Using symbols whose appearance varies to show characteristics of a result of a query

Abstract

A technique for displaying the results of a query on a database. The technique associates a subquery of the query with a space in a display and represents the results of the subquery by means of a symbol whose appearance varies with a characteristic of the results of the subquery. The technique may be used with queries on a data base of statistical articles. The display is a grid with each field of the grid representing a journal-year pair. A symbol appears in the field if a search of the data base results in a minimum number of hits in the year and journal represented by the pair. The appearance of the symbol varies with properties such as the number of hits and the number of pages in the hits. Bar graphs along the sides of the grid indicate total numbers of hits per journal and year. The symbol for a given journal-year pair changes its color when the pointer is moved over it, and if a mouse button is depressed when the pointer is over the symbol, the data base references for the hits corresponding to the journal-year pair are displayed in an article view window. Sliders control the number of hits required for the display of a symbol and the size of the symbols. The implementation employs memory mapping and caching techniques to achieve rapid generation of a display from the results of a search.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.