File system for displaying items of different types and from different physical locations
First Claim
1. In a computer system having a display, a method for displaying items, the method comprising:
- defining a scope of the physical memory locations from which items are to be drawn, the scope comprising the present computer memory and at least one other physical location;
receiving a query, and in response to the query, drawing items from the physical locations as defined in the scope; and
presenting the items drawn from the query in a view on the display.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A file system for displaying items of different types and from different physical locations. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a wide scope of items may be available. In other words, the system is able to represent items from multiple physical locations (e.g., different hard drives, different computers, different network locations, etc.) so that to a user all the items appear to be from one location. The file system utilizes virtual folders. The virtual folders expose regular files and folders to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, non-file items may be represented in the virtual folders. In other words, files that are stored in memory are located in a physical store. The virtual folders can be made to include items that are not currently represented in the physical store. Examples of non-file items are e-mails and contacts.
239 Citations
40 Claims
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1. In a computer system having a display, a method for displaying items, the method comprising:
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defining a scope of the physical memory locations from which items are to be drawn, the scope comprising the present computer memory and at least one other physical location;
receiving a query, and in response to the query, drawing items from the physical locations as defined in the scope; and
presenting the items drawn from the query in a view on the display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for implementing a method for displaying items on a display, the method comprising:
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defining a scope of the physical memory locations from which items are to be drawn, the scope comprising the present computer memory and at least one other physical location;
receiving a query, and in response to the query, drawing items from the physical locations as defined in the scope; and
presenting the items drawn from the query in a view on the display. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for displaying items, the system comprising:
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means for defining a scope of physical memory locations from which items are to be drawn, the scope comprising the present computer memory and at least one other physical location;
means for drawing items from the physical locations as defined in the scope in response to a query; and
means for presenting the items drawn from the query in a view on a display. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. In a computer system with a display and a memory for storing items, a method for representing the items to a user, comprising:
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providing a database that allows both non-file items and file items to be searched by a query;
receiving a query, and in response to the query drawing both non-file items and file items that match the query; and
presenting both the non-file items and file items that match the query on the display. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for implementing a method for displaying items, the method comprising:
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providing a database that allows both non-file items and file items to be searched by a query;
receiving a query, and in response to the query drawing both non-file items and file items that match the query; and
presenting both the non-file items and file items that match the query on the display. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A system for displaying items, the system comprising:
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means for providing a database that allows both non-file items and file items to be searched by a query;
means for drawing both non-file items and file items in response to a query; and
means for presenting both the non-file items and file items that match the query in a view on a display. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification