Data processing: structural design – modeling – simulation – and em – Simulating electronic device or electrical system – Software program
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-25
2001-04-24
Teska, Kevin J. (Department: 2123)
Data processing: structural design, modeling, simulation, and em
Simulating electronic device or electrical system
Software program
C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223145
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an interactive interface. More particularly, the present invention relates to an interactive interface for specifying search queries.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Organizing Retrieval Results
Increasingly, the public accesses text collections and their information electronically, identifying desired documents by submitting a search query. The standard approach for displaying search results for electronic text collections is to present, in ranked order, a list of document titles. Often shown alongside each title is a numerical score signifying the degree of match between the document and the query, or the estimated relevance of the document to the query. On-line bibliographic systems show meta-data about the documents, such as author and publisher, alongside the title. Search engines associated with the World Wide Web commonly show short summaries or excerpts from the retrieved documents, typically extracted from the first few lines. Some systems show lines extracted from the document that match terms in the query. Document titles can also be annotated with graphics that show the correspondence between the retrieved documents and the query.
Use of category taxonomies to impose organization upon retrieval results has received little attention, even though some are associated with valuable document collections. For example, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has developed a hierarchy of approximately 1200 category labels and authors are required to assign multiple categories from this taxonomy to their journal articles. Indexers for major medical journals use the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) taxonomy of over 18,000 main subject headings to annotate articles. Category taxonomies like these are arranged in a hierarchy meant to reflect the set of concepts that define the field. For this reason, those who know the relevant domain easily understand the associated categories. Categories are restricted to a fixed set and so help reduce the space of concepts by which documents can be characterized. Categories can summarize a document's contents and by virtue of being assigned to a document, or not, distinguish those concepts that are discussed at length versus those just touched in passing.
Little use has been made of category labels in conjunction with the presentation and organization of retrieved documents other than to simply list the associated categories. Simply listing categories associated with documents is inadequate in a number of situations. One such is when many documents are assigned to a particular category so that the category does not differentiate between the retrieved documents. Another such is when many categories are associated with a set of retrieved documents so that higher level commonalties among the categories are not represented. Thus, the available categories do not capture the main themes of the retrieved documents. Finally, the categories available may not be adequate because they do not characterize the information in a way that interests the user.
Yahoo's search engine for the World Wide Web provides category labels which users may use to issue search queries. These category labels are presented as an alphabetical list, with no indication of the relationship of the categories to one another, forcing users to read through them one by one. This poor presentation of the hierarchy frustrates a user when the predefined categories do not meet the user's needs. The user is forced to either navigate through irrelevant portions of the hierarchy or abandon use to the hierarchy altogether, issuing instead a search on the topic of interest.
The problems just discussed are exacerbated when documents are best characterized by multiple category labels. For example, a document whose title is “Immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy” is not about either breast reconstruction or mastectomy alone, but about the conjunction of these topics. Each of the constitutive topics could occur without the other. There are many different ways that topics like these can combine that, for a large category set, navigating a structure containing all potential combinations is untenable.
Thus, an unfulfilled need exists for a means of using categories to specify search queries. Another unfulfilled need exists for a means of using categories to display search results when the retrieved documents are associated with category labels. This need is greater when each retrieved document is associated with many category labels.
B. The Cone Tree
A method for generating a cone tree using a computer system is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,243 to Robertson et al. entitled “Display of Hierarchical Three-Dimensional Structures with Rotating Substructures.” Displayed on the monitor of a computer system, the cone tree is perceived by computer user as three-dimensional. Briefly described, the cone tree provides a three-dimensional node-link structure with a hierarchical geometry within which the relative positions of nodes and links, as viewed from the primary viewing position in front of a computer monitor, can change without losing the perceived constancy of the structure as a whole. When a user selects a part of the structure, the selected part can be brought to a primary viewing position by changing the geometry of the structure without loss of object constancy.
FIG. 1
illustrates a three dimensional, horizontally oriented, hierarchical structure
60
displayed on a computer monitor. Structure
60
has conic substructures that can rotate while preserving object constancy. Structure
60
includes conic substructures
62
,
64
,
66
,
68
and
70
in hierarchical levels. Several cues within structure
60
allow a human eye to perceive it as three-dimensional. For example, the bases or directories of the conic substructures, illustratively elliptical as can be seen from base
72
of conic substructure
62
, are perceptible as tilted circles receding from the viewing point. Also, the links, illustratively of different lengths as can be seen from links
74
and
76
, are perceptible as having equal length due to some links being closer to the viewing point than others. The nodes, illustratively including selectable units of different sizes as can be seen from nodes
78
and
80
, are perceptible as of equal size dues to some nodes being closer to the viewing point than others.
An image of structure
60
on a computer monitor could be followed by a sequence of images in which each of the conic substructures is replaced by a series of similar conic substructures that are perceptible as slightly rotated continuations, rotating about horizontal axes. For example, if a user indicated node
82
and requested that it be moved to the primary viewing position closest to the viewer, conic substructures
70
,
68
,
66
and
62
could rotate to move node
82
to the requested position. Viewing structure
60
from above, the rotation to move node
82
to the primary viewing position could be as follows: Substructures
70
,
68
and
66
could rotate counterclockwise. Substructure
62
could rotate clockwise. These rotations could be concurrent, and continue until links
84
,
86
,
88
and
90
are all aligned toward the primary viewing position.
The user can request that a node be moved to the primary viewing position by selecting that node's selectable unit. Node
100
, in addition to including selectable unit for requesting that it be moved, includes selectable unit
102
, called a grow tab. By selecting a grow tab the user requests presentation of the children nodes of the selected node, which are not displayed while the grow tab is displayed. This explains why node
96
does not include a grow tab in FIG.
1
—children nodes
94
and
95
are already displayed.
For additional discussion of the cone tree and it implementation in a computer system refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,243.
C. The WebBook
A book metaphor is used to browse a list of linked documents in U.S. Ser. No. 08/525,936 to Robertson et al. ent
Sergent Douglas W.
Teska Kevin J.
Zerox Corporation
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