Patent ID: 7895233

Claim:
A computer program product, embodied on machine-readable storage material and including executable instructions that cause a computer system to perform operations comprising: define a virtual taxonomy at the computer system, the defining comprising accessing a file at an application programming interface level, the file comprising an execution plan specifying a plurality of indexes that store a plurality of documents to which the virtual taxonomy provides access and also specifying properties used to structure the plurality of documents stored in each of the plurality of indexes, the defining further comprising selecting query levels of the plurality of indexes that are to be included in the virtual taxonomy and setting an order in which the one or more selected query levels are traversed in the virtual taxonomy, the selecting and the setting occurring according to the execution plan; identify a first subset of the plurality of documents according to a first restriction received from a client at the computer system over a communication network as part of a query of the virtual taxonomy; display a first set of graphical user interface elements to a user on a display device, the first set of graphical user interface elements categorizing the first subset of documents according to one or more first document attributes, each of the first set of graphical user interface elements representing one of the one or more first document attributes; display an alphanumeric input element in a window in response to selection via the client of one of the first set of graphical user interface elements; receive a key word search query input in the alphanumeric input element; identify a second subset of the first subset of documents that each have the one of the one or more first document attributes represented by the selected one of the first set of graphical user interface elements and that are responsive to the key word search query; and replace the first set of graphical user interface elements by displaying in its place a second set of graphical user interface elements, the second set of second graphical user interface elements categorizing the second subset of documents according to one or more second document attributes, each of the second set of graphical user interface elements representing content responsive to one of the one or more second document attributes, the selected one of the first set of graphical user interface elements, and the key word search query.