Patent Grant
8201096
Modern data processing systems, such as general purpose computer systems, allow the users of such systems to create a variety of different types of data files. For example, a typical user of a data processing system may create text files with a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or may create an image file with an image processing program such as Adobe's PhotoShop. Numerous other types of files are capable of being created or modified, edited, and otherwise used by one or more users for a typical data processing system. The large number of the different types of files that can be created or modified can present a challenge to a typical user who is seeking to find a particular file which has been created.
Modern data processing systems often include a file management system which allows a user to place files in various directories or subdirectories (e.g. folders) and allows a user to give the file a name. Further, these file management systems often allow a user to find a file by searching for the file's name, or the date of creation, or the date of modification, or the type of file. An example of such a file management system is the Finder program which operates on Macintosh computers from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Another example of a file management system program is the Windows Explorer program which operates on the Windows operating system from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Both the Finder program and the Windows Explorer program include a find command which allows a user to search for files by various criteria including a file name or a date of creation or a date of modification or the type of file. However, this search capability searches through information which is the same for each file, regardless of the type of file. Thus, for example, the searchable data for a Microsoft Word file is the same as the searchable data for an Adobe PhotoShop file, and this data typically includes the file name, the type of file, the date of creation, the date of last modification, the size of the file and certain other parameters which may be maintained for the file by the file management system.
Certain presently existing application programs allow a user to maintain data about a particular file. This data about a particular file may be considered metadata because it is data about other data. This metadata for a particular file may include information about the author of a file, a summary of the document, and various other types of information. A program such as Microsoft Word may automatically create some of this data when a user creates a file and the user may add additional data or edit the data by selecting the “property sheet” from a menu selection in Microsoft Word. The property sheets in Microsoft Word allow a user to create metadata for a particular file or document. However, in existing systems, a user is not able to search for metadata across a variety of different applications using one search request from the user. Furthermore, existing systems can perform one search for data files, but this search does not also include searching through metadata for those files.
Methods for managing data in a data processing system and systems for managing data are described herein.
A method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying a first display area for displaying two-dimensional (2-D) representations of documents matching a search query, the first display area configured to display content of the documents which can have a plurality of different types of content including at least one of text-based content and a folder, and the method further includes displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area. In at least certain embodiments, the content of the selected document can be zoomed from the first display area to display an enlarged view or may be presented as multiple pages which are selectable such that the document can be viewed one page at a time or several pages at a time. In certain embodiments, the first display area and the second display area are adjacent each other in the same moveable, closeable, resizeable and minimizeable window, which includes user interface objects to receive user inputs to move the window, close the window, resize the window, maximize the window and minimize the window. Further, the window may include various user interface objects which allow the user to pick between different views, including a view which includes the first display area and the second display area. In at least certain embodiments, the first display area may be referred to as a “cover flow” view area and the second display area may be referred to as a “list display” view area. In at least certain embodiments, the method may include the performance of a search through metadata for various different kinds of documents, as well as an index database which includes a full-text inverted database containing the full text of the content of the documents within a data processing system. In certain embodiments, the documents may be organized and stored in a hierarchical file system, and a user interface program, such as the Finder from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., or Windows Explorer from Microsoft of Redmond, Wash., may be provided to allow the user to manage the location, etc. of the documents and files maintained by the hierarchical filing system (HFS).
In at least certain embodiments, a user may select a document in the list view and this causes the documents in the cover flow view to scroll in order to show the same document in the selected document position of a cover flow view. In certain embodiments, scrolling of the documents in the cover flow view is linked to the scrolling of documents in the list display view area such that scrolling in one area is matched by and coordinated with scrolling in the other area. In at least certain embodiments, the list display view area displays at least a portion of the documents matching the search query, and the order of the documents in the list view area matches the order of the documents shown in the cover flow view area which also shows documents matching the search query. The cover flow view area typically includes one set of documents on one side of the selected document and another set of documents on the other side of the selected document; the spacing between the documents is not uniform. In at least certain embodiments, documents on the left side of the selected document appear to be facing towards the right and therefore towards the selected document, while documents on the right side of the selected document appear to be facing towards the left side and therefore towards the selected document. The apparent direction each set of documents faces may be achieved by providing a perspective view in which one side of the document is longer than another side of the document even though, in fact, the underlying document has sides that are equal and parallel.
According to another aspect of the inventions described herein, a method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying a first display area for displaying two-dimensional representations of at least a portion of files and folders in a hierarchical file system, the first display area configured to display content of the files in the first display area, and displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area, wherein the second display area displays the two-dimensional representations of at least a portion of the files and folders in the hierarchical file system. In this method, the first display area and the second display area may be a cover flow view area and a list display view area, respectively, each of which are adjacent to each other in the same window which is moveable, resizeable, closeable, minimizeable, and maximizeable. The window may include various user interface objects which allow a user to close, minimize, maximize, resize, or move the window. Further, the window may include user interface objects which allow a user to input various commands for operating on the files in the hierarchical file system, such as commands to move a file in the hierarchical file system (HFS), or create a copy of the file in the HFS, or delete a file, or create a new folder in the HFS or move a folder in the HFS or create a copy of the folder or delete the folder or move a file from a first folder to a second folder, etc. Each view area, such as the cover flow view area and the list display view area, may include scroll control user interface objects, such as a scroll bar and scroll arrows for allowing the user to scroll the views in each display area. The scrolling may be linked or not linked depending on the implementation.
According to another aspect of the inventions described herein, a method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying an icon of a folder, wherein the icon of the folder is at least partially transparent to show icons at least partially within the folder, and displaying a set of icons at least partially within the icon of the folder. In at least certain embodiments, the icons may rotate within the icon of the folder to display, after a sufficient amount of rotating, all viewable files in the folder, and wherein the folder represents a subdirectory in a hierarchical file system. In at least certain embodiments, the set of icons are animated to display at least a subset of the icons over a period of time. The set of icons may be animated by one of rotating, over time, the icons in the set of icons, or shuffling, over time, the icons in the set of icons, or displaying momentarily and sequentially each of the icons in the set of icons, etc. The icons in the set of icons in the folder may be at least one of graphical images or thumbnails of content of files represented by the icons.
Another method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying an icon of a folder which includes files represented by the icons, the files being in a hierarchical file system and displaying automatically, without user interaction with the icon of the folder, an animation presenting a content or representation of each of the files, wherein a subset of the files is shown after a sufficient period of time. The animation may present the content or representation at least partially within the icon of the folder. The icon of the folder may or may not be transparent and the animation may present the content or representation on the face of the icon of the folder if the folder is not transparent. The animation may be one of rotating, over time, the content or representation of each of the files or shuffling, over time, the content or representation of each of the files or other mechanisms for displaying, over time, the various icons in the file.
According to another aspect of the inventions described herein, methods and software architectures provide previews of files, such as previews of content of the files without launching the applications which created those files. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first call, through a first application programming interface (API), to obtain a preview of content of a file, the first call being made by a first application program and being received by a preview generator, such as a preview generator daemon which is provided by operating system software; and the method also includes generating a request (which may be a call through a second API) to obtain a first software routine, such as a first plug-in, from a set of software routines, such as a set of plug-ins which may be extensible, wherein the first plug-in is configured to process a file type of the file to produce content in a format which can be displayed by the first application program. This method allows, at least in certain embodiments, for previews of content to be provided to the first application program for a wide variety of different file types (e.g. PDF, HTML, Visio, AutoCAD, PPT, DOC, text, XLS (Excel), JPG, and other file types noted herein, etc.) without requiring that the applications which created these files be launched in order to view the content. The first application program may be one of a set of programs including at least one user level program which use this method to present previews of content; for example, the first application program may be a file management software program (e.g. the Finder from Apple Inc. or Windows Explorer from Microsoft) or a search software program (e.g. Spotlight from Apple Inc.) or an email software program or a calendar software program or an instant messaging software program or other software programs.
In at least certain embodiments, the first application program (e.g. the Finder or Spotlight) displays an initial preview of the file in a first view which is one of a list view or an icon view or a cover flow view and wherein the initial preview is not configured to be interactive, within the first view, in response to user inputs and wherein the content produced through the first plug-in is configured to interactively display content of the file (e.g. page through or scroll through or browse through the content or zoom or resize the content or playback the content, such as playback a movie) in response to user inputs. This interactive display of content may also occur in the first view or zoom out from the first view or be layered over the first view. The first application program may also display, while displaying the initial preview within the first view, other initial previews of other files and data (e.g. data within a file such as an address information within a contact/address book database) within the first view. Further, the interactive content displayed through the first plug-in may be displayed in the first view while the other initial previews are also being displayed within the first view.
In at least certain embodiments, a method may further include generating a second call to a file system program to obtain an identifier of the file type of the file and receiving the identifier of the file type in response to the second call, wherein the identifier is used to select the first plug-in from the set of plug-ins.
In at least certain embodiments, the content produced through the first plug-in is displayable by the first application program without further conversion of data; in other embodiments, the content produced through the first plug-in may be in a standard format (e.g. HTML, text, PDF, JPG) which can be processed through the first application to generate displayed content.
Software architectures are also described, and these may include a preview generator daemon which interfaces with applications (e.g. Finder) which make calls to the preview generator daemon through a first application programming interface (API). The preview generator daemon may, in response to those calls, request plug-ins to provide the content of the files for a preview of that content without launching the applications which created those files.
Other aspects of the present inventions include various data processing systems which perform these methods and machine readable media which cause a data processing system to perform various methods described herein.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.
The subject invention will be described with reference to numerous details set forth below, and the accompanying drawings will illustrate the invention. The following description and drawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, in certain instances, well known or conventional details are not described in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail.
The present description includes material protected by copyrights, such as illustrations of graphical user interface images. The owners of the copyrights, including the assignee of the present invention, hereby reserve their rights, including copyright, in these materials. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever. Copyright Apple Inc. 2007.
As shown in
It will be apparent from this description that aspects of the present invention may be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other data processing system in response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM 107, RAM 105, mass storage 106 or a remote storage device. In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system. In addition, throughout this description, various functions and operations are described as being performed by or caused by software code to simplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by a processor, such as the microprocessor 103.
Capturing and Use of Metadata Across a Variety of Application Programs
The method of
The method of
One particular field which may be useful in the various metadata formats would be a field which includes an identifier of a plug-in or other software element which may be used to capture metadata from a data file and/or export metadata back to the creator application.
Various different software architectures may be used to implement the functions and operations described herein. The following discussion provides one example of such an architecture, but it will be understood that alternative architectures may also be employed to achieve the same or similar results. The software architecture shown in
The software architecture 400 also includes a file system directory 417 for the metadata. This file system directory keeps track of the relationship between the data files and their metadata and keeps track of the location of the metadata object (e.g. a metadata file which corresponds to the data file from which it was extracted) created by each importer. In one exemplary embodiment, the metadata database is maintained as a flat file format as described below, and the file system directory 417 maintains this flat file format. One advantage of a flat file format is that the data is laid out on a storage device as a string of data without references between fields from one metadata file (corresponding to a particular data file) to another metadata file (corresponding to another data file). This arrangement of data will often result in faster retrieval of information from the metadata database 415.
The software architecture 400 of
The method of
It will be appreciated that the notification, if done through the OS kernel, is a global, system wide notification process such that changes to any file will cause a notification to be sent to the metadata processing software. It will also be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, each application program may itself generate the necessary metadata and provide the metadata directly to a metadata database without the requirement of a notification from an operating system kernel or from the intervention of importers, such as the importers 413. Alternatively, rather than using OS kernel notifications, an embodiment may use software calls from each application to a metadata processing software which receives these calls and then imports the metadata from each file in response to the call.
As noted above, the metadata database 415 may be stored in a flat file format in order to improve the speed of retrieval of information in most circumstances. The flat file format may be considered to be a non-B tree, non-hash tree format in which data is not attempted to be organized but is rather stored as a stream of data. Each metadata object or metadata file will itself contain fields, such as the fields shown in the examples of
A flexible query language may be used to search the metadata database in the same way that such query languages are used to search other databases. The data within each metadata file may be packed or even compressed if desirable. As noted above, each metadata file, in certain embodiments, will include a persistent identifier which uniquely identifies its corresponding data file. This identifier remains the same even if the name of the file is changed or the file is modified. This allows for the persistent association between the particular data file and its metadata.
User Interface Aspects
Various different examples of user interfaces for inputting search parameters and for displaying search results are provided herein. It will be understood that some features from certain embodiments may be mixed with other embodiments such that hybrid embodiments may result from these combinations. It will be appreciated that certain features may be removed from each of these embodiments and still provide adequate functionality in many instances.
The combination of text entry region 709 and the search parameter menu bar allow a user to specify a search query or search parameters. Each of the configurable pull down menus presents a user with a list of options to select from when the user activates the pull down menu. As shown in
It will also be appreciated that the various options in the pull down menus may depend upon the fields within a particular type of metadata file. For example, the selection of “images” to be searched may cause the various fields present in the metadata for an image type file to appear in one or more pull down menus, allowing the user to search within one or more of those fields for that particular type of file. Other fields which do not apply to “images” types of files may not appear in these menus in order reduce the complexity of the menus and to prevent user confusion.
Another feature of the present invention is shown in
The window 1001 includes an additional feature which may be very useful while analyzing a search result. A user may select individual files from within the display region 1005 and associate them together as one collection. Each file may be individually marked using a specific command (e.g. pressing the right button on a mouse and selecting a command from a menu which appears on the screen, which command may be “add selection to current group”) or similar such commands. By individually selecting such files or by selecting a group of files at once, the user may associate this group of files into a selected group or a “marked” group and this association may be used to perform a common action on all of the files in the group (e.g. print each file or view each file in a viewer window or move each file to a new or existing folder, etc.). A representation of this marked group appears as a folder in the user-configurable portion 1003A. An example of such a folder is the folder 1020 shown in the user-configurable portion 1003A. By selecting this folder (e.g. by positioning a cursor over the folder 1020 and pressing and releasing a mouse button or by pressing another button) the user, as a result of this selection, will cause the display within the display region 1005 of the files which have been grouped together or marked. Alternatively, a separate window may appear showing only the items which have been marked or grouped. This association or grouping may be merely temporary or it may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped and by keeping a folder 1020 or other representations of the grouping within the user-configurable side bar, such as the side bar 1003A. Certain embodiments may allow multiple, different groupings to exist at the same time, and each of these groupings or associations may be merely temporary (e.g. they exist only while the search results window is displayed), or they may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped within each separate group. It will be appreciated that the files within each group may have been created from different applications. As noted above, one of the groupings may be selected and then a user may select a command which performs a common action (e.g. print or view or move or delete) on all of the files within the selected group.
The window 1201 shown in
A column 1211 of window 1201 allows a user to select various search parameters by selecting one of the options which in turn causes the display of a submenu that corresponds to the selected option. In the case of
The window 1301 shown in
The search results user interface shown in
Another aspect of the present inventions relates to previews, displayed within search results windows, which are at least one of being resizeable, zoomable, or pageable through. For example, a first representation of a first file found by the search may be at least one of being resizeable or zoomable or scrollable or pageable through within a display region, such as a window, which contains the results of the search.
A preview, at least in certain embodiments, can apply to files or other objects (e.g. records, emails, messages, vCards, etc.). A single page preview can be used for a thumbnail or in any situation where a single image is needed to provide a preview of an item. Multiple items can be previewed at once and compared, or viewed in sequence. When multiple items are previewed at once, they can be of any file type including many different file types. The previews can be shown in the same window as the search results window or in a separate window or in a layer that is overlaid above the item, shown in a search result, which is being previewed in the layer above.
A preview may be presented using a variety of different implementations, such as a plug-in implementation which uses one or more plug-ins, such as a QuickTime plug-in, etc. Each of the previews may be formatted in one of several standard data/file types (such as PDF, text, HTML, JPEG, a movie format, or a sound/music format). The previews may be either generated by the application, which created the item or file represented by the preview, when the item or file is stored or may be generated dynamically when needed. A dynamically generated preview may be produced by invoking a generator plug-in that translates the native format of the item being previewed to one of the “standard” data/file types (e.g. PDF, text, HTML, JPEG, a standard movie format, or a standard sound/music format). A preview generator plug-in may be loaded in a separate process to protect against failures and/or security vulnerabilities. Alternatively, a trusted generator plug-in (e.g. QuickTime), or a set of such plug-ins may be loaded directly in the process of presenting the search results and such plug-ins may be used to present the previews. A preview generator may be capable of handling multiple preview requests concurrently and the preview generator and/or the search software controlling the search results window may manage a queue of preview requests, and the search software can cancel or reorder the preview requests in the queue.
The following figures show examples of previews or other representations which are resizeable or zoomable or scrollable or pageable through.
Previews or other representations which are resizeable or scrollable or zoomable or pageable through may also be provided in other user interfaces which may include alternative types of views such as a cover flow view which is further described below.
It will be understood that the method shown in
The window 2316 also includes a search input field 2314A into which a user may enter one or more search terms to cause the data processing system to perform a search, such as the searches described above, through metadata and/or one or more indexes of the full content of files, such as text files. The user interface may also include a search input menu area 2314B which may be activated by the user (e.g. by clicking in the area on an icon in the area) to cause the display of another search input field into which a user can enter one or more search terms to cause a search to also be performed as described above. The window may also include one or more icons which a user can select to select one or more views within the window 2316. Examples of such icons are the icons 2330, 2331, 2332, and 2333 shown in the upper portion of the window 2316. In particular, the icon view interface object 2330 may be selected by a user to cause the display of files within a particular folder or group of folders in an icon view manner as is known in the art. The selection of the list view user interface object 2331 will cause the display of files in a list, such as in a manner which is similar to the list display view area 2319; this list will typically include one or more columns, such as name, kind, and last used date as shown in
The window 2316 may have two sets of scroll control user interface objects. One set may control scrolling within the cover flow view area and the other set may control scrolling within the list display view area. The scrolling of one view area may be linked to the scrolling of the other view area, such that activation of a scroll control in one of the sets to cause scrolling in one view area will also cause a corresponding scrolling in the other view area. In alternative embodiments, the scrolling may not be linked, such that one area can be scrolled independently of the other area; for example, scrolling the list display view area does not cause scrolling in the cover flow view area in this alternative embodiment. The scroll controls for the cover flow view area include the scroll bar control object 2346 which may be dragged or moved by a user, and it further includes the left scroll user interface object 2344 which acts like a left scroll arrow, and the right scroll user interface object 2345 which acts as a right scroll arrow. Together these three objects are part of the scroll control user interface object 2343. The scroll controls for the list display view area include a scroll bar control object 2347 and an up-scroll user interface object 2348 and a down-scroll user interface object 2349 to cause scrolling in a known manner. The cover flow view area includes a set of documents on one side of the selected document 2337 in the cover flow view area and another set of documents or files on the other side of the selected document 2337. In particular, document 2339 and another document are on the left side of the selected document 2337 and the documents 2341 and 2353 are on the right side of the selected document 2337. As can be seen from
It will be appreciated that the files and items displayed in the cover flow view and in the list view 2318 and 2319, respectively, may include a variety of different documents of a variety of different types, such as text files, PDF files, picture files such as JPG files, web page (e.g. HTML) files, Microsoft Word or Excel files, movie files, other files and other file types noted herein, and folders or subdirectories as is commonly found in file management software such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. These folders may be containers for other documents in a hierarchical file system as is known in the art.
In addition to the use of a cover flow view for a view of files and folders in either or both of a file management software program (such as the Finder) or a search software program (such as Spotlight), a cover flow view may also be provided in “open” or “save as” windows which are presented/displayed to a user to allow the user to open an existing file from within an application (such as a word processing or image processing or web browsing application) or to save a file from within such application.
The user interface shown in
An example of the use of the manipulation of a document or file from within the cover flow view area will now be provided relative to the method shown in FIG. 26A in conjunction with
As described above, these previews or thumbnails may be shown by a set of software routines such as a set of plug-ins which are separate from a file management software program, such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. This separation between the plug-ins which renders the content and the Finder or other file management software provides security and stability because, for example, if the plug-in crashes, the Finder will not. These plug-ins may be a standard set of plug-ins that translate the native format of an item being previewed into one of a standard data/file type, such as PDF, text, HTML, JPG, a standard movie format or a standard sound/music format or into fully rendered content (e.g. a bit map). The set of plug-ins may be an extensible set of plug-ins and may interact with the file management software, such as the Finder or Windows Explorer, through a set of APIs in which the file management software makes a call to a plug-in management daemon which receives the call or API from the file management software (or other software program) and which, in turn, asks for the file type (e.g. UTI) from a file system kernel and matches one of the plug-ins in the standard set of plug-ins, which may be extensible, with the file type and which then calls the matched plug-in to cause the plug-in to load and return the content of the file (either in an immediately displayable form or in a standard format) as a preview to the file management software which, in turn, causes the preview to be displayed in, for example, the cover flow view area. This may occur in response to merely browsing the files through the use of the file management software, such as the Finder, or through the use of a search software program, such as Spotlight, to find files and then display previews or thumbnails of files retrieved by the search. As noted above, the preview or thumbnail may be generated dynamically upon request rather than when the item or file is stored or created by the application. This dynamic generation may be through an API. It will be understood that a dynamic generation of a preview or thumbnail may be provided without invoking or launching the application which created the file or document. Examples of software architectures to dynamically generate previews are discussed in conjunction with
Another aspect of the inventions described herein relates to the use of animation to display the contents of a folder. This aspect will be shown through the examples given in
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
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| 20080307343 A1 | Dec 2008 | US |
