Conditional Cell Execution in Electronic Spreadsheets

Abstract

An improved electronic spreadsheet is provided for applications requiring conditional expression execution behavior. Each cell having an executable expression is cooperative with an implicit conditional execution wrapper. The execution of each cellular expression is implicitly conditioned on the state of an individually assigned logical switch expression. The improved electronic spreadsheet also includes a user interface by which a user can assign logical switch expressions to a cell, or to a range of cells. The improved electronic spreadsheet facilitates the use of spreadsheets for wider range of applications than was possible with conventional electronic spreadsheets.

1 - 11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . Apparatus comprising:
 an electronic spreadsheet generator including a processor and memory configured to generate a spreadsheet in accordance with a spreadsheet application on a computer screen, the spreadsheet having a plurality of cells;   stored executable expressions respectively corresponding to select ones of the plurality of cells, the stored executable expressions including a given executable expression corresponding to a given cell among the plurality of cells, the given executable expression including an image measurement function configured to refer to and operate on image data in an image data buffer;   a user interface configured to receive data for and to display, on a computer screen, cells of the spreadsheet, the executable expressions; and   an execution controller configured to cause the given executable expression corresponding to the given cell to be executed.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the user interface is configured to display, on the computer screen, cells of the spreadsheet while concurrently displaying, on the computer screen, at least one of the executable expressions. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , further comprising cell execution control switch expressions. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the switch expressions are conditional switch expressions. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein the conditional switch expressions include cooperative conditional switch expressions. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the switch expressions include programmable switch expressions. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus according to  claim 17 , wherein the programmable switch expressions include programmable logical switch expressions.