GB2379289A

GB2379289A - Multi-dimensional data storage and retrieval using multiple overlapping categorisations

Info

Publication number: GB2379289A
Application number: GB0113614A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gordon Ross
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-06-04
Filing date: 2001-06-04
Publication date: 2003-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 2021-06-04
Also published as: GB0113614D0; GB2379289B

Abstract

With the explosion of Web content there is a need to better manage information. Mathematics and Logic make use of non-overlapping hierarchical classifications. Human information processing requires a paradigm shift. A frequent human process is to use multi-dimensional and overlapping categorisation. This novel method uses shared categorisation cycles to extend the cognitive process to human-computer-content interaction. Using multi-dimensional information structures, and combining this with pre-defined, shared categories, information is represented within iterative, multi-dimensional structures. Information content can simultaneously appear in multiple categories. The structure mirrors human cognitive abilities where multiple categories play their part in information assimilation and interpretation. The method handles the creation, transmission, display, interaction and storage of information into multiple overlapping and non-exclusive categories, and differentiates classes of event, experience and activity, to ensure sources and streams of content are categorised for human-computer interaction. The method supports content, community, computing and communications within and across devices.

Description

A Method for Multi-dimensional Processing and Interaction Using Iterative Categorisation Cycles and Multiple Overlapping Categorisations.

Scope of the Invention The present invention relates to methods and processes for creating and sharing structured information frameworks based on cycles of categorisation, that have multiple and overlapping elements, the resulting interchanges made possible between individuals, groups, documents and devices by such structuring and sharing, the communications, community and commerce implications, together with the infrastructure, features, facilities, devices, and knowledge to support same including but not limited to hardware, software, communications and content.

Copyright Notice Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark office patent file or records but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Background The pace of technological change shows no sign of slowing. Hardware advances have delivered a level of computer processing at a unit price that was undreamed of 30 years ago. Yet much of what we know about and experience with personal computing was first devised 30 and more years ago in the PARC research labs of Xerox at Palo Alto when computers were limited and expensive. To a very great extent the personal computing experience today is almost identical to that of 20 years ago when the Xerox 8010"Star"workstation was first commercially deployed together with the associated 10 MB Ethernet network and Xerox laser printer. This gave advanced document production, e-mail and mainframe linking capabilities to individuals and groups.

What has changed in the intervening period, apart from colour displays, is the adoption of the Internet as the predominant technical method of network linking and communications, and the global adoption of the World Wide Web for the creation and sharing of documents. The phenomenal growth means that tens of millions of people are now potential publishers on a global scale. Yet the base human-computer-content interface remains largely unchanged.

Important differences in the way human-computer interaction takes place are beginning to emerge, with the development of component software applications such

as Instant Messenger, ICQ (I seek you) and others that allow on line chat between user. From electronic mail, which is still largely a one-way transaction of"send and forget", the infrastructure has evolved into a two, and more, way vehicle for communication, with Web-based mail freeing the individual from office machine based dependence. How the human-computer-content interface needs to evolve to take account of such developments is addressed by the present novel invention, which takes cycles of categorisation to deliver information and processing and navigation structures. This will support the migration towards more network-centric applications.

A similar transition can be seen in the evolution from simply browsing a site to wanting to participate in some form of electronic transaction. Again the transition is from one way to two-way activity. The current infrastructures can deal with the requirements of two or multi-way communication, but we should not forget one of the design criteria of the Internet was to essentially"send and forget"documents and mail. Delivery delays were part of the original design and are therefore unpredictable, making quality of service difficult to support. Likewise demands for security of transactions are far greater than originally envisaged. We therefore need to ask whether there are other human-computer-networking models that are more appropriate to today's requirements.

Problem Psychologists see the difference between data and information as information being ordered and segmented by various forms of classification or categorisation.

Approaches to computer processing have not generally recognised the psychological processes of multiple and overlapping categories as a brief review of some of the literature indicates.

A computer spreadsheet is a good example where complex data can be represented in a series of tables or notebooks (US Patent 5,572, 644 1996). Yet all such spreadsheets have a basic limitation which is data, although it can be combined in many different ways, follows logical rather than psychological processes. The same item cannot appear in two different places at once. In contrast in psychological processes a single items can appear simultaneously in different places at the same time without difficulty.

The have been inventions exploiting the logical framework of non-over-overlapping or mutually exclusive categories, ranging from the storage of information in multidimensional structures in computer memory (US Patent 5,359, 724 of 1994), through to high dimensional indexing in a multi-media database (US Patent 5,647, 058 of 1997). The latter looked at ways of extracting similarity features from an object in a database by assessing mathematically the similarity features between various elements.

These logical approaches have little relevance to the psychological processes of grouping and re-grouping items in categories and classes where there may be larger differences within a category or class than between categories or classes. Rather than extracting features to determine similarity the novel invention descried here uses psychological process of categorisation to follow a different route by imposing (not

extracting) additional features or meaning onto items to group them as"similar". The limits of feature-extraction and similarity indexing are addressed by the present invention that takes a different starting point of the psychological not logical processes in content understanding, community activities and computing and communications processes. By repeatedly applying a cycle of categorisation ever more sophisticated information, processing and navigation structures can be built. A significant advantage is that because there is only one reference framework for the three domains of computing, content and people processes, it is possible to coordinate from the outset activities across these three diverse domains.

There have been advances in recent years with databases of various types, dealing with structured data or searching large streams of unstructured text for keywords and phrases. Search engines of increasingly sophisticated types have been developed to bring some degree of order to the large volumes of raw data that now circulated around the Internet and World Wide Web. The art of parallel processing (US Patent number 5,765, 146, of 1998) has sought to eliminate delays between an enquiry and delivery of the results, while the notion of multi-dimensional cubes has been applied to data ranges (US Patent 5,799, 300 of 1998). Despite this until the current invention the structuring of information at source, along dimensions of content, community and computing and communications, has not been applied, and certainly not for multiple, overlapping category and class exemplars and examples.

There are examples of navigation within structured databases, for example US Patent 5,812, 134 1998, but this like other prior art focuses on the hierarchical presentation of hierarchical data, which is not relevant to psychological processes with multiple and overlapping categories. Likewise approaches which use mathematical calculations of similarity indexing e. g. US Patent 5,832, 494 1998, are not relevant to this novel approach which uses human defined and shared categorisations and groupings to facilitate human-computer-content interactions.

Where there have been innovations with regard to user interfaces, for example WO 98/53391 or WO 00/42495 these have ignored the human cognitive and social categorisation processes completely, and have not linked the navigation methods to any iterative method and process as is done here. Nor have they addressed the important issue of the population of categories by items relevant to the category, denoting a dynamic and ever changing composition of categories, other than for very structured hierarchical data such as TV listings which are not relevant to overlapping and multiple category memberships Distinct, non-overlapping data groups have allowed post-hoc regrouping and reclassification according to the data descriptors and elements, but only within the prestructured dimensions and only with mutually exclusive grouping. In the current invention the groups or categories can not only be overlapping but the category elements are themselves filled from occasional, continuous or media streaming events and activities such that the composition of the categories is ever changing, and individual items can appear in a number of distinct and separate categories.

To date there has been only limited exploitation of this basic human characteristic of multiple overlapping categorisations in the design of human-computer interfaces.

There have been applications of multidimensional cubes for the display (Hitachi

1997) and for the storage and retrieval of data elements (US Patent Bayer G06F), but these have concerned method of display or speed of access along single dimensions not multiple overlapping and interacting dimensions. And nor has there been an attempt in prior history to apply the same structure and process and method to all elements of an information cycle including creation, transmission, retrieval, navigation and storage. The current method achieves this, and this iterative application of the method and process is itself a novel feature over and above prior art.

Where there have been advances with the conceptualisation of human-computercontent interaction, for example Ross 1999 a, b, c and d, these have not gone beyond the basis building blocks for complex information content, computing and interaction spaces. Only when a method and process is applied iteratively, as it is in the present method, can more sophisticated content, processing and interaction structures be established.

Essential Features Data can always be classified in a number of ways so any human-computer-content interface suffers if there is only an exclusive classification of items. Instead multiple classifications have to be possible. We are all influenced by the information we receive, and much of this information can be classified at or near its source. The author of the information, their location within a particular workspace, and the socially shared ways of classifying events all mean there is an independent structural classification of much information. By agreeing and exploiting shared information structures the usefulness of information can be'increased.

While windows are what you look through, it is views which people look at. An important feature of this novel invention is to addresses the relationships that exist between viewer and subject viewed or between those involved in communications.

We make these associations and relationships an important part of the method and process.

In prior art such relationships have not figured. For example between a Windows based personal computer and the World Wide Web there is nothing unique about the relationship. Any personal computer can (more or less) read any web page because that is the way the system was set up. Any user has the same status as any other user, and there need be nothing similar in the way two people surf the net.

As has been indicated there is a trend to move away from one-way activity toward two (or more) way transactions and interactions. At the heart of such communications is some degree of shared cognitive and social structures, based on categorisations. The novel approach presented here takes these shared categorisations and through iteration makes them applicable to many different aspects of human computer and content interactions.

A feature of the novel invention is the method and process for establishing the shared categorisations and classes of categories, to facilitate human-computer-content

interaction and activity. So for example, in applying the method and process to the challenges of a variety of discrete computing devices, such as the personal computer, the digital TV, the personal digital assistant, prior art approach stresses the delivery of information to all the different devices without regard to the relationships-so called "pervasive"computing.

In the current novel method, with its emphasis on relationships it is apparent the different views to the different devices have to be controlled and co-ordinated if the user is to have a worthwhile experience with each of the devices. At the same time the information delivery to the different devices needs to be co-ordinated so the user knows"where they are", and is not overwhelmed with information duplication and redundancy.

Because of the iterative nature of the novel invention it is possible to view the same base method and process from a number of different perspectives. It is the richness of the multiple perspectives, as well as the richness of the multiple memberships of categories and classes which is an important feature of the method and process.

Viewed from one perspective the method creates and addresses a structure for documents, so documents can be re-purposed for different devices by making use of the inherent structure, and knowing the device or devices to which the information is transmitted. This same document structure can contain variations and versions of the overall content and context, as well as containing different media elements and the relations between them including data, text, graphics, pictures and video.

Viewed from another perspective the method delivers structure for document categories so similar categories and classes of document can be grouped together to facilitate access and retrieval.

Viewed from another perspective the method delivers structures for classes of content, activity, events, and experiences, these forming the faces of multi-dimensional structures such as cubes.

Viewed from a further perspective the method structures the sources and streams of content, so that content is delivered to the category or categories, and to the device or devices, and to the user or users, for which it is relevant. This illustrates the "relationship"nature of the method, addressing as it does all aspects of an information cycle from conception and creation through to assimilation and exploitation.

Viewed from a further perspective the method delivers navigation techniques for users to navigate information structures and population contents of such structures.

Again the relationship nature of the method emerges as a user can navigate not just the space as they have created and personalised it, but if they so choose they can navigate the structure and contents as originally conceived and created. Likewise, despite any limitations of any particular device a user can access and navigate any of the information within the structure from any of a number of devices. Modifications or selections of information where this does occur are temporary and can be reversed, which is an improvement over the prior art.

Viewed from yet another perspective, the method creates structures for the individuals and groups occupying a physical, social or virtual space or combinations and intersections thereof Viewed from a further perspective the method is way of structuring the routing and delivery of information to individuals and groups within and across networks. As such it facilitates the direct and efficient use of resources.

Viewed from yet other perspectives the method is a way of tracking communications and commerce activities, as well as providing enhanced means of security and privacy. Another perspective is that of computer and networking software and solutions to facilitate and co-ordinate all of the above and other perspectives. And above all of the individual perspectives is a meta-perspective co-ordinating the interrelationships between the various multiple perspectives.

The novel invention by focusing on relationships between elements is able to reduce complex entities to their constituent parts-and equally important to the relationships between the parts. Thus for example, in the diagrams representation of a cube are used to show the relationships between items, categories and categories of categories or classes. The classes, in this particular instance although there could be other

re--ns, are sl---wrepresentations, are shown as faces on a cube. For a face that contains the relationships within and between the elements it is possible to"decompose"the cube into a single remaining face. Using networking technology, archive storage, and critical content and category cues, it would be possible to reconstitute a cube item or a cube from the information of this single face. Rather than"decomposition"we have an instance of"information distillation", which is a two-way process. Again this is an advance on prior art.

An element, in this novel approach, can be a participant in any number of discrete categories that may or may not intersect and overlap. An element can participate in a variety of Superordinate and Subordinate classes and categories without losing its overall individual identity or multiple identities. Cycles of categorisation ensure consistent and persistent features for the overall structure. So a feature of this novel method is the essence of an item is retained despite transformations. Without a focus on both the elements and the relationships between the elements this would not be possible. In a sense it is analogous to the foreground and background of a landscape painting. Both are needed to give the overall picture its context and meaning. So an important characteristic of this novel method is maintaining the integrity of a component under different circumstances. More inclusive or less inclusive views make no difference to the contents of the element, and whilst location within different categories or classes may suggest perceptual and conceptual variations, the essence remains the same.

Another important feature of the novel approach is it supports the iterative application of the same base structure and process and method in a variety of different contexts.

Like a component retaining its identity and essence despite differentiation locations so the method and process itself retains an overall coherence in spite of, or rather because of, its applicability to different circumstances.

Iteration of the base method can be applied in a variety of ways including the following. Those familiar with the art will be able to identify a number of other applications for the method and process :- 'Document Content Structure-with a cube or some other multi-dimensional representation holding a variety of cues and contents * Document Category Structures-with groupings of documents going up to make classes or"faces"that can be navigated.

* Common Navigation across a variety of devices and applications with a common family"look and feel"based on the conceptualisation, and able to be modified in a variety of ways whilst retaining the essence. * Cross-Device Application-with the method relevant to a whole range of computing, communications and other devices ranging from computers, screens, Personal Digital Assistants, mobile and landline phones, and a range of consumer, home, manufacturing and office goods.

* Cross-Device Co-ordination-in addition to getting information to a variety of devices it is also important to retain co-ordination of the delivery to those different devices to avoid duplication and redundancy, and again the method and process can be applied in this context.

Communications-by facilitating the location of people and groups and multiple groups within the same defined structures.

'Commerce-again because the method and process focuses on the relationships between items, or in this case, parties, and tracks the activities within and between the items or parties.

So the same basic iterative process, containing as it does a focus on both content and context, on single and overlapping categories, on both items and relationships, is able to deal with a wide variety of situations, applications and opportunities. Cycles of categorisation are therefore a powerful feature of this novel method and process.

A strength of this novel approach and method is it is relevant to a variety of applications, and those familiar with the art will be able to identify additional applications. The method and process deals elegantly with the following, amongst others :-

. Calendar and diary applications with clear and easy to modify elements * Content delivery of a variety of media and mixed media types, with clear classification into groupings such as"global", and"local"and"focal"with identical navigation and personalisation techniques for each iteration.

* Class or"face"groupings for items that are considered by sender and receiver to be "similar", for example media intensive applications such as estate agent or car sales details allowing for easy comparison and selection.

* Media streaming and multi-casting, with users able to select those items of interest to them Activity centres, such as cinemas, theatres, restaurants, hotels, sports events and so on each easily selected from pre-categorised and organised overlapping listings.

E-shopping experiences because of the association between shopper and retailer that is maintained in the method and process

Chat interactions with easy display of colleagues who are on line at any particular stage.

. Professional services selection including medical, legal, accounting, education, and public services amongst others all from readily organised and navigated lists.

'E-work, with telecommuting . E-trade with E-transactions * E storage and retrieval, with information distillation and reconstitution from elements via long term archives and network connections.

To date information classification has been represented within computing devices, if represented at all, in flat two-dimensional information structures. Human-computercontent interaction has been further handicapped by having successive views of the information with later examples overlapping or hiding earlier ones. These problems can be overcome using multi-dimensional information representation and more natural visual interfaces using rules to govern the information display.

There are a multitude of different two-dimensional user interfaces, and the problems and difficulties of human computer interaction are exacerbated by the emergence of ever great numbers of different types of display and computing device. This makes any form of Standard User Interface (SUI) difficult. This diversity creates learning difficulties as individuals are faced with an increasing number of different interfaces on different information appliances. By extending the prior history Graphic User Interfaces (GUI's) into three or more multi-dimensional, structured, overlapping and multiple membership representations, and by further extending the GUI with preclassified classification and categorisation schemas to deliver a common SUI across a range of disparate devices, the potential for human-computer interaction is increased.

A feature of the method is to receive, organise and retrieve simple or compound documents into hierarchical and non-hierarchical structures of overlapping compositions with visual and other cues that display the information in multidimensional spaced according to pre-coded and self-coded differentiated categories that may be discrete or overlapping.

Another feature of the method is after receipt of online or wireless or other form of delivery of information, items or streams of items exploit their classification at the point of origin or some intermediate point, or via context sensitive category and content analysis at the point of receipt, to deliver themselves into a structure within a multi-dimensional space according to their single or multiple category codes.

The method and process permits information delivery to take place within major grouping or Meta-Categories according to the multi-dimensional space characteristics so discrete classes of information can be displayed and navigated in a structured format. Said information can be delivered with global, or local or intermediate geographic and interest cues so information id presented in structured methods according to its content, geographical coverage, community of interest and other features.

The information within categories according to this novel method can be made available to one or more recipients according to structural or user-defined preference,

and structured or ranked according to predefined or user defined methods and processes.

Another feature of the method is that said information retains and communicates cues relating to its origination, or inter-mediation, and its exploitation, not just so interaction and response can take place, but also for information tracking, elaboration and electronic transactions including all forms of billing.

This novel method includes the potential for information elements and actions on those elements to be collected and passed on to designated third parties to allow for behaviour tracking, billing and security and integrity issues to be addressed, including off-site backup and replication of the multidimensional information space and contents to allow for recovery after local failure and for remote access and interaction.

Another feature of the method is to include the step of display of information categories within a multi-dimensional space according to the same iterative categorisation processes, as described by a Visual Language Interface.

Other features of the method which includes a common and consistent Visual Language Interface relating to computer processing, content organisation and human activity including navigation and access, are the following :- Representation of documents within a non-hierarchical multi-dimensional space, with the capability for multiple classification.

Population of any particular category class with examples of current information and historic or dynamic information, resulting from human decisions to save particular documents for future use and reference.

Location of any particular category by reference to Parent and Child categories and Peer categories.

The same underlying multi-dimensional structure can be used to describe simple or multi-media document types.

Processes of iterative classification locate individual elements and events into ever more defined boundaries, without loosing the higher-level classification schemas which can be reconstituted at any time.

Representation of the classification scheme is itself a multi-dimensional object with different information types and dimensions attached to any particular document.

This novel system and methods and processes for multi-dimensional overlapping representation processing navigation interaction and storage using multiple iterative and overlapping categorisations applies to a number of discrete domains including but not limited to content, communities, computing processes and communications.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, process, structure, data processing system, computer program product, hardware embodiment or other article of manufacture. It can operate as a

stand-alone product or as a component in a network of computers, switches, routers and other devices, and can be separate from or linked and associated with one or more databases of a variety of types, both hierarchical and non-hierarchical. Furthermore, the present invention and derivatives thereof may take the form of computer programme products on computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code and may be embodied in the medium with any suitable computer readable medium and networking and inter-networking device. Likewise any computer storage mechanisms, permanent and temporary can be utilised. A computer, personal digital assistant, screen, keyboard and other interactive devices, mobile or land phone, video conference system, television, consumer device, storage medium and mechanisms can be conceived to facilitate the practices of the method of the invention. It will be understood that such apparatus and articles of manufacture and hardware software and networks also fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Introduction to the Drawings The present invention will become more fully understood, and the foregoing and other features and advantages of any preferred embodiment will become more readily apparent by describing by way of example only and with reference to the following drawings and descriptions, which are not limitative of the present invention, by which :- Figure One differentiates several dimensions to human computer interaction, and shows how they inter-link within a multi-dimensional space. In this example Community, Content and Computing are the dimensions in question, although there could be others, and the diagram illustrates the inter-relationships between the multiple dimensions.

Figure Two highlights some of the dimensions of Content, differentiating Events, Experiences and Activities Figure Three differentiates three dimensions of Community membership, being physical communities where people co-habit or co-locate, social communities where common interests bring people physically together, and virtual communities where a categorisation or some other characteristic defines a group, even if such a group never physically meets.

Figure Four shows some dimensions of Computing including databases, not just in isolation but also importantly in combination, Processing, and Interfaces (which are further subcategorised into different device types"A","B","n"and so on.).

In each of these first four diagrams the illustration is of a three dimensional space, but it is clear from the discussions above that these dimensions also relate to overlapping and intersecting and multiple memberships within, between and across different dimensions.

Figure Five shows the example of a basic building block for iterative application to the different dimensions. Any multi-dimensional shape (in this particular case a cube) acts as a repository for examples of the category or class for a particular dimension,

with multiple overlapping memberships occurring when the same item appears simultaneously in multiple categories, within in the same format or modified for the characteristics of any particular receiving device.

Figure Six illustrates how content can be packaged using the same iterative scheme, with that packaging being suited to delivery to different devices with different characteristics, such that the overall user interface, navigation and experience can have similarity and familiarity across a range of diverse devices. Further it indicates how a complex cube, or similar, can be reconstituted from a single face provided there is network and other connectivity to repositories and archives of the information elements.

Figure Seven illustrates how using simple alpha, numeric, symbolic interfaces on the different cube components navigation and retrieval is straightforward for the end user, irrespective of the type of device being employed.

Figure Eight illustrates the richness of a multi-dimensional interface in contrast to prior art hierarchical structures. It indicates how an item can appear in multiple categories and how those categories can fit together to produce information structures.

Figure Nine shows the relationships with the different categorisation building blocks, with contain reference information to other categories (Parent, Peer and Child), as well as information about category definition and boundaries, current Category population and Category Dynamics. Together these define the category"space. It also illustrates the iterative nature of the method, with structures appearing in more inclusive structures of the same base form to form an integrated whole.

Figure Ten shows the iterative application of the method and process to go from document category structures to documents and then to document content architectures. Again this iterative nature of the method is novel and a differentiater from the prior art.

Figure Eleven illustrates how temporal access to different categories will differ for different individuals and different times, all the while being under user control with a consistent method for navigation irrespective of context. The sequencing of access is one of the mechanisms for personalisation of the structures without impacting the overall shared structures of senders, receivers and intermediaries.

Figure Twelve indicates some of the stages in the creation and delivery of categorised information, indicating the depth of the association between senders and receivers of categorised information. The stages, which can overlap include :- Conceptualisation Creation Structuring Classifying Segmenting Locating Transmitting Monitoring

Receiving Navigating, and Exploiting Figure Thirteen shows the multiple category nature with more and less and overlapping categorisations from any population of items. This is an important differentiation from the prior art which addresses exclusive and non-overlapping categorisations.

Figure Fourteen highlights the non-exclusive and non-hierarchical nature of multiple categories, making traditional database applications difficult if not impossible to apply in these overlapping category situations.

Figure Fifteen illustrates a simple situation of multiple category memberships.

Figure Sixteen shows the same basic method and process elaborated to show the associations, links, plans and history within and across the different faces, making organisation and retrieval straightforward.

Figure Seventeen shows the common nature of the navigation techniques across different classes. This consistency of navigation technique across different information classes, devices and applications is an important novel feature of the method, distinguishing it from prior art.

Figure Eighteen shows the steps in the method and process to achieve commonality of sender and recipient information structures, with common navigation, whilst allowing for evolution of those structures. The steps in the method, or evolutions and modifications thereof to achieve the same or similar ends, are as follows :- 1. Developing an iterative method and process for application to and within different components of an information cycle 2. Using said method and process for creating a structure for information categories and classes 3. Sharing said structure between senders, receivers and intermediaries of information 4. Creating content that is itself structured in terms of format, content and other characteristics, with the ability for any single items to have multiple representation and occupation within different classes and categories 5. Providing an information source, stream, or multicast or other delivery technique to populate devices and the structures and classes and categories with information, or to supplement or replace previously delivered information.

6. Using features of the method and process to navigate around the information structures 7. Personalising the structure according to further differentiated information needs 8. Evolving the structure and the information distribution streams to populate evolved structures

Figure Nineteen illustrates the potential for evolution of the delivery of content streams as the user requirements become more differentiated. This ability for senders, receivers and intermediaries to tailor the information flows for particular users, at source or receipt or between or both is a differentiating feature from the prior art.

Figure Twenty extends the core method and process for content, computing and community to the area of communications where co-ordination between senders and receivers is achieved by the exploitation of shared information structures. Again this illustrates the relationship nature of the method Figure Twenty-one illustrates the multi-level nature of content within a common representation scheme across different levels, here including global, local and focal content and content interests.

Figure Twenty-two illustrates the method and process applied at different levels of individual and social groups from the person rather through to the global community, and at the same time to the different physical, social and virtual groups that make up communities.

Figure Twenty-three illustrates the method and process applied consistently to different aspects of computing including, but not limited to non-hierarchical databases of overlapping categories, events people and processes, and as applied to Computer and Network Processing and Computer and Content interfaces Figure Twenty-four shows how the iterative method and process, applied at different levels, handles communications within and across different groups and subgroups.

Figure Twenty-five summaries the relationship requirements of the method and process, with a need not just for multi-dimensional analysis but also for multiple and overlapping categories and for shared information structures.

Examples An example of multiple and iterative cycles for category membership and multiple group associations is where an individual is considering a purchase of a motor vehicle. The intended transaction could be for a single purpose of transport but more likely the purchase is a complex reflection and statement of a variety of overlapping groups and categories. For example an off-road vehicle may be considered as much for its price, looks, social acceptance and newness as for any cross-country capability.

Likewise a member of and trade or profession, when considering a new car purchase is, in addition to the family, geographic, trade or professional groupings also a member of a virtual group of"potential new car buyers". Information about potential purchases may be sought out and even purchased. Friends recommendations may be sought and visits made to car shows and dealers for gathering additional information.

Once the vehicle is purchased then the grouping change and the individual moves from the virtual group of"new potential buyers", into a variety of physical, social and virtual groups such as the Dealers group of customers, the social group of"Brand X

owners"and the virtual group of owners of sports car or off-road or some other category.

Of particular interest to marketing groups is the intersection of individuals in different groups, for example the potential new car purchases in a Dealerships geographic domain, or the group that previously purchased a similar model or Brand, or the group of multi-vehicle owners, or the group of high insurance risk members purchasing high risk vehicles. Such groupings may be more or less transitory, but their importance to all sorts of communications and commerce activities is significant.

There are a multitude of electronic information feeds to electronic and paper based information providers. Some of these feeds contain some information about the event or category within which a particular story or item falls. By using a more formal method of information categorisation and representation it opens up possibilities for the automated delivery and re-purposing of information content, as well as improving the degree of usability for the users of information engines.

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Ross 1999b A Method for Multi-Dimensional Information Representation Processing and Interaction Using Categorisation Structures and Processes UK Patent Application GB 9915893.3 Ross 1999c A Method for Integrated Multi-Media Compound Document Structure, Creation, Representation, Processing and Interaction UK Patent Application GB 9915894.1 Ross 1999d Multi-dimensional Computer Supported Communications Using Database Linking and a Visual Language Interface UK Patent Application GB 9915895.8 Wolf et al 1998 Method of Performing a Parallel Relational Database Query in a Multiprocessor Environment US Patent 5,765, 146

Claims

Claims.

A number of preferred embodiments of the present novel invention have been described in some detail herein and for those skilled in the art many modifications and variations will be apparent. It is my intent therefore to be limited only by the scope of the appending claims, and not by the specific details presented by way of example and illustration.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by patent is: 1 A method and process and structure for information, content, navigation, communications and social interaction where elements and their interrelations are multiple, overlapping and intersecting with respect to the creation, processing, distribution, navigation, action and storage of data and information exchange and communications between individuals, groups and multiple groups, comprising mutual and shared systems of classification and categorisation between senders and recipients of information, the grouping of categories within boundaries within and along dimensions of distinctive difference, the population of categories from streams of data and information elements that have been given one or more classifications within overall shared structures at source or before reception, the distribution of the structured data, information, content and communications to devices to maintain a family resemblance of interface, processing, navigation and action between sending and receiving devices.
2 The method and process and structure of claim 1 further comprising the step of using the shared process of classification and categorisation to structure and order content and streams of content such that items of data and information can be processed for single or multiple delivery from single or multiple sources in single or multiple categories so recipients of the information can select what they require from within an overall structure of categories and classes according to their needs, requirements and interests.
3 The method and process and structure of Claim 1 further comprising the step of being able to identify the overlaps and intersections of the different content and social categorisations and further being able to deliver tailored content to the groups so defined by the overlaps and intersections.
4 The method and process and structure of Claim 1 comprising the further step of being able to categorise at source in an automated fashion some or all of the streams of data and content according to distinctive characteristics of the source, location or other identifying features.

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The method and process and structure of Claim 1 further comprising the step of the automatic decay of information after selected time periods to different degrees such that the information categories and classes to not become overwhelmed with examples of the categorisation whilst permitting reconstitution of items from fragments of the remaining characteristics by interaction with local or remote storage devices.

The method and process and structure of Claim I further comprising the step of preserving and associating multiple classifications and links established at the time of creation of items relevant to multiple and intersecting classifications such that recipients of information can follow, use and exploit the linking and associated information if users should choose to do so.

The method and process and structure of Claim I further comprising the step of receiving, organising and retrieving simple or compound documents or other information into hierarchical or non-hierarchical databases with visual and other cues for the display of the information in multi-dimensional spaces according to pre-coded and self-coded differentiated categories that may be discrete or overlapping.

The method and process and structure of Claim 1 further comprising the step of online or wireless or some other form of receipt of information items or streams of information items that are classified at the point of origin or some intermediate point, or via context sensitive analysis at the point of receipt, to allow delivery within the multi-dimensional space according to single or multiple category classifications and/or codes, these being associated with faces and/or cells of the overall structure.

The method and process and structure of Claim I further comprising the step of information delivery taking place within major grouping of MetaCategories according to the classificatory schema and multi-dimensional space characteristics so that discrete classes of information can be displayed in a structured format depending on the nature of the information content and source.

The method and process and structure of Claim I further comprising the step of said information being delivered with global, or local or intermediate and/or other cues so information can be presented in structured methods according to content, time, geography, or some combination of these and other elements or components, with different elements and/or depth of information available if requested and/or selected.

The method and process and structure of Claim I further comprising the step of organising and tracking information within the categories made available to the same individual at different times and/or in different formations or to one or more recipients according to structural or user-defined preference, and structured or ranked according to predefined or user defined methods, rankings and processes.

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The method and process and structure of Claim I further comprising the step of information retaining cues relating to its origination, or intermediation, for security and so interaction and response can take place, for information elaboration and electronic transactions as well as for forms of billing, whatever the form of the billing algorithm, and for improved security of crossnetwork activity be these networks fixed or mobile or both.

The method and process and structure of Claim 1 further comprising the step of information agents collecting and passing on data relating to interactions and transactions to designated third parties to allow for behaviour tracking, billing and security and integrity issues to be addressed, including off-site backup and replication of multidimensional information spaces and contents to allow for recovery after local failure and for remote access and interaction.

The method and process and structure of Claim 1 further comprising the step of the display of information categories within a multi-dimensional space presented in a standardised user interface as described by Visual Language Interfaces, these Visual Language Interfaces detailing both the structural and interactive features of the information, transaction and interaction environments.

The method and process and structure of Claim 1 further comprising the step of action on the information and transaction items, with human or automated intervention for human or automated storage, linking and deletion of some or all of the elements of the individual or compound items, apart from elements needed for security and tracking and billing purposes.

A method and process and structure for multi-dimensional multi group and multi category information and communication representation processes and interaction using shared categorisation structures and processes substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 - 25 of the accompanying drawings.