System and method of grouping search results using information representations

• US 20070033169A1
• Filed: 03/03/2006
• Published: 02/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Friedman, Nathaniel
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,874 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The invention is directed to a system and method of organizing search results. The invention may leverage a chronological timeline of user action information to infer relationships between objects in a search result. The search may be iterative. Search results may be graphically represented as tiles. In one embodiment, the tiles may provide a graphical representation of users associated with an object. The tiles may be updated dynamically upon user action that occurs subsequent to the search. In an alternative embodiment, search results are organized by object type and each tile represents an object within a particular object type. A default action may be associated with an object type.

Claims

1. A method of displaying of a search result, comprising:

obtaining a search query for a search on a computer system for an object;

analyzing a chronological record of user initiated action performed on the computer system to obtain a search clue

performing the search based upon the search clue;

generating a graphical representation for each user in a working set of users associated with the object, wherein the graphical representation includes user information associated with the object; and

displaying the graphical representation for each user in the working set together at an interface.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

dynamically updating the working set when subsequent user action is performed on the object.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphical representation for each user includes drag-and-drop functionality.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing a chronological record includes associating the object with a second object due to user action associated with the objects.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a user interacting with the second object is included in the working set.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object is one of an application, file, document, and email message

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the chronological record includes application level information and focus level information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphical representation for each user includes a predefined arrangement of information.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the arrangement includes an icon, a title, a date, a preview area, and an action.

10. A method of managing a search result, comprising:

performing a search of a target object to obtain a search result list;

organizing associated objects in the search result list by object type;

generating a graphical representation containing object information for each associated object having a first object type; and

displaying the graphical representation for each object of the first object type together at an interface.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising

analyzing a chronological record of user initiated action performed on the computer system to obtain a search clue;

determining, from a chronological record of user action information, a search clue relating to the object; and

performing the search using the search clue.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein user action includes interaction by a user with at least one of (i) an application, (ii) a document, (iii) a file, (iv) an electronic mail message, (v) a chat session, (vi) a web site, (vii) an address book entry, and (viii) a calendar entry.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein a default action is associated with the first object type.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the default action is launched from the graphical representation.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the tiles are displayed together on the interface according to an object type.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the a default action is associated with the object type.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the default action is launched from the graphical representation.

19. The system according to claim 13, wherein the tiles are displayed together on the interface to form a set of users associated with the object.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the set of users includes at least one of an original author of the object, a reviewer of the object, and a person identified within the object.

15. A system for displaying a search result, comprising:

an interface for receiving a request for a search on an object;

a search generator for performing a search on the object to create a search result; and

a tile generator for organizing and graphically representing information within the search result as tiles.