Patent ID: 7197506

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of managing a collection of objects, the method comprising: selecting a property which is common to all of the objects, wherein the property is formed by a plurality of meaning instances, each meaning instance representing one dimension of meaning; creating at least one exemplar structure for each of the meaning instances, each exemplar structure comprising: (i) an object selected from the collection of objects; (ii) an exemplar; (iii) at least one broader term associated with the exemplar, which provides context to the exemplar; (iv) at least one attribute associated with the exemplar, which is a distinguishing feature of the exemplar; and (v) sense and synonym sets, which are automatically attached to the at least one attribute when the exemplar structure for the respective meaning instance has been defined; prototypically categorizing the exemplar structures; and using the exemplar structures to access information regarding the collection of objects.