Patent ID: 8120618

Claim:
A method for positioning objects on a viewing area, the method comprising the steps of: specifying a plurality of objects; specifying a plurality of object pairs from the plurality of objects; specifying a potential function for each one of the specified plurality of object pairs; specifying a similarity value (s) for each one of the specified object pairs; determining an energy (e) for each one of the potential functions; solving for a minimum total energy (E) of the plurality of potential functions such that a distance (r) between objects in each of the specified object pairs is determined; specifying a first constant (a) for each potential function; specifying a second constant (b) for each potential function; specifying a third constant (c) for each potential function; wherein each one of the potential functions defining the energy (e) of each one of the specified object pairs is specified by e ( r,s )= a/r+bsr 2 +cr and wherein E is determined by summing the determined energies of each one of the specified object pairs; and outputting the plurality of objects for display on a display device according to the determined distances.