Patent ID: 7437379

Claim:
A method for efficient storage and retrieval of catalog information comprising: creating a common data structure for data items comprising a set of attributes wherein said common data structure excludes a first attribute from said set of attributes unique to a first data item selected from said data items; associating said first data item with said first attribute excluded from said common data structure; creating a category data structure for storing information corresponding to a category of information comprising said common data structure; associating said first data item with a first category; creating an attribute data structure comprising category attributes from said set of attributes where said category attributes are common to a plurality of said data items; associating at least one category with at least one attribute from said category attributes via a category-attribute data structure; creating a category hierarchy data structure; and, associating a hierarchy of categories within said category hierarchy data structure, wherein said category hierarchy data structure comprises at least one parent category and at least one child category wherein said at least one child category inherits at least one parent attribute from said category attributes and wherein a child category selected from said at least one child category is associated with at least one parent category selected from said at least one parent category; wherein said category data structure comprises a hidden field and wherein said first category comprises a hidden field set to true wherein said first category does not form part of a consolidated view of said hierarchy of categories but does form part of a detailed view of said hierarchy of categories.