Method and apparatus for processing metadata

[0001] This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/112,955, filed on Apr. 22, 2005, which is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/877,584, filed on Jun. 25, 2004. This application also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/643,087 filed on Jan. 7, 2005, which provisional application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; this application claims the benefit of the provisional's filing date under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e). This present application hereby claims the benefit of these earlier filing dates under 35 U.S.C. §120.

[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

[0003] The present invention relates generally to data processing. More particularly, this invention relates to processing metadata.

[0004] Modern data processing systems, such as general purpose computer systems, allow the users of such systems to create a variety of different types of data files. For example, a typical user of a data processing system may create text files with a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or may create an image file with an image processing program such as Adobe's PhotoShop. Numerous other types of files are capable of being created or modified, edited, and otherwise used by one or more users for a typical data processing system. The large number of the different types of files that can be created or modified can present a challenge to a typical user who is seeking to find a particular file which has been created.

[0005] Modern data processing systems often include a file management system which allows a user to place files in various directories or subdirectories (e.g. folders) and allows a user to give the file a name. Further, these file management systems often allow a user to find a file by searching for the file's name, or the date of creation, or the date of modification, or the type of file. An example of such a file management system is the Finder program which operates on Macintosh computers from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Another example of a file management system program is the Windows Explorer program which operates on the Windows operating system from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Both the Finder program and the Windows Explorer program include a find command which allows a user to search for files by various criteria including a file name or a date of creation or a date of modification or the type of file. However, this search capability searches through information which is the same for each file, regardless of the type of file. Thus, for example, the searchable data for a Microsoft Word file is the same as the searchable data for an Adobe PhotoShop file, and this data typically includes the file name, the type of file, the date of creation, the date of last modification, the size of the file and certain other parameters which may be maintained for the file by the file management system.

[0006] Certain presently existing application programs allow a user to maintain data about a particular file. This data about a particular file may be considered metadata because it is data about other data. This metadata for a particular file may include information about the author of a file, a summary of the document, and various other types of information. A program such as Microsoft Word may automatically create some of this data when a user creates a file and the user may add additional data or edit the data by selecting the “property sheet” from a menu selection in Microsoft Word. The property sheets in Microsoft Word allow a user to create metadata for a particular file or document. However, in existing systems, a user is not able to search for metadata across a variety of different applications using one search request from the user. Furthermore, existing systems can perform one search for data files, but this search does not also include searching through metadata for those files. Further, the metadata associated with a file is typically limited to those standardized metadata or content of the file.

[0007] Methods and apparatuses for processing metadata are described herein. In one embodiment, when a file (e.g., a text, audio, and/or image files) having metadata is received, the metadata and optionally at least a portion of the content of the file are extracted from the file to generate a first set of metadata. An analysis is performed on the extracted metadata and the content to generate a second set of metadata, which may include metadata in addition to the first set of metadata. The second set of metadata may be stored in a database suitable to be searched to identify or locate the file.

[0008] According to certain embodiments of the invention, the metadata that can be searched, for example, to locate or identify a file, may include additional metadata generated based on the original metadata associated with the file and/or at least a portion of content of the file, which may not exist in the original metadata and/or content of the file. In one embodiment, the additional metadata may be generated via an analysis performed on the original metadata and/or at least a portion of the content of the file. The additional metadata may capture a higher level concept or broader scope information regarding the content of the file.

[0009] Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

[0010] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.

[0011] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a data processing system, which may be a general purpose computer system and which may operate in any of the various methods described herein.

[0012] FIG. 2 shows a general example of one exemplary method of one aspect of the invention.

[0013] FIG. 3A shows an example of the content of the particular type of metadata for a particular type of file.

[0014] FIG. 3B shows another example of a particular type of metadata for another particular type of file.

[0015] FIG. 4 shows an example of an architecture for managing metadata according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another exemplary method according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0017] FIG. 6 shows an example of a storage format which utilizes a flat file format for metadata according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0018] FIGS. 7A-7E show a sequence of graphical user interfaces provided by one exemplary embodiment in order to allow searching of metadata and/or other data in a data processing system.

[0019] FIGS. 8A and 8B show two examples of formats for displaying search results according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0020] FIG. 9 shows another exemplary user interface of the present invention.

[0021] FIG. 10 shows another exemplary user interface of the present invention.

[0022] FIGS. 11A-11D show, in sequence, another exemplary user interface according to the present invention.

[0023] FIGS. 12A-12D show alternative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0024] FIGS. 13A and 13B show further alternative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0025] FIGS. 14A-14D show further alternative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0026] FIGS. 15A-15D show another alternative embodiment of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0027] FIGS. 16A and 16B show certain aspects of embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0028] FIG. 17 shows an aspect of certain embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0029] FIGS. 18A and 18B show further aspects of certain embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0030] FIGS. 19A-19E show further illustrative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention.

[0031] FIG. 20 is a flow chart which illustrates another exemplary method of the present invention.

[0032] FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention.

[0033] FIGS. 22A-22D illustrate the display of a display device on which an embodiment of the method of FIG. 21 is performed.

[0034] FIG. 23 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system for processing metadata according to one embodiment.

[0035] FIG. 24 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing metadata according to one embodiment.

[0036] FIG. 25 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of rules and categories according to one embodiment.

[0037] FIGS. 26A and 26B are examples of text metadata and additional text metadata generated according to one embodiment.

[0038] FIG. 27 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for process text metadata according to one embodiment.

[0039] FIGS. 28A and 28B are examples of image metadata and additional image metadata generated according to one embodiment.

[0040] FIG. 29 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing image metadata according to one embodiment.

[0041] FIGS. 30A and 30B are examples of audio metadata and additional audio metadata generated according to one embodiment.

[0042] FIG. 31 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing image metadata according to one embodiment.

[0043] Methods and apparatuses for processing metadata are described herein. In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide a more thorough explanation of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

[0044] Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.

[0045] FIG. 1 shows one example of a typical computer system which may be used with the present invention. Note that while FIG. 1 illustrates various components of a computer system, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components as such details are not germane to the present invention. It will also be appreciated that network computers and other data processing systems which have fewer components or perhaps more components may also be used with the present invention. The computer system of FIG. 1 may, for example, be a Macintosh computer from Apple Computer, Inc.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 1, the computer system 101, which is a form of a data processing system, includes a bus 102 which is coupled to a microprocessor(s) 103 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 107 and volatile RAM 105 and a non-volatile memory 106. The microprocessor 103 may be a G3 or G4 microprocessor from Motorola, Inc. or one or more G5 microprocessors from IBM. The bus 102 interconnects these various components together and also interconnects these components 103, 107, 105, and 106 to a display controller and display device 104 and to peripheral devices such as input/output (I/O) devices which may be mice, keyboards, modems, network interfaces, printers and other devices which are well known in the art. Typically, the input/output devices 109 are coupled to the system through input/output controllers 108. The volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) 105 is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) which requires power continually in order to refresh or maintain the data in the memory. The mass storage 106 is typically a magnetic hard drive or a magnetic optical drive or an optical drive or a DVD RAM or other types of memory systems which maintain data (e.g. large amounts of data) even after power is removed from the system. Typically, the mass storage 106 will also be a random access memory although this is not required. While FIG. 1 shows that the mass storage 106 is a local device coupled directly to the rest of the components in the data processing system, it will be appreciated that the present invention may utilize a non-volatile memory which is remote from the system, such as a network storage device which is coupled to the data processing system through a network interface such as a modem or Ethernet interface. The bus 102 may include one or more buses connected to each other through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters as is well known in the art. In one embodiment the I/O controller 108 includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals and an IEEE 1394 controller for IEEE 1394 compliant peripherals.

[0047] It will be apparent from this description that aspects of the present invention may be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other data processing system in response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM 107, RAM 105, mass storage 106 or a remote storage device. In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system. In addition, throughout this description, various functions and operations are described as being performed by or caused by software code to simplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by a processor, such as the microprocessor 103.

Capturing and Use of Metadata Across a Variety of Application Programs

[0048] FIG. 2 shows a generalized example of one embodiment of the present invention. In this example, captured metadata is made available to a searching facility, such as a component of the operating system which allows concurrent searching of all metadata for all applications having captured metadata (and optionally for all non-metadata of the data files). The method of FIG. 2 may begin in operation 201 in which metadata is captured from a variety of different application programs. This captured metadata is then made available in operation 203 to a searching facility, such as a file management system software for searching. This searching facility allows, in operation 205, the searching of metadata across all applications having captured metadata. The method also provides, in operation 207, a user interface of a search engine and the search results which are obtained by the search engine. There are numerous possible implementations of the method of FIG. 2. For example, FIG. 5 shows a specific implementation of one exemplary embodiment of the method of FIG. 2. Alternative implementations may also be used. For example, in an alternative implementation, the metadata may be provided by each application program to a central source which stores the metadata for use by searching facilities and which is managed by an operating system component, which may be, for example, the metadata processing software. The user interface provided in operation 207 may take a variety of different formats, including some of the examples described below as well as user interfaces which are conventional, prior art user interfaces. The metadata may be stored in a database which may be any of a variety of formats including a B tree format or, as described below, in a flat file format according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0049] The method of FIG. 2 may be implemented for programs which do not store or provide metadata. In this circumstance, a portion of the operating system provides for the capture of the metadata from the variety of different programs even though the programs have not been designed to provide or capture metadata. For those programs which do allow a user to create metadata for a particular document, certain embodiments of the present invention may allow the exporting back of captured metadata back into data files for applications which maintain metadata about their data files.

[0050] The method of FIG. 2 allows information about a variety of different files created by a variety of different application programs to be accessible by a system wide searching facility, which is similar to the way in which prior art versions of the Finder or Windows Explorer can search for file names, dates of creation, etc. across a variety of different application programs. Thus, the metadata for a variety of different files created by a variety of different application programs can be accessed through an extension of an operating system, and an example of such an extension is shown in FIG. 4 as a metadata processing software which interacts with other components of the system and will be described further below.

[0051] FIGS. 3A and 3B show two different metadata formats for two different types of data files. Note that there may be no overlap in any of the fields; in other words, no field in one type of metadata is the same as any field in the other type of metadata. Metadata format 301 may be used for an image file such as a JPEG image file. This metadata may include information such as the image's width, the image's height, the image's color space, the number of bits per pixel, the ISO setting, the flash setting, the F/stop of the camera, the brand name of the camera which took the image, user-added keywords and other fields, such as a field which uniquely identifies the particular file, which identification is persistent through modifications of the file. Metadata format 331 shown in FIG. 3B may be used for a music file such as an MP3 music file. The data in this metadata format may include an identification of the artist, the genre of the music, the name of the album, song names in the album or the song name of the particular file, song play times or the song play time of a particular song and other fields, such as a persistent file ID number which identifies the particular MP3 file from which the metadata was captured. Other types of fields may also be used. The following chart shows examples of the various fields which may be used in metadata for various types of files.

									Cop-
									ied
Item	Parent in				Multi-		User	Get-	with	App
name	hierarchy	Attribute name	Description/Notes	CFType	value	Localized	settable	table	copy	viewable
Item	n/a	Authors	Who created or	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Address
			contributed to the							Book
			contents of this item
		Comment	A free form text	CFString	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
			comment
		ContentType	This is the type that is	CFString	No	?	No	Yes	Yes
			determined by UTI
		ContentTypes	This is the inheritance of	CFString	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes
			the UTI system
		CreatedDate	When was this item	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
			created
		DisplayName	The name of the item as	CFString	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Finder (or
			the user would like to							Launch
			read it. Very well may							Services)
			be the file name, but it
			may also be the subject
			of an e-mail message or
			the full name of a
			person, for example.
		Keywords	This is a list words set	CFString	Yes	System-	Yes	Yes	Ask
			by the user to identify			provided
			arbitrary sets of			keywords
			organization. The scope			(if any)
			is determined by the
			user and can be flexibly
			used for any kind of
			organization. For
			example, Family,
			Hawaii, Project X, etc.
		Contact	A list of contacts that	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Ask	Address
		Keywords	are associated with this							Book
			document, beyond what
			is captured as Author.
			This may be a person
			who's in the picture or a
			document about a
			person or contact
			(performance review,
			contract)
		ModifiedDate	When this item was last	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes
			modified
		Rating	A relative rating (0 to 5	CFNumber	No	n/a	Yes	Yes
			value) on how important a
			particular item is to you,
			whether it's a person, file
			or message
		RelatedTos	A list of other items that	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
			are arbitrarily grouped
			together.
		TextContent	An indexed version of any	CFString	No	No	No	Yes
			content text
		UsedDates	Which days was the	CFDate	Yes	No	No	Yes
			opened/viewed/played
Content/	Item	Copyright	Specifies the owner of this	CFString	No	No	Yes	Yes
Data			content, i.e. Copyright
			Apple Computer, Inc.
		CreatorApp	Keeps track of the	CFString	No	?	No	Yes
			application that was used
			to create this document (if
			it's known).
		Languages	The languages that this	CFString	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
			document is composed in
			(for either text or audio-
			based media)
		ParentalControl	A field that is used to	CFString	No	?	Yes	Yes
			determine whether this is
			kid-friendly content or not
		Publishers	The name or a person or	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes		Address
			organization that							Book
			published this content.
		PublishedDate	The original date that this	CFDate	No	No	Yes	Yes
			content was published (if
			it was), independent of
			created date.
		Reviewers	A list of contacts who	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes		Address
			have reviewed the contents							Book
			of this file. This would
			have to be set explicitly by
			an application.
		ReviewStatus	Free form text that used to	CFString	No	?	Yes	Yes
			specify where the
			document is in any
			arbitrary review process
		TimeEdited	Total time spent editing	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes
			document
		WhereTos	Where did this go to, eg.	CFString	Yes	System-	?	Yes
			CD, printed, backedup			provided
						words
						only
						(if any)
		WhereFroms	Where did this come from,	CFString	Yes	System-	?	Yes
			e.g. camera, email, web			provided
			download, CD			words
						only
						(if any)
Image	Data	BitsPerSample	What is the bit depth of	CFNumber	No			Yes
			the image (8-bit, 16-bit,
			etc.)
		ColorSpace	What color space model is	CFString	No			Yes		ColorSync
			this document following							Utility?
		ImageHeight	The height of the image in	CFNumber	No			Yes
			pixels
		ImageWidth	The width of the image in	CFNumber	No			Yes
			pixels
		ProfileName	The name of the color	CFString	No			Yes		ColorSync
			profile used with for							Utility?
			image
		ResolutionWidth	Resolution width of this	CFNumber	No			Yes
			image (i.e. dpi from a
			scanner)
		ResolutionHeight	Resolution height of this	CFNumber	No			Yes
			image (i.e. dpi from a
			scanner)
		LayerNames	For image formats that	CFString	Yes			Yes
			contain “named” layers
			(e.g. Photoshop files)
		Aperture	The f-stop rating of the	CFNumber	No			Yes
			camera when the image
			was taken
		CameraMake	The make of the camera	CFString	No	Yes		Yes
			that was used to acquire
			this image (e.g. Nikon)
		CameraModel	The model of the camera	CFString	No	Yes		Yes
			used to acquire this image
			(Coolpix 5700)
		DateTimeOriginal	Date/time the picture was	CFDate	No			Yes
			taken
		ExposureMode	Mode that was used for	CFString	No			Yes
			the exposure
		ExposureTime	Time that the lens was	CFDate	No			Yes
			exposed while taking the
			picture
		Flash	This attribute is	CFNumber	No			Yes
			overloaded with
			information about red-eye
			reduction. This is not a
			binary value
		GPS	Raw value received from	CFString	No			Yes
			GPS device associated
			with photo acquisition. It
			hasn't necessarily been
			translated to a user-
			understandable location.
		ISOSpeed	The ISO speed the camera	CFNumber	No			Yes
			was set to when the image
			was acquired
		Orientation	The orientation of the	CFString	No			Yes
			camera when the image
			was acquired
		WhiteBalance	The white balance setting	CFNumber	No			Yes
			of the camera when the
			picture was taken
		EXIFversion	The version of EXIF that	CFString	No			Yes
			was used to generate the
			metadata for the image
Time-	Data	AcquisitionSources	The name or type of	CFString	Yes			Yes
based			device that used to acquire
			the media
		Codecs	The codecs used to	CFString	Yes			Yes
			encode/decode the media
		DeliveryType	FastStart or RTSP	CFString	No			Yes
		Duration	The length of time that the	CFNumber	No			Yes
			media lasts
		Streamable	Whether the content is	CFBoolean	No			Yes
			prepared for purposes of
			streaming
		TotalBitRate	The total bit rate (audio &	CFNumber	No			Yes
			video combined) of the
			media.
		AudioBitRate	The audio bit rate of the	CFNumber	No			Yes
			media
		AspectRatio	The aspect ratio of the	CFString	No			Yes
			video of the media
		ColorSpace	The color space model	CFString	No			Yes
			used for the video aspect
			of the media
		FrameHeight	The frame height in pixels	CFNumber	No			Yes
			of the video in the media
		FrameWidth	The frame width in pixels	CFNumber	No			Yes
			of the video in the media
		ProfileName	The name of the color	CFString	No			Yes
			profile used on the video
			portion of the media
		VideoBitRate	The bit rate of the video	CFNumber	No			Yes
			aspect of the media
Text	Data	Subject	The subject of the text.	CFString	No			Yes
			This could be metadata
			that's supplied with the
			text or something
			automatically generated
			with technologies like
			VTWIN
		PageCount	The number of printable	CFNumber	No			Yes
			page of the document
		LineCount	The number of lines in the	CFNumber	No			Yes
			document
		WordCount	The number of words in	CFNumber	No			Yes
			the document
		URL	The URL that will get you	CFString	No			Yes
			to this document (or at
			least did at one time).
			Relevant for saved HTML
			documents, bookmarks,
			RSS feeds, etc.
		PageTitle	The title of a web page.	CFString	No			Yes
			Relevant to HTML or
			bookmark documents
		Google Hierarchy	Structure of where this	CFString	No			Yes
			page can be found in the
			Google hierarchy.
			Relevant to HTML or
			bookmark documents
Com-	Data	<Abstract>	There are no specific	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
pound			attributes assigned to this
document			item. This is to catch all
			app-specific file formats
			that fall within Data, but
			don't fit into any of the
			other types. Typically
			these documents have
			multiple types of media
			embedded within them.
			(e.g. P
PDF	Com-	NumberOfPages	The number of printable	CFNumber	No			Yes
	pound		pages in the document
	document	PageSize	The size of the page stored	CFNumber	No		No	Yes
			as points
		PDFTitle	PDF-specific title	CFString	No		?	Yes
			metadata for the document
		PDFAuthor	PDF-specific author	CFString	No		?	Yes		Address
			metadata for the document							Book
		PDFSubject	PDF-specific subject	CFString	No		?	Yes
			metadata for the document
		PDFKeywords	PDF-specific keywords	CFString	Yes		?	Yes
			metadata for the document
		PDFCreated	PDF-specific created	CFDate	No		?	Yes
			metadata for the document
		PDFModified	PDF-specific modified	CFDate	No		?	Yes
			metadata for the document
		PDFVersion	PDF-specific version	CFString	No		?	Yes
			metadata for the document
		SecurityMethod	Method by which this	CFString	No			Yes
			document is kept secure
Pres-	Compound	SlideTitles	A collection of the titles	CFString	Yes			Yes
entation	document		on slides
(Keynote)		SlideCount	The number of slides	CFString	No			Yes
		SpeakerNotesContent	The content of all the	CFString	?			Yes
			speaker notes from all of
			the slides together
Appli-	Item	Categories	The kind of application	CFString	Yes			Yes
cation			this is: productivity,
			games, utility, graphics,
			etc. A set list that
Message	Item	Recipients	Maps to To and Cc:	CFString	Yes			Yes		Address
			addresses in a mail							Book
			message.
		Priority	The priority of the	CFString	No			Yes
			message as set by the
			sender
		AttachmentNames	The list of filenames that	CFString	Yes			Yes
			represent attachments in a
			particular message (should
			be actionable within the
			Finder)
		Authors	maps to From address in	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Address
			mail message							Book
		Comment	Not applicable to Mail	CFString	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
			right now (should we
			consider?)
		Content Type		CFString	No		No	Yes	Yes
		Content Types		CFString	Yes		No	Yes	Yes
		CreatedDate	When was this message	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
			was sent or received
		DisplayName	Subject of the message	CFString	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
		Keywords	There will be a way to set	CFString	Yes	System-	Yes	Yes	Ask
			keywords within Mail			provided
						keywords
						(if any)
		Contact Keywords	Could be where recipients	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Ask	Address
			are held							Book
		ModifiedDate	Not applicable	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes
		Rating	A relative rating (0 to 5	CFNumber	No	n/a	Yes	Yes
			stars) on how important a
			particular message is to
			you (separate from a
			message's Priority)
		RelatedTos	Potentially threaded	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
			messages could be put into
			this category
		TextContent	An indexed version of the	CFString	No	No	No	Yes
			mail message
		UsedDates	The day/time in which the	CFDate	Yes	No	No	Yes
			mail message was
			viewed/read
Contact	Item	Company	The company that this	CFString	No			Yes		Address
			contact is an employee of							Book
		E-mails	A list of e-mail addresses	CFString	Yes			Yes		Mail
			that this contact has
		IMs	A list of instant message	CFString	Yes			Yes		iChat
			handles this contact has
		Phones	A list of phone numbers	CFString	Yes
			that relate to this contact
		Addresses	A list of physical	CFString	Yes
			addresses that relate to this
			person
		Authors	the name of the owner of	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Address
			the Address Book (current							Book
			user name)
		Comment		CFString	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
		ContentType		CFString	No		No	Yes	Yes
		ContentTypes		CFString	Yes		No	Yes	Yes
		CreatedDate	date the user entered this	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
			into his AddressBook
			(either through import or
			direct entry)
		DisplayName	Composite name of	CFString	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
			contact (First Name, Last
			Name)
		Keywords	There will be a way to set	CFString	Yes	System-	Yes	Yes	Ask
			keywords within Address			provided
			Book			keywords
						(if any)
		Contact Keywords		CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Ask	Address
										Book
		ModifiedDate	Last time this contact	CFDate	No	No	No	Yes
			entry was modified
		Rating	A relative rating (0 to 5	CFNumber	No	n/a	Yes	Yes
			stars) on how important a
			particular contact is to you
			(separate from a message's
			Priority)
		RelatedTos	(potentially could be used	CFString	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
			to associate people from
			the same company or
			family)
		TextContent	An indexed version of the	CFString	No	No	No	Yes
			Notes section
		UsedDates	The day/time in which the	CFDate	Yes	No	No	Yes
			contact entry was viewed
			in Address Book
Meeting	Item	Body	text, rich text or document	CFString	No			Yes
(TBD)			that represents the full
			content of the event
		Description	text describing the event	CFString	No			Yes
		EventTimes	time/date the event starts	CFDate	Yes			Yes
		Duration	The length of time that the	CFNumber	No			Yes
			meeting lasts
		Invitees	The list of people who are	CFString	Yes			Yes		Address
			invited to the meeting							Book
		Location	The name of the location	CFString	No			Yes
			where the meeting is
			taking place

[0052] One particular field which may be useful in the various metadata formats would be a field which includes an identifier of a plug in or other software element which may be used to capture metadata from a data file and/or export metadata back to the creator application.

[0053] Various different software architectures may be used to implement the functions and operations described herein. The following discussion provides one example of such an architecture, but it will be understood that alternative architectures may also be employed to achieve the same or similar results. The software architecture shown in FIG. 4 is an example which is based upon the Macintosh operating system. The architecture 400 includes a metadata processing software 401 and an operating system (OS) kernel 403 which is operatively coupled to the metadata processing software 401 for a notification mechanism which is described below. The metadata processing software 401 is also coupled to other software programs such as a file system graphical user interface software 405 (which may be the Finder), an email software 407, and other applications 409. These applications are coupled to the metadata processing software 401 through client application program interface 411 which provide a method for transferring data and commands between the metadata processing software 401 and the software 405, 407, and 409. These commands and data may include search parameters specified by a user as well as commands to perform searches from the user, which parameters and commands are passed to the metadata processing software 401 through the interface 411. The metadata processing software 401 is also coupled to a collection of importers 413 which extract data from various applications. In particular, in one exemplary embodiment, a text importer is used to extract text and other information from word processing or text processing files created by word processing programs such as Microsoft Word, etc. This extracted information is the metadata for a particular file. Other types of importers extract metadata from other types of files, such as image files or music files. In this particular embodiment, a particular importer is selected based upon the type of file which has been created and modified by an application program. For example, if the data file was created by PhotoShop, then an image importer for PhotoShop may be used to input the metadata from a PhotoShop data file into the metadata database 415 through the metadata processing software 401. On the other hand, if the data file is a word processing document, then an importer designed to extract metadata from a word processing document is called upon to extract the metadata from the word processing data file and place it into the metadata database 415 through the metadata processing software 401. Typically, a plurality of different importers may be required in order to handle the plurality of different application programs which are used in a typical computer system. The importers 413 may optionally include a plurality of exporters which are capable of exporting the extracted metadata for particular types of data files back to property sheets or other data components maintained by certain application programs. For example, certain application programs may maintain some metadata for each data file created by the program, but this metadata is only a subset of the metadata extracted by an importer from this type of data file. In this instance, the exporter may export back additional metadata or may simply insert metadata into blank fields of metadata maintained by the application program.

[0054] The software architecture 400 also includes a file system directory 417 for the metadata. This file system directory keeps track of the relationship between the data files and their metadata and keeps track of the location of the metadata object (e.g. a metadata file which corresponds to the data file from which it was extracted) created by each importer. In one exemplary embodiment, the metadata database is maintained as a flat file format as described below, and the file system directory 417 maintains this flat file format. One advantage of a flat file format is that the data is laid out on a storage device as a string of data without references between fields from one metadata file (corresponding to a particular data file) to another metadata file (corresponding to another data file). This arrangement of data will often result in faster retrieval of information from the metadata database 415.

[0055] The software architecture 400 of FIG. 4 also includes find by content software 419 which is operatively coupled to a database 421 which includes an index of files. The index of files represents at least a subset of the data files in a storage device and may include all of the data files in a particular storage device (or several storage devices), such as the main hard drive of a computer system. The index of files may be a conventional indexed representation of the content of each document. The find by content software 419 searches for words in that content by searching through the database 421 to see if a particular word exists in any of the data files which have been indexed. The find by content software functionality is available through the metadata processing software 401 which provides the advantage to the user that the user can search concurrently both the index of files in the database 421 (for the content within a file) as well as the metadata for the various data files being searched. The software architecture shown in FIG. 4 may be used to perform the method shown in FIG. 5 or alternative architectures may be used to perform the method of FIG. 5.

[0056] The method of FIG. 5 may begin in operation 501 in which a notification of a change for a file is received. This notification may come from the OS kernel 403 which notifies the metadata processing software 401 that a file has been changed. This notification may come from sniffer software elements which detect new or modified files and deletion of files. This change may be the creation of a new file or the modification of an existing file or the deletion of an existing file. The deletion of an existing file causes a special case of the processing method of FIG. 5 and is not shown in FIG. 5. In the case of a deletion, the metadata processing software 401, through the use of the file system directory 417, deletes the metadata file in the metadata database 415 which corresponds to the deleted file. The other types of operations, such as the creation of a new file or the modification of an existing file, causes the processing to proceed from operation 501 to operation 503 in which the type of file which is the subject of the notification is determined. The file may be an Acrobat PDF file or an RTF word processing file or a JPEG image file, etc. In any case, the type of the file is determined in operation 503. This may be performed by receiving from the OS kernel 403 the type of file along with the notification or the metadata processing software 401 may request an identification of the type of file from the file system graphical user interface software 405 or similar software which maintains information about the data file, such as the creator application or parent application of the data file. It will be understood that in one exemplary embodiment, the file system graphical user interface software 405 is the Finder program which operates on the Macintosh operating system. In alternative embodiments, the file system graphical user interface system may be Windows Explorer which operates on Microsoft's Windows operating system. After the type of file has been determined in operation 503, the appropriate capture software (e.g. one of the importers 413) is activated for the determined file type. The importers may be a plug-in for the particular application which created the type of file about which notification is received in operation 501. Once activated, the importer or capture software imports the appropriate metadata (for the particular file type) into the metadata database, such as metadata database 415 as shown in operation 507. Then in operation 509, the metadata is stored in the database. In one exemplary embodiment, it may be stored in a flat file format. Then in operation 511, the metadata processing software 401 receives search parameter inputs and performs a search of the metadata database (and optionally also causes a search of non-metadata sources such as the index of files 421) and causes the results of the search to be displayed in a user interface. This may be performed by exchanging information between one of the applications, such as the software 405 or the software 407 or the other applications 409 and the metadata processing software 401 through the interface 411. For example, the file system software 405 may present a graphical user interface, allowing a user to input search parameters and allowing the user to cause a search to be performed. This information is conveyed through the interface 411 to the metadata processing software 401 which causes a search through the metadata database 415 and also may cause a search through the database 421 of the indexed files in order to search for content within each data file which has been indexed. The results from these searches are provided by the metadata processing software 401 to the requesting application which, in the example given here, was the software 405, but it will be appreciated that other components of software, such as the email software 407, may be used to receive the search inputs and to provide a display of the search results. Various examples of the user interface for inputting search requests and for displaying search results are described herein and shown in the accompanying drawings.

[0057] It will be appreciated that the notification, if done through the OS kernel, is a global, system wide notification process such that changes to any file will cause a notification to be sent to the metadata processing software. It will also be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, each application program may itself generate the necessary metadata and provide the metadata directly to a metadata database without the requirement of a notification from an operating system kernel or from the intervention of importers, such as the importers 413. Alternatively, rather than using OS kernel notifications, an embodiment may use software calls from each application to a metadata processing software which receives these calls and then imports the metadata from each file in response to the call.

[0058] As noted above, the metadata database 415 may be stored in a flat file format in order to improve the speed of retrieval of information in most circumstances. The flat file format may be considered to be a non-B tree, non-hash tree format in which data is not attempted to be organized but is rather stored as a stream of data. Each metadata object or metadata file will itself contain fields, such as the fields shown in the examples of FIGS. 3A and 3B. However, there will typically be no relationship or reference or pointer from one field in one metadata file to the corresponding field (or another field) in the next metadata file or in another metadata file of the same file type. FIG. 6 shows an example of the layout in a flat file format of metadata. The format 601 includes a plurality of metadata files for a corresponding plurality of data files. As shown in FIG. 6, metadata file 603 is metadata from file 1 of application A and may be referred to as metadata file A1. Similarly, metadata file 605 is metadata from file 1 of application B and may be referred to as metadata file B1. Each of these metadata files typically would include fields which are not linked to other fields and which do not contain references or pointers to other fields in other metadata files. It can be seen from FIG. 6 that the metadata database of FIG. 6 includes metadata files from a plurality of different applications (applications A, B, and C) and different files created by each of those applications. Metadata files 607, 609, 611, and 617 are additional metadata files created by applications A, B, and C as shown in FIG. 6.

[0059] A flexible query language may be used to search the metadata database in the same way that such query languages are used to search other databases. The data within each metadata file may be packed or even compressed if desirable. As noted above, each metadata file, in certain embodiments, will include a persistent identifier which uniquely identifies its corresponding data file. This identifier remains the same even if the name of the file is changed or the file is modified. This allows for the persistent association between the particular data file and its metadata.

User Interface Aspects

[0060] Various different examples of user interfaces for inputting search parameters and for displaying search results are provided herein. It will be understood that some features from certain embodiments may be mixed with other embodiments such that hybrid embodiments may result from these combinations. It will be appreciated that certain features may be removed from each of these embodiments and still provide adequate functionality in many instances.

[0061] FIG. 7A shows a graphical user interface which is a window which may be displayed on a display device which is coupled to a data processing system such as a computer system. The window 701 includes a side bar having two regions 703A, which is a user-configurable region, and 703B, which is a region which is specified by the data processing system. Further details in connection with these side bar regions may be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/873,661, filed Jun. 21, 2004, and entitled “Methods and Apparatuses for Operating a Data Processing System,” by inventors Donald Lindsay and Bas Ording, attorney docket number 04860.P3306. The window 701 also includes a display region 705 which in this case displays the results of searches requested by the user. The window 701 also includes a search parameter menu bar 707 which includes configurable pull down menus 713, 715, and 717. The window 701 also includes a text entry region 709 which allows a user to enter text as part of the search query or search parameters. The button 711 may be a start search button which a user activates in order to start a search based upon the selected search parameters. Alternatively, the system may perform a search as soon as it receives any search parameter inputs or search queries from the user rather than waiting for a command to begin the search. The window 701 also includes a title bar 729 which may be used in conjunction with a cursor control device to move, in a conventional manner, the window around a desktop which is displayed on a display device. The window 701 also includes a close button 734, a minimize button 735, and a resize button 736 which may be used to close or minimize or resize, respectively, the window. The window 701 also includes a resizing control 731 which allows a user to modify the size of the window on a display device. The window 701 further includes a back button 732 and a forward button 733 which function in a manner which is similar to the back and forward buttons on a web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Safari. The window 701 also includes view controls which include three buttons for selecting three different types of views of the content within the display region 705. When the contents found in a search exceed the available display area of a display region 705, scroll controls, such as scroll controls 721, 722, and 723, appear within the window 701. These may be used in a conventional manner, for example, by dragging the scroll bar 721 within the scroll region 721A using conventional graphical user interface techniques.

[0062] The combination of text entry region 709 and the search parameter menu bar allow a user to specify a search query or search parameters. Each of the configurable pull down menus presents a user with a list of options to select from when the user activates the pull down menu. As shown in FIG. 7A, the user has already made a selection from the configurable pull down menu 713 to specify the location of the search, which in this case specifies that the search will occur on the local disks of the computer systems. Configurable pull down menu 715 has also been used by the user to specify the kind of document which is to be searched for, which in this case is an image document as indicated by the configurable pull down menu 715 which indicates “images” as the selected configuration of this menu and hence the search parameter which it specifies. The configurable pull down menu 717, as shown in FIG. 7A, represents an add search parameter pull down menu. This add search parameter pull down menu allows the user to add additional criteria to the search query to further limit the search results. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A, each of the search parameters is logically ANDed in a Boolean manner. Thus the current search parameter specified by the user in the state shown in FIG. 7A searches all local disks for all images, and the user is in the middle of the process of selecting another search criteria by having selected the add search criteria pull down menu 717, resulting in the display of the pull down menu 719, which has a plurality of options which may be selected by the user.

[0063] FIG. 7B shows the window 701 after the user has caused the selection of the time option within pull down menu 719, thereby causing the display of a submenu 719A which includes a list of possible times which the user may select from. Thus it appears that the user wants to limit the search to all images on all local disks within a certain period of time which is to be specified by making a selection within the submenu 719A.

[0064] FIG. 7C shows the window 701 on the display of a data processing system after the user has selected a particular option (in this case “past week”) from the submenu 719A. If the user accepts this selection, then the display shown in FIG. 7D results in which the configurable pull down menu 718 is displayed showing that the user has selected as part of the search criteria files that have been created or modified in the past week. It can be seen from FIG. 7D that the user can change the particular time selected from this pull down menu 718 by selecting another time period within the pull down menu 718A shown in FIG. 7D. Note that the configurable pull down menu 717, which represents an add search parameter menu, has now moved to the right of the configurable pull down menu 718. The user may add further search parameters by pressing or otherwise activating the configurable pull down menu 717 from the search parameter menu bar 707. If the user decides that the past week is the proper search criteria in the time category, then the user may release the pull down menu 718A from being displayed in a variety of different ways (e.g. the user may release the mouse button which was being depressed to keep the pull down menu 718A on the display). Upon releasing or otherwise dismissing the pull down menu 718A, the resulting window 701 shown in FIG. 7E then appears. There are several aspects of this user interface shown in FIG. 7A-7E which are worthy of being noted. The search parameters or search query is specified within the same window as the display of the search results. This allows the user to look at a single location or window to understand the search parameters and how they affected the displayed search results, and may make it easier for a user to alter or improve the search parameters in order to find one or more files. The configurable pull down menus, such as the add search parameter pull down menu, includes hierarchical pull down menus. An example of this is shown in FIG. 7B in which the selection of the time criteria from the pull down menu 717 results in the display of another menu, in this case a submenu 719A which may be selected from by the user. This allows for a compact presentation of the various search parameters while keeping the initial complexity (e.g. without submenus being displayed) at a lower level. Another useful aspect of the user interface shown in FIG. 7A-7E is the ability to reconfigure pull down menus which have previously been configured. Thus, for example, the configurable pull down menu 713 currently specifies the location of the search (in this case, all local disks), however, this may be modified by selecting the pull down region associated with the configurable pull down menu 713, causing the display of a menu of options indicating alternative locations which may be selected by the user. This can also be seen in FIG. 7D in which the past week option has been selected by the user (as indicated by “past week” being in the search parameter menu bar 707), but a menu of options shown in the pull down menu 718A allows the user to change the selected time from the “past week” to some other time criteria. Another useful aspect of this user interface is the ability to continue adding various search criteria by using the add search criteria pull down menu 717 and selecting a new criteria.

[0065] It will also be appreciated that the various options in the pull down menus may depend upon the fields within a particular type of metadata file. For example, the selection of “images” to be searched may cause the various fields present in the metadata for an image type file to appear in one or more pull down menus, allowing the user to search within one or more of those fields for that particular type of file. Other fields which do not apply to “images” types of files may not appear in these menus in order reduce the complexity of the menus and to prevent user confusion.

[0066] Another feature of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 7A-7E. In particular, the side bar region 703A, which is the user-configurable portion of the side bar, includes a representation of a folder 725 which represents the search results obtained from a particular search, which search results may be static or they may be dynamic in that, in certain instances, the search can be performed again to obtain results based on the current files in the system. The folder 725 in the example shown in FIGS. 7A-7E represents a search on a local disk for all images done on December 10^th. By selecting this folder in the side bar region 703A, the user may cause the display in the display region 705 of the results of that search. In this way, a user may retrieve a search result automatically by saving the search result into the side bar region 703A. One mechanism for causing a search result or a search query to be saved into the side bar region 703A is to select the add folder button 727 which appears in the bottom portion of the window 701. By selecting this button, the current search result or search query is saved as a list of files and other objects retrieved in the current search result. In the case where the search query is saved for later use rather than the saving of a search result, then the current search query is saved for re-use at a later time in order to find files which match the search query at that later time. The user may select between these two functionalities (saving a search result or saving a search query) by the selection of a command which is not shown.

[0067] FIGS. 8A and 8B show another aspect of a user interface feature which may be used with certain embodiments of the present invention. The window 801 of FIG. 8A represents a display of the search results which may be obtained as a result of using one of the various different embodiments of the present invention. The search results are separated into categories which are separated by headers 805, 807, 809, and 811 which in this case represent periods of time. This particular segmentation with headers was selected by the user's selecting the heading “date modified” using the date modified button 803 at the top of the window 801. An alternative selection of the kind category by selecting the button 802 at the top of the window 801A shown in FIG. 8B results in a different formatting of the search results which are now categorized by headers which indicate the types of files which were retrieved in the search and are separated by the headings 815, 817, 819, and 821 as shown in FIG. 8B. The use of these headings in the search results display allows the user to quickly scan through the search results in order to find the file.

[0068] FIG. 9 shows another aspect of the present invention that is illustrated as part of the window 901 shown in FIG. 9. This window includes a display region 905 which shows the results of the search and the window also includes two side bar regions 903A and 903B, where the side bar region 903A is the user-configurable portion and the side bar region 903B is the system controlled portion. A folder add button 927 may be selected by the user to cause the addition of a search result or a search query to be added to the user-configurable portion of the side bar. The window 901 also includes conventional window controls such as a title bar or region 929 which may be used to move the window around a display and view select buttons 937 and maximize, minimize and resize buttons 934, 935, and 936 respectively. The window 901 shows a particular manner in which the results of a text-based search may be displayed. A text entry region 909 is used to enter text for searching. This text may be used to search through the metadata files or the indexed files or a combination of both. The display region 905 shows the results of a search for text and includes at least two columns, 917 and 919, which provide the name of the file that was found and the basis for the match. As shown in column 919, the basis for the match may be the author field or a file name or a key word or comments or other data fields contained in metadata that was searched. The column 921 shows the text that was found which matches the search parameter typed into the text entry field 909. Another column 911 provides additional information with respect to the search results. In particular, this column includes the number of matches for each particular type of category or field as well as the total number of matches indicated in the entry 913. Thus, for example, the total number of matches found for the comments field is only 1, while other fields have a higher number of matches.

[0069] FIG. 10 shows certain other aspects of some embodiments of the present invention. Window 1001 is another search result window which includes various fields and menus for a user to select various search parameters or form a search query. The window 1001 includes a display region 1005 which may be used to display the results of a search and a user-configurable side bar portion 1003A and a system specified side bar portion 1003B. In addition, the window 1001 includes conventional scrolling controls such as controls 1021 and 1022 and 1021A. The window further includes conventional controls such as a title bar 1029 which may be used to move the window and view control buttons 1037 and maximize, minimize, and resize buttons 1034, 1035, and 1036. A start search button 1015 is near a text entry region 1009. A first search parameter menu bar 1007 is displayed adjacent to a second search parameter bar 1011. The first search parameter search bar 1007 allows a user to specify the location for a particular search while two menu pull down controls in the second search parameter menu bar 1011 allow the user to specify the type of file using the pull down menu 1012 and the time the file was created or last modified using the menu 1013.

[0070] The window 1001 includes an additional feature which may be very useful while analyzing a search result. A user may select individual files from within the display region 1005 and associate them together as one collection. Each file may be individually marked using a specific command (e.g. pressing the right button on a mouse and selecting a command from a menu which appears on the screen, which command may be “add selection to current group”) or similar such commands. By individually selecting such files or by selecting a group of files at once, the user may associate this group of files into a selected group or a “marked” group and this association may be used to perform a common action on all of the files in the group (e.g. print each file or view each file in a viewer window or move each file to a new or existing folder, etc.). A representation of this marked group appears as a folder in the user-configurable portion 1003A. An example of such a folder is the folder 1020 shown in the user-configurable portion 1003A. By selecting this folder (e.g. by positioning a cursor over the folder 1020 and pressing and releasing a mouse button or by pressing another button) the user, as a result of this selection, will cause the display within the display region 1005 of the files which have been grouped together or marked. Alternatively, a separate window may appear showing only the items which have been marked or grouped. This association or grouping may be merely temporary or it may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped and by keeping a folder 1020 or other representations of the grouping within the user-configurable side bar, such as the side bar 1003A. Certain embodiments may allow multiple, different groupings to exist at the same time, and each of these groupings or associations may be merely temporary (e.g. they exist only while the search results window is displayed), or they may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped within each separate group. It will be appreciated that the files within each group may have been created from different applications. As noted above, one of the groupings may be selected and then a user may select a command which performs a common action (e.g. print or view or move or delete) on all of the files within the selected group.

[0071] FIGS. 11A, 11B, 11C, and 11D show an alternative user interface for allowing a user to input search queries or search parameters. The user interface shown in these figures appears within the window 1101 which includes a user-configurable side bar region 1103A and a system specified side bar region 1103B. The window 1101 also includes traditional window controls such as a window resizing control 1131 which may be dragged in a conventional graphical user interface manner to resize the window, and the window further includes scrolling controls such as controls 1121, 1122, and 1123. The scrolling control 1121 may, for example, be dragged within the scrolling region 1121A or a scroll wheel on a mouse other input device may be used to cause scrolling within a display region 1105. Further, traditional window controls include the title bar 1129 which may be used to move the window around a desktop which is displayed on a display device of a computer system and the window also includes view buttons 1137 as well as close, minimize, and resize buttons 1134, 1135 and 1136. A back and forward button, such as the back button 1132, are also provided to allow the user to move back and forth in a manner which is similar to the back and forth commands in a web browser. The window 1101 includes a search parameter menu bar 1111 which includes a “search by” pull down menu 1112 and a “sort by” pull down menu 1114. The “search by” pull down menu 1112 allows a user to specify the particular search parameter by selecting from the options which appear in the pull down menu once it is activated as shown in FIG. 11B. In particular, the pull down menu 1113 shows one example of a pull down menu when the “search by” pull down menu 1112 has been activated. The “sort by” pull down menu 1114 allows a user to specify how the search results are displayed within a display region 1105. In the example shown in FIGS. 11A-11D a user has used the “sort by” pull down menu 1114 to select the “date viewed” criteria to sort the search results by. It should also be noted that the user may change the type of view of the search results by selecting one of the three view buttons 1137. For example, a user may select an icon view which is the currently selected button among the view buttons 1137, or the user may select a list view or a column view.

[0072] FIG. 11B shows the result of the user's activation of a “search by” pull down menu 1112 which causes the display of the menu 1113 which includes a plurality of options from which the user may choose to perform a search by. It will be appreciated that there are a number of different ways for a user to activate the “search by” pull down menu 1112. One way includes the use of a cursor, such as a pointer on a display which is controlled by a cursor control device, such as a mouse. The cursor is positioned over the region associated with the “search by” menu title (which is the portion within the search parameter menu bar 1111 which contains the words “search by”) and then the user indicates the selection of the menu title by pressing a button, such as a mouse's button, to cause the pull down menu to appear, which in this case is the menu 1113 shown in FIG. 11B. At this point, the user may continue to move the cursor to point to a particular option within the menu, such as the “time” option. This may result in the display of a submenu to the left or to the right of the menu 1113. This submenu may be similar to the submenu 719A or to the menu 1214 shown in FIG. 12A. If the “kind” option is selected in the menu 1113, the submenu may include a generic list of the different kinds of documents, such as images, photos, movies, text, music, PDF documents, email documents, etc. or the list may include references to specific program names such as PhotoShop, Director, Excel, Word, etc. or it may include a combination of generic names and specific names. FIG. 11C shows the result of the user having selected PhotoShop type of documents from a submenu of the “kind” option shown in menu 1113. This results in the display of the search parameter menu bar 1111A shown in FIG. 11C which includes a highlighted selection 1111B which indicates that the PhotoShop type of documents will be searched for. The search parameter menu bar 1111 appears below the search parameter menu bar 1111A as shown in FIG. 11C. The user may then specify additional search parameters by again using the “search by” pull down menu 1112 or by typing text into the text entry field 1109. For example, from the state of the window 1101 shown in FIG. 11C, the user may select the “search by” pull down menu 1112 causing the display of a menu containing a plurality of options, such as the options shown within the menu 1113 or alternative options such as those which relate to PhotoShop documents (e.g. the various fields in the metadata for PhotoShop type of documents). A combination of such fields contained within metadata for PhotoShop type documents and other generic fields (e.g. time, file size, and other parameters) may appear in a menu, such as the menu 1113 which is activated by selecting the “search by” pull down menu. The user may then select another criteria such as the time criteria. In this case, the window 1101 displays a new search parameter menu bar 1115 which allows a user to specify a particular time. The user may select one of the times on the menu bar 1115 or may activate a pull down menu by selecting the menu title “time,” which is shown as the menu title 1116. The state of the window 1101 shown in FIG. 11D would then search for all PhotoShop documents created in the last 30 days or 7 days or 2 days or today or at any time, depending on the particular time period selected by the user.

[0073] FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D show another example of a user interface for allowing the creation of search queries for searching metadata and other data and for displaying the results of the search performed using a search query. The different implementation shown in FIGS. 12A-12D shows a user interface presentation in a column mode; this can be seen by noting the selection of the column button, which is the rightmost button in the view buttons 1237 shown in FIG. 12A. The window 1201 has two columns 1211 and the display region 1205, while the window 1251 of FIG. 12C has three columns which are columns 1257, 1259, and the display region 1255, and the window 1271 has three columns which are columns 1277, 1279, and the display region 1275.

[0074] The window 1201 shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B includes a display region 1205 which shows the results of a search; these results may be shown dynamically as the user enters search parameters or the results may be shown only after the user has instructed the system to perform the search (e.g. by selecting a “perform search” command). The window 1201 includes conventional window controls, such as a resizing control 1231, a scrolling control 1221, a title bar 1229 which may be used to move the window, a window close button, a window minimize button, and a window resize button 1234, 1235, and 1236, respectively. The window 1201 also includes a user-configurable side bar region 1203A and a system specified side bar region 1203B. It can be seen from FIG. 12A that a browse mode has been selected as indicated by the highlighted “browse” icon 1203C in the system specified side bar region 1203B. The window 1201 also includes a text entry region 1209, which a user may use to enter text for a search, and the window 1201 also includes view selector buttons 1237.

[0075] A column 1211 of window 1201 allows a user to select various search parameters by selecting one of the options which in turn causes the display of a submenu that corresponds to the selected option. In the case of FIG. 12A, the user has selected the “kind” option 1212 then has used the submenu 1214 to select the “photos” option from the submenu, resulting in an indicator 1213 (photos) to appear in the column 1211 under the “kind” option as shown in FIG. 12A. It can also be seen that the user has previously selected the “time” option in the column 1211 and has selected from a submenu brought up when the “time” option was selected the “past week” search parameter. When the user has finished making selections of the various options and suboptions from both the column 1112 and any of the corresponding submenus which appear, then the display showed in FIG. 12B appears. Note that the submenus are no longer present and that the user has completed the selection of the various options and suboptions which specify the search parameters. Column 1211 in FIG. 12B provides feedback to the user indicating the exact nature of the search query (in this case a search for all photos dated in the past week), and the results which match the search query are shown in the display region 1205.

[0076] FIGS. 12C and 12D show an alternative embodiment in which the submenus which appear on a temporary basis in the embodiment of FIGS. 12A and 12B are replaced by an additional column which does not disappear after a selection is made. In particular, the column 1259 of the window 1251 functions in the same manner as the submenu 1214 except that it remains within the window 1251 after a selection is made (wherein the submenu 1214 is removed from the window after the user makes the selection from the submenu). The column 1279 of window 1271 of FIG. 12D is similar to the column 1259. The window 1251 includes a side bar which has a user-configurable side bar region 1253A and a system defined side bar region 1253B. The system specified side bar region 1253B includes a “browse” selection region 1254 which has a clear button 1258 which the user may select to clear the current search query. The window 1271 of FIG. 12D provides an alternative interface for clearing the search query. The window 1271 also includes a user configurable side bar region 1273A and a system specified side bar region 1273B, but the clear button, rather than being with the “search” region 1274 is at the top of the column 1277. The user may clear the current search parameter by selecting the button 1283 as shown in FIG. 12D.

[0077] FIG. 13A shows another embodiment of a window 1301 which displays search results within a display region 1302. The window 1301 may be a closeable, minimizeable, resizeable, and moveable window having a resizing control 1310, a title bar 1305 which may be used to move the window, a text entry region 1306 and a user configurable portion 1303, and a system specified portion 1304. The window 1301 further includes buttons for selecting various views, including an icon view, a list view, and a column view. Currently, the list view button 1316 has been selected, causing the display of the search results in a list view manner within the display region 1302. It can be seen that the text (“button”) has been entered into the text entry region 1306 and this has caused the system to respond with the search results shown in the display region 1302. The user has specified a search in every location by selecting “everywhere” button 1317. Further, the user has searched for any kind of document by selecting the “kind” option from the pull down menu 1315 and by selecting the “any” option in the pull down menu 1319. The where or location slice 1307 includes a “+” button which may be used to add further search parameters, and similarly, the slice 1308 includes a “+” and a “−” button for adding or deleting search parameters, respectively. The slice 1307 further includes a “save” button 1309 which causes the current search query to be saved in the form of a folder which is added to the user configurable portion 1303 for use later. This is described further below and may be referred to as a “smart folder.” The search input user interface shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B is available within, in certain embodiments, each and every window controlled by a graphical user interface file management system, such as a Finder program which runs on the Macintosh or Windows Explorer which runs on Microsoft Windows. This interface includes the text entry region 1306 as well as the slices 1307 and 1308.

[0078] The window 1301 shown in FIG. 13B shows the activation of a menu by selecting the search button 1323A, causing a display of a menu having two entries 1323 and 1325. Entry 1323 displays recently performed searches so that a user may merely recall a prior search by selecting the prior search and cause the prior search to be run again. The menu selection 1325 allows the user to clear the list of recent searches in the menu.

[0079] FIGS. 14A, 14B, and 14C show examples of another window in a graphical user interface file system, such as the Finder which runs on the Macintosh operating system. These windows show the results of a particular search and also the ability to save and use a smart folder which saves a prior search. The window 1401 shown in FIG. 14A includes a display region 1403, a user configurable region 1405, a smart folder 1406, a system specified region 1407, an icon view button 1409, a list view button 1410, and a column view button 1411. The window 1401 also includes a text entry region 1415 and a location slice 1416 which may be used to specify the location for the search, which slice also includes a save button 1417. Additional slices below the slice 1416 allow the user to specify further details with respect to the search, in this case specifying types of documents which are images which were last viewed this week. The user has set the search parameters in this manner by selecting the “kind” option from the pull down menu 1419 and by selecting the “images” type from the pull down menu 1420 and by selecting the “last viewed” option from pull down menu 1418 and by selecting “this week” from the pull down menu 1422. The user has also selected “everywhere” by selecting the button 1421 so that the search will be performed on all disks and storage devices connected to this system. The results are shown within the display region 1403. The user can then save the search query by selecting the “save” button 1417 and may name the saved search query as “this week's images” to produce the smart folder 1406 as shown in the user configurable portion 1405. This allows the user to repeat this search at a later time by merely selecting the smart folder 1406 which causes the system to perform a new search again, and all data which matches the search criteria will be displayed within the display region 1403. Thus, after several weeks, a repeating of this search by selecting the smart folder 1406 will produce an entirely different list if none of the files displayed in the display region 1403 of FIG. 14A are viewed in the last week from the time in which the next search is performed by selecting the smart folder 1406.

[0080] FIG. 14B shows a way in which a user may sort or further search within the search results specified by a saved search, such as a smart folder. In the case of FIG. 14B, the user has selected the smart folder 1406 and has then entered text “jpg” 1425 in the text entry region 1415. This has caused the system to filter or further limit the search results obtained from the search query saved as the smart folder 1406. Thus, PhotoShop files and other files such as TIF files and GIF files are excluded from the search results displayed within the display region 1403 of FIG. 14B because the user has excluded those files by adding an additional search criteria specified by the text 1425 in the text entry region 1415. It can be seen that the “jpg” text entry is ANDed logically with the other search parameters to achieve the search results displayed in the display region 1403. It can also be seen that the user has selected the icon view by selecting the icon view button 1409. Thus, it is possible for a user to save a search query and use it later and to further limit the results of the search query by performing a search on the results of the search query to further limit the search results.

[0081] FIG. 14C shows the window 1401 and shows the search results displayed within the display region 1403, where the results are based upon the saved search specified by the smart folder 1406. The user has caused a pull down menu 1427 to appear by selecting the pull down region 1427A. The pull down region 1427 includes several options which a user may select. These options include hiding the search criteria or saving the search (which is similar to selecting the button 1417) or showing view options or opening the selected file. This allows the user, for example, to hide the search criteria, thereby causing the slice 1416 and the other search parameters to be removed from the window 1401 which is a moveable, resizeable, minimizeable, and closeable window.

[0082] FIG. 14D shows an example of a user interface which allows the user to specify the appearance of a smart folder, such as the smart folder 1406.

[0083] FIGS. 15A, 15B, 15C, and 15D show an example of a system wide search input user interface and search result user interface. In one particular exemplary embodiment, these user interfaces are available on the entire system for all applications which run on the system and all files and metadata, and even address book entries within an address book program, such as a personal information manager, and calendar entries within a calendar program, and emails within an email program, etc. In one exemplary embodiment, the system begins performing the search and begins displaying the results of the search as the user types text into a text entry field, such as the text entry field 1507. The search results are organized by categories and are displayed as a short list which is intentionally abbreviated in order to present only a selected number of the most relevant (scored) matches or hits to the search query. The user can ask for the display of all the hits by selecting a command, such as the “show all” command 1509. FIG. 15A shows a portion of a display controlled by a data processing system. This portion includes a menu bar 1502 which has at its far end a search menu command 1505. The user can select the search menu command by positioning a cursor, using a mouse, for example, over the search menu command 1505 and by pressing a button or by otherwise activating or selecting a command. This causes a display of a text entry region 1507 into which a user can enter text. In the example shown in FIG. 15A, which is a portion of the display, the user has entered the text “shakeit” causing the display of a search result region immediately below a “show all” command region 1509 which is itself immediately below the text entry region 1507. It can be seen that the hits or matches are grouped into categories (“documents” and “PDF documents”) shown by categories 1511 and 1513 within the search result region 1503. FIG. 15B shows another example of a search. In this case, a large number of hits was obtained (392 hits), only a few of which are shown in the search result region 1503. Again, the hits are organized by categories 1511 and 1513. Each category may be restricted in terms of the number of items displayed within the search result region 1503 in order to permit the display of multiple categories at the same time within the search result region. For example, the number of hits in the documents category may greatly exceed the available display space within the search result region 1503, but the hits for this category are limited to a predetermined or dynamically determinable number of entries within the search result region 1503 for the category 1511. An additional category, “top hit” is selected based on a scoring or relevancy using techniques which are known in the art. The user may select the “show all” command 1509 causing the display of a window, such as window 1601 shown in FIG. 16A. FIG. 15C shows a display of a graphical user interface of one embodiment of the invention which includes the menu bar 1502 and the search menu command 1505 on the menu bar 1502. FIG. 15D shows another example of the search result region 1503 which appeared after a search of the term “safari” was entered into the text entry region 1507. It can be seen from the search result region 1503 of FIG. 15D that the search results are again grouped into categories. Another search result window 1520 is also shown in the user interface of FIG. 15D. It can be seen that application programs are retrieved as part of the search results, and a user may launch any one of these application programs by selecting it from the search result region, thereby causing the program to be launched.

[0084] FIGS. 16A and 16B show examples of search result windows which may be caused to appear by selecting the “show all” command 1509 in FIG. 15A or 15B. Alternatively, these windows may appear as a result of the user having selected a “find” command or a some other command indicating that a search is desired. Moreover, the window 1601 shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B may appear in response to either of the selection of a show all command or the selection of a find command. The window 1601 includes a text entry region 1603, a group by menu selection region 1605, a sort by menu selection region 1607, and a where menu selection region 1609. The group by selection region 1605 allows a user to specify the manner in which the items in the search results are grouped according to. In the example shown in FIG. 16A, the user has selected the “kind” option from the group by menu selection region 1605, causing the search results to be grouped or sorted according to the kind or type of document or file. It can be seen that the type of file includes “html” files, image files, PDF files, source code files, and other types of files as shown in FIG. 16A. Each type or kind of document is separated from the other documents by being grouped within a section and separated by headers from the other sections. Thus, headers 1611, 1613, 1615, 1617, 1619, 1621, and 1623 designate each of the groups and separate one group from the other groups. This allows a user to focus on evaluating the search results according to certain types of documents. Within each group, such as the document groups or the folder groups, the user has specified that the items are to be sorted by date, because the user has selected the date option within the sort by menu region 1607. The user has also specified that all storage locations are to be searched by selecting “everywhere” from the where menu selection region 1609. Each item in the search result list includes an information button 1627 which may be selected to produce the display of additional information which may be available from the system. An example of such additional information is shown in FIG. 17 in which a user has selected the information button 1627 for item 1635, resulting in the display of an image 1636 corresponding to the item as well as additional information 1637. Similarly, the user has selected the information button for another item 1630 to produce the display of an image of the item 1631 as well as additional information 1632. The user may remove this additional information from the display by selecting the close button 1628 which causes the display of the information for item 1635 to revert to the appearance for that item shown in FIG. 16A. The user may collapse an entire group to hide the entries or search results from that group by selecting the collapse button 1614 shown in FIG. 16A, thereby causing the disappearance of the entries in this group as shown in FIG. 16B. The user may cause these items to reappear by selecting the expand button 1614A as shown in FIG. 16B to thereby revert to the display of the items as shown in FIG. 16A.

[0085] The search results user interface shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B presents only a limited number of matches or hits within each category. In the particular example of these figures, only the five top (most relevant or most highly sorted) hits are displayed. This can be seen by noticing the entry at the bottom of each list within a group which specifies how many more hits are within that group; these hits can be examined by selecting this indicator, such as indicator 1612, which causes the display of all of the items in the documents category or kind for the search for “button” which was entered into the text entry region 1603. Further examples of this behavior are described below and are shown in conjunction with FIGS. 18A and 18B. It will be appreciated that window 1601 is a closeable and resizable and moveable window and includes a close button and a resizing control 1625A.

[0086] FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate another window 1801 which is very similar to the window 1601. The window 1801 includes a text entry region 1803, a group by menu selection region 1805, a sort by menu selection region 1807, and a where menu selection region 1809, each of which function in a manner which is similar to the regions 1605, 1607, and 1609 respectively of FIG. 16A. Each item in a list view within the window 1801 includes an information button 1827, allowing a user to obtain additional information beyond that listed for each item shown in the window 1801. The window 1801 further includes headers 1811, 1813, 1815, 1817, 1819, 1821, and 1823 which separate each group of items, grouped by the type or kind of document, and sorted within each group by date, from the other groups. A collapse button 1814 is available for each of the headers. The embodiment shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B shows the ability to switch between several modes of viewing the information. For example, the user may display all of the hits within a particular group by selecting the indicator 1812 shown in FIG. 18A which results in the display of all of the images files within the window 1801 within the region 1818A. The window is scrollable, thereby allowing the user to scroll through all the images. The user can revert back to the listing of only five of the most relevant images by selecting the “show top 5” button 1832 shown in FIG. 18B. Further, the user can select between a list view or an icon view for the images portion shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B. The user may select the list view by selecting the list view button 1830 or may select the icon view by selecting the icon view button 1831. The list view for the images group is shown in FIG. 16A and the icon view for the images group is shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B. It can be seen that within a single, moveable, resizable, closeable search result window, that there are two different views (e.g. a list view and an icon view) which are concurrently shown within the window. For example, the PDF documents under the header 1819 are displayed in a list view while the images under the header 1817 are displayed in an icon view in FIGS. 18A and 18B. It can also be seen from FIGS. 18A and 18B that each image is shown with a preview which may be capable of live resizing as described in a patent application entitled “Live Content Resizing” by inventors Steve Jobs, Steve Lemay, Jessica Kahn, Sarah Wilkin, David Hyatt, Jens Alfke, Wayne Loofbourrow, and Bertrand Serlet, filed on the same date as this application, and being assigned to the assignee of the present inventions described herein, and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

[0087] FIG. 19A shows another example of a search result window which is similar to the window 1601. The window 1901 shown in FIG. 19A includes a text entry region 1903 and a group by menu selection region 1905 and a sort by menu selection region 1907 and a where menu selection region 1908. Further, the window includes a close button 1925 and a resizing control 1925A. Text has been entered into the text entry region 1903 to produce the search results shown in the window 1901. The search results again are grouped by a category selected by a user which in this case is the people options 1906. This causes the headers 1911, 1913, 1915, and 1917 to show the separation of the groups according to names of people. Within each group, the user has selected to sort by the date of the particular file or document. The user interface shown in FIG. 19A allows a user to specify an individual's name and to group by people to look for communications between two people, for example. FIG. 19B shows another way in which a user can group a text search (“imran”) in a manner which is different from that shown in FIG. 19A. In the case of FIG. 19B, the user has selected a flat list from the group by menu selection region 1905 and has selected “people” from the sort by menu region 1907. The resulting display in window 1901A is without headers and thus it appears as a flat list.

[0088] FIG. 19C shows the user interface of another search result window 1930 which includes a text entry region 1903 and the selection regions 1905, 1907, and 1908 along with a scrolling control 1926. The results shown in the window 1930 have been grouped by date and sorted within each group by date. Thus, the headers 1932, 1934, 1936, 1938, and 1940 specify time periods such as when the document was last modified (e.g. last modified today, yesterday, or last week). Also shown within the search results window 1930 is the information button 1942 which may be selected to reveal further information, such as an icon 1945 and additional information 1946 as shown for one entry under the today group. This additional information may be removed by selecting the contraction button 1944.

[0089] FIG. 19D shows a search result window 1950 in which a search for the text string “te” is grouped by date but the search was limited to a “home” folder as specified in the where menu selection region 1908. Time specific headers 1952, 1954, 1956, and 1958 separate items within one group from the other groups as shown in FIG. 19D.

[0090] FIG. 19E shows an alternative embodiment of a search result window. In this embodiment, the window 1970 includes elements which are similar to window 1901 such as the selection regions 1905, 1907, and a scrolling control 1926 as well as a close button 1925 and a resizing control 1925A. The search result window 1970 further includes a “when” menu selection region 1972 which allows the user to specify a search parameter based on time in addition to the text entered into the text entry region 1903. It can be seen from the example shown in FIG. 19E that the user has decided to group the search results by the category and to sort within each group by date. This results in the headers 1973, 1975, 1977, and 1979 as shown in FIG. 19E.

[0091] FIG. 20 shows an exemplary method of operating a system wide menu for inputting search queries, such as the system wide menu available by selecting the search menu command 1505 shown in FIG. 15A or 15B, or 15C. In operation 2001, the system displays a system wide menu for inputting search queries. This may be the search menu command 1505. The user, in operation 2003, inputs a search, and as the search query is being inputted, the system begins performing and begins displaying the search results before the user finishes inputting the search query. This gives immediate feedback and input to the user as the user enters this information. The system is, in operation 2005, performing a search through files, metadata for the files, emails within an email program, address book entries within an address book program, calendar entries within a calendar program, etc. The system then, in operation 2007, displays an abbreviated (e.g. incomplete) list of hits if there are more than a certain number of hits. An example of this abbreviated listing is shown in FIG. 15B. The listing may be sorted by relevance and segregated into groups such as categories or types of documents. Then in operation 2009, the system receives a command from the user to display all the hits and in operation 2011 the system displays the search results window, such as the window 1601 shown in FIG. 16A. This window may have the ability to display two different types of views, such as an icon view and a list view within the same closeable, resizable, and moveable window. It will be appreciated that the searching, which is performed as the user is typing and the displaying of results as the user is typing may include the searching through the metadata files created from metadata extracted from files created by many different types of software programs.

[0092] FIGS. 21, and 22A, 22B, 22C, and 22D will now be referred to while describing another aspect of the inventions. This aspect relates to a method of selecting a group of files, such as a group of individual data files. In an exemplary method of this aspect, a data processing system receives a selection of a plurality of items, such as data files, folders (e.g. graphical user interface representations of subdirectories), application programs or a combination of one or more of these items. This selection may be performed by one of the many conventional ways to select a plurality of items such as (a) positioning a cursor at each item individually (e.g. through the movement of a mouse) and indicating a selection individually by, for example, pressing and releasing a button, such as a mouse's button; (b) pointing a cursor at a first item in a list and indicating a selection of the first item and pointing the cursor at a last item in a list of items and indicating a selection of all items from the first item to the last item in the list; (c) drawing a selection rectangle by a dragging operation of the cursor, etc. Thus operation 2101 shown in FIG. 21 receives one or more inputs indicating a selection of a plurality of items. The system in operation 2103 receives a command requesting both the creation of a new storage facility (e.g. a folder) and an association of the plurality of items with the new storage facility. While the operation 2103 is shown following operation 2101, in certain embodiments operation 2103 may precede operation 2101. The association of operation 2103 may be a copy or a move operation. For example, the user may select multiple items and then command the system to move those items from their existing locations to a new folder which is created in one operation as a result of the move and create new folder command. In response to the command received in operation 2103, the system creates a new storage facility, such as a new folder, with a predetermined directory path name or a user specified path name and the system further associates the selected plurality of items with the new storage facility. This association may be either a move or a copy operation. A copy operation would typically involve making a copy of each selected item and storing the item with a path name that reflects the storage of the item within the new folder having a predetermined directory path name or a user specified directory path name. A move operation, in which the items are moved into the new folder, may merely change the path names associated with each of the selected items (rather than making a copy of the items) which changed path names will reflect the new file system location (e.g. within the subdirectory of the new folder) of the selected items.

[0093] FIGS. 22A-22D show one example of the method of FIG. 21. A desktop 2201 on a display device is shown containing multiple windows and also an icon 2227 on the desktop. A cursor 2211 is also shown on the desktop. The windows 2203, 2205, and 2207 each contain a plurality of items shown as icons. In particular, window 2203 includes a data file represented by icon 2215 in a folder (e.g. a graphical representation of a subdirectory in a file storage system) represented by icon 2217. The window 2205 includes a program icon 2223 and a document icon 2219 and another document icon 2225 and a folder icon 2221. The window 2207 shows a list view of several files including “File B.” The user may then, using the cursor 2211 or using other conventional user interface techniques, select multiple items. This may be done with one input or more inputs which indicate the selection of multiple items. FIG. 22B shows the result of the user having selected icons 2215, 2217, 2223, 2225, 2227, and “File B” in window 2207. It can be seen that the cursor 2211 is positioned adjacent to the icon 2225 at this point in the operation. Then the user, after having selected a plurality of items, may invoke the command referred to in operation 2103. An example of this is shown in FIG. 22C which represents a portion of the desktop 2101, which portion is designated 2201A as shown in FIG. 22C. The user has caused a pop up menu 2230 to appear, which pop up menu includes three options 2231, 2232, and 2233. Option 2231 would allow a user to move all the selected items into the trash (e.g. delete them) while options 2232 and 2233 relate to the command referred to in operation 2103 of FIG. 21. In particular, option 2232 is a command which is selectable by the user to create a new folder and, in the same operation, move the items which have been selected into the new folder. Option 2233 is a command which allows the user to, in one operation, create a new folder and copy the selected items into the new folder. In the example shown in FIGS. 22A-22D, the user will select option 2232, thereby causing the system to create a new storage facility, such as a new folder with a predetermined directory name (e.g. “new folder”) or alternatively, a user specified path name. This result is shown in FIG. 22D in which the desktop 2201 now includes a new window labeled “new folder” which represents and shows the contents of this new folder, which is also shown as the folder 2253 which is a graphical user interface representation of this new folder.

[0094] It will be appreciated that this method may employ various alternatives. For example, a window may appear after the command option 2232 or 2233 has been selected, and this window asks for a name for the new folder. This window may display a default name (e.g. “new folder”) in case the user does not enter a new name. Alternatively, the system may merely give the new folder or new storage facility a default path name. Also, the system may merely create the new folder and move or copy the items into the new folder without showing the new window as shown in FIG. 22D.

Exemplary Processes for Generating Metadata

[0095] According to certain embodiments of the invention, the metadata that can be searched, for example, to locate or identify a file, may include additional metadata generated based on the original metadata associated with the file and/or at least a portion of content of the file, which may not exist in the original metadata and/or content of the file. In one embodiment, the additional metadata may be generated via an analysis performed on the original metadata and/or at least a portion of the content of the file. The additional metadata may capture a higher level concept or broader scope information regarding the content of the file.

[0096] For example, according to one embodiment, if a text file or a word document contains first metadata or content of “Nike” (e.g., a shoe designer), “Callaway” (e.g., a golf club designer), and “Tiger Woods” (e.g., a professional golf player), based on an analysis on these terms, additional metadata (e.g., second metadata) generated may include “Golf” and/or “PGA Tournament”, etc., although the additional metadata may not exist in the file's content of metadata. Subsequently, when a search is conducted on a term such as “golf”, the file may be identified since the file contains the first metadata (e.g., “Nike”, “Callaway”, and “Tiger Woods”) likely related to the term being searched (e.g., golf). As a result, although a user searches a term that is not contained in the file, the file may still be identified as a part of a search result because the file contains certain terms that are considered related to the term being searched based on an analysis.

[0097] In at least certain embodiments, a file is analyzed algorithmically in order to derive or generate metadata for the file and this metadata is added to a metadata database, such as metadata database 415 of FIG. 4. The analysis may be based on algorithms which analyze the contents of the file or metadata imported or otherwise obtained from the file (prior to the analysis) or a combination of both contents of the file and the metadata imported or otherwise obtained from the file (prior to the analysis). This analysis may generate either the only set of metadata for the file or a second set of metadata if metadata is imported or otherwise obtained from the file (prior to the analysis).

[0098] FIG. 23 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system for processing metadata according to one embodiment. Exemplary system 2300 may be implemented as software, hardware, or a combination of both. For example, exemplary system 2300 may be implemented within a data processing system such as exemplary system 101 of FIG. 1. Alternatively, exemplary system 2300 may be implemented as a part of metadata processing software 401 of FIG. 4.

[0099] In one embodiment, exemplary system 2300 includes, but is not limited to, a metadata importer to extract at least a portion of content and metadata from a file to generate (e.g., import) a first set of metadata, and a metadata analyzer coupled to the metadata importer to perform a metadata analysis on the first set of metadata to generate a second set of metadata. In certain embodiments, a content analyzer may analyze the content (e.g. text) of a file to generate metadata which is added to a metadata database, such as metadata database 2303. The second set of metadata may include at least one metadata that is not included in the first set of metadata, where the second set of metadata is suitable to be searched to identify or locate the file.

[0100] Referring to FIG. 23, according to one embodiment, exemplary system 2300 includes, a metadata analysis module 2301 communicatively coupled to a metadata importer 2302 and a metadata database 2303. In one embodiment, the metadata analysis module 2301 may be implemented as a part of the metadata processing module 401 of FIG. 4, which may be implemented software, hardware, or a combination of both. The metadata importer 2302 may be implemented as a part of metadata importer 413 of FIG. 4. The metadata database 2303 may be implemented as a part of metadata database 415 of FIG. 4.

[0101] In one embodiment, the metadata importer 2302 receives a file containing metadata associated with the file and extracts at least a portion of the metadata and content of the file to generate a first metadata set 2305. File 2304 may be one of the various types of files including, but are not limited to, the following types of files:

• • [0102] Plain text, rich text format (RTF) files
  • [0103] JPEG, PNG, TIFF, EXIF, and/or GIF images
  • [0104] MP3 and/or AAC audio files
  • [0105] QuickTime movies
  • [0106] Portable document format (PDF) files
  • [0107] Word and/or spreadsheet documents (e.g., Microsoft Word or Excel documents)
  • [0108] Chatting documents (e.g., iChat transcripts)
  • [0109] Email messages (e.g., Apple Xmail)
  • [0110] Address Book contacts
  • [0111] Calendar files (e.g., iCal calendar files)
  • [0112] Video clip (e.g., QuickTime movies)

[0113] In one embodiment, metadata importer 2302 may be an importer dedicated to import certain types of documents. Metadata importer 2302 may be a third party application or driver that is dedicated to import the metadata from a particular file format produced by the third party application or drives. For example, metadata importer 2302 may be a PDF metadata importer that is dedicated to import metadata from a PDF file and the metadata importer 2302 may be designed and/or provided by a PDF file designer (e.g., Adobe System) or its partners. The metadata importer 2302 may be communicatively coupled to the metadata analysis module via an API (application programming interface) such as, for example, as a plug-in application or driver.

[0114] In response to the first metadata set 2305, according to one embodiment, the metadata analysis module 2301 performs an analysis (e.g., a semantic analysis) on the first metadata set 2305 and generates additional metadata, a second metadata set 2306. At least a portion of the first and/or second metadata sets may then be stored in the metadata database 2303 in a manner suitable to be searched to identify or locate the file subsequently, using one of the techniques described above. In addition to generating a second metadata set, or as an alternative to generating the second metadata set, a content analyzer may analyze the content of a file and generate metadata which is added to metadata database 2303.

[0115] In one embodiment, the metadata analysis module 2301 may perform the analysis using a variety of analytical techniques including, but not limited to, the following techniques:

• • [0116] Latent semantic analysis (LSA)
  • [0117] Tokenization
  • [0118] Stemming
  • [0119] Concept extraction
  • [0120] Spectrum analysis and/or filtering
  • [0121] Optical character recognition (OCR)
  • [0122] Voice recognition (also referred to as speech-to-text operations)

[0123] Latent semantic analysis (LSA) is a statistical model of words usage that permits comparisons of the semantic similarity between pieces of textual information. LSA was originally designed to improve the effectiveness of information retrieval (IR) methods by performing retrieval based on the derived “semantic” content of words in a query as opposed to performing direct word matching. This approach avoids some of the problem of synonymy, in which different words can be used to describe the same semantic concept.

[0124] The primary assumption of LSA is that there is some underlying or “latent” structure in the pattern of word usage across documents, and that statistical techniques can be used to estimate this latent structure. The term “document” in this case, can be thought of as contexts in which words occur and also could be smaller text segments such as individual paragraphs or sentences. Through an analysis of the associations among words and documents, the method produces a representation in which words that are used in similar contexts will be more semantically associated.

[0125] Typically, in order to analyze a text, LSA first generates a matrix of occurrences of each word in each document (e.g., sentences or paragraphs). LSA then uses singular-value decomposition (SVD), a technique closely related to eigenvector decomposition and factor analysis. The SVD scaling decomposes the word-by-document matrix into a set of k, typically ranging from 100 to 300, orthogonal factors from which the original matrix can be approximated by linear combination. Instead of representing documents and terms directly as vectors of independent words, LSA represents them as continuous values on each of the k orthogonal indexing dimensions derived from the SVD analysis. Since the number of factors or dimensions is much smaller than the number of unique terms, words will not be independent. For example, if two terms are used in similar contexts (documents), they will have similar vectors in the reduced-dimensional LSA representation. One advantage of this approach is that matching can be done between two pieces of textual information, even if they have no words in common.

[0126] For example, to illustrate this, if the LSA was trained on a large number of documents, including the following two:

[0127] 1) The U.S.S. Nashville arrived in Colon harbor with 42 marines

[0128] 2) With the warship in Colon harbor, the Colombian troops withdrew.

[0129] The vector for the word “warship” would be similar to that of the word “Nashville” because both words occur in the same context of other words such as “Colon” and “harbor”. Thus, the LSA technique automatically captures deeper associative structure than simple term-term correlations and clusters. One can interpret the analysis performed by SVD geometrically. The result of the SVD is a k-dimensional vector space containing a vector for each term and each document. The location of term vectors reflects the correlations in their usage across documents. Similarly, the location of document vectors reflects correlations in the terms used in the documents. In this space the cosine or dot product between vectors corresponds to their estimated semantic similarity. Thus, by determining the vectors of two pieces of textual information, the semantic similarity between them can be determined.

[0130] Tokenization is a process of converting a string of characters into a list of words and other significant elements. However, in most cases, morphological variants of words have similar semantic interpretations and can be considered as equivalent for the purpose of IR applications. For this reason, a number of so-called stemming algorithms, or stemmers, have been developed, which attempt to reduce a word to its stem or root form. Thus, the key terms of a query or document are represented by stems rather than by the original words. This not only means that different variants of a term can be conflated to a single representative form, it also reduces the dictionary size (e.g., the number of distinct terms needed for representing a set of documents). A smaller dictionary size results in a saving of storage space and processing time.

[0131] At least for certain embodiments, it does not usually matter whether the stems generated are genuine words or not. Thus, “computation” might be stemmed to “comput”, provided that (a) different words with the same base meaning are conflated to the same form, and (b) words with distinct meanings are kept separately. An algorithm, which attempts to convert a word to its linguistically correct root (“compute” in this case), is sometimes called a lemmatiser. Examples of stemming algorithms may include, but are not limited to, Paice/Husk, Porter, Lovins, Dawson, and Krovetz stemming algorithms. Typically, once the sentences of a document have been processed into a list of words, LSA may be applied to the words.

[0132] Concept extraction is a technique used for mining textual information based on finding common “themes” or “concept” in a given document. Concept extraction technique may also be used to extract some semantic features from raw text which are then linked together in a structure which represents the text's thematic content. Content extraction technique may be combined with LSA to analyze the first metadata set and generate the second metadata set, according to one embodiment.

[0133] A spectrum is normally referred to as a range of color or a function of frequency or wavelength, which may represent electromagnetic energy. The word spectrum also takes on the obvious analogous meaning in reference to other sorts of waves, such as sound wave, or other sorts of decomposition into frequency components. Thus, a spectrum is a usually a two-dimensional plot of a compound signal, depicting the components by another measure. For example, frequency spectrum is a result of Fourier-related transform of a mathematical function into a frequency domain.

[0134] According to one embodiment, spectrum analysis/filtering may be used to analyze an image and/or an audio in the frequency domain, in order to separate certain components from the image and/or audio sound. For example, spectrum analysis/filtering may be used to separate different colors from the image or different tunes of an audio, etc. The spectrum analysis may be used to determine the type of music or sound for an audio file or the type of picture.

[0135] In addition to spectrum analysis/filtering performed on an image, according to one embodiment, OCR (optical character recognition) may be used to recognize any text within the image. OCR is the recognition of printed or written text or characters by a computer. This involves photo scanning of the text character-by-character, analysis of the scanned-in image, and then translation of the character image into character codes, such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), commonly used in data processing. During OCR processing, the scanned-in image or bitmap is analyzed for light and dark areas in order to identify each alphabetic letter or numeric digit. When a character is recognized, it is converted into an ASCII code. Special circuit boards and computer chips (e.g., digital signal processing or DSP chip) designed expressly for OCR may be used to speed up the recognition process.

[0136] Similarly, in addition to the spectrum analysis/filtering performed on an audio, voice recognition (also referred to as speech-to-text) may be performed to recognize any text within the audio (e.g., words used in a song). Voice recognition is the field of computer science that deals with designing computer systems that can recognize spoken words and translate them into text. Once the text within an image and an audio has been extracted (e.g., via OCR and/or voice recognition), other text related analysis techniques such as LSA, etc. may be applied. Note that, throughout this application, the above techniques are described by way of examples. They are not shown by way of limitations. Other techniques apparent to one with ordinary skill in the art may also be applied.

[0137] Referring back to FIG. 23, the operations involved in some or all of the above techniques may be handled by some or all of the modules 2310-2316, individually or in combination. The operations may be performed sequentially or substantially concurrently. Modules 2310-2316 may be implemented as software, hardware, or a combination of both. Some or all of the modules 2310-2316 may be implemented locally or alternatively, they may be implemented remotely over a network (e.g., similar to external resources 23.7). Note that exemplary system is shown for illustration purposes only, more or less of modules 2310-2316 may be implemented dependent upon a specification configuration. For example, some or all of the modules 2310-1216, may be implemented separately. Alternatively, they may be implemented as a single module. Further, some or all of the functionality of modules 2310-2316 may be implemented within the metadata importer 2302.

[0138] In addition, certain external resources 2307 may be invoked to assist the analysis to obtain additional metadata. Some examples of the external resources 2307 may include GPS (global positioning system) services, Web services, and/or database services, etc. For example, in response to the first metadata as the example described above having the terms of “Nike”, “Callaway”, and “Tiger Woods”, the metadata analysis module 2301 may access certain external resources, such as databases or Web sites over a network, to obtain additional information about the companies of Nike and/or Callaway (e.g., company's press release or product announcements, etc.), as well as information regarding Tiger Woods (e.g., biography or world PGA ranking, etc.) At least a portion of the obtained information may be used as a part of the second metadata set 2306, which may in turn be stored in the metadata database 2303 in a manner suitable to be searched subsequently to identify or locate the file. Note that the external resources 2307 may also be used by other components for the system 2300, such as, for example, metadata importer 2302.

[0139] Furthermore, the first metadata set 2305 may be analyzed against a previously trained metadata set 2309 in order to generate the second metadata set 2306, according to one or more rules 2308. The trained metadata set 2309 may be trained against a relatively large amount of information via a training interface (not shown) by one or more users. Alternatively, the exemplary system 2300 may also include a dynamic training interface (not shown) to allow a user to categorize particular metadata, especially when the metadata analysis module 2301 could not determine. The result of user interaction may further be integrated into the trained metadata set 2309. Examples of rules 2308 may be implemented similar to those shown in FIG. 25. Other configurations may exist.

[0140] FIG. 24 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing metadata according to one embodiment. Exemplary process 2400 may be performed by a processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. For example, the exemplary process 2400 may be performed by the metadata importer 2302 and/or the metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23. In one embodiment, exemplary process 2400 includes, but is not limited to, extracting at least a portion of content and metadata from a file to generate a first set of metadata, and performing a metadata analysis on the first set of metadata to generate a second set of metadata having at least one metadata not included in the first set of metadata, where the second set of metadata is suitable to be searched to identify the file.

[0141] Referring to FIGS. 23 and 24, at block 2401, a file having metadata is received, for example, by metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. The file may be received via a file system operation such as a write operation. Alternatively, the file may be received over a network, for example, via an attachment of an email. In response to the file, at block 2402, the metadata associated with the file and at least a portion of the content of the file may be extracted to generate a first metadata set (e.g., first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23). In one embodiment, the first metadata set may be generated via a metadata importer associated with a type of the file.

[0142] According to one embodiment, the metadata importer 2302 may invoke one or more of the modules 2310-2316 to generate the first metadata set 2305. According to a further embodiment, the external resources 2307 may be invoked by the metadata importer 2302.

[0143] At block 2403, a metadata analysis is performed on the first metadata set and/or at least a portion of the file content to generate a second metadata set (e.g., second metadata set 2306) in addition to the first metadata set. The analysis may be performed by metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23. The analysis may include one or more of the analyses described above (e.g., modules 2310-2316 and/or external resources 2307), individually or in combination. At block 2404, some or all of the first and second metadata sets may be stored in one or more databases (e.g., metadata database 2303) in a manner (e.g., category configuration examples shown in FIG. 25) suitable to be searched subsequently to identify or locate the file. Other operations may also be performed. These other operations may include, for example, determining another file which is similar to the file which was analyzed and examining the another file to extract metadata from the another file and add that extracted metadata into the second set of metadata for the file. The another file may be determined, by for example, a relevancy test, to be most similar to the file, and then additional metadata for the file can be extracted from the another file.

[0144] A typical file may include a set of standard metadata, such as dates when the file was created, accessed, or modified, as well as security attributes such as whether the file is read-only, etc. In addition, each type of files may further include additional metadata specifically designed for the respective type of file. Among the types of files described above, text, image, audio, and a combination of these (e.g., a video clip) may be more popular than others. Following descriptions may be used to describe detailed processes on these files. However, these processes are illustrated by way of examples only, other types of files may also be handled using one or more techniques described above.

[0145] FIGS. 26A and 26B are examples of text metadata and additional text metadata generated according to one embodiment. Exemplary text metadata 2600 may be a part of first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23, extracted from the text metadata associated with a text file and/or at least a portion of the content of the text file. For example, exemplary metadata 2600 may be extracted or imported by a text metadata importer similar to metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. In one embodiment, the text metadata importer extract one or more keywords from the vocabulary used in the text file and may generate additional information, such as a field of article and/or topic of the article. The field of article and/or the topic of the article may also be determined by the metadata analysis module. In one embodiment, the metadata analysis module performs one or more analyses on the metadata 2600 of FIG. 26A and generates additional metadata 2650 as shown in FIG. 26B, which may include at least one metadata that is not included in the metadata 2600. Note that exemplary metadata in FIGS. 26A and 26B are shown for illustration purposes only. It will be appreciated that more or less information may be implemented as metadata.

[0146] FIG. 27 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for process text metadata according to one embodiment. Exemplary process 2700 may be performed by a processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. For example, the exemplary process 2700 may be performed by the metadata importer 2302 and/or the metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23.

[0147] Referring to FIG. 27, at block 2701, a text file having metadata is received, for example, by metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. The text file may be received via a file system operation such as a write operation or alternatively, the text file may be received over a network (e.g., an email). In response to the text file, at block 2702, the metadata associated with the file and at least a portion of the content of the file may be extracted to generate a first metadata set (e.g., first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23). In one embodiment, the first metadata set may be generated via a text metadata importer associated with the text file. In one embodiment, one or more keywords may be extracted from the vocabularies used in the text file. The keywords may be extracted using at least one of tokenization, stemming, and/or concept extraction techniques as described above, for example, by invoking modules 2310-2316 and/or eternal resources 2307 of FIG. 23.

[0148] At block 2703, a metadata analysis is performed on the first metadata set and/or at least a portion of the file content to generate a second metadata set (e.g., second metadata set 2306) in addition to the first metadata set. The analysis may be performed by metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23. The analysis may include one or more of the analyses described above (e.g., LSA), individually or in combination. For example, according to one embodiment, based on the keywords extracted from the text file, the field and/or topic of the article may be determined. In addition, if applicable, an event and/or the dates of the event associated with the article, as well as the company or companies and persons that sponsor the event may also be determined via the analysis, as shown in FIG. 26B.

[0149] Furthermore, one or more external resources may be invoked to determine additional information regarding the article described in the text file. For example, external GPS services may be invoked to determine a location and dates/time of the event. Further, external Web services or database services may be invoked to obtain additional information regarding the companies or persons sponsoring the event, etc.

[0150] At block 2704, some or all of the first and second metadata sets may be stored in one or more databases (e.g., metadata database 2303) in a manner (e.g., category configuration examples shown in FIG. 25) suitable to be searched subsequently to identify or locate the file. Other operations may also be performed.

[0151] FIGS. 28A and 28B are examples of image metadata and additional image metadata generated according to one embodiment. Exemplary image metadata 2800 may be a part of first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23, extracted from the image metadata associated with an image file (e.g., a JPEG or GIF file) and/or at least a portion of the content of the image file. For example, exemplary metadata 2800 may be extracted or imported by an image metadata importer similar to metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. In one embodiment, the metadata analysis module performs one or more analyses on the metadata 2800 of FIG. 28A and generates additional metadata 2850 as shown in FIG. 28B, which may include at least one metadata that is not included in the metadata 2800. Note that exemplary metadata in FIGS. 28A and 28B are shown for illustration purposes only. It will be appreciated that more or less information may be implemented as metadata.

[0152] FIG. 29 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing image metadata according to one embodiment. Exemplary process 2900 may be performed by a processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. For example, the exemplary process 2900 may be performed by the metadata importer 2302 and/or the metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23.

[0153] Referring to FIG. 29, at block 2901, an image file (e.g., a JPEG or GIF file) having metadata is received, for example, by metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. The image file may be received via a file system operation such as a write operation or alternatively, the image file may be received over a network. In response to the image file, the metadata associated with the file and/or at least a portion of the content of the file may be extracted to generate a first metadata set (e.g., first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23). In one embodiment, the first metadata set may be generated via an image metadata importer associated with the image file. For example, if the file is a JPEG file, a JPEG metadata importer that is able to decode the JPEG file format (e.g., JPEG 2000 compatible encoding, etc.) may be invoked to extract the metadata associated with the JPEG file such as, for example, those shown in FIG. 28A. According to one embodiment, the metadata importer 2302 may invoke one or more of the modules 2310-2316 to generate the first metadata set 2305. According to a further embodiment, the external resources 2307 may be invoked by the metadata importer 2302.

[0154] For example, at block 2902, based on at least a portion of the metadata 2800 of FIG. 28A, the nature of the image (e.g., photo, drawing, or painting) may be determined. In addition, as another example, based on the ISO setting, focal length, and/or shutter speed, whether a photo was taken during day or night time, and/or whether the photo was taken in a still or action situation may be determined. Some or all of this additional information may be used as a part of additional metadata as shown in FIG. 28B.

[0155] According to one embodiment, a metadata analysis may then be performed on the first metadata set and/or at least a portion of the file content to generate a second metadata set (e.g., second metadata set 2306) in addition to the first metadata set. The analysis may be performed by metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23. The analysis may include one or more of the analyses described above, individually or in combination. For example, according to one embodiment, at block 2903, an image analysis such as color/shape analysis (e.g., using spectrum analysis/filtering techniques) may be performed to determine the time (e.g., day vs. night) and the type (e.g., portrait, person, or landscape) of the image, and other image related information.

[0156] Furthermore, according to one embodiment, at block 2904, one or more external resources may be invoked to determine additional information regarding the image. For example, external GPS services may be invoked to determine a location and date/time when the image was generated.

[0157] At block 2905, any text (if there is any) existed in the image may be recognized, for example, using OCR techniques. Thereafter, any text metadata processing techniques, such as those described above (e.g., similar to operations of FIG. 27) may be applied to obtain additional information.

[0158] At block 2906, some or all of the first and second metadata sets may be stored in one or more databases (e.g., metadata database 2303) in a manner (e.g., category configuration examples shown in FIG. 25) suitable to be searched subsequently to identify or locate the file. Other operations may also be performed.

[0159] FIGS. 30A and 30B are examples of audio metadata and additional audio metadata generated according to one embodiment. Exemplary audio metadata 3000 may be a part of first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23, extracted from the audio metadata associated with an audio file (e.g., a MP3 file) and/or at least a portion of the content of the audio file. For example, exemplary metadata 3000 may be extracted or imported by an audio metadata importer similar to metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. In one embodiment, the metadata analysis module performs one or more analyses on the metadata 3000 of FIG. 30A and generates additional metadata 3050 as shown in FIG. 30B, which may include at least one metadata that is not included in the metadata 3000. Note that exemplary metadata in FIGS. 30A and 30B are shown for illustration purposes only. It will be appreciated that more or less information may be implemented as metadata.

[0160] FIG. 31 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for processing image metadata according to one embodiment. Exemplary process 3100 may be performed by a processing logic that may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. For example, the exemplary process 3100 may be performed by the metadata importer 2302 and/or the metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23.

[0161] Referring to FIG. 31, at block 3101, an audio file (e.g., an MP3 file) having metadata is received, for example, by metadata importer 2302 of FIG. 23. The audio file may be received via a file system operation such as a write operation or alternatively, the audio file may be received over a network. In response to the audio file, the metadata associated with the file and at least a portion of the content of the file may be extracted to generate a first metadata set (e.g., first metadata set 2305 of FIG. 23). In one embodiment, the first metadata set may be generated via an audio metadata importer associated with the audio file. For example, if the file is an MP3 file, an MP3 metadata importer that is able to decode the MP3 compatible file format may be invoked to extract the metadata associated with the MP3 file such as, for example, those shown in FIG. 30A. According to one embodiment, the metadata importer 2302 may invoke one or more of the modules 2310-2316 to generate the first metadata set 2305. According to a further embodiment, the external resources 2307 may be invoked by the metadata importer 2302. In certain embodiments, the metadata importer may analyze, based on an algorithm, the audio file to derive additional metadata. For example, the metadata importer can keep track of when a song was last played and determine a pattern (e.g. the song is normally played within an hour of noon) and based upon this pattern, time related metadata or other metadata can be created. This time related metadata can be used to find songs played at a certain time or be used to create a time based favorites list. It will be appreciated that metadata can be exported by a software program which creates or modifies a file rather than by a separate, specific importer which is designed to extract the metadata from the file. In either case, the metadata can be considered to be imported into a metadata database, and thus the term “metadata importer” is intended to encompass either mechanism of introducing metadata into a metadata database.

[0162] According to one embodiment, a metadata analysis may then be performed on the first metadata set and/or at least a portion of the file content to generate a second metadata set (e.g., second metadata set 2306) in addition to the first metadata set. The analysis may be performed by metadata analysis module 2301 of FIG. 23. The analysis may include one or more of the analyses described above, individually or in combination. For example, according to one embodiment, at block 3102, a frequency analysis (e.g., using spectrum analysis/filtering techniques) may be performed to determine the type of the music (e.g., Jazz or classical), and other audio related information.

[0163] Furthermore, according to one embodiment, at block 3103, one or more external resources may be invoked to determine additional information regarding the audio. For example, external Web or database services may be invoked to determine biography information of the artist, and GPS services may be invoked to determine location and date when the audio was recorded (e.g., the location and date of the concert).

[0164] At block 3104, any text (if there is any) existed in the audio, such as, for example, words used in a song, may be recognized, for example, using OCR techniques. Thereafter, any text metadata processing techniques, such as those described above (e.g., similar to operations of FIG. 27) may be applied to obtain additional information.

[0165] At block 3105, some or all of the first and second metadata sets may be stored in one or more databases (e.g., metadata database 2303) in a manner (e.g., category configuration examples shown in FIG. 25) suitable to be searched subsequently to identify or locate the file. Other operations may also be performed.

[0166] Note that although a text file, an image file, and an audio file have been described above, they are illustrated by way of examples rather than by way of limitations. In fact, any of the above examples may be performed individually or in combination. For example, a word document may include text and an image. Some or all of the operations involved in FIGS. 27 and 29 may be performed individually or in combination. For another example, a video clip may include a sequence of images and audio clips. As result, some or all of the operations involved in FIGS. 29 and 31 may be performed individually or in combination. Other types of metadata may also be processed.

[0167] Thus, methods and apparatuses for processing metadata have been described herein. Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the ways used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

[0168] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[0169] Embodiments of the present invention also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may include a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.

[0170] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method operations. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein.

[0171] A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read only memory (“ROM”); random access memory (“RAM”); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.

[0172] In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.