System and method for browsing node-link structures based on an estimated degree of interest

Claim 3

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein generating a DOI value for each of the plurality of nodes further comprises: b1) assigning a highest DOI value to said one or more focus nodes; b2) for each sibling of the focus nodes assigning a DOI value less than the highest DOI value and based upon an order of the sibling node; and b3) for all remaining nodes, assigning a DOI value less than that of the parent node.

Claim 4

The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising: f) detecting that a user has selected a new focus node; g) generating an updated DOI value for each of the plurality of nodes relative to the new focus node; h) reassigning node display sizes in response to the undated DOI value: i) using the updated degree of interest value for each of the plurality of nodes to generate a second lay out of the linked information according to the visualization technique so that the representation of the linked information is displayed completely in the display area; and j) animating on the display a transition from the first lay out to the second lay out.

Claim 5

The method as recited in claim 1 wherein generating the first lay out of the said plurality of nodes further comprises: d1) determining size constraints for the display area; d2) generating the first lay out of the nodes in a manner such that nodes with highest DOI values are most completely displayed; d3) adjusting display of nodes with lower DOI values based on the size constraints for the display area.

Claim 6

The method as recited in claim 4 wherein adjusting display of nodes with lower DOI values based on the size constraints for the display further comprises performing node compression.

Claim 7

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of displaying a representation of an entire collection of linked information using a visualization technique in a display area, the linked information comprising a plurality of nodes each having one or more links to other of the plurality of nodes, the method comprising: a) identifying one or more focus nodes from plurality of nodes; b) assigning a highest degree of interest (DOI) value to each of the focus nodes; c) for each sibling of the focus nodes assigning a DOI value less than the highest DOI value and based upon an order of the sibling node: d) for all remaining nodes, assigning a DOI value less than that of the parent node: e) assigning a node display size from to each of the plurality of nodes in response to the DOI values to each of the plurality of nodes, the assigned node display size being a one of a limited set of node display size, nodes with a higher DOI being assigned a larger node display size; f) generating a first lay out of the plurality of nodes according to the visualization technique so that the representation of the linked information is displayed completely in said display area; g) displaying the first lay out of linked information in the display area.

Claim 8

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of displaying a representation of an entire collection of linked information using a visualization technique in a display area, the linked information comprising a plurality of nodes each having one or more links to other of the plurality of nodes, the method comprising: a) identifying one or more focus nodes from plurality of nodes; b) assigning a highest degree of interest (DOI) value to each of the focus nodes; c) for each sibling of the focus nodes assigning a DOI value less than the highest DOI value and based upon an order of the sibling node: d) for all remaining nodes, assigning a DOI value less than that of the parent node: e) assigning a node display size from to each of the plurality of nodes in response to the DOI values to each of the plurality of nodes, the assigned node display size being a one of a limited set of node display size, nodes with a higher DOI being assigned a larger node display size; f) generating a first lay out of the plurality of nodes according to the visualization technique so that the representation of the linked information is displayed completely in said display area; g) displaying the first lay out of linked information in the display area.