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:
Feb. 25, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 15, 1999
Michael J. Coulson, Kirkland, WA (US);
Jay L. Massena, Seattle, WA (US);
David A. Wortendyke, Seattle, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A database grouping and display system that groups a database by row and column in response to a user input. The database grouping and display system displays a raw, ungrouped database and allows a user to manipulate it as desired. The system displays the raw database and any manipulation results within a window of a web browser, thus allowing data analysis to be performed with the use of a common and inexpensive program. A user may group a database in order to group record entries within the database by common data entry. The user may group the record entries by row, by column, or by row and column. Each record entry grouping is referred to as a “metacell.” The database grouping and display system may further summarize the contents of each metacell and present a summary result along with the display of the metacell. This summary value is typically invoked for all metacells, but may alternately apply to a single row, column, or metacell, or for the entire document. The display state of the metacells may be toggled between a fully expanded and collapsed state. In the expanded state, all record entries within the metacell are visible, along with any summary values for the metacell. In a collapsed state, only summary values are shown in the metacell. This allows a user to see as much or as little detail for a metacell or range of metacells as desired.