DATA OBJECT LINKING AND BROWSING TOOL

• US 20080115083A1
• Filed: 11/10/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Finkelstein, Charles A., Rowe, Dean
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

A method of linking data objects, such as video objects, image objects, and audio objects, and displaying data associated with the data objects based upon the strength of the relationship between the data objects. Another method for navigating a data collection of data objects by linking groups of data objects based upon related metadata is also disclosed. A user interface including the data associated with the grouped data objects facilitates browsing the data collection of data objects.

Claims

1. A method for navigating a data collection containing a plurality of data objects, said method comprising:

(i) displaying a primary selection element associated with a selected group of data objects from the data collection;

(ii) determining at least one other group of data objects linked with the selected group based upon the data objects of the selected group and the data objects of the other group;

(iii) displaying a secondary selection element associated with the other group of data objects linked with the selected group, said secondary selection element being displayed in a manner visually depicting the relative strength of the association of the data objects of the other group with the data objects of the selected group;

(iv) receiving a selection for the primary selection element or for the secondary selection element;

(v) upon receiving the selection for the primary selection element,

displaying data associated with the contents of the selected group of data objects, and

(vi) upon receiving the selection for the secondary selection element,

displaying the selected secondary selection element as the primary selection element, and

repeating processes (ii) and (iii) for the selected primary selection element.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said determining at least one other group of data objects linked with the selected group comprises comparing metadata associated with the data objects of the primary selection element with metadata associated with the other data objects of the data collection.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said determining other groups of data objects linked with the selected group further comprises grouping data objects from said data collection based upon metadata associated with the data objects.

4. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said comparing metadata comprises comparing at least one of an image pattern of the data object where the data object is an image file or a portion of an image file, video content of the data object where the data object is a video file or a portion of a video file, audio content of the data object where the data object is an audio file or a portion of an audio file, a textual description of the data object, a keyword associated with the data object, a tag associated with the data object, a textual time code associated with the data object, a time associated with the data object, a textual date code associated with the data object, a date associated with the data object, a GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinate corresponding to where the data object was first created or collected, an address corresponding to where the data object was first created or collected, a size of the data object, a rating associated with the data object, a format of the data object, a type of file that the data object represents, a type of media where the data object is a media file, a storage location of the data object within the data collection, copyright information associated with the data object, authorship information associated with the data object, device information associated with the creation of the data object, digital media rights information associated with the data object, an initial source of the data object, an intended audience of the data object, an expiration date associated with the data object, a broadcast window associated with the data object, a cost of owning or obtaining access rights to the data object, a ratecard associated with the data object, and a relevance score associated with the data object.

5. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein said comparing metadata associated with the data objects of the primary selection element with metadata associated with other data objects of the data collection comprises calculating strength of association scores of the compared data objects.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein said calculating strength of association scores comprises calculating scores by using at least one of data clustering and Bayesian algorithms.

7. A method as set forth in claim 5 further comprising receiving from a user control functions for controlling the calculating the strength of association scores.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7 wherein said receiving control functions comprises receiving at least one of a priority order of data objects for analysis, a granularity selection of the data analysis, and a particular metadata for use in the calculation.

9. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising displaying links between groups of data objects.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 wherein said displaying the links between groups of data objects comprises displaying the links in a manner visually depicting at least one of the relative strength of the links, the rationale for the links between the groups of data objects, and a parameter independent of the basis for the links.

11. A method of linking data objects of a data collection, said method comprising:

receiving instructions to display a group of data objects of a data collection, said instructions being in the form of instructions to navigate to a selected group of data objects or to specify a filter for filtering the data objects of the data collection;

where said instructions are in the form of instructions to navigate to a selected group of data objects,

identifying one or more other groups of data objects of the data collection linked with the selected group of data objects, and

calculating a strength score associated with each of the data objects of the identified one or more other groups relative to each of the data objects of the selected group;

where said instructions are in the form of instructions to specify a filter for filtering the data objects of the data collection,

calculating a strength score associated with each of the filtered data objects; and

displaying data associated with the data objects for linking the data objects of the data collection based upon the calculated strength scores.

12. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said displaying data associated with the data objects further comprises determining the size of a display where the data associated with the data objects will be displayed and displaying data associated with only those data objects that can be displayed upon the display according to a readability criteria.

13. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said displaying data associated with the data objects further comprises displaying data associated with those data objects with the highest strength scores.

14. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said displaying data associated with the data objects comprises displaying data in a three-dimensional user interface.

15. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said displaying data associated with data objects comprises displaying the data associated with the data objects in clusters according to their respective group or filter.

16. A method as set forth in claim 15 further comprising displaying the strength scores of the data objects with a visual indicator associated with at least one of the groups, the filter, and the data objects.

17. A method as set forth in claim 16 wherein the size of the visual indicator is indicative of the calculated strength score.

18. A method as set forth in claim 11 further comprising calculating a selected group strength score based upon the combined strength of the data objects of the selected group of data objects;

and

calculating a group strength score for each of the linked groups of data objects based upon the combined strength of the data objects associated with respective linked groups of data objects.

19. A user interface for displaying data associated with a portion of data objects of a data collection of data objects, said user interface comprising:

a primary selection element associated with a selected group of media items of the data collection; and

one or more secondary selection elements associated with other groups of data objects of the data collection, each of said secondary selection elements being displayed in a manner visually depicting the relative strength of the association of its data objects with the data objects of the selected group of data objects.

20. A user interface as set forth in claim 19 further comprising links between the selection elements displayed in a manner visually depicting at least one relationship defined by the link.