Robert Meyers DeceasedSpokane, WA

7693862, Apr 6, 2010

Jun 29, 2005

11/170418

Carolyn Khanh Chau - Carnation WA, US
Jason David Carlson - Redmond WA, US
Robert Alan Meyers - Redmond WA, US
Brian Lee Welcker - Seattle WA, US
Lisa Renee Mueller - Sammamish WA, US
Aaron Stephen Meyers - Provo UT, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 17/30

707102, 707101, 707103 R

A graphical user interface and method of use thereof that allows users to interact with an entity relationship model. The user interface includes zones that allow users to navigate among the entities, roles and fields to create queries that are run against the model. Clicking on an entity in the shows the available fields for the entity. Users can drag and drop entities and fields onto a design surface to quickly and easily build queries. Rules are applied when either an entity or a field is dropped onto the design surface based upon the item being dropped (either an entity or a field), the position of the drop and also the properties that are associated with the item. Entities may be grouped and filtered to sort and limit the results of the query. After query is run, the results may be displayed in a separate area to the user.

8024650, Sep 20, 2011

Mar 31, 2006

11/396148

Jason David Carlson - Redmond WA, US
Robert Alan Meyers - Redmond WA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 17/00
G06F 17/30

715212, 715234, 715255, 707716, 707754

Mechanisms are provided for drilling on data elements in arbitrary ad-hoc reports. Data elements in one ad-hoc report can be examined and then drilled on, in order to obtain other related data elements in other ad-hoc reports. Thus, in one exemplary aspect of the disclosure, when a user selects a data element in an ad-hoc report, another ad-hoc report is generated containing data elements that are obtained as a result of taking into account 1) the original query associated with data element in the ad-hoc report; 2) the context of the selection in the ad-hoc report, and 3) the granularity of the resulting query associated with the resulting ad-hoc report.

8099678, Jan 17, 2012

Apr 26, 2006

11/411642

Christopher A. Hays - Redmond WA, US
Jason D. Carlson - Redmond WA, US
Robert A. Meyers - Redmond WA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 3/048

715825

Various technologies for processing a selection on an item on a report. In one implementation, a request to perform an action on the item may be received. Whether one or more actions corresponding to the item exist based on one or more parameters and one or more values of the parameters associated with the item may be dynamically determined. A list of one or more actions may be displayed if the one or more actions exist.

8478786, Jul 2, 2013

Sep 14, 2010

12/882164

Christopher A. Hays - Monroe WA, US
Carolyn Khanh Chau - Redmond WA, US
Robert A. Meyers - Redmond WA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 7/00
G06F 17/30

707790, 707802, 707803

Embodiments are directed to determining a data insertion point in a data layout based on relative cardinalities between data objects and to determining a data insertion point in a data layout based on defined hierarchies between data objects. In an embodiment, a computer system receives a user input indicating that an additional portion of information is to be added to an existing data layout which includes multiple different data objects. The computer system accesses the data objects to determine relative cardinalities between the data objects in the data layout. The computer system determines an optimal data insertion point for inserting the additional portion of information based on the determined relative cardinalities between the data objects. The computer system also inserts the additional portion of information in the existing data layout at the determined optimal data insertion point.

2007000, Jan 4, 2007

Jun 29, 2005

11/170898

Carolyn Chau - Carnation WA, US
Jason Carlson - Redmond WA, US
Robert Meyers - Redmond WA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 17/30

707004000

A method of creating and defining complex functions and/or expressions that may be run against an entity relationship model. An anchor entity serves as a beginning point of the expression and determines what data that will be returned by the user-created expression within the context of a query. When a relationship from any entity is traversed, including the anchor entity, the role name for the target entity is displayed hierarchically beneath the entity it was navigated from. When an entity is selected, the relationships from this entity are shown as possible navigation paths. The user may select one of these paths to navigate and add to the query tree or chose a field from the field list. Entities can be dragged and dropped into a formula area to create the expression. Functions, and mathematical and logical operations can be performed on the entities and fields in creating the expression. The fields and entities can be filtered to refine the results retrieved by the expression.

2007023, Oct 4, 2007

Mar 31, 2006

11/396174

Jason Carlson - Redmond WA, US
Carolyn Chau - Carnation WA, US
Robert Meyers - Redmond WA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 17/30

707007000

Mechanisms are provided for auto-generating reports based on metadata. Entities in databases may have some associated metadata, and this metadata may serve as the basis of the reports. Such reports may be generated not only automatically but also dynamically. The generation of reports may also be a function of the role traversal between entities, such that if a role indicates at most one instance of the target entity is related to an instance of the source entity, a single-type report can be created, whereas if the role indicates many instances of the target entity may be related, a different kind or report can be generated, namely, a multi-type report. Lastly, even though reports are auto-generated, such reports can be overridden or customized via user interfaces or application programming interfaces.

2007025, Nov 1, 2007

Apr 28, 2006

11/413227

Robert Meyers - Redmond WA, US

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

G06F 17/00

715511000

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for persisting instance-level report customizations. Input is received from a user to run an original report. An original query associated with the original report is executed against a data store. The original report is displayed to the user. At least one instance-level customization is received from the user to customize an instance of the original report. The instance-level customizations that the user makes to the customized report are tracked in a manner that allows a history of changes from the original report to the customized report to be determined. The customized report is generated in subsequent executions of the report. The instance-level changes the user made to the report can be audited to allow users to see the changes made to the original report.

2012006, Mar 15, 2012

Sep 14, 2010

12/882166

Christopher A. Hays - Monroe WA, US
Aaron S. Meyers - Kirkland WA, US
Robert A. Meyers - Redmond WA, US

MICROSOFT CORPORATION - Redmond WA

G06F 17/30

707769, 707E17014

Embodiments are directed to implementing hierarchy metadata to improve relational model default path selection heuristics. A computer system receives a database query from a user. The query is configured to return a portion of requested data stored in the database. The database includes multiple different data entities related to each other via different relationship paths. The computer system accesses hierarchy metadata that describes various database hierarchies, each hierarchy including multiple data entities. The computer system determines an optimal path between the related data entities based on the database query and the hierarchy metadata, and accesses the data using the determined optimal data entity relationship path.