Method and apparatus providing a graphical user interface for representing and navigating hierarchical networks

A graphical user interface representing objects corresponding to network devices in a network environment, the interface providing:

• a top level view of the network, the network devices providing status information in response to remote queries through the use of a network management protocol, the top level view including a centrally located parent object associated with an upper hierarchical level, child objects associated with a level below that of the parent object, the child objects peripherally arranged radially adjacent to the parent object and scaled proportionally to the parent object to reflect the hierarchical relationship between the parent and child objects and, if the number of child objects exceed a predetermined number, at least one child object represents multiple child objects;
• wherein each object is selectable to present a zoomed-in view of the hierarchical relationship of object at a hierarchical level of the object selected with other child objects hierarchically related below the selected object;
• and
• wherein each object is positioned relative to the other objects such that no two objects graphically occlude one another.

A method for representing and navigating among objects of a hierarchical network comprising the steps of:

• providing a user with a display of a plurality of objects, derived from hierarchically arranged data corresponding to network devices in a network environment the data gathered through the use of a network management protocol that remotely queries the network devices and, in turn, the network devices provide status information, the objects having a hierarchical relationship with one another, including at least one parent object, at least one child object hierarchically related below the at least one parent object, each child object placed equi-distant from the parent object and radially adjacent thereto, and grand-child objects hierarchically related below the at least one child object and positioned equi-distant and radially adjacent thereto;
• determining whether the number of child or grand-child objects exceeds a predetermined number and, if yes, displaying at least one object in the associated hierarchical level that represents at least two respective objects;
• and
• allowing a user to select an object, and depending upon the objects position within the hierarchy, zooming in on that object as a centrally located object and displaying objects directly related above and below that object on the display.

A method of displaying hierarchical data comprising the steps of:

• remotely querying network devices in a network environment for status information;
• receiving the status information from the network devices;
• determining a node to be displayed within a hierarchy of the hierarchical data corresponding to the network devices;
• creating a graphical object representing the node;
• rendering the graphical object;
• determining child nodes which depend from the node, and for each child node, creating a child graphical object representing the child node and computing child node characteristics for the child graphical object and rendering the child graphical object;
• limiting the number of child nodes depending from the node to within a predetermined number of subset of the child nodes and rendering the at least one representative child graphical object;
• rendering links between the child nodes and the node;
• and
• determining each child node created, and passing each child node as a new top node to the step of determining a node to be displayed and repeating the processing steps of creating and rendering for each child node as a top node until a number of levels of hierarchical data are displayed.

A method for displaying hierarchical data comprising the steps of:

• i:
• displaying a parent node;
• ii:
• displaying a plurality of child nodes peripherally arranged radially adjacent to the parent node, each child node depending from the parent node in the hierarchy and each child node being scaled in size proportionally to a level in the hierarchical data, corresponding to network devices in a network environment remotely queried to provide status information, to which the child node corresponds, the displaying of the child nodes including limiting the number of child nodes depending from the parent node to within a predetermined number of child nodes by having at least one representative child node represent a subset of the child nodes and rendering the at least one representative child node;
• and
• iii:
• displaying a plurality of data links from each of the plurality of child nodes, each data link extending to the parent node from which that child node depends in the hierarchical data.

A computer program product having a computer readable medium including computer program logic recorded thereon that, when executed on a computer processor, performs the steps of:

• providing a user with a display of a plurality of objects, derived from hierarchically arranged data corresponding to network devices in a network environment remotely queried to provide status information, the objects having a hierarchical relationship with one another, including at least one parent object, at least one child object hierarchically related below the at least one parent object, each child object placed equi-distant from the parent object and radially adjacent thereto, and grand-child objects hierarchically related below the at least one child object and positioned equi-distant and radially adjacent thereto;
• determining whether the number of child or grand-child objects exceeds a predetermined number and, if yes, displaying at least one object in the associated hierarchical level that represents at least two respective objects;
• and
• allowing a user to select an object, and depending upon the objects position within the hierarchy, zooming in on that object as a centrally located object and displaying objects directly related above and below that object on the display.

A computer program product having a computer readable medium including computer program logic recorded thereon that, when executed on a computer processor, performs the steps of:

• remotely querying network devices in a network environment;
• receiving status information from the network devices;
• determining a node to be displayed within a hierarchy of the hierarchical data corresponding to the network devices;
• creating a graphical object representing the node;
• rendering the graphical object;
• determining child nodes which depend from the node, and for each child node, creating a child graphical object representing the child node and computing child node characteristics for the child graphical object;
• determining whether the number of child nodes exceeds a predetermined number and, if yes, creating a representative child graphical object representing a subset of the child nodes and computing child node characteristics for the representative child graphical object;
• rendering links between the child node and the node;
• and
• determining each child node created, and passing each child node as a new top node to the step of determining a node to be displayed and repeating processing of the creating and rendering each child node as a top node until a number of levels of hierarchical data are displayed.