SEARCH CAPABILITY IMPLEMENTATION FOR A DEVICE

• US 20100228724A1
• Filed: 03/09/2009
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wyld, Jeremy, Petri, Jonah
• Granted Patent: US 8,498,981 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24556 Aggregation; Duplicate elimination
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/319 Inverted lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

In a method of searching for data objects in a computer system, a content-based search of a first database generates a first domain-specific search result stream and a metadata-based search of a second database generates a second domain-specific search result stream. The first and second domain-specific search result streams are aggregated into a primary search result stream, and search results from the primary search result stream are displayed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing a search, in response to a search query, of content using a first database to generate a first domain-specific search result stream;

performing a search, in response to the search query, of metadata using a second database to generate a second domain-specific search result stream, wherein objects represented in the second database have content which is not searched;

aggregating the first domain-specific search result stream and the second domain-specific search result stream to generate a primary search result stream; and

displaying a plurality of search results from the primary search result stream, wherein the plurality of search results includes search results from the first domain-specific search result stream and search results from the second domain-specific search result stream.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first database includes an index of searchable content, and wherein performing the search of the content comprises searching the index of searchable content.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the index is an inverted index.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising, in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, updating the index if the index is outdated.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, creating an index of searchable content if the index does not exist.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving a selection of a search result, opening in a display application an object referenced by the selected search result.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein opening the object further comprises passing to the display application an identifier referencing the object.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the identifier is a row identifier of the database corresponding to the selected search result.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the identifier is a uniform resource locator (URL).

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the identifier is not configured to be unique among identifiers for other domains.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, providing instructions executable by a computer to configure the computer to perform a method comprising:

performing a search, in response to a search query, of content using a first database to generate a first domain-specific search result stream;

performing a search, in response to the search query, of metadata using a second database to generate a second domain-specific search result stream, wherein objects represented in the second database have content which is not searched;

aggregating the first domain-specific search result stream and the second domain-specific search result stream to generate a primary search result stream; and

displaying a plurality of search results from the primary search result stream, wherein the plurality of search results includes search results from the first domain-specific search result stream and the second domain-specific search result stream.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the first database includes an index of searchable content, and wherein performing the search of the content comprises searching the index of searchable content.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the index is an inverted index.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further providing instructions executable by the computer to configure the computer to, in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, update the index if the index is outdated.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further providing instructions executable by the computer to configure the computer to, in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, create an index of searchable content if the index does not exist.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further providing instructions executable by the computer to configure the computer to, in response to receiving a selection of a search result, open an object referenced by the selected search result in a display application.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein opening the object further comprises passing to the display application an identifier referencing the object, wherein the identifier is unique among a plurality of identifiers identifying objects within a domain associated with the search result.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the identifier is a row identifier of the database corresponding to the selected search result.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the identifier is a uniform resource locator (URL).

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the identifier is not configured to be unique among identifiers for other domains.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

means for generating a first domain-specific search result stream based on a search of content, in response to a search query, of objects in a first domain;

means for generating a second domain-specific search result stream based on a search of metadata, in response to the search query, of objects in a second domain;

means for generating a primary search result stream including the first domain-specific search result stream and the second domain-specific search result stream; and

means for displaying a plurality of search results from the primary search result stream, wherein the plurality of search results from the primary search result stream includes search results from the first domain-specific search result stream and the second domain-specific search result stream.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising means for identifying an object to a display application, wherein the object is referenced by one of the plurality of search results.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising means for updating an index in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor in a computing device;

a search daemon implemented by the processor, wherein the search daemon is configured to, in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, aggregate a plurality of domain-specific search result streams to generate a primary search result stream; and

a search application configured to display a search result from the primary search result stream, identify an application associated with a domain of the search result, and in response to receiving a request to open an object referenced by the search result, invoke the application to open the object and identify the object to the application by using an identifier that is unique among a plurality of identifiers identifying objects within the domain of the search result but is not configured to be unique among identifiers for other domains.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a domain plugin associated with a domain, wherein the domain plugin is configured to provide one domain-specific search result stream of the plurality of domain-specific search result streams to the search daemon.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the domain plugin is further configured to search a database to generate the domain-specific search result stream.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the domain plugin performs a content search using the database.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the database comprises an inverted index.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising an indexing service configured to, in response to receiving the indication that the search has been initiated, update the index if the index is outdated.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the domain plugin performs a metadata search using the database.

31. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a table identifying an application associated with each search domain, wherein the display application queries the table to identify the application associated with the domain of the search result.

32. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the identifier is a row identifier of a row in a database associated with the search result.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the identifier is a uniform resource locator (URL).

34. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an indication that a search has been initiated;

in response to the indication, searching a database to generate a first domain-specific search result stream;

aggregating a plurality of domain specific search result streams including the first domain-specific search result stream into a primary search result stream;

displaying a search result from the primary search result stream; and

in response to receiving a request to open an object referenced by the search result, invoking an application associated with a domain of the search result and identifying the object to the application by using an identifier that is unique among a plurality of identifiers that identify objects within the domain of the search result.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 34, wherein searching the database comprises performing a content search using the database.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, wherein the database comprises an index.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 36, wherein the index is an inverted index.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 36, further comprising:

in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, determining whether the index is outdated, and

updating the index if the index is outdated.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, further comprising, in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, creating an index in response to determining that the index does not exist, wherein the database comprises the index.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 34, wherein searching the database comprises performing a search of metadata search using the database.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 34, further comprising querying a table to identify the application, wherein the table identifies an association between the application and the domain of the search result.

42. The computer-implemented method of claim 41, wherein the identifier is a row identifier of a row in a database associated with the search result.

43. The computer-implemented method of claim 41, wherein the identifier is a uniform resource locator (URL).

44. The computer-implemented method of claim 41, wherein the identifier is not configured to be unique among identifiers for other domains.

45. A machine-readable storage medium providing instructions executable by a computer to configure the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving an indication that a search has been initiated;

in response to the indication, searching a database to generate a first domain-specific search result stream;

aggregating a plurality of domain-specific search result streams, including the first domain-specific search result stream, into a primary search result stream;

displaying a search result from the primary search result stream; and

in response to receiving a request to open an object referenced by the search result, invoking an application associated with a domain of the search result and identifying the object to the application by using an identifier that is unique among a plurality of identifiers that identify objects within the domain of the search result.

46. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 45, wherein searching the database comprises performing a content search using the database.

47. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 46, wherein the database comprises an index.

48. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 47, wherein the machine-readable medium further provides instructions executable by the computer to configure the computer to perform a method comprising:

in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated, determining whether the index is outdated, and

updating the index if the index is outdated.

49. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 46, further providing instructions executable by the computer to configure the computer to perform a method comprising creating an index in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated and determining that the index does not exist, wherein the database comprises the index.

50. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 45, wherein searching the database comprises performing a metadata search using the database.

51. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 45, further providing instructions executable by the computer to configure the computer to pass an identifier to the application, wherein the identifier references the object.

52. An apparatus, comprising:

means for generating a first domain-specific search result stream based on a search of a first database associated with a first domain of objects;

means for generating a primary search result stream from a plurality of domain-specific search result streams including the first domain-specific search result stream;

means for displaying a search result from the primary search result stream; and

means for uniquely identifying to a displaying application an object referenced by the search result, wherein the object is one of a plurality of objects within a domain of the search result.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, further comprising means for updating an index of searchable content if the index is outdated, wherein the updating is performed in response to receiving an indication that a search has been initiated.

54. The apparatus of claim 52, further comprising means for generating a second domain-specific search result stream based on a search of metadata of objects in a second domain, wherein the plurality of domain-specific search result streams further includes the second domain-specific search result stream, and wherein the first domain-specific search result stream is based on a search of content of objects in the first domain.