Dynamic disaggregation and aggregation of spreadsheet data
AssigneeBusiness Objects Software Ltd.
InventorsFlorent Migeon, Sebastien Lavoignat
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A computer-implemented method for disaggregating data in a spreadsheet or other data structure hosted on a client computing device includes providing an analyzer module as a plug-in or add-in to a spreadsheet application on a client computing device. The analyzer module locally performs disaggregation and aggregation processes on data in the spreadsheet on the client computing device. The method includes parsing, by the analyzer module, content entered in a subject cell of the spreadsheet to determine if sets of special syntax characters corresponding to a disaggregation instruction or command precede an amount in the entered content, and accordingly disaggregating or aggregating data in the spreadsheet.
Claims16
A computer-implemented method for modifying a spreadsheet data structure hosted on a client computing device, the method comprising:
- providing an analyzer module as a plug-in or add-in to a spreadsheet application on a client computing device;
- performing, using the analyzer module, a weighted disaggregation of data entered into a hierarchical cell of the spreadsheet, the hierarchical cell including references to a plurality of child cells, wherein the analyzer module stores a disaggregation algorithm and a set of special syntax characters defined to initiate execution of the disaggregation algorithm, the disaggregation algorithm including a disaggregation formula specifying hierarchical structure of data, wherein the weighted disaggregation is automatically executed using weights of existing disaggregation associated with the hierarchical cell upon detection of an identifier in the set of special syntax characters corresponding to another hierarchical cell;
- and
- parsing, by the analyzer module, content entered into the hierarchical cell to determine that the set of special syntax characters precedes an amount value in the entered content and accordingly initiate the disaggregation algorithm to execute the disaggregation formula to distribute the amount value as disaggregated amount values stored within the plurality of child cells in the spreadsheet data structure via the references, and replacing the entered content within the hierarchical cell by displaying an instantiation of the disaggregation formula that includes references to the plurality of child cells;
- individually determining for and automatically applying to each child cell based on a value of the hierarchical cell, weights for each of the plurality of child cells associated with the hierarchical cell;
- reweighing, based on the individually determining and automatically applying, each child cell;
- and
- displaying each reweighted child cell.
A computing device comprising:
- a memory and a semiconductor-based processor, the memory and the processor forming one or more logic circuits configured to:
- host a spreadsheet application to process a spreadsheet data structure in which a hierarchical cell of the spreadsheet including references to a plurality of child cells;
- and
- an analyzer module coupled to the spreadsheet data structure, the analyzer module storing a disaggregation algorithm and a set of special syntax characters defined to initiate execution of the disaggregation algorithm to perform a weighted disaggregation of data entered into the hierarchical cell of the spreadsheet, the disaggregation algorithm including a disaggregation formula specifying hierarchical structure of data, wherein the weighted disaggregation is automatically executed using weights of existing disaggregation associated with the hierarchical cell upon detection of an identifier in the set of special syntax characters corresponding to another hierarchical cell the analyzer module configured to
- parse content entered into the hierarchical cell to determine that the set of special syntax characters precedes an amount value in the entered content and accordingly initiate the disaggregation algorithm to execute the disaggregation formula to distribute the amount value as disaggregated amount values stored within the plurality of child cells in the spreadsheet data structure via the references, and replacing the entered content within the hierarchical cell by displaying an instantiation of the disaggregation formula that includes references to the plurality of child cells;
- individually determine for and automatically apply to each child cell based on a value of the hierarchical cell, weights for each of the plurality of child cells associated with the hierarchical cell;
- reweigh, based on the individually determined and automatically applied weights, each child cell;
- and
- display each reweighted child cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.