The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 24, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1996
Karan Khanna, Clyde Hill, WA (US);
Edward A Martinez, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
In association with a computer system, a method and system for detecting and correcting errors in a spreadsheet formula. A token is created corresponding to each entry in the formula. As the formula is constructed, each token is added to the top of a formula token stack. When the formula is completed, a parser parses the formula token stack starting at the bottom of the stack and parsing each subsequent token. By examining the tokens in the formula token stack and their relationship to other tokens, the system determines whether an error exists in the formula. If an error is found to exist in the formula, an error class code is assigned to the error corresponding to the type of error. An error corrector rule corresponding to the error class code is applied and identifies a correction for the error. After a correction for the error is identified, the remainder of the formula token stack is parsed to detect and correct any other errors. When the entire formula token stack has been parsed and all detected errors have been corrected, a dialog box is displayed containing the completely corrected formula.