Method and system for displaying icons representing information items stored in a database

US6211876A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Edith Ackermann · Redmond, US
• Dennis Nathan Bromley · Issaquah, US
• David Ray DeMaso · Wellesley, US
• Sara Frances Frisken Gibson · Arlington, US
• Joseph Gonzalez-Heydrich · Milton, US
• Judith Galler Karlin · Wellesley, US
• Joseph W. Marks · Belmont, US
• Chia Shen · Pelham, US
• Carol Strohecker · Cambridge, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 22, 1998
• Grant date: Apr 3, 2001
• Expiry date: Jun 22, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S715/968
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for accessing an experience journal which includes unstructured text items relating to a topic, such as a medical condition. The method is implemented in a computer system including a processor, a storage device, a video display unit having a display screen, and a user interface. The unstructured text items are stored in the storage device. Similarities among the unstructured text items are determined, and icons, one corresponding to each of the unstructured text items, are displayed on the display screen. The icons are positioned on the display screen relative to each other, such that the distances between icons are representative of the determined similarities among the unstructured text items. In response to user selection of one of the icons, the corresponding unstructured text item is displayed on the display screen.