Patent ID: 8436858

Claim:
A method for animating transitions among graphs in a dynamic graph series having at least one preceding graph and at least one succeeding graph which are temporally sequentially displayed, wherein the graph has at least one unchanged node, removed node, and added node, wherein the method is implemented on a data processing apparatus and comprises the steps of: selecting an unchanged node which is the nearest to a removed node and merging through animation the removed node with the unchanged node, thereby animating removal of the removed node; and selecting an unchanged node which is the nearest to an added node and splitting through animation the added node from the unchanged node, thereby animating addition of the added node; wherein at least one of the steps is carried out using a computer device; wherein animating removal of the removed node further comprises: (a) searching the preceding graph for the nearest unchanged node connected with the removed node as a key connection point of the removed node; and (b) moving through animation the removed node from its current location to the location of the key connection point of the removed node; wherein the searching associated with the removal further comprises: (a) performing a Breath-First-Search from the removed node in the preceding graph to reach one or more unchanged nodes in the preceding graph which are connected with the removed node over the respective shortest paths; (b) recording the shortest paths as a set of the shortest paths; (c) calculating for each shortest path in the set of the shortest paths a weight of the shortest path by summing weights of respective edges in the shortest path; (d) selecting a shortest path in the set of the shortest paths by the path weights; and (e) determining an unchanged node on the selected shortest path as the key connection point of the removed node; wherein animating addition of the added node further comprises: (a) searching the succeeding graph for the nearest unchanged node connected with the added node as a key connection point of the added node; and (b) moving through animation the added node from the location of the key connection point of the added node to a target location of the added node; and wherein the searching associated with the addition further comprises: (a) performing a Breath-First-Search from the added node in the succeeding graph to reach one or more unchanged nodes in the succeeding graph which are connected with the added node over the respective shortest paths; (b) recording the shortest paths as a set of the shortest paths; (c) calculating for each shortest path in the set of the shortest paths a weight of the shortest path by summing weights of respective edges in the shortest path; (d) selecting a shortest path in the set of the shortest paths by the path weights; and (e) determining an unchanged node on the selected shortest path as the key connection point of the added node.