Abstract: A data funnel interface with adjustable paths guides end-users to information in a relational table. The interface consists of one or more categories of user data derived from the set of user attributes in the database table. Each category of user data consists of human readable data in the table that conveys values relevant to the end-user. Selecting a data item from one category establishes a logical relationship with the next set of data in an unselected category. The end-user has random access to the categories of data and he or she is always free to choose a data item that either builds on an existing pathway or starts a new one. In the interface, alongside each category is a visual cue that indicates the status of an end-user’s data selection. Upon selecting a data item from each category in the interface, the system displays a Continue button to transfer the control to a window object that displays table information.

Abstract: Improvements to the techniques used to generate menu data for a content menu (5) are disclosed. They focus on a new model of data networks, the BAR chain (150); a new developers' interface (130); and new program logic that is easier to maintain. The new interface guides developers in their selection of fields and database attributes according to the BAR chain (150). These improvements include context-sensitive options (such as 175 or 184) and enabling developers to navigate from one table to another intuitively (182). These new features widen the audience for this system by lower the technical demands required to use it. When the developer has finished making selections, the development system (27) stores them in an extended form of meta-query data according to the BAR chain (150). This new format (135) generates both runtime and compiled menu data for a content menu (5).

Abstract: Advances to the techniques used to generate menu data for the content menu (5) are disclosed. All of these advances center on an improved format of meta-query data that is based on Binary Attribute Relations or BAR (120). When the BAR is applied to a BAR query (121) it exposes Binary Attribute Data Relations or BADR (250) that have been hidden from view until now. All three of these new constructs: the BAR (120), BAR query (121) and BADR (250), complement one another and streamline the production of menu data files (24) used by the content menu (5). These advances improve the overall efficiency in generating menu data for the content menu by enabling a single algorithm fetchBADR (200) to fetch binary attribute data relations for one algorithm that compiles menu data (160) and for another that generates this menu data for the content menu at runtime (200). This approach makes all three of these algorithms easier to maintain and to deploy.

Abstract: The present invention advances the prior art of the content menu, an end-user database interface which organizes relational data according to the data and data relations from in the database. It does this by disclosing how to deploy the Binary Attribute Relation or BAR as meta-query data, and by disclosing how Binary Attribute Data Relations or BADR are derived from the BAR query, a primitive retrieval operation. All three new concepts: the BAR, the BADR, and the BAR query, are compact in a mathematical sense, as they represent each of their respective subject material in the most fundamental or primitive way, not matter whether it is a unit of meta-query data, data relations, or the query statement on which they are derived.

Abstract: The present invention improves upon the authoring system for a content menu by disclosing a new interface and program control which enables a menu developer to create and to capture meta-query data in the form of a chain of Binary Attribute Relations. The Binary Attribute Relation or BAR represents a pair of attributes which serve as meta-query data for a primitive retrieval operation known as a BAR query. The BAR query exposes a primitive data relation in an external data file which forms a basic building block for the content menu. Recursive algorithms parse the BAR chain to create network segment of data and data relations to automatically create a knowledge representation known as a “database taxonomy”. The pairing of two attributes in a BAR link and the sequence of these links in a BAR chain adhere to a well-defined system of rules.

Abstract: Hierarchical menus provide end-users with an easy way to locate information. The underlying hierarchical menu structure is often scalable as there are no limits on the number of entries in a list menu. Yet, this feature is rarely used, if at all, because it can be very impractical for the end-user. As a list menu can contain hundreds, if not thousands of entries, scrolling for a particular entry can be extremely tedious. The present invention discloses a menu authoring system component that enables a developer to generate and build a tab list menu. The tab menu divides a target list menu into tab intervals that can include a specified number of letters or full words. The present invention discloses an interactive configuration window and the program logic that enables a developer to specify settings for these tab menus.

Abstract: A menu authoring system is disclosed that enables developers to tag menu entries and track end-user selections. The authoring system is based on the prior art of the open hierarchical data structure to generate a content menu. The prior structure manages a network of menu paths that intersect and overlap, enabling multiple paths to reach the same destination. Developers employ this prior art to create different menu paths to serve different types of end users. Advances brought about by the present invention enable[s] the developer to identify different types of end-user groups, collect data, and analyze it over time.

Abstract: The present disclosure teaches how to create a self-service content menu that enables individual providers to add menu paths to a content menu and links to their content on a network. Using password protection access the present invention controls what menu changes end-users can make. As a general purpose technology applications of the present invention include self-service content menus build and managed by users that range from the single user to a community of users on an Intranet or at a portal site.

Abstract: A content management system on a Web-site that serves as a end-user access method is disclosed. The prior art of the open hierarchical data structure is used to organize content and provide the basis for a content menu. This present invention improves upon this prior art by teaching how to make a self-service input that accommodates individual information providers throughout the enterprise.

Abstract: The present disclosure improves upon the prior art of the content menu and its ability to generate end-user profiles paths taken by end-users. These profiles differentiate one end-user from another based on word usage and their mastery of the content. The present disclosure teaches how to built and manage a collection of software routines and how to link these routines to information objects accessed by the content menu. When end-users reach information from a content menu with the present invention the end-user profile can fire one of these routines to respond to a user's needs in real-time and thereby pave the way for a new generation of interactive marketing capabilities known as marketing triggers.

Abstract: An authoring system is disclosed that uses an open hierarchical data structure to build and maintain menu data for an applet running on a client computer that displays a series of nested, pop-up list menus. These menus constitute a content menu that serves as an end-user access method to Web pages on a Web site. The authoring system uses the open hierarchical data structure to organize information on the Web site and generate the menu data for a content menu. The authoring system allows developers to select when menu data files are generated, at runtime or compiled, and their optimal file size. This enables the Web developer to generate menu files that can be optimized for use in a client-server network.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of a computer software program for generating a series of connected nodes that form a path in an open hierarchical data structure is disclosed. The paths in the open hierarchical data structure provide the basis for an end-user menu system known as a content menu. The present invention discloses the means to use a programming language or code to relate one or more sets of data, stored in an external file or in a database, to the open hierarchical data structure. The software means of the present invention decodes this input to generate a series of connected nodes in the structure, and thereby create new menu data and menu paths that lead to information objects.

Abstract: A menu authoring system is disclosed that uses an open hierarchical data structure to generate source code for hypertext list menus that constitute a content menu on a Web site. The authoring system allows developers to select how and when these menu files are generated and the optimum output file size. The authoring system can generate menu files at runtime or prior to a general release; it can also generate one or more list menus to the same hypertext file. This enables the Web developer to generate menu files that can be optimized for use in a client-server network, or used to track end-user navigation.

Abstract: The present invention discloses how to implement a menu-based retrieval system for an information management system that uses a controlled vocabulary based on hierarchically oriented keywords. In this context each keyword has a hierarchically ordered code and one or more keywords are assigned to an information object. The menu system disclosed in the present invention enables end-users to employ a point-and-click method to generate a query language command that retrieves information objects. The developer menu system was also disclosed that enables information technologists to use a point-and-click method to assign keywords to an information object.

Abstract: The present invention discloses the means to build a content menu for a database management system. A content menu is an end-user access method that consists of a list of lists that describe content in an information system. End-users navigate the content menu to locate information objects at the end of a menu path. Unlike prior content menus, this invention disclosures the means to generate metadata that provide the basis for producing a content menu, at runtime, using "working" content managed by the database. A database structure stores the metadata. The metadata includes database commands and values that produce a list menu and link it to another list menu or information object.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a menu system that produces code consistent with software routines that generate menu data for an open hierarchical data structure. The structure provides the basis for a content menu. Both the menu and the structure are distinctive because they enable multiple paths to flow to the same information object at the end of a menu path. The primary challenge to generating menu data for this type of menu system involves coordinating sources of data. The present invention discloses a graphical user interface means for menu developers to access sources of data, and generate the predefined code consistent with the software means to generate menu data.

Abstract: An apparatus and a method for an information management system are disclosed. The invention includes an Application Generator, the Distribution files generated by the Application Generator, and a Retrieval system which accesses the Distribution files. The Retrieval system uses data in the Distribution files to configure an Information System which runs stand-alone on a desktop computer. The information management system of the present invention uses an open hierarchical data structure for classifying information objects and providing a menu access to them. The open hierarchical data structure of the present invention includes multiple pathways to the same information object. Multiple paths can be used to support synonyms and to clarify word meanings within a context, thereby overcoming retrieval problems associated with conventional word matching technologies.