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US 11,893,343 B2Granted
Multiple datapoint formats in spreadsheets
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorDerek Liddell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, and software are disclosed herein that allow multiple values to be stored and referenced individually in a spreadsheet or table cell. In an implementation, an application identifies a format of a cell in a spreadsheet with a format having multiple data points. The application receives multiple values corresponding to the multiple data points and stores each value of the multiple values in the cell as a separately referenceable value with respect to each other value of the multiple values. In some implementations, formulas in other cells or sub-routines can reference an individual one of the values in the cell.
Claims20
A computing apparatus comprising:
- one or more computer readable storage media;
- one or more processors operatively coupled with the one or more computer readable storage media;
- and
- a spreadsheet application comprising program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by the one or more processors, direct the computing apparatus to at least:
- identify a format of a first cell and a second cell in a spreadsheet hosted by the spreadsheet application, wherein the format comprises multiple data points;
- receive user input from a user via a user interface to the spreadsheet application, wherein the user input comprises a selection of an option to share, via a relay service remote with respect to the computing apparatus, an instance of the first cell and an instance of the second cell with a second application of a type that differs from the spreadsheet application, wherein the second application resides on a second computing apparatus associated with a second user;
- receive, from the relay service, multiple values corresponding to the multiple data points of the first cell input by the second user via a user interface to the second application and returned by the second application via the relay service to the spreadsheet application;
- store each value of the multiple values in text of the first cell as a separately referenceable value with respect to each other value of the multiple values;
- display at least a portion of the text of the first cell such that at least one value of the multiple values is visible in a user interface of the computing apparatus;
- receive a state change to at least one of multiple data points of the second cell input by the user via the user interface to the spreadsheet application;
- and
- send the state change to the at least one of the multiple data points of the second cell, via the relay service, to the second application.
9 more elements
A method of operating a computing device comprising:
- on the computing device, identifying a format of a first cell and a second cell in a spreadsheet hosted by a spreadsheet application, wherein the format comprises multiple data points;
- on the computing device, receiving user input from a user via a user interface to the spreadsheet application, wherein the user input comprises a selection of an option to share, via a relay service remote with respect to the computing device, an instance of the first cell and an instance of the second cell with a second application of a type that differs from the spreadsheet application, wherein the second application resides on a second computing apparatus associated with a second user;
- on the computing device, receiving, from the relay service, multiple values corresponding to the multiple data points of the first cell input by the second user via a second user interface to the second application and returned by the second application via the relay service to the spreadsheet application;
- on the computing device, storing each value of the multiple values in text of the first cell as a separately referenceable value with respect to each other value of the multiple values;
- display at least a portion of the text of the first cell such that at least one value of the multiple values is visible in the user interface of the computing device;
- on the computing device, receiving a state change to at least one of the multiple data points of the second cell input by the user via the user interface to the spreadsheet application;
- and
- on the computing device, sending the state change to the at least one of the multiple data points of the second cell, via the relay service, to the second application.
5 more elements
One or more computer readable storage media having a spreadsheet application comprising program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, direct a computing apparatus to at least:
- identify a format of a first cell and a second cell in a spreadsheet hosted by the spreadsheet application, wherein the format comprises multiple data points;
- receive user input from a user via a user interface to the spreadsheet application, wherein the user input comprises a selection of an option to share, via a relay service remote with respect to the computing apparatus, an instance of the first cell and an instance of the second cell with a second application of a type that differs from the spreadsheet application, wherein the second application resides on a second computing apparatus associated with a second user;
- receive, from the relay service, multiple values corresponding to the multiple data points of the first cell input by the second user via a user interface to the second application and returned by the second application via the relay service to the spreadsheet application;
- store each value of the multiple values in text of the first cell as a separately referenceable value with respect to each other value of the multiple values;
- display at least a portion of the text of the first cell such that at least one value of the multiple values is visible in a user interface of the computing apparatus;
- receive a state change to at least one of multiple data points of the second cell input by the user via the user interface to the spreadsheet application;
- and
- send the state change to the at least one of the multiple data points of the second cell, via, the relay service, to the second application.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.