Generalized faceted browser decision support tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9411903-B2
Application number	US-68198607-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2007
Priority date	Mar 5, 2007
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a faceted browser for decision-making that enables interactive visualization of a decision space as choices are made. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving a selection of a first choice from a user. The first choice is displayed in a user interface that includes a plurality of facets, each facet including a plurality of choices. The method further comprises disabling at least one second choice in response to the selection of the first choice, and determining a first result set in response to the selection of the first choice. The user interface is then updated in real-time to display the selected status of the first choice, the disabled status of the second choice, and the first result set to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
generating a facet-choice list, the facet-choice list comprising a facet label for a facet, a choice label for a choice related to the facet, and a plurality of facet-choice pairs, each facet-choice pair of the plurality of facet-choice pairs defining an association between the facet and the choice related to the facet;
generating a result list, the result list defining a result label, a result Uniform Resource Locator, and an association between a result and a facet-choice pair of the plurality of facet-choice pairs;
validating the result list against the facet-choice list, the validating comprising determining that each facet-choice pair of the plurality of facet-choice pairs defined in the result list is also defined in the facet-choice list;
based at least in part on the validating, traversing, by a computer system, the facet-choice list to generate a plurality of checkbox elements comprising a plurality of facet-choice user interface elements;
generating, by the computer system, a user interface based at least in part on the facet label for each facet in the facet-choice list, the choice label for each choice in the facet-choice list and the result label for each result in the result list, the user interface including a plurality of facets, each facet of the plurality of facets including the plurality of checkbox elements, wherein each facet of the plurality of facets corresponds to a dimension to be considered in making a decision, and wherein each checkbox element of the plurality of checkbox elements in a particular facet of the plurality of facets corresponds to a facet-choice user interface element of the plurality of facet-choice user interface elements for the dimension, the facet-choice list and the result list being generated independently from program code that is used for rendering the user interface;
receiving, by the computer system, a selection from a user of a first checkbox element in the user interface, wherein the first checkbox element is part of a first facet in the plurality of facets;
disabling, by the computer system, a second checkbox element when selection of the second checkbox element would not narrow a first result set of possible final decisions corresponding to the selection of the first checkbox element received from the user;
determining, by the computer system, the first result set of possible final decisions in response to the selection of the first checkbox element and the disabling of the second checkbox element; and
updating, by the computer system, the user interface to display a selected status of the first checkbox element, a disabled status of the second checkbox element, and the first result set to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a third checkbox element in the user interface;
disabling a fourth checkbox element in the user interface in response to the selection of the third checkbox element, wherein the disabled fourth checkbox element cannot be selected by the user;
determining a second result set of possible final decisions in response to the selection of the third checkbox element; and
updating the user interface to display the selected status of the first checkbox element, the disabled status of the second checkbox element, a selected status of the third checkbox element, a disabled status of the fourth checkbox element, and the second result set to the user.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving a de-selection of at least one of the first checkbox element or the third checkbox element;
enabling at least one checkbox element from the disabled second checkbox element or the fourth checkbox element in response to the de-selection; and
updating the user interface to display the first checkbox element, the second checkbox element, the third checkbox element, and the fourth checkbox element in a current state resulting from the de-selection, along with an updated result set, to the user.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the facet-choice list and the result list in a text-based file, wherein the file does not contain the program code for rendering the user interface.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
reading the text-based file to generate the user interface.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is presented in a web browser, and wherein each result in the first result set is presented as a hypertext link.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
defining a ranking for each facet in the plurality of facets; and
presenting an indication of the ranking for each facet in the user interface.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the indication is a color.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one checkbox element in the user interface is disabled by default.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon a series of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to aid a user in decision-making by:
generating a facet-choice list, the facet-choice list comprising a facet label for a facet, a choice label for a choice related to the facet, and a plurality of facet-choice pairs, each facet-choice pair of the plurality of facet-choice pairs defining an association between the facet and the choice related to the facet;
generating a result list, the result list defining a result label, a result Uniform Resource Locator, and an association between a result and a facet-choice pair of the plurality of facet-choice pairs;
validating the result list against the facet-choice list, the validating comprising determining that each facet-choice pair of the plurality of facet-choice pairs defined in the result list is also defined in the facet-choice list;
based at least in part on the validating, traversing the facet-choice list to generate a plurality of checkbox elements comprising a plurality of facet-choice user interface elements;
generating a user interface based at least in part on the facet label for each facet in the facet-choice list, the choice label for each choice in the facet-choice list and the result label for each result in the result list, the user interface including a plurality of facets, each facet of the plurality of facets including the plurality of checkbox elements, wherein each facet of the plurality of facets corresponds to a dimension to be considered in making a decision, and wherein each checkbox element of the plurality of checkbox elements in a particular facet of the plurality of facets corresponds to a facet-choice user interface element of the plurality of facet-choice user interface elements for the dimension, the facet-choice list and the result list being generated independently from program code that is used for rendering the user interface;
receiving a selection from a user of a first checkbox element in the user interface, wherein the first checkbox element is part of a first facet in the plurality of facets;
disabling a second checkbox element associated with the first checkbox element when selection of the second checkbox element would not narrow a first result set of possible final decisions corresponding to the selection of the first checkbox element received from the user;
determining the first result set of possible final decisions in response to the selection of the first checkbox element; and
updating the user interface to display a selected status of the first checkbox element, a disabled status of the second checkbox element, and the first result set to the user.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a third c

Assignees

• Helfman Jonathan
• White Brent-Kaan William
• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Helfman Jonathan
• White Brent-Kaan William

Classifications

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F16/3323

  using document space presentation or visualization, e.g. category, hierarchy or range presentation and selection · CPC title

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06F40/18 Primary

  of spreadsheets (form-filling G06F40/174) · CPC title

• G06F16/957

  Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation · CPC title