User interface for managing semantic objects

• US 20040220893A1
• Filed: 11/20/2003
• Published: 11/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiver LLC
• Original Assignee: Radar Networks Incorporated (EVRI Incorporated)
• Inventors: Spivack, Nova, Thorisson, Kristinn R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,398,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

In a semcard management application, a user interface that consists of several panels that facilitate the use of semcards, the objects they represent, and the knowledge network is described. These panels include an entry point panel, a filter panel, a results panel, and a viewer. One category of entry points is referred to as “context” entry points. Contexts allow semcards to be organized into hierarchically arranged categories. After the user has created a context, this context can be used as an entry point to a set of semcards meeting a certain criteria.

Another way a user can select semcards meeting certain criteria, in combination with entry points or when no specific entry points are available, is to use a filtering mechanism. This allows a user to quickly select a subset of semcards or a single semcard in an ad hoc manner. Filtering is based on a collection of filter panels and system rules. Filters allow a user to select semcards based on their semantic dimensions, meta-data (or content), and other features. Filters are input-output devices where the input is a collection of semcards or other collection of elements with semantic dimensions, and the output is typically a subset of the input. Rules and ontologies determine which features can be used for each filter panel that appears in the user interface. Filter panels can be displayed in the user interface in a non-stacked or overlaying configuration or in a stacked configuration. Other configurations are also possible, such as tree-structures, separate windows, and graph structures.

Claims

1. A user interface for performing operations on a collection of semantic objects, the user interface comprising:

a context panel containing one or more context entry points, wherein semantic objects are organized into hierarchically arranged categories; and

a filtering panel wherein filters are utilized to identify a set of semantic objects, the filters selected based on a set of rules and wherein a pre-defined set of filters can be saved as a reusable filter element in the user interface.

2. A method of filtering semantic objects from a set of semantic objects, the method comprising:

creating a set of filters wherein a filter is selected from a collection of features wherein the filters in the set of filters maybe limited by rules; and

applying the set of filters to a set of semantic objects thereby deriving a subset of semantic objects.

3. A method of organizing semantic objects, the method comprising:

creating a context containing one or more semantic objects wherein the semantic objects are selected based on a criteria chosen by a user;

sharing the context with one or more peers on a network;

performing operations in a context thereby informing one or more peers on the network that operations are being performed in the context; and

selecting a current work context such that any operations performed on the computing device containing the context is associated with the current work context and semantic objects contained in the current work context.