Apparatus and method of data organisation

• US 8,352,515 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mikael Carl Lang, Philip Crowhurst
• Original Assignee: Mikael Carl Lang, Philip Crowhurst
• Inventors: Lang, Mikael Carl, Crowhurst, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US13/209,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20110296350A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 707/805, 707/807, 707/802, 707/791, 707/822
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/957 Multidimensional
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/96 Object-relational

Abstract

A method of organising data items in an n-dimensional space comprises, for each of a plurality of iterations, the step of generating a relative displacement of position for each data item within the n-dimensional space in accordance with a similarity value between each data item and respective other data items, the distance between each data item and respective other data items in the n-dimensional space, and the difference in position within the n-dimensional space between each data item and at least one reference point.

Claims

1. A display comprising:

a graphical user interface being provided on the display, the interface configured to display at least part of a collection of data items within a shaped volume of 3-dimensional space, and configured such that, over a predetermined number of refreshes of the display, two data items having a dissimilar characteristic feature are displaced from one another on the display by an extent greater than two data items having a similar characteristic feature, wherein the magnitude of the displacement is determined in accordance with the amount of dissimilarity between one of the data items and each of the other displayed data items and the distance of the data item from one reference point within the shaped volume.

2. A display according to claim 1, wherein the displayed data items are thumbnail images.

3. A display according to claim 1, wherein the data items are arranged in a sphere and the reference point is a center of the sphere.

4. A display according to claim 1, wherein the data items are arranged to form a curved interior surface of a cylindrical shape.

5. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store thereon or therein computer readable instructions with, when loaded onto a computer cause the computer to produce a graphical user interface on a display according to claim 1.