Patent ID: 6917943

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of representing data on a computer as a collection of finite distributive lattices for facilitating information retrieval in response to a query, comprising the steps of: selecting one or more entity types within an application, each entity type being a single entity type; constructing a distinct table to represent each entity type selected in said selecting step, such that there is a one-to-one correspondence between respective tables and entity types; for each table executing steps of constructing a column in the table for a respective attribute of the entity type, such that there is a one-to-one correspondence between columns and attributes of the entity type; constructing a row in the table for each entity of the entity type, such that there is a one-to-one correspondence between rows and entities; entering attribute data into rows of the table; specifying a row graph which represents an externally specified ordering relationship between the rows of the table; and defining a finite distributive lattice (FDL) from the row graph to have a member for each row and each distinct combination of the rows of the table, wherein two combinations of rows are distinct if they do not represent a same ordering relationship.