Heterogeneous content indexing and searching

• US 20090024650A1
• Filed: 07/20/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kamani, Prashant, Fisher, Daniel D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,849,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90 Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types

Abstract

Embodiments are provided to manage information associated with a number of disparate information sources. Metadata and/or other information can be extracted from a file, data stream, or other information source. The extracted metadata and/or other information can be used when performing indexing and searching operations. In one embodiment, a system includes a data structure having a uniform metadata representation and metadata handler for interacting with the data structure. The data structure can be associated with an underlying file or some other information source. The embodiments provide extensibility and can be tailored according to a desired implementation.

Claims

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

monitoring a storage medium that includes a number of information sources, wherein each information source includes a uniform representation of metadata and can be associated with an underlying information source;

extracting metadata from the number of information sources; and

,

indexing the metadata as part of an indexing operation.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting metadata from a data structure that includes a name-value pair, including multi-values, associated with the metadata of the underlying information source.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting metadata from a secondary data stream associated with a content-based file.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting full-text search (FTS) data from the data structure.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by searching the indexed metadata, wherein the information source can provide a direct or indirect link to an associated underlying information source.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting metadata from the number of information sources, wherein the number of information sources includes metadata associated with different underlying data representations, formats, or types.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting metadata from the number of information sources, wherein the number of information sources includes a number of virtual sources, a number of binary sources, a number of user-defined sources, or a number of new sources.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by mapping the extracted metadata from a first metadata schema to a second metadata schema.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by mapping the extracted metadata from a generic metadata schema to an application-specific metadata schema.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by using the extracted metadata to index information associated with a number of disparate file types.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by using the extracted metadata as part of an indexing operation associated with a number of intrinsic or extrinsic properties.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, manage information by extracting metadata from a number of metadata definition document (MDD) files, wherein each MDD file includes metadata associated with an audio file, a document file, a spreadsheet file, a video file, an image file, a textual file, binary file, or a virtual source.

13. A system to manage information comprising:

a data structure including a uniform representation of metadata which can be associated with an underlying information source, wherein the underlying information source can include an original representation of metadata and other information;

a metadata handler configured to filter metadata from the data structure; and

an indexing component to index the extracted metadata and other information and associate the extracted metadata and other information with the underlying information source.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a schema handler to map the extracted metadata from a generic metadata schema to an application-specific metadata schema.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the metadata handler comprises a metadata IFilter.

16. The system of claim 13, the data structure further comprising an extensible markup language (XML) identifying metadata using a number of name-value pairs including multi-valued attributes, wherein the data structure can be extended to include new metadata.

17. A method of managing information comprising:

creating a data structure including a uniform representation of metadata, wherein the metadata is associated with an original information source;

filtering the metadata associated with the data structure;

using the filtered metadata to index against the original information source; and

returning a search result associated with a search request using the filtered metadata.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising filtering the metadata associated with the data structure by using a metadata IFilter.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising authoring a number of MDD files, wherein each MDD file is associated with an underlying information source.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically launching an associated application based in part on the search result.