Patent ID: 7379601

Claim:
A method of sorting and displaying multidimensional digital image data, comprising: displaying a contour plot associated with a plurality of pixels corresponding to a displayed image, the contour plot indicating pixel location along a first dimension, indicating a non-positional variable along a second dimension, and indicating pixel intensity by a variable signal appearing along the second dimension, said contour plot further comprising a grouping bar and a selection bar; receiving selection of a pixel from the plurality of pixels corresponding to the displayed image; sorting at least a first subset of the plurality of pixels according to a first algorithm using a first criterion associated with the selected pixel as a first target criterion for the first algorithm sorting; and updating the displayed contour plot according to the first algorithm sorting, wherein the first subset of the plurality of pixels associated with the first target criterion are grouped in a first group on the contour plot, and a second subset of the plurality of pixels not associated with the first target criterion are grouped in a second group on the contour plot.