Method and apparatus for processing metadata

• US 20080033921A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Arrouye, Yan, Giampaolo, Dominic Benjamin, Colclasure, Kaelin Lee
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2453 Query optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing metadata search with plug-in applications is disclosed. In one embodiment, in response to a search request for metadata stored in a metadata store, a plug-in associated with the metadata store is invoked to perform the request search within the metadata store. In addition, according to another embodiment, a search result of the metadata search may be filtered based on user privileges of a client initiating the search request, and some or all of the metadata from the search result may be returned to the client dependent upon the user privileges of the client. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method, comprising:

receiving a search request for metadata stored in a search facility; and

in response to the search request, invoking a plug-in application associated with the search facility to perform the requested search within the search facility.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the invoking further comprises:

selecting a plug-in application from a set of registered plug-in applications associated with the search facility based on the search request;

retrieving a plug-in interface associated with the plug-in application; and

sending the search request to the plug-in application through the plug-in interface.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprises:

returning a search result from the plug-in application, the search result including an application identifier and a resource identifier; and

activating the plug-in application with a resource based on the application identifier and the resource identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the search request including a user identifier and wherein the returning further comprises:

retrieving a set of search results from the plug-in application; and

selecting the search result from the set of search results based on a user privilege associated with the user identifier.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the plug-in application has a universal resource locator and wherein the application identifier is based on the universal resource locator.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein a plug-in application runs in a remote network server.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the metadata search request includes a search scope and wherein the selecting the plug-in application is based on the search scope.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plug-in application has a service scope and wherein the service scope is within the search scope.

9. [mumble], wherein the plug-in application delegates certain query operations to built-in data stores [..]

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the invoking further comprises:

selecting a plug-in application from a set of registered plug-in applications associated with the search facility based on the search request;

retrieving a plug-in interface associated with the plug-in application; and

sending the search request to the plug-in application through the plug-in interface.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the search request including a user identifier and wherein the returning further comprises:

retrieving a set of search results from the plug-in application; and

selecting the search result from the set of search results based on a user privilege associated with the user identifier.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the plug-in application has a universal resource locator and the application identifier is based on the universal resource locator, and wherein the search result is identified by the universal resource locator.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein a plug-in application runs in a remote network server.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the metadata search request includes a search scope and wherein the selecting the plug-in application is based on the search scope.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plug-in application has a service scope and wherein the service scope is within the search scope.

10. A machine-readable medium have instructions, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a search request for metadata stored in a search facility; and

in response to the search request, invoking a plug-in application associated with the search facility to perform the requested search within the search facility.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, further comprises:

returning a search result from the plug-in application, the search result including an application identifier and a resource identifier; and

activating the plug-in application with a resource based on the application identifier and the resource identifier.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a search unit to receive a search request for metadata stored in a search facility; and

a plug-in application associated with the search facility to perform the requested search within the search facility.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a search request for metadata stored in a search facility; and

means for invoking a plug-in application associated with the search facility to perform the requested search within the search facility.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the returning comprises:

retrieving the set of metadata;

determining a usage privilege based on the user and the set of metadata; and

selecting a first metadata of the set of metadata according to the usage privilege, wherein the portion of the set of metadata includes the first metadata.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the returning further comprises:

selecting a member of the set of values for the attribute, wherein the portion of the set of metadata includes the attribute and the member of the set of values.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

generating an additional attribute with an additional set of values from a resource in the search facility, wherein the first metadata is associated with the resource.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the filtering operations comprises:

retrieving the set of metadata;

determining a usage privilege based on the user and the set of metadata; and

selecting a first metadata of the set of metadata according to the usage privilege, wherein the portion of the set of metadata includes the first metadata.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the returning further comprises:

selecting a member of the set of values for the attribute, wherein the portion of the set of metadata includes the attribute and the member of the set of values.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising:

generating an additional attribute with an additional set of values from a resource in the search facility, wherein the first metadata is associated with the resource.

20. A machine implemented method, comprising:

in response to a search request from a client for metadata, performing a search resulting in set of metadata from a search facility; and

returning a portion of the set of metadata to the client based on a usage privilege associated with the client.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the metadata includes an attribute and a set of values.

25. A machine-readable medium having instructions, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

in response to a search request from a client for metadata, performing a search resulting in set of metadata from a search facility; and

returning a portion of the set of metadata to the client based on a usage privilege associated with the client.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the metadata includes an attribute and a set of values.

30. An apparatus, comprising:

a filtering unit, in response to a search request from a client for metadata, performing a search resulting in set of metadata from a search facility; and

a search unit returning a portion of the set of metadata to the client based on a usage privilege associated with the client.

31. An apparatus, comprising:

in response to a search request from a client for metadata, means for performing a search resulting in a set of metadata from a search facility; and

means for returning a portion of the set of metadata to the client based on a usage privilege associated with the client.