Patent ID: 7962519
Filing Date: 2011-06-14
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for building hierarchies, comprising: providing a catalog of objects, the catalog of objects having a plurality of objects and hierarchical relationships between objects in the catalog of objects; receiving a selection of a focus object from the catalog of objects, any of the catalog of objects being eligible for selection as the focus object; loading the focus object into a builder from the catalog of objects, the focus object and the catalog of objects being computer objects used to build a computer system using a hardware configurator; revealing a set of objects as possible hierarchical extensions to the focus object based on the hierarchical relationships of the set of objects to the focus object, the revealing including accessing a hierarchical object map that includes the focus object and revealing a set of objects that are determined to be directly connected to the focus object on the hierarchical object map; receiving a selection of one of the set of objects, the selected object being different from the focus object; identifying a set of instances corresponding to the selected object, the set of instances including objects that have a hierarchical relationship with the selected object; and filtering the set of instances for compatibility with the focus object using the hierarchical relationships as defined in the catalog of objects, wherein instances resulting from the filtering have a hierarchical relationship with both the focus object and the selected object.