Extensible data provider querying and scheduling system

• US 8,700,596 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2012
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vaughan, Christopher M., Yeung, Carlos, Gupta, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): LEROUX, ETIENNE PIERRE
• Application Number:
  US13/355,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 816 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/706, 709/107, 709/203, 719/310
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

Embodiments provide a query and aggregation layer that is communicatively coupled to, and independent of, a presentation layer and a storage layer. The query and aggregation layer includes a data model configured to expose an access mechanism that is usable to access different data sources in the storage layer. A search query is received from the presentation layer, and one or more data providers identified in the search query are ascertained. At least some of the data providers are creatable on a same thread as that of the data model. Also, the search query is issued to identified data providers in the query and aggregation layer effective to cause the identified data providers to execute the search query on data sources associated with the identified data providers. Additionally, search results are received at the data model from the identified data providers and returned to the presentation layer.

Claims

1. One or more computer storage media embodying computer readable instructions which, when executed, implement:

a query and aggregation layer that is configured to be communicatively coupled to, and independent of, a presentation layer and a storage layer, the storage layer comprising one or more different data sources configured to store different types of data, the query and aggregation layer including a data model configured to expose an access mechanism that is usable to access the different data sources in the storage layer by at least;

receiving a search query from the presentation layer;

ascertaining one or more data providers identified in the search query, at least some of the data providers being creatable on a thread that is a same thread as the data model;

issuing the search query to one or more identified data providers in the query and aggregation layer effective to cause the one or more identified data providers to execute the search query on one or more data sources associated with the one or more identified data providers;

receiving search results with the data model from the one or more identified data providers; and

returning the search results to the presentation layer.

2. One or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the different data sources comprise one or more remote data sources.

3. One or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving the search query is performed responsive to search text entered in a user interface associated with a Web browser.

4. One or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving the search query is performed responsive to an action associated with an interface provided by a Web browser.

5. One or more computer storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the issuing the search query to the one or more identified data providers in the query and aggregation layer is performed by an indexing mechanism that executes a particular search query for a data provider on an associated data source.

6. One or more computer storage media embodying computer readable instructions which, when executed, implement a querying/scheduling system, the querying/scheduling system comprising:

a storage layer comprising different data sources configured to store different types of data;

a query and aggregation layer configured to be communicatively coupled to, and independent of, a presentation layer and the storage layer, the query and aggregation layer including a data model configured to;

expose an access mechanism that is usable to enable one or more applications to access different data sources in the storage layer and have data stored in the data sources returned to the one or more applications;

create one or more data providers that are knowledgeable of how to access data stored in an associated data source, at least some of the data providers created on a thread that is a same thread as the data model; and

in an event that one or more extensible data providers are plugged into the querying/scheduling system, use the one or more extensible data providers to query one or more associated extensible data sources using one or more query methods, at least some of the query methods being different than a common query method used by the data model to query the one or more extensible data providers.

7. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein the one or more applications comprise a Web browser application.

8. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein the different data sources comprise both local data sources and remote data sources.

9. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 8, wherein the local data sources comprise one or more of:

a favorites data source, a history data source, or an RSS data source.

10. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein at least some individual data sources are configured to store data in different formats and can have their own specific access mechanisms of which the one or more applications are unaware.

11. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein the access mechanism is configured to enable access to the different data sources by presenting a common set of application program interfaces (APIs) that can be used to access the different data sources.

12. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein the one or more applications comprise a Web browser application and the different data sources comprise both local data sources and remote data sources.

13. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein at least one other data provider can be created on a background thread that is different from a thread on which the data model is created.

14. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein:

the one or more applications are configured to expose a callback interface that is usable to return search results;

the data model is further configured to expose an interface that includes a Query( ) method that is callable by the one or more applications to conduct a search of one or more data sources; and

the one or more data providers are configured to expose an interface that includes a Query( ) method that is usable to query an associated data source.

15. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more applications are further configured to issue asynchronous calls to the data model'"'"'s Query( ) method.

16. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more applications are further configured to include parameters in a call to the data model'"'"'s Query( ) method, wherein the parameters comprise one or more of:

a list of class IDs associated with individual data providers that are desired to be queried;

a subject that is utilized in the query;

a number of desired results;

properties of data that is to be returned;

a sort or relevancy order;

or

a data model call back which serves as a pointer to the one or more applications'"'"' callback interface.

17. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 14, wherein the data model is further configured to produce a query ID that is returned to the one or more applications responsive to receiving an application'"'"'s query.

18. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 6, wherein the querying/scheduling system is extensible so that new data providers can be plugged into the querying/scheduling system to access new data sources.

19. One or more computer storage media embodying computer readable instructions which, when executed, implement an extensible querying/scheduling system, the extensible querying/scheduling system comprising:

a query and aggregation layer that is configured to be communicatively coupled to, and independent of, a presentation layer and a storage layer, the storage layer comprising one or more different data sources storing different types of data, the query and aggregation layer including a data model configured to;

present a common access mechanism that can be used by a Web browser to access different data sources in the storage layer and have data stored in the data sources returned to the Web browser, at least some individual data sources being configured to store data in different formats and have their own specific access mechanisms of which the Web browser is unaware; and

create one or more data providers that are individually associated with individual data sources and knowledgeable of how to access data stored in an associated data source, at least some of the one or more data providers being configured to receive queries for data and execute the queries using a different thread than the data model, at least some of the one or more data providers being creatable on a thread that is a same thread as the data model.

20. The one or more computer storage media recited in claim 19, wherein the data sources comprise both local data sources and remote data sources, the remote data sources comprising one or more third-party search provider sources, and the local data sources comprising one or more of:

a favorites data source, a history data source, or an RSS data source.