Abstract: A searchable virtual information center comprising a master node accessible by a user and one or more information nodes coupled to the master node. The information nodes may be either intermediate nodes or leaf nodes containing searchable documentation. A search request received from a user at the master node, containing search criteria for searching the documentation, is transmitted from the master node to the information nodes. Upon performing the search, the information nodes transmit the search results back to the master node, which collects the results and presents them to the user in the form of a list of information nodes reporting search results. The user may select one of the nodes from the list to obtain a display of search results for that node.

Abstract: A viewable virtual information center comprising a master node accessible by a user and one or more information nodes coupled to the master node. Content descriptions describing the documentation from the information nodes are collected at the master node and combined into an integrated content description, which is presented to the user from the master node. One or more of the information nodes may be intermediate nodes having one or more lower-level nodes, in which case the content descriptions for the lower-level nodes are collected through the intermediate nodes. Each information node corresponds to a documentation plug-in; an integrated documentation plug-in is generated from the content descriptions collected from the information nodes. In response to user selection of a portion of the integrated content description corresponding to one of the information nodes, a separate display is generated of the portion corresponding to that node.