Google Patent Application on Converting Spreadsheets to Web Applications

Google Spreadsheets have their roots in the technology of 2Web Technologies, who developed an application called XL2Web.

In June of last year, an announcement on the Official Google Blog answered the question, “Whatever happened to 2Web Technologies?” Last week, a patent application on spreadsheets, assigned to Google, was published at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

I can’t find an “official” statement that 2Web Technologies officially joined Google, even though the Google Blog post above mentioned that the 2Web team was working with Google.

The assignment of the patent application to Google seems to confirm the acquisition (that and Jonathan P. Rochelle being listed as a “Google Product Manager” for the Google Docs and Spreadsheets team in their blog).

I also hadn’t realized that you can embed Google Spreadsheets in Web pages. (I’ll be using this.)

Here’s the patent application, which covers the conversion of conventional spreadsheets to on line, web-based spreadsheets.

Converting spreadsheet applications to web-based applications
Invented by Jonathan P. Rochelle, Micah G. Lemonik, Farzad Khosrowshahi, and John Danaher
US Patent Application 20070162840
Published July 12, 2007
Filed: November 18, 2005

Abstract

A networked version of a spreadsheet application can be automatically created from an existing “conventional” spreadsheet. In one implementation, a server may obtain a data file, where the data file represents a networked version of a spreadsheet application that was converted from the “conventional” application and the data file defines characteristics of the networked version of the spreadsheet application including logic and interactivity attributes of cells in the networked version of the spreadsheet application.

A remote request may be received from a client to access the networked version of the spreadsheet application. In response, the server may transmit a document to the client that represents a portion of the networked version of the spreadsheet application that the interactivity attributes specify as being displayable to the client.