Patent ID: 7779018

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of making a presentation of data retrieved by submitting a query to a database including data categorized as a measures-type, which includes data representing amounts, and data categorized as a dimensions-type, which includes data along which measures-type data can be arrayed, said method comprising: receiving, from a computer-user interface device, a question including a plurality of data items; comparing the plurality of data items in the question to a set of reference data items in the database, said reference data items belonging to either of the measures-type category or the dimensions-type category; identifying, based on said comparing, a first of the plurality of data items in the question that is included in the set of reference data items and belongs to the measures-type category; identifying, based on said comparing, a second of the plurality of data items in the question that is included in the set of reference data items and belongs to the dimensions-type category; determining whether a first, predefined association exists between the first data item and the second data item; in the event that a first, predefined association exists between the first data item and the second data item: determining a similarity between the first association and one or more second associations stored in the database, said second associations having corresponding presentation properties; retrieving presentation properties corresponding to one of said second associations based on the determined similarity of the second association and the first association; generating a database query based on the first association; retrieving data from the database, said retrieved data corresponding to a result obtained by querying the database using said generated query; and presenting the retrieved data on a display device according to the retrieved presentation properties; registering in the database the first association and the second association with a count that represents a frequency of use; and in the event that no first, predefined association exists between the first data item and the second data item: identifying one of the plurality of data items in the question that belongs to either the dimensions-type or the measures-type, selecting a data item belonging to either the measures-type or the dimensions-type, respectively, from a data storage device, wherein said selecting is based on the most frequently used data item of the dimensions-type or the measures-type, respectively, and creating a third association between the selected data item and the determined one of the plurality of data items.