Method and apparatus for organizing and processing information using a digital computer
First Claim
1. A method for organizing and processing electronic information comprising the steps of:
- organizing the electronic information as a plurality of thoughts;
defining a matrix of the plurality of thoughts in a network and further including a plurality of network relationships among the thoughts, wherein each thought may be related to at least one of the other thoughts, and at least one of the thoughts is directly related to one of the other thoughts;
selecting a first thought from the plurality of thoughts to be a central thought;
displaying on a display direct relationships between at least some of the plurality of thoughts, including an indicium of the central thought and at least one of the related thoughts;
selecting a second thought that is related to the central thought to be a new central thought; and
displaying an indicium of the new central thought and at least one related thought,wherein each of the indicia comprise a graphical icon that may be activated by a user, and wherein indicia of the thoughts on the display are rearranged upon selection of a new central thought in a manner that graphically reflects the relationship between the thoughts and the new central thought.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for organizing and processing pieces of interrelated information (or “thoughts”) using a digital computer is disclosed. The invention employs a graphical user interface to facilitate user interaction with highly flexible, associative “matrices” that enable users conveniently to organize digitally-stored thoughts and their network of interrelationships. Each of the thoughts may be affiliated with one or more application programs, such as a word processing or spreadsheet utility, or an Internet browser. Users are able conveniently to select a current thought along with any applications or content associated with that thought by interacting with the graphical representation. That representation is automatically reoriented about the selected thought, and is revised to reflect only those thoughts having predetermined relations to that current thought. Users can easily modify the matrix by interactively redefining relations between thoughts. Further aspects of the invention include techniques permitting automated generation of thought matrices, delayed loading to facilitate navigation amongst thoughts without undue delay due to bandwidth constraints, and matrix division and linking to allow optimal data structure flexibility. The present invention is interoperable with computer networks including the Internet, and offers an intuitive scalable methodology for the navigation and management of essentially immeasurable information resources and knowledge bases that transcends the limitations inherent in traditional hierarchical approaches. Thought matrices may conveniently be published and shared by multiple users under another aspect of the present invention. Still another aspect enhances communications amongst computer network users by sharing information about users'"'"' navigation amongst shared thoughts. The present invention offers advantages over prior art methods when speech is used to control a computer. Lastly, another aspect of the present invention provides users of a computer network automatically to receive custom content in response to their navigation of network files, without modifying those files.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A method for organizing and processing electronic information comprising the steps of:
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organizing the electronic information as a plurality of thoughts; defining a matrix of the plurality of thoughts in a network and further including a plurality of network relationships among the thoughts, wherein each thought may be related to at least one of the other thoughts, and at least one of the thoughts is directly related to one of the other thoughts; selecting a first thought from the plurality of thoughts to be a central thought; displaying on a display direct relationships between at least some of the plurality of thoughts, including an indicium of the central thought and at least one of the related thoughts; selecting a second thought that is related to the central thought to be a new central thought; and displaying an indicium of the new central thought and at least one related thought, wherein each of the indicia comprise a graphical icon that may be activated by a user, and wherein indicia of the thoughts on the display are rearranged upon selection of a new central thought in a manner that graphically reflects the relationship between the thoughts and the new central thought. - 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, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A method for organizing and processing electronic information comprising the steps of:
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organizing a plurality of thoughts; defining a matrix comprising the plurality of thoughts and further comprising a plurality of network relationships among the thoughts, wherein at least one of the thoughts is related to one of the other thoughts; displaying a graphical representation of the matrix, the graphical representation comprising a plurality of display icons corresponding to the thoughts, and further comprising a plurality of connecting lines corresponding to the relationships among the thoughts; receiving a communication from an application program; identifying at least one command within the communication, the command a request to make a particular thought a current thought; and loading, viewing, editing or processing information associated with the current thought, wherein icons of the thoughts on the display are rearranged upon selection of the current thought in a manner that graphically reflects the relationship between the thoughts and the current thought.
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51. An apparatus for organizing and processing information using a computer, said information comprising a plurality of thoughts and said apparatus comprising:
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input means for defining a matrix comprising the plurality of thoughts and further comprising a plurality of network relationships among the thoughts, wherein each thought may be related to at least one other of said thoughts, and wherein at least one of said thoughts is directly related to one of the other thoughts; display means for displaying graphical representation of direct relationships between at least some of the plurality of thought, including an indicium of a first thought as a central thought and an indicium of a second thought, said second thought having a direct relation to said first thought; and means for enabling selection of said second thought to be a new central thought, whereby indicia of those thoughts having defined relations with said second thought will be displayed on said display in a manner that graphically reflects the relationship between those thoughts and the new central thought.
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52. A computer program product for organizing and processing information using a computer, said information comprising a plurality of thoughts and said product comprising:
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a computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein, said computer-readable code comprising; a matrix definition module which is configured so that a matrix comprising the plurality of thoughts and further comprising a plurality of network relationships among the thoughts can be defined, wherein each thought may be related to at least one other of said thoughts, and wherein at least one of said thoughts is directly related to one of the other thoughts; a display module which is configured to display graphical representation of direct relationships between at least some of the plurality of thoughts on a display, including an indicium of a first thought as a central thought and an indicium of a second thought, said second thought having a direct relation to said first thought; and a selection module which is configured to enable selection of said second thought to be a new central thought, whereby indicia of those thoughts having defined relations with said second thought will be displayed on said display in a manner that graphically reflects the relationship between those thoughts and the new central thought.
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53. A system for organizing and processing information using a computer, said information comprising a plurality of thoughts, and said system comprising:
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input means for defining a matrix comprising the plurality of thoughts and further comprising a plurality of network relationships among the thoughts, wherein each thought may be related to at least one other of said thoughts, and wherein at least one of said thoughts is directly related to one of the other thoughts; a display for displaying graphical representation of direct relationships between at least some of the plurality of thoughts, including an indicium of a first thought as a central thought on the display; and an indicium of a second thought on said display, said second thought having a direct relation to said first thought, wherein a user can select said second thought to be a new central thought, whereby indicia of those thoughts having defined relations with said second thought will be displayed on said display in a manner that graphically reflects the relationship between those thoughts and the new central thought.
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Specification