Data ecosystem awareness

• US 7,653,638 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Forney, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Khanh B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chempakaseril; Ann J
• Application Number:
  US11/291,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,517 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data

Abstract

A user input is received. The user input creates or alters an association that links at least two elements within a system of data. A user is provided with, based at least in part on the association, an indication of relevant data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a user with an indication of relevant data, the method comprising:

receiving from a user, a first user command that identifies a primary concept, wherein said primary concept is a concept selected from a corporate taxonomy, and wherein receiving said first user command accordingly comprises receiving the first user command that identifies the primary concept selected from the corporate taxonomy;

receiving from the user, a second user command that identifies material selected from a word processing document, wherein receiving said second user command further comprises receiving a user-initiated instruction that causes a highlighting of a collection of text within the word processing document that is displayed on an output device that is a functional component of a computing device;

based on the received first and second user commands from the user, modifying information in a database to indicate a creation or an alteration of an association between the primary concept and the identified material, by a paste command in combination with a copy or cut command, wherein the identified material is the collection of text highlighted within the word processing document in response to the user-initiated instruction;

wherein the association between the primary concept and the identified material further includes information as to when the association was created and by whom the association was created; and

utilizing a computer processor to provide, based at least in part on the modification to the database, the indication of relevant data is provided based on at least one of a person-to-person association, person-to document association, document-to-document association, wherein providing comprises providing the user with output in the form of a first collection of information visibly rendered as part of a graphical user interface, wherein the indication of relevant data is provided in response to a user initiated query, the indication of relevant data obtained based upon query terms and contextual information reflected in personal data of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the indication of relevant data further comprises visibly rendering a second collection of information as part of the graphical user interface, the second collection of information being selected based at least in part on a record in the database of a creation or alteration of a person-to-person association, wherein the first and second collections of information are rendered together as part of the graphical user interface, wherein the record in the database of a creation or alteration of a person-to-person association is derived based on a received paste command in combination with a corresponding received copy or cut command, and wherein the person-to-person association links a person affiliated with a document in which pasting occurred with a different person affiliated with a source from which corresponding cutting or copying occurred, and wherein the received paste command is a command to paste text that was previously copied or cut from a document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the indication of relevant data further comprises visibly rendering a second collection of information as part of the graphical user interface, the second collection of information being selected based at least in part on a record in the database of a creation or alteration of a person-to-document association, wherein the first and second collections of information are rendered together as part of the graphical user interface, wherein the record in the database of a creation or alteration of a person-to-document association is derived based on a received paste command in combination with a corresponding received copy or cut command, wherein the paste command is a command to paste text that was previously copied or cut from a document, and wherein the record in the database of a creation or alteration of a person-to-document association associates a person affiliated with a document in which pasting occurred with a document from which corresponding cutting or copying occurred.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the indication of relevant data further comprises visibly rendering a second collection of information as part of the graphical user interface, the second collection of information being selected based at least in part on a record in the database of a creation or alteration of a document-to-document association, wherein the first and second collections of information are rendered together as part of the graphical user interface, and wherein the record in the database of a creation or alteration of a document-to-document association associates a document in which pasting occurred with a document from which corresponding cutting or copying occurred.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving from the user the first user command that identifies the primary concept comprises selecting the primary concept from a set of candidate concepts.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving from the user the first user command that identifies the primary concept comprises the user scrolling through candidate concepts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving from the user the first user command that identifies the primary concept comprises selecting the concept by key word searching.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a user command that identifies the concept comprises selecting a group of primary concepts.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the user a third user command that identifies a second primary concept;

receiving from the user a fourth user command that identifies other material selected from the word processing document; and

based on the third and the fourth user commands, modifying the information in the database to indicate a creation or an alteration of an association between the second primary concept and the other identified material, wherein the association between the second primary concept and the other identified material further includes information as to when it was created and by whom it was created, and wherein the association between the primary concept and the identified material and the association between the second primary concept and the other identified material are created by different users.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further includes an active document and a plurality of data displays, wherein the user is able to type, add graphics, and edit the active document, wherein content of the data displays is automatically selected from different data sources based on contextual relevancy, and wherein for at least some of the data displays an order in which the data display content appears is influenced based on contextual relevancy.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein one of the plurality of data displays includes a listing of relevant documents, wherein a second one of the plurality of data displays includes a listing of relevant issues, wherein a third one of the plurality of data displays includes a listing of relevant people, and wherein a fourth one of the plurality of data displays includes a listing of relevant tasks.

12. A computer-implemented method for providing a user with an indication of relevant data, the method comprising:

receiving a paste command in combination with a copy or cut command, wherein the paste command is a user-initiated command to insert a collection of text into a document, wherein the collection of text is determined, prior to the receipt of the paste command, based on a user-initiated selection of text in conjunction with the copy or cut command;

creating an association based on the received commands, wherein the association is selected from the group consisting of an association between a person affiliated with the document in which pasting occurred and a person affiliated with a source from which corresponding cutting or copying occurred, an association between a person affiliated with the document in which pasting occurred and a document from which corresponding cutting or copying occurred, and an association between the document in which pasting occurred and a document from which corresponding cutting or copying occurred;

storing the association in a data store, the data store including information related to user interactions with data, the information including people-to-document associations, people-to-people associations, and document-to-document associations;

querying the data store based at least in part on context and content, the context indicating what the user is doing and the content indicating what the user is looking at; and

utilizing a computer processor that is a functional component of the computer to provide the user with, based at least in part on the association and the query, the indication of relevant data.