Patent ID: 7006922

Claim:
A method of representing a plurality of constituents of a sample, the method comprising the steps of: accessing a database of constituent attribute data, determining a range of expression for each attribute or plurality of attributes by analyzing the constituent attribute data in the database, determining an attribute expression for each attribute of each constituent of the sample or plurality of attributes of each constituent of the sample, determining if each attribute expression is within or equal to the determined range, designating the constituent as acceptable when the corresponding attribute expression is within the determined range and designating the constituent as unacceptable when expression is not within the determined range, generating an icon having a base member and a plurality of finger members such that each finger member of the plurality of finger members corresponds to at least one constituent of the sample and each finger member has a base and a length which are functions of an expression of at least one attribute of the corresponding constituent and such that the base member has a first portion and a second portion where the base of each finger member corresponding to a constituent designated as acceptable is positioned on the first portion of the base member and the base of each finger member corresponding to a constituent designated as unacceptable is positioned on the second portion of the base member, and displaying the icon.