US Patent 7698651 Heuristic knowledge portal

A user interface method for executing one or more operations in a computer for interfacing an associated user with a knowledge portal (10) that is operatively associated with a plurality of data objects in a data store (12) includes the steps of: receiving a user input (202); updating, based upon the received user input, one of a current object identity (82), a preview object identity (86), and a K-map parameter (84); updating a K-map conditional upon updating one of a current object identity (82) and a K-map parameter (84); displaying in a document pane (72) at least a portion of the current object; displaying in a map pane (74) the K-map; and displaying in a preview pane (76) contents associated with the preview object.