Patent ID: 7694239

Claim:
A method for viewing objects, comprising: displaying a hierarchical structure, wherein the hierarchical structure includes two or more levels, and wherein each of the levels includes two or more objects, and wherein the two or more objects for each of the levels is displayed in a separate level panel, wherein, when an object at a first level displayed in a first level panel has child objects at a second level, the child objects are displayed in a second level panel; for each object in a level panel that is selected to obtain contextual details, displaying the contextual details about the object below the level panel in which the object is displayed; providing a control to enable selection of two or more objects at each of the levels of the hierarchical structure; receiving selection of at least two objects at each of two or more of the levels of the hierarchical structure in at least two separate level panels; in response to receiving the selection, displaying the hierarchical structure with the at least two objects at each of the two or more of the levels shown as selected; and displaying a list of the selected objects in a summary panel; and in response to removing an object from the summary panel, deselecting the object in the level panel displaying that object.