Method and apparatus for assembling a business document

• US 9,069,812 B1
• Filed: 04/28/2011
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Guth, David, Lasne, Peter J., Magnuson, Andrea B., Bickenbach, Kellie A.
• Primary Examiner(s): PENG, HUAWEN A
• Application Number:
  US13/096,007
• Time in Patent Office: 1,524 Days
• Field of Search: 707/804
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums

Abstract

A method for creating an integrated business document with updates is provided. The method may include creating at least one input document. Input documents may be comprised of assets. Assets may be data presentation items such as graphs, charts or tables. Source documents may be stored in an asset library. Software may be used to construct an integrated business document which may be in the form of slides. The software may be augmented by a plug-in. The plug-in may provide access to assets from the asset library. The plug-in may allow the user to select assets and integrate them into a business document. The integrated business documents (or slides) may be stored in a presentation library. The presentation library may allow a user to update the assets in the integrated business document using currently available data.

Claims

1. A business document aggregation system comprising:

a plurality of spreadsheets,

wherein, at least one spreadsheet included in the plurality of spreadsheets is created by a first user using Microsoft Excel software;

wherein the at least one spreadsheet is tagged with a category by the first user;

wherein the at least one spreadsheet comprises at least one asset located within the at least one spreadsheet, said at least one asset comprising at least one of a chart, graph or other display of information created by the first user;

a memory configured to store execution instructions, the plurality of spreadsheets and the at least one asset; and

a processor coupled with the memory, the processor configured to execute the instructions, the instructions configured to cause the processor to;

detect a creation, by a second user using Microsoft PowerPoint software, of a slide presentation tagged by the second user with the same category as the at least one spreadsheet from the plurality of spreadsheets;

in response to the creation of the slide presentation, display an asset library to the second user, said asset library being tagged with the same category as the at least one asset created by the first user, said asset library including the at least one asset, said at least one asset being displayed in the asset library, based on metadata;

provide a platform within the Microsoft PowerPoint software for the inclusion of the at least one asset created by the first user in the slide presentation created by the second user; and

update, utilizing ReprEsentational State Transfer (“

REST”

) protocol, the at least one asset included in the slide presentation created by the second user;

after information associated with the spreadsheet created by the first user has been altered; and

after receiving an update request corresponding to the at least one spreadsheet by the second user.

2. The systems of claim 1, wherein the at least one asset is located within the at least one spreadsheet by parsing the spreadsheet.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein a first asset is linked to a second asset.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein a first asset depends on data from a second asset.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the spreadsheet is stored in the asset library.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the assets are sorted based on metadata.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection from the second user to include the at least one asset in the slide presentation.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processor to update the at least one asset when the slide presentation is accessed.

9. The systems of claim 5 wherein the slide presentation is stored in a presentation library.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein updating a first asset is based on a second asset.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the asset library and the presentation library are store on different computers.

12. A method for integrating business documents tagged with categories, the method comprising:

identifying at least one asset located within at least one spreadsheet, said spreadsheet included in a plurality of spreadsheets, wherein the at least one spreadsheet is created by a first user using Microsoft Excel software and tagged with a category by the first user;

incorporating the at least one asset into an asset browser plug-in platform;

storing the at least one asset in an asset library, said asset library comprising a plurality of assets associated with the category;

receiving a category selection by a second user;

determining at least one corresponding asset, wherein the category of said corresponding asset corresponds to the category selection;

displaying at least a portion of the plurality of assets to the second user within the asset browser plug-in platform when the second user accesses Microsoft PowerPoint software;

in response to a selection of the at least one corresponding asset by the second user, integrating the at least one corresponding asset from the asset browser plug-in platform into a slide created by the second user using the Microsoft PowerPoint software;

detecting a change to the at least one corresponding asset created by the first user; and

in response to detecting the change to the at least one corresponding asset, changing, utilizing ReprEsentational State Transfer (“

REST”

) protocol, a color status associated with the slide created by the second user.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the identifying comprises parsing the spreadsheet to locate the asset.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein a first asset depends on data from a second asset.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising, displaying the asset based on metadata.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising, sorting a plurality of assets based on metadata.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising, storing the slide in a presentation library.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising updating the asset incorporated in the slide.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising the updating the asset when the slide is accessed.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising updating a first asset based on data from a second asset.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the asset library and the presentation library are stored on different computers.