Method and apparatus for displaying literary and linguistic information about words

• US 6,918,097 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2001
• Issued: 07/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Parisi, Micheal A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sax, Steven Paul
• Application Number:
  US09/974,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20030067498A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: 715853-855, 715771-773, 715734-739, 715/780, 715706-711, 715/712, 715/714, 707/104.1, 707/4, 707/8, 345/778, 345/853, 345/854, 345/855, 345/711, 345/712, 345/792, 345/790, 345/797, 345/798, 345/810, 345821-824, 345/834, 345/765, 345744-747
• US Class Current: 715/855
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

A method for displaying literary and/or linguistic information about a “lookup” word/phrase from an information set is provided. The information set is comprised of one or more node link structures. Each node link structure is comprised of a plurality of related nodes. Each node contains information and relationships between nodes provide information about words/phrases. A display system receives a request for information about a “lookup” word/phrase (1). A node link structure is selected and retrieved (2). Hierarchical addresses are assigned to each node, representing a tree structure (4). Display addresses are assigned to each node based on a surface function (e.g., hyperbolic function), representing a mapping of the tree structure to a surface shape corresponding to the surface function (6). The tree structure is rendered to the display. The display simultaneously provides detailed information about the “lookup” word/phrase and its context within the associated node link structure.

Claims

1. A method for displaying information from a literary and linguistic information set on a display, the information set comprising one or more node link structures, each node link structure comprising a plurality of related nodes, each node representing a word, a phrase, or an attribute of a word/phrase, the relationships between nodes within each node link structure being based on established literary and linguistic practices, the method comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a first request for literary and/or linguistic information about a word/phrase;

b) selecting and retrieving a node link structure from the information set based on the first request;

c) assigning a hierarchical address to each node in said node link structure based on the first request, the hierarchical addresses representing a layout of said node link structure in a tree structure;

d) assigning a display address to each node in the tree structure based on a previously determined surface function, the display addresses representing a mapping of the tree structure about a surface shape corresponding to the surface function; and

e) rendering the tree structure on the display according to the display addresses so that literary and/or linguistic information associated with the first request is displayed, wherein one or more nodes of the tree structure is perceived as closer to a viewer than other nodes in the rendered display based at least in part on the surface function and corresponding surface shape.

2. The method for displaying information from a literary and linguistic information set of claim 1, the method further including the steps of:

f) receiving a second request for literary and/or linguistic information about a word/phrase represented by a second or lower level node in the tree structure of the rendered display;

g) repeating step c), assigning a hierarchical address to each node in the node link structure based on the second request;

h) repeating step d), assigning a display address to each node in the tree structure based on the second request; and

i) performing an animation that scrolls the rendered display such that the nodes of the node link structure scroll about the surface shape from a first position corresponding to the display addresses assigned to the tree structure based on the first request to a second position corresponding to the display addresses assigned to the tree structure based on the second request.

3. The method for displaying information from a literary and linguistic information set of claim 1, wherein the surface function of step d) is a hyperbolic function.

4. The method for displaying information from a literary and linguistic information set of claim 1, wherein step d) is further comprised of a step of adding an offset to the display address for each node based on the relationships between the nodes in the tree structure.

5. A method for displaying literary and/or linguistic information about a word/phrase on a display of a display system, the method comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a request for literary and/or linguistic information about a word/phrase;

b) selecting the literary and/or linguistic information to be displayed from a literary and linguistic information set, said information set comprising one or more node link structures, each node link structure comprising a plurality of related nodes, by selecting a node link structure associated with the request;

c) assigning a hierarchical address to each node in the selected node link structure based on the request, whereby each node represents a word, a phrase, or an attribute of a word/phrase and the relationships between nodes are based on established literary and linguistic practices, the hierarchical addresses representing a layout of the selected node link structure in a tree structure with a root node at the first hierarchical level corresponding to the word/phrase in the request and lower levels populated according to the relationships between the nodes;

d) assigning a display address to each node in the tree structure based on a previously determined surface function, the display addresses representing a mapping of the tree structure about a surface shape corresponding to the surface function; and

e) rendering the tree structure on the display according to the display addresses so that the literary and/or linguistic information associated with the word/phrase in the request is displayed, wherein one or more nodes of the tree structure is perceived as closer to a viewer than other nodes in the rendered display based at least in part on the surface function and corresponding surface shape.

6. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more homonyms of the word/phrase in the request.

7. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more synonyms of the word/phrase in the request.

8. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more antonyms of the word/phrase in the request.

9. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes a root of the word/phrase in the request.

10. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more derivatives of the word/phrase in the request.

11. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more variants of the word/phrase in the request.

12. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more inflected forms of the word/phrase in the request.

13. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more foreign language translations of the word/phrase in the request.

14. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more definitions of the word/phrase in the request.

15. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more pronunciations of the word/phrase in the request.

16. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes an etymology of the word/phrase in the request.

17. The method for displaying information of claim 5, wherein the information includes one or more usages of the word/phrase in the request.

18. A display system for displaying information from a literary and linguistic information set, the information set comprising one or more node link structures, each node link structure comprising a plurality of related nodes, each node comprising a word, a phrase, or an attribute of a word/phrase, the relationships between nodes of each node link structure being based on established literary and linguistic practices, said display system comprising:

a storage device for storing the information set;

an input device for receiving a first request for literary and/or linguistic information about a word/phrase;

a display for displaying literary and/or linguistic information associated with the first request;

a processor coupled to the input device, storage device, and display for processing the first request, retrieving a node link structure associated with the first request from the storage device, assigning a hierarchical address to each node in said node link structure based on the first request, the hierarchical addresses representing a layout of said node link structure in a tree structure, assigning a display address to each node in the tree structure based on a previously determined surface function, the display addresses representing a mapping of the tree structure about a surface shape corresponding to the surface function, and rendering the tree structure on the display according to the display addresses so that literary and/or linguistic information associated with the first request is displayed, wherein one or more nodes of the tree structure is perceived as closer to a viewer than other nodes in the rendered display based at least in part on the surface function and corresponding surface shape.

19. The display system of claim 18, the display system further including a scrolling means for scrolling the tree structure of the rendered display about the surface shape based on a second request for literary and/or linguistic information about a word/phrase represented by a second or lower level node in the tree structure of the rendered display.

20. The display system of claim 18, wherein the surface function is a hyperbolic function.

21. The display system of claim 18, the display system further including an offsetting means for adjusting the display addresses so that one or more nodes of the tree structure is perceived as closer to a viewer than other nodes in the rendered display.