Patent ID: 8407234

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for ordering a plurality of elements, wherein each of the plurality of elements has at least one corresponding attribute, the method comprising: (A) identifying a first subset of the plurality of elements associated with a first attribute by selecting, from among the plurality of elements, at least one element having the first attribute; (B) identifying a first weight associated with the first attribute; (C) removing, from the first subset, a number of elements based on the first weight, to produce a first reduced subset of the plurality of elements; (D) identifying a second subset of the plurality of elements associated with a second attribute by selecting, from among the plurality of elements, at least one element having the second attribute; (E) identifying a second weight associated with the second attribute, wherein the second weight differs from the first weight; (F) removing, from the second subset, a number of elements based on the second weight, to produce a second reduced subset of the plurality of elements; (G) identifying a plurality of regions, each of which corresponds to a distinct combination of zero or more of the first and second attributes, wherein the plurality of regions includes a first region including a first and second element in the plurality of elements and a second region including a third and fourth element in the plurality of elements; (H) for each region R in the plurality of regions, identifying a corresponding weight sum for region R comprising a sum of the weights of the zero or more attributes corresponding to R; (I) for each region R, ordering elements within region R to produce an ordered list of elements corresponding to region R, thereby producing a plurality of ordered lists of elements corresponding to the plurality of regions; and (J) combining the plurality of ordered lists of elements, in decreasing order of the weight sums corresponding to the plurality of ordered lists, to produce an ordered list of the plurality of elements.