Patent ID: 7038680

Claim:
An interactive data analysis system, comprising: a display device for two-dimensional display of data having a first variable and a second variable; a data retrieval mechanism for retrieving data and displaying it as a data display on said display device, wherein said data display is one of a scatter plot or contour plot of said data; image display instructions for overlaying upon said data display an interactive analysis tool, said image display instructions include instructions for generating a data display region, an active axis mapped to a variable component of said data, and a focus region defining a subset of said data display region; and, display object generation logic for mapping, via a mapping operation, the data within said focus region to one of a plurality of display objects in said active axis; and, a user input mechanism for inputting instructions to said data analysis system to modify the operation of said focus region, said modification causes said display object generation logic to again map said data within said focus region to one of a single or plurality of display objects in said active axis.