Systems and methods for tables of contents
To address problems related to use and formation of tables of contents, the present inventors, devised among other things, an exemplary table-of-contents (TOC) data structure and related systems and methods. One exemplary method entails associating a node from one TOC with a node of another TOC and then assigning a unique identifier to the associated pair of nodes. The unique identifier can then be used to logically define another TOC that includes portions of the two original Tics. Another exemplary method entails tagging or associating nodes of a TOC with one or more view labels. (Identifiers for node relationships rather than the nodes themselves are tagged with the labels in some embodiments.)
1. A method of relating documents, the method comprising:
providing in a memory a first table-of-contents (TOC) data structure that includes a plurality of parent nodes and a plurality of child nodes, each child node being associated with one parent node to define a parent-child node pair for each combination of each child node and one parent node, and each child node further being associated with a document identifier that uniquely identifies a document in a document collection;
defining in the memory a second TOC data structure that includes a plurality of relationship records, each relationship record including a parent-child node pair of the first TOC data structure and a unique identifier that uniquely identifies a relationship of the parent-child node pair of the first TOC data structure; and
associating a rank indicator with each unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that indicates an order of each child node in the child-node pair of the first TOC data structure in relation to a sibling child node in another child-node pair in the first TOC data structure.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
associating at least one of a first view label and a second view label with each unique identifier.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
associating a time range with each unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that uniquely identifies each parent-child node pair in the first TOC data structure.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
in response to identification of a time, displaying a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion excludes a relationship record of a parent-child node pair that has a unique identifier in the second TOC data structure associated with the time range that does not encompass the time.
5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
in response to identification of the first view label, displaying a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion excludes a relationship record of a parent-child node pair that has a unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that is not tagged with the first view label.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
based on identified documents in the document collection, displaying a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion orders child nodes in the child-node pair of the first TOC data structure relating to the identified documents according to their rank indicators.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising including the second TOC data structure in the first TOC data structure.
8. A server to relate documents, the server comprising:
a memory configured to store a first table-of-contents (TOC) data structure that includes a plurality of parent nodes and a plurality of child nodes, each child node being associated with one parent node to define a parent-child node pair for each combination of each child node and one parent node, and each child node further being associated with a document identifier that uniquely identifies a document in a document collection;
processor connected to the memory, the processor configured to define in the memory a second TOC data structure that includes a plurality of relationship records, each relationship record including a parent-child node pair of the first TOC data structure and a unique identifier that uniquely identifies a relationship of the parent-child node pair of the first TOC data structure; and
associate a rank indicator with each unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that indicates an order of each child node in the child-node pair of the first TOC data structure in relation to a sibling child node in another child-node pair in the first TOC data structure.
9. The server of claim 8 , wherein the server is further configured to:
associate at least one of a first view label and a second view label with each unique identifier.
10. The server of claim 9 , wherein in response to identification of the first view label the server is configured to:
display a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion excludes a relationship record of a parent-child node pair that has a unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that is not tagged with the first view label.
11. The server of claim 8 , wherein the server is configured to:
associate a time range with each unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that uniquely identifies each parent-child node pair in the first TOC data structure.
12. The server of claim 11 , wherein in response to identification of a time the server is configured to:
display a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion excludes a relationship record of a parent-child node pair that has a unique identifier in the second TOC data structure associated with the time range that does not encompass the time.
13. The server of claim 8 , wherein based on identified documents in the document collection the server is configured to:
display a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion orders child nodes in the child-node pair of the first TOC data structure relating to the identified documents according to their rank indicators.
14. The server of claim 8 , wherein the server is configured to:
record the second TOC data structure in the first TOC data structure.
15. Non-transitory computer readable media comprising program code stored thereon for execution by a programmable processor to perform a method of relating documents, the computer readable media comprising:
program code for providing in a memory a first table-of-contents (TOC) data structure that includes a plurality of parent nodes and a plurality of child nodes, each child node being associated with one parent node to define a parent-child node pair for each combination of each child node and one parent node, and each child node further being associated with a document identifier that uniquely identifies a document in a document collection;
program code for defining in the memory a second TOC data structure that includes a plurality of relationship records, each relationship record including a parent-child node pair of the first TOC data structure and a unique identifier that uniquely identifies a relationship of the parent-child node pair of the first TOC data structure; and
program code for associating a rank indicator with each unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that indicates an order of each child node in the child-node pair of the first TOC data structure in relation to a sibling child node in another child-node pair in the first TOC data structure.
16. The computer readable media of claim 15 further comprising program code for associating at least one of a first view label and a second view label with each unique identifier.
17. The computer readable media of claim 15 further comprising program code for associating a time range with each unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that uniquely identifies each parent-child node pair in the first TOC data structure.
18. The computer readable media of claim 17 , in response to identification of a time, further comprising program code for displaying a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion excludes a relationship record of a parent-child node pair that has a unique identifier in the second TOC data structure associated with the time range that does not encompass the time.
19. The computer readable media of claim 16 , in response to identification of the first view label, further comprising program code for displaying a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion excludes a relationship record of a parent-child node pair that has a unique identifier in the second TOC data structure that is not tagged with the first view label.
20. The computer readable media of claim 15 , based on identified documents in the document collection, further comprising program code for displaying a hierarchical view of a portion of the first TOC data structure as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the displayed portion orders child nodes in the child-node pair of the first TOC data structure relating to the identified documents according to their rank indicators.