Method and system for traversing digital records with multiple dimensional attributes

• US 8,099,679 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Yee, Nicholas K., Bellotti, Victoria M. E., Ducheneaut, Nicolas B., Solis, Ignacio
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANK, ANDREW L
• Application Number:
  US12/031,357
• Publication Number:
  US 20090210793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 715/704, 715/714, 715/723, 715/764, 715/835, 715/839, 715/963, 715/705, 715/811, 715/825, 715/833
• US Class Current: 715/825
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A system facilitates traversing digital records with dimensional attributes. The system stores a number of digital records. The system further associates a respective digital record with a number of attributes, wherein a respective attribute can be specified in a number of levels of abstraction. The system allows a user to control a presentation of the stored digital records based on their attributes. The user can set one or more criteria for the attributes of the digital records to be presented by: specifying the value of at least one fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented, changing at least one non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented, and/or specifying a level of abstraction for the fixed and/or non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented. The system then presents a set of digital records to the user based on the attribute criteria set by the user.

Claims

1. A method for traversing digital records with dimensional attributes, the method comprising:

storing a number of digital records;

associating a respective digital record with a number of attributes, wherein each attribute is specified in a level from multiple levels of abstraction;

receiving inputs from a user to set one or more criteria on the attributes of the digital records to be presented by;

receiving a user-specified value of at least one fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented;

receiving a changed value for at least one non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented; and

receiving a user-specified level of abstraction for the fixed and/or non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented; and

presenting a set of digital records matching the attribute criteria set by the user in a sliding bar corresponding to a range of continuous values for the non-fixed attribute, wherein each of the presented digital records is associated with both the user-specified value and the user-specified level of abstraction, and wherein the digital records are ordered in the sliding bar by their values for the non-fixed attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective digital record comprises one or more of:

a photograph;

a piece of video;

a piece of audio; and

a piece of text.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting values for non-changing, non-fixed attributes with the associated digital records, thereby providing annotative information for the presented digital records to the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein an attribute of a respective digital record corresponds to at least one of:

a time;

a range of time;

a place;

a person;

a group of people;

an organization;

an entity; and

an event.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving the user-specified value of the fixed attribute comprises:

receiving a time, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified time to be presented;

receiving a place, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified place to be presented;

receiving an entity, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified entity to be presented;

receiving an event, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified event to be presented;

or

receiving a person, a group of people, and/or an organization, thereby allowing digital records associated with the person, group of people, or organization to be presented.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving the changed value of the non-fixed attribute comprises:

receiving a time value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different times to be presented;

receiving a place value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different places to be presented;

receiving an entity value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different entities to be presented;

receiving an event value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different events to be presented;

or

receiving a value indicative of people and/or groups, thereby allowing digital records associated with different people and/or groups to be presented.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein presenting the set of digital records based on the attribute criteria set by the user comprises displaying on a graphical user interface (GUI) at least one digital record whose attributes satisfy the criteria and one or more of:

a slide bar labeled with time values to indicate the time associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different time by sliding an indicator along the slide bar;

a map to indicate the place associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different place by indicating a point on the map;

a first text field to indicate the person, group, or organization associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different person, group, or organization; and

a second text field to indicate the event associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different event.

8. A computer-readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for traversing digital records with dimensional attributes, the method comprising:

storing a number of digital records;

associating a respective digital record with a number of attributes, wherein each attribute is specified in a level from multiple levels of abstraction;

receiving inputs from a user to set one or more criteria on the attributes of the digital records to be presented by;

receiving a user-specified value of at least one fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented;

receiving a changed value for at least one non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented; and

receiving a user-specified level of abstraction for the fixed and/or non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented; and

presenting a set of digital records matching the attribute criteria set by the user in a sliding bar corresponding to a range of continuous values for the non-fixed attribute, wherein each of the presented digital records is associated with both the user-specified value and the user-specified level of abstraction, and wherein the digital records are ordered in the sliding bar by their values for the non-fixed attribute.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein a respective digital record comprises one or more of:

a photograph;

a piece of video;

a piece of audio; and

a piece of text.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises presenting values for non-changing, non-fixed attributes with the associated digital records, thereby providing annotative information for the presented digital records to the user.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein an attribute of a respective digital record corresponds to at least one of:

a time;

a range of time;

a place;

a person;

a group of people;

an organization;

an entity;

or

an event.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein receiving the user-specified value of the fixed attribute comprises:

receiving a time, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified time to be presented;

receiving a place, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified place to be presented;

receiving an entity, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified entity to be presented;

receiving an event, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified event to be presented;

or

receiving a person, a group of people, and/or an organization, thereby allowing digital records associated with the person, group of people, or organization to be presented.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein receiving the changed value of the non-fixed attribute comprises:

receiving a time value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different times to be presented;

receiving a place value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different places to be presented;

receiving an entity value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different entities to be presented;

receiving an event value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different events to be presented;

or

receiving a value indicative of people and/or groups, thereby allowing digital records associated with different people and/or groups to be presented.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein presenting the set of digital records based on the attribute criteria set by the user comprises displaying on a GUI at least one digital record whose attributes satisfy the criteria and one or more of:

a slide bar labeled with time values to indicate the time associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different time by sliding an indicator along the slide bar;

a map to indicate the place associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different place by indicating a point on the map;

a first text field to indicate the person, group, or organization associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different person, group, or organization; and

a second text field to indicate the event associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different event.

15. A computer system for traversing digital records with dimensional attributes, the computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a repository configured to store a number of digital records;

an association mechanism configured to associate each digital record with a number of attributes, wherein a respective attribute is specified in a level from multiple levels of abstraction;

a digital-record retrieving mechanism configured to receive input from a user to set one or more criteria on the attributes of the digital records to be presented by;

receiving a user-specified value of at least one fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented;

receiving a changed value for at least one non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented; and

receiving a user-specified level of abstraction for the fixed and/or non-fixed attribute of the digital records to be presented; and

a presentation mechanism configured to present a set of digital records matching the attribute criteria set by the user in a sliding bar corresponding to a range of continuous values for the non-fixed attribute, wherein each of the presented digital records is associated with both the user-specified value and the user-specified level of abstraction, and wherein the digital records are ordered in the sliding bar by their values for the non-fixed attribute.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein a respective digital record comprises one or more of:

a photograph;

a piece of video;

a piece of audio; and

a piece of text.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the presentation mechanism is further configured to present values for non-changing, non-fixed attributes with the associated digital records, thereby providing annotative information for the presented digital records to the user.

18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein an attribute of a respective digital record corresponds to at least one of:

a time;

a range of time;

a place;

a person;

a group of people;

an organization;

an entity;

or

an event.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein while receiving the user-specified value of the fixed attribute, the digital-record retrieving mechanism is configured to:

receive a time, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified time to be presented;

receive a place, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified place to be presented;

receive an entity, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified entity to be presented;

receive an event, thereby allowing digital records associated with the specified event to be presented;

or

receive a person, a group of people, and/or an organization, thereby allowing digital records associated with the person, group of people, or organization to be presented.

20. The computer system of claim 18, wherein while receiving the changed value for the non-fixed attribute, the digital-record retrieving mechanism is configured to:

receive a time value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different times to be presented;

receive a place value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different places to be presented;

receive an entity value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different entities to be presented;

receive an event value, thereby allowing digital records associated with different events to be presented;

or

receive a value indicative of people and/or groups, thereby allowing digital records associated with different people and/or groups to be presented.

21. The computer system of claim 18, wherein while presenting the set of digital records based on the attribute criteria set by the user, the presentation mechanism is configured to display on a GUI at least one digital record whose attributes satisfy the criteria and one or more of:

a slide bar labeled with time values to indicate the time associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different time by sliding an indicator along the slide bar;

a map to indicate the place associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different place by indicating a point on the map;

a first text field to indicate the person, group, or organization associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different person, group, or organization; and

a second text field to indicate the event associated with the displayed digital record and to allow the user to specify a different event.