Method and apparatus for representing and navigating search results

• US 6,636,853 B1
• Filed: 08/30/1999
• Issued: 10/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/1999
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Zarbana Digital Fund LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Morphism LLC
• Inventors: Stephens, James J. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US09/385,149
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/3, 707/2, 707/104, 707/104.1, 707/7, 707/100, 709/203, 345/968
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/358 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval

Abstract

A method and apparatus for representing and navigating search results from a database on a computer system. A graphical user interface is generated to receive user input including a data source to search for information and a query indicating information which is desired from the data source. The user input is transmitted to the data source, the search is performed and information responsive to the query resulting from the search is received from the data source. The search results include characteristics of the responsive information. The responsive information is clustered into a plurality groups based on selected characteristic information and the user may select at least one group of the responsive information to be displayed.

Claims

1. A computer program product for representing and navigating search results on a client computer system, wherein the search results are transmitted to the client computer system from a data source, the computer program product comprising:

a set of client program instructions including;

first program instructions being operable to receive user input, the user input including

a data source to search for information and a query indicating information which is desired from the data source;

second program instructions being operable to transmit the user input to the data source and to receive information responsive to the query from the data source,

wherein the responsive information includes multidimensional characteristic information about the responsive information;

third program instructions being operable to separate the responsive information into a plurality of groups based on one or more categories of said multidimensional characteristic information;

third program instructions, being further operable to separate the responsive information into a plurality of subgroups based on selected multidimensional characteristic information; and

fourth program instructions being operable to allow the user to select at least one group of the responsive information.

2. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

fifth program instructions for generating a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface including a first display portion showing the plurality of groups of multidimensional characteristic information available for the user to select.

3. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the responsive information includes a list of documents containing information related to the query, and wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing the list of documents in the responsive information.

4. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 3, wherein the documents displayed belong to the at least one group selected by the user.

5. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 3, wherein the fifth program instructions are faker operable to receive user input indicating a document in the list of documents, the fifth program instructions being further operable to initiate a display of the indicated document.

6. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 3, wherein the fifth program instructions are fixer operable to receive user input indicating a group of the documents, the fifth program instructions being further operable to re-arrange the order in which the list of documents in the second display portion are displayed based on the group selected by the user.

7. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the first display portion further shows a graphical representation of the plurality of subgroups.

8. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the first display portion further shows the plurality of subgroups, the first display portion including color coded portions for differentiating the subgroups.

9. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing a list of documents in the responsive information, the second display portion including color coded portions associated with the list of documents corresponding to the color coded portions in the first display portion.

10. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 2, further comprising program instructions for displaying additional information based on the at least one group of the responsive information selected by the user.

11. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the third program instructions separate the responsive information into a plurality of subgroups based on one or more ranges of the selected multidimensional characteristic information.

12. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the first display portion includes a stratum showing the subgroups of the responsive information, the fifth program instructions being further operable to;

receive user input comprising selection of at least one subgroup; and

display additional information based on at least one subgroup selected by the user, wherein

the additional information displayed includes another stratum showing a further subgroup of the responsive information.

13. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 12, wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing at least a portion of the responsive information, the fifth program instructions being further operable to update the responsive information in the second display portion based on the at least one subgroup selected by the user.

14. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

server program instructions operable to transmit data between the client computer system and the data source.

15. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the data includes the user input.

16. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the data includes the responsive information.

17. The computer program product, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the server program instructions include the third program instructions.

18. A method for representing and navigating search results on a client computer system, the method comprising:

receiving user input in the client computer system, the user input including a data source to search for information and a query indicating information which is desired form the data source;

transmit the user input from the client computer system to the data source;

searching the data source for information responsive to the query,

receiving information responsive to the query from the data source, wherein the responsive information includes multidimensional characteristic information about the documents;

separating the responsive information into a plurality of groups based on one or more categories of said multidimensional characteristic information,

further separating the responsive information into a plurality of subgroups based on selected multidimensional characteristic information; and

providing means to allow the user to select at least one group of the responsive information.

19. The method, as set forth in claim 18, further comprising:

generating a graphical user interface including generating a first display portion showing the plurality of groups of multidimensional characteristic information available for the user to select.

20. The method, as set forth in claim 19, wherein the responsive information includes a list of documents containing information related to the query, and wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing the list of documents in the responsive information.

21. The method, as set forth in claim 20, wherein the documents displayed belong to the at least one group selected by the user.

22. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further comprising receiving user input indicating a document in the list of documents, and displaying the indicated document.

23. The method, as set forth in claim 20, further comprising receiving user input indicating a group of the documents, and re-arranging the order in which the list of documents in the second display portion are displayed based on the group selected by the user.

24. The method, as set forth in claim 19, wherein the first display portion further shows a graphical representation of the plurality of subgroups.

25. The method, as set forth in claim 19, further comprising displaying the plurality of subgroups in the first display portion, and color coding the display of the plurality of the subgroups in the first display portion for differentiating the subgroups.

26. The method, as set forth in claim 25, wherein generating the graphical user interface further includes generating a second display portion showing a list of documents in the responsive information, the second display portion including color coded portions associated with the list of documents corresponding to the color coded portions in the first display portion.

27. The method, as set forth in claim 19, further comprising displaying additional information based on the at least one group of the responsive information selected by the user.

28. The method, as set forth in claim 18, wherein said responsive information is separated into said plurality of subgroups based on one or more ranges of the selected multidimensional characteristic information.

29. The method, as set forth in claim 28, wherein the first display portion includes a stratum showing the subgroups of the responsive information, the method further comprising:

receiving user input comprising selection of at least one subgroup; and

displaying additional information based on at least one subgroup selected by the user, wherein

the additional information displayed includes another stratum showing a further subgroup of the responsive information.

30. The method, as set forth in claim 29, wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing at least a portion of the responsive information, the method further including updating the responsive information in the second display portion based on the at least one subgroup selected by the user.

31. A system for representing and navigating search results, the system comprising:

at least one data source;

a client computer system;

a set of client program instructions executable on the client computer system, the client program instructions including;

first program instructions being operable to receive user input, the user input including a query indicating information which is desired from the at least one data source,

second program instructions being operable to transmit the user input to the at least one data source and to receive information responsive to the query from the at least one data source, wherein the responsive information includes multidimensional characteristic information about the responsive information;

third program instructions being operable to separate the responsive information into a plurality of groups based on one or more categories of said multidimensional characteristic information;

third program instructions being further operable to separate the responsive information into a plurality of subgroups based on selected multidimensional characteristic information; and

fourth program instructions being operable to allow the user to select at least one group of the responsive information.

32. The system, as set forth in claim 31, further comprising:

fifth program instructions for generating a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface including a first display portion showing the plurality of groups of multidimensional characteristic information available for the user to select.

33. The system, as set forth in claim 32, wherein the responsive information includes a list of documents containing information related to the query, and wherein The graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing the list of documents in the responsive information.

34. The system, as set forth in claim 33, wherein the documents displayed belong to the at least one group selected by the user.

35. The system, as set forth in claim 33, wherein the fifth program instructions are further operable to receive user input indicating a document in the list of documents, the fifth program instructions being further operable to initiate a display of the indicated document.

36. The system, as set forth in claim 33, wherein The fifth program instructions are further operable to receive user input indicating a group of the documents, the fifth program instructions being further operable to rearrange the order in which the list of documents in the second display portion are displayed based on the group selected by the user.

37. The system, as set forth in claim 32, wherein the first display portion further shows a graphical representation of the plurality of subgroups.

38. The system, as set forth in claim 32, wherein the first display portion further shows the plurality of subgroups, the first display portion including color coded portions for differentiating the subgroups.

39. The system, as set forth in claim 38, wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing a list of documents in the responsive information, the second display portion including color coded portions associated with the list of documents corresponding to the color coded portions in the first display portion.

40. The system, as set forth in claim 32, further comprising program instructions for displaying additional information based on the at least one group of the responsive information selected by the user.

44. The system, as set forth in claim 31, further comprising:

at least one server computer system including server program instructions operable to Transmit data between the client computer system and the data source.

45. The system, as set forth in claim 44, wherein the data includes the user input.

46. The system, as set forth in claim 44, wherein the data includes the responsive information.

41. The system, as set forth in claim n 31, wherein the third program instructions separate the responsive information into a plurality of subgroups based on one or more ranges of the selected multidimensional characteristic information.

42. The system, as set forth in claim 41, wherein the first display portion includes a stratum showing the subgroups of the responsive information, the fifth program instructions being further operable to:

receive user input comprising selection of at least one subgroup, and

display additional information based on at least one subgroup selected by the user, wherein

the additional information displayed includes another stratum showing a further subgroup of the responsive information.

43. The system, as set forth in claim 42, wherein the graphical user interface further includes a second display portion showing at least a portion of the responsive information, the fifth program instructions being further operable to update the responsive information in the second display portion based on the at least one subgroup selected by the user.

47. The system, as set forth in claim wherein the server program instructions include the third program instructions.