USAGE OF DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT IN SEARCH OPERATIONS

• US 20080154855A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: MA, Steven K., BALABHADRAPATRUNI, Venkatuday M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,809,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, wherein metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents is maintained, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment. A search term in a current development context of the software development environment is received. Search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents are generated, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

maintaining metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment;

receiving a search term in a current development context of the software development environment; and

generating search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first development context is a perspective of the software development environment, and wherein the second development context is a view of the software development environment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the current development context comprises a currently active perspective of the software development environment, and opened views corresponding to the currently active perspective.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the search results further comprises:

categorizing, ordering and ranking the selected documents based on relevance of the metadata to the current development context, wherein the categorized, ordered and ranked documents are presented as the search results to a sender of the search term.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein those documents whose metadata indicates the current development context are more likely to be included in the selected documents of the search results in comparison to those documents whose metadata does not indicate the current development context.

6. A system, comprising:

memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations comprising;

(i) maintaining metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment;

(ii) receiving a search term in a current development context of the software development environment; and

(iii) generating search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first development context is a perspective of the software development environment, and wherein the second development context is a view of the software development environment.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the current development context comprises a currently active perspective of the software development environment, and opened views corresponding to the currently active perspective.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein generating the search results further comprises:

categorizing, ordering and ranking the selected documents based on relevance of the metadata to the current development context, wherein the categorized, ordered and ranked documents are presented as the search results to a sender of the search term.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein those documents whose metadata indicates the current development context are more likely to be included in the selected documents of the search results in comparison to those documents whose metadata does not indicate the current development context.

11. An article of manufacture, wherein the article of manufacture is capable of causing operations in a machine, the operations comprising:

maintaining metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment;

receiving a search term in a current development context of the software development environment; and

generating search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the first development context is a perspective of the software development environment, and wherein the second development context is a view of the software development environment.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein the current development context comprises a currently active perspective of the software development environment, and opened views corresponding to the currently active perspective.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein generating the search results further comprises:

categorizing, ordering and ranking the selected documents based on relevance of the metadata to the current development context, wherein the categorized, ordered and ranked documents are presented as the search results to a sender of the search term.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein those documents whose metadata indicates the current development context are more likely to be included in the selected documents of the search results in comparison to those documents whose metadata does not indicate the current development context.

16. A method for deploying computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computer, wherein the code in combination with the computer is capable of performing:

maintaining metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment;

receiving a search term in a current development context of the software development environment; and

generating search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

17. The method for deploying computing infrastructure of claim 16, wherein the first development context is a perspective of the software development environment, and wherein the second development context is a view of the software development environment.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the current development context comprises a currently active perspective of the software development environment, and opened views corresponding to the currently active perspective.

19. The method for deploying computing infrastructure of claim 16, wherein generating the search results further comprises:

categorizing, ordering and ranking the selected documents based on relevance of the metadata to the current development context, wherein the categorized, ordered and ranked documents are presented as the search results to a sender of the search term.

20. The method for deploying computing infrastructure of claim 16, wherein those documents whose metadata indicates the current development context are more likely to be included in the selected documents of the search results in comparison to those documents whose metadata does not indicate the current development context.

21. A system, comprising:

means for maintaining metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment;

means for receiving a search term in a current development context of the software development environment; and

means for generating search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first development context is a perspective of the software development environment, and wherein the second development context is a view of the software development environment.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the current development context comprises a currently active perspective of the software development environment, and opened views corresponding to the currently active perspective.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for generating the search results further performs:

categorizing, ordering and ranking the selected documents based on relevance of the metadata to the current development context, wherein the categorized, ordered and ranked documents are presented as the search results to a sender of the search term.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein those documents whose metadata indicates the current development context are more likely to be included in the selected documents of the search results in comparison to those documents whose metadata does not indicate the current development context.

26. A computer readable medium, wherein the computer readable medium includes machine readable instructions stored thereon, wherein the machine readable instructions cause operations on a computer, the operations comprising:

maintaining metadata corresponding to a plurality of documents, wherein the metadata indicates whether a document includes information that is pertinent to a first development context and a second development context of a software development environment;

receiving a search term in a current development context of the software development environment; and

generating search results comprising selected documents from the plurality of documents, wherein the selected documents are based on at least the search term, the current development context, and the metadata maintained with the plurality of documents.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the first development context is a perspective of the software development environment, and wherein the second development context is a view of the software development environment.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the current development context comprises a currently active perspective of the software development environment, and opened views corresponding to the currently active perspective.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein generating the search results further comprises:

categorizing, ordering and ranking the selected documents based on relevance of the metadata to the current development context, wherein the categorized, ordered and ranked documents are presented as the search results to a sender of the search term.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein those documents whose metadata indicates the current development context are more likely to be included in the selected documents of the search results in comparison to those documents whose metadata does not indicate the current development context.