Data processing apparatus and method for a reformattable multidimensional ...

[54] DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR A REFORMATTABLE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SPREADSHEET [75] Inventors: R. Pito Salas, Arlington; Glenn D.

Edelson, Boston; Paul S. Kleppner,
Cambridge; Robert S. Shaver,
Watertown, all of Mass.

[73] Assignee: Lotus Development Corporation,

Cambridge, Mass. [21] Appl. No.: 33,052 [22] Filed: Mar. 10,1993

Related U.S. Application Data

[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 580,320, Sep. 10, 1990, abandoned.

[51] Int. CI.' G06F 15/62

[52] U.S. CI 395/157; 395/157;

395/161

[58] Field of Search 395/154-161,

395/152, 148, 144, 145-147, 149-151, 153, 800,

119

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,601,003 7/1986 Yoneyama et al 395/159

4,712,191 12/1987 Penna 395/159

4,899,136 2/1990 Beard et al 395/157

4,901,221 2/1990 Kodosky et al 395/161

5,018,077 5/1991 Healey 395/148

5,033,009 7/1991 Dubnoff 395/148

5,043,916 8/1991 Kawai 395/144

5,055,998 10/1991 Wright et al 395/800

5,065,347 11/1991 Pajaketal 395/159

5,093,907 3/1992 Hwong et al 395/152

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

0294187 12/1988 European Pat. Off. . 0325081 7/1989 European Pat. Off. . 0410452A2 1/1991 European Pat. Off. .

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

1-2-3 Release 2.2 Quick Reference, 1989, pp. 1-13, 18-19, 38-49, 57-58, 62-65, 86-154. Microsoft Works User's Guide, 1989, pp. 103-143. Antonoff, "New Dimensions for Spreadsheets", Personal Computing, Mar. 1988, pp. 122-130.

Jackson, "Graphic Expansion", PC User, Apr. 11,1990, p. 48(6).

Stinson, "1-2-3, Release 3", PC Magazine, Sep. 12, 1989, pp. 33-36.

Lucid 3-D Tutorial Guide, Personal Computer Support Group, Inc., 1987, pp. 15-26-15-27, Chpts. 16, 22-23, 17-1.

"Number Crunching Takes On New Dimensions" by Judy Duncan, Info World, Product Comparison Section pp. 51-59, Jul. 9, 1990.

Tore Risch et al., "A Functional Approach to Integrating Database and Expert Systems", Communications of the ACM, Dec. 1988, vol. 31, No. 12, pp. 1424-1437. Weichang Du et al., "A 3D Spreadsheet Based on Intensional Logic", IEEE Software, May 1990, No. 3, Los Alamitos, Calif., pp. 78-89.

Primary Examiner—Heather R. Herndon

Assistant Examiner—John E. Breene

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Hamilton, Brook, Smith &

Reynolds

[57] ABSTRACT

Spreadsheet apparatus enables reformatting and renaming of items forming the spreadsheet. A series of items forms a dimension along an axis of the spreadsheet. A label icon or labelling entity is user nameable to describe the series of items of an axis. Repositioning of the label icons repositions respective series of items and thus redefines/rearranges the axes of the spreadsheet. Subaxes to an axis are similarly formed by series of items associated with a respective label icon. Order of label icons in predefined areas of a working screen view determine hierarchy of main axis and sub-axes for the label icons. There is a different predefined area for the possible vertical axes, possible horizontal axes, and the possible orthogonal axes of the spreadsheet. A cell module holds spreadsheet data in a matrix of memory cells. A symbol table translates between current specified names of items in the spreadsheet and indexes to cells of the cell module. Thus, a user is able to rearrange and/or relabel icons in the spreadsheet screen view to reformat the spreadsheet, and the supporting computer members provide display of the spreadsheet rearranged according to position of the icons without losing data of the items as held in respective intersections of the spreadsheet.

38 Claims, 20 Drawing Sheets