Patent ID: 7174504

Claim:
An integrated data processing system comprising an application program for user interaction with stored data, comprising: (a) means for generating and editing data files, each data file comprising an array of data objects, each of the data objects having an object address associated therewith, and an object content being any of a number, a formula, a date, a text, media data, and binary data other than a number, a formula, a date, and a text, each object address being unique with respect to object addresses addressable by the system; (b) the means for editing comprising: (i) means for selecting a source subset of the data objects having respective source object addresses; (ii) means for copying the source subset as target data objects to different object addresses of one or more of the data files; (iii) means for selectively linking the target data objects to the corresponding source object addresses thereof; (iv) means for modifying values and/or addresses of the source subset as reflective of further editing of data files; and (v) means for maintaining the linkages between the target data objects and the source object addresses following modification of the source object addresses; and (c) means for refreshing the target data objects in response to and to reflect changes in the values and/or addresses of the source subset of the data objects, whereby the target data objects are automatically updated in response to a predetermined number of changes in values and/or addresses of source data objects.