Patent ID: 8195675

Claim:
A computerized method for navigating a data collection containing a plurality of data objects, said method comprising: displaying, by a computing device, one or more categorical selection elements; receiving, by the computing device, a selection of at least one of the categorical selection elements; displaying, by the computing device, at least one primary selection element associated with the selected at least one of the categorical selection elements, wherein the primary selection element is associated with a selected group of data objects contained in the data collection; extracting, by the computing device, metadata associated with one or more of the data objects of the selected group; extracting, by the computing device, metadata associated with one or more other data objects contained in the data collection; comparing, by the computing device, the extracted metadata associated with the data objects of the selected group with the extracted metadata associated with other data objects contained in the data collection to determine at least one link between the data objects of the selected group and the data objects of another group, said comparing the extracted metadata comprising calculating strength of association scores of the data objects to determine one or more relationships between the data objects based on the compared extracted metadata, said calculating comprising receiving at least one of a priority order of data objects for analysis; displaying, by the computing device, at least one secondary selection element associated with the other group of data objects linked with the selected group of data objects; displaying, by the computing device, the link between the groups of data objects in a manner visually depicting a relative strength of the link and a parameter independent of the basis for the link; receiving, by the computing device, a selection for either the primary selection element or for the secondary selection element; upon receiving the selection for the primary selection element, displaying, by the computing device, data associated with contents of the selected group of data objects, and upon receiving the selection for the secondary selection element, displaying, by the computing device, the selected secondary selection element as the primary selection element and repeating the comparing of the extracted metadata and the displaying of the secondary selection element.