Searching desktop objects based on time comparison

• US 20070112732A1
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Clark, Bryan, Nickell, Seth
• Granted Patent: US 7,404,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a desktop search tool that allows users to efficiently retrieve or locate a desired object on their computer. Users specify their search based on a time context. In addition, the desktop search tool may provide its results in a temporal context to assist the user in browsing through the results.

Claims

1. A method of searching for objects stored on a computer, said method comprising:

providing a window that indicates objects stored on the computer;

detecting selections of a user that specify at least one of the objects and a time direction from the specified objects;

determining a time relation based on the selections of the user; and

searching for objects stored on the computer based on the time relation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the window that indicates objects stored on the computer comprises:

determining a sample of objects that range over a period of time; and

displaying a set of icons that represent the sample of objects in the window.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the window that indicates objects stored on the computer comprises:

determining a sample of objects that range over a period of time; and

displaying, for each object in the sample, a set of icons that indicate a type and one or more time directions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the window that indicates objects stored on the computer comprises:

determining a sample of objects that range over a period of time; and

displaying icons that represent the objects in an arrangement that indicates a respective age of each object in the sample.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting selections of the user that specify at least one of the objects and the time direction from the specified objects, comprises:

displaying a sample of objects in the window;

displaying, for each object in the sample, a set of direction icons that indicate time directions for times before, near, and after the respective object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the time relation comprises:

identifying a time assigned to the at least one object specified by the user; and

determining a time period based on a range around the time assigned to the at least one object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the time relation comprises:

identifying a time assigned to the at least one object specified by the user; and

determining a time period based on the time assigned to the at least one object and the time direction specified by the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the time relation comprises:

identifying a set of times assigned to a pair of objects specified by the user; and

determining a time period that encompasses the set of times for the pair of objects.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the time relation comprises:

identifying a time assigned to the at least one object specified by the user;

identifying that the user has requested a time direction for objects having assigned times that are near the at least one object specified by the user; and

determining a time period based on a range around the time assigned to the at least one object.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining objects that match the time relation within a tolerance; and

updating the window to indicate the objects that match the time relation within the tolerance.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining objects that match the time relation;

ranking the objects based on a type for each of the objects; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining objects that match the time relation;

ranking the objects based on an author for each of the objects; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining objects that match the time relation;

ranking the objects based on a length of time each object has been accessed; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining objects that match the time relation;

ranking the objects based on a number of times each object has been accessed; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

15. A computer for searching for objects stored on the computer, wherein the computer is configured by program code to implement the method of claim 1.

16. A computer readable medium storing computer executable program code that implements the method of claim 1.

17. A method of searching for objects stored on a computer, said method comprising:

displaying a timeline;

displaying a range on the timeline;

identifying a set of objects that are stored on the computer;

displaying a group of icons for each identified object, wherein at least one icon in the group represents the identified object and at least one additional icon in the group represents selectable time directions from the identified object;

determining at least one icon that has been selected by a user;

displaying, along the timeline, a time relation that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user; and

searching for objects stored on the computer based on the time relation.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the timeline comprises displaying the timeline with a set of intervals having an equal length.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the timeline comprises displaying the timeline with a boundary that is responsive to an age of at least one of the set of objects stored on the computer.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the timeline comprises displaying the timeline with a set of intervals having varying length, wherein intervals that represent recent time on the timeline are longer than intervals that represent older times on the timeline.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the timeline comprises:

displaying the timeline with a set of intervals having varying length, wherein the length of at least one interval on the timeline is varied based on a number of objects from the set of objects have associated times within a time period represented by the at least one interval.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying, along the timeline, the time relation that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user comprises:

identifying the object that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user;

determining a time assigned to the object; and

highlighting a portion of the timeline that corresponds to the time assigned to the object.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying, along the timeline, the time relation that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user comprises:

identifying the object that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user;

determining a range of times associated with the object; and

highlighting a portion of the timeline that corresponds to the range.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying, along the timeline, the time relation that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user comprises:

identifying the object that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user;

identifying at least one event associated with the object;

determining a range of times associated with the at least one event; and

highlighting a portion of the timeline that corresponds to the range.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying, along the timeline, the time relation that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user comprises:

identifying a plurality of objects that correspond to icons selected by the user;

determining times assigned to each of the plurality of objects; and

highlighting a portion of the timeline that corresponds to the times assigned to each of the plurality of objects.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying a set of objects that are stored on the computer comprises:

determining a range of time requested by the user; and

determining a sample of objects having assigned times that are in proximity to the range.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying a set of objects that are stored on the computer comprises:

determining a range of time requested by the user; and

determining a random sample of objects having assigned times that are in proximity to the range.

28. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying a set of objects that are stored on the computer comprises:

identifying the object that corresponds to the at least one icon selected by the user;

determining a type for the identified object; and

selecting other objects having the same type as the identified object.

29. The method of claim 17, displaying the timeline comprises:

displaying at least one boundary icon that is movable by the user along the timeline, wherein the at least one boundary icon indicates a boundary for the search for objects stored on the computer.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein displaying the group of icons for each identified object comprises:

identifying objects having assigned times that are within the boundary indicated by the at least one boundary icon; and

updating the groups of icons to indicate at least some of the identified objects.

31. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining objects that are within the time relation;

ranking the objects based on an author for each of the objects; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

32. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining objects that are within the time relation;

ranking the objects based on a length of time each object has been accessed by a user of the computer; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

33. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining objects that are within the time relation;

ranking the objects based on a number of times each object has been accessed; and

displaying a set of results that indicate the objects matching the time relation and the ranking.

34. A computer for searching for objects stored on the computer, wherein the computer is configured by program code to implement the method of claim 17.

35. A computer readable medium storing computer executable program code for implementing the method of claim 17.