Method for remotely searching a local user index

• US 7,493,303 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2004
• Issued: 02/17/2009
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Wilson
• Application Number:
  US10/910,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,658 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10
• 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 and method are provided for enabling a user to search for documents that the user has previously viewed on its local machine. The system includes 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 network-implemented method of searching for one or more documents a user has previously accessed comprising:

maintaining, 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;

receiving an input from the user located at a remote location from the workstation for searching the index;

locating one or more search results corresponding to said input;

receiving at the remote location said one or more search results; and

presenting 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 method of claim 1 wherein receiving an input further comprises receiving a request from an application to search said index located on said workstation and at least one additional location.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining the index comprises monitoring one or more of a plurality of documents previously accessed by the user for one or more predetermined events.

5. The method of claim 4 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.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an input comprises enabling said user to enter one or more keywords to create a search query to be used to search said index.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising converting said one or more search results into a common format.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the common format is XML.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein an entry is created in the index for each previously accessed document by searching one or more browser caches and intercepting one or more calls to access one or more applications.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the workstation is connected to an enterprise portal server over a network.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting a calendar in the graphical user interface that enables 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.

3. A network-implemented method of responding to a search query received from a remote location, the method comprising:

maintaining, 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;

receiving a search query, wherein said search query is a request by a user located at the remote location to search said local index;

locating one or more documents matching said search query;

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

responding to said query by providing said list of one or more matching documents to the remote location.

12. The method of claim 3 wherein maintaining the local index comprises monitoring one or more of a plurality of documents previously accessed by the user for one or more predetermined events.

13. The method 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 method of claim 3 wherein the common computer readable format is XML.

15. The method of claim 3 wherein an entry is created in the local index for each previously accessed document by searching one or more browser caches and intercepting one or more calls to access one or more applications.

16. The method of claim 3 wherein the workstation is connected to an enterprise portal server over a network.

17. The method of claim 3 further comprising presenting a calendar that enables 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.

18. The method of claim 3 further comprising presenting 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.