Patent ID: 8583618

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a processor, a plurality of search results; selecting, by the processor, a graphical format in which to present the search results from a plurality of graphical formats based on metadata of the plurality of search results; presenting the plurality of search results in the selected graphical format; wherein the selecting the graphical format comprises: determining a first type of metadata based on which the plurality of search results are to be ordered; determining a distribution of the plurality of search results along the first type of metadata; selecting a linear graphical format if a uniformity of the distribution is greater than a threshold value; and selecting a list format that is different than the linear graphical format if the uniformity of the distribution is not greater than the threshold value; wherein the linear graphical format includes an axis representing the first type of metadata; and wherein the list format does not include an axis representing the first type of metadata; the method further comprising: determining, by the processor, the uniformity of the distribution using an information entropy calculation, wherein information entropy is calculated as being the expectation value of the information content, the information content expressed as information entropy, wherein information entropy is proportional to the negative of a sum of a set of products wherein the set of products are proportional to the product of: a set of probabilities of a set of states, and a set of logarithms of the set of probabilities of the set of states.