Patent ID: 8886764

Claim:
A method for a modeling tool and for retrieving a pre-identified object and a plurality of objects linked to said pre-identified object via links from an object database of a server, wherein said plurality of objects and said pre-identified object are stored in said object database, wherein said plurality of objects, said pre-identified object, and said links represent a computer model of a technical device modeled via the modeling tool, and wherein said method comprises: forming, at a client device, a request for (i) said pre-identified object, wherein said pre-identified object has a predetermined identity in said database, and (ii) said plurality of objects linked to said pre-identified object; transmitting said request from said client device to said server over a computer network; selecting a set of rules for filtering out a subset of objects from said plurality of objects linked to said pre-identified object to create a first data package containing said pre-identified object and said subset of objects; retrieving said pre-identified object and objects linked to said pre-identified object from said object database; creating said first data package at the server containing said pre-identified object and said subset of objects linked to said pre-identified object, wherein said creating of said first data package comprises performing a recursive process, and wherein said recursive process comprises in a first step, storing the pre-identified object as part of the first data package, in a second step, identifying all linked objects, where a linked object is an object directly linked to said pre-identified object, in a third step, applying said set of rules to said linked objects, and in a fourth step, storing a link to one of said linked objects in said first data package followed by performing said first to said fourth steps with said one of said linked objects as a pre-identified object, wherein the fourth step is repeated for all of said linked objects that are according to said set of rules; and transmitting said first data package to said client device.