1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer systems adapted to manage information elements disposed on arrays and axes thereof in conjunction with another data representation element. The present invention more specifically relates to methods and apparatuses for displaying, organizing and navigating among information elements disposed in arrays and axes thereof in conjunction with a means to access and use the arrays and axes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projects are generating documents and these documents should be managed in the most efficient way possible. Ordering and classifying documents in a classification structure takes significant time and can be complex. A likelihood of confusion remains present as how the classification structure is going to be interpreted by each person classifying the documents. Despite the improvement of computers having sensitive documents ordered in a comprehensive fashion remains a challenge.
Projects have a significant number of documents associated therewith. A project can be divided into different phases or the like. Some projects can follow a precise workflow further detailing steps of the project. For instance, a workflow can include various interactions of phases, events, tasks, notes, bring forward (BF), among others. This more detailed type of project document management increases the level of complexity for a user.
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are becoming more and more graphically rich in displaying documents, icons and other information elements. Today's lists of documents are turning progressively into highly graphical sequences of documents from which users can attain greater meaning and purpose than before. This is due primarily to the fact that modern GUIs display graphically complex thumbnails, icons and file previews; large number of documents and highly customized ordering of sequences in which the objects displayed are presented.
A sequence of documents may be presented in arrays of various forms, such as an axis, a group of axes or a matrix. In a related fashion, an axis or an array can contain documents that display various degrees of relevance to a user based on the attributes associated with each document or group thereof. Documents, in general, can be unevenly distributed in an array in dependence of the manner in which they are initially organized in the respective array. Finding the documents, from an array, that are deemed relevant by the user may, therefore, be difficult or even confusing when few or no relevant documents appear in the display area.
It is therefore desirable to provide proper indications and means adapted for the navigation of an array of documents in relation with a predetermined classification structure or workflow process over the existing art. It is also desirable to indicate to a user, which part of an array relates to which portion of a classification structure or workflow. It is equally desirable to display an array, an axis or a portion thereof, in graphical relationship a specific classification structure or with respective steps of a workflow.
It is also desirable to provide indications and means for efficiently navigating an axis, row or column of an array of documents in relationship with steps of a workflow. It is also desirable to provide an improved method for simultaneously navigating steps of a workflow process (or workflow entries) and documents corresponding to respective steps of the workflow process.
It is yet also desirable to provide a method and system adapted to find and navigate documents deemed relevant to a portion of a workflow by a user when such documents are located on an axis, row or column of a display.
It is desirable to provide a means to simply categorize documents and retrieve categorized documents with a unified interaction element.
It is also desirable to categorize documents by an interaction between documents with a categorization element representing a preformatted categorization where the documents are going to acquire the categorization of the categorization element.
Other deficiencies will become apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains in view of the following summary and detailed description with its appended figures.