Method and apparatus for extracting data objects and locating them in virtual space

• US 6,785,667 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2001
• Issued: 08/31/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Buffalo Patents, LLC
• Original Assignee: Geophoenix
• Inventors: Orbanes, Julian, Guzman, Adriana
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Assistant Examiner(s): EHICHIOYA, IRETE FRED
• Application Number:
  US09/783,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20020083034A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/4, 707/10, 707/5, 707/100, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/204, 707/205, 345/419, 345/661, 345/668, 345/671, 345/781, 345/788, 345/798, 345/804, 345/805, 345/854, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The invention provides method and apparatus for viewing information. In one embodiment, the system of the invention enables the user to view displayed information in a way that is comparable to a selected physical paradigm. Example physical paradigms include, but are not limited to, financial, educational, governmental, sports, media, retail, travel, geographic, real estate, medical, physiological, mechanical, surveillance, agricultural, industrial, infrastructure, scientific and other like paradigms. By presenting information to the user in a way that more closely mimics physical paradigms, the system provides an intuitive mechanism for the user to view, search through and interact with displayed information in an unrestricted manner. In another embodiment, the appearance is a graphical representation of one or more data objects, related to other data objects through hierarchical relationships defined by one or more templates. As the user adjusts the viewing perspective, the appearance changes in a seemingly continuous, non-discrete manner.

Claims

1. A method for locating data objects in virtual location space, said method comprising:

extracting a plurality of data objects from a data source,

determining a relationship between said plurality of data objects, said relationship being based, at least in part, on a spatial paradigm, and

locating each of said plurality of data objects at a respective location within a virtual location space, such locating being based, at least in part, on said spatial paradigm, said virtual location space including a first dimension, a second dimension, and a third dimension, said first dimension corresponding to a plurality of planes within the virtual location space at which a data object can be located and said second and said third dimensions corresponding to a position of a data object within a plane,

wherein said locating comprises assigning to each of said plurality of data objects a value for each of said three dimensions, based, at least in part, on a template relating to said spatial paradigm, thereby determining said respective location of each of said plurality of data objects in said virtual location space, and

wherein a first one of said plurality of data objects is located on a plane different from a second one of said plurality of data objects.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying from an adjustable viewing perspective of said user an appearance of a subset of said plurality of data objects in a virtual representation.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

comparing each of said plurality of data objects to a predetermined criterion, and

establishing a hierarchical relationship between said data objects based in part on said comparison.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising organizing said data objects in a node tree.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein said predetermined criterion includes content type.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said content type includes at least one of images, text, links, sounds, vector graphics, movies, executables, HTML elements, tables and frames.

7. The method of claim 3, in which said data source is a Web page, and wherein establishing said hierarchical relationship further comprises,

receiving source code corresponding to said Web page, wherein each of said plurality of data objects is an element of said source code, and

determining said hierarchical relationship between said plurality of data objects based, at least in part, on a display font size value of each of said data objects.

8. The method of claim 3, in which said data source is a Web page, and wherein establishing said hierarchical relationship further comprises,

receiving source code corresponding to said Web page, wherein each of said plurality of data objects is an element of said source code, and

determining said hierarchical relationship between said plurality of data objects based, at least in part, on a display location value of each of said data objects.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein locating further comprises,

defining a hierarchical node tree corresponding to said virtual location space, and

assigning each of said data objects to a node in said hierarchical node tree, based, at least in part, on a template relating to said spatial paradigm, thereby determining said respective location of each data object in said virtual location space.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said data source is an edge server.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising converting said located data objects to be compatible with a platform.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said platform is associated with a mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said mobile device comprises a PDA, a watch display, or a telephone.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein said platform is compatible with JAVA, a PALM operating system, a POCKET PC operating system or a SYMBIAN operating system.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said deliverable format is compatible with Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), Zoomable Markup Language (ZML), or Macromedia FLASH.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising converting said located data objects to a deliverable format.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said data objects corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of abstraction levels, wherein determining said relationship further comprises determining said relationship between said plurality of data objects, said relationship including a plurality of hierarchical levels and being based, at least in part, on a correspondence between equivalent abstraction levels being associated with equivalent hierarchical levels.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein locating further comprises locating each of said plurality of data objects at a respective location within a virtual location space, said location corresponding to one of said hierarchical levels, the method further comprising,

displaying a set of said data objects corresponding to a first hierarchical level.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein locating further comprises locating each of said plurality of data objects within said virtual space using Cartesian coordinates corresponding to said three dimensions.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

enabling a user to navigate said data objects in a substantially unrestricted fashion using a pan control, a zoom-in control, and a zoom-out control.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein enabling further comprises generating an appearance to the user of a virtual mass while navigating said data objects.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein, with respect to a hierarchical level of a current data object, said pan control enables navigation to another data object located at a hierarchical level of said current data object, said zoom-in control enables navigation to another data object at another hierarchical level that is a child to said hierarchical level of said current data object, and said zoom-out control enables navigation to another data object at another hierarchical level that is a parent to said hierarchical level of said current data object.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein, said pan control enables navigation along the second and the third dimensions, and said zoom-in control and said zoom-out control enables navigation along the third dimension.

24. A system for locating data objects in virtual space, said system comprising:

a computing device adapted to extract a plurality of data objects from a data source, and to locate each of said plurality of data objects at a respective location within a virtual location space, such locating being based, at least in part, on said spatial paradigm, said virtual location space including a first dimension, a second dimension, and a third dimension, said first dimension corresponding to a plurality of planes within the virtual location space at which a data object can be located and said second and said third dimensions corresponding to a position of a data object within a plane, wherein said locating comprises assigning to each of said plurality of data objects a value for each of said three dimensions, based, at least in part, on a template relating to said spatial paradigm, thereby determining said respective location of each of said plurality of data objects in said virtual location space, and wherein a first one of said plurality of data objects is located on a plane different from a second one of said plurality of data objects.

25. The system of claim 24 further adapted to display from an adjustable viewing perspective of said user an appearance of a subset of said plurality of data objects in a virtual representation.

26. The system of claim 24 further adapted to compare each of said plurality of data objects to a predetermined criterion, and to establish a hierarchical relationship between said data objects based in part on said comparison.

27. The system of claim 26 further adapted to organize said data objects in a node tree.

28. The system of claim 26 said predetermined criterion includes content type.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said content type includes at least one of images, text, links, sounds, vector graphics, movies, executables, HTML elements, tables and frame.

30. The system of claim 26, in which said data source is a Web page, further adapted to receive source code corresponding to said Web page, wherein each of said data objects is an element of said source code, and to determine said hierarchical relationship between said plurality of data objects based, at least in part, on a display font size value of each said data objects.

31. The system of claim 26, in which said data source is a Web page, further adapted to receive source code corresponding to said Web page, wherein each of said plurality of data objects is an element of said source code, and to determine said hierarchical relationship between said plurality of data objects based, at least in part, on a display location value of each said data objects.

32. The system of claim 24, further adapted to define a hierarchical node tree corresponding to said virtual location space, and to assign each of said data objects to a node in said hierarchical node tree, based, at least in part, on a template relating to said spatial paradigm, thereby determining said respective location of each data object in said virtual location space.

33. The system of claim 24 wherein said data source is an edge server.