Patent ID: 6944619

Claim:
A method for retrieving information from a database organized in a hierarchy having a parent, a first plurality of descendants each having a direct relationship the parent, and a second plurality of descendants each having an indirect relationship to the parent through at least one of the first plurality of descendants, at least some of the second plurality of descendants having a direct relationship to the first plurality of descendants, the method comprising: locating an occurrence of a search term in either said first plurality of descendants or said second plurality of descendants; traversing the hierarchy from said occurrence to an instance of the parent using at least one of the direct relationship and the indirect relationship; traversing the hierarchy from said instance of the parent to an instance of one of the first plurality of descendants using the direct relationship; traversing the hierarchy from said instance of one of the first plurality of descendants to an instance of one of the at least some of the second plurality of descendants using the direct relationship therebetween; and building a context corresponding to said occurrence, said instance of the parent, said instance of one of the first plurality of descendants, and said instance of one of the at least some of the second plurality of descendants.