RELATIONSHIP BASED TREE STRUCTURE WITH SCOPED PARAMETERS

A system and method of storing information about tree structures. The method includes, for each given tree, identifying the nodes and the relationships between the nodes, and for each parameter, if more than one node of any of the given tree shares the parameter, then defining a scoping for the parameter to cover all of the nodes to which the parameter is applicable. The scoping includes applying one or more scope types having a varying specificity. The resulting information stored about the tree structure is substantially reduced in size in comparison to information about tree structures stored in a conventional manner, thereby reducing storage space requirements.