Method and system for providing autofill of data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10977436-B2
Application number	US-201816178212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2013
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A smart fill feature is provided, which may be utilized to provide suggestions to a user and to prepopulate fill results in a spreadsheet. Characteristics associated with a set of data may be recognized and used to help determine fill results Suggestions may be determined from internal and or/external data sources, and may use contextual information in a data set to determine what a user may be trying to accomplish. External data sources may include one or more Internet data sources or internal corporate databases, providing a large amount of data from which to search for potential fill results. A split column command may be used to split a column into two or more columns. Data may be split between columns or combined by various methods, which may include, by example, by direct manipulation via tokens, or via a slider UI.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device-implemented method performed by a spreadsheet application for providing a suggestion of data autofill for a spreadsheet, the device-implemented method comprising:
receiving a first datum in more than one cell of a first column of the spreadsheet;
determining a first pattern for the first datum in the first column;
receiving user input of a second datum in a cell of a second column of the spreadsheet, wherein the cell of the second column is adjacent to a cell of the first column;
determining a different second pattern for the second datum based on the first pattern of the first datum and the user input in the cell of the second column;
searching, based on the first datum and the second pattern, for a potential autofill result that complete a remaining portion of the second datum in the second column; and
providing the potential autofill result for display as a suggested autofill result.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of the suggested autofill result; and
adding the suggested autofill result to the spreadsheet.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, recognizing one or more of:
outer limits associated with the first datum;
a shape associated with the first datum; and
a size of the first datum.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the suggested autofill result is provided for display in a form distinguishable from the first datum in the spreadsheet.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching for the potential autofill result comprises searching one or more internal data sources, one or more external data sources, or any combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching for the potential autofill result comprises searching one or more internal data stores associated with a corporation or organization.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein searching the one or more internal data stores includes providing permissions to access only data for which consent to publish has been given.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein searching for the potential autofill result comprises connecting to an internal data service operable to comb the internal data stores and determine relationships of data within the internal data stores.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising splitting data in a cell into two or more cells and determining a pattern based on splitting the data.

10. A system for providing a suggestion of data autofill for a spreadsheet, the system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more processors operable to:
receive a first datum in more than one cell of a first column of the spreadsheet determine a first pattern for the first datum in the first column;
receive user input of a second datum in a cell of a second column of the spreadsheet, wherein the cell of the second column is adjacent to a cell of the first column;
determine a different second pattern for the second datum based on the first pattern of the first datum and the user input in the cell of the second column;
search, based on the first datum and the second pattern, for a potential autofill result that complete a remaining portion of the second datum in the second column; and
provide the potential autofill result for display as a suggested autofill result.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further operable to:
receive a selection of the suggested autofill result; and
add the suggested autofill result to the spreadsheet.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are operable to recognize one or more of:
outer limits associated with the first datum;
a shape associated with the first datum; and
a size of the first datum.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are operable to provide for display the suggested autofill result in a form distinguishable from the first datum in the spreadsheet.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors, in searching for the potential autofill result, are operable to search one or more internal data stores associated with a corporation or organization, one or more external data stores, or any combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors, in searching for the potential autofill result, are operable to search an internal data service operable to comb internal data stores and determine relationships of data within the internal data stores.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are operable to split data in a cell into two or more cells and determining a pattern based on splitting the data.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further operable to:
determine data input by a user is a new series pattern; and
store the input data as a series that can be used as future potential autofill results.

18. A computer readable storage media, implemented in hardware, for providing a suggestion of data autofill for a group of cells, the computer readable storage media including instructions, which when executed by a processing unit, perform steps of:
receiving a first datum in more than one cell of a first column of a spreadsheet;
determining a first pattern for the first datum in the first column;
receiving user input of a second datum in a cell of a second column of the spreadsheet, wherein the cell of the second column is adjacent to a cell of the first column;
determining a different second pattern for the second datum based on the first pattern of the first datum and the user input in the cell of the second column;
searching, based on the first datum and the second pattern, for a potential autofill result that complete a remaining portion of the second datum in the second column; and
providing the potential autofill result for display as a suggested autofill result.

19. The computer readable storage media of claim 18 , wherein searching for the potential autofill result comprises searching one or more internal data sources, one or more external data sources, or any combination thereof.

20. The computer readable storage media of claim 18 , wherein providing the potential autofill result comprises providing for display the suggested autofill result in a form distinguishable from the first datum in the spreadsheet.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Otero Carlos Augusto
• Campbell John
• Albert Uhl
• Parish Daniel
• Wilson Aaron Lamar
• Tullis Steve

Classifications

• G06F3/04845

  for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour · CPC title

• G06F40/174

  Form filling; Merging · CPC title

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F40/18 Primary

  of spreadsheets (form-filling G06F40/174) · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title