Apparatus and method for augmenting a report with metadata for export to a non-report document

• US 20060271508A1
• Filed: 12/23/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Dong, Yan, Shet, Prashantha Ramachandra, Wu, Ju, Cheng, Patrick Yee Cheuk
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,540 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A computer readable medium includes executable instructions to create a report; augment the report with metadata including a report identifier and parameter information; and export the report and metadata to a non-report electronic document.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:

create a report;

augment the report with metadata including a report identifier and parameter information; and

export the report and metadata to a non-report electronic document.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to augment include executable instructions to augment the report with content level metadata tags to facilitate a refresh of the report information within the non-report electronic document.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to augment include executable instructions to augment the report with metadata selected from:

a report server name, a report ID, drill down path information, export dynamic link library (dll) information, export format and options, report parameters, report prompts, login information, and report language.

4. A computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:

receive at a non-report electronic document a report with metadata; and

analyze the metadata to initiate at the non-report electronic document a refresh of the report.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein the executable instructions to analyze include executable instructions to refresh the report when the source reporting system supports refresh operations and the user has rights to refresh the report.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein the executable instructions to analyze include executable instructions to refresh the report from the latest instance of the report that has the same parameters that are specified in the metadata.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 4 further comprising executable instructions to illustrate data changes in a refreshed report.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 4 further comprising executable instructions to maintain security while refreshing a report.

9. A computer readable medium comprising executable instructions to:

receive at a non-report electronic document a report with metadata; and

analyze the metadata to initiate at the non-report electronic document a refresh of the report to produce updated report values within the non-report electronic document.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the executable instructions to analyze include executable instructions to refresh the report when the source reporting system supports refresh operations and the user has rights to refresh the report.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the executable instructions to analyze include executable instructions to refresh the report from the latest instance of the report that has the same parameters that are specified in the metadata.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising executable instructions to illustrate data changes in a refreshed report.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising executable instructions to maintain security while refreshing a report.