Calculation of spreadsheet data

• US 8,006,175 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wierer, Jeffrey J., Kulkarni, Sanjay G., Xu, Mingqiang
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US11/927,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20090113284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,394 Days
• Field of Search: 715/212, 715/219
• US Class Current: 715/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

A workbook includes a spreadsheet having cells arranged in columns and rows. The cells include input cells and output cells. The output cells include a formula to be calculated. Calculation of the spreadsheet is divided into multiple tasks. The tasks are assigned among computing nodes within a computing cluster for concurrent calculation of the spreadsheet.

Claims

1. A computing system for controlling a calculation of a workbook, the computing system comprising:

a communication device for communicating across a communication network;

a processor communicatively connected to the communication device; and

memory storing program instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the computing system to;

receive a request to calculate a workbook across a computing cluster including computing nodes from a client computing system, the request including a range of cells within the workbook, the range of cells including input cells including input data and output cells including mathematical formulas;

determine tasks to be performed to calculate the workbook including calculating output data based on the input data in the input cells and the mathematical formulas in the output cells;

determine availability of computing nodes of the computing cluster;

compare a quantity of the tasks to resources available on the computing cluster;

allocate and assign the tasks among the available computing nodes;

receive a user input identifying a scheduled time for performing the tasks;

receive output data from the computing nodes; and

send the output data to the client computing system across the communication network.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the memory storing program instructions further causes the computing system to:

receive the workbook from the client computing system;

store the workbook in a data library after receipt; and

send the workbook from the data library to a computing node after receiving the request to calculate the workbook; and

wherein the instructions causing the computing system to receive the request to calculate the workbook further comprises causing the computing system to receive an identification of the location of the workbook in the digital library, an identification of input cell locations in the workbook, and an identification of output cell locations in the workbook.

3. The computing system of claim 2, wherein receiving the workbook from the client computing system occurs before receiving the request to calculate the workbook.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein allocating the tasks among the available computing nodes includes determining a number of processors on each of the available computing nodes, and dividing the tasks among the computing nodes based on the number of processors.

5. A computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of calculating a workbook including spreadsheet data, the method comprising:

defining the spreadsheet data including input cells containing input data and output cells containing formulas, the formulas based on the input data;

receiving an input requesting calculation of the formulas by a computing cluster including computing nodes;

prompting for and receiving an identification of the input cells and the output cells in the workbook;

determining tasks to be performed to calculate the workbook;

comparing a quantity of the tasks to the resources available on the computing cluster;

allocating and assigning the tasks among available computing nodes;

sending a message requesting performance of the tasks to calculate the workbook, the tasks including calculation of output data based on the input data and the formulas using the computing cluster; and

receiving output data in response to the message.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, the method further comprising sending the workbook including spreadsheet data to a data library for storage after defining the spreadsheet data.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein sending a message requesting calculation comprises sending a message including the identification of the input cells and the output cells in the workbook.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein sending the message requesting calculation does not include sending a copy of the workbook.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein receiving an input comprises detecting a selection of a button from a user interface.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein sending a message requesting calculation of output data further comprises sending a list of tasks to be performed by a computing cluster.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein receiving output data further comprises updating the workbook as output data is received.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein updating the workbook is performed dynamically to display output data as it is received.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 5, the method further comprising:

determining that calculation of output data should be performed at a scheduled time;

prompting for the scheduled time;

receiving the scheduled time after prompting; and

wherein sending the message includes sending the scheduled time.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein receiving output data occurs after the scheduled time.

15. A method of calculating a workbook, the method comprising:

defining a workbook including spreadsheet data, the spreadsheet data defining formulas for calculation;

receiving a user input requesting calculation of the formulas on a computing cluster including computing nodes;

prompting the user for a scheduled time for calculation of the formulas after receiving the user input;

sending from a computing device to a server a request to calculate the workbook on the computing cluster, the request including an identification of a division of tasks within the workbook among the computing nodes; and

receiving results of the calculation of the formulas after the scheduled time.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing the workbook in a remote data library after defining the workbook.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein sending the request further comprises sending an identifier of a location of the workbook in the data library, an identification of a location input cells within the workbook, and an identification of a location of output cells within the workbook.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein sending the request further comprises sending a copy of the workbook.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending the results of the calculation to a client computing system after receiving the results.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein sending the results of the calculation occurs dynamically as each result is received.