Query-driven sharing and syndication

• US 20070136244A1
• Filed: 12/13/2005
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Lili, Turski, Andrzej, Marcjan, Cezary, MacLaurin, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 7,822,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/903 Querying for retrieval from the web G06F16/953
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering

Abstract

A unique system, user interface, and method that facilitate sharing objects in a query-based storage environment are provided. A query can be generated using metadata and the results therefrom can be obtained and shared with one or more recipients. The query and/or query results can be represented as an icon. Sharing of the query and/or query results can be accomplished in part by dragging the icon to the desired recipient. Queries can be shared as a standing query or a snapshot of the query. For standing queries, recipients can be notified when a set of query results changes. In general, queries can be saved by the user and accessed again at a later time. The user interface provides a plurality of navigation tools to facilitate the viewing of objects based on their metadata and the generation of queries.

Claims

1. A query-based data management system that facilitates sharing data among users, the system comprising:

a plurality of objects whereby each object is associated with at least one property;

a query engine that processes one or more queries based in part on metadata associated with each object and that returns a set of query results; and

a sharing component that shares at least one of the query and the set of query results with at least one recipient, the set of query results comprising at least one object.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprises a tag assignment component that annotates each object with at least one tag.

3. The system of claim 1, the query engine stores the one or more queries in a query database.

4. The system of claim 1, the one or more queries shared with the at least one recipient comprises at least one of a standing query or a query snapshot.

5. The system of claim 4, the standing query allows the recipient to receive additional objects that subsequently satisfy the query.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprises at least one query database that stores the at least one query for later access to the respective query results.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprises a query generation component that generates one or more queries based at least in part on metadata selected by a user.

8. A user-interface that facilitates query-based file sharing between users comprising:

one or more navigational tools that facilitate generating a query and viewing objects according to their metadata;

a query bar that receives and displays query terms and presents the query to the user; and

a notification indicator that is presented onscreen to notify a user that a query-based grouping of objects has changed.

9. The user interface of claim 8, further comprising a sharing menu from which the user can select a query sharing option.

10. The user interface of claim 8, the query is represented as an icon.

11. The user interface of claim 10, the icon illuminates when a new object enters the set of results for the query.

12. The user interface of claim 8, the query is maintained onscreen for later retrieval and viewing.

13. A method that facilitates sharing objects in a query-based storage environment, the method comprising:

generating a query;

obtaining a set of results to the query, the results comprising at least one object; and

sharing at least one of the query and the set of results to the query with one or more recipients.

14. The method of claim 13, generating a query comprises selecting one or more metadata and dragging the metadata to a query bar for processing.

15. The method of claim 13, sharing at least one of the query and the set of query results comprises at least one of the following:

dragging at least one of the query and the set of query results to the recipient'"'"'s name or recipient icon representing the recipient;

dragging an icon that represents at least one of the query and the set of query results to the recipient'"'"'s name or recipient icon; and

highlighting one or more queries desired to be shared with the recipient and selecting a sharing option from a sharing menu for the recipient.

16. The method of claim 13, at least one of the query and the set of query results are shared in any one of the following manners:

as a standing query or as a snapshot of the query.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising notifying a user of a change to the set of results returned for the query.

18. The method of claim 17, notifying the user of the change comprises:

performing one of the following;

creating a change record for a new object, the change record comprising a terminal state of the object; and

creating a change record for an existing object, the change record comprising an initial state of the object and a terminal state of the object; and

comparing the change record to one or more registries to determine whether at least one of the following is true;

the change causes the new or existing object to enter the set of query results;

the change causes the new or existing object to be excluded from the set of query results; and

the change does not cause the object to enter or be excluded from the query results.

19. The method of claim 13, generating a query comprises annotating the object with metadata, the metadata comprising at least one tag

20. The method of claim 13, employing one or more navigation tools to facilitate generating a query, viewing query results, and sharing the query results with at least one recipient.