Method and system for graphically navigating among stored objects

A method for navigating in a database of a product lifecycle management system, the database storing modeled objects and relations between said objects, the product lifecycle management system comprising a graphical user interface suitable for displaying to a user a graphical representation of a hierarchy of stored objects, the method comprising the steps of:

• selecting a first object and a first relation;
• finding descendants of said first object in the hierarchy, which descendants comprise second objects related to the first object according to the first relation;
• displaying a representation of the first object comprising the second objects;
• selecting one of the displayed second objects and a second relation;
• finding descendants of the selected second object, which descendants comprise third objects related to the selected second object through the second relation;
• and
• displaying a representation of the first object, comprising the second and third objects;
• wherein:
• objects displayed are distributed according to a respective weight;
• and
• the weight of an object depends on the number of descendants of said object in the hierarchy, which are displayed in said graphical representation.

A product lifecycle management system, comprising:

• a database storing modeled objects and relations between said objects;
• and
• a graphical user interface suitable for displaying to a user a 3D graphical representation of a hierarchy of stored objects;
• wherein the graphical user interface is adapted, upon selection of a displayed object by a user, to display objects related to the selected object, using a unique scale for all objects and to morph from a first representation of the displayed object to a representation of objects related to the displayed object;
• wherein, at a given level in the hierarchy, displayed objects are distributed according to a respective weight;
• wherein the weight of a displayed object depends on the number of descendants of said object in the hierarchy which are displayed in said graphical representation;
• wherein the graphical user interface is adapted to display a graphical cue representative of a hierarchy of a displayed object and the descendants of said object in the hierarchy, which are displayed in said graphical representation;
• wherein the displayed objects have a rendering size depending on their respective weight;
• and
• wherein the weight of a displayed object depends on the size of descendants of said object in the hierarchy, which are displayed in said graphical representation.