Patent Document ID: 7730429
Application ID: 11004081

Base Claim:
1. A machine-assisted method comprising: providing a graphical user interface (GUI) including an idea map window for displaying and editing a graphical representation of a hierarchical network of graphical nodes, the nodes graphically representing ideas, and graphical links between ones of the nodes, the links graphically representing relationships between the ideas, a particular node being capable of being associated with corresponding text and an associated image; providing a word processor document window for displaying textual and image information, associated with respective nodes of the hierarchical network, in a word processor document; automatically organizing the displayed textual information for the user into a textual sequence displayed in the word processor document window, wherein an image associated with the particular node is displayed in the word processor window together with text associated with the particular node; and obtaining the textual sequence by automatically hierarchically processing the graphical representation of the hierarchical network of graphical nodes displayed in the idea map window, including, beginning with a graphically displayed root node, automatically hierarchically processing for a particular graphically displayed node any graphically displayed linked children nodes according to an ordering convention that uses only one of a clockwise manner or an anticlockwise manner as the linked children nodes are graphically displayed about their respective graphically displayed parent nodes in the hierarchical network of graphical nodes displayed in the idea map window, then proceeding to similarly automatically hierarchically process any linked children nodes according to the same ordering convention; concurrently displaying the idea map window and the word processor document window; and automatically updating the word processing document window with information from any changes in the idea map window, including automatically updating the text and image in the word processing window live, in real time, as the corresponding graphical nodes in the idea map window are being manipulated by the user.

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Claim 2:
2. The method of claim 1 , in which the graphical representation is a two-dimensional (2D) graphical representation.