Intelligent content and formatting reuse

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11144541-B2
Application number	US-201916278606-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2019
Priority date	Feb 18, 2019
Publication date	Oct 12, 2021
Grant date	Oct 12, 2021

Abstract

A system configured intelligently reusing content and format is provided. The system receives a selection of data to be copied and an indication to copy the selected data and copies the selected data. The system receives an indication to paste the selected data at a second location. The selected data is analyzed to determine one or more options available for the paste, whereby each of the options being selectable to change an aspect of the selected data being pasted. The one or more options and an image of a placeholder representing the selected data are presented at the second location. The system receives a selection of an option from the one or more options. In response to receiving the selection of the option, the system causes presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder based on the selected option.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a selection of data to be copied and an indication to copy the selected data;
copying the selected data, the selected data including content and associated metadata;
receiving an indication to paste the selected data at a second location;
prior to pasting at the second location, analyzing, by a hardware processor, the selected data to determine one or more options available for the paste, each of the options being selectable to change an aspect of the selected data at paste;
prior to pasting at the second location, causing presentation, at the second location, of the one or more options and an image of a placeholder representing the selected data, the image of the placeholder having a similar shape, size, or format as the selected data from the first location, the one or more options being presented relative to the image of the placeholder;
receiving a selection of an option from the one or more options; and
in response to receiving the selection of the option, pasting the selected data at the second location by causing presentation of the selected data, formatted according to the selected option, in place of the image of the placeholder.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected option comprises an automatic live data link option that links the selected data to live data, the selected data being automatically updated in response to a change in the live data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected option comprises a user-initiated refresh option that links the selected data to live data, the selected data being updated in response to a user selection of the user-initiated refresh option.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more of options comprises determining one or more visualizations applicable to the selected data;
the causing the one or more options to be presented comprises providing a graphical representation of each of the visualizations applicable to the selected data;
the receiving the selection of the option comprises receiving a selection of a visualization; and
the causing presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder comprises presenting the selected data in a format of the selected visualization.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the visualization comprises a bar graph, pie chart, scatter plot, line graph, column graph, histogram, box and whisker graph, tree map, sunburst graph, waterfall graph, funnel chart, stock graph, surface graph, radar chart, bubble graph, or doughnut graph.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more options comprises determining one or more ranges applicable to the selected data;
the receiving the selection of the option comprises receiving a selection of a range of the one or more ranges; and
the causing presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder comprises presenting the selected data within the selected range.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more options comprises determining different styles applicable to the selected data;
the receiving the selection of the option comprises receiving a selection of a style option corresponding to one of the styles; and
the causing presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder data comprises presenting the selected data having a style and format indicated by the selected style option.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting, from historical data of past copy and paste operations, patterns of options previously selected, wherein the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more options comprises identifying an option based on the patterns.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image of the placeholder comprises a blank table or a table with dummy data.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more options comprises determining a label, based on historical data of past copy and paste operations, applicable to the selected data;
the receiving the selection of the option comprises receiving a selection of the label; and
the causing presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder comprises presenting the selected data having the selected label.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more options comprises distinguishing between headers, columns, and rows of the selected data, the selected data comprising a table;
the causing presentation of the image of placeholder representing the selected data and the one or more options comprises causing presentation of the table at the second location with delete icons associated with each row and column of the table, a selection of one of the delete icons causing a corresponding row or column to be deleted;
the receiving the selection of the option comprises receiving a selection of a delete icon for one of the rows or columns; and
the causing presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder comprises maintaining a style and format of the table with a corresponding row or column deleted based on the selection of the delete icon.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected data comprises text regarding a topic and the one or more options comprises images related to the topic.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected data comprises text and one of the one or more options comprises a quote option to place the selected data into a quote format.

14. A system comprising:
one or more hardware processors; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a selection of data to be copied and an indication to copy the selected data;
copying the selected data, the selected data including content and associated metadata;
receiving an indication to paste the selected data at a second location;
prior to pasting at the second location, analyzing the selected data to determine one or more options available for the paste, each of the options being selectable to change an aspect of the selected data at paste;
prior to pasting at the second location, causing presentation, at the second location, of the one or more options and an image of a placeholder representing the selected data, the image of the placeholder having a similar shape, size, or format as the selected data from the first location, the one or more options being presented relative to the image of the placeholder;
receiving a selection of an option from the one or more options; and
in response to receiving the selection of the option, pasting the selected data at the second location by causing presentation of the selected data, formatted according to the selected option, in place of the image of the placeholder.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein:
the analyzing the selected data to determine the one or more options comprises determining one or more visualizations applicable to the selected data;
the causing the one or more options to be presented comprises providing a graphical representation of each of the visualizations applicable to the selected data;
the receiving the selection of the option comprises receiving a selection of a visualization; and
the causing presentation of the selected data in place of the image of the placeholder comprises presenting the select

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Jung Christopher Andrews
• Fox Seth
• Kikin Gil Erez
• Costenaro Daniel P

Classifications

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F40/18

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

• G06F16/9038

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F40/166 Primary

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title

• G06F9/543

  User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE] · CPC title