Patent ID: 8245157

Claim:
A system comprising a computing device, a display, and software implemented by said computing device for controlling the display in order to assist a user in the development of courses of action or strategies, said software comprising: instructions for enabling the use to select a plurality of icons or symbols that represent strategies or plays to be carried out by or on behalf of an individual or organization, wherein said icons or symbols are arranged in groups according to degree of confrontation and/or ease of execution, said instructions for enabling the user to select a plurality of icons or symbols including instructions for executing the following display-controlling steps: (a) displaying a plurality of icons or symbols that represent irreducible strategems or “plays” to be carried out by, or on behalf of, an individual or organization, said icons of symbols being arranged in a taxonomic table divided into a number of groups, categories, or classes arranged according to a degree of confrontation or ease of execution, each group, category, or class containing one or more plays; (b) upon selection by a user of one of the groups, categories, or classes, displaying definitions and information on the selected group, category, or class; (c) displaying subgroups associated with the selected group, category, or class, and icons or symbols included in the displayed subgroups; (d) upon selection by a user of one of the icons or symbols in a group, category, or subgroup, displaying definitions and information on the plays, said information including any combination of: related plays or terms, case examples, upsides and downsides, best uses, and/or guidelines and best practices for decoding, counteracting, and complementing the plays; (e) enabling icons or symbols representing plays selected by the user to be manipulated in order to illuminate patterns, trends, tendencies, and sequences of marketplace strategic influence activity, thereby enabling a user to anticipate consequences of executing the selected plays.