Patent ID: 7634733

Claim:
A method of providing a contextual historical summary display within a viewable area on a patient summary interface display of a computer terminal for a plurality of images wherein each image is associated with a date and adapted to be displayed on a diagnostic interface display of the computer terminal, said method comprising: (a) sorting the plurality of images using a processor into one or more image groups according to date and associating a representative icon with each image group; (b) initially grouping using the processor one or more representative icons together according to a first selection of time periods; (c) determining using the processor whether all of the representative icons will fit within the viewable area of the patient summary interface display when grouped according to the first selection of time periods; (d) if (c) is true then displaying the representative icons within the viewable area of the patient summary interface display according to the grouping in (b); and (e) if (c) is false then further grouping using the processor the representative icons according to a second selection of time periods and displaying the representative icons within the viewable area of the patient summary interface display, wherein at least one of the time periods in the second selection is comprised of two or more time periods from the first selection.