Method of navigating a collection of interconnected nodes

• US 6,931,604 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2002
• Issued: 08/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Derek Graham Lane
• Original Assignee: Derek Graham Lane
• Inventors: Lane, Derek Graham
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Application Number:
  US10/055,455
• Publication Number:
  US 20020105552A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,301 Days
• Field of Search: 345/745, 345/746, 345/440, 715/853, 715/855, 715/765, 715/866, 715/856, 715/859, 715/860, 715/745, 715/746, 715/835, 715/838, 715/811, 715/815, 715/821, 715/825
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A method and apparatus for organizing and processing interconnected pieces of information (“nodes”) using a digital computer is disclosed. Each node has elements that may be text, images, audio, video, and other computer programs. A graph-based user interface presents the individual nodes in spatial arrangements that reflect the relationships among the nodes. User interaction indicating interest in a particular node results in an increase in the “activation” of that node. This leads to an increase in the size of the presentation of that node, as well as an increase in the size of the presentation of closely related nodes. The result is a unique user interaction paradigm that allows for intuitive traversal of complex collections of nodes.

Claims

1. A method for organizing and processing a plurality of nodes, comprising (a) Storing said plurality of nodes, (b) Tracking for each node a measure of interest held by the user in said node, said measure being referred to as the “

activation”

of said node, (c) Presenting said plurality of nodes to said user using an output device, wherein each node is allocated a fraction of the output capacity of said output device, said fraction being substantially proportional to the activation of said node, (d) Interpreting user input indicating interest in a node such that activation of said node is increased, (e) Storing with a first node a plurality of links, each link referring to a second node, and storing with each link a measure of relatedness of said first node to said second node, said measure being referred to as the “

weight”

of said link, (f) Presenting to said user a plurality of nodes using said output device, wherein the proximity of the presentation of a first node to the presentation of a second node is substantially proportional to the weight of the link between said first node and said second node,

whereby the output capacity of said output device is efficiently allocated for the presentation of nodes of interest to said user, and for the presentation of nodes that are non-hierarchically related to said nodes of interest,

whereby a plurality of non-hierarchically related nodes may be stored and efficiently navigated.

2. The method of claim 1, further including

(a) Responding to increased activation of a first node by updating the activation of a second node such that activation of said second node is increased by an amount substantially proportional to the weight of the link between said first node and said second node,

whereby user interest in a first node will result in an increase in activation of a second node by an amount substantially proportional to the relatedness of said second node to said first node,

whereby a plurality of non-hierarchically related nodes may be more efficiently navigated.

3. The method of claim 2, further including

(a) Storing said plurality of nodes wherein each node includes one or more elements selected from the group consisting of descriptive text, images, audio, video, and computer programs,

(b) Presenting to said user a plurality of nodes on said output device, wherein said output device is capable of presenting the elements of a node within the fraction of the output capacity of said output device allocated to said node,

whereby said elements of said node are displayed in an amount of detail proportional to said user'"'"'s interest in said node.