Patent ID: 7756907

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for visualizing a hierarchical, multi-dimensional dataset having a plurality of dimensions and measures, comprising: at a computer having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors: displaying a graphical user interface window for visualizing the dataset, wherein one of the dimensions is a hierarchical dimension that includes a first dimension level and a second dimension level, the graphical user interface window including a schema display region and a data visualization region, wherein: the schema display region includes metadata identifying the plurality of measures and dimensions including the first dimension level and the second dimension level, and wherein the schema display region is generated by: identifying one or more measures from the dataset; generating a list of the first and second dimension levels and a list of the identified measures; and displaying the lists of the first and second dimension levels and the identified measures in the schema display region; the data visualization region includes a first axis shelf, a second axis shelf, and a visual table; detecting user requests to associate the metadata identifying the first dimension level with the first axis shelf, associate the metadata identifying the second dimension level with the second axis shelf, and associate the metadata of a measure selected from the schema display region with the first or second axis shelf; in response to the user requests, forming in the visual table a plurality of panes, each pane having a first axis corresponding to the first dimension level associated with the first axis shelf and a second axis corresponding to the second dimension level associated with the second axis shelf; dividing the dataset into a plurality of subsets, each subset corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of panes; and populating each pane in the visual table with a respective subset of the dataset in accordance with the arrangement of the first and second axes, wherein the first and second axes have different directions, further including: displaying one or more data values associated with the first dimension level in the respective subset along the first axis of the pane; displaying one or more data values associated with the second dimension level in the respective subset along the second axis of the pane; and displaying one or more marks in the pane, each mark corresponding to a respective data value associated with the measure in the respective subset.