Patent ID: 7742432

Claim:
A method, executed by a computer device, of comparing topologies, the method comprising: obtaining a first topology and a second topology, each topology including a set of nodes, each node representing an item having a set of item attributes; obtaining a set of differences between the first topology and the second topology based on the set of item attributes; obtaining a selection of a user-defined subset of the set of differences, the set of differences being between the first topology and the second topology at a particular point in time; and generating a user interface that graphically displays at least one of the user-defined subset of the set of differences, the user interface graphically displaying a first subset of the first topology and a second subset of the second topology, the first and second subsets corresponding to the at least one of the user-defined subset of the set of differences, wherein said user interface comprises graphical controls including at least one of a zoom control and a scrolling control.