Patent ID: 8028250

Claim:
A method implemented by a processor executing processor-executable instructions stored on computer-readable storage media, the method comprising: receiving hierarchical data, the hierarchical data including a plurality of hierarchical levels; generating, by the processor, a hierarchical carousel view of the hierarchical data for output in a user interface, the hierarchical carousel view comprising a plurality of carousels, each of the plurality of carousels being associated with a hierarchical level, and each of the plurality of carousels including a plurality of bins; displaying a carousel of the plurality of carousels, the carousel comprising a first collection of the bins arranged in a first ring; expanding a plurality of the bins of the first ring contemporaneously to display a plurality of expanded bins as a single second ring of the carousel, the second ring of the carousel being displayed as an outer ring of the carousel, concentric with the first ring of the carousel and having a larger radius than the first ring of the carousel, which is displayed as an inner ring of the carousel relative to the outer second ring, the inner first ring containing at least one bin that has not been expanded and the outer second ring containing the plurality of expanded bins; displaying the expanded bins as having respective additional carousels arranged in the second ring, the additional carousels corresponding to a different hierarchical level than the carousel having the first ring, each additional carousel being tangential to a respective expanded bin in the outer second ring; closing the inner first ring of the carousel to display the outer second ring of the carousel, including the tangential additional carousels, without displaying the inner first ring of the carousel; and following the closing of the inner first ring, contracting the second ring to a smaller radius determined based on a number of the expanded bins in the second ring.