Patent ID: 8700558

Claim:
A system for receiving input specifying at least two parameter values for determining a weight of a factor for making a decision among at least two choices, the system comprising: an output device, for: displaying a grid comprising at least two axes, each axis corresponding to a parameter for determining a weight of the factor; displaying, for each of the at least two choices, a movable control element at an initial position on the grid, the initial position having a position along a first axis of the grid and a position along a second axis of the grid, wherein all of the movable control elements have the same position along the second axis of the grid; and displaying, for each of the at least two choices, a rectangle representing a factor weight, the rectangle having dimensions determined by the position of the movable control element corresponding to the choice; a user input device, for receiving user input to move one of the movable control elements to a new position; and a processor, for: responsive to the user input indicating a change to the position of the movable control element along the first axis, causing the output device to move the movable control element along the first axis by an amount indicated by the user input: responsive to the user input indicating a change to the position of the movable control element along the second axis, causing the output device to move all of the movable control elements along the second axis by an amount indicated by the user input; for each moved control element, causing the output device to adjust the dimensions of the rectangle corresponding to the control element in accordance with the new position of the control element; for each of the at least two choices, determining a value for a first parameter based on the new position of the movable control element along the first axis; for each of the at least two choices, determining a value for a second parameter based on the new position of the movable control element along the second axis; for each of the at least two choices, determining a value for the factor weight based on a mathematical function combining the first and second parameter values; and for each of the at least two choices, assigning the factor weight to the factor.