Connection engine

• US 8,818,980 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2010
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intouchlevel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intouchlevel Corporation
• Inventors: Hall, Bruce Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Abrishamkar, Kaveh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wilcox, James J
• Application Number:
  US12/686,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20110173173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,687 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/355 Class or cluster creation or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9014 hash tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and system for identifying a group of objects or content that have a plurality of group-wise connections, and for revealing the evolution of the state of those connections over time. A network of symbols are generated to create a symbol backbone, and raw object or content descriptions are mapped to the generated symbols. To identify the objects or content most closely and most interconnectedly related to a query object or content, the query object or content is mapped onto the symbol backbone. The raw object or content description expression set of the related symbols are retrieved, forming the group of interconnected objects or content. The retrieved object or content descriptions can be further refined.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying a group of objects or content, wherein the objects or content have a plurality of group-wise connections, said method comprising the steps of:

generating a symbol backbone comprising a plurality of symbols, comprising the steps of;

(i) generating, using a set generator, a plurality of sets, wherein each of said plurality of sets comprise at least one of a plurality of related binary representations; and

(ii) mapping one or more facets between two or more of said plurality of sets;

storing the generated symbol backbone in memory;

mapping a plurality of object or content descriptions to the symbol backbone, comprising the steps of;

(i) calculating, using a processor, a first distance between at least one of said plurality of sets and at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions; and

(ii) associating, using said processor, at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions with at least one of said plurality of sets based on said first distance;

retrieving at least one symbol within said symbol backbone, comprising the steps of;

(i) receiving, from a user, a new query, wherein the new query is received after the plurality of sets have been generated;

(ii) associating the received new query with at least one of said plurality of sets; and

(iii) creating a first list, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets that are within a predetermined second distance to said received new query, said second distance being the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from said received new query; and

identifying each object or content description mapped to each set contained within said first list.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets containing said query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets which do not contain said query.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said second distance is a Hamming distance.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets outside of said second distance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets equal to said second distance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of sets is associated with an address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said address is a single binary string, the single binary string comprising every of said binary representations comprising one of said plurality of sets.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps:

arranging said binary representations by ascending decimal value; and

concatenating said ordered binary representations.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps:

arranging said binary representations by descending decimal value; and

concatenating said ordered binary representations.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said steps is repeated.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said at least one repeated step is continuously repeated.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said at least one repeated step is repeated at a pre-defined rate.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said at least one repeated step is repeated in response to a stimulus.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

monitoring the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets for any change in said association over a period of time.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step:

storing the results of said monitoring.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step:

making the results of said monitoring perceivable.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

monitoring the effect of said step of associating, using said processor, at least one of said plurality of sets with said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions based on said first distance, on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

monitoring the effect of an internal stimulus on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

monitoring the effect of an external stimulus on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

monitoring changes to said plurality of sets over a period of time.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising the step:

storing the results of said monitoring.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising the step:

making the results of said monitoring perceivable.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

monitoring changes to said first distance over a period of time.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step:

storing the results of said monitoring.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step:

making the results of said monitoring perceivable.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps:

monitoring an aspect of said group of objects or content; and

converting the results of said monitoring into a self-describing object or content description.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step:

calculating a second distance, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from said self-describing object or content description; and

associating at least one of said plurality of sets with said self-describing object or content description based on said first distance.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

calculating a second distance, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from said at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from at least one of said generated plurality of sets.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step:

determining which of said identified object or content descriptions are within a distance equal to or smaller than a maximum value of said second distance.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said maximum value of said second distance is chosen by a user.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the user chooses the maximum value of said second distance using a graphical user interface.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step:

determining which of said identified object or content descriptions are within a distance equal to or larger than a minimum value of said second distance.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said minimum value of said second distance is chosen by a user.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the user chooses the minimum value of said second distance using a graphical user interface.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step:

filtering the results of at least one of steps e and f using said second distance.

39. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step:

monitoring changes to said first or second value over a period of time.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising the step:

storing the results of said monitoring.

41. The method of claim 39, further comprising the step:

making the results of said monitoring perceivable.

42. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

calculating a second distance, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from the at least one of said plurality of sets associated with said at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

43. The method of claim 1, wherein said first distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein each of said plurality of sets has a common first value.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein said plurality of sets have a variable first value.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein said plurality of sets have first values that are distributed according to a pre-determined parameter.

47. The method of claim 43, wherein said plurality of sets have first values that are distributed according to statistics.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein said plurality of sets is a subset of a larger plurality of sets.

49. The method of claim 43, wherein said plurality of sets is a subset of a larger plurality of sets, said subset comprised of at least one of said larger plurality of sets that falls within a range of said first value.

50. The method of claim 43, wherein said plurality of sets is comprised of object or content descriptions.

51. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

filtering the results of at least one of said steps.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein said results are filtered by specifying a maximum or minimum number of sets in said first list.

53. The method of claim 51, wherein said results are filtered by specifying a maximum or minimum number of object or content descriptions associated said first list.

54. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

storing each of said first distances in a first storage device.

55. The method of claim 1, wherein every binary representation in each of said plurality of sets is of equal distance to every other binary representation in that set, said distance calculated by a metric function.

56. The method of claim 1, wherein every binary representation in each of said plurality of sets is of equal Hamming distance to every other binary representation in that set.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein said Hamming distance is a value found within the range between 0 and a number equal to the length of the shortest of the binary representation in that set.

58. The method of claim 1, wherein said first distance is determined using a distance function.

59. The method of claim 1, wherein said query is a binary representation.

60. The method of claim 1, wherein said query is a plurality of binary representations.

61. The method of claim 1, wherein said query is an object or content description.

62. The method of claim 1, further comprising the following step:

mapping at least one of said plurality of binary representations found within at least two of said plurality of sets.

63. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

creating a second list, said second list comprising at least one of said plurality of binary representations found within at least two of said plurality of sets contained within said first list.

64. The method of claim 63, further comprising the steps:

selecting a binary representation from said second list; and

creating a third list, said third list comprising at least one of said plurality of sets found in said first list, the at least one of said plurality of sets found in said first list comprising the selected binary representation from said second list.

65. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

returning said identified object or content descriptions to a user.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein said identified object or content descriptions are perceived by said user.

67. The method of claim 65, wherein a graphical user interface is used to return said identified object or content descriptions to said user.

68. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the generated plurality of sets in a first storage device.

69. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step:

storing the associations in a first storage device.

70. The method of claim 1, wherein an associative memory associates said plurality of sets with said plurality of object or content descriptions.

71. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

determining a first value within said group of sets.

72. The method of claim 71, further comprising the steps:

creating a perceptual impression of said first value; and

returning said perceptual impression to a user.

73. The method of claim 72, wherein a graphical user interface is used to return said perceptual impression to said user.

74. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a difference between a first measurement and a second measurement within said group of sets.

75. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a change over time in a first measurement within said group of sets.

76. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a difference between a change over time in a first measurement within said group of sets and a change over time in a second measurement within said group of sets.

77. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a measurement between at least two of the generated plurality of sets.

78. The method of claim 71 wherein said first value is a measurement between at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and at least one of said plurality of sets.

79. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a measurement between at least two of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

80. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a measurement between said query and at least one of said plurality of sets.

81. The method of claim 71, wherein said first value is a measurement between said query and at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

82. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a first value, wherein said first value is a difference between a value of a first user and a value of a second user.

83. A system for identifying a group of objects or content, wherein the objects or content have a plurality of group-wise connections, said system comprising:

a symbol backbone generator configured to generate a symbol backbone comprising a plurality of symbols, the symbol backbone generator comprising;

(i) a set generator, wherein said set generator generates a plurality of sets, each of said plurality of sets comprising at least one of a plurality of related binary representations; and

a mapping component, the mapping component adapted to map one or more facets between two or more of said plurality of sets;

a non-transitory symbol memory adapted to store the generated symbol backbone;

an associative memory adapted to map a plurality of object or content descriptions to the symbol backbone, wherein said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions is within a first distance between said at least one of said plurality of sets and said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions;

c. a symbol lookup server adapted to associate a new query received from a user with at least one of said plurality of sets, and further adapted to create a first list, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets that are within a predetermined second distance to said received new query, said second distance being the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from said received new query; and

d. a symbol expression lookup server, wherein said symbol expression lookup server identifies each object or content description mapped to each set contained within said first list.

84. The system of claim 83, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets containing said query.

85. The system of claim 83, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets which do not contain said query.

86. The system of claim 83, wherein said second distance is a Hamming distance.

87. The system of claim 83, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets outside of said second distance.

88. The system of claim 83, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets equal to said second distance.

89. The system of claim 83, further comprising a symbol set, wherein the symbol set is a plurality of addresses.

90. The system of claim 89, wherein each of said plurality of addresses is a single binary string, the single binary string comprising every of said binary representations of one of said plurality of sets.

91. The system of claim 90, wherein said binary representations are ordered by ascending decimal value and concatenated into a single binary string.

92. The system of claim 90, wherein said binary representations are ordered by descending decimal value and concatenated into a single binary string.

93. The system of claim 83, wherein at least one of said set generator, said symbol memory, said symbol lookup server, or said symbol expression lookup server repeats a function at least once.

94. The system of claim 93, wherein said repeated function is continuously repeated.

95. The system of claim 93, wherein said repeated function is repeated at a pre-defined rate.

96. The system of claim 93, wherein said repeated function is repeated in response to a stimulus.

97. The system of claim 83, wherein said symbol memory is adapted to monitor the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets for any change in said association over a period of time.

98. The system of claim 97, further comprising:

a first storage device adapted to store the results of said monitoring.

99. The system of claim 97, wherein the results of said monitoring are perceived by a user.

100. The system of claim 83, wherein said symbol memory is adapted to monitor the effect of an internal stimulus on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

101. The system of claim 83, wherein said symbol memory is adapted to monitor the effect of an external stimulus on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

102. The system of claim 83, wherein changes to said plurality of sets over a period of time are monitored.

103. The system of claim 102, wherein the results of said monitoring are stored.

104. The system of claim 102, wherein the results of said monitoring are perceived by a user.

105. The system of claim 83, wherein changes to said first distance over a period of time are monitored.

106. The system of claim 105, wherein the results of said monitoring are stored.

107. The system of claim 105, wherein the results of said monitoring are perceived by a user.

108. The system of claim 83, wherein the system monitors an aspect of said group of objects or content and converts the results of said monitoring into a self-describing object or content description.

109. The system of claim 108, wherein said symbol memory is adapted to associate said self-describing object or content description with at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions, wherein said self-describing object or content description is within a second distance, said second distance being the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from said self-describing object or content description.

110. The system of claim 83, wherein said symbol memory is adapted to calculate a second distance, the second distance being the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets.

111. The system of claim 110, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from said at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from at least one of said generated plurality of sets.

112. The system of claim 110, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

113. The system of claim 110, wherein said symbol expression lookup server determines which of said identified object or content descriptions are within a distance equal to or smaller than a maximum value of said second distance.

114. The system of claim 113, wherein said maximum value of said second distance is chosen by a user.

115. The system of claim 114, wherein the user chooses the maximum value of said second distance using a graphical user interface.

116. The system of claim 110, wherein said symbol expression lookup server determines which of said identified object or content descriptions are within a distance equal to or larger than a minimum value of said second distance.

117. The system of claim 116, wherein said minimum value of said second distance is chosen by a user.

118. The system of claim 117, wherein the user chooses the minimum value of said second distance using a graphical user interface.

119. The system of claim 110, further comprising:

a filter adapted to filter the results of at least one of said symbol lookup server and said symbol expression lookup server using said second distance.

120. The system of claim 110, wherein changes to said first or second value over a period of time are monitored.

121. The system of claim 120, wherein the results of said monitoring are stored.

122. The system of claim 120, wherein the results of said monitoring are perceived by a user.

123. The system of claim 83, wherein said symbol memory is adapted to calculate a second distance, the second distance being the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from the at least one of said plurality of sets associated with said at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

124. The system of claim 83, wherein said first distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions.

125. The system of claim 124, wherein each of said plurality of sets has a common first value.

126. The system of claim 124, wherein said plurality of sets have a variable first value.

127. The system of claim 124, wherein said plurality of sets have first values that are distributed according to a pre-determined parameter.

128. The system of claim 124, wherein said plurality of sets have first values that are distributed according to statistics.

129. The system of claim 83, wherein said plurality of sets is a subset of a larger plurality of sets.

130. The system of claim 129, wherein said subset is comprised of at least one of said larger plurality of sets that falls within a range of said first value.

131. The system of claim 83, wherein said plurality of sets is comprised of object or content descriptions.

132. The system of claim 83 further comprising:

a first storage device adapted to store each of said first distance.

133. The system of claim 83, further comprising:

a filter adapted to filter the results of at least one of said symbol lookup server and said symbol expression lookup server.

134. The system of claim 133, wherein said filter is adapted to filter said results by specifying a maximum or minimum number of sets in said first list.

135. The system of claim 133, wherein said filter is adapted to filter said results by specifying a maximum or minimum number of object or content descriptions associated said first list.

136. The system of claim 83, wherein every binary representation in each of said plurality of sets is of equal distance to every other binary representation in that set, said distance calculated by a metric function.

137. The system of claim 83, wherein every binary representation in each of said plurality of sets is of equal Hamming distance to every other binary representation in that set.

138. The system of claim 137, wherein said Hamming distance is a value found within the range between 0 and a number equal to the length of the shortest of the binary representation in that set.

139. The system of claim 83, wherein said first distance is determined using a distance function.

140. The system of claim 83, wherein said query is a binary representation.

141. The system of claim 83, wherein said query is a plurality of binary representations.

142. The system of claim 83, wherein said query is an object or content description.

143. The system of claim 83, wherein the symbol memory is further adapted to map at least one of said plurality of binary representations found within at least two of said plurality of sets.

144. The system of claim 83, further comprising:

a multicomplementarity relation lookup component, the multicomplementarity relation lookup component adapted to create a second list, said second list comprising at least one of said plurality of binary representations found within at least two of said plurality of sets contained within said first list.

145. The system of claim 144, further comprising:

a multicomplementarity relation facet return component, said multicomplementarity relation facet return component adapted to create a third list, said third list comprising at least one of said plurality of sets found in said first list, the at least one of said plurality of sets found in said first list comprising a binary representation selected from said second list.

146. The system of claim 83, further comprising:

an impressionator.

147. The system of claim 146, wherein said impressionator is adapted to create a perceptual impression of a first value within said group of sets.

148. The system of claim 147, wherein said impressionator is further adapted to return said perceptual impression to a user.

149. The system of claim 147, further comprising:

a graphical user interface adapted to return said perceptual impression to said user.

150. The system of claim 146, wherein said first value is a difference between a first measurement and a second measurement within said group of sets.

151. The system of claim 146, wherein said first value is a change over time in a first measurement within said group of sets.

152. The system of claim 146, wherein said first value is a difference between a change over time in a first measurement within said group of sets and a change over time in a second measurement within said group of sets.

153. The system of claim 83, wherein said impressionator is adapted to create a perceptual impression of a first value, said first value being the difference between a value of a first user and a value of a second user.

154. The system of claim 83, wherein said identified object or content descriptions are perceived by a user.

155. The system of claim 83, further comprising:

a graphical user interface.

156. The system of claim 83, further comprising:

a first storage device adapted to store the generated plurality of sets.

157. The system of claim 83, wherein said symbol memory is an associative memory.

197. The program of claim 157, further comprising:

means to monitor changes to said first or second value over a period of time.

198. The program of claim 197, further comprising:

means to store the results of said monitoring.

199. The program of claim 197, further comprising:

means to make the results of said monitoring perceivable.

158. A program stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the program comprising:

means for generating a symbol backbone comprising a plurality of symbols, said means comprising;

(i) means for generating a plurality of sets, wherein each of said plurality of sets comprise at least one of a plurality of related binary representations; and

(ii) means for mapping one or more facets between two or more of said plurality of sets;

means for storing the generated symbol backbone in memory;

means for mapping a plurality of object or content descriptions to the symbol backbone, said means comprising;

(i) means for calculating a first distance between at least one of said plurality of sets and at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions; and

(ii) means for associating at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions with at least one of said plurality of sets based on said first distance;

means for retrieving at least one symbol within said symbol backbone, said means comprising;

(i) a means for receiving, from a user, a new query, wherein the new query is received after the plurality of sets have been generated;

(ii) means for associating the received new query with at least one of said plurality of sets; and

(iii) means for creating a first list, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets that are within a predetermined second distance to said received new query, said second distance being the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from said received new query; and

means for identifying each object or content description mapped to each set contained within said first list.

159. The program of claim 158, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets containing said query.

160. The program of claim 158, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets which do not contain said query.

161. The program of claim 158, wherein said second distance is a Hamming distance.

162. The program of claim 158, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets outside of said second distance.

163. The program of claim 158, wherein said first list comprises each of said plurality of sets equal to said second distance.

164. The program of claim 158, wherein each of said plurality of sets is associated with an address.

165. The program of claim 164, wherein each of said addresses is a single binary string, the single binary string comprising every of said binary representations of one of said plurality of sets.

166. The program of claim 165, further comprising:

means to order said binary representations by ascending decimal value; and

means to concatenate said ordered binary representations.

167. The program of claim 165, further comprising:

means to order said binary representations by descending decimal value; and

means to concatenate said ordered binary representations.

168. The program of claim 158, further comprising means to repeat at least one of said means.

169. The program of claim 158, wherein said means for associating at least one of said plurality of sets with at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions further comprises means for repeating said associating.

170. The program of claim 169, wherein said means for repeating continuously repeats said associating.

171. The program of claim 169, wherein said means for repeating repeats said associating at a pre-defined rate.

172. The program of claim 169, wherein said means for repeating repeats said associating in response to a stimulus.

173. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for monitoring the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets for any change in said association over a period of time.

174. The program of claim 173, further comprising:

means for storing the results of said monitoring.

175. The program of claim 173, further comprising:

means for perceiving the results of said monitoring.

176. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for monitoring the effect of said means for associating at least one of said plurality of sets with said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions, on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

177. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for monitoring the effect of an internal stimulus on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

178. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for monitoring the effect of an external stimulus on the association of the at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions with the at least one of said plurality of sets.

179. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to monitor changes to said plurality of sets over a period of time.

180. The program of claim 179, further comprising:

means to store the results of said monitoring.

181. The program of claim 179, further comprising:

means to make the results of said monitoring perceivable.

182. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to monitor changes to said first distance over a period of time.

183. The program of claim 182, further comprising:

means to store the results of said monitoring.

184. The program of claim 182, further comprising:

means to make the results of said monitoring perceivable.

185. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to monitor an aspect of said group of objects or content; and

means to convert the results of said monitoring into a self-describing object or content description.

186. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to calculate a second distance, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from said self-describing object or content description; and

means to associate at least one of said plurality of sets with said self-describing object or content description based on said first distance.

187. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to calculate a second distance, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets.

188. The program of claim 187, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from said at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from at least one of said generated plurality of sets.

189. The program of claim 187, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from said at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

190. The program of claim 187, further comprising:

means for determining which of said identified object or content descriptions are within a distance equal to or smaller than a maximum value of said second distance.

191. The program of claim 190, wherein said maximum value of said second distance is chosen by a user.

192. The program of claim 191, wherein the user chooses the maximum value of said second distance using a graphical user interface.

193. The program of claim 187, further comprising:

means for determining which of said identified object or content descriptions are within a distance equal to or larger than a minimum value of said second distance.

194. The program of claim 193, wherein said minimum value of said second distance is chosen by a user.

195. The program of claim 194, wherein the user chooses the minimum value of said second distance using a graphical user interface.

196. The program of claim 187, further comprising:

means to filter the results of at least one of said associating means using said second distance.

200. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to calculate a second distance, wherein said second distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions and a second value obtained from the at least one of said plurality of sets associated with said at least one of said plurality of object or content descriptions.

201. The program of claim 158, wherein said first distance is the difference between a first value obtained from at least one of said plurality of sets and a second value obtained from at least one of a plurality of object or content descriptions.

202. The program of claim 201, wherein each of said plurality of sets has a common first value.

203. The program of claim 201, wherein said plurality of sets have a variable first value.

204. The program of claim 201, wherein said plurality of sets have first values that are distributed according to a pre-determined parameter.

205. The program of claim 201, wherein said plurality of sets have first values that are distributed according to statistics.

206. The program of claim 158, wherein said plurality of sets is a subset of a larger plurality of sets.

207. The program of claim 206, wherein said subset is comprised of at least one of said larger plurality of sets that falls within a range of said first value.

208. The program of claim 158, wherein said plurality of sets is comprised of object or content descriptions.

209. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means to filter said first list or said identified object or content descriptions.

210. The program of claim 209, wherein said results are filtered by specifying a maximum or minimum number of sets in said first list.

211. The program of claim 209, wherein said results are filtered by specifying a maximum or minimum number of object or content descriptions associated said first list.

212. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for storing each of said first distances.

213. The program of claim 158, wherein every binary representation in each of said plurality of sets is of equal distance to every other binary representation in that set, said distance calculated by a metric function.

214. The program of claim 158, wherein every binary representation in each of said plurality of sets is of equal Hamming distance to every other binary representation in that set.

215. The program of claim 214, wherein said Hamming distance is a value found within the range between 0 and a number equal to the length of the shortest of the binary representation in that set.

216. The program of claim 158, wherein said query is a binary representation.

217. The program of claim 158, wherein said query is a plurality of binary representations.

218. The program of claim 158, wherein said query is an object or content description.

219. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for mapping at least one of said plurality of binary representations found within at least two of said plurality of sets.

220. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for creating a second list, said second list comprising at least one of said plurality of binary representations found within at least two of said plurality of sets contained within said first list.

221. The program of claim 220, further comprising:

means for creating a third list, said third list comprising at least one of said plurality of sets found in said first list, the at least one of said plurality of sets found in said first list comprising a binary representation selected from said second list.

222. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for returning said identified object or content descriptions to a user.

223. The program of claim 222, wherein said identified object or content descriptions are perceived by said user.

224. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

a graphical user interface.

225. The program of claim 158, wherein said graphical user interface is used to return said identified object or content descriptions to said user.

226. The program of claim 158, further comprising means for determining a first value within said group of sets.

227. The program of claim 226, further comprising:

means for creating a perceptual impression of said first value; and

means for returning said perceptual impression to a user.

228. The program of claim 227, wherein said means for returning said perceptual impression to said user is a graphical user interface.

229. The program of claim 227, wherein said identified object or content descriptions are perceived by a user.

230. The program of claim 226, wherein said first value is a difference between a first measurement and a second measurement within said group of sets.

231. The program of claim 226, wherein said first value is a change over time in a first measurement within said group of sets.

232. The program of claim 226, wherein said first value is a difference between a change over time in a first measurement within said group of sets and a change over time in a second measurement within said group of sets.

233. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means of determining a first value, wherein said first value is a difference between a value of a first user and a value of a second user.

234. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for storing the generated plurality of sets.

235. The program of claim 158, further comprising:

means for storing the associations.

236. The program of claim 158, wherein the means for associating a query with at least one of said plurality of sets comprises associative memory.