Query generation from displayed text documents using virtual magnets

摘要

A system and method are provided for dynamically generating a query using touch gestures. A virtual magnet is movable on a display device of a tactile user interface in response to touch. A user selects one of a set of text documents for review, which is displayed on the display. The system is configured for recognizing a highlighting gesture on the tactile user interface over the displayed document as a selection of a text fragment from the document text. The virtual magnet is populated with a query which is based on the text fragment selected with the highlighting gesture. The populated magnet is able to cause a subset of displayed graphic objects to exhibit a response to the magnet as a function of the query and the text content of the respective documents which the objects represent and/or to cause responsive instances in a text document to be displayed.

主权项

1. A method for dynamically generating a query comprising:
displaying a set of graphic objects on the display device, each graphic object representing one of a set of text documents; providing a virtual magnet which is movable on a display device of a tactile user interface in response to touching on the tactile user interface, the virtual magnet being capable of drawing graphic objects in the set of graphic objects towards it or repelling them; providing for a user to select one of the set of text documents, including providing for the user to select one of the graphic objects; displaying the selected text document on the display device; recognizing a highlighting gesture on the tactile user interface over the displayed document as a selection of a text fragment from text content of the document; and populating the virtual magnet with a query which is based on the text fragment selected from the displayed text document by the highlighting gesture, whereby the populated magnet is configured for causing at least one of:
at least a subset of displayed graphic objects to exhibit a response to the magnet as a function of the query and text content of respective documents which the graphic objects represent, the response including the virtual magnet drawing the subset of graphic objects towards it or repelling them; andresponsive instances of the query to be displayed in a text document.