Patent ID: 7075536

Claim:
A method for plotting a network topology using a markup language, comprising the steps of: retrieving first topology information from a data source in response to a request for a first graphic display, wherein the first topology information represents a first portion of a network topology that comprises graphical images that represent nodes and connections between nodes; converting the first topology information into a markup language document wherein the markup language document is associated with a document type definition that defines how to process information in the markup language document to plot a graph based on the information; plotting a graph of the first portion of the topology, based on the first topology information in the markup language document; causing display of the graph of the first portion of the topology on a display device; after causing display of the graph of the first portion of the topology, and in response to an interaction with a graphical image from the graph of the first portion of the topology, automatically retrieving second topology information from the data source, wherein the second topology information represents a second portion of the network topology; converting the second topology information into a markup language document associated with the document type definition and plotting a graph of the second portion of the topology based on the second topology information in the markup language document; and causing display of a graph of (a) at least a portion of the first portion based on the first topology information and (b) the second portion of the topology based on the second topology information, without retrieving again the first topology information from the data source and plotting again the graph of the first portion of the topology.