Patent ID: 8171429

Claim:
A method for switching between applications, the method comprising: defining a tree hierarchy with a group of nodes related to one another in terms of a parent-child relationship, wherein the tree hierarchy includes a first level of nodes, a second level of nodes, and a third level of nodes, wherein each second level node is a child of one of the first level nodes, and each third level node is a child of one of the second level nodes, wherein each first level node represents one of a plurality of entities, each second level node represents one of a plurality of applications, and each third level node represents one of a plurality of sub-applications; simultaneously displaying, by a computer, first, second, and third navigation controls configured to respectively display first and second entities, one or more applications that are children of the first entity, and a first sub application that is a child of one of the applications; receiving, at the computer and via the first navigation control, a user selection of the second entity in the first navigation control; in response to the user selection, determining, by the computer, one or more applications that are children of the second entity, and a second sub application that is a child of one of the one or more applications that are children of the second entity; configuring the second and third navigation controls to respectively display the one or more applications that are children of the second entity and the second sub application, wherein reconfiguring of the third navigation from displaying the first sub application to displaying the second sub application occurs without traversal of the tree hierarchy.