Visualization of information using graphical representations of context vector based relationships and attributes

A computer-implemented process of providing a visual representation of information content for a record in a computer system including a display device for displaying the visual representation, the display device and visual representation having modifiable visual attributes that modify the display of the visual representation, the record having a stored summary vector, the process comprising:

• (a) defining at least two visual attributes, each visual attribute being associated with a context vector and having a plurality of potential values applicable to the visual representation of the record as displayed on the display device;
• (b) for each visual attribute, determining a value of the visual attribute to be applied to the visual representation of the record on the display device by a dot product calculation of the summary vector of the record with the context vector of the visual attribute;
• and
• (c) displaying the visual representation of the record on the display device with the determined values of each of the visual attributes.

A computer-implemented process of providing a visual representation of information content for a record in a computer system including a display device for displaying the visual representation, the display device and visual representation having modifiable visual attributes that modify the display of the visual representation, the record having a stored summary vector having a plurality of components, the process comprising:

• (a) defining at least one attribute term representing a visual attribute applicable to the visual representation of the record as displayed on the display device, the visual attribute having a context vector;
• (b) determining a value for the visual attribute applicable to the visual representation by dot product calculation of the summary vector with the context vector of the attribute term;
• and
• (c) displaying a visual representation of the record on the display device according to the determined value of each visual attribute.

A computer readable media storing thereon a program product executable by a processor for providing a visual representation of information content for a record in a computer system including a display device for displaying visual representations at positions on a display screen, the display device and visual representations having modifiable visual attributes that modify the display of the visual representations, the record stored in a memory and having a summary vector having a plurality of components, the program product comprising:

• an axis definer, executable by the processor for defining at least two axes with respect to the display screen, each axis being associated with a coordinate term having a coordinate context vector, and for storing data defining the axes in the memory;
• a position determiner, executable by the processor, for reading the axis data and determining a position on the display screen for a visual representation of the record relative to the axes of the display screen by comparing the summary vector of the record with the coordinate context vector with each of the axis vectors, and for storing the position in the memory;
• and
• a display engine, executable by the processor and coupled to the display device, for reading the position and displaying the visual representation of the record at the determined position on the display screen.

A computer readable media storing thereon a program product executable by a processor for providing a visual representation of information content for a record, the record stored in memory and having a summary vector having a plurality of components, the program product comprising:

• an attribute definer, executable by the processor, for defining at least one attribute term representing a visual attribute and having a context vector;
• a value determiner, executable by the processor, for determining a value for the visual attribute by comparing the summary vector with the context vector of the attribute term;
• and
• a display engine, executable by the processor, for displaying the visual attribute according to its determined value.

In a computer with a processor and memory, a computer-implemented method of determining a similarity between a first data item and a second data item in a corpus of data items stored in the memory, the method comprising:

• defining a set of information elements that represent the data items in the corpus, the information elements having a measurable proximity between each pair of information items, each information item having a frequency of occurrence in the corpus;
• generating, via the processor, a context vector associated with each information element as a function of the proximity of each information element with respect to other information elements in the corpus, and the frequency of occurrence of each information element in the corpus;
• generating, via the processor, a first summary vector associated with the first data item as a function of the context vectors associated with the information elements that represent the first data item;
• generating, via the processor, a second summary vector associated with the second data item as a function of the context vectors associated with the information elements that represent the second data item;
• and
• determining a similarity between the first and the second data items by comparing the first and the second summary vectors.

In a computer comprising a processor, a computer-implemented method for associating a first data domain comprising a plurality of first information elements with a second data domain comprising a plurality of second information elements to form a universal meaning space to provide a meaning for second information elements from a known meaning of first information elements, the first information elements having measurable proximity between any pair of first information elements, each first information element having a frequency of occurrence in the first data domain, the second information elements having a measurable proximity between any pair of second information elements, each second information element having a frequency of occurrence in the second data domain, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating, via the processor, a first context vector associated with each first information element in the first data domain as a function of the proximity of each first information element with respect to other first information elements in the first data domain and the frequency of occurrence of each first information element;
• receiving a user put identifying first information elements in the first data domain that are substantially equivalent in meaning to second information elements in the second data domain;
• associating the first context vectors of each of the identified first information elements with the corresponding substantially equivalent second information elements;
• generating, via the processor, a second context vector associated with each second information element in the second data domain that does not have an associated context vector, wherein the second context vector is generated as a function of the proximity of each second information element with respect to other second information elements in the second data domain and the frequency of occurrence of each second data element;
• and
• storing the first and second context vectors associated with the first and second information elements in the computer storage.