System and method for an interface to provide visualization and navigation of a directed graph

• US 7,203,701 B1
• Filed: 02/20/2002
• Issued: 04/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Versata Development Group, Inc. (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Trilogy Development Group Incorporated (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Inventors: Packebush, Sherrill J., Hwang, Marie Y., McDonald, Brian M., Steinbach, Marian
• Primary Examiner(s): PANNALA, SATHYANARAYA R
• Application Number:
  US10/079,349
• Time in Patent Office: 1,875 Days
• Field of Search: 707101-102, 707/103.Y, 715853-854, 715734-739, 715/713, 715/802, 715968-969
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method and system for providing an interface that allows navigation and display of a directed graph are provided. The interface provides visualization of an underlying graph structure comprising a plurality of hierarchies with shared common nodes, wherein the hierarchies do not necessarily share the exhaustive child-tree of the common node. The method provides for the interface to display a focus node, parent nodes (if any) of the focus node, and in-context children (if any) of the focus node. In a preferred embodiment, the displays of focus, parent, and in-context child nodes are textual displays rather than graphical node-link displays.

Claims

1. A method for navigating and displaying a plurality of relational objects, the method comprising:

receiving a selection input;

identifying, based on the selection input, a focus node, the focus node being one of a plurality of relational objects, wherein;

the plurality of relational objects comprise a node link structure;

the node link structure further comprising a plurality of hierarchies of nodes;

a first of the plurality of hierarchies shares the focus node with a second of the plurality of hierarchies;

the focus node has a first parent node in the first hierarchy and a second parent node in the second hierarchy;

the focus node is a parent node for a first child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the first hierarchy and is a parent node for a second child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the second hierarchy;

the first hierarchy does not include the second child sub-tree of one or more nodes; and

the second hierarchy does not include the first child sub-tree of one or more nodes;

displaying the focus node on a display medium;

determining a context for the focus node, wherein determining a context for the focus node includes receiving a selection identifying one of the first and second parent nodes and the context identifies the hierarchy containing the parent node identified by the received selection; and

displaying the parent node and at least one child sub-tree from the hierarchy identified by the determined context without displaying the parent node and child sub-tree in the hierarchy not identified by the determined context.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein displaying the focus node further comprises displaying the focus node in a textual format, wherein the textual format is a format other than a format that illustrates the focus object and the first related object as nodes connected by a graphical relationship symbol such as a line or arrow.

3. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

displaying as a top grouping a subset of the plurality of relational objects; and

wherein receiving a selection input further comprises receiving a selection input that corresponds to a selected one of the relational objects in the top grouping.

4. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a find input;

performing a search of the plurality of relational objects in order to determine whether one or more of the relational objects is associated with the find input; and

if one or more of the relational objects is associated with the find input, displaying as a find grouping the one or more relational objects associated with the find input.

5. The method recited in claim 4, wherein:

the selection input identifies one of the relational objects in the find grouping.

6. The method recited in claim 1, wherein:

one or more of the plurality of relational objects represents a person.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a context of the focus node comprises:

determining a context of the focus node based on the selection input.

8. A method of using a computer system for navigating and displaying a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:

receiving data;

identifying, based on the received data, a focus node, wherein;

the focus node is one of the plurality of nodes and is a common node of a first hierarchy of nodes and a second hierarchy of nodes;

the plurality of nodes are included in a node link structure;

the plurality of nodes include the first hierarchy of nodes and the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node has a first parent node in the first hierarchy of nodes and has a second parent node in the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node is a parent node for a first child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the first hierarchy and is a parent node for a second child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the second hierarchy;

the first hierarchy does not include the second child sub-tree of one or more nodes; and

the second hierarchy does not include the first child sub-tree of one or more nodes;

receiving data identifying one of the first and second parent nodes as a context of the focus node, wherein the context is associated with the hierarchy containing the identified parent node; and

providing data to a client computer system for displaying the focus node and the one or more nodes of the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node without displaying the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes that are not determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

9. The method recited in claim 8 further comprising:

providing data to allow the display medium to display the parent node of the focus node in the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

10. The method recited in claim 8 wherein the context of the focus node is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes.

11. The method recited in claim 8 further comprising:

identifying the first and second hierarchies of nodes;

identifying the first and second parent nodes; and

identifying the first and second child sub-trees of nodes.

12. The method recited in claim 8 wherein determining a context of the focus node comprises:

receiving data identifying one of the first parent node and the second parent node, wherein if the first parent node is identified, the context is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes and if the second parent node is identified, the context is associated with the second hierarchy of nodes.

13. The method recited in claim 8 wherein identifying a context of the focus node comprises:

identifying a context of the focus node based on the received data.

14. A method of using a computer system for navigating and displaying a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:

providing data that identifies a focus node, wherein;

the focus node is one of the plurality of nodes and is a common node of a first hierarchy of nodes and a second hierarchy of nodes;

the plurality of nodes are included in a node link structure;

the plurality of nodes include the first hierarchy of nodes and the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node has a first parent node in the first hierarchy of nodes and has a second parent node in the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node is a parent node for a first child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the first hierarchy and is a parent node for a second child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the second hierarchy; and

the first hierarchy does not include the second child sub-tree of one or more nodes; and

the second hierarchy does not include the first child sub-tree of one or more nodes;

providing data that identifies one of the first and second parent nodes as a context of the focus node, wherein the context is associated with the hierarchy containing the identified parent node; and

displaying, on a display medium, the focus node and the one or more nodes of the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node without displaying the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes that are not determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

15. The method recited in claim 14 further comprising:

displaying on a display medium the parent node of the focus node in the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

16. The method recited in claim 14 wherein the context of the focus node is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes.

17. The method recited in claim 14 further comprising:

providing data to identify the first and second hierarchies of nodes;

providing data to identify the first and second parent nodes; and

providing data to identify the first and second child sub-trees of nodes.

18. The method recited in claim 14 wherein determining a context of the focus node comprises:

providing data identifying one of the first parent node and the second parent node, wherein if the first parent node is identified, the context is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes and if the second parent node is identified, the context is associated with the second hierarchy of nodes.

19. The method recited in claim 14 wherein identifying a context of the focus node comprises:

providing data identifying a context of the focus node.

20. A computer readable storage medium comprising processor executable code for:

identifying, based on received data, a focus node, wherein;

the focus node is one of a plurality of nodes and is a common node of a first hierarchy of nodes and a second hierarchy of nodes;

the plurality of nodes are included in a node link structure;

the plurality of nodes include the first hierarchy of nodes and the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node has a first parent node in the first hierarchy of nodes and has a second parent node in the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node is a parent node for a first child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the first hierarchy and is a parent node for a second child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the second hierarchy;

the first hierarchy does not include the second child sub-tree of one or more nodes; and

the second hierarchy does not include the first child sub-tree of one or more nodes;

receiving data identifying one of the first and second parent nodes as a context of the focus node, wherein the context is associated with the hierarchy containing the identified parent node; and

providing data to a client computer system for displaying the focus node and the one or more nodes of the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node without displaying the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes that are not determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

21. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 20 further comprising processor executable code for:

providing data to allow the display medium to display the parent node of the focus node in the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

22. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the context of the focus node is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes.

23. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 20 further comprising processor executable code for:

identifying the first and second hierarchies of nodes;

identifying the first and second parent nodes; and

identifying the first and second child sub-trees of nodes.

24. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the code for determining a context of the focus node further comprises processor executable code for:

receiving data identifying one of the first parent node and the second parent node, wherein if the first parent node is identified, the context is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes and if the second parent node is identified, the context is associated with the second hierarchy of nodes.

25. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the code for identifying a context of the focus node further comprises processor executable code for:

identifying a context of the focus node based on the received data.

26. A computer system comprising:

a processor, and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising processor executable code for;

identifying, based on received data, a focus node, wherein;

the focus node is one of a plurality of nodes and is a common node of a first hierarchy of nodes and a second hierarchy of nodes;

the plurality of nodes are included in a node link structure;

the plurality of nodes include the first hierarchy of nodes and the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node has a first parent node in the first hierarchy of nodes and has a second parent node in the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node is a parent node for a first child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the first hierarchy and is a parent node for a second child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the second hierarchy;

the first hierarchy does not include the second child sub-tree of one or more nodes; and

the second hierarchy does not include the first child sub-tree of one or more nodes;

receiving data identifying one of the first and second parent nodes as a context of the focus node, wherein the context is associated with the hierarchy containing the identified parent node; and

providing data to a client computer system for displaying the focus node and the one or more nodes of the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node without displaying the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes that are not determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

27. The computer system recited in claim 26 further comprising processor executable code for:

providing data to allow the display medium to display the parent node of the focus node in the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.

28. The computer system recited in claim 26 wherein the context of the focus node is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes.

29. The computer system recited in claim 26 further comprising processor executable code for:

identifying the first and second hierarchies of nodes;

identifying the first and second parent nodes; and

identifying the first and second child sub-trees of nodes.

30. The computer system recited in claim 26 wherein the code for determining a context of the focus node further comprises processor executable code for:

receiving data identifying one of the first parent node and the second parent node, wherein if the first parent node is identified, the context is associated with the first hierarchy of nodes and if the second parent node is identified, the context is associated with the second hierarchy of nodes.

31. The computer system recited in claim 26 wherein the code for identifying a context of the focus node further comprises processor executable code for:

identifying a context of the focus node based on the received data.

32. A computer system comprising:

means for identifying, based on received data, a focus node, wherein;

the focus node is one of a plurality of nodes and is a common node of a first hierarchy of nodes and a second hierarchy of nodes;

the plurality of nodes are included in a node link structure;

the plurality of nodes include the first hierarchy of nodes and the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node has a first parent node in the first hierarchy of nodes and has a second parent node in the second hierarchy of nodes;

the focus node is a parent node for a first child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the first hierarchy and is a parent node for a second child sub-tree of one or more nodes in the second hierarchy;

the first hierarchy does not include the second child sub-tree of one or more nodes; and

the second hierarchy does not include the first child sub-tree of one or more nodes;

means for receiving data identifying one of the first and second parent nodes as a context of the focus node, wherein the context is associated with the hierarchy containing the identified parent node; and

means for providing data to a client computer system for displaying the focus node and the one or more nodes of the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes determined to be associated with the context of the focus node without displaying the child sub-tree of the hierarchy of nodes that are not determined to be associated with the context of the focus node.