Profile based capture component

• US 20050246588A1
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Lawrence, Stephen, Prince, Christopher M., Ionescu, Mihai Florin, Deng, Jian Gong
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,809 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3041 where the computing system component is an input/output interface interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3079 the data filtering being achieved by reporting only the changes of the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/32 with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

An indexing system in a computer system may include applications, a capture processor, a queue, a search engine, and a display processor. The indexing system captures events of user interactions with the applications. Events are queued and if indexable, indexed and stored for user access through the search engine. Capture components in the capture processor can include a keyboard capture component that processes user keystrokes to determine events. A display capture component captures event data from windows associated with the applications. Display event data can be captured on a polling schedule or based on state changes of window elements. To determine target applications and window applications of interest application profiles and window profiles can be used.

Claims

1. A computer based method for capturing event data from a target window of a target application in a computer system, the method comprising:

comparing window information with a target window profile associated with the target window of the target application; and

capturing event data from the target window upon detecting a state change of a state associated with an element in the window.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving window creation information from a first application; and

determining whether the first application is an instance of the target application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining comprises comparing the window creation information with a target application profile associated with the target application.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether a second application associated with an existing window is an instance of the target application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining comprises comparing application related data from the second application with the target application profile associated with the target application.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the application related data includes at least one of a window class name, a path name, or a registry entry associated with the application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing event data further comprises storing captured window information in a data structure associated with an event according to an event schema.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising indexing and storing the event.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a capture state of an event with additional captured event data from the window in response to a subsequent state change of the state associated with the element in the window.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the element in the window includes at least one of a button, a pull-down menu, or a hyperlink.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the window creation information includes at least one of a window class name, a path name, or a registry entry associated with the first application.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the target application profile includes at least one of a window class name, a path name, or a registry entry associated with the target application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the target application is associated with a plurality of target window profiles, each target window profile comprising identifying display element information for target windows from which to capture event data.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating display capturing code within a target application.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the display capturing code modifies responses of the target application to operating system requests.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the operating systems requests include messages from other applications based on an application programming interface associated with the operating system.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the operating system requests include requests for text in the target window.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein associating display capturing code includes setting a hook with respect to the target application process.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the hook is configured to intercept messages between an operating system and the target application.

20. A computer based method for determining indexing events, comprising:

receiving a plurality of display calls associated with computer applications in a computer system;

processing the plurality of display calls to determine a target window based on a target window profile;

determining an event based at least in part on data captured from the target window; and

indexing the data captured from the target window and storing the event.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining a target application based on a plurality of stored target application profiles, and farther wherein the plurality of display calls are associated with target applications.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising capturing text input to the target window by a user and wherein the event includes the captured text.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising updating a capture state after each display call is processed.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein updating is in response to a state change associated with a display element of the target window.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining whether to index the event.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein indexing and storing the event takes place after terminating the target window.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein processing the plurality of display calls to determine a target window comprises analyzing one or more of the x,y coordinates, lengths, and relative positions of a plurality of display items written to the display using display calls and comparing them with the stored target window profile.

28. A computer-readable medium containing program code for capturing event data from a target window of a target application in a computer system, comprising:

program code for comparing window information with a target window profile associated with the target window of the target application; and

program code for capturing event data from the target window upon detecting a state change of a state associated with an element.

29. A computer-readable medium containing program code for determining indexing events, comprising:

program code for receiving a plurality of display calls associated with computer applications in a computer system;

program code for processing the plurality of display calls to determine a target window based on a target window profile;

program code for determining an event based at least in part on data captured from the target window; and

program code for indexing the data captured from the target window and storing the event.

30. A method, comprising:

comparing application related data from applications associated with windows executing in a computer system with stored target application profiles associated with a plurality of target applications;

subscribing to window creation events through an operating system in the computer system;

receiving window creation request information from an application;

comparing the window creation request information with the stored target application profiles;

establishing a hook with capture component code into processes for each application matching to a target application profile;

comparing window element information for each process of each target application with a plurality of stored target window profiles associated with target windows of the target applications;

monitoring state changes for states associated with display elements in windows matching a target window profile;

capturing from each matched window event data into an event associated with each matched window upon detecting a state change of the monitored states, wherein capturing comprises modifying application behavior of the matched applications based on the capture component code; and

completing the events associated with the matched windows in response to closure of the matched window.

31. A method, comprising:

determining whether an application is an instance of a target application by comparing application related data from the application associated with a window executing in a computer system with a target application profile associated with a target application, wherein the target application is configured to provide a null string in response to a window text request;

establishing a hook with capture component code into a processes for the application, the capture component code configured to intercept messages between the application and an operating system;

determining whether a window associated with the application is an instance of a target window by comparing window information from the window of the application with a target window profile associated with the target window of the target application;

monitoring state changes for states associated with display elements in the window;

capturing text within the window upon detecting a state change of the monitored states, wherein capturing comprises intercepting a window text request and providing the window text prior to the application responding to the window text request; and

indexing the captured text upon termination of the window.

32. A computer system for capturing event data from a target window of a target application in a computer system, the system comprising:

means for comparing window information with a target window profile associated with the target window of the target application; and

means for capturing event data from the target window upon detecting a state change of a state associated with an element.