Method and apparatus for three dimensional internet and computer file interface
First Claim
1. A method of organizing and displaying data on a display device, said data comprised of a plurality of separate units for display, said method comprising the steps of:
- (1) relating said data units to each other in a spatial organization of at least three dimensions; and
(2) displaying a simultaneously on said display device a proper subset of said data units in positions relative to each other representative of said spatial organization;
said spatial organization comprising a virtual volume containing a plurality of at least three-dimensional polyhedrons having faces, wherein each data unit is displayed in a separate one of said faces and wherein said spatial organization comprises a virtual volume containing said data units that is larger than said virtual volume represented in said display of said display device;
(3) enabling an operator to manipulate said display so as to move one of said data units on said display; and
(4) responsive to movement by said operator of one of said data units, moving other ones of said plurality of data units on said display so as to maintain said spatial relationship of said plurality of data units;
wherein step (2) comprises displaying five data units simultaneously in an array comprising a central window, a left window to the left of said central window, a right window to the right of said central window, a top window to the top of said central window, a bottom window to the bottom of said central window, said individual data units, respectively, being displayed in said individual windows.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for geometrically organizing, interfacing to, surfing, authoring, converting and viewing computer files such as pages on the World Wide Web or operator interface windows of application software. A plurality of related Web pages or windows are organized and presented for view on a computer display in an apparent three or four dimensional relationship to each other with a front, right, left, top, and bottom face (page). A back face may be accessed by a button. Each face and its corresponding page/file can be further spatially related to five other faces and their corresponding pages/files in the same manner ad infinitum. The related pages are organized as a matrix of three dimensional cubes or four dimensional hypercubes.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method of organizing and displaying data on a display device, said data comprised of a plurality of separate units for display, said method comprising the steps of:
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(1) relating said data units to each other in a spatial organization of at least three dimensions; and
(2) displaying a simultaneously on said display device a proper subset of said data units in positions relative to each other representative of said spatial organization;
said spatial organization comprising a virtual volume containing a plurality of at least three-dimensional polyhedrons having faces, wherein each data unit is displayed in a separate one of said faces and wherein said spatial organization comprises a virtual volume containing said data units that is larger than said virtual volume represented in said display of said display device;
(3) enabling an operator to manipulate said display so as to move one of said data units on said display; and
(4) responsive to movement by said operator of one of said data units, moving other ones of said plurality of data units on said display so as to maintain said spatial relationship of said plurality of data units;
wherein step (2) comprises displaying five data units simultaneously in an array comprising a central window, a left window to the left of said central window, a right window to the right of said central window, a top window to the top of said central window, a bottom window to the bottom of said central window, said individual data units, respectively, being displayed in said individual windows. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer implemented method of organizing data and displaying said data on a computer display, said data comprised of a plurality of separate computer files comprising data for display, said method comprising the steps of:
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(1) storing in a memory information relating said plurality of computer files to each other in correspondence to faces of a cube of at least three spatial dimensions; and
(2) displaying simultaneously on said display a proper subset of said computer files in positions relative to each other that are visually representative of said at least three spatial dimensions;
said spatial organization comprising a virtual volume containing a plurality of faces, wherein each data unit is displayed in a separate one of said faces, and at least one of said faces can be exploded to reveal further computer files spatially organized and displayed on faces representing an at least three dimensional organization;
wherein step (2) comprises displaying five computer files simultaneously in an array comprising a central window, a left window to the left of said central window, a right window to the right of said central window, a top window to the top of said central window, a bottom window to the bottom of said central window, said individual data units, respectively, being displayed in said individual windows. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer implemented method of organizing data and displaying said data on a computer display, said data comprised of a plurality of separate computer files comprising data for display, said method comprising the steps of:
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(1) storing in a memory information relating said plurality of computer files to each other in correspondence to faces of a four dimensional hypercube; and
(2) displaying simultaneously on said display a proper subset of said computer files in positions relative to each other that are visually representative of said at least three spatial dimensions in a two dimensional arrangement visually representative of a space comprising four spatial dimensions;
said spatial organization comprising a virtual volume containing a plurality of faces, wherein each data unit is displayed in a separate one of said faces, and at least one of said faces can be exploded to reveal further computer files spatially organized and displayed on faces representing an at least three dimensional organization, wherein step (2) comprises displaying five data units simultaneously in an array comprising a central window, a left window to the left of said central window, a right window to the right of said central window, a top window to the top of said central window, a bottom window to the bottom of said central window, said individual data units, respectively, being displayed in said individual windows, said array comprising a side of a hypercube. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of organizing and displaying data on a display device, said data comprised of a plurality of separate units for display, said method comprising the steps of:
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(1) relating said data units to each other in a spatial organization of at least three dimensions; and
(2) displaying a simultaneously on said display device a proper subset of said data in positions relative to each other representative of said spatial organization;
wherein each of said data units contains within itself information defining its position within said spatial organization wherein step (2) comprises displaying five computer files simultaneously in an array comprising a central window, a left window to the left of said central window, a right window to the right of said central window, a top window to the top of said central window, a bottom window to the bottom of said central window, said individual data units, respectively, being displayed in said individual windows. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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Specification