Patent ID: 8819592

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for enabling a computer user to view just a selected portion of a complex graph, said graph comprising a plurality of data set nodes, wherein each data set node includes zero or more data object nodes and zero or more other data set nodes, and every node in the complex graph that is not displayed in the selected portion is contained in at least one displayed data set node, the method comprising: determining a data set node of interest from among the plurality of data set nodes; visually depicting, in an available data nodes area of a user display, the data set node of interest as a primary node; visually depicting, within the available data nodes area, at least one additional data node that in the graph is included in the data set node represented by the primary node; receiving a first selection of a data node that is depicted within the available data nodes area; when the first selected node is a data object node, moving the first selected node from the available data nodes area to a separate selected nodes area within the user display; and when the first selected node is a data set node: visually depicting, within the available data nodes area, the first selected node as a secondary data node subordinate to the primary node; visually depicting, in the available data nodes area, data nodes that, in the graph, lie within the first selected data set node as a second set of available data nodes; enabling the user to select an operation from a plurality of operations associated with one of the available data nodes from the second set, wherein the operations comprise a remove operation causing removal of the available data node from the second set, and an expand operation triggering visual depiction of nodes adjacent to the available data node from the second set; and performing the selected operation.