Patent ID: 7499922

Claim:
A computer-implemented information retrieval method, comprising the steps of: accepting a user input for selecting at least one data source; receiving a plurality of data items from said data source; creating an unfiltered data table that includes said plurality of data items; displaying said unfiltered data table; generating a filter tree table that includes selectable data groupings associated with said plurality of data items; accepting a user input for selecting or de-selecting at least one data grouping; generating a filtering query, based on the selected data groupings, that includes at least one query operator; running said filtering query against said unfiltered data table; receiving a plurality of filtered data items from said unfiltered data table in response to said filtering query; creating a filtered data table that includes said plurality of filtered data items; displaying said filtered data table; generating a summary query based on the selected data groupings; running said summary query against said filtered data table; generating a summary result including a data item count for each selected data grouping; updating said filter tree table with said summary results; displaying said filter tree table including said selected data groupings and associated data item counts; and branching back to said accepting a user input for selecting or de-selecting a data grouping.