Patent ID: 7774383

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for controlling a display of facet tree elements, the method comprising providing a plurality of instructions to a computer connected to a storage device containing a rules database and a facet tree database, wherein the plurality of instructions are adapted to cause the computer to perform steps comprising: displaying a user interface for selecting a facet tree from a plurality of facet trees and selecting a user category from a plurality of categories; responsive to a user's selections of the facet tree and the user category, acquiring a set of display rules applicable to a user characteristic from the rules database; prior to displaying a specialized view of the facet tree, applying the set of display rules to the facet tree and performing calculations to return an appropriate facet element item count in each of a plurality of elements from the facet tree; displaying a specialized view of the facet tree that includes the appropriate facet element item count, wherein the specialized view is configured such that only those portions of the facet tree to which the user is authorized access by the set of display rules associated with the user characteristic are displayed to the user on the interface; and logging a plurality of navigation choices and the appropriate facet element item count in each of a plurality of elements from the facet tree to a sequence document.