ENRICHMENT OF DATA USING A SEMANTIC AUTO-DISCOVERY OF REFERENCE AND VISUAL DATA

• US 20130124958A1
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mendelovich, Meir, Neystadt, Eugene (John), Hoter, Dany
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for automatically enriching data in tables of report documents. A table of data contained in a document is received. A category of data stored in a column of the table of data is determined Enhancement information associated with the determined category is retrieved. The enhancement information may include visual enhancements (e.g., symbols, images, etc.) and/or may include reference data that is related to the determined category of column data. A user is enabled to select enhancement information of the retrieved enhancement information. The selected enhancement information is displayed in the document. The user is enabled to accept the selected enhancement information to be stored in the document.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a table of data contained in a document;

determining a category of data stored in a column of the table of data using at least one processor;

retrieving enhancement information associated with the determined category;

displaying selected enhancement information of the retrieved enhancement information in the document; and

enabling the user to accept the selected enhancement information to be stored in the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein further comprising:

enabling a user to select enhancement information of the retrieved enhancement information;

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

comparing the data of the column with a plurality of stored data sets to determine the category of data, the stored data sets corresponding to a plurality of data categories.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving comprises:

retrieving the enhancement information from at least one of a network-based data source, a search engine, or a network-based reference portal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected enhancement information is a set of visual enrichments associated with the determined category, wherein said displaying comprises:

displaying at least one visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments in the document.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said displaying at least one visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments in the document comprises:

selecting a visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments corresponding to each data value in the column; and

displaying for each data value of the column the corresponding selected visual enhancement.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said displaying at least one visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments in the document comprises:

inserting a new column into the table; and

displaying visual enrichments of the set of visual enrichments in the new column.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein said displaying at least one visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments in the document comprises:

displaying at least one visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments as a background to the column.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

enabling a graph to be generated based at least on the data stored in the column that displays the at least one visual enrichment in the graph.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected enhancement information is a set of reference data associated with the determined category, wherein said displaying comprises:

displaying at least a portion of the reference data in the table.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said displaying at least a portion of the reference data in the document comprises:

selecting a reference data value of the reference data corresponding to each data value in the column;

inserting a new column into the table; and

displaying for each data value of the column the corresponding selected reference data value.

12. A system, comprising:

an enhancement retriever that retrieves enhancement information associated with a an determined category of data stored in a column of a table of data contained in a document,

a user interface module that provides a user interface that enables a user to select enhancement information of the retrieved enhancement information; and

a column modifier that enables the selected enhancement information to be displayed in the document;

the user being enabled to accept the selected enhancement information to be stored in the document.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a column analyzer that determines the category of the data stored in the column of the table of data contained in the document, the column analyzer configured to compare the data of the column with a plurality of stored data sets to determine the category of data, the stored data sets corresponding to a plurality of data categories.

14. The system of claim 12, the enhancement retriever retrieves the enhancement information from at least one of a network-based data source, a search engine, or a network-based reference portal.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the selected enhancement information is a set of visual enrichments associated with the determined category, wherein the column modifier enables at least one visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments to be displayed in the document.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the column modifier selects a visual enrichment of the set of visual enrichments corresponding to each data value in the column, and displays for each data value of the column the corresponding selected visual enhancement.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the column modifier is configured to insert a new column into the table and insert visual enrichments of the set of visual enrichments in the new column.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a graph generator that enables a graph to be generated that displays the at least one visual enrichment based at least on the data stored in the column.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the selected enhancement information is a set of reference data associated with the determined category, wherein the column modifier enables at least a portion of the reference data to be displayed in the table.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the column modifier selects reference data values of the reference data corresponding to data values in the column, inserts a new column into the table, and inserts the selected reference data values into the new column.