Patent ID: 7447677

Claim:
In a computing environment that includes a network connected client and server database with services organized in a taxonomy, a method for the server database to obtain web service information for one or more related web services represented at different nodes in the taxonomy, the method comprising: receiving a request for web service information, the request including a user entered reference node identifier and relationship data indicating a first and a second hierarchical relationship the requested node is to have with the reference node, the user entered reference node identifier identifying a specified web service represented at a reference node within the taxonomy, the relationship data indicating that any related web service in any taxonomy having either the first or second specified hierarchical relationship with the specified web service is a related web service of interest to the user; extracting the reference node identifier and the relationship data from the request; querying one or more databases in a plurality of different taxonomies located on one or more different computer systems using the relationship data to obtain web service information for any web services having at least one the first and the second specified hierarchical relationship with the specified web service of the reference node, the web service information being presentable in a hierarchical format, the hierarchy being based on the specified web service's hierarchical relationship with the reference node and other web services in the plurality of different taxonomies, the nodes of each database comprising at least one of a plurality of root nodes; receiving web service information that corresponds to an equivalent node in a second, different taxonomy in response to the query, the equivalent node providing the same web service as the reference node as indicated in an equivalence relationship tag, the received web service information being displayable in a navigable taxonomy; and returning the received web service information to the client, the received web service information for graphical presentation at the client to show a user relevant portions of any of the plurality of taxonomies that included related web services.