Patent ID: 8433714
Filing Date: 2013-04-30
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a processing node comprising a data reception module to sequentially access individual lines of information included in a file stored in an electronic storage medium, the file including a plurality of cells; and a transformation module implemented by one or more processors to couple to the data reception module, the transformation module to detect existence of data clusters in the file based on neighboring cell content in a horizontal direction corresponding to the individual lines, and in a vertical direction orthogonal to the horizontal direction, to assign sequence numbers to the data clusters, the sequence numbers to be used in determining whether a cell in the file belongs to a first one of the data clusters or a second one of the data clusters, when the cell is proximate to the first one and the second one, to identify at least some of the data clusters as being associated with predefined table types comprising vertical tables, horizontal tables, or cross tables, to create metadata including cluster characteristics for at least some of the data clusters, to merge some of the data clusters into section tables having a common orientation, common length, common cluster table schema, and common relative section header-section body locations, to transform the vertical tables, the horizontal tables, the cross tables, the section tables, and remaining un-merged data clusters into a single flat table having a vertical or horizontal orientation, and to store the metadata in a data structure associated with the single flat table.