Interactively Comparing Records in a Database

Abstract

The present invention can allow an electronic catalog or other set of items to be searched and compared interactively. In one embodiment, the invention includes displaying a list of items in an electronic catalog, each item corresponding to a row of the display, each row having values corresponding to attributes of the corresponding items arranged into attribute columns, grouping some of the displayed items based on a selected attribute upon receiving a grouping command so that the grouped items are displayed in a single row, and expanding the grouped items upon receiving an expand command so that the grouped items are each displayed in a separate row. The embodiment further includes removing a row corresponding to an item or to grouped items from the display upon receiving a row remove command and removing a column corresponding to an attribute of the items from the display upon receiving a column remove command.

1 . A graphical user interface (GUI) comprising: 
 a list of items;    a plurality of attribute identifiers related to attributes of the listed items;    a value for at least some of the attributes for each of the listed items;    a grouping button associated with an attribute identifier to group items based on the items' values for the associated attribute and display the grouped items as a single item.    
     
     
         2 . The GUI of  claim 1 , wherein grouping based on the items' values comprises grouping items having the same value for an attribute.  
     
     
         3 . The GUI of  claim 1 , wherein grouping based on the items' values comprises grouping items having values for an attribute within a range.  
     
     
         4 . The GUI of  claim 3  further comprising a selection window to allow a user to select a range of attribute values for the grouping of items using the grouping buttons.  
     
     
         5 . The GUI of  claim 1 , wherein the grouping button is further to display the range of the values of an attribute of the grouped items when the grouped items are displayed as a single item.  
     
     
         6 . The GUI of  claim 5 , wherein the range of values display replaces the values for the corresponding attributes for the grouped items displayed as a single item.  
     
     
         7 . The GUI of  claim 1 , further comprising a grouping button associated with another attribute identifier, so that if both grouping buttons are selected items are grouped based on the items' values for both associated attributes and grouped items are displayed as a single attribute.  
     
     
         8 . The GUI of  claim 1 , further comprising an indication of the count of grouped items for a group of items displayed as a single item.  
     
     
         9 . The GUI of  claim 8 , wherein the indication of the count comprises an expand button associated with the group of items displayed as a single item to display the group of items as separate items that are not grouped.  
     
     
         10 . The GUI of  claim 1 , further comprising an expand button associated with the grouped items displayed as a single item to display the grouped items as separate items that are not grouped.  
     
     
         11 . The GUI of  claim 1 , further comprising a parametric refinement button associated with an attribute identifier to restrict the list of items to those items having a value for the associated attribute within a range.  
     
     
         12 . The GUI of  claim 1 , further comprising a sorting button associated with an attribute identifier to sort the list of items based on the value for the associated attribute.  
     
     
         13 . The GUI of  claim 1 , further comprising a hide button to remove an attribute identifier and the values of the attribute for the listed items from the display.