Market status icons in real-estate information search and retrieval system
First Claim
1. A method of identifying properties in a real-estate market for a geographical area of interest on a digital map, comprising:
- generating and displaying a digital map for said area of interest;
defining a plurality of property attributes for items of property in the real-estate market or the area of interest;
determining at least one property icon indicia corresponding to said property attributes; and
displaying one or more property icons with the at least one property icon indicia at locations of the items of property on the digital map, wherein an item of property associated with a property icon has the attributes corresponding to the icon'"'"'s indicia.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to icons used to represent properties in a real-estate market information system. The icons of the present invention provide additional information about the property associated with the icon when displayed on a digital map.
Icon indicia, such as shape, color or size, in the present invention is determined by combining at least two property attributes of the property associated with the property icon. In a preferred embodiment, the icons used in the present invention are indicative of the type of property and the market status of the property associated with the icon. The icons can be constructed such that further property attributes, such as square-footage range, could be also, or alternatively, be indicated by icon indicia.
140 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of identifying properties in a real-estate market for a geographical area of interest on a digital map, comprising:
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generating and displaying a digital map for said area of interest;
defining a plurality of property attributes for items of property in the real-estate market or the area of interest;
determining at least one property icon indicia corresponding to said property attributes; and
displaying one or more property icons with the at least one property icon indicia at locations of the items of property on the digital map, wherein an item of property associated with a property icon has the attributes corresponding to the icon'"'"'s indicia. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A real-estate market property icon for use in a real estate information system, wherein the property icon is associated with an item of property,
wherein said item of property has at least two property attributes, including at least a property type and a market status; -
wherein said property icon is displayed at said item of property'"'"'s location on a digital map in the real estate information system; and
wherein said property icon has a shape, size or color that is indicative of said at least two property attributes of the item of property. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27)
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26. A computer-readable medium containing instructions that cause a computer to display a property icon in a real estate information system, said medium comprising:
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a storage section for storing a plurality of property icons;
a first code section for defining a plurality of property attributes for an item of property in an area of interest;
a second code section for determining which stored property icon to display in the real estate information system, wherein at least two property attributes defined for the item of property are used to determine a property icon; and
a third code section for displaying the determined property icon in the real estate information system at the item of property'"'"'s location, wherein the item of property associated with determined property icon has the at least two attributes used to determine the property icon. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification