Microsoft Corporation
Platform for multi-stream sampling and visualization

Abstract:

A stream tool is disclosed that allows a user to seamlessly connect with the different data streams, regardless of the streams' transmission platforms or communication protocols, in order to visually see a representation of the type of data that the data streams are transmitting. A user may specify a particular data stream and provide corresponding connection details. A collection of abstracted software functions enable interaction with the different stream platforms and protocols. Using these abstracted functions, a stream-processing service accesses a requested data stream and samples its data events for either sample timeframe or up to a threshold number of data events. The sampled data events are parsed and visually presented to the user in an easy-to-understand format. The user may then inspect the data stream's data for use in developing robust applications that may integrate and use such data.