Interactively comparing records in a database

• US 20030145277A1
• Filed: 01/31/2002
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Requisite Technology, Inc. (Huron Consulting Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Neal, Michael Renn, Wilmsen, James Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,237,187 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/509
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

The present invention can allow an electronic catalog or other set of items to be searched and compared interactively. In one embodiment, the invention includes displaying a list of items in an electronic catalog, each item corresponding to a row of the display, each row having values corresponding to attributes of the corresponding items arranged into attribute columns, grouping some of the displayed items based on a selected attribute upon receiving a grouping command so that the grouped items are displayed in a single row, and expanding the grouped items upon receiving an expand command so that the grouped items are each displayed in a separate row. The embodiment further includes removing a row corresponding to an item or to grouped items from the display upon receiving a row remove command and removing a column corresponding to an attribute of the items from the display upon receiving a column remove command.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a list of items in an electronic catalog, each item corresponding to a row of the display, each row having values corresponding to attributes of the corresponding items arranged into attribute columns;

grouping some of the displayed items based on a selected attribute upon receiving a grouping command so that the grouped items are displayed in a single row;

expanding the grouped items upon receiving an expand command so that the grouped items are each displayed in a separate row;

removing a row corresponding to an item or to grouped items from the display upon receiving a row remove command; and

removing a column corresponding to an attribute of the items from the display upon receiving a column remove command.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sorting the items based on attribute values upon receiving a sort command for one of the displayed attributes.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising restricting the displayed items to a range of values for one of the displayed attributes upon receiving a refinement command for one of the displayed attributes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving a refinement command comprises receiving a selection of a value for the one of the displayed attributes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a count of the grouped items in the corresponding single row.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving an expand command comprises receiving a selection of the count of the grouped items.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising grouping further ones of the displayed items including grouped items based on a second selected attribute upon receiving a second grouping command so that the further grouped items are displayed in a single row;

8. The method of claim 1, wherein grouping comprises comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have the same value for the attribute into a single row.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein grouping comprises comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have values for the attribute within a range into a single row.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

removing all of the items from the display expect for items of a selected category upon receiving a category command; and

displaying item values for attributes related specifically to the selected category.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

grouping some of the displayed items including grouped items based on a selected category specific attribute upon receiving a grouping command so that the grouped items are displayed in a single row;

expanding the grouped items upon receiving an expand command so that the grouped items are each displayed in a separate row; and

removing a column corresponding to a category specific attribute of the items from the display upon receiving a column remove command.

12. A graphical user interface (GUI) comprising:

a list of items;

a plurality of attribute identifiers related to attributes of the listed items;

a value for at least some of the attributes for each of the listed items;

a grouping button associated with an attribute identifier to group items based on the items'"'"' values for the associated attribute and display the grouped items as a single item.

13. The GUI of claim 12, wherein grouping based on the items'"'"' values comprises grouping items having the same value for an attribute.

14. The GUI of claim 12, wherein grouping based on the items'"'"' values comprises grouping items having values for an attribute within a range.

15. The GUI of claim 14 further comprising a selection window to allow a user to select a range of attribute values for the grouping of items using the grouping buttons.

16. The GUI of claim 12, wherein the grouping button is further to display the range of the values of an attribute of the grouped items when the grouped items are displayed as a single item.

17. The GUI of claim 16, wherein the range of values display replaces the values for the corresponding attributes for the grouped items displayed as a single item.

18. The GUI of claim 12, further comprising a grouping button associated with another attribute identifier, so that if both grouping buttons are selected items are grouped based on the items'"'"' values for both associated attributes and grouped items are displayed as a single attribute.

19. The GUI of claim 12, further comprising an indication of the count of grouped items for a group of items displayed as a single item.

20. The GUI of claim 19, wherein the indication of the count comprises an expand button associated with the group of items displayed as a single item to display the group of items as separate items that are not grouped.

21. The GUI of claim 12, further comprising an expand button associated with the grouped items displayed as a single item to display the grouped items as separate items that are not grouped.

22. The GUI of claim 12, further comprising a parametric refinement button associated with an attribute identifier to restrict the list of items to those items having a value for the associated attribute within a range.

23. The GUI of claim 12, further comprising a sorting button associated with an attribute identifier to sort the list of items based on the value for the associated attribute.

24. The GUI of claim 12, further comprising a hide button to remove an attribute identifier and the values of the attribute for the listed items from the display.

25. A method comprising:

displaying a list of items;

displaying values for a plurality of attributes of each item;

receiving a selection of one of the displayed attributes;

consolidating at least some of the displayed items based on the selected attribute;

displaying the consolidated items as a single item.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying a count of the consolidated items that are displayed as a single item in association with the displayed single item.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying the values for a second attribute of the consolidated items by displaying a range for the attribute values.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising, after consolidating, receiving a selection of a second one of the displayed attributes, further consolidating at least some of the displayed items based on the second selected attribute, and displaying the further consolidated items as a single item.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein consolidating comprises comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have the same value for the attribute into a single consolidated item.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving a selection of a range of values, and wherein consolidating comprises comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have an attribute value within the selected range into a single consolidated item.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising removing all of the items from the display except for the consolidated items and displaying the consolidated items as separate items.

32. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving a selection of an attribute of the displayed items and removing the attribute and the values of the attributes from the display.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving a selection comprises receiving a selection through a user interface.

34. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a category corresponding to at least one of the items;

displaying values for the at least one item for attributes related specifically to items of the selected category;

receiving a selection of a category specific attribute; and

consolidating at least some of the displayed items of the selected category based on the selected attribute.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising removing all of the items from the display expect for items of the selected category.

36. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

displaying a list of items;

displaying values for a plurality of attributes of each item;

receiving a selection of one of the displayed attributes;

consolidating at least some of the displayed items based on the selected attribute;

displaying the consolidated items as a single item.

37. The medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising displaying a count of the consolidated items that are displayed as a single item in association with the displayed single item.

38. The medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising, after consolidating, receiving a selection of a second one of the displayed attributes, further consolidating at least some of the displayed items based on the second selected attribute, and displaying the further consolidated items as a single item.

39. The medium of claim 36, wherein the instructions for consolidating comprise instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have the same value for the attribute into a single consolidated item.

40. The medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising removing all of the items from the display except for the consolidated items and displaying the consolidated items as separate items.

41. The medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a selection of a category corresponding to at least one of the items;

displaying values for the at least one item for attributes related specifically to items of the selected category;

receiving a selection of a category specific attribute; and

consolidating at least some of the displayed items of the selected category based on the selected attribute.

42. An apparatus comprising:

a display to present a list of items and values for a plurality of attributes of each item;

a user interface to receive a selection of one of the displayed attributes; and

a processor to consolidate at least some of the displayed items based on the selected attribute for display as a single item.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor determines a count of the consolidated items for display in association with the displayed single item.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor further consolidates at least some of the displayed items including consolidated items based on a second attribute selection received from the user interface and provides the further consolidated items to be presented as single items on the display.

45. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor consolidates by comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have the same value for the attribute into a single consolidated item.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor consolidates by comparing the values for the selected attribute for at least some of the items and combining items that have an attribute value within a range into a single consolidated item.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor removes all of the items from the display except for the consolidated items and displaying the consolidated items as separate items upon receiving a remove command from the user interface.