SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING DYNAMIC FOLDER HIERARCHIES

• US 20060015482A1
• Filed: 06/30/2004
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Ning, Beyer, Kevin Scott, Hsiao, Hui-I, Hui, Joshua Wai-Ho
• Granted Patent: US 7,370,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

A dynamic foldering system automatically manages the creation and deletion of run-time dynamic folders and selection of documents, items, or object graphs found in the run-time dynamic folders. The system comprises a query/predicate for a design-time folder group based on which dynamic folders are automatically managed, a variable binding mechanism, automatic identifications of dynamic folders containing a particular object, parallel navigation, and customized combination of foldering results. The query/predicate for a design-time folder group can be a parameterized query. The dynamic folder hierarchy is defined by a hierarchy of design-time folder groups defined by a query/predicate on a document comprising structured or semi-structured data. Modifiable criteria for creating the dynamic folder hierarchy are provided by the user. Variable binding provides powerful query/predicate definitions on hierarchical data or graph-structured data. Given a document, the system automatically identifies which dynamic folders contain the document. Parallel navigation allows a user to navigate along additional paths in a hierarchy and combine the navigation results using set operations.

Claims

1. A method of creating a plurality of dynamic folder hierarchies, comprising:

registering a plurality of design-time folder group definitions for defining a plurality of dynamic folders;

registering a plurality of variable binding expressions for assigning a plurality of documents to a plurality of dynamic folders within the dynamic folder hierarchy; and

translating a plurality of queries to identify a path for retrieving a set of documents associated with a folder within a dynamic folder hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the design-time folder group definitions are predetermined by a user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the variable binding expressions are predetermined by a user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the design-time folder group hierarchies comprise at least some of the design-time folder group definitions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the dynamic folder hierarchies comprise at least some of the dynamic folders.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the dynamic folders comprise at least some of the documents.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of documents comprise any one or more of structured, semi-structured, and non-structured data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein in the set of documents comprises an item.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of documents comprises an object graph.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of documents comprises metadata or content in the form of XML.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of documents comprises a content in the form of XML.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the dynamic folders that contain the set of documents.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein translating the plurality of queries comprise following a plurality of paths to locate the set of documents.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising combining the set of documents using a set operation.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing parallel navigation to documents along additional paths in a dynamic folder hierarchy.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein combining results of multiple paths is implemented by generating an optimized XQuery query.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein translating the plurality of queries comprises rewriting the plurality of queries on top of the folder in order to query against a set of documents associated with the folder.

16. A method for creating a plurality of dynamic folder hierarchies, the method comprising:

identifying a collection of data as input data for which the dynamic folder hierarchy may be created;

specifying a design-time folder group and a set of variable binding expressions from which the dynamic folder hierarchy is created;

invoking a dynamic folder hierarchy utility program wherein the collection of data, the design-time folder group, and the set of variable binding expressions are made available to the dynamic folder hierarchy utility program; and

receiving one or more sets of documents in response to specified document viewing criteria.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising defining a dynamic folder hierarchy on an object graph based on object relationship and object content.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising supporting an external parameter binding in a definition of the dynamic folder hierarchy on the object graph.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein supporting the external parameter binding is implemented by an external parameter binding in XQuery.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying objects in a particular dynamic folder.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein identifying the objects is implemented by generating an XQuery query.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying dynamic folders that contain a particular object.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein identifying the dynamic folders is implemented by generating an XQuery query.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising combining results of multiple paths using set operations.

26. A system for creating a plurality of dynamic folder hierarchies, comprising:

a query/predicate processor for registering a plurality of design-time folder group definitions for defining a plurality of dynamic folders;

a variable binding processor for registering a plurality of variable binding expressions for assigning a plurality of documents to a plurality of dynamic folders within the dynamic folder hierarchy; and

a navigation processor for translating a plurality of queries to identify a path for retrieving a set of documents associated with a folder within a dynamic folder hierarchy.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein at least some of the design-time folder group definitions are predetermined by a user.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein at least some of the variable binding expressions are predetermined by a user.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein at least some of the design-time folder group hierarchies comprise at least some of the design-time folder group definitions.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein at least some of the dynamic folder hierarchies comprise at least some of the dynamic folders.

31. A computer program product having a plurality of executable instruction codes for creating a plurality of dynamic folder hierarchies, comprising:

a first set of instruction codes for registering a plurality of design-time folder group definitions for defining a plurality of dynamic folders;

a second set of instruction codes for registering a plurality of variable binding expressions for assigning a plurality of documents to a plurality of dynamic folders within the dynamic folder hierarchy; and

a third set of instruction codes for translating a plurality of queries to identify a path for retrieving a set of documents associated with a folder within a dynamic folder hierarchy.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein at least some of the design-time folder group definitions are predetermined by a user.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein at least some of the variable binding expressions are predetermined by a user.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein at least some of the design-time folder group hierarchies comprise at least some of the design-time folder group definitions.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein at least some of the dynamic folder hierarchies comprise at least some of the dynamic folders.