System and method for compiling and displaying a pruned information set

• US 20050165831A1
• Filed: 03/21/2005
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: UGS Plm Solutions, Inc. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Solomon, Bernard J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,451,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The processing system 10 is disclosed which uses a user interface 12 to interact with the search and control engine 16 and the display engine 18. The search and control engine 16 operates on a data set 14 to identify specific elements within a directory structure. Display engine 18 compiles the identified elements in a tree table 20 to format a display 22 associated with the directory structure. Pruning indicator 34 and a sibling pruning indicator 36 are used in the display 22 to inform the user that intermediate directory structures and sibling elements have been omitted from the display in order to show the identified elements in a truncated context within the complex directory structure.

Claims

1. A method for processing data elements stored in a data set, comprising:

organizing the data elements in a directory structure including identifying particular elements with particular directories; and

formatting a tree table associated with the data set where information associated with the identified data elements is displayed on a display in the context of information associated with an immediate parent directory of the identified data elements and where a pruning indicator display element is included as a portion of the display to indicate to a user that at least one directory structure associated with the immediate parent directory exists within the directory structure but has been omitted from the display.

2. The method of claim 1 whereby the display further comprises a sibling pruning indicator display element which is included in the display to indicate to a user of the display that data elements which are siblings of an identified data element within the immediate parent directory exist within the data set but have been omitted from the display and replaced by the sibling pruning indicator display element.

3. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

receiving inputs from a user of the display indicating the user'"'"'s desire to view particular subdirectory structures within the directory structure associated with the data set;

identifying a subdirectory to be displayed in response to input received by the user that includes an identified data element that is displayed in conjunction with a pruning indicator display element; and

reformatting the display to move the identified data element into the expanded subdirectory display group without the pruning indicator display element such that the identified data element is shown in the correct directory context associated with the directory structure associated with the data set.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the display system comprises a component of a computer aided design system and wherein the data elements are digital data sets associated with physical components of a system having a graphical representation associated with the computer aided design system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the display system is associated with a file storage system and wherein the data elements are data files organized in a hierarchical directory structure.

6. A data processing system, comprising:

a display engine operable to organize a data set into a tree table so that the data set can be displayed as a hierarchical directory tree with data elements organized in subdirectories within the tree; and

the display engine operable to format the tree table such that particular identified data elements are displayed through the user interface with a respective parent subdirectory to which each particular identified data element is a member and such that a pruning indicator display element is displayed associated with each particular identified data element which is displayed in a fashion that omits at least one parent directory associated with the particular element.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the user interface is operable to receive commands from the user to display at least one hidden subdirectory and wherein the display engine is operable to reformat the tree table to remove the pruning indicator display element if a user commands the display of the parent directory associated with a particular identified data element and to display the particular identified data element in the expanded data tree, including any exposed hidden directories.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the display engine is operable to substitute a sibling pruning indicator display element for data elements which are siblings of the particular identified data element within the parent subdirectory.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the data set comprises data files within a hierarchically organized file system.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein the data set comprises data elements comprising digital data sets representative of structural components of an assembly renderable by a computer aided design system.

11. (canceled)

12. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

14. A method of displaying a subset of a data set, comprising:

displaying a data element in the context of a subset of a data hierarchy; and

displaying a sibling pruning indicator display element, to a user, to indicate that one or more portions of the data hierarchy have been omitted from the display, the one or more pruned portions of the data hierarchy comprising siblings of the data element within a directory.

15. The method of claim 14 and further comprising:

receiving inputs from a user of the display indicating the user'"'"'s desire to view particular subdirectory structures within the directory structure associated with the data set;

identifying a subdirectory to be displayed in response to input received by the user that includes the data element that is displayed in conjunction with the sibling pruning indicator display element; and

reformatting the display to move the data element into the expanded subdirectory display group without the pruning indicator display element such that the identified data element is shown in the correct directory context associated with the directory structure associated with the data set.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein displaying the data element in the context of the subset of the data hierarchy comprises using a display system associated with a computer aided design system and wherein the data element is of a digital data set associated with physical components of a system having a graphical representation associated with the computer aided design system.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein displaying the data element in the context of the subset of the data hierarchy comprises using a display system associated with a file storage system and wherein the data element is a data file organized in a hierarchical directory structure.

18. A system for displaying a subset of a data set, comprising:

a display engine operable to;

display a data element in the context of a subset of a data hierarchy; and

display a sibling pruning indicator display element, to a user, to indicate that one or more portions of the data hierarchy have been omitted from the display and replaced with the sibling pruning indicator display element, the one or more pruned portions of the data hierarchy comprising siblings of the data element within a parent directory.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising a user interface operable to receive inputs from a user of the display indicating the user'"'"'s desire to view particular subdirectory structures within the directory structure associated with the data set, the display engine further operable to:

identify a subdirectory to be displayed in response to input received by the user that includes the data element that is displayed in conjunction with the sibling pruning indicator display element; and

reformat the display to move the data element into the expanded subdirectory display group without the pruning indicator display element such that the identified data element is shown in the correct directory context associated with the directory structure associated with the data set.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine is operable to use a display system associated with a computer aided design system to display the data element in the context of the subset of the data hierarchy, and wherein the data element is of a digital data set associated with physical components of a system having a graphical representation associated with the computer aided design system.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine is operable to use a display system associated with a file storage system to display the data element in the context of the subset of the data hierarchy, and wherein the data element is a data file organized in a hierarchical directory structure.