Methods and systems for managing data

• US 20070112900A1
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bas Ording, Dominic Giampaolo, Gregory Christie, Imran Chaudhri, Kevin Tiene, Marcel Os, Pavel Cisler, Stephen O. Lemay, Yan Arrouye
• Original Assignee: Bas Ording, Dominic Giampaolo, Gregory Christie, Imran Chaudhri, Kevin Tiene, Marcel Os, Pavel Cisler, Stephen O. Lemay, Yan Arrouye
• Inventors: Chaudhri, Imran, Ording, Bas, Giampaolo, Dominic, Arrouye, Yan, Cisler, Pavel, Tiene, Kevin, Christie, Gregory, Lemay, Stephen, Os, Marcel
• Granted Patent: US 8,166,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata. In one exemplary method, metadata from files created by several different software applications are captured, and the captured metadata is searched. The type of information in metadata for one type of file differs from the type of information in metadata for another type of file. Other methods are described and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method of managing data, the method comprising:

capturing metadata from a plurality of files created by a plurality of different software applications which execute on a data processing system, wherein the type of information in metadata for files of a first software application differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second software application;

searching the metadata from the plurality of files created by the plurality of different software applications.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the searching of the metadata occurs concurrently for the plurality of files.

3. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a notification from an operating system element that a file has changed or been created or been deleted, and wherein the capturing is in response to the receiving of the notification.

4. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

determining a type of a file having metadata and, in response to determining the type, selecting a first software element from a group of software elements, wherein the first software element performs said capturing.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the first software element is a plug in.

6. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

storing the metadata into a database and wherein the searching of the metadata is through the database.

7. A method as in claim 6 wherein the database is maintained in a flat file format in which the metadata is sequentially saved over time.

8. A method as in claim 1 wherein the metadata for files of the first software application comprise information of a first type of information including at least a first and a second field and wherein the metadata for files of the second software application comprise information of a second type of information including at least a third and a fourth field.

9. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first software application is an image display or processing program and the first field is for a color space identifier and the second field is for the width of the image in pixels and wherein the second software application is a word processing program and the third field is for an author identifier and the fourth field is for keywords.

10. A method as in claim 3 further comprising:

determining a type of a file having metadata and, in response to determining the type, selecting a first software element from a group of software elements, wherein the first software element performs said capturing; and

storing the metadata into a database and wherein the searching of the metadata is through the database.

11. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions for causing a data processing system to perform a method of managing data, the method comprising:

capturing metadata from a plurality of files created by a plurality of different software applications which execute on a data processing system, wherein the type of information in metadata for files of a first software application differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second software application;

searching the metadata from the plurality of files created by the plurality of different software applications.

12. A machine readable medium as in claim 11 wherein the searching of the metadata occurs concurrently for the plurality of files.

13. A machine readable medium as in claim 11, the method further comprising:

receiving a notification from an operating system element that a file has changed or been created or been deleted, and wherein the capturing is in response to the receiving of the notification.

14. A machine readable medium as in claim 11, the method further comprising:

determining a type of a file having metadata and, in response to determining the type, selecting a first software element from a group of software elements, wherein the first software element performs said capturing.

15. A machine readable medium as in claim 14 wherein the first software element is a plug in.

16. A machine readable medium as in claim 11, the method further comprising:

storing the metadata into a database and wherein the searching of the metadata is through the database.

17. A machine readable medium as in claim 16 wherein the database is maintained in a flat file format in which the metadata is sequentially saved over time.

18. A machine readable medium as in claim 11 wherein the metadata for files of the first software application comprise information of a first type of information including at least a first and a second field and wherein the metadata for files of the second software application comprise information of a second type of information including at least a third and a fourth field.

19. A machine readable medium as in claim 11 wherein the first software application is an image display or processing program and the first field is for a color space identifier and the second field is for the width of the image in pixels and wherein the second software application is a word processing program and the third field is for an author identifier and the fourth field is for keywords.

20. A machine readable medium as in claim 13, the method further comprising:

determining a type of a file having metadata and, in response to determining the type, selecting a first software element from a group of software elements, wherein the first software element performs said capturing; and

storing the metadata into a database and wherein the searching of the metadata is through the database.

21. A data processing system comprising:

means for capturing metadata from a plurality of files created by a plurality of different software applications which execute on a data processing system, wherein the type of information in metadata for files of a first software application differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second software application;

means for searching the metadata from the plurality of files created by the plurality of different software applications.

22. A data processing system as in claim 21 wherein the searching of the metadata occurs concurrently for the plurality of files.

23. A data processing system as in claim 21 further comprising:

means for receiving a notification from an operating system element that a file has changed or been created or been deleted, and wherein the capturing is in response to the receiving of the notification.

24. A data processing system as in claim 21 further comprising:

means for determining a type of a file having metadata and, in response to determining the type, selecting a first software element from a group of software elements, wherein the first software element performs said capturing.

25. A data processing system as in claim 24 wherein the first software element is a plug in.

26. A data processing system as in claim 21 further comprising:

means for storing the metadata into a database and wherein the searching of the metadata is through the database.

27. A data processing system as in claim 26 wherein the database is maintained in a flat file format in which the metadata is sequentially saved over time.

28. A data processing system as in claim 21 wherein the metadata for files of the first software application comprise information of a first type of information including at least a first and a second field and wherein the metadata for files of the second software application comprise information of a second type of information including at least a third and a fourth field.

29. A data processing system as in claim 21 wherein the first software application is an image display or processing program and the first field is for a color space identifier and the second field is for the width of the image in pixels and wherein the second software application is a word processing program and the third field is for an author identifier and the fourth field is for keywords.

30. A data processing system as in claim 23 further comprising:

means for determining a type of a file having metadata and, in response to determining the type, selecting a first software element from a group of software elements, wherein the first software element performs said capturing; and

means for storing the metadata into a database and wherein the searching of the metadata is through the database.