Patent ID: 8549436

Claim:
A method of providing a visual web search interface, the method comprising: determining a plurality of search query records from a search query; creating a first moveable thumbnail object representing one of the plurality of search query records; creating a second moveable thumbnail object representing one of the plurality of search query records; creating a third moveable thumbnail object representing one of the plurality of search query records; creating a flip-page metaphor in a graphical user interface, the flip-page metaphor having a foreground display position with at least one display position located on a first side of the foreground display position, and at least one background display position located on a second side of the foreground display position, wherein the at least one background display positions located on each side are cascaded such that the background display positions of each side radiate from the foreground display position, no overlap occurs between the background display positions of each side, and the foreground display position overlaps the first background display position of the first side and the first background display position of the second side; displaying the first moveable thumbnail object in the foreground display position of the flip-page metaphor; displaying the second moveable thumbnail object in the first background display position of the first side of the foreground display position of the flip-page metaphor; displaying the third moveable thumbnail object in the first background display position of the second side of the foreground display position of the flip-page metaphor; displaying the second moveable thumbnail object in the foreground display position and the first moveable thumbnail object in the first background display position of the second side of the foreground display position, responsive to movement of a mouse in a first direction along a first axis; displaying the third moveable thumbnail object in the foreground display position and the first moveable thumbnail object in the first background display position of the first side of the foreground display position, responsive to movement of the mouse in a second direction along the first axis; undocking a moveable thumbnail object from the flip-page metaphor responsive to mouse-dragging the object on a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis; dragging and dropping an undocked moveable thumbnail object to user selected locations within the graphic user interface; firing an event related to the moveable thumbnail object; dynamically generating a plurality of drop areas responsive to the search query records returned; and modifying the search query itself responsive to moveable thumbnail objects being dropped into the drop areas.