Method and system for displaying icons representing information items stored in a database

• US 6,211,876 B1
• Filed: 06/22/1998
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Children's Medical Center Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Karlin, Judith Galler, Bromley, Dennis Nathan, Gibson, Sara Frances Frisken, DeMaso, David Ray, Gonzalez-Heydrich, Joseph, Ackermann, Edith, Shen, Chia, Strohecker, Carol, Marks, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/102,258
• Time in Patent Office: 1,016 Days
• Field of Search: 345/329, 345/334-335, 345/339, 345/348, 345/355, 345/440, 345/968, 704/4, 704/239, 704/251, 705/3, 707/3-6
• US Class Current: 715/835
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for accessing an experience journal which includes unstructured text items relating to a topic, such as a medical condition. The method is implemented in a computer system including a processor, a storage device, a video display unit having a display screen, and a user interface. The unstructured text items are stored in the storage device. Similarities among the unstructured text items are determined, and icons, one corresponding to each of the unstructured text items, are displayed on the display screen. The icons are positioned on the display screen relative to each other, such that the distances between icons are representative of the determined similarities among the unstructured text items. In response to user selection of one of the icons, the corresponding unstructured text item is displayed on the display screen.

Claims

1. A method for displaying icons representing information items stored in a database, comprising the steps of:

determining similarity between each of a plurality of information items in a database and every other one of the plurality of information items in the database; and

displaying a plurality of icons, each icon corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of information items in the database, on a display screen such that the determined similarity between each information item in the database and every other information item in the database is represented by a position of each of the displayed plurality of icons.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining similarity between each of the plurality of information items and every other one of the plurality of information items comprises the step of:

determining a similarity score between each of the plurality of information items and every other one of the plurality of information items.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein positioning the plurality of icons comprises the steps of:

embedding points corresponding to each of the plurality of information items in a multidimensional space such that pairs of points are spaced by distances representative of the similarity score for the corresponding pair of information items;

projecting the points onto a two-dimensional space in which the distances between the points are preserved; and

displaying the plurality of corresponding icons using their corresponding point positions in the two-dimensional space.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein positioning the plurality of icons includes multidimensional scaling of the determined similarities among the plurality of information items.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

linking similar one of the plurality of information items; and

indicating the linked ones of the plurality of information items by marking the corresponding ones of the plurality of icons on the display screen.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of information items is associated with a vector; and

determining similarity between each of the plurality of information items in the database and every other one of the plurality of information items in the database includes comparing each of the associated vectors with every other one of the associated vectors.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of information items is associated with a vector; and

determining similarity between each of the plurality of information items in the database and every other one of the plurality of information items in the database includes computing the dot product of each of the associated vectors with every other one of the associated vectors.

8. A method for displaying icons representing information items stored in a database, comprising the steps of:

determining similarity between each of a plurality of information items in a database and every other one of the plurality of information items in the database; and

displaying a plurality of icons, each icon corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of information items in the database, on a display screen such that the determined similarity between each information item in the database and every other information item in the database is represented by a position of each of the displayed plurality of icons;

wherein displaying the plurality of icons includes indicating a relative age of each of the corresponding information items relative to each of the other information items.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein indicating relative ages of information items includes varying a parameter of the corresponding icon in accordance with the age of the corresponding information item.

10. A method for displaying icons representing information items stored in a database, comprising the steps of:

determining similarity between each of a plurality of information items in a database and every other one of the plurality of information items in the database;

displaying a plurality of icons, each icon corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of information items in the database, on a display screen such that the determined similarity between each information item in the database and every other information item in the database is represented by a position of each of the displayed plurality of icons;

determining similarity between a new information item and each of the plurality of information items; and

displaying a new icon corresponding to the new information item such that the position of the new icon relative to each of the plurality of icons represents the determined similarities among the plurality of information items and the new information item.

11. Apparatus for providing access to an experience journal including unstructured text items relating to a topic, said apparatus comprising:

a computer system including a processor, a storage device, a video display unit having a display screen, and a user interface, said computer system further comprising;

means for storing the unstructured text items in the storage device;

means for determining similarity among the unstructured text items;

means for displaying icons, one corresponding to each of the unstructured text items, on the display screen, including means for positioning said icons relative to each other such that the distances between said icons are representative of the determined similarities among the unstructured text items; and

means responsive to user selection of one of said icons for displaying the corresponding unstructured text item on the display screen.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for determining similarity comprises a processor configured to:

determine a similarity score between each of the plurality of unstructured text items and every other one of the plurality of unstructured text items by determining the dot product of corresponding word vectors of each of the plurality of unstructured text items and every other one of the plurality of unstructured text items to determine similarity among the plurality of unstructured text items.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the means for positioning the icons comprises a video display unit configured to:

embed points corresponding to the plurality of unstructured text items in a multidimensional space such that pairs of points are spaced by distances representative of the similarity score for the corresponding pair of unstructured text items;

project the points onto a two-dimensional space in which the distances between said points are preserved; and

display the plurality of associated icons using their corresponding point positions in the two-dimensional space to position the plurality of associated icons.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for displaying the icons comprises a video display unit configured to:

display the plurality of icons with an indication of the relative age of each of the corresponding unstructured text items relative to every other one of the plurality of unstructured text items in the experience journal.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for positioning the icons comprises a video display unit configured to:

multidimensionally scale the determined similarities among the plurality of unstructured text items to position the plurality of icons.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

a processor configured to link similar ones of the plurality of unstructured text items; and

a video display unit configured to indicate the linked ones of the plurality of unstructured text items by marking the corresponding icons on the display screen.

17. A system for determining similarity between information items, comprising:

a processor configured to generate a plurality of vectors, each of the plurality of vectors based upon information contained in a corresponding one of a plurality of information items, and to determine similarity between each of the plurality of information items and every other one of the plurality of information items based upon the generated plurality of vectors; and

a storage device configured to store the plurality of information items, the plurality of vectors, and the results of determining similarity between each of the plurality of information items and every other one of the plurality of information items based upon the generated plurality of vectors.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the processor is further configured to compare each of the plurality of vectors with every other one of the plurality of vectors to determine similarity between each of the plurality of information items and every other one of the plurality of information items; and

wherein the storage device is further configured to store the results of the comparison of each of the plurality of vectors with every other one of the plurality of vectors.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the processor is further configured to compute a plurality of dot products, each dot product being the dot product of each of the plurality of vectors with every other one of the plurality of vectors, to determine similarity between each of the plurality of information items and every other one of the plurality of information items; and

wherein the storage device is further configured to store the computed plurality of dot products.

20. A system for maintaining a database, comprising:

an expandable storage device configured to store a plurality of data items having a determined relationship;

an input device for adding a new data item to the system; and

a processor configured to determine a relationship between the new data item and each of the plurality of stored data items and to add the new data item to the storage device.

21. A method for maintaining a database, comprising the steps of:

receiving a new data item;

processing the new data item to determine a relationship between the new data item and each of a plurality of data items having previously determined relationships; and

storing the new data item in a storage device containing the plurality of data items.