COMPUTER SYSTEM METHOD AND USER INTERFACE COMPONENTS FOR ABSTRACTING AND ACCESSING A BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

摘要

The computer system 20 and methods include a number of unique user interface mechanisms for visually linking the information provided to the user so that the user can easily understand the context relationship of such information. The information may be visually linked by marking a connector element extending between the first and second windows displayed on the computer display. In addition, information may be visually linked by applying one or more filter criteria 280 to the information element 42 and displaying the results. For example, the first and second filter criteria 82 may be applied to a plurality of information elements 42. At least a portion of the resulting set of filtered information elements 42 is displayed simultaneously. As another example, the filter criteria may be applied to the information element 42, in which case the filtered and unfiltered forms of the information element 42 are displayed simultaneously. Information may be visually and also linked through the adjusted scrolling relationship, in which case a portion of the first and second sets of filtered information elements 42 are displayed simultaneously in separate windows, Are traced so that they may also point to specific locations within the collection of knowledge 40. [ Also, when the information element type is combined with a common concept, the information may be visually linked by highlighting one of the pair of information element types in response to the selection of the other information element type.