Patent ID: 7788592

Claim:
A system that facilitates visualizing data comprising: a data store comprising two or more objects; a visualization component that organizes at least two or more objects from the data store into a plurality of subject matter bands, each of the subject matter bands pertaining to only a single category of subject matter that is distinct from other subject matter bands, wherein objects not related to the subject matter of each particular band are excluded from inclusion in that particular subject matter band and wherein the object(s) within each subject matter band are further organized based at least in part upon each object's time parameter, to make the object(s) within each subject matter band available for view by at least a user by subject matter within distinct subject matter bands and within each subject matter band in a time-based manner, the visualization component being configured to organize the at least two or more objects from the subject matter bands into a search results band, the search results band including a plurality of objects from the subject matter bands that match a user-entered search term, the plurality of matching objects being organized in the time-based manner; and a display component that displays the at least two or more objects as organized in the plurality of subject matter bands and the search results band, the display component being configured to display the plurality of subject bands and the search results band together in an arrangement in which the plurality of subject matter bands and the search results band extend in generally the same direction; wherein, in response to a user query that includes the user-entered search term, the visualization component uses the user-entered search term to retrieve, from at least two of the subject matter bands, the plurality of matching objects; and the display component displays, in the search results band, the plurality of matching objects retrieved from the at least two of the subject matter bands.