Spreadsheet program-based data classification for source target mapping

• US 10,546,057 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2011
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Eakins, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Obisesan, Augustine K.
• Application Number:
  US13/283,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20130110884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,014 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

The subject disclosure relates to third party cloud schema matching to a user'"'"'s data. The user can select the type of data to be looked up from an external source in order for the user'"'"'s data to be augmented with data from the external source. The user can be presented with a list of service providers that support the selected type of data. Columns from the user'"'"'s data are associated with supported lookup information types either automatically or manually. Based on the association, data from the external data source is automatically mapped to the user'"'"'s data and updates are selectively applied to the user'"'"'s data.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a user selection of types of data to lookup;

determining an external data service that supports the types of data to lookup;

receiving an indication of lookup information types supported by the external data service;

displaying to a user a list of lookup information types supported by the external data service;

obtaining identification and lookup information types for schemas that describe organization of data contained in user data based at least in part upon user selection, the identification comprises schemas in a user spreadsheet environment for which data is desired from the external data source, the lookup information types comprising a cross-reference between the identified schemas and lookup information types supported by the external data source;

automatically mapping the identified schemas to data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service by analyzing the identified schemas and the data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service to determine how the data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service map to identified schemas, the mapping being initiated automatically without user activation; and

transferring external data from the external data service to the user spreadsheet environment based on the mapping.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping comprises at least one of one-to-one schema mapping and one-to-many schema mapping.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring comprises deleting duplicate data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring comprises performing a union or a join on the transferred data and the user data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring comprises applying value and entity matching during the data transfer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying data contained in the user data but not contained in the transferred data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data contained in the user data comprises columns and rows of a spreadsheet.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication of lookup information types supported by an external data service;

inferring identification and lookup information types for data contained in user data based at least in part upon user selection, the identification comprises data in a user computing environment for which data is desired from the external data source, the lookup information types comprising a cross-reference between the identified data and lookup information types supported by the external data source;

automatically mapping the identified data to data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service by analyzing the identified data and the data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service to determine how the data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service map to the identified data, the mapping being initiated automatically without user activation; and

transferring external data from the external data service to the user computing environment based on the mapping.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data contained in user data comprise columns of a spreadsheet.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data contained in user data comprise rows of a spreadsheet.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the mapping comprises at least one of one-to-one schema mapping and one-to-many schema mapping.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the transferring comprises deleting duplicate data.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the transferring comprises performing a union or a join on the transferred data and the user data.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the transferring comprises applying value and entity matching during the data transfer.

15. A system, comprising:

a computer comprising;

a mapping manager component configured to receive an indication of lookup information types supported by an external data service, the mapping manager further configured to infer identification and lookup information types for data contained in user data based at least in part upon user selection, the identification comprises data in a user computing environment for which data is desired from the external data source, the lookup information types comprising a cross-reference between the identified data and lookup information types supported by the external data source;

the mapping manager further configured to automatically map the identified data to data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service by analyzing the identified data and the data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service to determine how the data associated with the lookup information types supported by the external data service map to the identified data, the map being initiated automatically without user activation; and

a revision component configured to transfer external data from the external data service to the user computing environment based on the map.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the mapping comprises at least one of one-to-one schema mapping and one-to-many schema mapping.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the transferring comprises deleting duplicate data.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the transferring comprises performing a union or a join on the transferred data and the user data.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the transferring comprises applying value and entity matching during the data transfer.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the data contained in the user data comprises columns and rows of a spreadsheet.