Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-13
2001-09-18
Feild, Joseph H. (Department: 2176)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C705S030000, C705S035000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292811
ABSTRACT:
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
This application includes as Appendix A a microfiche appendix titled Appendix A—Microfiche of Financial Knowledge Base, having 3 fiche with a total of 156 frames.
The foregoing portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND
The invention relates to creating and editing computer-readable electronic documents, and more particularly to creating and editing domain-specific documents including a report, such as a financial statement.
Reports can be used to summarize, organize, calculate, and analyze data. For example, financial data or sales data can be summarized by one or more financial or sales reports that represent different aspects of the condition or operation of a business entity. To create a financial statement or a sales report, it is often useful to calculate totals, subtotals, averages, counts, or other summaries for different aspects of a business (e.g., total sales for each relevant region, or total sales across regions). Electronic reports are particularly useful because they can be automatically updated when new or different information becomes available. For example, a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft® Excel can be used to create a report in the form of an electronic spreadsheet that consists of a matrix of rows and columns for displaying values and text and for calculating values automatically based upon user-defined formulas. An electronic spreadsheet can also be formatted to vary the presentation of information contained within the report. To simplify the creation of an electronic spreadsheet, a spreadsheet program can automatically enter certain information (e.g., the same information, or an incremental series, such as numerals, ordinals, dates, and months) into a range of cells based upon a user's initial entry of information into one or more cells. A user can also insert a formula into a cell for calculating values on the spreadsheet. Values can be entered directly into a formula, or the values in other cells can be used in a formula by including references to the other cells in the formula. Spreadsheet programs typically include many built-in formulas that can be used alone or in combination with other formulas.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In general, in one aspect, the invention features a method of generating a formula expression for a cell that is at an intersection of a row and a column in a financial statement. The method includes obtaining a row definition for the row and a column definition for the column, and interpreting the row definition and the column definition to generate a formula expression for the cell. The row definition defines a term of the statement and the column definition specifies a period of time.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The definitions may be interpreted with reference to the position of the cell with respect to other columns in the statement. The formula expression for the cell may be generated on the fly in response to a change in either the row definition or the column definition. The formula expression in each cell of the statement having a formula expression may be evaluated and the resulting statement may be displayed to a user. Data for the formula expressions may be obtained from a database.
A statement base period and a database base period may be provided. The statement base period is the smallest time duration represented in a column of the statement, and the database base period is the smallest time duration represented in a record of the database, the database base period being no greater than the statement base period. The database base period may be detected automatically from column labels read from the database. The statement may be displayed to a user. A command may be received from the user to change a current time period style of the statement to a new time period style, the time period style specifying the period of time covered by the statement and the temporal granularity of the statement. A new formula expression for the cell may be generated according to the new time period style, and the resulting statement may be displayed to the user. A command may be received from the user to use a new database having a new base period that is different from a current base period, a new formula expression for the cell reflecting the new base period may be generated, and the resulting statement may be displayed to the user.
Three kinds of columns may be provided, namely base columns, subtotal columns, and grand total columns. For a row holding a flow term, a subtotal column may have a row value defined as the sum of base column values, and for a row holding a stock term, a subtotal column may have a row value defined as a preceding base column value. A grand total column has a row value defined as the sum of subtotal columns for a row holding a flow term and has a row value defined as a preceding subtotal column for a row holding a stock term. The period columns may be collapsed to show the user a view of the statement consisting of the terms column and total columns. A subtotal time period for a subtotal column may be received from the user, the subtotal time period may be compared to the period of time covered by the statement, and the period of time covered by the statement may be extended to allow computing the subtotal column.
The beginning of the subtotal time period may be compared to the beginning of the period of time covered by the statement, and a row value in the subtotal column may be left blank if the row has a flow term. A command may be accepted from the user to insert a subtotal column or a grand total column in the statement and generate new formula expressions in cells of the statement reflecting this insertion.
In another aspect, the invention is directed to a method of populating a financial statement having columns and rows. The method includes having columns as a source of input data for the statement. The data in the columns corresponds to a database period unit of time. A statement period unit for the base columns of the statement is identified. The statement period unit is greater than the database period unit. For each base column of the statement, the method dynamically computes a correspondence to more than one column of the input database. The cells of a statement column are populated using data from the corresponding database columns.
The statement may be displayed to a user, the user may change the statement period unit, and the cells may be repopulated in response to a change in the statement period unit. The database base period unit may be detected automatically from column labels read from the database. The statement may be displayed to the user. In response to the user request subtotal columns may be inserted in the statement, and the statement including the subtotal columns may be populated with cell formulas for calculating cell values that include values for the subtotal columns. A row may hold a flow term or a stock tern. The cell formula for a row holding a flow term may define a sum of base column values, and a row holding a stock may define a copy of a preceding base column value. A grand total column may be inserted in the statement in response to a user request. Cells of the grand total column may be populated with cell formulas for calculating cell values. For a row holding a flow term, a grand total column may have a cell value defined as the sum of subtotal column values.
In another aspect, the invention is also directed to, and apparatus characterized by, computer programs tangibly stored on a computer-readable media having instructions for causing a processor to carry out the methods of the invention.
The invention may be implemented as one or more computer progr
Canty Edgar P.
Clancey William J.
Hecht Lee
Helfert Erich A.
Wu John
Feild Joseph H.
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Modernsoft, Inc.
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