Patent ID: 7810032

Claim:
A method for computing at least one statistical parameter for at least one set of data items, said method comprising performing a loop having a plurality of iterations for each set of data items, said method being performed by execution of instructions by a processor of a computer system, said instructions comprised by a computer program that is coded within a spreadsheet, said spreadsheet being stored in a memory of the computer system, each set of data items having been generated in a time sequence such that each data item corresponds to a unique time in the time sequence, said time sequence being specific to each set of data items, for each time sequence each data item consisting of one data value or a pair of data values, the data items for each time in the time sequence appearing one-at-a-time in only one cell structure C of the spreadsheet in accordance with the time sequence, the one cell structure C consisting of a single cell or both a first cell and a second cell, said single cell storing only the one data value, said first cell storing only a first data value of the pair of data values and said second cell storing only a second data value of the pair of data values, each iteration of each loop comprising: said processor receiving a command to update the at least one statistical parameter for a set S of the at least one set, said command identifying the cell structure C pertaining to the set S, said cell structure C comprising a latest data item of the set S, said spreadsheet not comprising any other data item of the set S, said latest data item corresponding to a latest time in the time sequence of the set S; responsive to said command, said processor updating the at least one statistical parameter for the set S based on the latest data item in the cell structure C to generate an updated at least one statistical parameter value for the set S; and said processor storing each updated statistical parameter value for the set S in a parameter field of the spreadsheet assigned to each statistical parameter.