US 20070239697 A1
Extraction of semantic information and the generation of semantic attributes allows for improved organization and management of data. Semantic attributes are automatically generated and eliminate the need for manual entry of attribute information. A semantic file network may further be constructed based on similarities between files that are based on the semantic attribute information. Semantic links representing a semantic relationship may be built between similar or relevant files. In addition, user operations and user operation patterns may also be considered in building the file network. Semantic attributes and information may further facilitate browsing the file systems as well as improve the accuracy and speed of queries.
1. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for extracting semantic information, the method comprising the steps of:
determining content corresponding to a source of a file;
determining context information associated with the content; and
generating one or more semantic attributes of the file based on the determined context information.
2. The computer readable medium of
3. The computer readable medium of
4. The computer readable medium of
5. The computer readable medium of
6. The computer readable medium of
7. The computer readable medium of
8. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for extracting semantic information, the method comprising the steps of:
identifying one or more user operations associated with a plurality of files;
determining implicit information associated with at least one file of the plurality of files based on the one or more user operations;
determining one or more semantic attributes of the at least one file based on the determined implicit information.
9. The computer readable medium of
receiving the one or more user operations associated with the plurality of files; and
storing the one or more user operations, wherein storing the one or more user operations includes storing an association between the one or more user operations and at least one file of the plurality of files.
10. The computer readable medium of
11. The computer readable medium of
12. The computer readable medium of
13. The computer readable medium of
14. The computer readable medium of
15. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for extracting semantic information, the method comprising the steps of:
detecting a first user operation and a second user operation associated with a file, wherein the file corresponds to a source;
determining context information from data associated with the source;
drawing one or more inferences from the first and second user operations; and
generating a semantic attribute of the file based on the one or more inferences and the determined context information.
16. The computer readable medium of
17. The computer readable medium of
18. The computer readable medium of
19. The computer readable medium of
20. The computer readable medium of
Electronic file and data storage systems allow a user to save, organize and manage a substantial amount of information within a single computing device. Thus, rather than carrying the actual documents, a user may simply access a computing device such as a laptop computer. These storage systems further provide organizational systems whereby files may be arranged by the user in a meaningful way. For example, all documents relating to a planned vacation may be saved into the same folder or various subdirectories thereof. Basic attributes of the files and other data structures are also embedded in such storage systems to permit users to locate or organize data by searching for a particular attribute and/or property. Data and files may also be sorted and organized according to these properties. These attributes and properties are typically predefined by the system and are often labeled or entered by the user.
However, current file systems ultimately limit a user's ability to search and locate files since they provide only basic properties and attributes. Additionally, users must often modify attributes and properties manually to maintain proper organization in the system. Further, the organization and management of file systems remain constant regardless of a user's manipulations or interactions with a particular file. Additionally, directories of files and other organizational structures are strictly location oriented rather than usage oriented.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In particular, file systems and networks are unable to capitalize on implicit information and inferences that may be determined or drawn from user interactions and contextual information. Implicit information, as used herein, relates to relationships and attribute information that is derived based on an interpretation of user actions or data associated with a particular file. Aspects are thus directed to a method and system for extracting semantic information from contextual information and user operations relating to a specified file and generating semantic attributes for the specified file based on such information. Semantic attributes may include information such as a publication year for a document, a conference at which a slideshow was shown and an artist that performs a particular song. Contextual information may be determined from data surrounding or otherwise associated with the specified file. Accordingly, context information and semantic attributes may be determined from a text message of an e-mail to which a file is attached. For example, if an e-mail message is determined to relate to a particular piece of real estate property, a semantic attribute may be generated for a file attached to the e-mail, identifying a relationship between the file and the specified real estate property.
Semantic information and attributes may also be extracted based on user operations and a sequence thereof. Oftentimes, user operations have an inherent meaning or purpose that may allow a system or application to interpret one or more aspects of a file associated with the user operations. For example, a user may frequently access two files simultaneously. Based on this behavior or operation pattern, a semantic attribute may be generated associating the two files (e.g., referencing one file to the other). Semantic attributes may further be generated based on a combination of context information and user operation history as well as other sources of file information.
In another aspect, semantic attributes may be automatically updated in response to detecting a change or modification in the context information or operation history associated with that particular attribute. In one instance, a semantic attribute generated for a file embedded in a word processing document may be updated if the underlying document is modified. The update to the semantic attribute may reflect the modification in context of the document or the user interaction involved in modifying the document or both.
In another aspect, the semantic attributes may be used to build a semantic file network in which files may be linked to one another based on identical or similar attributes. Relevance and similarity between files and attributes may be determined based on a similarity calculation. The similarity calculation may take into account various information including the attributes and data associated with neighboring or associated files or data. The semantic file network may further link one file to another if a user's operations support such an inference. The links between files may be static or dynamic. In other words, once a link is created, the link may continue to exist until explicitly destroyed by the user or some other process. On the other hand, dynamic links may be modified in response to a particular event such as a user modifying the attributes of a file or the links may be modified according to a predefined schedule. The semantic file network may be built with a combination of dynamic and static links that apply to different parts of the file network.
According to yet another aspect, browsing the semantic file network may be enhanced by the semantic links between files. That is, browsing clues such as related files or other data may be provided to the user based on the semantic links as a user browses or navigates through files. For example, if a user access a file or highlights a file in a folder, a list of semantically related or linked files may be presented to the user. Users may further post queries to retrieve files based on semantic attributes and information and associated semantic links. In one example, a user may post a query based on a collection of files. The file attributes of the collection of files may be automatically combined to produce a query of semantic information. A query may also be run based on a combination of semantic information and non-semantic information.
The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not by limitation in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
A basic input/output system 160 (BIOS), which contains the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 100, is stored in the ROM 140. The computer 100 also may include a hard disk drive 170 for reading from and writing to a hard disk (not shown), a magnetic disk drive 180 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 190, and an optical disk drive 191 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk 199, such as a CD ROM or other optical media. The hard disk drive 170, magnetic disk drive 180, and optical disk drive 191 are connected to the system bus 130 by a hard disk drive interface 192, a magnetic disk drive interface 193, and an optical disk drive interface 194, respectively. These drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for the personal computer 100. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer-readable media that can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), and the like, may also be used in the example operating environment.
A number of program modules can be stored on the hard disk drive 170, magnetic disk 190, optical disk 199, ROM 140, or RAM 150, including an operating system 195, one or more application programs 196, other program modules 197, and program data 198. A user can enter commands and information into the computer 100 through input devices, such as a keyboard 101 and pointing device 102 (such as a mouse). Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices often are connected to the processing unit 110 through a serial port interface 106 that is coupled to the system bus 130, but they also may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, or a universal serial bus (USB), and the like. Further still, these devices may be coupled directly to the system bus 130 via an appropriate interface (not shown).
A monitor 107 or other type of display device also may be connected to the system bus 130 via an interface, such as a video adapter 108. In addition to the monitor 107, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers. In some example environments, a stylus digitizer 165 and accompanying stylus 166 are provided in order to digitally capture freehand input. Although a connection between the digitizer 165 and the serial port interface 106 is shown in
The computer 100 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 109. The remote computer 109 can be a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and it typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 100, although for simplicity, only a memory storage device 111 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 100 is connected to the local area network 112 through a network interface or adapter 114. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 100 typically includes a modem 115 or other means for establishing a communications link over the wide area network 113, such as the Internet. The modem 115, which may be internal or external to the computer 100, may be connected to the system bus 130 via the serial port interface 106. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 100, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device.
It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples, and other techniques for establishing a communications link between computers can be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP, UDP, and the like is presumed, and the computer 100 can be operated in a user-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pages from a web-based server. Any of various conventional web browsers can be used to display and manipulate data on web pages.
Semantic attributes 210 may be extracted and/or generated through analyzing a context associated with the file and evaluating an operation history associated with a particular file. Context information relates to data and information surrounding a particular file or piece of content which provides meaning or interpretation to the file or content. Context information may be determined from a variety of sources including attributes or content associated with a folder in which a file is currently stored and/or an electronic mail (e-mail) message in which the file is received. As such, in one instance, an attribute identifying a document author may be determined and generated based on the contents of an e-mail message to which the document was attached. Additionally, semantic file attributes 210 may be extracted from an operation history that may include user interactions and previous file operations. User operations and interactions may be evaluated or analyzed from a temporal (historical) perspective and/or on a spatial (relational) basis. Temporal relationships relate to associations between a sequence of user interactions as they occur over a period of time. For example, a semantic file may define and generate an attribute for a file relating to a time of day that the file is most frequently used or accessed. The time of day attribute may be generated based on a historical evaluation of when a user most frequently accesses the file. Thus, if a user frequently enters time in a time worksheet in the late afternoon, a semantic attribute identifying the late afternoon as the time of most frequent use or access may be generated for the time worksheet file.
Spatial relationships, on the other hand, relate to an association between multiple files that are based on one or more user interactions between the multiple files. In one or more instances, a user may cut and paste portions of a first file into a second file thereby creating an association between the first file and the second file. As such, the association between the first and second files may be reflected in a semantic attribute. In another example, a drawing file may be added to the semantic attributes of a children's story file if the system determines that the drawing file and the story file are frequently open at the same time. One of skill in the art will appreciate that a variety of user interactions or operations may include implicit semantic relationships and information that may serve as a basis for generating semantic attributes.
Semantic information and attributes for e-mail 300 and/or attachments 305 and 310 may be generated based on the contents of e-mail 300. For instance, the recipient field 323 may contain a plurality of recipients of e-mail 300. Semantic attributes directed to a purpose for or importance of e-mail 300 may be determined based on the list of recipients. If the recipients include high level officials of a corporation, for example, an attribute indicative of the high importance of mail 300 and attachments 305 and 310 may be extracted and generated based on the importance of the recipients. Alternatively or additionally, if mail 300 is directed to technical support staff, mail 300 may be flagged with a purpose attribute identifying mail 300 as a support request. Further, a general subject matter of message 315 may be ascertained using various semantic analysis algorithms on message 315. The determined subject matter may then be applied as attributes to mail 300 and attachments 305 and 310. Keyword 320 and subject line 327 may also provide relevant context information.
The contents and characteristics of folders 405 and 410 provide context information from which semantic attributes for each of files 415, 416 and 417 may be generated. Accordingly, in one instance, the name of folder or directory 410 may contribute to the creation and definition of a semantic attribute associated with files 415, 416 and 417. For example, the name of folder 410 is “Madison Square Garden.” Based on an analysis of the name, the underlying system or application may determine that Madison Square Garden is a concert venue. An inference may then be made that each of files 415, 416 and 417 stored in folder 410 was performed at Madison Square Garden. As such, a semantic attribute may be created that identified the performance location of each of files 415, 416 and 417 as Madison Square Garden. Other attributes of the folder may also be used in defining semantic attributes of files 415, 416 and 417 stored therein. For example, a folder attribute may specify a number of times folder 410 has been accessed. Specifically, the frequency of access of folder 410 may contribute to a generating a popularity attribute for files 415, 416 and 417. In one or more configurations, attributes may further be gleaned from attributes of parent directories and one or more relationships between the parent directories and subdirectories. In other words, one or more attributes of a parent directory may provide context information for interpreting data or attributes associated with a subdirectory. For example, in
Similarly, the file attributes, contents and characteristics of each file 415, 416 and 417 may also establish a context from which semantic attributes of each of the other files 415, 416 and 417 may be determined. In particular, a comparison and analysis of one or more file attributes of files 416 and 417 may define semantic attributes for file 415. For example, a comparison of the attributes associated with files 416 and 417 may reveal that both music files 416 and 417 are performed by the artist New Kids On The Block and that the lyrics of each file 416 and 417 are substantially similar. Based on the result of this comparison, an inference may be made that the artist who performs music file 415 is also the New Kids On The Block if the lyrics of file 415 are also similar to the lyrics of files 416 and 417. Accordingly, an appropriate artist attribute for file 415 may be generated based on the surrounding context information (i.e., the contents and characteristics of neighboring files 416 and 417). In another instance, a playlist position of music file 416 may be automatically established based on the playlist positions of music files 415 and 417. For instance, if files 415 and 417 are in consecutive positions in the playlist and correspond to the same artist, file 416 may also be placed in a consecutive position to either file 415 or 417 if file 416 is also determined to be performed by the same artist.
Semantic attributes may further originate from an analysis of the contents of each music file 415, 416 and 417. The contents of music file 415, 416 or 417 may include, for example, lyrics, musical scores and the like. Accordingly, in one or more configurations, a system or application may identify the instruments used in the music and automatically classify music files 415, 416 and 417 based on a determined instrumental composition. Additionally, lyrics may also be a source of context information. For example, a genre of music associated with file 415 may be ascertained based on a comparison of the lyrics of file 415 with those of file 416. Numerous other aspects of how, where and when a file is stored may also be used in establishing a context for generating one or more semantic attributes of the file.
In one or more configurations, semantic attributes of data such as an icon, an e-mail message or a data file may be updated in response to detecting an update to the data or context associated with the file, icon or mail message. For example, the performance location of file 415 may be modified from Madison Square Garden to the United Center in response to detecting a corresponding change in the name of folder 410. In another scenario, page 501 may relate to a toy advertisement with icon 515 depicting the toy. Initially, page 501 may provide context information that causes a semantic attribute to be created identifying icon 515 as a toy for children ages 2 and older. However, if a correction is made to page 501 to indicate that the toy is actually for children 5 and up, the age attribute of icon 515 may similarly be corrected upon detecting the change in the context information of page 501. As such, a semantic attribute may be adaptive and aware of changes to context information on which the creation of the semantic attribute was based.
In one or more configurations, a semantic attribute identifying the file associations might not be created until after a user has simultaneously opened the three files a certain number of times. This threshold value may be predefined by the user or set by a default value. Other algorithms may also be incorporated in determining an appropriate frequency threshold value. A history of access times and other user operations may further be saved to files 605, 610 and 615 or, additionally or alternatively, to a separate database that is responsible for tracking user operations. The stored historical user operation data may be used, for example, in evaluating whether a semantic attribute should be generated for a given file or data structure.
One or more semantic attributes may further be extracted and generated in response to other types of user operations beyond the simultaneous access of files 605, 610 and 615. As shown in
Additionally or alternatively, semantic information and attributes may be extracted from a combination of context information, user operations and other associated information and actions. Thus, even if the copying of picture 703 and corresponding entry of author information 707 in document 705 has only occurred once, context information may increase the likelihood that a correlation is established between picture 703 and author data 707. For example, an analysis of the contents of documents 705 and 710 may reveal substantially similar content. Thus, the result of the comparison may provide a proper context for establishing the correlation between picture 703 and author information 707. Other types of information from which semantic information may be extracted or determined include user labels, file type, associated applications and file content.
Using the determined context information, semantic information may be extracted or determined in step 815. For example, if a folder in which the file is stored is named “WWW2005,” an inference may be drawn that relates the file to a WWW2005 conference. A semantic attribute may subsequently be generated for the file that identifies the relationship and/or inference in step 820. The semantic attribute may be generated in a separate database or table associated with an underlying semantic file system or the attribute may be stored within the associated file. For example, the file may contain a header that stored all property and attribute information. Thus, based on the inference of the above example, a semantic attribute such as “Conference” with an associated value of WWW2005 may be generated for the file. Similarly, if a comparison between the file and at least a portion of the identified data results in a substantial similarity, a semantic attribute may be created for the file that references the relevant portion of the identified data. Examples of other types of information that may be inferred from context information include music genre, author/artist information, a general subject matter and the like.
Upon identifying one or more inferences from the user operations, a semantic attribute may be created based on the inferences in step 925 and associated with one or more files involved in the user operations. The semantic attribute may be stored in a properties section of the one or more files, or, alternatively, may be stored in a separate database that stores semantic attributes along with corresponding file associations.
Files 1000, 1005, 1010 and 1015 may be linked to multiple other files, a single other file or even no files depending on their attributes and semantic relationships. For instance, file 1010 is semantically linked to only one file, file 1015 while file 1015 is semantically linked to all three other files 1000, 10015 and 1010. Alternatively or additionally, semantic links 1003, 1007, 1012 and 1013 may also be established between one or more files based on having a common attribute, even if the common attribute of each file does not share the same value. In one example, files 1000 and 1005 may include an additional attribute named “Dedication” that identifies a person, place or thing to which the songs of files 1000 and 1005 are dedicated. Files 1010 and 1015, on the other hand, might not have this attribute for a variety of reasons including if the songs associated with files 1010 and 1015 are not dedicated. A semantic link may thus be established between files 1000 and 1005 signifying a relationship between files 1000 and 1005 based on the common dedication attribute.
In one or more configurations, semantic links 1003, 1007, 1012 and 1013 may be created based on a user operation or a sequence of operations irrespective of whether files 1000, 1005, 1010 and 1015 share common attributes. For example, files that are contemporaneously accessed or used by similar user operations may be semantically linked. Similarly, if content of file 1010 is copied into file 1015, a semantic relationship and link between file 1010 and file 1015 may be inferred based on the sequence of copy and paste user operations. Semantic links 1003, 1007, 1012 and 1013 may further be constructed based on a combination of factors including user operations, context information and attributes of the files. Once created, semantic links 1003, 1007, 1012 and 1013 may be stored in files 1000, 1005, 1010 and 1015 or in a separate table or database that also stores an association with the relevant files.
Related documents pane 1106, in
Additionally, More option 1115 allows a user to view or retrieve additional files that are linked or otherwise related to selected file 1105. For example, selecting more option 1115 may open a separate related documents window or dialog (not shown) that displays the entire list of identified related files. In one or more configurations, upon selecting one of the other files 1107 and 1108, the related documents pane 1106 may automatically be modified and updated in accordance with the attributes and links of the newly selected file, i.e., either file 1107 or 1108. The detection of numerous other user operations may also trigger the update of related documents window 1106. For example, window 1106 may be updated in response to a user hovering over file 1107 or 1108.
Dynamic folder 1300 may further display the results of the query using an adaptive grouping technique. Adaptive grouping organizes the results into groups that have associated attributes or some other semantic relationship. Additionally, adaptive grouping includes two modes, namely implicit grouping and explicit adaptive grouping. Using explicit grouping, files are grouped according to a selected attribute option 1305. For example, if a user selects the file type option from pane 1302, the results of the query such as files 1310 and 1311 are grouped according to common file types in response. Similarly, if a user selects size, the results may be grouped based on their respective sizes. Multiple attributes or properties may be selected simultaneously to generate groups of results that contain multiple similar attributes. Additionally or alternatively, one selected attribute may be given more weight than a second selected attribute.
Implicit grouping, on the other hand, seeks to group results according to user preferences, access patterns and semantic attributes and relationships. That is, the file network automatically determines a grouping scheme based on semantic information and relationships associated with each of the files in the result set as well as in accordance with user preferences and access behavior. As such, attributes of the files as well as user operation patterns may be analyzed in determining appropriate grouping. For example, two result files such as files 1310 and 1311 may be frequently accessed or opened concurrently. Thus, based on this user operation pattern, files 1310 and 1311 may be grouped together using implicit adaptive grouping. In another example, files that are semantically linked may be automatically grouped together. In yet another example, a user may prefer to group files based on file types over based on semantic relationships. This preference may be explicitly set by the user or it may be implicitly learned based on the user's manual grouping behaviors. User preferences, user operations and operation patterns may further be stored in a user profile. The user profile may then be retrieved and analyzed to determine a preferred grouping arrangement when sorting a set of query results. Further, various semantic attributes or user operation patterns may be given more weight to provide a user with desirable groupings. These weights may also be based on user preferences which may be discerned from the user profile. As such, concurrent access of files 1310 and 1311 may be given more weight than a similar semantic attribute shared by files 1310 and 1312. The weighing may be determined based on user behavior and preferences and/or default system settings. User behavior and preferences may further be learned over time and based on previous groupings manually set by the user. In the event that too many results are identified based on a given query, the results displayed in results pane 1301 may be abbreviated. In addition, additional results 1307 option may be included in folder 1300 to allow a user to see the rest of the results.
After evaluating the target file, itself, one or more neighboring or associated files may be identified in step 1430. The neighboring or associated files are analyzed in step 1435 in a similar manner as with the target file. That is, processes similar to those of steps 1415 and 1420 are performed for each neighboring or associated file to determine similarity of each of the neighboring files with the query. Once each of the neighboring and/or associated files have been appropriately evaluated, an overall similarity value for the target file is generated in step 1440 based on the amount of mutual information between the target file and the query as well as between the query and each of the neighboring files. In one or more configurations, the similarity value may be calculated according to the following equation:
The function S represents a similarity value while the function I corresponds to mutual information between two variables. The variable q represents the query and the variable f represents a target file while variable e corresponds to f's neighbors and a constitutes an adjustable weight. The equation determines a similarly value between a query q and a target file f based on mutual information I of query q and file f in addition to a summation of the similarities between query q and neighboring files e. The weight a may be modified to give more weight to mutual information between the query and the target file and less weight to the similarity value between the query and the target file's neighbors or associated files or vice versa. Variable E represents a linkage of files associated with target file f. Thus, according to the above equation, the summation of similarities includes all neighbor files with which file f is linked.
Once the similarity value has been determined in step 1440, the similarity value or level is compared to a threshold similarity or relevance in step 1445. If the similarity level meets or exceeds the threshold, then the target file may be returned in the query results in step 1450. If the similarity level is below the threshold, however, the target file might not be returned. The threshold may be predefined based on a user preference or a system default. Alternatively or additionally, the threshold may be automatically determined based on a minimum number of results to return. Thus, the threshold may be adjusted downward if an insufficient number of results are produced with the original threshold.
Additionally, user feedback such as the selection of a ranked result item may be recorded to enhance future queries and result ranking. In particular, according to the above equation, the ranking function may consider the similarity S between q and f. After user select f, then the metadata of q could be saved in the metadata of f. Therefore, when the next query q is submitted, f may receive a high similarity value and consequently a high rank. In one example, a user may enter a query about dogs with short hair. In response, a system may respond with a list of ranked results including a picture of a pug. If the user selects or accesses the picture, the semantic attributes associated with the original query may be added to the picture's attribute information. Accordingly, if the user were to repeat the query about dogs in the future, the pug picture file may be ranked higher than the rank it had in the first result list.
In step 1510, a determination is made as to whether the results should be grouped using implicit adaptive grouping or explicit adaptive grouping. The determination may be based on a user selection and/or a system default. If the results are to be implicitly grouped, attributes of each of the results may be evaluated to determine a similarity or relevance of the results in step 1515. A user profile containing user preferences and stored user operations is further retrieved in step 1517. Based on the user profile, the user preferences, user access and interaction patterns are then evaluated in step 1520 to determine semantic relationships between the results. User access and interaction patterns as well as user preferences may be stored in a user profile. When determining a grouping scheme for the results, a user's profile may be retrieved to provide additional considerations in how the results should be grouped. For example, a user may prefer to group files that they frequently open concurrently. This user preference may be stored in a user profile. Upon receiving a set of query results, the grouping of the results would factor in the user's preference to have files that are concurrently accessed grouped together. As such, based on the analysis of file attributes and user access patterns as well as user preferences, a grouping scheme is determined in step 1525 for the dynamic folder.
If, however, in step 1510, it is determined that the results should be grouped using explicit adaptive grouping, a selection of a file attribute may be received from the user in step 1530. File attributes that a user may select may include file size, file type, author and modification date. Other file attributes may also be included in a menu of file attributes. In step 1535, compares the selected file attribute of each of the files with the selected file attribute of each of the other files. If the values of the selected file attributes of two files match, the two files may be grouped together in step 1540. For example, if the authors of a first file and a second file match, the first file and the second file may be grouped together in a dynamic results folder. Once a grouping scheme or plan has been generated, a user may select one of the groups of files and a new dynamic folder may be generated that contains and displays only the selected group of files. Implicit and explicit grouping may also be used in combination to generate appropriate groups of results. The grouping of results allows a user to more efficiently review the results and determine which files are most relevant.
The methods and systems described herein have been discussed, in large part, with respect to data files and semantic attributes thereof. However, semantic attributes may be generated for a variety of data structures and the methods and systems described are not limited to just data files. For example, words of a text document may include various properties such as font size and font style. The words of a text document may further include semantic attributes extracted from surrounding context information. Similarly, a first portion of a photo may have different properties than a second portion of the photo. Accordingly, semantic attributes may be generated for the first portion of the photo based on an analysis of image content and attributes surrounding the first portion while separate semantic attributes may be generated for the second portion based on an analysis of the characteristics of the images surrounding the second portion.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.