Method and apparatus for indexing, searching and displaying data

A method for displaying active information windows on a screen, wherein the information windows are generated by a computer and the screen is operably connected to the computer, and wherein the information windows may be displayed in two or more formats, comprising:

• identifying a first group of at least two active windows but no more than a desired number of active windows, wherein the windows identified for the first group are chronologically most recently activated and wherein the identified first group of windows will be displayed in a first format on the screen;
• recognizing at least one active window in a second group of windows, wherein the recognized second group of windows will be displayed in a second format on the screen, and wherein none of the identified windows in the first group are recognized;
• and
• generating a display for the screen for viewing the identified first group of windows and recognized second group of windows, wherein a first format display is generated for each of the identified windows, wherein a second format display is generated for each of the recognized windows, and wherein the second format is different from the first format, comprising
• arranging the first format displays and second format displays for display on the screen, wherein the computer is used in the arranging step;
• and
• repeating the steps of identifying, recognizing and generating automatically when a new window is activated, wherein the new window is not an identified window and is not a recognized window, and wherein if a quantity of the active windows exceeds the desired number of active windows when the steps are repeated, an identified window which was oldest in the first group is no longer identified for the first group and is instead recognized in the second group.

A system using windows of information and auto-arranging of the windows, wherein each time a previously inactive window is activated the system auto arranges the windows for display on a screen, comprising:

• a memory, wherein data for use in generating information windows is stored;
• a processor, operably coupled to the memory, that auto-arranges the windows of information, wherein the windows of information are automatically arranged, the processor comprising:
• means for generating windows of information using data from the memory;
• and
• means for auto-arranging windows of information into an arranged format, wherein more than one window may be arranged, and wherein each time a previously inactivate window is activated, all the active windows are arranged so that the arrangement of windows changes each time a previously inactivate window is activated, and wherein a first group of most recently activated windows is displayed in a first format and a second group of active windows is displayed in a second format and the previously inactive window is not taken from the first or second group, and wherein, when the previously inactive window is activated, the previously inactive window is automatically assigned to the first group and an oldest window in the first group is automatically assigned to the second group;
• and
• a screen, operably coupled to the processor, wherein the screen displays the information windows in the arranged format including the first format and the second format.