SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EXTRACTING DATA CELL TRANSFORMABLE TO MODEL OBJECT

• US 20100306255A1
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: WILLIAMSON, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,292,485 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for extracting a data cell transformable to a model object. Aspects relate to object-based modeling using modeling objects that can be extracted from spreadsheet cells, database entries, or other sources. A modeling client can host modeling logic and an application programming interface (API) to create, access, manipulate, and import/export modeling objects used in modeling applications, such as engineering, medical, financial, and other modeling platforms. In aspects, the source data can be accepted into the modeling client from consumer or business-level applications, whose cell, database, or other data content can be extracted and encapsulated in object-oriented format, such as extensible markup language (XML) format. Modeling operations can therefore be performed on or incorporate data that was not originally strictly configured for object-based modeling applications. The extracted model object can also be exchanged with other applications or platforms.

Claims

1. A method of extracting a model object from source data in a client, comprising:

accessing a set of source data;

selecting at least a portion of the source data to extract at least one data element and at least one attribute of the source data; and

generating at least one model object based on the at least one extracted data element and at least one attribute of the selected data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of source data comprises at least one of spreadsheet data, database data, word processing data, or presentation data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one extracted data element comprises a plurality of data cell values, and the at least one attribute comprises a function call generating a computation based on the plurality of data cell values.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the at least one model object in storage of the client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one model object comprises at least one model object encoded in extensible markup language (XML) format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute comprises at least one of a function call parameter and a linkage parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one model object is extensible via an appending of additional extracted data elements and additional attributes to the at least one model object.

8. The method of claim 1I wherein the at least one model object is importable into at least one application other than an application producing the source data via the representation.

9. The method of claim 1, where the source data is hosted in at least one of local storage of the client and remote storage.

10. A client system, comprising:

an interface to a set of source data; and

a processor, communicating with the set of source data via the interface, the processor being configured to

access the set of source data,

select at least a portion of the source data to extract at least one data element and at least one attribute of the source data, and

generate at least one model object based on the at least one extracted data

element and at least one attribute of the selected data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of source data comprises at least one of spreadsheet data, database data, word processing data, or presentation data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one extracted data element comprises a plurality of data cell values, and the at least one attribute comprises a function call generating a computation based on the plurality of data cell values.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising storing the at least one model object in storage of the client.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one model object comprises at least one model object encoded in extensible markup language (XML) format.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one attribute comprises at least one of a function call parameter and a linkage parameter.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one model object is extensible via an appending of additional extracted data elements and additional attributes to the at least one model object.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one model object is importable into at least one application other than an application producing the source data via the representation.

18. The system of claim 10, where the source data is hosted in at least one of local storage of the client and remote storage.