Spreadsheet user-interface for an internet-document change-detection tool

We claim:

1. A change-detection web server for detecting numerically-significant changes in web pages comprising:

a network connection for transmitting and receiving packets from a remote client and a remote web-page server;

a responder, coupled to the network connection, for communicating with the remote client, the responder registering a web page for change detection by receiving from the remote client a uniform-resource-locator (URL) identifying the web page, the responder fetching the web page from the remote web-page server and generating markers for identifying locations of numeric data fields within the web page;

a spreadsheet user-interface, coupled to the responder, for displaying a spreadsheet on the remote client, the spreadsheet having rows and columns of cells, each cell for receiving a formula from a user, the formula specifying calculations performed on the numeric data fields from the web page;

a database, coupled to the responder, for receiving the URL and the markers from the responder and for receiving the formula from the spreadsheet user-interface when the web page is registered by the remote client, the database for storing a plurality of records each containing a URL, markers, and the formula for a registered web page; and

a periodic minder, coupled to the database and the network connection, for periodically re-fetching the web page from the remote web-page server by transmitting the URL from the database to the network connection, the periodic minder receiving a fresh copy of the web page from the remote web-page server, the periodic minder extracting fresh numeric values from the fresh copy of the web page from locations identified by the markers and recalculating a result of the formula using the fresh numeric values, the periodic minder signaling a detected change to the remote client when the result exceeds a predetermined notification condition,

whereby a numerically-significant change in the web page is detected by re-calculating a user-entered formula which operates on numeric data from the web page, wherein changes in the web page which do not cause a re-calculated result to exceed the predetermined notification condition do not signal the remote client.

2. The change-detection web server of claim 1 wherein the database does not store the web page, the database storing a formula for re-calculating the result using the fresh numeric values on the web page,

whereby storage requirements for the database are reduced by archiving the formula and not entire web pages.

3. The change-detection web server of claim 2 further comprising:

selection means, coupled to the responder, for receiving a selection from the remote client, the selection identifying the numeric data fields within the web page;

parsing means, coupled to the responder, for parsing the web page and generating the markers identifying the locations of the numeric data fields;

compare means, coupled to the periodic minder means, for comparing the result to the predetermined notification condition.

4. The change-detection web server of claim 3 wherein each record in the database further comprises:

a notification condition field for storing the predetermined notification condition, whereby the predetermined notification condition is stored in the database for each record.

5. The change-detection web server of claim 1 further comprising:

a calculation engine, receiving the formula from the database and the fresh numeric values extracted from the fresh copy of the web page, for re-calculating the result.

6. The change-detection web server of claim 1 wherein the web page is a hyper-text markup-language (HTML) web page containing HTML tags, the HTML tags for indicating formatting, layout, and hyper-links specifying URLs of other servers, the change-detection web server further comprising:

divider means, coupled to the responder, for dividing the web page into portions bound by the HTML tags;

marker means for generating the markers, the locations of the fresh numeric values being referenced by the markers to locations of the HTML tags; and

report means for signaling a change in the web page when one of the markers for the web page has no matching fresh numeric value in the fresh copy of the web page,

whereby the markers are generated and stored for the fresh numeric values located near the HTML tags.

7. The change-detection web server of claim 6 wherein the report means further comprises:

mailer means, coupled to the network connection, for sending a change notification message to the remote client when the change is signaled,

wherein the responder receives an electronic-mail address from the remote client, the responder storing the electronic-mail address of the remote client in the database, and the mailer means reading the electronic-mail address from the database, the change notification message being sent to the remote client as an electronic-mail message addressed to the electronic-mail address,

whereby the remote client is notified of the change by electronic mail.

8. The change-detection web server of claim 7 wherein the packets transmitted to the network connection are TCP/IP packets and wherein the remote client and the remote web-page server are on the Internet.

9. The change-detection web server of claim 1 further comprising:

second web-page means, coupled to the network connection, for fetching a second web page from a second remote web-page server, the responder generating second markers for identifying locations of second numeric values on the second web page in response to user selections,

wherein the formulas operate on the numeric values from the web page and on the second numeric values from the second web page,

whereby numeric values from two web pages are combined in formula to determine when the predetermined notification condition is met.

10. The change-detection web server of claim 9 wherein each record in the database further comprises parameters, the parameters being entered by the user into the spreadsheet user-interface, the parameters being constant numeric values independent of the web pages.

11. The change-detection web server of claim 10 wherein the formulas include a combination of operators selected from the group consisting of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, root, minimum, and maximum.

12. A computer-implemented method for detecting a significant change in numeric fields on a web page and notifying a user of the significant change, the method comprising the steps of:

registering the web page by:

receiving an address of the user and a locator for the web page;

fetching the web page from a remote server by transmitting the locator to a network server;

extracting numeric values from selected numeric fields on the web page, the selected numeric fields selected by the user;

displaying a spreadsheet to the user, the spreadsheet having rows and columns of cells forming a grid;

displaying the numeric values in extracted-data cells of the spreadsheet;

accepting formulas input by the user in unused cells of the spreadsheet, the formulas operating on the numeric values by specifying in the formulas a row and a column of the extracted-data cells;

storing the formulas, the locator, the address of the user, and field locations on the web page of the numeric fields in a database;

after a period of time, periodically checking to determine if a significant change has occurred by:

reading the locator from the database and transmitting the locator to remote server to fetch a recent copy of the web page;

reading the field locations from the database and extracting new values of the numeric fields from the recent copy of the web page;

reading the formulas from the database and recalculating results of the formulas using the new values extracted from the recent copy of the web page;

signaling that a significant change is detected when the results from recalculation meet a notification condition;

whereby neither the web page nor the numeric values from the web page are stored in the database which stores the formulas.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the step of signaling that the significant change is detected comprises:

reading the address of the user from the database and sending a message to the address of the user stating that a change has occurred,

whereby the user is notified by a message when the significant change is detected.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the step of registering the web page further comprises:

registering a second web page by:

receiving a second locator for the second web page;

fetching the second web page from a remote server by transmitting the second locator to the network server;

extracting second numeric values from second numeric fields on the second web page, the second numeric fields selected by the user;

displaying the second numeric values in second extracted-data cells of the spreadsheet;

accepting formulas input by the user in unused cells of the spreadsheet, the formulas operating on the numeric values and the second numeric values by specifying in the formulas a row and a column for each of the extracted-data cells and a row and a column for each of the second extracted-data cells;

storing the second locator and second field locations on the second web page of the second numeric fields on the second web page;

whereby the formulas combine numeric values from the web page and the second web page.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 wherein the web page and the second web page are web pages on the world-wide web and the locator and the second locator are uniform-resource locators (URLs).

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein the period of time is a day.

17. A computer-program product comprising:

a computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code means embodied therein for detecting numerically-significant changes in a web page, the computer-readable program code means in the computer-program product comprising:

network connection means for transmitting and receiving packets from a remote client and a remote web page server;

responder means, coupled to the network connection means, for communicating with the remote client, the responder means registering web pages for change detection by receiving from the remote client a uniform-resource-locator (URL) identifying the web page, the responder means fetching the web page from the remote web page server and generating markers identifying locations of numeric values in the web page;

spreadsheet user-interface means, coupled to the responder means, for displaying a spreadsheet of cells on the remote client, the spreadsheet including cells displaying the numeric values from the web page, the spreadsheet user-interface means including means for entering formulas into cells from the remote client, the formulas referencing the cells containing the numeric values from the web page;

database means, coupled to the responder means, for receiving the URL and the markers from the responder means when the web page is registered by the remote client, the database means further for receiving the formulas from the spreadsheet user-interface means, the database means for storing a plurality of records each containing a URL, markers, and formulas for a registered web page, the database means not storing the web page or the registered web pages, the database means storing markers and formulas for the web page; and

periodic minder means, coupled to the database means and the network connection means, for periodically re-fetching the web page from the remote web page server by transmitting the URL from the database means to the network connection means, the periodic minder means receiving a fresh copy of the web page from the remote web page server, the periodic minder means extracting fresh numeric values from the fresh copy of the web page and re-calculating a fresh result of the formulas using the fresh numeric values, the periodic minder means signaling a numerically-significant detected change to the remote client when the fresh result meets a notification condition,

whereby the numerically-significant change in the web page is automatically detected by periodically re-fetching the web page and extracting the fresh numerical values and recalculating the fresh result of the formulas entered into the spreadsheet during registration.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17 wherein the database means does not store a copy of the document, and wherein the database means does not store the numeric values extracted from the document, the database means storing the formulas, whereby storage requirements for the database means are reduced by archiving the formulas and not entire web pages.

19. The computer-program product of claim 18 wherein the computer-readable program code means further comprises:

selection means, coupled to the responder means, for receiving a selection from the remote client, the selection identifying locations of the numeric values on the web page;

parsing means, coupled to the responder means, for parsing the web page and extracting the numeric values from the web page, the parsing means generating markers for identifying locations on the web page of the numeric values; and

second parsing means, coupled to the periodic minder means and receiving the markers from the database means, for parsing the fresh copy of the web page and extracting the fresh numeric values from the fresh copy using the markers for identifying the locations on the web page of the fresh numeric values;

wherein the database means further stores the markers with the record, whereby the parsing means generates the markers for identifying the locations of the numeric values.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION--FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to software retrieval tools for networks, and more particularly for a calculation-based user interface to a change-detection tool for the Internet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION--DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

The world-wide-web (www) is the fastest-growing part of the global network known as the Internet. Documents on the web are known as web pages. These web pages are frequently changed. Users often wish to know when changes are made to certain web pages. The parent application disclosed a change-detection tool which allows users to register web pages. These registered web pages are periodically fetched and compared to a stored checksum for the registered page to determine if a change has occurred. When a change is detected, the user is notified by e-mail. The change-detection tool of the parent application allows user to select portions of a web-page document for change detection while other portions are ignored.

Such a change-detection tool as described in detail in the parent application is indeed useful and has gained popularity with Internet users, as several hundred thousand web pages have been registered. For example, patent professionals can register the federal regulations and procedures (37 C.F.R. and the M.P.E.P) posted at the PTO's web site and be notified when any changes are made. The change-detection tool is currently free for public use at the www.netmind.com web site.

Often the information desired on the Internet is numeric rather than textual. For example, investors use the Internet to obtain stock prices, volume, and financial information on companies to make investing decisions. The desired information is numeric, although it is often surrounded by textual information.

Various software tools are emerging to automate the process of extracting numeric information from web pages. For example, Alpha Microsystems of Santa Ana, Calif. has a filtering tool known as "StockVue" which allows users to specify a number of stocks. The tool queries a web site to obtain prices, volume, and other information on the stocks. The queries can be performed manually or automatically. The user can also input the number of shares he owns of each stock and the tool calculates the current value from the stock price.

While such a tool is useful for obtaining stock quotes, it is not a general-purpose tool. It does not query for other kinds of numeric information, such as weather information, airline ticket prices, or statistical information. Only a few of the millions of web pages are accessed; the "content" from the Internet is limited to a few financial sites with formats readable by the software tool. The calculations performed are rather limited, being pre-programmed into the software. The user cannot specify arbitrary calculations.

Other application-specific tools are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,297,032, 5,414,838, for securities trading. These generally use one or more specific databases rather than arbitrary documents located anywhere on the Internet.

Spreadsheet programs allow the user to specify arbitrary calculations using cells containing constants, parameters, and formulas. Links to the Internet can also be embedded into spreadsheet cells using Microsoft's Excel for Office/97. The links can be used to jump to a particular web page, or a more complex Internet query file (IQL) can be used to extract some data items from a web page. All data in all tables are returned from a web page; the user cannot specify that only a few data items are returned. Microsoft Excel allows the user to retrieve all data in all tables, or the entire contents of a web page. Web pages can be specifically designed to work with Excel by having just a small table with the desired data items. Microsoft Excel is not designed for arbitrary web pages because data is extracted from a small table or all data on the page is returned; the user cannot extract just the interesting data items. Indeed, an entire paragraph from a web page is imported into a single cell. Another disadvantage is that the user must explicitly update the link; the user is not notified when the data on the linked web page changes.

What is desired is an automated change-detection tool which detects when changes occur to a registered document on the Internet. It is desired that the user not have to check the web page to see if any changes have occurred. A change-detection tool adapted for numeric data is desired. A change-detection tool which can perform arbitrary, user-specified calculations is desirable. It is also desired that the numeric data be obtained from any arbitrary document anywhere on the Internet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A change-detection web server detects numerically-significant changes in web pages. A network connection transmits and receives packets from a remote client and a remote web-page server. A responder is coupled to the network connection. It communicates with the remote client. The responder registers a web page for change detection by receiving from the remote client a uniform-resource-locator (URL) that identifies the web page. The responder fetches the web page from the remote web-page server and generates markers for identifying locations of numeric data fields within the web page.

A spreadsheet user-interface is coupled to the responder. It displays a spreadsheet on the remote client. The spreadsheet has rows and columns of cells, and each cell is for receiving a formula from a user. The formula specifies calculations performed on the numeric data fields from the web page.

A database is coupled to the responder. It receives the URL and the markers from the responder receives the formula from the spreadsheet user-interface when the web page is registered by the remote client. The database stores a plurality of records each containing a URL, markers, and the formula for a registered web page.

A periodic minder is coupled to the database and the network connection. It periodically re-fetches the web page from the remote web-page server by transmitting the URL from the database to the network connection. The periodic minder receives a fresh copy of the web page from the remote web-page server. The periodic minder extracts fresh numeric values from the fresh copy of the web page from locations identified by the markers and recalculates a result of the formula using the fresh numeric values. The periodic minder signals a detected change to the remote client when the result exceeds a predetermined notification condition.

Thus a numerically-significant change in the web page is detected by recalculating a user-entered formula which operates on numeric data from the web page. Changes in the web page which do not cause a recalculated result to exceed the predetermined notification condition do not signal the remote client.

In further aspects of the invention the database does not store the web page. Instead, the database stores a formula for re-calculating the result using the fresh numeric values on the web page. Thus storage requirements for the database are reduced by archiving the formula and not entire web pages.

In further aspects a selection means is coupled to the responder. It receives a selection from the remote client and identifies the numeric data fields within the web page. A parsing parses the web page and generates the markers identifying the locations of the numeric data fields. A compare means compares the result to the predetermined notification condition.

In still further aspects each record in the database has a notification condition field for storing the predetermined notification condition. Thus the predetermined notification condition is stored in the database for each record.

In still further aspects a calculation engine receives the formula from the database and the fresh numeric values extracted from the fresh copy of the web page. It re-calculates the result. The web page is a hyper-text markup-language (HTML) web page containing HTML tags that indicate formatting, layout, and hyper-links specifying URLs of other servers.

In still further aspects of the invention a mailer means is coupled to the network connection to send a change notification message to the remote client when the change is signaled. The responder receives an electronic-mail address from the remote client and stores the electronic-mail address of the remote client in the database. Thus the remote client is notified of the change by electronic mail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a change detection tool on a server on the Internet.

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of responder 24 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates operation of minder 22 of FIG. 1 when the notification condition must be re-calculated using newly extracted data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a spreadsheet displayed to the user for entering calculations of web-page numeric data during registration for change detection.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a registration record when the numeric values are extracted from multiple web pages.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the responder accepting a calculational registration for change-notification when the data is extracted from multiple web pages.

FIG. 7 is an example of a spreadsheet user interface to a change-detection tool programmed to detect low airline fares from multiple web pages of different airlines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an improvement in change-detection software tools. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention as provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment will be apparent to those with skill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments shown and described, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features herein disclosed.

OVERVIEW OF CHANGE-DETECTION WEB SERVER

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a change detection tool on a server on the Internet. The user operates client 14 from a remote site on Internet 10. The user typically is operating a browser application, such as Netscape's Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer, or a browser mini-application such as an Internet toolbar in a larger program. Client 14 communicates through Internet 10 by sending and receiving TCP/IP packets to establish connections with remote servers, typically using the hypertext transfer protocol (http) of the world-wide web.

Client 14 retrieves web pages of files from document server 12 through Internet 10. These web pages are identified by a unique URL (uniform resource locator) which specifies a document file containing the text and graphics of a desired web page. Often additional files are retrieved when a document is retrieved. The "document" returned from document server 12 to client 14 is thus a composite document composed of several files of text, graphics, and perhaps sound or animation. The physical appearance of the web page on the user's browser on client 14 is specified by layout information embedded in non-displayed tags, as is well-known for HTML (hyper-text markup language) documents. Often these HTML documents contain tags with URL's that specify other web pages, perhaps on other web servers which may be physically located in different cities or countries. These tags create hyper-links to these other web servers allowing the user to quickly jump to other servers. These hyper-links form a complex web of linked servers across the world; hence the name "world-wide web".

The user may frequently retrieve files from remote document server 12. Often the same file is retrieved. The user may only be interested in differences in the file, or learning when the file is updated, such as when a new product or service is announced. The inventors have developed a software tool which automatically retrieves files and compares the retrieved files to an archived checksum of the file to determine if a change in the file has occurred. When a change is detected, the user is notified by an electronic mail message (e-mail). A copy of the new file may be attached to the e-mail notification, allowing the user to review the changes.

Rather than archive the source files from remote document server 12, the invention archives a checksum or CRC of the source files. These CRC's and the e-mail address of the user are stored in database 16 of change-detection server 20. Comparison is made of the stored or archived CRC of the document and a fresh CRC of the currently-available document. The CRC is a condensed signature or fingerprint of the document. Any change to the document changes the CRC.

Change-detection server 20 performs three basic functions:

1. Register (setup) a web page document for change detection.

2. Periodically re-fetch the document and compare for changes

3. E-mail a change notice to the registered user if a change is detected.

Change-detection server 20 contains three basic components. Database 16 stores the archive of CRC's for registered web-page documents. The URL identifying the web page and the user's e-mail address are also stored with the archived CRC's. Responder 24 communicates with the user at client 14 to setup or register a web page document for change detection. Minder 22 periodically fetches registered documents from document server 12 through Internet 10. Minder 22 compares the archived CRC's in database 16 to new CRC's of the fetched documents to determine if a change has occurred. When a change is detected, minder 22 sends a notice to the user at client 14 that the document has changed.

CHANGE-DETECTION OF WEB PAGES

This change-detection tool is disclosed in the co-pending parent application, "Change-Detection Tool Indicating Degree and Location of Change of Internet Documents by Comparison of CRC Signatures", U.S. Ser. No. 08/783,625, filed Jan. 14, 1997, hereby incorporated by reference. A basic change-detection tool without a spreadsheet user-interface and without user-selections within a web page has been available for free public use at the inventor's web site, www.netmind.com, for more than a year before the filing date of the present application. The existing "URL-minder" has over 150,000 documents or URL's registered for 1.4 million users.

CALCULATIONS ON NUMERIC DATA DESIRABLE

While the change-detection tool of the parent application could be used to register web pages with numeric data, it is often desirable to perform calculations on the numeric data. These calculations can be used to determine if the change is significant enough to warrant notifying the user. For example, the user may not want to be notified when the numeric data changes by a small amount. A 2% change in a stock price may not be significant to a long-term investor, while the user/investor does want to be notified when the stock price changes by 20%. The current change-detection tool notifies the user for any change, even the small 2% change. Thus notices are generated for many numerically insignificant changes.

The change-detection tool can be programmed by the user to ignore small changes in the numeric values. Then only larger, more significant change in the numeric value generates a change notice to the user. Other users may want the software to perform more complex calculations on the numeric data before deciding to notify the user. Another investor may want to be notified only when his total portfolio value reaches a fixed dollar amount, such as $10,000. This investor could program the change-detection tool to extract several stock prices from a web page and then multiply each stock price by the number of shares he holds to arrive at the total portfolio value. When this portfolio exceeds a set amount, a notification is made. A bond analyst may want to be notified when the current ratio of a company drops by more than 20%, indicating that the company may face a cash shortage. The current assets and current liabilities could be extracted from the company's financial statement and the current ratio calculated and compared before a notice is made. A powder skier may want to be notified when the snow exceeds a certain depth. The uses for such a numeric change-detection and calculation tool are as varied as the users of the Internet.

CHANGE-DETECTION OF NUMERIC VALUES--OVERVIEW

Changes in numeric data are detected in arbitrary documents or web pages on the internet. The web pages may also contain text, graphics image files and sound or video files. Most web pages are HTML files and have a structure which can be exploited to locate the numeric data on the page. Once the numeric data is located on a page, it can be extracted. Calculations are then performed on the extracted data to determine if a change significant enough for notification has occurred.

The responder is the software module which responds to user requests to register a web page for change detection. The user identifies the web page by its URL, and then identifies the numeric data by selecting or highlighting the numeric data on a copy of the web page. The responder locates the highlighted numeric data and stores markers to later locate the numeric data. The markers can be HTML tags or text before or after the highlighted numeric data. Non-highlighted data and text on the web page are ignored, and no change notification is made when changes occur in the non-highlighted portions of the registered web page.

A spreadsheet user interface is also displayed to the user by the responder. The responder copies the highlighted or extracted data from the web page to cells in the spreadsheet. The user enters constants or parameters in other cells, and one or more formulas in other cells. The formulas perform calculations on the extracted data from the web page and the user's parameters. The results of these formulas are displayed in the formula's cells rather than the formula itself. The user then enters notification limits for the results. The notification limits indicate when a notification is to be made.

RESPONDER USES SPREADSHEET GUI--FIG. 2

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of responder 24 of FIG. 1. The user initiates registration of a document by providing the URL identifying the document and the user's e-mail address. These can be provided by typing or pasting them into fields on a registration web page at change-detection server 20. The URL and the user's e-mail address are stored in record 40 in database 16 of FIG. 1.

Change-detection server 20 uses the URL to fetch a copy of source document 30 from document server 12 of FIG. 1. Source document 30 could be any one of millions of documents on the thousands of web servers connected to the Internet. Source document 30 is displayed to the user, allowing the user to select numeric portions of source document 30 for registration. The user can select portions of source document 30 by dragging a highlight with a mouse over the numeric value to be selected. Alternately, the user can select a single numeric value by double-clicking on the numeric value or field. Changes which occur in unselected portions of source document 30 do not generate change notifications.

The location of the user's highlight or selection is transmitted to parser 32. Parser 32 reads characters from source document 30 one at a time until the numeric string at the highlighted location is found. This location could be identified for future use by an offset in bytes or all characters from the beginning of the file to the beginning of the user's selection. A preferred way to identify the location of the selected numeric value is to store several characters immediately preceding the selection and/or several characters after the selected numeric value. These characters preceding and following the user's selection are known as a "marker", and the marker is sent from parser 32 to be stored in the marker field in record 40 of FIG. 1's database 16.

The process of the user highlighting a numeric value, and the parser generating a marker for storage in record 40 is repeated as many times as the user wishes. Thus the user may make several selections on the same source document 30, and each selection has it's marker generated by parser 32 and stored in record 40.

The location of the marker can change when changes are made to the web page document in the non-selected region before the selected numeric value, such as in a document header. Thus the marker's location can change even when the selected numeric value has not changed, and changes in the header should be ignored. If the marker disappears altogether, the user can be notified and allowed to change the spreadsheet entries.

SPREADSHEET USER INTERFACE

Parser 32 extracts the numeric value highlighted by the user and transmits the extracted numeric value to spreadsheet user-interface 36 and to calculation engine 34.

Spreadsheet user-interface 36 generates a display of a spreadsheet to the user and displays the numeric value in a cell on the spreadsheet displayed to the user during registration. Each additional numeric value highlighted appears in a different spreadsheet cell.

The user can also enter constants or parameters by typing them into unused cells on his spreadsheet display. Each parameter is stored in record 40 as PARAM1, PARAM2, etc. The user then types one or more equations or formulas into other unused cells on the spreadsheet display, and these formulas are encoded by spreadsheet user-interface 36 and stored in record 40 as FORMULA1, FORMAULA2, etc. Once the user finishes typing in a formula, calculation engine 34 calculates the result and spreadsheet user-interface 36 displays the numeric result of the formula in the cell instead of the formula. Extracted data, user-entered parameters, and even results from other formulas can be operands of the new formula