Andrew D Becker

US Patent:

6523167, Feb 18, 2003

Filed:

Oct 12, 1999

Appl. No.:

09/415963

Inventors:

Timothy Fred Ahlers - Redmond WA
Andrew J. Becker - Bellevue WA

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 9455

US Classification:

717100, 707503, 707504

Abstract:

A recalculation engine version stamp is employed to determine whether a spreadsheet program file should be fully recalculated upon opening. When a spreadsheet program file is recalculated and saved, a recalculation engine version stamp is written to the file. The recalculation engine version stamp corresponds to the version of the calculation engine of the application program that last recalculated and saved the program file. When the program file is opened in a spreadsheet application program, the recalculation engine version stamp is compared to the calculation engine version number of the spreadsheet application program. If the calculation engine version number of the spreadsheet application program is more recent than the recalculation engine version stamp of the spreadsheet program file, then a full recalculation of the spreadsheet program file is performed.

US Patent:

7047484, May 16, 2006

Filed:

Oct 18, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/982122

Inventors:

Andrew J. Becker - Bellevue WA, US
Jason M. Cahill - Redmond WA, US
Aleksandr M. Slepak - Redmond WA, US
Jason P. Allen - Sammamish WA, US
Jesse R. Bedford - Redmond WA, US
Timothy Ahlers - Seattle WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 15/00

US Classification:

715503, 715504, 715505, 719318, 719315, 709203

Abstract:

A method, system, and apparatus for providing access to asynchronous data in a spreadsheet application program is provided. When a request is received to utilize an asynchronous data element in a spreadsheet, the spreadsheet application program instructs an asynchronous data server to provide updated values for the asynchronous data element. When the asynchronous data server program receives an updated value, it notifies the spreadsheet application program that a changed value for the data element is available. The next time the spreadsheet application program has idle processing time following a notification that an update is available, the spreadsheet application program determines whether a notification has been received from the asynchronous data server program. If an update is available, the spreadsheet application program contacts the asynchronous data server and requests the update. In response, the asynchronous data server program transmits the update to the spreadsheet application program.

US Patent:

7415481, Aug 19, 2008

Filed:

Sep 30, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/956940

Inventors:

Andrew J. Becker - Bellevue WA, US
Charles D. Ellis - Seattle WA, US
Joseph M. Chirilov - Kirkland WA, US
Juha P. Niemisto - Mercer Island WA, US
Matthew J. Androski - Bellevue WA, US
Robert C. Collie - Kirkland WA, US
Robert G. Hawking - Seattle WA, US
Simon Peyton-Jones - Cambridge, GB
Weide Zhong - Sammamish WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 7/00
G06F 17/00

US Classification:

707102, 715212

Abstract:

The present invention relates to a new type of structured name within a spreadsheet program that allows users to refer to tables, columns of data within tables, headers of tables, totals from tables, PivotTables, and portions of PivotTable data by the data's headers. Embodiments of the present invention comprise a method for referring to a set of data that comprises receiving one or more semantic designations, wherein the one or more semantic designations name a set of context information that describes one or more items of data in a data structure, automatically creating a structural reference, and associating the context information with the structural reference. Other embodiments of the present invention relate to an interaction with a user interface for displaying on a display device a structural reference to data in a spreadsheet that comprises receiving one or more semantic designations from the user that refer to one or more elements of the data structure, creating a structural reference to the elements of the data structure, and displaying the structural reference as a collection of the one or more semantic designations.

US Patent:

7500079, Mar 3, 2009

Filed:

Jul 31, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/496109

Inventors:

Andrew James Becker - Bellevue WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 12/00

US Classification:

711170

Abstract:

Embodiments are configured to manage memory, including detecting one or more memory leaks. The various embodiments are configured to detect memory leaks and/or associated data without adding extra space or overhead for each associated memory allocation as compared with current implementations. In an embodiment, memory is managed including the detection a memory leak by using a fixed memory overhead, such as a fixed block or buffer of N pointers, instead of adding extra space per memory allocation. The contents of the fixed block can be altered and used to detect when memory has been allocated but not freed based on an analysis of a polynomial associated with one or more allocation and free operations. The polynomial can be solved to determine leaked pointers under certain conditions.

US Patent:

7698287, Apr 13, 2010

Filed:

Sep 30, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/957502

Inventors:

Andrew J. Becker - Bellevue WA, US
Charles D. Ellis - Seattle WA, US
Joseph M. Chirilov - Kirkland WA, US
Juha P. Niemisto - Mercer Island WA, US
Matthew J. Androski - Bellevue WA, US
Robert C. Collie - Kirkland WA, US
Robert G. Hawking - Seattle WA, US
Simon Peyton-Jones - Cambridge, GB

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 17/00
G06F 17/30

US Classification:

707101, 707 7

Abstract:

The present invention provides several database formulas that can manipulate large sets of data. Each database formula is customizable and repeatable without user intervention. Thus, users may enter numerous options that can cover the user's desire for data output in certain forms or formats, select a set of input data, and consistently receive a set of output data. In some embodiments, the user may refer to the set of data semantically instead of specifying a range of cells to use in the database formula. Referring to the data semantically allows the database formulas to adjust to changes in the range of cells new data may occupy.

US Patent:

8032821, Oct 4, 2011

Filed:

May 8, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/430486

Inventors:

Jeffrey J. Duzak - Redmond WA, US
Andrew Becker - Bellevue WA, US
Matthew J. Androski - Bellevue WA, US
Duane Campbell - Sammamish WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 17/12

US Classification:

715212, 712 28

Abstract:

This disclosure relates to a method and system of processing chain calculations in spreadsheet applications utilizing multiple processors, each having a separate recalculation engine. A single calculation chain may be reordered into a unified chain where supporting and dependent formulas are organized into a tree hierarchy of child chains. The unified chain is further divided into dependency levels, where entries in each dependency level may be moved to a next dependency level during reordering. If an entry within a dependency level is dependent upon another entry not found within its own child chain, the unified chain is ordered such that an entry is only dependent upon an entry in a prior dependency level. Further, dependency levels allow a control thread to perform control-thread-only operations while maintaining multi-thread processing capabilities.

US Patent:

20060161844, Jul 20, 2006

Filed:

Jan 14, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/036500

Inventors:

Roy Simkhay - Seattle WA, US
Charles Ellis - Seattle WA, US
Alexander Babanov - Redmond WA, US
David Gainer - Redmond WA, US
Daniel Cory - Seattle WA, US
Matthew Androski - Bellevue WA, US
Andrew Becker - Bellevue WA, US
Jeremy Pankratz - Fall City WA, US
Monica McAmis - Renton WA, US
Simon Jones - Cambridge, GB

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 17/00

US Classification:

715538000, 715903000

Abstract:

A spreadsheet application or other application supporting formulaic cells that automatically provides support for a number of diverse formulaic functions. The automatically provided diverse formulaic functions include a function returning the value of the formula logic if the logic can be evaluated without an error. Another function finds a value in a formulaic cell that is in the same row as a particular value from the first column and the same column as a particular value in the first row. Other functions allow a selection of a set of multiple lookup rows and columns for matching the values used as variables in the function. The spreadsheet application is further configured to automatically supply other functions in addition to those described.

US Patent:

20090006466, Jan 1, 2009

Filed:

Jun 9, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/135913

Inventors:

Charles D. Ellis - Seattle WA, US
Simon Loftus Petyon Jones - Cambridge, GB
Jeffrey James Duzak - Redmond WA, US
Joseph Matthew Chirilov - Redmond WA, US
Andrew Becker - Duvall WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 17/30

US Classification:

707103 R, 707E17055

Abstract:

Individual cells within a spreadsheet may contain an extensible value as defined by an extensible value type. The extensible value type is a third party user defined value type that is incorporated into the spreadsheet as a supported data type. When the extensible value type is defined, an associated set of functions are developed to operate on the type. The spreadsheet manages instances of these extensible values such that they are properly maintained by the spreadsheet application while in use and released from memory when they are no longer in use.