Method for transforming a tree structure into a more human-comprehensible document

1. A method for presenting text-based information encoded in a markup language format having a tree structure in a computer readable medium, wherein said tree structure has at least a root node, each node has a name, the method comprising the steps of:

deriving relationships between said text-based information contained within said tree structure as a function of said tree structure;

reformatting said text-based information contained within said tree structure into a set of labeled tables as a function of said derived relationships, said reformatting step further comprises:

grouping, by name, sets of two or more nodes at a layer of said tree that have a common name;

grouping those childless children nodes of a parent node at a level of said tree that are each named with a name that is common to at least two of said childless children nodes of said parent node at said level of said tree, said grouping being by their respective common name;

for each node that has a value in at least one of said groupings, creating a row in said table that corresponds to said grouping and placing therein said value under said column labeled with said node name;

creating one or more columns in a table for said parent node, one column being created for, and corresponding to, each said grouping;

labeling each said created column in said table for said parent node with said common name of said childless children nodes of said corresponding grouping;

creating for each grouping a corresponding table that is labeled with said common name of said childless children nodes of said corresponding grouping, each said created table being named with a unique identifier and having one row for each childless children node in its corresponding grouping;

entering in each said created column a pointer to one of said created tables, each said pointer of a column pointing to a table having the same name as the name of said column; and

displaying at least a portion of at least one table of said set in a manner perceivable by a human.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein, said reformatting step further comprises the steps of:

creating a column in a table for the parent node of a childless node that has a unique name at a level of said tree;

labeling said column with said unique name.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2 further comprising the step of entering a value of said childless node in a row of said table under said column named with said unique name when said childless node has a value.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3 further comprising the step of repeating said creating, labeling and entering steps for another childless node at said level of said tree that has a different unique name at said level of said tree.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said reformatting step further comprises the step of grouping, by name, sets of one or more nodes at a layer of said tree that have children and a common name.

6. The invention as defined in claim 5 further comprising the steps of:

creating an associated respective column for each said grouping in a table for a parent of said nodes at said layer;

naming each column created in said creating step with said common name of said nodes of said grouping with which it is associated; and

placing in each said named column said unique identifier of said table that corresponds to said column name.

7. The invention as defined in claim 5 further comprising the steps of:

in each table created in said creating step, insert one row for each node that is a member of said grouping for which said table was created.

8. The invention as defined in claim 5 further comprising the steps of:

recursively performing said deriving, reformatting and displaying steps for each of said children of said nodes at said layer that have children, when each of said children of said nodes at said layer that have children are treated as said root node of said tree structure.

9. The invention as defined in claim 5 wherein said common name is common to one node only.

10. The invention as defined in claim 5 wherein said common name is common to more than one node.

11. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said displaying is performed by a web browser.

12. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said tree structure is represented in an extensible markup language (XML) text format stored on a computer readable medium.

13. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein, said reformatting step further comprises the step of merging at least two nodes of said tree and treating the resulting merged node as a single node.