Patent ID: 7657547
Filing Date: 2010-02-02
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: creating a hierarchy of nodes, each node being at least one of (a) associated with at least one item included in a set of items retrieved according to a condition and (b) associated with one of a plurality of categories of information; determining using a computing device whether a present node in the hierarchy of nodes is associated with any of the items in the set of items; if the present node is not associated with any of the items in the set of items, determining using the computing device whether the present node has one and only one child node or no child nodes, and further determining, if present node has only one child node, whether the child node is associated with one of the categories of information or a subcategory of the one of the categories of information; pruning the present node from the hierarchy using the computing device if (a) the present node is not associated with any of the items in the set of items and (b) the present node has no child node or only one child node, the only one child node being associated with the category or the subcategory; associating a node with a short label and a descriptive label, the node being in the hierarchy of nodes and associated with at least one item; if the node is being displayed, displaying the node with the descriptive label if the node is a descendent of a node that was pruned, and displaying the node with the short label otherwise; and wherein the descriptive label provides proper context for the node in the absence of a portion of the original hierarchy.