Method and apparatus for browsing information

A method, performed by a computing device, of generating graphical-browse-views of one or more parts of an article, the method comprising:

• receiving the article having article-matter and the article-matter having points wherein a point is a unit of information expressed in one or more sentences, phrases, or words that are in the article-matter;
• receiving point-names of individual points of the article, wherein a point-name is a short sentence, a trimmed sentence or a short phrase summary of a point;
• wherein a point-name is a low-level summary of the point, wherein a low-level summary of a point is a low-level summary of the article-matter covered by the point,
• assigning the point-names to the individual points of the article,
• receiving identification of one or more simple-groups, each simple-group having one or more points, wherein each simple-group covers the article-matter covered by the points that are in the simple-group;
• receiving, for one or more simple-groups, a simple-group-name of each simple-group, wherein a simple-group-name is a short sentence, a trimmed sentence or a short phrase summary of a simple-group, wherein a simple-group-name is a mid-level summary of a simple-group, wherein a mid-level summary of a simple-group is a mid-level summary of the article-matter covered by the simple-group, wherein the simple-group-name covers the article-matter covered by the simple-group, and wherein the simple-group-name covers the point-names of the points that are in the simple-group;
• receiving identification of one or more compound-groups, each compound-group having one or more points or one or more simple-groups or one or more compound-groups;
• wherein a compound-group covers the sum of article matter covered by the compound-groups, the simple-groups and the points that are in the compound-group;
• receiving, for one or more compound-groups, a compound-group-name of each compound-group,
• wherein a compound-group-name is a short sentence, a trimmed sentence or a short phrase summary of the compound-group;
• wherein a compound-group-name is a upper-level summary of the compound-group,
• wherein an upper-level summary of a compound-group is an upper-level summary of the article-matter covered by the compound-group,
• wherein the compound-group-name covers the article-matter covered by the compound-group, and
• wherein the compound-group-name covers compound-groups, the simple-groups and points that are in the compound-group and their corresponding compound-group-names, simple-group-names, and point-names;
• and
• for one or more compound-groups,
• generating, and displaying on the display, a graphical-browse-view for each compound-group,
• wherein the compound group is a parent,
• by generating, and displaying on the display, a sequence of columns
• wherein a column in the sequence contains
• a summary of the article-matter covered by a compound-group that is directly contained by the parent or
• a point by point summary of the article-matter covered by a simple-group that is directly contained by the parent, or
• a summary of the article-matter covered by one or more points that are directly contained by the parent
• wherein generating and displaying a column that is a summary of the article-matter covered by one or more points that are directly contained by the parent includes:
• formatting the point-names of the points in a column;
• displaying the point-names in browse-elements in a sequence beginning at the top of the column and ending at the bottom of the column,
• which includes, for one or more point-names, displaying the point-name on two lines in a browse-element, wherein the browse-element is a 2-line browse-element,
• and wherein generating and displaying a column that is a point by point summary of the article-matter covered by a simple-group includes:
• formatting the point-names of points, that are in the simple-group, in a column;
• displaying the point-names in browse-elements in a sequence beginning at the top of the column and ending at the bottom of the column,
• which includes, for one or more point-names, displaying the point-name on two lines in a browse-element, wherein the browse-element is a 2-line browse-element,
• and wherein displaying a point-name on two lines in a browse-element includes
• assigning a width of a browse-element to be equal to the width of the column it is to be displayed in, and
• displaying, on the display, a point-name on two lines,
• wherein the point-name is shorter than the sum of available widths of two lines of the browse-element, wherein the available width of a line is calculated by determining the width of the browse-element minus a sum of the widths of the left and right margins,
• by dividing the text of the point-name into a first part and a second part, such that the first part of the text fits within one line of the browse-element and the second part of the text fits within one line of the browse-element;
• placing the first part of the text on a first line and placing the second part of the text on a second line that is below the first line;
• and
• indenting the text on the second line, such that, as the first line of text and the second line of text are viewed from left to right, the start of text on the second line occurs to the left of the end of text on the first line and the end of text on the second line occurs to the right of the end of the text on the first line.