Abstract:
A document display system and method for enhancing the effectiveness of a user interface includes one or more tiles, a spatial modifier, and a variable display region. Document data of multiple abstraction levels is obtained and represented at one of the abstraction levels in a document representation within a variable display region of the tile. The tile can be spatially modified by position and dimension having a tile position and tile dimensions. Upon escaping a particular range of tile dimensions, the document representation alters the abstraction level portrayed therein.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to the field of data arrangement and more specifically to the field of graphical user interfaces. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    A growing number of individuals, businesses, and government agencies rely on computer and electronic technologies to create, store, analyze, and retrieve information such as documents, data and/or images. Presenting the information by outputting requested documents, data, and/or images to a user is increasingly important for efficient sifting, navigation and analysis of the information. Several standard models of document layout are currently in use. One example of a document layout is a list layout that sorts the documents according to set criteria and outputs brief summaries for each document in a list order. This is the type used by many of the internet search engines, such as Google®. Another model is a tree map that lays out the documents in a grid of squares that are interrelated to one another. U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,332 B2, for example, discloses a user interface that displays a hierarchy of information using a plurality of nodes. 
         [0003]    Present document layout models have several drawbacks. A significant drawback is the model&#39;s inability to use the available space on a screen efficiently. Furthermore, the information is often not presented in a manner consistent with how humans cognitively learn, organize, and retrieve information. These drawbacks may increase the amount of time, effort, and money a user must expand in order to find the pertinent document. There is a need for a document display system that provides efficient visualization and/or manipulation of information. 
         [0004]    Therefore, there is a need for a document display system having an efficient means for spatially altering a document or its contents using a conventional rectangular text rendering algorithm or subroutine; that allows a space-efficient and natural means to visually separate the text of adjacent tiles; and that allows the maximum number of neighbors for each document possible in a homogeneous grid. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    The present invention is directed to a document display system and method. The document display system includes one or more tiles, a spatial modifier, and a variable display region. The tile has tile dimensions and a tile position. A spatial modifier acts to alter the tile dimensions, e.g. by panning, and the tile position, e.g. by scrolling either vertically or horizontally. Within each tile exists the variable display region. The variable display region displays a document representation, which may include one of multiple varieties of document abstraction levels. Each document representation derives from a document having document data. Dependent upon the tile dimensions, the document representation varies in its information abstraction level. 
         [0006]    A method of displaying documents of the present invention includes obtaining document data having at least two levels of information abstraction. The document data is represented in a document representation within a visual tile. The tile has a tile position and tile dimensions, and may be spatially modified in depth or position. As the tile dimensions are modified, the document representation changes between the levels of information abstraction. 
         [0007]    A preferred method of displaying documents includes obtaining document data for multiple documents having at least two abstraction levels. The document data is represented in a document representation enclosed within a hexagonal tile having a tile position and tile dimensions. Among regular geometric shapes, a hexagonal tile is a preferred means of display as the hexagonal perimeter maximizes the number of tile neighbors possible within a homogenous grid. Neighboring relationships may represent important visual data, as the preferred method further sequences the hexagonal tile based on interrelated document data. 
         [0008]    Therefore, it is an aspect of the present invention to present a document display system having an efficient means for spatially altering a document or its contents using a conventional rectangular text rendering algorithm or subroutine. 
         [0009]    It is a further aspect of the present invention to present a document display system that allows a space-efficient and natural means to visually separate the text of adjacent tiles. 
         [0010]    It is a further aspect of the present invention to present a document display system that allows the maximum number of neighbors for each document possible in a homogeneous grid. 
         [0011]    These aspects of the invention are not meant to be exclusive. Furthermore, some features may apply to certain versions of the invention, but not others. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art when read in conjunction with the following description, and accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a flowchart view of an embodiment of the method of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart view of an embodiment of the method of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  is a representation of an embodiment of the system of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0024]    Referring first to  FIG. 1 , a basic embodiment of the method of displaying documents  100  is shown. The document display method  100  includes the step of obtaining  102  document data having at least two abstraction levels. The document data derives from the content of machine readable documents; documents suitable for use by the present method include any machine readable document bearing visible, language data. Examples of suitable documents include MS WORD documents, portable data files, hypertext markup language, rich text formats, plain text formats, and the like. 
         [0025]    The document includes within its document data at least two levels of abstraction. By levels of abstraction, it is meant that the document includes two varieties of information, preferably of differing levels of informational specificity, relating to a single content source. A prime example of a document having multiple levels of abstraction includes scientific papers; a scientific paper will generally include at the highest level of abstraction: a title; at a second, lower level of abstraction: an abstract; and at the lowest level of abstraction: the scientific findings. Each level of abstraction relates to the document data, but each level of abstraction present the data related to a single source on separate levels of informational specificity. 
         [0026]    Upon obtaining document data, the method  100  represents  104  one of the levels of abstraction in a document representation within a tile. The document representation is the portion of the tile that displays the level of abstraction relating to the document data. The tile has both a tile position and tile dimensions. The modifying  106  step of the present invention allows the tile position and the tile dimensions to be spatially modified. That is to say, in modifying the tile a user may scroll the position of the tile horizontally or vertically relative to the view screen. The tile dimensions may be modified as a user pans (i.e. zooms) in and out relative to the tile. 
         [0027]    The document representation is altered  108  between abstraction levels based on the tile dimensions. In altering the document representation, it is preferred that each level of document data information abstraction be assigned a pre-set range of values corresponding to the dimension of the tile. Upon surpassing or descending from the pre-set range of values, the document representation would then alter to a second level of document data information abstraction. It is preferred that smaller dimensions trigger the method  100  to display the data of higher abstraction, while conversely, larger tile dimensions trigger the to method  100  to display the data of lower abstraction.  FIG. 2 , which depicts the system  200  of the present invention, shows a view screen  210  displaying the tile  202  defining an interior display region supporting a document representation  206  portraying document data  204   a  of a low abstraction level—shown here as Adam Smith&#39;s  The Wealth of Nations . As a user opts to pan out to shrink the dimensions of the tile  202  within the view screen  210 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , the document representation  206  alters to display document data of a different level of abstraction  204   b , shown here as the title of Adam Smith&#39;s great work. 
         [0028]    The present invention is not tied to any particular dimensions that initiate the change between abstraction levels; it is, however, preferred that the abstraction levels change at a point from a lower level of abstraction to a higher level of abstraction when the lower level of abstraction becomes illegible to a target user. Similarly, it is preferred that in increasing the dimensions of the tile, that the document representation alters from a level of abstraction to a lower level of abstraction as the document data of the lower level of abstraction becomes legible to a target user in the contemporaneous tile dimensions. 
         [0029]    As is shown in  FIG. 4 , the present invention allows a user to efficiently view multiple documents, within the tiles  202 , upon a single view screen  210 . A user may utilize a spatial modifier, shown here as a pointer  212 , to reposition the frame within the view screen  210  to allow the user to view one or more documents of choice. Although the visual indicator of a pointer, as originate from computer input devices such as a mouse or track ball, will often be capable of horizontal and vertical adjustment of a screen; the system  200  must be capable of modification by depth. In modifying the system  200  in depth, it is preferred that the track wheel of a mouse or track ball be initiated to alter the depth of the view screen to adjust the dimensions of the tile  202 . In attempting to locate another document or set of documents having a subject matter, the user may pan out to view the documents within the view screen  210  at a second level of abstraction (e.g. a title) more amenable to rapid scanning, as  FIG. 5  shows. 
         [0030]    A preferred implementation of the present invention is depicted in the method of displaying a document  100  of  FIG. 6 . The method  100  obtains  132  document data from multiple machine readable documents provided or specified to the system. The document collection could include a user&#39;s explicit selection one or more locally stored files, documents stored over a network, web pages via a mechanism such as a uniform resource locator, a user-initiated search using an external search engine such as GOOGLE, or the like. This collection of documents may also be assembled by other general control logic, such as a mechanism which retrieves documents based upon a database of documents similar to documents which the user already requested. The present invention, however, is not meant to be limited to any specific, present or future machine readable documents; the sole limitation is that the documents include machine readable, visible language or pictorial data. 
         [0031]    The machine readable document is read into the system via a parser which recognizes its specific machine readable format, as is commonly understood in the field. A parser recognizes structure, formatting, and content encoding and produces a corresponding document model within a memory. The method  100  then represents  134  the document in a document representation. The document representation step  134  accepts as input the document model, view port parameters, and a region size metric, and generates a document representation appropriate to the region size and view port parameters. A view port, in the context of this disclosure, is an area of a representation of a rendered document. In the most common case, this could be a rectangular area of a 2D raster image which contains a rendering of a document&#39;s text. In a trivial implementation, this stage simply uses the original document model with no modification as the new document representation. 
         [0032]    View port parameters are the numeric parameters which define a view port. In a trivial case, they may comprise two numbers which measure the offset into a 2-dimensional raster image of the top left-hand corner of a rectangular view port, and two additional numbers which measure the width and height in pixels of the view port into the raster. However, view port parameters may also be measured relative to positions within a document, such as the view of a particular paragraph, instead of being indexed into a particular raster rendering of that document. As shown in  FIG. 7 , it is preferred that the document representation  206  having document data  204  be encapsulated within a hexagonal tile  202  having tile dimensions and a tile position. As an example the document data may be a text file of Richard Adam&#39;s  Watership Down.    
         [0033]    Returning to  FIG. 6 , the method  100 , having previously accessed the document data for multiple machine readable documents in the obtaining  132  step of the present invention, sequences  136  the hexagonal tiles based on interrelated document data. An example of sequencing results is depicted in  FIG. 8 . The present invention scans the document data using known means of related document data to ascertain related documents and files, and then sequences those related documents in a position related to a particular relationship. Continuing with the  Watership Down  example, the present invention may scan the work for internal citations and position the work of R. M. Lockley northeast (by the figure) and directly proximate to the  Watership Down  file. The present invention may scan for documents and files related to the different themes of  Watership Down  to discern the themes of rabbits and use of animals in political commentaries and respectively sequence Audrey Pavia&#39;s  Rabbits for Dummies  east (by the figure) and George Orwell&#39;s  Animal Farm  west (by the figure) in relationship to  Watership Down . The present invention may further scan the document data of  Watership Down  to sequence more practical information, such as a map of Hampshire, England southeast (by the figure) thereof. 
         [0034]    The collected documents may include multiple levels of interrelationship. At one level of close interrelationship the present invention may sequence related documents based on their respective document data into document clusters  252 . These document clusters  252  include document representations  206  within hexagonal tiles  202 . Documents having document data  204  of lesser relationship may be positioned in lesser proximity to the documents with which the relationship is shared. As  FIG. 9  illustrates, in such situations it is preferred that the relationship be visually established by the presence of a node line  250 . The node lines allow a user to visually follow the relationship to the document data of other documents. Each cluster  252  may lead to other clusters  252 , which in turn are connected by node lines  250  to other clusters  252 . 
         [0035]    Returning to  FIG. 6 , the user may spatially modify  138  the tile(s) by position and depth. The preferred means for repositioning the tile includes altering the viewable region of a view screen  210  rather than manipulating a single tile. That is to say, tiles do not move; the position from which a user views the tile is relocated. The preferred means for relocating the view of tile(s) includes by position and depth. Other preferred means for relocating the view of a tile in a 3-dimensional space includes tilting. As  FIG. 10 . shows, 3-dimensional navigation through the clusters  252  may be greatly aided by the ability to rotate the viewable region of the view screen  210 . 
         [0036]    Returning to  FIG. 6 , the document representation within tiles alters  140  between the various abstractions of the document data within the documents. This is not to say that all documents collecting in the obtaining step  132  are required to include multiple levels of abstraction, but a substantial number of documents include multiple levels of abstraction. It is preferred that at least two documents include multiple levels of abstraction. It is preferred that smaller dimensions trigger the method  100  to display the data of higher abstraction, while conversely, larger tile dimensions trigger the method  100  to display the data of lower abstraction. 
         [0037]    The levels of abstraction will depend on the documents according to the method. The document data of the present invention will include at least two levels of abstraction, although these documents having this document data may be intermingled with documents having a single level of document abstraction. The abstraction level of the document data may include for example: the natural document data, a document title, a section title, a chapter number, an abstract, a summary, a key word representations and summaries, conclusions, and other means for representing a document using less than the entirety of the document. The present invention may utilize at least two abstraction levels, but may include as many levels of abstraction—each present in a particular range of tile dimensions—as desired to effectively implement the present invention. 
         [0038]    As  FIG. 6  shows, the present invention further tracks  142  the document data of the documents. Upon noting an alteration or change in the document data of the document, the present invention may further alter a visual representation of a tile or its document representation in order to alert a user to the change of document data. As  FIGS. 11 and 12  show, one preferred means of visual representation alteration includes altering the size of the document representation and the tile dimensions having its document data altered. The tile dimensions may be increased, decreased, or a combination of the two to promote a flashing effect. A further visual representation alteration includes altering the color of the document representation by either altering the color of the document data of a particular abstraction level, or simply altering the color tint of the document representation within the tile. 
         [0039]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions would be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.