Patent ID: 7188055

Claim:
A method for graphically interfacing between a computer system and a user, wherein the computer system interactively displays objects representative of chemical compounds, wherein distances between the objects represent dissimilarity between the corresponding chemical compounds, comprising: (1) receiving a user selected list of chemical compounds; (2) displaying objects representative of the user-selected chemical compounds in a window of a display screen, wherein distances between the objects represent dissimilarity between the corresponding chemical compounds; (3) receiving user input relating to one or more of the following: (i) deleting one or more of the objects from the window; (ii) adding one or more additional objects to the window; (iii) displaying chemical compound information associated with one or more of the objects; (iv) selecting between having the computer system evaluate the dissimilarities or retrieve dissimilarity values from a source; (v) selecting one or more dissimilarity evaluation techniques; (vi) selecting one or more properties to be evaluated as part of a dissimilarity evaluation; (vii) selecting a scaling factor for one or more of the properties.