Method and apparatus for managing a selection list

• US 20060048074A1
• Filed: 08/31/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Klein, Udo
• Granted Patent: US 7,634,741 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/811
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence

Abstract

A computer implemented method and apparatus for managing a selection list include accessing previous entries in the history log for a particular field and displaying such entries in a selection list pull-down menu. A determination is made whether the selection is related to other recently made selections. Items from the selection list that are considered to be incorrect may be automatically deleted.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list comprising:

accessing an item collection including a plurality of items;

displaying a selection list for a user that is derived from said item collection;

detecting a selection of an item of said selection list by said user to determine a selected item;

determining a set of other items of said selection list that were previously selected within a given period of time; and

removing from said item collection any item from said set of other items that has a similarity to said selected item.

2. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 1 wherein displaying said selection list includes creating a subset of items derived from said item collection.

3. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 2 wherein creating a subset of items includes:

obtaining an input string from a user; and

selecting items from said item collection which correlate with said input string.

4. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 3 wherein said selection list changes as said input string changes.

5. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 1 wherein said given period of time is less than about one minute.

6. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 5 wherein said given period of time is less than about 30 seconds.

7. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 6 wherein said given period of time is less than about 10 seconds.

8. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 1 wherein similarity is used to detect erroneous item entries to the item collection.

9. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 8 wherein wherein similarity is determined by a numerical analysis comparing said selected item and said any item from said set of other items.

10. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 9 wherein said numerical analysis includes calculating a numerical distance between said selected item and said any item from said set of other items.

11. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 10 wherein said numerical distance is calculated, at least in part, using n-grams.

12. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 11 wherein said n-grams include at least one of bigrams and trigrams.

13. A computer implemented method for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 10 wherein said numerical distance is calculated, at least in part, using a Damerau-Levenshtein algorithm.

20. A computer readable media including code segments for performing the method of claim 1.

14. A computer system including a display and a human user interface coupled to said computer system for managing a selection list comprising:

means for displaying a selection list for a user that is derived from an item collection including a plurality of items;

means for detecting a selection of an item of said selection list by said user to determine a selected item;

means for determining a set of other items of said selection list that were previously selected within a given period of time; and

means for removing from said item collection any item from said set of other items that has a similarity to said selected item.

15. A computer system including a display and a human user interface coupled to said computer system for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 14 wherein said means for displaying said selection list includes means for creating a subset of items derived from said item collection.

16. A computer system including a display and a human user interface coupled to said computer system for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 15 wherein said means for creating a subset of items includes:

means for obtaining an input string from a user; and

means for selecting items from said item collection which correlate with said input string.

17. A computer system including a display and a human user interface coupled to said computer system for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 16 wherein said selection list changes as said input string changes.

18. A computer system including a display and a human user interface coupled to said computer system for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 17 wherein said means for removing includes means for performing a numerical analysis comparing said selected item and said any item from said set of other items to determine similarity.

19. A computer system including a display and a human user interface coupled to said computer system for managing a selection list in accordance with claim 18 wherein said means for performing a numerical analysis includes means for calculating a numerical distance between said selected item and said any item from said set of other items.