Systems and methods for managing a life journal

• US 7,421,449 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2005
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ball, Steven J., Williams, Shane F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Wilson
• Application Number:
  US11/033,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20060156245A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,329 Days
• Field of Search: 707 3- 10, 707/100, 707/101
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

The subject invention provides a unique system and method that facilitates management and navigation of various data objects by making use of a unique time-line based navigation tool. In particular, objects can organized into a plurality of bands based on their respective subject matter. Each band can be created to designate a particular topic. Objects are organized within the appropriate bands based in part on a time parameter such as a time or date that the object was created, for example. The navigation tool allows a user to navigate or browse through the bands and objects according to a desired time parameter or range of time. Zooming and other browsing options are available to the user to view objects of interest at varying levels of detail. The objects are represented as ASCII thumbnails that are operational. Thus, the content of any object can be modified directly via the thumbnail.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates managing a life journal comprising:

at least one data store that stores a plurality of objects, the objects relating to a plurality of aspects of a user'"'"'s life;

a visualization component that generates a plurality of bands, wherein the bands correspond to a subject matter and are positioned relative to a time-line bar to facilitate organizing and maintaining the user'"'"'s objects in a chronological and subject-matter manner for easier user review and management, the visualization component scales a size of non-viewed bands based at least in part upon a level of zoom detail on a portion of the life journal, wherein a textual annotation is automatically generated for corresponding non-textual content associated with the non-viewed bands upon reaching a pre-determined zoom level; and

a display that displays the plurality of bands to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, the objects comprise at least one of pictures, messages, documents, audio, text, blog or diary-oriented content, web pages, video, and television programs and/or any combination thereof that are captured by any electronic device.

3. The system of claim 1, the time-line bar begins and ends at any time parameter as desired by the user, such that the user can view objects as they take place in the user'"'"'s life in a past time parameter and in a future time parameter.

4. The system of claim 3, the time parameter comprises a date.

5. The system of claim 3, the time parameter further comprises a time of day.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an annotation component that annotates objects with metadata, the metadata comprising at least one of text, audio, video, and other media types and relating to content of the objects, time parameter of the objects, and other information as entered by the user.

7. The system of claim 6, the annotation component comprises a recognition component that makes use of at least one recognition technique to facilitate annotating the objects with consistent metadata and analyze and store parameters to correlate objects.

8. The system of claim 7, the at least one recognition technique comprises facial recognition, pattern recognition, audio pattern recognition, video pattern recognition, and optical character recognition.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more navigation controls that allow the user to navigate to various time parameters along the time-line bar to view any activity across the bands in the user'"'"'s life at the various time parameters.

10. The system of claim 9, at least a subset of the navigation controls allows the user to view the activity at multiple levels of zoom detail.

11. A method that facilitates navigating a life journal comprising:

inputting a plurality of objects, the objects relating to a plurality of aspects of a user'"'"'s life;

creating a plurality of bands, wherein each band corresponds to a subject matter and are positioned relative to a time-line bar to facilitate organizing and maintaining the user'"'"'s objects in a chronological and subject-matter manner;

modifying a size of non-viewed bands based at least in part upon a level of zoom detail on a portion of the life journal, wherein a textual annotation is automatically generated for corresponding non-textual content associated with the non-viewed bands upon reaching a pre-determined zoom level; and

displaying the plurality of bands to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting a band in which at least one object belongs based on the subject-matter of the object and band.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising positioning the object in the band along the time-line bar based on the time parameter of the object.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising navigating along the time-line bar to view a plurality of time parameters and the respective objects occurring at the time parameters across one or more of the bands.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising using one or more navigation controls to zoom to multiple levels of detail of any band or object.

16. The method of claim 11, the objects comprise at least one of pictures, messages, documents, audio, web pages, video, and television programs.

17. The method of claim 11, the time-line bar begins and ends at any time parameter as desired by the user, such that the user can view objects as they take place in the user'"'"'s life in a past time parameter and in a fixture time parameter.

18. The method of claim 17, the time parameter comprises a date.

19. The method of claim 17, the time parameter further comprises a time of day.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising performing at least one of the following:

archiving at least a portion of the life journal in a remote location to facilitate optimizing storage capacity;

compressing at least a portion of the life journal based at least in part upon viewer permissions to facilitate user privacy;

publishing at least a portion of the life journal to another media type, the portion comprising at least a portion of at least one band; and

displaying the life journal on any viewable screen with which the user can interact in at least one of a wired or wireless manner.