table and to display further information relating to individual entries in the interactive table; wherein the filter criteria are entered by means of a filter table which is separate from the interactive table. According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of filtering and outputting data representing entries held in a data store, each entry including at least one field holding a value, and including at least one field. The method includes providing for display a results table to display at least some fields of at least some entries held in the data store. The method also includes providing for display a filter input interface, the filter input interface being displayed separately from the results table, to receive data nominating at least one field to filter and to receive at least one value for at least one nominated field of the data store. The method further includes receiving data representing at least one nominated field of the data store and a value for each of said at least one nominated fields. The method further filters the entries in the data store for entries matching each received value in each nominated field. The method provides for display the filtered entries in the results table. A link from at least some of the displayed filtered entries is provided to further data representing further information related to said displayed filtered entries, said further information not being displayed in the results table. According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for filtering and outputting data representing entries held in a data store, each entry including at least one field containing a value, the system including: display means for displaying a results table to display the values of at least some fields of at least some entries contained in the data store, and for displaying a filter input interface movably relative to the results table, to receive data nominating at least one field to filter and to receive at least one value for at least one nominated field of the data store; receiving means for receiving data representing at least one nominated field of the data store and a value for each of said at least one nominated fields; filtering means for filtering the entries in the data store for entries matching each received value in each nominated field, wherein the display means is also for displaying the filtered entries in the results table, the system further including provision means for providing a link from at least some of the displayed filtered entries to further data representing further information related to said displayed filtered entries, said further information not being displayed in the results table. Brief description of the drawings The invention will now be described in greater detail by reference to the attached drawings which show an example form of the invention. It is to be understood that the particularity of the drawings does not supersede the generality of the preceding description of the invention. Figure 1 is a screen capture showing an opening screen for a wholesale sales enquiry "tunnel" according to an embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 is a screen capture showing a data table displayed in response to a selection made on the screen in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a screen capture showing a filter dialog box displayed when the Filter button shown in Figure 2 is selected. Figures 4 to 7 are screen captures showing different options available for selection in the filter dialog box of Figure 3, in order to create a "tunnel". Figure 8 is a screen capture showing a style selection dialog box displayed when the Select Styles button shown in Figure 2 is selected. Figure 9 is a screen capture showing an image which appears when an image icon associated with a particular row in the data table of Figure 2 is selected. Figure 10 is a screen capture which shows a "Command Centre" enquiry window which appears when a particular row in the data table of Figure 2 is selected via a "double click". Figures 11 to 14 are screen captures which show further information which can be obtained through the Command Centre of Figure 10 in respect of a particular row in the data table of Figure 2. Figures 15 and 16 are screen captures illustrating how it is possible to select parameters to appear in a report generated from a "tunnel" which has been created using one or more of the filter options of the preceding Figures. Figures 17 and 18 are screen captures illustrating options for report formats and report delivery when generating a report using data from a "tunnel" which has been created using one or more of the filter options previously illustrated. Figures 19 and 20 illustrate further information which is available through the Command Centre of Figures 10 to 14. Detailed description The present invention provides a method of using a computer to access information from a database. Parts of one particular embodiment of this are illustrated to explain one way in which the invention can be implemented. Figures 1 to 7 illustrate that the inventive method involves entering filter criteria into the computer to create a "tunnel", being a customised subset of information from the database selected according to the entered filter criteria. Figures 2, 9 and 10 to 14 illustrate that the inventive method involves viewing the data in the tunnel as an interactive table on a computer display; and interacting with the data in the tunnel to display further information relating to individual entries in the interactive table. As shown in Figures 3 to7, the filter criteria are entered by means of a filter table which is separate from the interactive table. The Figures illustrate only one type of "tunnel" which is used for viewing and processing data in a wholesale clothing business. The particular tunnel illustrated is a "Wholesale Tunnel". Other tunnels used in the same business might include a "Sales Tunnel", a "Weekly Sales Retail Tunnel", and a "Purchase Tunnel". For other types of businesses, suitable tunnel types might include an "Accounts Payable Tunnel", an "Accounts Receivable Tunnel", a "Client Details Tunnel", and so forth. Each "tunnel" is therefore an interactive data environment, the parameters of which are selected by means of filters. The interactive environment can be infinitely customised by adjusting the filters to provide any required data set, which can then be used to generate non-interactive reports if required. The inventive method obviates the need for a large number of different reports to be written, because the data set required for the report can be created in an interactive manner, rather than through a predefined non- interactive report. Referring now to Figure 1 , there is shown the first level of filtering used to determine the parameters of the Wholesale Tunnel in the illustrated application. In this particular case, a drop-down box provides for a selection of locations of warehouses in respect of which subsequent enquiries are to be made. This optional preliminary filtering step is useful if there are large numbers of items in the database, so that the initial table listing of items is not too large. It will be appreciated that a preliminary filtering step of this type may occur with respect to any relevant field in the database and may occur with respect to two or more fields, rather than just one. Figure 2 shows a data table displayed in response to a Location selection of "Melbourne" made on the screen in the preliminary filtering step of Figure 1. The Wholesale Tunnel as illustrated consists of all garment styles which are stored in the Melbourne warehouse. Each style item is listed in a row on the data table, and parameter values associated with individual style items are listed in the columns. The first column as shown is the style reference number, the third column shows the quantity of garments for that style which are on order, and other columns list stock arrival date, quantity received, anticipated number of weeks left until exhaustion of stocks, current stock on hand, number of stock sold . in first week of sales, number of stock sold in second week, number of stock sold in third week, total quantity sold, average cost, average selling price, last price sold at, and various other details. The data table is interactive in that the order of items displayed can be sorted by moving the cursor over one of the column headings and clicking, and further information can be obtained for each item by selecting the item in a suitable manner, as will be described later with reference to Figures 9 to 14. The sorting feature can be used, for example, to identify the garment styles for which the highest total number have been sold, simply by clicking on the "Total Quantity Sold" column heading, which causes the items to be sorted according to ascending or descending "Total Quantity Sold" values. Similarly, sorting of the "Weeks Left" column can be used to identify slow-selling items, and other columns can be used to identify such things as the highest and lowest profit items. The amount of data displayed when only one filter is applied may be too large to be useful, so further filtering may be applied by clicking on the Filter button near the top right of the window shown in Figure 2, giving the Filter popup dialog box shown in Figure 3. This Filter dialog box shows a number of different options which can be used for filtering to optimise the extent of data viewable in the Tunnel. As shown in Figure 4, a particular supplier can be entered or selected from a drop-down box to limit the styles displayed to those supplied by that supplier. As shown in Figure 5, a particular category of items can be entered or selected from a drop-down box to limit the styles displayed to styles for that category of items. Similarly, selections can be made for Season and Fabric type. Check boxes appearing in the Filter dialog box enable the styles displayed to be limited to styles with at least some sales, or styles with zero sales to date, or styles which had no sales after a specified number of days from the date of introduction, or styles which have been sold below a particular preset price level. The Filter dialog box also allows the displayed styles to be limited to stocks received between particular selected dates, or styles with a wholesale price greater than or less than or equal to a specified amount. As shown in Figure 6, the styles appearing in the Tunnel can be limited to those supplied to a particular retailer ("Debtor") or, as shown in Figure 7, a particular Buyer. When one of these options is selected, the radio buttons appearing in the Filter dialog box below the Debtor and Buyer drop-down boxes can be used to select either styles which have not been sold to the particular retailer or styles which have been sold to the retailer. A listing of styles which have not yet been sold to a particular retailer can be useful in deciding what to offer that retailer. Finally, the "Show styles not sent to locations" check box enables quick identification of new styles which might in future be offered to particular locations. It will be appreciated that the concept and manner of operation of the filter dialog box can be applied to almost any type of database, although the individual categories and items appearing in the Filter dialog box will depend on the nature of the information in the database and the types of information which are required to be extracted. Figure 8 shows a further type of dialog box which can be activated by clicking on the Select Styles button as it appears near the top left of the window shown in Figure 2. The Style Selection filter dialog box illustrated in Figure 8 displays small images of individual styles together with corresponding reference codes and descriptions. A Style drop-down box allows for a particular style to be selected, such that the items displayed are limited to that style. The Style Selection filter dialog box provides an alternative or supplementary filtering mechanism which can be used in conjunction with the regular Filter dialog box of Figure 3 to optimise the displayed data set for any given requirement. Figure 9 illustrates an interactive feature of the data table shown in

Figure 2. Clicking on the icon to the left of the Style reference number in a row in the table results in an image of the particular style appearing on the screen.

Double clicking on a row results in a "Command Centre" window appearing, in this case entitled "Style Enquiry Screen", as illustrated in Figure 10. As can be seen from Figure 10, the Command Centre window provides access to a complete range of information concerning the selected item or style, with access to different parts of that information being available through the buttons appearing across the bottom of the Command Centre window or the corresponding function keys. It will be appreciated that the same functionality could be provided by tab pages or any other suitable interface features. The initial Command Centre window, as shown in Figure 10, includes an image of the item or style which has been selected, together with summarised classification, price and order information. Selecting, by way of example, the Orders button in the window of Figure 10 results in the display of the window shown in Figure 11. A location can then be selected from the drop-down box as illustrated in Figure 12 to give orders information for that location. Further information on individual purchase orders can be obtained by selecting the Purchase Orders button at the bottom of the window displayed in Figure 11 , resulting in the display of the purchase order viewer shown in Figure 13, which shows individual purchase orders relating to the particular style. Selecting, by way of a different example, the Packing Details button from the bottom of the Command Centre window as shown in Figure 10 results in the display of the window shown in Figure 14. It will be appreciated that the data displayed in the columns of the data table illustrated in Figure 2 represents a subset of the information which is accessible on each item or style through the Command Centre. The subset of information selected for the data table is designed to maximise the advantage which can be gained from viewing comparative data for different items or styles in a table format and also to take advantage of the sorting capability of individual columns in the table. It will be appreciated that in other applications of the invention the particular arrangement and distribution of information in the Command Centre should be varied in each case to optimise retrieval of data in accordance with the requirements of the database operator. In many cases, the use of the various filters to define the extent of data viewable within the Tunnel will be sufficient to answer any enquiry which the database operator might have. However, in some circumstances the operator will want to print out a report or extract data in a particular file format, or transmit data to another party such as a customer or supplier. Figures 15 to 18 illustrate how this process can occur. Firstly, in Figure 15 the operator requests the Column Selection dialog box which appears in Figure 16. The operator then checks or unchecks the check boxes associated with individual fields to determine the fields which are going to appear in the report or data extract. The report can then be printed or exported. If the exporting option is selected, a further Export dialog box then appears as illustrated in Figure 17, and the operator selects a file format in the first drop-down box appearing in the Export dialog and a destination from the second drop-down box. The file formats in the present example range from non-editable formats such as PDF to fully manipulable formats such as CSV, which can be imported into a spreadsheet or another database. The Destination drop-down box offers such options as saving the report to a disk file or emailing the report to another person such as a supplier or customer. Figures 19 and 20 show further options which can be accessed through the Command Centre. In the case illustrated, the selected style is a different one from that shown in Figures 10 to 14. Selecting the Sale Summary button on the Command Centre window as shown in Figure 10 results in the display of the window shown in Figure 19. Selecting the Show Callout List from the window in Figure 19 results in the display of the window in Figure 20.

It is to be understood that various alterations, additions and/or modifications may be made to the parts previously described without departing from the spirit and ambit of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of using a computer to access information from a database, including the following steps: (a) entering filter criteria into the computer to create a "tunnel", being a customised subset of information from the database selected according to the entered filter criteria;

(b) viewing the data in the tunnel as an interactive table on a computer display; and (c) interacting with the data in the tunnel to alter the order of display of items in the interactive table and to display further information relating to individual entries in the interactive table; wherein the filter criteria are entered by means of a filter table which is separate from the interactive table.

2. A method of using a computer according to claim 1 wherein multiple filters are used to refine the data in the tunnel.

3. A method of using a computer according to claim 1 or claim 2 including the further step of generating a report based on the data in the tunnel.

4. Computer data storage media programmed with instructions for a computer connected to a database to perform the following steps:

(c) allowing a user to interact with the data in the tunnel to alter the order of display of items in the interactive table and to display further information relating to individual entries in the interactive table; wherein the filter criteria are entered by means of a filter table which is separate from the interactive table.

5. A method of filtering and outputting data representing entries held in a data store, each entry including a plurality of fields containing values, the method including: displaying a results table which includes the values of some or all of the fields of at least some entries contained in the data store; displaying a filter input interface, the filter input interface being displayed separately from the results table, to receive data nominating at least one field to filter and to receive at least one value for at least one nominated field of the data store; receiving data representing at least one nominated field of the data store and a value for each of said at least one nominated fields; filtering the entries in the data store for entries matching each received value in each nominated field; displaying the filtered entries in the results table; and providing a link from at least some of the displayed filtered entries to further data representing further information related to said displayed filtered entries, the further information not being displayed in the results table.

6. A method according to claim 5, further including providing at least one further filter input interface, each further filter input interface being displayed separately from the results table, each to receive data nominating at least one field to filter and to receive at least one value for at least one nominated field of the data store, filtering the entries in the data store for entries matching each received value in each nominated field for each further filter input interface, providing a separate results table corresponding to each further filter input interface, and providing for display the filtered entries in the corresponding results tables.

7. A method according to claim 6, further including providing a link from at least some of the displayed filtered entries to further data representing further information related to said displayed filtered entries, said further information not being displayed in the results table.

8. A method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, further including receiving instructions to select a filtered entry and providing for output the further information related to that entry.

9. A method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the data store holds data representing stock items sold by a company, and parameters thereof.

10. A system for filtering and outputting data representing entries held in a data store, each entry including at least one field containing a value, the system including: display means for displaying a results table to display the values of at least some fields of at least some entries contained in the data store, and for displaying a filter input interface movably relative to the results table, to receive data nominating at least one field to filter and to receive at least one value for at least one nominated field of the data store; receiving means for receiving data representing at least one nominated field of the data store and a value for each of said at least one nominated fields; filtering means for filtering the entries in the data store for entries matching each received value in each nominated field, wherein the display means is also for displaying the filtered entries in the results table, the system further including provision means for providing a link from at least some of the displayed filtered entries to further data representing further information related to said displayed filtered entries, said further information not being displayed in the results table.