Patent ID: 7970867

Claim:
A system for supplying links between objects, comprising: a link service receiving a link request from a client and aggregating a plurality of links to be provided to the client, wherein: the link request identifies a specific source object selected by a user input that is a source of the plurality of links which are to be provided to the client, the source object having source object data and source object methods that can be applied to the source object data; the plurality of links each provide a hypermedia link from the source object to a different destination object, each destination object having destination data and destination methods that can be applied to the destination data; and the aggregated links are identified as links to be aggregated based on the specified source object such that, when instantiated, the source object populates a display with the aggregated links to display links to destination objects; a link provider operably coupled to the link service, the link service receiving a request from a requestor to register the link provider to the link service, the link service verifying a security credential of the requestor to determine that the requestor is authorized to register the link provider to the link service, the link service requesting information from the link provider about link categories, link types, and node classes for which the link provider provides links, the link service requesting links from the link provider that have the specific source object as the source of the links; and a provider register, operably coupled to the link service, storing register information corresponding to the link provider, the register information identifying source objects for which the link provider provides links, the register information being stored to the provider register during a registration process that occurs prior to the link service receiving the link request from the client, the provider register receiving the registration information from the link service, the provider register being checked by the link service to determine that the link provider has the specific source object as the source of the links prior to the link service requesting the links from the link provider.