Indexing and searching of information including handler chaining

• US 20090024587A1
• Filed: 07/20/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kamani, Prashant, Fisher, Daniel D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,725,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/31 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/33 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Embodiments are provided to manage information associated with a number of disparate information sources. In an embodiment, a system includes a data structure having a uniform metadata representation and a metadata handler for interacting with the data structure. The data structure can be associated with an underlying file or some other type of information source. In one embodiment, a number of handlers can be chained together to extract and return information according to a desired mode of operation. The embodiments provide extensibility and can be tailored according to a desired implementation. Other embodiments and implementations are available.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed, manage information by:

defining an information source having a uniform representation of metadata and also including full-text search data (FTSData), wherein the information source can be linked to an underlying information source having a representative file format and the information source can be used to provide additional content for use in searching and indexing operations;

calling an intermediate handler to extract metadata and FTSData from the information source;

invoking a registered handler to extract metadata and other information from the underlying information source if the underlying information source exists; and

,

using the metadata and FTSData as part of the indexing and searching operations.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by searching against the FTSData as part of a full-text search.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by defining a metadata definition document (MDD) file that includes the metadata and FTSData that can be associated with the underlying information source.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by defining an MDD file that is not associated with an underlying information source.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by chaining a plurality of handlers to create a chain of handlers, wherein the chain of handlers operate to extract metadata and FTSData from a plurality of MDD files and underlying information sources.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by chaining a plurality of IFilters to create a chain of IFilters, wherein the chain of IFilters can operate to extract the metadata and the FTSData.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to a defined mode of operation.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by using a setting to define the mode of operation before extracting the metadata and FTSData.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by returning the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to an append with MDD priority mode of operation.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by returning the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to an append with content priority mode of operation.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by returning the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to an overwrite with MDD priority mode of operation.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by returning the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to an overwrite with content priority mode of operation.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by returning the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to a chain for FTSData only mode of operation.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by returning the metadata and FTSData from the information source and underlying information source according to a fine-granularity mode of operation.

15. A system to manage information comprising:

an information source that includes a uniform representation of metadata, wherein the information source can include FTSData and can be linked to an underlying information source;

an intermediate handler configured to filter metadata from the information source;

a chained handler configured to filter metadata from the underlying information source, wherein the intermediate handler can call on the chained handler to filter the metadata; and

,

an indexer to index the extracted metadata and any existing FTSData against the information source.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the intermediate handler is further configured to filter FTSData from the MDD file if the MDD file includes FTSData.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein system can be configured to return metadata and FTSData based in part of a mode of operation setting.

18. A method of managing information comprising:

defining a data structure including a uniform representation of metadata, wherein the data structure can include an element defining free-form text that can be used to provide additional details about the data structure;

extracting the metadata and free-form text from the data structure by invoking a metadata handler to extract the metadata and free-form text;

chaining a second handler that is configured to extract underlying metadata from an underlying information source if in existence; and

,

performing an indexing operation by using the extracted metadata and free-form text to index against the data structure.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising returning a search result associated with the data structure using the extracted metadata and free-form text as defined by the element.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising setting a mode of operation and returning metadata and free-form text to an index component based in part on the mode of operation.