Expanding the scope of an annotation to an entity level

• US 8,126,915 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard D., Rath, Cale T., Stevens, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): LY, CHEYNE D
• Application Number:
  US12/025,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20080126329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/791, 707/793, 707/802, 707/803, 707/810, 707/811, 715/230, 715/231, 715/233, 715/234
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata

Abstract

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for creating and sharing an annotation associated with a data object other than the particular data object described by the annotation are provided. The annotation may be associated with an entity, even though the annotation may describe only a particular data object encompassed by the entity. By associating the annotation with the entity, the annotation may be made available to other users viewing information related to the entity, even if the particular data object described by the annotation is not displayed in the information being viewed.

Claims

1. A system for sharing information via annotations, comprising:

a set of one or more model entity definitions, each specifying a plurality of logical fields encompassed by a corresponding model entity, wherein the logical fields are defined by at least one abstract data model, and wherein at least one of the logical fields maps to one or more physical fields in a data store;

a query building interface allowing a first user to build a first abstract query composed using one or more logical fields and one or more conditional expressions, and further allowing the first user to view first query results received in response to issuing the first abstract query against the data store; and

an annotation system allowing the first user to annotate a data object selected from the first query results, by operation of one or more computer processors, wherein the annotation system is configured to;

responsive to a request from the first user to annotate the selected data object;

create an annotation which contains metadata describing the selected data object;

identify a first model entity encompassing a logical field corresponding to the selected data object; and

annotate the identified first model entity with the created annotation, whereby the annotation is associated with all logical fields in the plurality of logical fields encompassed by the first model entity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the selected data object is an instance value of the logical field related to the selected data object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the query building interface allows the first user to select the first model entity, wherein a focus of the query is set by including one or more of the fields encompassed by the first model entity in a results list of the query.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the annotation system is configured to associate the annotation with the first model entity by storing the annotation with a reference to the first model entity.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the reference to the first model entity is a primary key associated with the selected data object.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the annotation system is accessible to the first user via the query building interface.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the query building interface is configured to allow a second user to view second query results, wherein at least a portion of the second query results are associated with the first model entity;

and

responsive to displaying the second query results, displaying an indication of the annotation created for the selected data object.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the annotation system is configured to provide an indication of the annotation created for the selected data object regardless of whether the second query results contain the selected data object.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the annotation system is further configured to, in response to input from the second user, display the annotation.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the annotation system is further configured to display the selected data object.