A visual reference structure for a computer database for retrieval of information objects in the database, the reference structure is formed of discrete cell blocks that are assembled into a three dimensional structure having sixteen cubes containing one million cell blocks, seven plates containing one hundred thousand cell blocks, seven strings containing ten thousand cell blocks, seven cubes containing one thousand cell blocks, two plates containing one hundred cell blocks and a string of sixteen cell blocks, for a total of 16,777,216 cell blocks, the reference structure preferably providing locations for picoblocks which are bit cubes containing a maximum of 34.sup.3 bits, and being displayable in the display of a computer.

A method, system and program for displaying database information via a table containing icons and other summary information which clearly and concisely convey particular aspects of a database to a user. The table display acts as a window into a database when it is selected by a user. A user can also make changes to the database via the window of information.

Displaying graphical indicators, instead of data, based on user-defined conditions. The user can specify conditions for displaying graphical indicators instead of actual data by specifying a test, values, and an image. The graphical indicators can be pre-assigned images that are dynamically applied based on the underlying text or numeric data values. Graphical indicators allow the user to visually represent data types or categories with graphics, based on the user's conditions. Different conditions can be specified for a given data field and each condition can be associated with a particular graphical indicator. Prioritized processing of data conditions allow for complex control of which indicator will be displayed to visually represent the data. When the underlying data in a field changes, the criteria can be reapplied and the field dynamically updated to the appropriate indicator.

An image filing system comprises a display section which can display a plurality of retrieval images indicative of retrieval information to retrieve images stored in a memory medium, a selecting section to select a desired one of the retrieval images displayed on the display section, a retrieving section to retrieve the image associated with the retrieval image from the memory medium on the basis of the retrieval image selected by the selecting section and means for making the image stored in the memory medium which was associated with the first retrieval image selected by the selecting section associate with the second retrieval image selected by the selecting section; and in this system the associating means erases the first retrieval image from the display section.

A hand-held housing contains an image sensor, a processor, a memory, a visual display and input control buttons for recording, storing, displaying and retrieving images from a document, such as a business card. The image sensor generates electrical data signals representative of the image on a document as the housing is moved across the document in a scanning embodiment or the images on a document disposed beneath the housing in a single record embodiment, which signals are stored in the memory by the processor and concurrently displayed on the display. The input control buttons, through the control program executed by the processor, provide for scanning, storage and retrieval of images from memory for display. The processor stores the images in a linked list or lists in the memory and is capable of rearranging, adding or deleting any image associated with a particular document in any list in the memory.