Patent ID: 7458031

Claim:
A method performed by a computer system for generating a network diagram with nodes at different magnification levels comprising the steps of: storing in memory of the computer system a threshold for a scaling percentage; displaying one or more nodes of a network diagram, each node having associated data and an associated unique identifier, the network diagram being displayed in either ID-only mode or not in ID-only mode, wherein when the network diagram is displayed in ID-only mode, the display of each node includes displaying a unique identifier associated with each node and does not include displaying any other data associated with the node and when the network diagram is displayed not in ID-only mode, it is displayed with a scaling percentage and the display of each node includes displaying data associated with the node other than the unique identifier associated with the node; determining whether a mouse pointer is positioned in a predefined region containing a node; and in response to a mouse pointer intersecting the predefined region, when the network diagram is being displayed in ID-only mode, displaying one or more of the nodes at an increased magnification level relative to other nodes in the network diagram, and in response to a mouse pointer leaving the predefined region, displaying the one or more nodes at a scaling percentage that is below the threshold, when network diagram is being displayed not in ID-only mode but with a scaling percentage that is below the threshold, displaying one or more of the nodes at an increased magnification level relative to other nodes in the network diagrams, and in response to a mouse pointer leaving the predefined region, displaying the one or more nodes at a scaling percentage that is below the threshold, and when the network diagram is being displayed not in ID-only mode and with a scaling percentage that is not below the threshold, not adjusting the display of any node.