Patent Publication Number: US-7714862-B1

Title: Dig-Cola: directed graph layout through constrained energy minimization

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates generally to methods for constructing graphs. More specifically, the invention provides a method for drawing directed graphs. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Techniques for drawing digraphs are known. For example,  FIG. 1A  illustrates a graph drawn with one known algorithm by Sugiyama. [See K. Sugiyama, S. Tagawa and M. Toda, “Methods for Visual Understanding of Hierarchical Systems”,  IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics  11 (1981), 109-125]. In the Sugiyama algorithm, the y-coordinates are computed by dividing the y-axis into a finite number of layers and associating each node with exactly one layer. Edges between nodes on the same layer are not allowed and edges spanning multiple layers are split into chains of dummy nodes. Layer assignment is usually computed with the goal of minimizing edge-length (and hence the number of dummy nodes). The layer assignment methods used are generally incapable of handling cyclic-digraphs and so preprocessing is required to make the graph acyclic by reversing a minimal number of edges. Assigning the x-coordinates is normally done in two stages: first ordering nodes within layers to minimize crossings and then exact placement subject to the computed ordering to optimize aesthetic criteria such as minimizing edge bends. Each of the optimization problems outlined above has been shown to be NP-hard so heuristic approaches have been designed that offer reasonable results in most cases. 
   Carmel et al. see e.g., L. Carmel, D. Harel and Y. Koren, “Combining Hierarchy and Energy for Drawing Directed Graphs”, IEEE Trans. Visualization and Computer Graphics 10 (2004), 46-57, is an other known approach to drawing digraphs. In this approach, the nodes are associated with continuous y-coordinates, in a way that can be applied to any kind of digraph, whether cyclic or acyclic, and which requires no graph modification or preprocessing. These y-coordinates are the unique minimizer of the hierarchy energy, which strongly reflects the directional information of the digraph. The x-coordinates are the minimizer of another energy function that disregards all directional information. The main characteristics of this method are its ability to deal with cyclic graphs, the fact that nodes are not partitioned into horizontal layers and the very fast execution. However, although solutions are defined for graphs with cycles, so-called symmetric nodes within cycles are by definition considered to be at the same hierarchy level and are thus assigned the same y-coordinate. The resulting drawings make such cycles difficult to see, see, e.g.,  FIG. 5B . 
   Currently, a need exists for an improved method and system for constructing graphs including digraphs. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   To overcome limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will be apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention is directed to a method and system for drawing directed graphs. 
   A first aspect of the invention provides a method and system for drawing directed graphs including receiving data coordinates associated with nodes for graphing, performing a constrained stress minimization, and outputting results of the constrained stress minimization and displaying the results on a visual medium. 
   A second aspect of the invention provides a method for drawing directed graphs including receiving data associated with nodes for graphing, assigning hierarchical levels to the nodes for graphing, minimizing a stress function constrained by the assigned hierarchical levels, and outputting results of the step of minimizing a stress function constrained by the assigned hierarchical levels and displaying the results in a layout on a visual medium. 
   A third aspect of the invention provides a computer readable medium containing instructions for performing the steps of receiving data associated with nodes for graphing, assigning hierarchical levels to the nodes for graphing, minimizing a stress function constrained by the assigned hierarchical levels, and outputting results of the step of minimizing a stress function constrained by the assigned hierarchical levels and displaying the results in a layout on a visual medium. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein: 
       FIGS. 1A and 1B  illustrate directed graphs constructed with a hierarchical and undirected layout respectively. 
       FIGS. 2A ,  2 B and  2 C illustrate varying degrees of hierarchy associated with digraphs. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system for constructing directed graphs. 
       FIGS. 4A ,  4 B,  4 C, and  4 D illustrate exemplary embodiments of hierarchy shown with bands. 
       FIGS. 5A and 5B  illustrate embodiments of directed graphs constructed by hierarchical and undirected layouts respectively. 
       FIG. 5C  illustrates an embodiment of a directed graph constructed from DIG-COLA. 
       FIG. 6A  illustrates an embodiment of a directed graph constructed by DIG-COLA. 
       FIG. 6B  illustrates an embodiment of a directed graph constructed with a hierarchical layout. 
       FIGS. 7A and 7B  illustrate embodiments of related directed graphs constructed by DIG-COLA with varied characteristics. 
       FIGS. 8A and 8B  illustrate embodiments of related directed graphs constructed by DIG-COLA with varied characteristics. 
       FIGS. 9A and 9B  illustrate experimental results from constructing directed graphs by DIG-COLA. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates experimental results from constructing directed graphs by DIG-COLA. 
       FIGS. 11A ,  11 B, and  11 C illustrate experimental results of exemplary performance testing of DIG-COLA. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates an embodiment of a directed graph constructed by DIG-COLA. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates an embodiment of a directed graph constructed by DIG-COLA. 
       FIGS. 14 ,  15 , and  16  illustrate embodiments of directed graphs constructed with DIG-COLA. 
       FIG. 17  illustrates a diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the DIG-COLA method. 
       FIG. 18  illustrates a diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the DIG-COLA method. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
   A new method for constructing directed graphs is described herein. This new method and associated system for constructing directed graphs may be described for illustrative purposes as directed graph drawing through constrained layout optimization. For clarity and ease of reference, the system and method may be referred to as such throughout. Additionally, the described method and system may also be referred to for ease of reference as “DIG-COLA.” 
   For reference, “graph” is used herein to refer to the abstract relational structure. For example, the method described herein will receive an input in various forms and the method visualizes or draws the graph. The input may vary greatly in characteristic and the described methods and systems may be utilized in numerous industry, business and technology sectors. Similarly, an enormous variety of data may be visualized using the described methods ranging from gene networks, to engineering flow diagrams, to breakfast cereal characteristics and on and on. Additionally, several non-limiting examples of “drawing” as used herein includes displaying on a computer monitor or printing on paper. 
   The new approach introduced is distinguished from those above for example by the fact that it does not separate the computation of the various axes, but computes all axes simultaneously using constrained energy minimization. The method described herein generally define a cost function (or a force model) whose minimization generally produces an acceptable node placement. Any use of a Force Directed Placement (FDP) for drawing directed-graphs in a general sense has up until now specifically included the force model being extended by ‘angle forces’ that encourage all directed edges to point in the same direction. However, this requirement adds additional complexity to the force model and the inferred energy function is complicated, and thus prone to numerical stiffness and rich in local minima. 
   The method and system described herein possess the advantages of both constraint programming techniques and a state-of-the-art force-directed placement (FDP) algorithm so that the directed nature of the graph is highlighted while useful properties of FDP—such as emphasis of symmetries and preservation of proximity relations—are retained. The described method automatically identifies those parts of the digraph that contain hierarchical information and draws them accordingly. Additionally, those parts that do not contain hierarchy are drawn at the same quality expected from a non-hierarchical, undirected layout algorithm. One illustrative application of the described method is directional multidimensional scaling (DMDS). DMDS deals with low-dimensional embedding of multivariate data where we want to emphasize the overall flow in the data (e.g. chronological progress) along one of the axes. 
   Current graph drawing methods convert the relational structure of a graph (or network) to a diagram. Many of the known approaches to graph drawing have been developed for specific types of graphs and different application domains. One type of known graph is referred to as a digraph. Drawing digraphs is a challenging task, requiring methods that faithfully represent the relative connectivity of the nodes as well as giving some sense of the overall directionality of the connections (edges). The latter requirement renders methods designed for undirected graph drawing inappropriate for digraphs. One known digraph-drawing strategy, involves assigning x and y coordinates in separate stages with different objectives. Thus, the y-axis represents the directional information, or hierarchy, and the x-axis placement is adjusted for additional aesthetic considerations such as minimizing edge crossings. 
   The special attributes of digraph layouts are demonstrated in  FIGS. 1A and 1B  with two different layouts of the structure of a small gene expression network.  FIG. 1A  illustrates a digraph  100 A drawn by conventional methods while  FIG. 1B  illustrates a digraph  100 B based upon the same originating data as that used to draw  FIG. 1A , however a force directed layout was used to construct  FIG. 1B . Each node  110  in the network represents a gene and a directed edge  120  indicates that the source gene affects the expression of the target gene (i.e. by binding the product of one gene to the promoter region of another gene). Undirected (or bidirected) edges (i.e. edges for which no preferred directionality should be shown) are shown without an arrow end. Otherwise, edge direction is shown with an arrow. Hierarchical layout places the genes from top to bottom in activation order. The undirected layout could be considered clearer (with fewer edge crossings, more consistent edge length and arguably better representation of cycles, clusters and symmetry) but it gives no indication of the chronological order of interactions. 
   Following the common convention, one of the axes is dedicated to conveying hierarchical information. However, the usual axis separation approach is not pursued in  FIG. 1B . Separate computation of different axes can be appealing as it allows a convenient divide-and-conquer strategy. However, such a separation can make it difficult to control common aesthetic properties in the resulting drawing. Prime examples are uniformity of edge lengths (preventing very long edges) or balancing aspect ratio (equal spread along the x and y-axes). 
   Hence, a method is proposed for constrained layout of digraphs (DIG-COLA) where all axes of the layout are computed simultaneously as in standard undirected approaches. This process is made feasible by combining two optimization techniques: majorization and quadratic programming. As described herein, a new approach to drawing digraphs is described. 
   Preliminary Notions 
   A digraph G=(V,E) comprises a set V={1, . . . , n} of n nodes, and a set E of directed edges where (i,j)εE is an edge from node i to node j. Each edge (i,j) is further associated with a number δ ij  that expresses the relative hierarchy of the nodes. Usually, δ ij =1 for a directed edge i→j, meaning that i precedes j by one unit. Similarly, δ ij =0 for any undirected edge, meaning that there is no hierarchical precedence between i and j. A d-dimensional layout is denoted by an n×d matrix X. Thus, node i is located at X i ε   d  and the axes of the layout are X (1) , . . . , X (d) ε   n . 
   Stress Function: The stress function is a traditional measure of drawing quality, based on the heuristic that a nice drawing relates to good isometry: i.e. it calls for placing the nodes so that the resulting pairwise Euclidean distances will approach the corresponding target distances (e.g. graph-theoretical distances). Specifically, we have an ideal distance d ij  for every pair of nodes i and j exists, modeled as a spring. Given a d-D layout, where node i is placed at point Xi, the energy of the system is 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
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   A layout that minimizes this function is desired, thereby best approximating the target distances. Here, the distance d ij  is typically the graph-theoretical distance between nodes i and j (i.e. the length of the shortest path connecting i and j). The normalization constant w ij  equals d ij   −α . Various values for α may be chosen. For example, α=2, α=0, and α=1 are all potential values that may be used. Additionally, one may set d ij  to the linear-network distance. This may assist in conveying any clustered structure in the graph. For purposes herein, one exemplary embodiment is used herein. Hereafter α=2 is used. 
   Stress majorization: One may also compute a graph layout by minimizing the stress function through majorization, following works in the field of multidimensional scaling. Majorization is a rather global optimization process offering some distinct advantages over localized processes like gradient descent—especially guaranteed monotonic decrease of stress, improved robustness against local minima and shorter running times. Majorization minimizes the stress function by iteratively minimizing quadratic forms that approximate and bound it from above. Recall that w ij  are the normalization constants in the stress function. The n×n matrix L w  is used, defined by 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
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   Hierarchy energy: The hierarchy energy strongly reflects the directional information of the digraph. Let G(V,E) be a digraph, and let y=(y 1 , . . . , y n ) T  be any vector of coordinates. The hierarchy energy is 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
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   An optimal arrangement of a digraph, y*, is defined as a minimizer of the hierarchy energy. It will try to place the nodes such that the height difference y i −y j  for any adjacent pair (i,j) will be close to δ ij , the relative hierarchy (i,j). This optimal arrangement is given by solving the linear equations 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
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   where deg i =|j:(i,j)εE|+|j:(j,i)εE|. 
   The optimal arrangement shows the height of each node in the hierarchy as induced by the digraph structure. 
   Dig-Cola Method 
   The described methods and systems have numerous embodiments.  FIG. 17  illustrates a flowchart showing a general flow of steps in one exemplary embodiment of the described method. Numerous specific embodiments have been considered and are consistent with the method described herein. Describing the method illustrated in  FIG. 17  briefly, a first step includes receiving data  1510  at a certain location typically associated with nodes for potential display in a graph. Next, constrained stress minimization  1520  consistent with the features and substeps described is performed. Next, the results from the constrained stress minimization is output  1530 . Finally, a layout is visualized or displayed  1540 . The digraphs displayed in step  1540  may be displayed on any of known medium for display of graphs and other pictorial items. For example, among the medium considered are monitors, printed paper, projection etc. 
   In conjunction with illustrative  FIG. 17 ,  FIG. 18  illustrates some substeps of the embodiment described in  FIG. 18 . Specifically,  FIG. 18  shows substeps included in one embodiment of the constrained step minimization  1520 . First, hierarchical levels as described later are specifically assigned to each of the nodes. Multiple nodes may be placed in a given hierarchical level. Additionally, in certain embodiments, or portions of embodiments, only one node will be placed in s hierarchical level. Next, quadratic functions are selected  1526  depending on specific characteristics involved. Then, these selected quadratic functions are minimized. Next, in the illustrative embodiment of  FIGS. 17 and 18 , the results would be displayed as shown in the flowchart of  FIG. 17 . The specifics of the described process are elaborated in more detail below. 
   Speaking generally, the described method follows in a tradition of drawing undirected graphs by minimizing a stress or energy function. However, since we want to show the overall directionality of the graph, constraints are imposed on the layout. 
   Hierarchy as constraints: Generally, a digraph can be said to induce a hierarchical structure on its nodes based on the precedence relationships defined by its directed edges. Consequently, an appropriate depiction of a digraph allocates one of the axes to showing this hierarchy. Henceforth, the y-axis will serve for this exemplary purpose. Thus, if node i precedes node j in the hierarchy, then i will be drawn above j on the y-axis. This usually leads to the majority of directed edges pointing downwards, thereby showing a clear flow from top to bottom. Accordingly, since most of the directed edges point downwards, this downwards direction may be referred to as a primary direction of orientation of the edges. The primary direction of orientation typically includes the general direction of orientation of the edge. For example, an edge oriented generally downward but also some amount to the left may be considered to possess a primary direction of orientation of downward. 
   Accordingly, in one exemplary embodiment of the described method, our first step is to compute the hierarchy induced by the digraph. This hierarchy is expressed by partitioning the node set into k disjoint sets: V= ∪ ∪ . . . ∪ , so that if i&lt;j then the nodes in   precede those in   in the hierarchy. Here 1≦k≦n is a value depending on the graph properties. Henceforth, these sets may be referred to as “hierarchical levels” or just “levels”. Consequently, the directional properties of the digraph are expressed by imposing hierarchy constraints: for all 1≦i≦j≦k place all nodes of   than those of   in the y-axis. 
   Note that the hierarchical levels strongly depend on the digraph structure. For example,  FIG. 2  illustrates digraphs  200 A,  200 B, and  200 C, each possessing varying degrees of hierarchy. In  FIG. 2A , one would like to say that node  1  precedes node  2 , which precedes node  3  and so on. Hence, a reasonable partition would be into 5 levels where  ={1},  ={2},  ={3},  ={4},  ={5}. If we add only a single edge, from node  5  to node  1  we get the graph in  FIG. 2B . For this graph, all nodes are symmetric, and none precedes any other in the hierarchy. Hence, unless we have some external information, it would be safe to assume that no hierarchy exists here and we must assign all nodes to a single level  ={1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. A third case with one additional node is shown in  FIG. 2C . In this case, an agreeable partitioning is  ={6} and  ={1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. 
   How do we get such a partitioning? Sometimes external information regarding the hierarchical order of the nodes is available or received. For example, if the nodes are associated with chronological data, we can partition them by years. If we know that one special node is the “root”, then distance from it might dictate the hierarchical levels. Another possibility is to use the layering phase of Sugiyama-based methods, for partitioning the nodes into different levels. 
   A default choice is to base the partition on the optimal arrangement y*, which was previously defined. This allows us to deal with all digraphs, including those that are cyclic or those that also include undirected edges. An advantageous property of the optimal arrangement is that it will not introduce hierarchy that is not induced by the graph structure. This is very important, as we don&#39;t want to impose any unjustified constraint on the layout. For example, for the digraph in  FIG. 2B , all nodes will be assigned the same position in y* meaning that there are no hierarchical constraints; whereas for the digraph in  FIG. 2C  all nodes except node  6  will be assigned the same y* position, yielding a constraint stating that node  6  should be placed above all other nodes. In principle, we could sort nodes by their positions in y* and place each node in a separate level. However, this might produce an excessive number of levels and therefore excessive constraints. Hence, we compute the hierarchical levels by clustering nodes according to the same level of hierarchy. This is a one-dimensional clustering problem that we solve using the Single Link approach. We sort y* and split it where we observe significant gaps, i.e. if y*, is significantly larger than y* i+1 , then nodes i and j are assigned to different levels. Detailed pseudocode for this algorithm is given below.
         Function PartitionToLevels {G(V={1, . . . , n}, E)}   % Partition the nodes into levels reflecting hierarchy
           % Constants controlling number of levels:   α←0.1, β←=0.01% lower values encourage more levels   Compute the optimal arrangement y*ε   n      % Sort according to y*:   Compute a permutation 1≦v 1 , . . . , v n ≦n, so that y* v     i   ≧y* v     i   ≧y* v     i+1       
               

   
     
       
         
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     FIG. 3  is a diagram of an illustrative computer network system  300  for implementing the DIG-COLA method. The components depicted here are merely illustrative and a vast number of computers, software, network and related modules may be form a system implementing DIG-COLA. For example,  310 A and  310 B illustrate desktop and laptop computers. Numerous similar terminals may be utilized. In these illustrative embodiment computers  310 A and  310 B are communicably connected to a server  350  via a router  355 . Desktop computer  310 A is connected via Ethernet or hard wire and laptop computer is connected to the server via a wireless access point  357 . Additionally, a wide array of devices, hardware, and processors may be utilized in the system. Computer  310 A is connected and interfaces with a sensor system  312  that obtains data, meanwhile printer  311  is configured to print out for display information and data located on computer  310 A. Additionally, PDAs and cellular phone type devices  310 C are among devices potentially used with the described system. While one embodiment of a system for DIG-COLA is illustratively described, a wide variety of devices, processors and computing machines and network may be utilized. 
   Iterative quadratic programming It is desired to find a layout minimizing the stress function subject to the hierarchy constraints. One option considered was the addition of general linear constraints to FDP based on the localized Kamada-Kawai approach. However, constraint can be better integrated into the more global majorization optimization process described. This smooth integration is made possible by using quadratic programming. Recall that stress majorization involves minimizing a series of quadratic forms in a way that guarantees a monotonic decrease of stress. To address the directional information, we must also consider the hierarchy constraints, which are certainly linear. Hence, in each iteration a quadratic function is minimized subject to linear constraints. It can be shown that the minimized quadratic functions are positive definite (further described below). Such a constrained optimization is commonly called convex quadratic programming. It is well known that the global minimizer of a convex quadratic program can be computed efficiently. To summarize, when integrating stress majorization with level constraints, for each iteration a convex quadratic program is solved, instead of minimizing a quadratic function. While solving convex quadratic programs is more involved than just minimizing quadratic functions, optimal solutions can efficiently be obtained using a variety of available solvers. Notably, the majorization process, which must obey all constraints, still monotonically decreases the stress function and hence is convergent. In more detail, suppose a given initial layout X(0)ε   n×d . Then in the t-th iteration compute layout X(t) as the solution of the quadratic program: 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
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   Note that the target function is the same as in the usual majorization process defined in (4). The sets  , . . . ,   are the hierarchical levels that were defined in the previous subsection. The column X (1) ε   n , is the axis that represents the hierarchical information (the y-coordinates in our examples). Further, k−1 auxiliary variables l 1 , l 2 , . . . l k−1  are used for expressing the constraints succinctly: l i  must be below the nodes in   but above the nodes of    +1 . The matrices L w  and L X(t-1)  were defined in (2) and (3), respectively. Note that L w  and the constraints are fixed during the entire process. The constant G is the minimum gap between consecutive hierarchical levels. In the described exemplary embodiment the default value is G=0.1. One terminates the process when the stress level stabilizes, i.e. when Δstress&lt;ε, as defined in Eq. (8). A typical value for ε is 0.01. 
   Visual conventions A layout produced by our algorithm can be partitioned into horizontal bands, each band  470  (as seen in several Figures including  FIGS. 4B and 4D ) containing all nodes belonging to a single hierarchy level. The described bands decompose the X (1) -axis (usually the y-axis) into the intervals [−∞, l 1 ], [l 1 , l 2 ], [l 2 , l 3 ], . . . , [l k−1 , ∞]. The sizes of the bands are non-uniform and depend on the computed layout, which reflects the graph structure. The reason these bands are of interest is that all nodes in the same band are considered to have the same level in the hierarchy. Thus, some layouts are comprised of many narrow bands and hence contain much hierarchy, whereas some other graphs do not contain much hierarchy so their layouts are composed of a very few bands. In satisfying the quadratic program, the method will usually create broader bands for levels containing larger portions of the graph. In order to show this information, we let the user see the underlying bands in the form of a narrow vertical bar  455  (see e.g.  FIG. 6A ) that is placed to the left of the graph drawing. This bar contains a sequence of colored blocks  450  corresponding to the bands. In an illustrative embodiment, the colors gradually change from red to green from top to bottom. To allow users to easily differentiate between consecutive bands, an alternative between saturated and unsaturated colors may be utilized. Unsaturated colors typically include a color not diluted with white, a pure unmixed color. Thus, node color can be used to display other attributes, as demonstrated in  FIG. 13 . Various of these described features of the described graphs are apparent in numerous of the Figures and the features serve a number of functions including facility use, understanding and visualization by a reader/viewer. 
   An example showing bands for a few small graphs is given in  FIG. 4 . In  FIG. 4A  a digraph  400 A with a directed circle is shown. Such a digraph contains no hierarchy and hence all layout is within a single band. In fact, when drawing such a graph, DIG-COLA generates no constraints and so it becomes equivalent to undirected stress minimization algorithms. In  FIG. 4B  a digraph  400 B with a directed tree is shown. Each level of the tree is placed within a separate band yielding six bands. Another “tree” with the root replaced by a directed cycle is shown in digraph  400 C in  FIG. 4C . The cycle is contained within the top band, while the remaining nodes are partitioned into bands according to their distance from the root cycle. The last example  FIG. 4D  illustrates a digraph  400 D including a directed cycle with an extra node pointing to it. Naturally, the whole cycle is contained within one band, while the extra node is shown in a separate, higher band. In conclusion, explicit drawing of bands may provide useful information regarding the hierarchical relations between nodes and the amount of hierarchy contained in the graph. 
   The ability of our method to show hierarchy only where it exists, and to produce quality drawings also for non-hierarchical portions of the graph is emphasized in the figures contained herein. For example, this trait is nicely demonstrated in  FIG. 5 , where three drawings of a digraph containing a directed cycle are shown. The Sugiyama-style layout ( FIG. 5A ) partitions the digraph into four hierarchical levels with the nodes involved in the cycle spread across all levels. However, based on the connectivity, there is no reason to put any one of the cycle nodes above any other. Therefore, the result of Carmel et al., ( FIG. 5B ), which assigns y-coordinates directly from hierarchy energy, gives all nodes in the cycle the same y-coordinate. While this is true from the hierarchical standpoint, it is clearly undesirable in terms of readability. Hence, DIG-COLA ( FIG. 5C ) also places the cycle in a single top band, but adjusts this band so the cycle becomes clear. 
   Another visual issue concerns indicating the direction of an edge. The usual convention is by drawing an arrowhead at the end of the drawing contains dense regions the arrowheads become very obscure. Moreover, these arrowheads may occupy precious real estate in the drawing area, thus impairing readability. Luckily, by the nature of the drawing algorithm the vast majority of edges follow a single trend, namely, pointing downwards. Hence, these edges can be drawn without arrowheads, only using arrowheads for those edges that point upwards. An even clearer solution is to use edge coloring when colors are available. Therefore, all edges pointing downwards are colored gray/black, whereas those pointing upward are colored red. If the graph also contains undirected edges, which are permitted by our method, they may be colored blue. For example, consider the graph DG — 3692 from a AT&amp;T digraph collection. The layout of the digraph (|V|=559, |E|=1035) is quite dense; see digraph  600 A in  FIG. 6A . Removing arrowheads for all but the five edges that point upwards (and labeled as and may be colored a specific color for case of appearance) improves readability while presenting the same information. In addition, since by definition the optimization task seeks to preserve edge lengths, it can be assumed with reasonable confidence that the neighbors of any particular node are within a relatively small radius of that node. Hence, in larger graphs, drawing edges is probably less useful than simply drawing the nodes and allowing viewers to assume that proximity implies connectedness. Sugiyama-based methods cannot make this guarantee, as shown in digraph  600 B in  FIG. 6B . The importance of proximity between connected nodes is discussed later. 
   Quadratic programming solvers: Many quadratic solvers are available employing a number of different optimization methods. All of them can serve for solving problem (10). One skilled in the art will be aware of such methods. An illustrative list includes, MOSEK, CPLEX, OOQP, BQPD and COPL QP. Experiments were carried out to further demonstrate the methods and systems described using the MOSEK package. 
   An important characteristic of our special case is that a series of closely related quadratic programs is solved. All programs share exactly the same constraints, while the target function changes slightly between iterations. Hence, computation may be accelerated by initializing each iteration with the solution obtained at the previous iteration. In this way the solver is initialized with a feasible solution (satisfying all constraints) that is close to the optimal solution. 
   However, it appears that such initialization, called “warm-start” is not trivial for the barrier (or interior-point) methods used by most commercial solvers. One family of methods that facilitate warm start is the so-called “active-set” approach. Also, it should be possible to further improve the performance of an active-set method based on insight into the specific type of constraints used (for example, in our case each constraint involves only two variables). Known algorithms may seem very fast indeed, although they may only deal with single-variable constraints. 
   The fact that the matrix L w  is positive semi-definite is because of the convexity of the quadratic program. This means that every x□   n  satisfies x T  L w x≧0. This inequality can be validated by using the fact that for all i≠j, w ij &gt;0 and noting that x T L w x=Σ i&lt;j  w ij (x i −x j ) 2 ≧0. Consequently, the quadratic form has only global minima. However, many solvers prefer dealing with strict positive definite matrices, ensuring the uniqueness of the global minimum. L w  can be easily transformed into a positive definite matrix without affecting the majorization process. Observe that problem (10) has a translation degree of freedom, which is the source multiple minima. Hence, node  1  may be fixed at the origin without loss of generality, i.e. set X 1 =(0, 0, . . . , 0). In the constraints all occurrences of X 1  should be replaced with zeros. Moreover, we can safely remove the first row and column of L w  without affecting the value of the function. It can be shown that the resulting matrix is positive definite, and now we always have a unique global minimum, thus eliminating all degrees of freedom. 
   Reducing the quadratic program: Note that the constraints involve only the y-axis, X (1)  and that the target function is a sum of terms, each of which includes only a single axis. Thus, problem (10) may be safely decomposed into two problems, one constrained and one unconstrained. The first problem yields X(t+1) (1)   
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     
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   Solving problems (11), (12) will reproduce the solution of the original problem (10). However, solving two separate problems is much more efficient. The constrained problem (11) involves much fewer variables than the original (10) and hence is faster to solve. Regarding the unconstrained problem (12), its solution takes a relatively negligible time and is given by solving the equation systems L w X (a) =L Z Z (a) , a=2, . . . , d. 
   When negative is a plus: Interestingly, one can set a negative value for G (the minimum gap between levels). This permits slightly breaking the constraints by a quantity limited by |G|. Put differently, a negative G allows a limited “local” deviation of nodes from their designated bands. To make sure that these deviations are local and cannot change the global nature of the layout, we add the constraint: l 1 ≦l 2 ≦ . . . ≦l k−1 . It has been observed that allowing small deviation sometimes gives us the necessary freedom for overcoming local inefficiencies in the layout, without affecting visualization of the overall directionality. This is a unique feature of our method that becomes possible by the clear separation between constraints and cost function. Here, two examples where negative gap was advantageous we described. The graphs  700 A and  700 B, Nos  4 , in  FIGS. 7A and 7B  respectively, is based on a finite element approximation to a beam structure. Here, setting G=−1 improves layout quality while still being very similar to the layout that was achieved with G=0. The second set of graphs  800 A and  800 B, Plat 362 , in  FIGS. 8A and 8B , is based on a finite-difference model for the shallow wave equations for the Atlantic ocean. Here, G=−2 was found to provide better quality, while overall hierarchy depiction is not significantly affected. 
   Demonstrative Illustrative Experiments: Previously it was described that the DIG-COLA method is more suitable for larger digraphs than the known Sugiyama-style layout. Sugiyama style layout includes an edge crossing minimization heuristic not found in DIG-COLA. This may indicate that there is some trade off between edge crossing reduction and consistent edge length. To see how these methods perform in practice and for explanation and clarity of the methods/systems described herein, an experimental study has been completed on a large collection of graphs from various application domains, comparing the performance of both the DIG-COLA and Sugiyama methods. Below the results of this study are presented. The three datasets used in the following quantitative analysis were compiled from different repositories with the aim of capturing a variety of graph types and application domains. The first class of graphs is a set of 258 gene-activation networks. The graphs are of varying sizes (up to |V|=95, |E|=110), generally quite sparse (|E|≦2|N|) and frequently contain directed cycles. The second set comes from specific AT&amp;T Graphs. This latter repository contains over 5000 directed graphs. Of these, we extracted the largest connected component from each graph and filtered out very large and very small graphs (leaving 2464 graphs of 10≦|V|≦200). Using random selection, this number is further reduced to a more manageable sample of 100 graphs. A third set of 34 graphs is obtained with 200≦|V|≦1919 from the larger graphs of the AT&amp;T collection and known sources. Our test systems were our own implementation of the DIG-COLA algorithm and the freely available program DOT: an implementation of a Sugiyama-style layout distributed as part of GRAPHVIZ These programs were run against each of the graphs in our test data sets and running time, edge lengths and count of crossings were recorded. DIG-COLA was run with G=0.1 and G =−1. edge lengths l for each graph layout. That is, l=L/ − L where L is raw edge lengths for each layout and  − L is the average value of L. Thus, for each graph layout  − l/=1. The results concerning l are summarized graphically in graphs  900 A and  900 B in  FIGS. 9A and 9B . With both layout styles the average sample standard deviation  σ  was smaller for the sparser gene activation networks than the AT&amp;T graphs, however for all data sets the DOT layout  σ  was at least double that of the DIG-COLA layouts, as shown in  FIG. 9(   a ). From the box plots  900 B in  FIG. 9B , it may be observed that, while the edge-length distribution is narrow and even for DIG-COLA layouts, DOT layouts give a large difference between the upper quartile and maximum edge lengths. That is, DOT layouts tend to have a small number of very long edges. Note that, as per speculation described elsewhere in, setting a negative value for G gave a further decrease in edge-length variance at the expense of more upward pointing edges. Note also, that edge lengths reported for DOT output are a conservative estimate based on Euclidean distance between start and end node positions (i.e. bends are not considered). Regarding edge crossings, the expected trade-off described above was observed for the smaller graphs. That is, DIG-COLA tended to produce more crossings, particularly in the denser AT&amp;T Graphs (see graph  1000 B in  FIG. 10B) . Again, however, it may be argued that in dense graphs, drawing the edges is less important than maintaining relative proximity of nodes. Note that in the sparser gene networks Dig-CoLa with G=0.1 gave an increase in crossings over DOT, while setting G=−1 gave fewer crossings than DOT (see graph  1000 A in  FIG. 10A ). For the set of the larger graphs DOT also gave more crossings than DIGCOLA. 
   Finally, a note on running time of DIG-COLA. All tests were run on a 2 GHz PENTIUM M machine. The results are shown in the graphs  1100 A,  1100 B, and  1100 C in  FIGS. 11A-C . Time per iteration ( FIG. 11A ) clearly increases polynomially with number of vertices and must be at least O(n 2 ) per iteration since we are dealing with the dense n×n matrix L w . However, the number of iterations required to satisfy Δstress&lt;ε=0.01 ( FIG. 11B ) is more difficult to predict. In the described tests, graphs with |V|&lt;100 were arranged in under a second; those with |V|&lt;600 took less than 10 seconds and a matrix market graph (plat1919) with |V|=1919 took 7 minutes. On average 98% of the running time is spent inside the Mosek quadratic program solver. It is expected that an active-set method, modified as discussed previously, would decrease running times for the larger graphs enough to allow for use in interactive applications. 
   Variable Edge Length, Other Partitionings and directional MDS: The capability for conservation of default edge length that has been demonstrated herein, can be very useful in applications where relative edge weights need to be studied. For example, Bayesian networks are directed acyclic graphs where nodes represent variables and edges represent causality relationships between pairs of variables. The edges can be weighted to indicate the strength of these relationships. Typically Bayesian networks are visualized using Sugiyama style layout. In graph  1200  in  FIG. 12 , for example, a small example of a Bayesian network drawn with DIG-COLA such that edge lengths correspond to the inverse of these weights is provided. That is, the shorter the edge between a pair of nodes, the stronger the causality relationship between the corresponding variables. Based on the results of a quantitative analysis it can be observed that such a close correlation between edge weight and length would be very difficult to achieve with a Sugiyama layout. 
   Generating hierarchy constraints based on the hierarchical structure of a digraph has been discussed, but the constraints could just as easily be based on another, domain specific, parameter. For example, graph  1300  in  FIG. 13  shows an evolving graph with hierarchy bands corresponding to different time periods. In this case the graph is the citation network featured in the Infovis 2004 Competition. Nodes represent papers and they are constrained in the y-dimension to lie in bands corresponding to year of publication. Other methods for visualizing such evolving graphs (e.g.  FIG. 1A ) require fixing nodes in one dimension, which leaves less freedom to satisfy desired edge lengths. 
   The fact that the general stress majorization method described herein has its roots in the field of multidimensional scaling (MDS) leading us to believe that some MDS applications could a Iso utilize the type of hierarchy constraints used in DIG-COLA. In general graph visualization and MDS are closely related. MDS may be thought of as the visualization of the weighted, complete graph defined by the dissimilarity matrix of a set of high-dimensional data. The DIG-COLA method can be applied to such a complete graph to perform MDS and we can map an additional data dimension to hierarchy constraints. This can be called Directional MDS, or DMDS. For example, given high-dimensional time-series data we can produce an MDS plot separating the points corresponding to various time periods into different bands (as we did for the evolving graph). 
   A practical example of DMDS is shown in graph  1400  in  FIG. 14 . Here, a multivariate data set of nutritional information for popular breakfast cereals has been used to construct a dissimilarity matrix. Eight variables (fibre, starch, sodium etc.) were used. Hence, a traditional MDS algorithm would produce a 2D map of the cereals so that their relative positions correspond to their nutritional similarity. Using DMDS a 9th variable of the dataset, a dietitian&#39;s “health rating” of each cereal may be clearly shown. By partitioning the cereals based on this health rating we introduce hierarchy to the layout such that the healthiest cereals appear at the top and the least healthy are constrained to the bottom. The result achieves two goals. Not only do we show similarities between the cereals based on their nutritional value, but we also allow easy recognition of the relative health rating of the cereals. Note that high-fibre cereals are generally to the top left of the figure and a cluster of starchier rice- and wheat-based cereals is visible on the upper right. 
   Further capabilities are also available depending on specific desired characteristics. For example, someone would like to visualize the top 50 resulted items received when searching on the well known search engine www.google.com using the search term “multidimensional information visualization.” Graphs  1500  and  1600 , appearing in  FIGS. 15 and 16  respectively, illustrate the displaying of the resultants of the described “googling.” The main distinction is a modification of the constraints or parameters applied. Graph  1600  is constrained such that each of the bands  470  is the same height. Graph  1500  was not constrained in such a manner. These two graphs  1500  and  1600  illustrate a manner in which characteristic constraints available using the described methods and systems. 
   Force-directed placement (FDP) is considered most popular approach to drawing undirected graphs. However, FDP is not typically employed for drawing digraphs. An important contribution of this work is in reducing this distinction between undirected and directed graph drawing methods. For the first time, it is shown herein that the same stress function can also serve for hierarchical drawing of a digraph. Moreover, the same majorization optimization method can still be used, without affecting its convergence properties. As a consequence, the virtues of FDP that made it very popular for drawing undirected graphs, may now be in a well-behaved force-directed method for drawing directed graphs via DIG-COLA. These virtues include an ability to preserve proximity relations (as reflected by conservation of default edge length), clear decomposition to clusters when they naturally exist (especially when using linear-network distance, reliable display of graph symmetries and a natural capability to handle multidimensional layouts. 
   As described and shown by illustration in  FIG. 3 , one or more aspects of the invention may be embodied in computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium such as a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid state memory, RAM, etc. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. In addition, the functionality may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like. 
   While the invention has been described with respect to specific examples including presently preferred modes of carrying out the invention, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are numerous variations and permutations of the above described systems and techniques. Thus, the spirit and scope of the invention should be construed broadly as set forth in the appended claims.