Methods and apparatus to determine a software application data file and usage

• US 7,451,162 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Issued: 11/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unify Patente GmbH & Co. KG (Atos Se)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Hess, Christopher K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Kuen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sweeney, Patrick E
• Application Number:
  US11/304,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136235A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,063 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/104.1, 707/6, 715/709, 715/745, 715/811, 715/210, 715/9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to monitor usage of software applications and services. According to some embodiments, it may be determined that an application event has occurred. At least a portion of a file name may be accessed and compared to one or more actual file identifiers. An actual file identifier may then be selected based on the comparison.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

Automatically collecting information associated with use of data objects by a user;

Analyzing the collected information to determine relevance evidence between data objects;

Storing the relevance evidence in association with actual file identifiers representing the data objects;

Determining that a graphical user interface event has occurred in connection with a first data object;

Automatically accessing, in response to the graphical user interface event, a portion of a file name from a pre-determined area of the graphical user interface representing the first data object, the portion of the file name including less information than an actual file identifier representing the first data object;

Comparing the portion of the file name to one or more actual file identifiers;

Selecting the actual file identifier associated with the first data object based on said comparing;

Determining that the first data object is of interest to the user based on the selected actual file identifier;

Based on the stored relevance evidence, selecting a second data object associated with the first data object; and

Presenting to the user an indication of the second data object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application event comprises a file system event, and further comprising:

in response to the file system event, updating the one or more actual file identifiers.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the determination that an application event has occurred comprises:

accessing a published interface of the application and reading the portion of the file name from the interface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the interface is associated with at least one of:

(i) a proprietary messaging protocol, (ii) a common object request broker architecture, (iii) a common object model, (iv) a Web service, (v) a message queue, or (vii) a network connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that an application event has occurred comprises:

intercepting a file access command at a file system driver.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that an application event has occurred comprises:

receiving information from a library linked into an application that intercepts file access commands from other applications.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application event is associated with a graphical user interface event, and the determination that an application event has occurred comprises:

capturing the graphical user interface event from an operating system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said accessing comprises:

reading the portion of the file name from a pre-determined area of a graphical user interface window.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the pre-determined area is associated with a title bar object.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the pre-determined area is associated with an icon representing an email attachment.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining is associated with temporal relationship between a file system event and a graphical user interface event.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the actual file identifier comprises a file path and name within a file system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actual file identifiers is further associated with files that have been recently accessed.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actual file identifiers is further associated with an event signaling an operation on a file object.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein the stored relevance evidence includes:

(i) relevance weight values, (ii) relevance confidence values, and (iii) relevance count values, and the selection of the second data object is based on relevance weight, confidence, and count values associated with a relationship between the first and second data objects.

16. The method of claim 1,

wherein the indication of the second data object is presented to the user in a list of potentially relevant data objects, and further comprising:

receiving from the user a selection of the second data object;

based on the stored relevance evidence, selecting a third data object associated with the second data object; and

presenting to the user an indication of the third data object.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

A graphical user interface monitoring component to determine a portion of a file name based on information displayed in a pre-determined area of a graphical user interface window;

Wherein the portion of the file name includes less information than an actual file identifier representing a data object;

A file activity monitoring component to facilitate a determination of an actual file identifier based on a comparison between the portion of the file name and one or more actual file identifiers;

The file activity monitoring component also facilitating a determination that the first data object is of interest to the user based on the determined actual file identifier;

An evidence store to contain evidence entries indicating associations between pairs of data objects, wherein at least some entries are associated with actual file identifiers determined by the file activity monitoring component;

A selection engine to receive information from the evidence store and to select a set of data objects associated with a data object currently being accessed by a user; and

A display component providing an indication of the selected set of data objects to a user.

18. The apparatus of claim 17,

wherein the evidence entries include a dwell time indication that represents a period of time a data object was active when opened by the user.

19. The apparatus of claim 17,

wherein the evidence entries include a file version indication that associates multiple versions of a single data object with each other.

20. The apparatus of claim 17,

wherein the evidence entries include an email thread indication that associates multiple email data objects with each other.

21. A computer-readable medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:

Determining that a file system event has occurred;

In response to the file system event, updating a list of one or more actual file identifiers;

Determining that a graphical user interface event has occurred;

In response to the graphical user interface event, automatically reading a portion of a file name from a pre-determined area of the graphical user interface, the portion of the file name including less information than an actual file identifier representing the first data object;

Comparing the portion of the file name to the list associated with actual file identifiers;

Selecting an actual file identifier based on said comparing;

Determining that the first data object is of interest to the user based on the selected actual file identifier;

Based on the stored relevance evidence, selecting a second data object associated with the first data object; and

Presenting to the user an indication of the second data object.

22. The medium of claim 21, further comprising:

using the actual file identifier to facilitate a determination of context relevant evidence.

23. The medium of claim 21, further comprising:

using the actual file identifier to facilitate a presentation of context relevant information.