Data processing: presentation processing of document – operator i – Presentation processing of document – Layout
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-15
2004-02-10
Hong, Stephen S. (Department: 2178)
Data processing: presentation processing of document, operator i
Presentation processing of document
Layout
C715S252000, C715S252000, C715S252000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06691281
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally pertains to exporting data into hypertext markup language (HTML) documents, and more specifically, to updating a previously exported discreet data section in an HTML document, without changing any other section of the HTML document; and while ensuring that such data can be imported from the HTML document back into a source application with all the formatting unique to the source application intact.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the increasing popularity of the Internet, HTML documents or files has become the internationally accepted format for sharing data “on-line.” An on-line information system typically includes a server computer system that makes information available so that client computer systems can access the information. The server and client computer systems are usually connected in either a local area or a wide area private Intranet system, or via the public Internet. A unique uniform resource locator (URL) is associated with each HTML document, enabling the client computer systems to request a specific HTML document from a server computer system.
An HTML document includes a hierarchical set of markup elements; most elements have a start tag, followed by content, followed by an end tag. The content is typically a combination of text and nested markup elements. Tags, which are enclosed in angle brackets (‘<’ and ‘>’), indicate how the document is structured and how to display the document, i.e., its format. There are tags for markup elements such as titles and headers, for text attributes such as bold and italic, for lists, for paragraph boundaries, for links to other documents or other parts of the same document, for graphic images, for non-displayed comments, and for many other features. Further details regarding HTML may be found in reference books such as, “HTML For Dummies,” by Ed Tittel and Steve James (1996).
The following lines of HTML briefly illustrate how the language is used:
Here we start a new paragraph <P>.
Some words are <B>bold</B>, others are <I>italic</I>. The viewer of the document will see:
Here we start a new paragraph.
Some words are bold, others are italic.
As noted above, a user who wishes to retrieve and display an HTML document generally uses a Web browser program. Two of the popular Web browser programs are: NAVIGATOR™ from Netscape Communications Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., and INTERNET EXPLORER™ from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. The primary functionality of web browsers is directed to finding, retrieving, and displaying documents. A browser is generally not intended for word processing or data manipulation of the information contained within an HTML document, but can display documents or data generated by word processing or spreadsheet applications, once converted into an appropriate HTML compatible format.
A wide variety of data may be shared among different users in a network environment using HTML. Typical HTML documents include images, text, and data. HTML documents can be created using programs specifically designed for that purpose, such as Microsoft Corporation's FRONTPAGE™ Web Page publishing program. Additionally, some applications, such as Microsoft Corporation's WORD 97™ word processing program, allow a user to save a text document as an HTML document. Microsoft Corporation's EXCEL 97™ spreadsheet program also enables a user to export a data table or chart created on a worksheet into an existing or new HTML document. If EXCEL 97 is used to export a data table or chart into an existing HTML document, the user is required to use a separate HTML editor to insert a marker tag, <!--##Table##-->, into the HTML document at the location where the table is to be inserted. EXCEL 97 will then convert the spreadsheet data table into the HTML compatible format and insert the data at the location in the HTML document specified by the marker tag. It would be desirable to be able to export a spreadsheet data table converted into HTML compatible format into an HTML document without requiring that an HTML editing application insert a <!--##Table##--> marker tag.
A characteristic of data tables or charts incorporated into HTML documents using prior art methods is that once the data tables or charts are imported into the HTML document, they lose virtually all of the functionality that they had in the spreadsheet application. Furthermore, a data table published into an HTML document cannot be reintroduced into its parent application with its original functionality intact, because critical formatting information unique to the parent spreadsheet application, such as any formulas included in the data table, are not maintained. Thus, formulas and other spreadsheet application unique parameters are lost in the publication process. Manipulation of the data from the HTML document within the parent application is thus not available.
Often, it would be desirable to enable changes to data in a table or chart published into an HTML document. For example, assume that an HTML document created by a real estate brokerage firm includes a data table for determining monthly mortgage payments based on the amount of the loan (rounded to the nearest $1000), a current annual interest rate, and a fixed term. Additionally, the web page may include some text relating to the real estate services offered by the brokerage firm and a few testimonials from satisfied customers. Prospective purchasers of real estate may use the table to determine the monthly payments on a property. The table is most easily created in a spreadsheet application, converted into an HTML compatible format, and inserted into an HTML document that includes text produced with an HTML editor.
After several weeks, the brokerage firm may recognize that the table is less useful than desired because the interest rate has changed. To modify the table so that it is based on the newer current interest rate, the broker must create a new table with the spreadsheet application, convert the new table into the HTML compatible format, and then insert the revised table into the HTML document. Note that using only an HTML editor to change the original imported table would require manual input of not just the new interest rate, but also each and every monthly payment listed in the table. The data table in the HTML document does not have any spreadsheet functionality, and changing the interest rate value used in the spreadsheet formula to calculate the monthly payments does not result in an automatic recalculation of the monthly payments values shown in the table within the HTML document. Clearly, it would be desirable to enable a chart or data table in an existing HTML document to be updated using the spreadsheet application, rather than by use of an HTML editor.
It would also be desirable to avoid the need to recreate the data table in the spreadsheet application simply to make a change. While recreating the data table is not necessary if the original data table was saved in its spreadsheet format, there will be times when the spreadsheet format of the data table has not been saved or has been deleted. Under the prior art, if an attempt is made to import the data table or chart from the HTML document back into the spreadsheet application for revisions, any formulas or formatting unique to the spreadsheet application originally used to create that data table or chart would no longer be present, having been lost in the process of translating the data table or chart into the HTML compatible format. Thus, the prior art cannot successfully “roundtrip” the data represented by the data table or chart back from the spreadsheet application, into an HTML document, and then back into the spreadsheet application. It would be desirable for data tables or charts created in a spreadsheet application to be readily inserted into an HTML document, and then subsequently imported back into the spreadsheet application without loss of functionality.
Currently, a d
Dauphiny John L.
Johnson Russell S.
Lowry Kent R.
Quan May May
Sorge Terri L.
Anderson Ronald M.
Hong Stephen S.
Huynh Thu V.
Microsoft Corporation
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