Patent ID: 8326749

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing computer-executable program instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform a method for representing one or more information grids having a plurality of cells, each cell having a value and a location in the information grid, comprising the steps implemented by a computer of: receiving pricing data from a plurality of grids including attributes that define pricing components; creating the one or more information grids comprising a plurality of cells, wherein each cell contains a value representing data from the plurality of grids; creating a tree node structure that includes a plurality of tree nodes that represent each of the values; storing the value of a cell in each of the tree nodes; creating a data model that represents each tree node; storing, in the data model, a grid definition identifying the information grid, a grid node storing the value of the cell and containing a reference to a parent node, and a grid schema specifying a location of the grid node in the tree structure; creating a metadata component, associated with the tree node, that holds a description of the location of the cell within the information grid; storing, in the metadata component, information describing the location of the cell within the information grid; storing the metadata component in the data model; accessing the tree node according to the location of the cell in the information grid; and displaying the value stored in the accessed tree node.