Intuitive management of electronic files

• US 8,892,560 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Secord, Adrian, Mangini, Andrea
• Primary Examiner(s): Moser, Bruce
• Application Number:
  US12/324,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166560A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,183 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/7, 707/204, 707/999.002, 707/999.007, 707/999.204, 707/738, 707/741, 707/749, 707/752, 707/758, 707/821, 707/754, 707/915, 707/999.102, 707/999.107, 707/751
• US Class Current: 707/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/156 Query results presentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A method includes identifying interrelated files stored on one or more storage devices for each topic grouping. The interrelated files correspond to a particular topic grouping and are determined based on metadata associated with the interrelated files. A relative importance for each of the interrelated files within each topic grouping is determined. The relative importance indicates an importance of each of the interrelated files in a corresponding topic grouping relative to the other files in the corresponding topic grouping based on metadata associated with the interrelated files. A montage of visual representations of the interrelated files for each topic grouping is displayed using a visual indication of the relative importance.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

identifying a plurality of interrelated files stored on one or more storage devices for each of a plurality of topic groupings, wherein the interrelated files corresponding to a particular topic grouping are determined based on first metadata associated with the interrelated files;

receiving an indication of a user initiating a search for a file;

determining a relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping, the relative importance indicating an importance of each of the interrelated files in a corresponding topic grouping relative to other files in the corresponding topic grouping based on contextual relevance of individual of the interrelated files to an application with which the user was interacting prior to initiating the search for the file, such that an interrelated file that is more contextually relevant to the application with which the user was interacting than a different interrelated file has a higher relative importance than the different interrelated file; and

displaying a montage of visual representations of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping using a visual indication of the relative importance, wherein the montage for each topic grouping includes a plurality of partially overlapping visual representations and the relative importance of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping is indicated by a relative prominence of each of the visual representations within the plurality of partially overlapping visual representations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the relative importance comprises a first relative importance, the user comprises a first user, and the method further comprises determining a second relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping, the second relative importance based on second metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files, wherein the second metadata indicates at least one of a frequency or a timing of access, by a second user, of files in the plurality of interrelated files.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second metadata further comprises data related to at least one of:

file creation, file editing, file saving, opening an item after a search query, a duration of time that a file is open, a number of times that a file is accessed, or a forwarding of the file via an electronic mail message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of interrelated files comprises a first subset of interrelated files associated with a first file type, and a second subset of interrelated files associated with a second file type, the method further comprising:

displaying a first montage of visual representations of the first subset of interrelated files using a visual indication of the relative importance of each of the files in the first subset of interrelated files; and

displaying a second montage of visual representations of the second subset of interrelated files using a visual indication of the relative importance of each of the files in the second subset of interrelated files, wherein the display of the first montage is visually distinct from the display of the second montage.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first subset of interrelated files associated with the first file type comprises one of:

a subset of Microsoft Bitmap files, a subset of Graphics Interchange Format files, a subset of Tagged Image File Format files, or a subset of Joint Photographic Experts Group files.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the first subset of interrelated files associated with the first file type comprises one of:

a subset of image files, a subset of document files, a subset of spreadsheet files, a subset of electronic mail files, or a subset of web pages.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files comprises metadata associated with each of the plurality of interrelated files.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the relative prominence of each of the visual representations within the plurality of partially overlapping visual representations is manifested by one or more of:

a relative size of each visual representation, a relative motion of each visual representation, a relative color intensity of each visual representation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping includes determining an importance value for each of the plurality of interrelated files, wherein each of the plurality of interrelated files is assigned a different importance value, and

displaying the montage of visual representations of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping using the visual indication of the relative importance includes displaying each visual representation at a level of prominence indicating the importance value of file associated with the visual representation, each visual representation having a different level of prominence.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the montage of visual representations of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping includes displaying the visual representations at three or more different levels of prominence.

11. An article comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

identifying a plurality of interrelated files stored on one or more storage devices for each of a plurality of topic groupings, wherein the interrelated files corresponding to a particular topic grouping are determined based on first metadata associated with the interrelated files;

receiving an indication of a user initiating a search for a file;

determining a relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping, the relative importance indicating an importance of each of the interrelated files in a corresponding topic grouping relative to other files in the corresponding topic grouping based on contextual relevance of individual of the interrelated files to an application with which the user was interacting prior to initiating the search for the file such that an interrelated file that is more contextually relevant to the application with which the user was interacting than a different interrelated file has a higher relative importance than the different interrelated file; and

displaying a montage of visual representations of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping using a visual indication of the relative importance, wherein the montage for each topic grouping includes a plurality of partially overlapping visual representations and the relative importance of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping is indicated by a relative prominence of each of the visual representations within the plurality of partially overlapping visual representations.

12. The article of claim 11, wherein the user is a first user and the relative importance comprises a first relative importance and the operations further comprise:

determining a second relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping based on second metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files, wherein the second metadata indicates at least one of a frequency or a timing of access, by a second user, of files in the plurality of interrelated files.

13. The article of claim 11, wherein the plurality of interrelated files comprises a first subset of interrelated files associated with a first file type, and a second subset of interrelated files associated with a second file type, the method further comprising:

displaying a first montage of visual representations of the first subset of interrelated files using a visual indication of the relative importance of each of the files in the first subset of interrelated files; and

displaying a second montage of visual representations of the second subset of interrelated files using a visual indication of the relative importance of each of the files in the second subset of interrelated files, wherein the display of the first montage is visually distinct from the display of the second montage.

14. The article of claim 13, wherein the first subset of interrelated files associated with the first file type comprises one of:

a subset of image files, a subset of document files, a subset of spreadsheet files, a subset of electronic mail files, or a subset of web pages.

15. The article of claim 11, wherein the first metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files comprises metadata associated with each of the plurality of interrelated files.

16. A system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of interrelated files; and

one or more data processing apparatus operable to interact with the memory and to perform operations in accordance with instructions stored on a computer readable medium, the operations comprising;

identifying a plurality of interrelated files stored on one or more storage devices for each of a plurality of topic groupings, wherein the interrelated files corresponding to a particular topic grouping are determined based on first metadata associated with the interrelated files;

receiving an indication of a user initiating a search for a file;

determining a relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping, the relative importance indicating an importance of each of the interrelated files in a corresponding topic grouping relative to other files in the corresponding topic grouping based on contextual relevance of individual of the interrelated files to an application with which the user was interacting prior to initiating the search for the file such that an interrelated file that is more contextually relevant to the application with which the user was interacting than a different interrelated file has a higher relative importance than the different interrelated file; and

displaying a montage of visual representations of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping using a visual indication of the relative importance, wherein the montage for each topic grouping includes a plurality of partially overlapping visual representations and the relative importance of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping is indicated by a relative prominence of each of the visual representations within the plurality of partially overlapping visual representations.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the user is a first user and the relative importance comprises a first relative importance and the operations further comprise:

determining a second relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping based on second metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files, wherein the second metadata indicates at least one of a frequency or a timing of access, by a second user, of files in the plurality of interrelated files.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of interrelated files comprises a first subset of interrelated files associated with a first file type, and a second subset of interrelated files associated with a second file type, the method further comprising:

displaying a first montage of visual representations of the first subset of interrelated files using a visual indication of the relative importance of each of the files in the first subset of interrelated files; and

displaying a second montage of visual representations of the second subset of interrelated files using a visual indication of the relative importance of each of the files in the second subset of interrelated files, wherein the display of the first montage is visually distinct from the display of the second montage.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first subset of interrelated files associated with the first file type comprises one of:

a subset of image files, a subset of document files, a subset of spreadsheet files, a subset of electronic mail files, or a subset of web pages.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files comprises metadata associated with each of the plurality of interrelated files.

21. A method comprising:

identifying multiple sets of interrelated files;

determining a relative significance of each file within each set, the relative significance based on contextual relevance of individual of the interrelated files to an application with which a user was most recently interacting such that a file that is more contextually relevant to the application with which the user was most recently interacting than a different file has a higher relative significance than the different file; and

displaying visual representations corresponding to at least a portion of the files in each set, wherein the displayed visual representations for each set are visually grouped on a display distinct from the displayed visual representations for other sets and the displayed representations within each set are displayed according to the relative significance of each of the displayed files in each set, wherein the relative significance of each of the displayed files in each set is indicated by a relative prominence of the displayed representation corresponding to the file within the displayed visual representations for the set.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the relative significance of each file within the set if further determined based on metadata that comprises data related to at least one of:

file creation, file editing, file saving, opening an item after a search query, a duration of time that a file is open, a number of times that a file is accessed, or a forwarding of the file via an electronic mail message.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the metadata associated with the plurality of interrelated files comprises metadata associated with each of the plurality of interrelated files.

24. A method comprising:

executing instructions on a specific apparatus to identify a plurality of interrelated files stored on one or more storage devices for each of a plurality of topic groupings, wherein the interrelated files corresponding to a particular topic grouping are determined based on first metadata associated with the interrelated files;

executing instructions on a specific apparatus to determine a relative importance for each of the plurality of interrelated files within each topic grouping, the relative importance indicating an importance of each of the interrelated files in a corresponding topic grouping relative to other files in the corresponding topic grouping based on contextual relevance of individual of the interrelated files to an application with which the user was most recently interacting such that an interrelated file that is more contextually relevant to the application with which the user was most recently interacting than a different interrelated file has a higher relative importance than the different interrelated file;

storing data representing the relative importance of each of the plurality of interrelated files in a computer-readable storage medium; and

displaying a montage of visual representations of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping using a visual indication of the relative importance, wherein the montage for each topic grouping includes a plurality of partially overlapping visual representations and the relative importance of the plurality of interrelated files for each topic grouping is indicated by a relative prominence of the visual representations within the plurality of partially overlapping visual representations.