US Patent 7584415 Common charting using shapes

A method for rendering a chart associated with a document includes translating a chart object into a shape-based chart definition, wherein the chart object defines the chart with chart elements, and the shape-based shape definition defines the chart with shapes, and maintaining the chart object in the document to enable access to underlying chart data contained in the chart. A system includes a chart object defining a chart with chart elements, a graphics module operable to render shapes, a charting module generating a shape-based chart definition based on the chart object, wherein the shape-based chart definition defines the chart with shapes that can be rendered by the graphics module.