Methods and systems for providing a distributed database store with correlation service

• US 20030154480A1
• Filed: 02/13/2002
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cluts, Jonathan C., Goldthwaite, Flora P., Serdy, Holly
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/489 using time information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A digital history service presents a user'"'"'s collected data in an historical format such as a timeline that includes various interactions with objects and people over the course of time wherein the digital history data was retrieved and correlated from the various data stores. An example of such a retrieval is to select a sequence of items from the data store based on an algorithm that determines the next item based on its relationship to the current item. The relationship could be a complex combination of the date, time of year, historical events in the past, the person(s) or objects involved in a given event, the location of an event, past or upcoming national holidays, calendar items, etc.

Claims

1. A digital history service, comprising:

a first data store comprising multimedia files;

a second data store comprising schedule data; and

,

a set of instructions for correlating selected multimedia files from the first data store with selected schedule data from the second data store wherein the instructions provide information indicative of the correlated file by way of a network connection.

2. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the multimedia files comprise at least one of an audio file and a video file.

3. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the multimedia files comprise a text file.

4. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the correlation is based on time information associated with the multimedia files and time information associated with the schedule data.

5. The digital history service as recited in claim 4 wherein the correlation is based upon a second correlation factor.

6. The digital history service as recited in claim 5 wherein the second correlation factor is location.

7. The digital history service as recited in claim 6 wherein the location is a function of latitude and longitude.

8. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the multimedia files are generated by a first application and the schedule data is generated by a second application.

9. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the network connection comprises an Internet connection.

10. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the correlation is based upon a probability that the selected multimedia files are related to an event indicated by the selected schedule data.

11. The digital history service as recited in claim 1 wherein the correlation is based upon a clustering.

12. A method for providing information about a past event, comprising:

providing a first data store comprising media files having an associated time of creation;

providing a second data store comprising records having an associated time function;

correlating selected media files with selected records as a function of time;

providing information indicative of the selected media files and the selected records for presentation to a user.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the media files comprise image data.

14. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the media files comprise audio data.

15. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the media files comprise text files.

16. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the second data store comprises calendar data.

17. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the act of correlating comprises determining a probability that the function of time indicates that the media files have an association with the selected records.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein the act of correlating further comprises correlating the select media files with the selected records in time and space.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein the correlation in space is a function of a geographic location data associated with the selected media files and geographic location data associated with the selected records.

20. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the method is provided as a network service over a network connection.

21. A computer-readable medium bearing computer-readable instructions for carrying out the acts recited in claim 12.

22. A computer-readable medium bearing computer readable-instructions for providing a network service, comprising:

accessing a first data store comprising media files having an associated time of creation;

accessing a second data store comprising records having an associated time function;

correlating selected media files with selected records as a function of time;

providing information indicative of the selected media files and the selected records for presentation to a user.

23. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the act of accessing comprises reading data from one of the first data store and the second data store over a network.

24. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the media files comprise image data.

25. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the media files comprise audio data.

26. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the media files comprise text data.

27. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the second data store comprises calendar data.

28. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the act of correlating comprises determining a probability that the function of time indicates that the media files have an association with the selected records.

29. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 28 wherein the act of correlating further comprises correlating the select media files with the selected records in time and space.

30. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 29 wherein the correlation in space is a function of a geographic location data associated with the selected media files and geographic location data associated with the selected records.

31. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the method is provided as a network service over a network connection.

32. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 22 wherein the first data store comprises data from a first application and the second data store comprises data from a second data store.