Patent ID: 8713063

Claim:
A method of simplifying a graphical representation of a set of connected nodes, said method comprising the steps of: under computer control: presenting the set of connected nodes in a computer-controlled display; receiving from a user a selection of a first subset of nodes of interest to said user from said set of connected nodes; wherein all nodes from the set of connected nodes that are not included in the first subset comprise a secondary set; receiving from the user a defined relationship specifying how at least one node in the secondary set is connected to at least one node in said first subset, wherein said connectedness is a link relationship selected from a group consisting of: a) a node in the secondary set which is a descendant of a node in the first subset; b) a node in the secondary set which is an ancestor of a node in the first subset; c) a node in the secondary set which is a sibling of a node in the first subset; and d) a node in the secondary set which is the sibling of the ancestor of a node in the first subset; selecting a third subset of nodes from the set of the connected nodes, based on the defined relationship provided by the user, wherein said third subset comprises: nodes within the first subset; at least one node from the secondary set having the defined relationship to the at least one node in the first subset; and interconnections among the nodes within the first subset and the at least one node from the secondary set having the defined relationship to the at least one node in said first subset; displaying only the third subset of nodes including the interconnections; and hiding any nodes not in the third subset, thereby producing a simplified version of said graphical representation of said set of connected nodes in said computer-controlled display; wherein the graphical representation comprises a tree structure comprising: a root node; the nodes from the third subset; and a single path connecting any of the nodes in the third subset to the root node; wherein, when two nodes occur on the single path ending at the root node, the node closest to the root node is an ancestor of the other node, and the node furthest from the root node is a descendant of the other node.