Searching and naming items based on metadata

• US 20060004712A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Hakala, Tero, Lehikoinen, Juha
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5846 using extracted text

Abstract

A user interface may be provided that allows a user to select one or more stored items and display metadata attributes for those items. The user may further specify modifiers for one or more of the metadata attributes and perform searches based on selected ones of the metadata attributes and/or selected ones of the modifiers. In addition, a descriptive phrase may be automatically generated for one or more items. The descriptive phrase may be generated based on one or more of the metadata attributes. In doing so, metadata attributes may be converted to more user-friendly forms and collected into a sentence or other phrase. The descriptive phrase may be attached to the one or more items.

Claims

1. A method in a computer for searching stored items, comprising steps of:

selecting an item from a plurality of items each having associated metadata attributes;

displaying a first value of a first metadata attribute of the selected item;

defining a first modifier that modifies the first metadata attribute; and

searching the plurality of items in accordance with the first value and the first modifier.

2. The method of claim 1, further including a step of receiving first user input defining the first modifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the first modifier includes displaying the first modifier in a first user-modifiable input field.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first modifier defines a single value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first modifier defines a plurality of values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first modifier defines a range of values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first value includes text.

8. The method of claim 1, further including steps of:

displaying a second value of a second metadata attribute of the selected item;

defining a second modifier that modifies the second metadata attribute;

wherein the step of searching includes searching the plurality of items in accordance with the first value, the second value, the first modifier, and the second modifier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of displaying the second value includes displaying the second value simultaneously with the first value, and further including a step of displaying the second modifier simultaneously with the first modifier.

10. The method of claim 8, further including a step of receiving second user input defining the second modifier.

11. The method of claim 8, further including a step of displaying the second modifier in a second user-modifiable input field.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items are media files.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metadata attribute is at least one of location, time, date, or user identification.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metadata attribute is a description of content of the selected item.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the first value includes displaying the first value of the first metadata attribute in addition to a title of the selected item.

16. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

17. A user interface in a computer for searching stored items, comprising:

a first portion for indicating a value of a metadata attribute of a first item;

a second portion for indicating a modifier associated with the metadata attribute; and

a third portion for indicating representations of at least some of a plurality of items, including the first item, each of the plurality of items having associated metadata attributes.

18. The user interface of claim 17, wherein the third portion is configured to allow a user to select the first item from the third portion, the first portion indicating the value of the metadata attribute of the first item responsive to receiving a user selection of the first item.

19. The user interface of claim 17, wherein the third portion indicates which of the plurality of items correspond to the value of the modifier indicated in the second portion.

20. The user interface of claim 19, wherein the third portion further indicates which of the plurality of items is the first item.

21. The user interface of claim 17, wherein the second portion is configured to allow a user to define the modifier.

22. The user interface of claim 17, wherein the representations are thumbnails of the items.

23. The user interface of claim 17, further including a fourth portion for indicating a descriptive phrase associated with the first item.

24. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for generating the user interface of claim 17.

25. A method in a computer for automatically generating a description of an item, comprising automatically generating a single descriptive phrase from a plurality of different metadata attributes associated with the item.

26. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 25.

27. A method in a computer for automatically generating a file description, comprising steps of:

displaying a plurality of metadata attributes of a first item;

receiving a user selection of a first metadata attribute from the plurality of metadata attributes;

generating a descriptive phrase from the first metadata attribute; and

attaching the descriptive phrase to the first item.

28. The method of claim 27, further including a step of receiving a user selection of a second metadata attribute from the plurality of metadata attributes, wherein the step of generating includes generating the descriptive phrase from the first and second metadata attributes.

29. The method of claim 28, further including a step of combining the first and second metadata attributes in accordance with a combining function, the step of generating including generating the descriptive phrase in accordance with the combining function.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the combining function is a Boolean function.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the first metadata attribute is a coordinate location, the step of generating including converting the coordinate location into a place name, the descriptive phrase including the place name.

32. The method of claim 31, further including a step of obtaining the coordinate location from a global positioning system.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the first metadata attribute is a time, the step of generating including converting the time into a day portion name, the descriptive phrase including the day portion name.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein the first metadata attribute is a date, the step of generating including converting the date into at least one of a name of a month or a name of a season.

35. The method of claim 27, wherein the first metadata attribute is a date, the step of generating including converting the date into at least one of an identification of a week or an identification of a year.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein the first metadata attribute is a date, the step of generating including converting the date into a name of a holiday.

37. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of attaching further includes attaching the descriptive phrase to items other than the first item.

38. The method of claim 27, wherein the first item is a media file.

39. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of attaching includes attaching the descriptive phrase so as to be a title of the first item.

40. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 27.

41. An apparatus, comprising:

an input interface configured to allow a user to select an item from a plurality of items each having associated metadata attributes;

a display; and

a controller coupled to the display and the input interface and configured to cause the display to display a first value of a first metadata attribute of the selected item, and to further present on the display a first modifier that modifies the first metadata attribute,

the controller further configured to search the plurality of items in accordance with the first value and the first modifier.

42. An apparatus, comprising:

a display;

a controller coupled to the display and configured to cause the display to display a plurality of metadata attributes of a first item; and

an input interface coupled to the controller and configured to receive a user selection of a first metadata attribute from the plurality of metadata attributes,

the controller further configured to generate a descriptive phrase from the first metadata attribute, and to attach the descriptive phrase to the first item.

43. A user interface in a computer for automatically generating a file description, comprising:

a first portion for indicating a plurality of metadata attributes of a first item;

a second portion for receiving a user selection of a first metadata attribute from the plurality of metadata attributes; and

a third portion for indicating a descriptive phrase from the first metadata attribute.

44. A method in a computer for searching stored items and for automatically generating a file description, comprising steps of:

selecting an item from a plurality of items each having associated metadata attributes;

displaying a plurality of metadata attributes of the selected item, including a first metadata attribute;

displaying a first value of the first metadata attribute;

displaying a first modifier that modifies the first metadata attribute;

searching the plurality of items in accordance with the first value and the first modifier, to find a searched item;

generating a descriptive phrase from the first metadata attribute; and

attaching the descriptive phrase to the searched item.

45. A user interface in a computer for searching stored items and for automatically generating a file description, comprising steps of:

a first portion for receiving a user selection of an item from a plurality of items each having associated metadata attributes;

a second portion for indicating a plurality of metadata attributes of the selected item, including a first metadata attribute, for indicating a first value of the first metadata attribute and for indicating a first modifier that modifies the first metadata attribute; and

a third portion for indicating a descriptive phrase from the first metadata attribute.

46. The user interface of claim 45, wherein the user interface further indicates results of a search of the plurality of items in accordance with the first value and the first modifier.

47. The user interface of claim 45, wherein the first portion and the third portion are the same portion.

48. An apparatus, comprising:

a display;

an input interface configured to receive a user selection of an item from a plurality of items displayed on the display and each having associated metadata attributes; and

a controller coupled to the display and the input interface and configured to cause the display to display the plurality of items and a plurality of metadata attributes of the selected item, including a first metadata attribute, to display a first value of the first metadata attribute, and to display a first modifier that modifies the first metadata attribute,

the controller further configured to search the plurality of items in accordance with the first value and the first modifier, and responsive to the input interface receiving a user selection of the first metadata attribute from the plurality of metadata attributes, to generate a descriptive phrase from the first metadata attribute and attach the descriptive phrase to the selected item.