SYSTEM FOR REMOTELY SEARCHING A LOCAL USER INDEX

• US 20090125513A1
• Filed: 01/21/2009
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Newbold, David L., Rodriguez, Raudel S., Oral, Tolga
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system is provided for enabling a user to search for documents that the user has previously viewed on its local machine. The system may include three main components: the desktop integration module, the index module, and the graphical user interface module. The desktop integration module is an application which monitors documents with which the user interacts for predetermined events, and obtains content data and metadata from the monitored documents. The index module indexes the content data and metadata received from the desktop integration module. The graphical user interface module then permits a user to utilize the desktop integration module and index module by allowing a user to search for a document.

Claims

1. A system comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions embodied therein, the computer readable instructions operable when executed by a processor to enable a user to search for one or more documents a user has previously accessed, said computer readable instructions comprising:

an index module configured to store, on a workstation of a user, an index that includes one or more entries for only one or more documents the user has previously accessed; and

a graphical user interface configured to (i) receive an input from the user located at a remote location from the workstation for searching the index;

(ii) locate one or more search results corresponding to said input;

(iii) receive at the remote location said one or more search results; and

(iv) present said one or more search results to the user,

wherein said one or more search results are presented in a graphical user interface having indicia indicating whether each one or more document in said one or more search results is accessible by the user at the remote location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein, in receiving the input, the graphical user interface module is configured to receive a request from an application to search said index located on said workstation and at least one additional location.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a desktop integration module configured to monitor one or more of a plurality of documents previously accessed by the user for one or more predetermined events.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said predetermined events include one or more of:

creating a document, opening a document, closing a document, saving a document, or printing a document.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein, in receiving the input, the graphical user interface module is configured to enable said user to enter one or more keywords to create a search query to be used to search said index.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the desktop integration module is configured to convert said one or more search results into a common format.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the common format is XML.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the desktop integration module is configured to search one or more browser caches and intercepting one or more calls to access one or more applications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the workstation is connected to an enterprise portal server over a network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to present a calendar in the graphical user interface and to enable the user to select one or more days that specify a time period within which said one or more documents were previously accessed by the user.

11. A system comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions embodied therein, the computer readable instructions operable when executed by a processor to respond to a search query received from a remote location, said computer readable instructions comprising:

an index module configured to store, on a workstation of a user, a local index that includes one or more entries for only one or more documents the user has previously accessed at the workstation; and

a graphical user interface module configured to (i) receive a search query, wherein said search query is a request by a user located at the remote location to search said local index;

(ii) locate one or more documents matching said search query;

(iii) create a list of said one or more matching documents, wherein said list is formatted in a common computer readable format; and

(iv) respond to said query by providing said list of one or more matching documents to the remote location.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a desktop integration module configured to monitor one or more of a plurality of documents previously accessed by the user for one or more predetermined events.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said predetermined events include one or more of:

creating a document, opening a document, closing a document, saving a document, or printing a document.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the desktop integration module is configured to convert said one or more search results into a common format.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the common format is XML.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the desktop integration module is configured to search one or more browser caches and intercepting one or more calls to access one or more applications.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the workstation is connected to an enterprise portal server over a network.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to present a calendar and to enable the user to select one or more days that specify a time period within which said one or more documents were previously accessed by the user.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to present a sorting menu enabling said one or more documents matching said search criteria to be sorted and displayed according to one or more of:

relevance, document type, alphabetical order, or chronological order.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the index module is configured to index content data and metadata received from the desktop integration module.