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Method and apparatus for generating hierarchical displays

  • US 4,613,946 A
  • Filed: 06/07/1984
  • Issued: 09/23/1986
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1984
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method for displaying information in a tree structure on a system having an input means, a display means and a control means comprising the steps of:

  • (a) providing from said input means to said control means input data representative of information associated with a root of the tree structure forming a 0th node level therein;

    (b) providing from said input means to said control means input data representative of nodes on a Kth level in the tree structure where K is an integer;

    (c) receiving input data from said input means representative of a relationship between said nodes on said Kth level and nodes related thereto on a different level K+L where L is a nonzero integer;

    (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until information concerning all nodes for display on the Kth level has been provided to said control means;

    (e) operating said control means to generate control data for controlling said display means to display the nodes of said Kth level and to display connections representing branches of said tree structure between said nodes and the nodes related thereto on said different level whereby any displayed node is displayed together with its related nodes;

    (f) repeating steps (b) through (e) as necessary for successive values of K to represent a tree structure on said display means; and

    (g) displaying said nodes of said tree levels and said branch connections between said nodes and said related nodes,whereby a tree structure format is provided for displaying said input data.

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