Flexible data presentation enabled by metadata

• US 20080065675A1
• Filed: 09/11/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bozich, David M., Nichols, Rob, Spence, Jeanine E., Combel, Craig, Linscott, Kathleen, Chan, Wai, Neilson, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,583 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

Architecture that defines a document or portions thereof as data elements that are related and categorized. A data catalog is created that uses a schema for the data elements and a set of relationships, attributes and values that further define the data elements, all stored as metadata about the data elements. The metadata is employed to enable the application, display surface, and user to see only data relevant to the task at hand. The positioning and grouping of controls, control characteristics, and control behavior at the display surface is facilitated by forms which are dynamically populated for presentation and which are driven directly by the data catalog. The catalog can be made aware of device parameters, for example, the display size and resolution thereby enabling data to be displayed differently based upon the device parameters.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates data management, comprising:

an information model for specifying information as data elements and data element relationships in metadata, the metadata associated with the data elements; and

a display component driven by the information model for displaying the data elements based on the metadata and a current user activity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information model is created and updated as an application is used.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the information model facilitates relating structured and unstructured documents.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the information model facilitates relating one data source to another data source at least one of explicitly by an act of a user and implicitly through tracking of user activity.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component facilitates presentation of controls, positioning and grouping of the controls, and control characteristics and behavior, driven directly by the information model.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component selects between graphical presentation and text presentation of data based on device capabilities.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the display component presents data according to hierarchical levels, the levels determining a layer in which data content is displayed.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the information model includes a reference to where a data element is sourced.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the information model includes a reference to where a data element associated with an application can be cached.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the application selects cached data depending on availability of a data source.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data layer component for automatically sensing source data for a current context, the display component surfaces the data without interrupting the current context.

12. A computer-implemented method of managing data, comprising:

specifying a document as a set of one or more data elements;

storing each data element as a unique entity that has a relationship to another unique entity;

storing attributes and relationships of the data elements in metadata, the data elements organized as a data catalog; and

driving a flexible display layer directly from the data catalog.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising interrelating structured and unstructured information based on the metadata and the relationship.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing user preferences based upon changes made by a user as an application is being used.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying data from multiple source locations based on a prioritization of the source locations by rank and order.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising varying a quantity of data to be displayed based on data importance.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising surfacing data and presenting the data as related when a corresponding application is unavailable.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying data differently based on size and characteristics of a display.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically presenting data from multiple data sources in accordance with a form that is dynamically accessed and populated with the data for presentation.

20. A computer-executable system for data management, comprising:

computer-implemented means for defining a schema for data generated by an application as data elements;

computer-implemented means for describing a set of relationships, attributes and values of the data;

computer-implemented means for automatically sensing availability of the data;

computer-implemented means for automatically surfacing the data and related data based on interaction between a user and a display layer; and

computer-implemented means for adjusting presentation of the data based on device parameters.