Method and apparatus for information visualization and analysis

1 . A method for analyzing, organizing and manipulating data for use by computer-executable programs comprising the steps of:

providing a set of documents, wherein each document is provided from a document source

mapping the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents and is expressed as a signature for that document,

identifying a unique identifier for each document

providing a graphical representation of the documents

associating the graphical representation of each document with the document source using the unique identifier so that any manipulation of the graphical representation of the document will result in a corresponding manipulation of the document in at least one computer executable program.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of mapping the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents is accomplished by the steps of

creating high dimensional vectors for each of the documents, such that each high dimensional vector represents the relative relationship of the individual documents a term or topic attribute; and

arranging the high dimensional vectors into clusters, with each of the clusters representing a plurality of documents grouped by relative significance of their relationship to a topic attribute.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein said unique signatures are optimized to provide an optimum number of clusters.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein each document comprises data in a tabular form having a plurality of rows, each row having a plurality of columns.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein each document comprises at least a portion of a row.

6 . An apparatus for analyzing, organizing and manipulating data for use by computer-executable programs comprising a computer system configured to perform the steps of:

inputting a set of documents, wherein each document is provided from a document source,

mapping the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents and is expressed as a signature for that document,

identifying a unique identifier for each document,

providing a graphical representation of the documents,

associating the graphical representation of each document with the document source using the unique identifier so that any manipulation of the graphical representation of the document will result in a corresponding manipulation of the document in at least one computer executable program running on said computer system.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the step of mapping the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents is accomplished by the steps of

creating high dimensional vectors for each of the documents, such that each high dimensional vector represents the relative relationship of the individual documents a term or topic attribute; and

arranging the high dimensional vectors into clusters, with each of the clusters representing a plurality of documents grouped by relative significance of their relationship to a topic attribute.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said unique signatures are optimized to provide an optimum number of clusters.

9 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein each document comprises data in a tabular form having a plurality of rows, each row having a plurality of columns.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 wherein each document comprises at least a portion of a row.

11 . A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for analyzing, organizing and manipulating data for use by other computer-executable programs comprising the steps of:

providing a set of documents, wherein each document is provided from a document source

mapping the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents and is expressed as a signature for that document,

identifying a unique identifier for each document

providing a graphical representation of the documents

associating the graphical representation of each document with the document source using the unique identifier so that any manipulation of the graphical representation of the document will result in a corresponding manipulation of the document in at least one computer executable program.

12 . The computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions of claim 11 wherein the step of mapping the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents is accomplished by the steps of

creating high dimensional vectors for each of the documents, such that each high dimensional vector represents the relative relationship of the individual documents a term or topic attribute; and

arranging the high dimensional vectors into clusters, with each of the clusters representing a plurality of documents grouped by relative significance of their relationship to a topic attribute.

13 . The computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions of claim 12 wherein the unique signatures are optimized to provide an optimum number of clusters.

14 . The computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions of claim 11 wherein each document comprises data in a tabular form having a plurality of rows, each row having a plurality of columns.

15 . The computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions of claim 14 wherein each document comprises at least a portion of a row.

16 . A system for analyzing, organizing and manipulating data for use by computer-executable programs comprising:

an input device configured to receive a set of documents, wherein each document is provided from a document source,

a processor configured to:

map the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents and is expressed as a signature for that document,

identify a unique identifier for each document,

provide a graphical representation of the documents,

associate the graphical representation of each document with the document source using the unique identifier so that any manipulation of the graphical representation of the document will result in a corresponding manipulation of the document in at least one computer executable program.

17 . The system of claim 16 wherein the processor is configure to map the documents to a location in multi-dimensional space wherein each document's position in multidimensional space is determined as a function of the document's relationship to other documents by

creating high dimensional vectors for each of the documents, such that each high dimensional vector represents the relative relationship of the individual documents a term or topic attribute; and

arranging the high dimensional vectors into clusters, with each of the clusters representing a plurality of documents grouped by relative significance of their relationship to a topic attribute.

18 . The system of claim 17 wherein the processor is configured so that the unique signatures are optimized to provide an optimum number of clusters.

19 . The system of claim 16 wherein the processor is configured so that each document comprises data in a tabular form having a plurality of rows, each row having a plurality of columns.

20 . The system of claim 19 wherein each document comprises at least a portion of a row.