Patent ID: 7213024

Claim:
A method of accessing information within an electronic system comprising the steps of: a. formatting a searchable database within the electronic system into a directory tree structure, wherein the directory tree structure includes nodes comprising related data and branches comprising links between the nodes, wherein each related item of data is categorized by a navigation path through the directory tree structure and by one or more parameters, each parameter is set with a corresponding value associated with the data item thereby forming a set parameter, wherein the parameters are specific to the node in which the related data is included; b. accessing a node within the directory tree structure using a query language string, wherein the query language string is a command string written according to a query language that defines a navigation path through the directory tree structure to access a specific node within the directory tree structure; and c. manually traversing the navigation path through the directory tree structure to access the node utilizing a research module including keyword search, hierarchical search, dichotomous key search, and parametric search, wherein each utilization of the research module includes availability of each search at any location, including at any displayed page, within the searchable database, wherein the keyword search, the hierarchical search, the dichotomous key search, and the parametric search are available at any displayed page within the searchable database without requiring user input.