System for displaying topology map information through the web

Abstract

A system for providing a topology map generation service from a service information portal is improved by utilizing an object-oriented class, a mapview module, configured for generating topology maps. The mapview module may be implemented in an object-oriented language such as Smalltalk, C++, JAVA or the like. The mapview module may be configured to provide member functions that include at least associating an output file stream; adding icon symbols and connections symbols between the icon symbols; generating a background graphic (e.g., a building, a geographic map, etc.,); and generating a topology map (or image) by calling a command on an object; and utilizing hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”) to transfer images across a network. In effect, the mapview module hides all the low-level graphic details for generating a topology view/map/image from a user. Thus, the generation of the topology maps may become easier. Additionally, since the mapview module is an object-oriented class, the mapview module may be used on a variety of computing platforms and support multiple graphic formats such as graphics interchange format (“GIF”), portable network graphics (“PNG”) and the like.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.