KR20060061734A - File system shell - Google Patents

Abstract

A file system shell is provides virtual folders (651-655) which expose regular files and folders to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure. Users are able to work with the virtual folders (651-655) through direct manipulation. Filters (620-626) are provided for narrowing down sets of items. Quick links (610-613) generate useful views of the sets of items. Libraries (600) consist of large groups of usable types of items that can be associated together, along with functions and tools related to the items. A virtual address bar (1402) comprises a plurality of segments, each segment corresponding to a filter for selecting content. A shell browser (2200) is provided with which users can readily identify an item based on the metadata associated with that item. An object previewer (2202) in a shell browser (2200) displays a plurality of items representing multiple item types.

Description

File System Shell {FILE SYSTEM SHELL}

The present invention relates to a file system, and more particularly to a file system shell.

Current computer file systems have many unwanted limitations. One of them is that users do not have much control over the structure they see. In other words, when folders are organized, the user must select a structure, which is difficult to change. As a specific example, for a "Music" folder, if the user chooses to organize music files in artist / album format, here all album folders for each artist are grouped in that particular artist's folder, and all songs in that particular album Are grouped in folders of that album. This artist / album format is not helpful for playing one type of music (for example, playing two jazz songs of two different artists), or playing an album selection of several artists.

Another problem is that a user may have many files that are difficult to organize. Some users make rigid layouts of files, forming strict hierarchies to them. Managing these files becomes quite complicated and difficult as the number of useful documents increases, making search and search also difficult. This problem is further magnified when additional files from other locations, such as shared documents, are used.

The user also has to deal with files in multiple locations, such as on other devices, other PCs, or online. For example, a user may choose to listen to music on a computer (as can access a music program) or listen to music from a web site online, but there is a strict distinction between these two sources. Music coming from different locations is organized differently and therefore does not stay in the same way or in the same location. As another example, a file stored on the company's network may be inherently separate from the file the user currently has on the device.

The user must also keep track of which file data is stored, as well as where it is stored. For example, for a music file, a user may be kept on a number of systems to keep track of which music file is located where. This can make it difficult to locate files even when they are stored locally.

It can also be difficult to find a file you have and return to it. The user may find it difficult to figure out where and how a particular file is stored. In the case of a set of folders and even a group of similar files, the user finds it difficult to quickly find what they are looking for. For files stored in hard-to-find locations, finding the location is more complicated. In addition, once a user has many files in a folder, it becomes more difficult to parse the folder quickly, especially if the content is similar.

Also, sometimes it is difficult for a user to find or return to a file on the network. Sometimes it's hard to share and publish a file, and it can be even harder to get it from someone who made it useful. Users typically need to remember or map the names and the various sites they need to find files on the network.

Namespaces can change, which can confuse users about which is "correct". This is especially true for networks with different naming conventions, restrictions, etc. For example, certain operating systems may need short names without spaces to make them visible.

Programs also store files in their own directories or other namespaces, which can make it difficult for users to know the path back to the file. The program has a default directory and location where they store documents. Users sometimes need to scan the entire hard disk to guess where the file is stored.

Related items are also sometimes stored in separate locations. The relevant file that the user has may be stored in another part such as a hard disk. This problem is becoming more common with the development of digital media services with multiple content types (eg pictures, music, video).

Another problem with file systems involves address bars. As the user navigates the computer's file system, conventional graphical interface controls, referred to as address bars, show the user where they are in the file system hierarchy. Conventional address bars show the current location in the file system hierarchy of folders, subfolders, and files. The change of the user position displayed in the conventional address bar is usually executed in one of two ways. The first method is to manually edit the address in the address bar. Manually editing the address in the address bar allows the user to relocate it to any number of locations in the file system hierarchy, but requires that the user have specific information regarding the organization of the file system on the computer, i. do. The second method is to use an external navigation tool that updates the address bar to reflect the new address or location during operation. Bypassing manual editing of addresses in the address bar, manipulating external navigation tools requires the user to look through the hierarchy with specific information relating to the organization of the file system. However, the conventional address bar cannot refer to files or data stored between a plurality of file systems such as folders or drives due to a one-to-one relationship between addresses in the address bar and specific positions in the file system hierarchy.

In the prior art, there is no address bar that allows a user to specify an address representing a stored file among a plurality of file system locations. More conventionally, there is no address bar that allows a user to easily modify the address of the address bar without manually editing the address or requiring specific knowledge regarding the organization of the underlying file system. There is also no address bar in the prior art to present the user with an alternative choice of file and to allow the user to choose to navigate to this choice of file. Such an address bar may also optionally provide the user with an address bar interface that allows the user to interact with the address bar according to previous experience in accordance with the user's preferences.

Another problem with file systems involves the identification of items stored on a computer. The need to easily identify items stored in a computing environment, such as a personal computer (PC), is rapidly increasing as more and more individuals use computers in their daily lives and as the types of information stored vary between pictures, music, documents, and so on. It is increasing. Documents and media are typically organized into files of information or media stored on computers and stored in folders in a hierarchical manner. File system browsers allow users to navigate the file system to locate and open files and folders. For example, Microsoft's WINDOWS® EXPLORER ^™ is an operating system utility that allows users to browse the file system.

Many users find it difficult to correctly identify a file based on information currently available in conventional file system browsers. Of course, the contents of a file can be proved by opening it up with an application, but the browsing method of this file is not very effective. The ability to view metadata about files in a file system browser can help the user identify without having to open a particular file. For example, on Microsoft's WINDOWS® 9X operating system, users can view object metadata by accessing a property sheet for a particular object. The property sheet presents the user with a list of object attributes or settings in the form of tabbed, index-card-like selections on the property page, each of which controls standard dialog styles to customize parameters. It is characterized by. However, using a property sheet to locate an item can be slow and cumbersome, and some users find it difficult to locate relevant metadata in the property sheet. Similarly, using infortips to position items is slow and cumbersome because the user has to hover over each file to view the limited metadata displayed in the infotip.

Conventional file system browsers do not allow the entry and editing of metadata about files and folders by the user, which can significantly enhance the ability of the user to later locate the file. Today, the ability for users to enter and edit metadata has been limited to special purpose software programs. For example, a media player for electronic music files gives users the ability to edit metadata associated with music albums and artists. Another example of such a program includes an application for an electronic picture file. However, the use of media players and other such programs is limited to certain types of files supported by the program, as opposed to general-purpose file system browsers that support multiple file types.

Microsoft's WINDOWS XP operating system includes an image browser for use in the My Pictures folder. The My Pictures folder has special properties that allow users to view pictures as pictures rather than just document icons. The image browsing feature of My Pictures includes the ability to show thumbnail size and large versions of photos, rotate oblique photos, and create slideshows. The user can view details of the photo such as its size, the date and time taken, and the name of the camera taken. The preview control area of the My Pictures folder contains an enlarged preview image of the user's selected image, an iterator button that helps the user in iterating through a series of pictures, and rotates the picture clockwise or counterclockwise. Control. Although the image browsing feature of WINDOWS XP improves the state of the art by not having to import applications that view and manipulate pictures, users still cannot enter and edit metadata related to pictures.

Accordingly, there is a need to improve the user experience in a shell or file system browser that allows a user to easily locate an item based on metadata associated with the item. There is also a need for a system and method that allows users to enter and edit metadata related to various types of items within a shell browser without having to import an application. There is also a need for a file system or shell browser that provides the user with improved file content recognition characteristics so that the user can easily locate the file. There is also a need for an improved graphical user interface of the shell browser that allows the user to select a previewer for a particular file type from a number of useful previewers. There is also a need for an extensible shell browser that allows software developers to provide additional information and functionality to users based on file type. It is also required to provide similar UI experiences in other sets of items.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a system and method using a virtual folder is provided. Virtual folders show users regular files and folders (also known as directories) in different views based on metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on disk. Thus, the system can take a characteristic stored in a database and represent it as a container similar to a folder. Since users are already familiar with working with folders, they can adapt to new systems more quickly by presenting virtual folders in a similar manner.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a virtual folder is provided according to a method used in a computer system having a display and memory for storing items. According to the present invention, metadata properties are selected. The system then retrieves an item with the selected metadata property and is provided with a virtual folder display object that represents the set of items with that metadata property.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system includes a folder processor for obtaining a query from a user and an associated database for storing information about an item. The folder processor first gets a query from the user and sends it to the relevant database. The related database provides the results back to the folder processor, and based on the results from the related database, the folder processor provides the user with the results in the virtual folder. In one embodiment, the results provided back to the folder processor include database rows and columns. The database rows and columns are converted into an enumerator structure by the folder processor, which is then used to locate the resulting virtual folder in the display.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a user can work with a virtual folder by direct manipulation. In other words, the mechanisms provided for manipulating virtual folders are similar to those currently used for manipulating conventional physical folders (eg, clicking and dragging, copying, pasting, etc.).

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for performing direct manipulation of a virtual folder is provided in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing items. According to this method, a group of items is displayed as a virtual folder. Provided are defined operations that can be performed for direct manipulation of the virtual folder, and when the prescribed operation is executed, the virtual folder is operated as indicated by this defined operation. One example of the prescribed operation is to click and drag a virtual folder. In one embodiment, clicking and dragging the first virtual folder to the second virtual folder performs a function of copying an item from the first virtual folder to the second virtual folder. Copying an item to a virtual folder also involves adding or changing selected metadata properties associated with the item.

According to another aspect of the invention, a filter is provided for manipulating a virtual folder. This filter is essentially a tool to reduce the set of items. In one embodiment, the filter is dynamically formed based on the characteristics of the individual items. For example, for a set of items, the filter mechanism can review the property, and if the item has an "author" as a property in general, the filter can provide a list of authors. The next time you click on a particular author, items that don't have the author disappear. This allows the user to reduce the content.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of filtering items in a computer system having a memory for storing items having display and metadata characteristics is provided. Display objects representing one or more items are provided on the display, respectively. The metadata property of the item represented by the display object is evaluated. Filter terms corresponding to metadata properties shared by a plurality of items are provided on the display, where the selection of the filter terms is such that those items displayed on the display share specific metadata properties. Let it shrink

According to another aspect of the invention, a plurality of items are displayed on the display, and filter terms are dynamically formed based on the metadata properties of the items. When this filter term is selected, the items displayed on the display are reduced to those with metadata properties corresponding to the filter term.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a plurality of items are displayed on a display and a filter area is provided in which a user can enter filter terms. The filter term is entered by the user, and the items displayed on the display are reduced to include the filter term. As the user types filter terms, additional items may be filtered as each new character is added to the filter term.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a back button is provided which is used for going back during the filtering process. For example, after a user enters a filter term, the user may want to return to the set of items that were displayed on the display before the filter term was applied. The back button allows the user to go back to the desired point in the filter navigation.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a quick link is provided. In one embodiment, a quick link is a set of predetermined links that can be clicked (eg, located on the left side of the display) to form a useful view of the set of items. These can be predetermined by the program or set by the user. For example, clicking "All Authors" can bring up a stacked view by author. "All documents" can get a flat view of all documents across all storage areas. Users can also create their own quick links. For example, you can filter by all documents that were modified in January 2003, and then save them as quick links.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for providing a quick link is realized in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing items. According to the invention, the user first navigates to a view of the desired set of items. Provide a name by saving a quick link that corresponds to the desired set of items. The name of the quick link is presented on the display and clicking on the quick link allows the user to return to the view of the desired set of items.

According to another aspect of the invention, a library is provided. The library consists of a large group of available types of files that can be associated together. For example, a photo may be one library, a music another library, and a document another library. Libraries provide tools and actions that relate to specific types of items. For example, a photo library contains tools and filters that relate to manipulating photos, such as forming slide shows or sharing pictures.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method of forming a library is provided in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing items. This method begins with forming a library to contain items with one or more specific metadata properties. Next, items with one or more specific metadata properties are automatically grouped into this library. Tools for manipulating the items of the library are also provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a wide range of files or items may be used. In other words, the system can display files / items from multiple physical locations (eg, multiple hard drives, multiple computers, multiple network locations, etc.) such that all items appear to originate from one location. For example, a user can be presented with all music files on one screen, so even if the files are physically stored on multiple hard drives, on multiple computers, or on multiple network locations, manipulate all of the files from one view. You can do it.

According to another aspect of the invention, a scope is used in a method of displaying an item in a computer system having a display. The method involves defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which an item is obtained, which consists of the current computer memory and at least one other physical location. Once a query is received, in response to the query, an item comes out of the physical location defined in the scope, which is then presented to the view on the display from the query. In one embodiment, at least one other physical location may be another computer, a location on a network, or an external storage device. In one embodiment, the view on the display may be converted to a physical folder view representing the physical location where the item is physically stored.

According to another aspect of the present invention, non-file items may be displayed in the virtual folder. In other words, files stored in memory are located in physical storage. The virtual folder may be created to contain items that are not currently displayed in the physical storage. Examples of non-file items are email, and contacts.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for presenting a non-file item is realized in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing the item. The method includes providing a database from which both non-file items and file items can be retrieved by query. Once a query is received, both the non-file item and the file item that match the query are shown, and then the item that matches the query is presented on the display. In one embodiment, an associated database is provided that includes selected information about a file item and holds a particular non-file item in the entry.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a virtual address bar for selecting content stored on a computer file system. The virtual address bar consists of a plurality of segments. Each segment corresponds to a filter for selecting content stored on a computer file system. Collectively, the corresponding filter of each segment of the virtual address bar represents a virtual address for selecting content stored on a computer file system.

Each segment is an interactive segment that can modify the virtual address of the virtual address bar in response to user interaction. Selecting a segment in the virtual address bar causes the segment following the selected segment to be removed from the virtual address bar. Alternately selecting a segment in the virtual address bar will display a list of selectable peer filters to the user. The peer filter becomes a peer for the corresponding filter of the alternately selected segment. The selection of one of the peer filters causes the alternate selected segment to replace its corresponding filter with the selected peer filter. In addition, the segments following the alternatively selected filter segment are removed from the virtual address bar.

The segment may be added to the virtual address bar according to the operation of the external user. The segment is added at the end of the segment in the virtual address bar. All segments that collide with the address segment are removed. The current segment of the virtual address bar will collide with the added segment when this current segment is mutually exclusive with the added segment. The current segment of the virtual address bar also collides with the added segment when the scope is wider or narrower than the segment to which the current segment is added.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a shell browser is provided that includes a window and edit control. The window displays a group of items and also displays metadata values associated with one or more displayed items. Edit control allows the user to modify at least some of the metadata values displayed in the window.

According to another aspect of the invention, a graphical user interface is implemented on a computer readable medium and executable on a computer. The graphical user interface includes a first screen area for displaying a set of items in a shell browser and a second screen area for displaying metadata associated with one or more displayed items. The graphical user interface also presents the user with a means for modifying the metadata displayed in the shell browser.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method is provided that enables a user to modify metadata in a shell browser. One of these methods is for displaying a plurality of items, receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item, displaying metadata associated with the selected item, and modifying the displayed metadata of the user Providing edit control. Another method includes displaying a welcome pane and metadata associated with the welcome pane and providing edit control for modifying the user's displayed metadata.

According to another aspect of the invention, a data structure is displayed in a shell browser that includes metadata associated with one or more items. The data structure stored on the one or more computer readable media includes fields that include user modifiable metadata associated with one or more display items, such that the user modifiable metadata contained in the data structure is also displayed in the shell browser. .

According to another aspect of the present invention, a shell browser is provided that includes a default previewer and extensibility mechanism. The default previewer provides standard level of functionality for many item types. Extensibility mechanisms enable more than the standard level of functionality provided by the default previewer for one or more item types.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a shell browser is provided that includes a first previewer and a second previewer. The first previewer provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types, and the second previewer provides alternative or extended level functionality for one or more of the multiple item types. The shell browser is configured to selectively deploy the first previewer or the second previewer for one or more item types.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a graphical user interface of a shell browser that supports multiple item types. The graphical user interface includes a first screen area for displaying a set of items in a shell browser and means for selecting a previewer for the displayed item from among the plurality of useful previewers.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method for selecting a previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types is provided. The method includes providing a plurality of previewers to the shell browser for a particular item type and selecting one of the previewers for that particular item type. This method then associates the selected previewer with a particular item type.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method is provided that enables the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types. The method includes providing a shell browser with a default previewer for multiple item types and providing an extensibility mechanism that allows a third party to develop an alternate previewer for at least one of the multiple item types. .

According to another aspect of the present invention, a data structure is provided that includes information indicative of a plurality of previewers in a shell browser. The data structure stored on the one or more computer readable media includes a first field that includes information indicating a default previewer that supports multiple item types. The second field contains information indicating the alternate previewer for the first item type, and the third field indicates whether to invoke the default previewer or alternate previewer when an item of the first item type is displayed in the shell browser. It includes.

According to another aspect of the invention, the various types of items are grouped into libraries in which a similar set of basic UI properties is provided. In other words, a similar set of basic UI properties are provided for several types of libraries, such as document libraries, photo libraries, music libraries, and the like. The basic UI properties of this set may include properties such as filtering, forming new categories, editing the item's metadata, changing the pivot, and so on. A similar set of basic UI properties for the library allows users to process and organize different types of items using properties and properties that are already familiar.

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a general purpose computer system suitable for implementing the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a virtual folder system in accordance with the present invention.

3 is a flowchart describing a routine in which a user provides a query and the selected files and folders are returned back.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a routine in which virtual folders are configured and displayed on the screen in accordance with a default query or a query from a user.

5 is a tree diagram of the folder structure according to the physical folder organization on the hard drive.

6 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure.

7 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure of FIG. 6 with the client stack further filtered by contract and year.

8 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure of FIG. 7 in which the contracts of the client stack are further filtered by year.

9 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure of FIG. 6 in which the contract stack is further filtered by client and year, which client is further filtered by year.

10 illustrates a screen display showing a stack of document libraries.

11 is the ABC Corp. of FIG. A diagram illustrating a screen display representing a document in a stack.

FIG. 12 illustrates a screen display in which a stack function is selected for the document of FIG. 11; FIG.

FIG. 13 illustrates a screen display in which the “author stack” parameter is selected for the stack function of FIG. 12. FIG.

FIG. 14 illustrates a screen display in which files of FIG. 13 are stacked for each author. FIG.

FIG. 15 illustrates a screen display with the stack function selected and the “Stack by Category” option further selected to re-stack the file of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 illustrates a screen display in which the file of FIG. 14 is stacked again by category. FIG.

17 illustrates a screen display in which a quick link representing a physical folder is selected.

FIG. 18 illustrates a screen display showing a physical folder containing files of the virtual folder stack of FIG. 17. FIG.

Fig. 19 is a flowchart for explaining a routine in which a user can directly manipulate a virtual folder.

FIG. 20 illustrates a screen display in which a new “West Coast” stack is added to the stack of FIG. 10.

21 shows the file "ABC Corp." Illustrating a screen display using direct manipulation to copy from the stack to the " West Coast " stack of FIG.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart describing the routine of a system for dynamically forming new filter terms. FIG.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart describing a routine of a system for filtering items based on selection of filter terminology. FIG.

FIG. 24 illustrates a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 10 is filtered with the term “AB”.

FIG. 25 illustrates a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 10 is filtered with the term “ABC”.

FIG. 26 illustrates a screen display in which the filter term “year 2002” is selected for the stack of FIG. 10.

FIG. 27 illustrates a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 10 is filtered to “year 2002” and further illustrates the selection of the filter term “month”.

FIG. 28 illustrates a screen display with a list for selecting months for filtering.

FIG. 29 illustrates a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 10 is further filtered to January and further shows a filter term of “day”. FIG.

30 is a flowchart for explaining a routine for forming a new quick link.

FIG. 31 illustrates a screen display for forming a new quick link called "January job" based on the filtering of FIG. 29; FIG.

32 illustrates a screen display in which a quick link of "All Authors" is selected.

FIG. 33 illustrates a screen display with a list of all authors of FIG. 32.

FIG. 34 illustrates a screen display in which "author 1" is selected from the list of FIG. 33 and all documents of author 1 are shown; FIG.

35 is a flowchart for explaining a routine for forming a new library.

36 illustrates a screen display showing a collection of several useful libraries.

Fig. 37 is a flowchart for explaining a routine for defining a range of a virtual folder set.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram illustrating various sources that may form a range of virtual folder sets. FIG.

39 is a flowchart describing a routine for including non-file items in a set of virtual folders.

40 illustrates a screen display showing various non-file items included in a virtual folder.

41 is an illustration of an example network computer environment suitable for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 42 illustrates an example file viewer having a conventional address bar associated with displaying a file in a computer file system, as is known in the art.

Fig. 43 illustrates an example file viewer for displaying a file in a computer file system according to a virtual address of a virtual address bar formed according to the present invention.

FIG. 44A is an illustration of the example file viewer of FIG. 5 illustrating selecting a segment of a virtual address in a virtual address bar to navigate in a file system.

FIG. 44B is a diagram of the example file viewer of FIG. 45A illustrating the result of selecting a segment of a virtual address in the virtual address bar.

45A-45D illustrate selecting a peer filter associated with a segment of a virtual address in a virtual address bar.

46A-46D illustrate the addition of an additional filter to the virtual address of the virtual address bar.

47A and 47B illustrate an example virtual address bar indicating a virtual address when the virtual address exceeds the display capacity of the virtual address bar.

FIG. 48A illustrates an example virtual address bar with a virtual address having a filter that references both virtual and physical locations in the file system. FIG.

FIG. 48B illustrates an exemplary virtual address bar of FIG. 48A configured to display a conventional address bar. FIG.

Fig. 49 is a flowchart for explaining an alternative filter selection routine for selecting an alternative filter in the virtual address bar.

50 is a flowchart illustrating an example addition filter routine for adding a filter to a virtual address in a virtual address bar.

51A is a block diagram of an example graphical user interface of a shell browser with edit control in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

51B is a block diagram of an example graphical user interface of a shell browser with one or more edit controls in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

52 is a schematic representation of a welcome window of a shell browser.

53 is a schematic diagram of a selection window of a shell browser;

FIG. 54 is a schematic diagram of the selection window of FIG. 53 including a context menu allowing a user to modify metadata in a shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 55 is a flowchart illustrating a method for enabling a user to modify metadata displayed in a welcome window in a shell browser, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 56 is a flowchart describing a method for enabling a user to modify metadata displayed in a selection window in a shell browser according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 57 is a block diagram of a data structure including user modifiable metadata associated with an item displayed in a shell browser. FIG.

58 is a schematic diagram of a conventional graphical user interface for browsing a picture stored in a folder within a shell browser environment used to view other non-pictorial files and folders.

59 is a block diagram of an example graphical user interface for a shell browser.

60 is a schematic representation of a welcome window in a shell browser.

61 is a schematic diagram of a selection window of a shell browser;

62 is a schematic diagram of a selection window of a shell browser with extended control in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 63 is a schematic diagram of a selection window similar to FIG. 61 but including a context menu allowing a user to select a previewer in a shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

64A is a flowchart illustrating a method for enabling a user to select a previewer in a shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

64B is a flowchart illustrating a method for causing a system to select a previewer in a shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

65 is a flowchart illustrating a method for enabling the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 66 is a block diagram of a data structure including information representing a number of previewers in a shell browser. FIG.

 The present invention relates to a file system shell that is combined with a number of desired features. In essence, a shell gives a user the ability to view and manipulate files and other items stored on a computer. First, the characteristics shown in FIGS. 1 to 66 will be summarized and described in detail.

In summary, FIGS. 1-9 generally relate to an entire system of virtual folders. Virtual folders provide a way for a conventional user interface to present regular files and folders (also known as directories) to users in various views based on metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on disk. 10-18 relate generally to a stack, which relates to the ability of a virtual folder to take a characteristic stored in a database and present it as a container, such as a folder. 19 to 21 generally relate to direct manipulation of a virtual folder, which manipulates a virtual folder similar to the mechanism currently used to manipulate (eg, copy, paste, click and drag, etc.) a standard folder. It relates to providing a mechanism. 22-29 generally relate to filters, which provide a set of tools for reducing the set of files / items. 30-34 generally relate to quick links, which are a set of predefined links that can be clicked to form a useful view of a set of files / items. 35 and 36 generally relate to a library, which relates to the concept that groups of available types of files may be associated together and that tools and operations relating to particular types of items may be provided. 37 and 38 can obtain files / items from multiple physical locations (eg, multiple hard drives, multiple computers, computers in network locations, etc.) so that all files / items are being presented to the user in one location. It is about the concept that it can be presented conveniently. 39 and 40 generally relate to non-file items, which are included in the database along with the file and may include items such as email and contacts. 41 to 50 generally relate to a virtual address bar consisting of a plurality of segments, each segment corresponding to a filter for selecting content. 51-57 generally relate to a shell browser, which allows a user to easily identify an item based on metadata associated with the item. 58-66 generally relate to extending the functionality of the object previewer in a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing multiple item types. The following description details each of these aspects of the invention.

As mentioned above, FIGS. 1-9 generally relate to a system for realizing a virtual folder. The virtual folder uses the same or similar user interface used for the current file system. Virtual folders show users regular files and folders (also known as directories) in various views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on disk. Location-independent views have been created that allow users to manipulate their files and folders using controls similar to those currently used to manage file systems. In general, this means that users can organize and rearrange files based on their inherent characteristics, rather than managing and organizing them as individual parts of the system. A virtual folder represents a file or item from multiple disk drives within the same computer, between multiple computers, or from multiple physical locations, such as multiple network locations, so that a view of a file or item resides in multiple physical locations. Or may indicate an item. In one embodiment, several items or files are required to be connected via an IP network to be included.

Virtual folder modeling can also be used for conventional non-file entities. Its application is conventionally to have a set of user interfaces similar to files and folders (ie, objects and containers) to represent non-file entities. One example of such a non-file entity is email, and the other may be contact information from a contact database. In this way, virtual folders provide a location-independent metadata-based view system that works regardless of whether the data being represented is file or non-file data. In general, these aspects not only affect the rich integration of multiple data types, but also allow users to manipulate their files and data using two common user interface technologies (drag and drop, double click, etc.). There is flexibility.

1 and the following description are intended to provide a brief general description of a virtual folder and a suitable computing environment in which any other aspect of the invention described herein may be realized. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a personal computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, characters, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the present invention can be implemented in other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. . The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for realizing the present invention is a system for connecting various system components, including processing unit 21, system memory 22, and system memory 22 to processing unit 21. A general purpose computing device in the form of a conventional personal computer 20 including a bus 23. The system bus 23 can be any of several types of bus structures including memory buses or memory controllers, peripheral buses, and local buses using various bus architectures. The system memory includes read only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. As at startup, a basic input / output system (BIOS) 26 is stored in the ROM 24 that includes basic routines that help transfer information between elements in the personal computer 20. The personal computer 20 reads from or writes to the hard disk drive 27, the removable magnetic disk 29 for reading from or writing to the hard disk 39, such as a CD-ROM or other optical medium. Magnetic disk drive 28, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to the removable optical disk 31. The hard disk drive 27, the magnetic disk drive 28, and the optical disk drive 30 are each connected by a system bus by a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an optical drive interface 34. It is connected to (23). The drive and its associated computer readable medium provide the personal computer 20 with nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data. While the example environment described herein uses a hard disk 39, a removable magnetic disk 29, and a removable optical disk 31, those skilled in the art will appreciate magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, It will be appreciated that other types of computer readable media that can store data accessible by the computer, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and the like, can also be used in the exemplary operating environment.

Many program modules, including operating system 35, one or more applications 36, other program modules 37, and program data 38 may include hard disks 39, magnetic disks 29, and optical disks 31. ), ROM 24, or RAM 25. A user can write commands and information to the personal computer 20 through input devices such as keyboard 40 and pointing device 42. Other input devices (not shown) include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, and the like. These and other input devices are connected to the processing unit 21 via a serial port interface 46 coupled to the system bus 23, but also to other interfaces such as parallel ports, game ports or universal serial bus (USB). Can also be connected. The display in the form of a monitor 47 is connected to the system bus 23 via an interface such as a video card or an adapter 48. One or more speakers 57 may be connected to system bus 23 via an interface such as audio adapter 56. In addition to displays and speakers, personal computers typically include peripheral output devices (not shown), such as other printers.

The personal computer 20 may operate in a network environment utilizing logical connections of one or more personal computers, such as remote computer 49. Remote computer 49 may be another peripheral computer, server, router, network PC, peer device, or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above with respect to personal computer 20. The logical connection shown in FIG. 1 includes a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52. This network environment is common in computer networks, intranets, and the Internet throughout a corporate enterprise.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 is connected to the local area network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typically includes means for establishing communications over a wide area network 52, such as a modem 54 or other Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means may be used to establish a communications link between the computers.                 

As realized on a system of the type described in FIG. 1, the present invention provides a high level of storage capacity that allows users to perform basic tasks for file manipulation and folder navigation (browsing) and be affected by new features. Use a virtual folder that makes it easy to do Virtual folders present files and items to users in various views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on disk.

2 is a block diagram of a virtual folder system 200 in accordance with the present invention. As will be described in more detail below, virtual folders allow a user to change a "pivot" that controls how data is viewed. For example, a user can view their music as a flat list of all the songs that can be grouped into albums. Alternatively, the user can switch views to only show genres, artists, years, and the like. The user can tailor the view to see only the right objects for the job. This enables an improved browsing experience that eliminates the need for further navigation (down and back) to folders. The same experience and capabilities apply to modeling other data types that are not saved as files. For example, contacts are shown to users in this manner, thereby giving them more familiar infrastructure capabilities as well as a richer infrastructure for their manipulation than those provided by flat address books.

As shown in FIG. 2, virtual folder system 200 includes folder processor 210, associated database 230, virtual folder description database 232, other shell folder component 234, folder handler component 236. , And shell browser and view components 240. The folder processor 210 includes a native handling code component 212, a handler factory component 214, a property writer component 216, a low-set parser component ( rowset parser component 218), query builder component 220, enumerator component 222, and property factory component 224.

Associated database 230 stores the properties for all data in the system. The database also stores exclusively items such as contacts (ie non-file items). In general, this database stores metadata about the types of files and items it contains. The relational database 230 receives the SQL query from the query builder 220. Associated database 230 also sends SQL rowsets to rowset parser component 218 as one row per item column, where the columns are item properties.

Virtual folder description database 232 includes a virtual folder description. The virtual folder description database 232 sends data to the query builder component 220 that includes a list of types represented in the folder, an initial filter, and a physical location representing the results from (effective range).

With respect to the other shell folder component 234, the folder processor 210 passes from many types of items, including all files for handlers or properties, to the current shell folder. The other shell folder component 234 sends the properties from the other folder to the property factory 224. The other shell folder component also sends a handler to the handler factory 214.                 

Folder handler component 236 provides code behavior for items that exist only in the database, such as contacts. This is what makes non-file entries behave like files. Folder handler component 236 sends a handler to handler factory 214.

For the native handling code component 212, the folder processor 210 directly implements a particular handler based on the characteristics of the item. The native handling code component 212 sends a handler to the handler factory 214. Like all namespaces, for native handling code component 212 and folder handler component 236, virtual folders provide a set of handlers (context menus, icons, thumbnails, infotips ..) for these items. Should be. For most of these (infotips, data objects, drag-drop handlers, background context menus, ..), virtual folders usually provide a (native) handler for all types they hold. However, there are other things that this type of author must provide (context menu for the item itself, recordable property store ...). Default handlers can also be ignored. The virtual folder reuses it as a file and allows non-file items to do the same.

Handler factory 214 generates a code action that takes a list of IDs and provides context menus, icons, and the like. In general, folder processor 210 may utilize native handlers, external handlers, as described above with respect to native handling code component 212, other shell folder component 234, and folder handler component 236. You can either pass it to another shell folder to get a handler. Handler factory component 214 sends handlers to shell browser and view component 240, as requested by the view. The handler factory component 214 sends the property handler to the property recorder 216.

The property recorder 216 converts the user's intention, such as cut, copy, and paste, into property rights for the file or item. Shell browser and view component 240 sends data to property log 216, including direct manipulation (cut / copy / paste) or editing of metadata. In general, since virtual folders present an organization based on the properties of items, operations such as move and copy (drag-drop) become edits to these properties. For example, in a view stacked by author, moving a document from author 1 to author 2 means changing the author. The characteristic recorder component 216 realizes this function.

The rowset parser 218 takes a database rowset and stores all item attributes in the shell ID list structure. Lowset defines a virtual folder to create an SQL string that can be generated into a database. Lowset parser component 218 sends a list of IDs to enumerator component 222. As discussed above, the rowset parser component 218 also receives data from the associated database 230, including SQL rowsets, one row per item, where the columns are item properties.

Query builder component 220 creates an SQL query. Query builder component 220 receives data from enumerator component 222 including the new filter from the navigation. The query builder component 220 also receives data from the virtual folder description database 232, including a list of types to display in the folder, an initial filter, and a physical location representing the results from (effective range). Query builder component 220 sends an SQL query to relational database 230.

In general, query builder component 220 includes a set of rows (that is, tables). This is produced by the execution of the query. The rowset parser component 218 takes each row and uses column names to transform the rows into a list of IDs. The list of IDs is a known shell structure that is used to reference items in the namespace. Doing this causes the virtual folder to be just the same as the other namespaces for the rest of the shell. In addition, caching this data helps to minimize costly database access.

Enumerator component 222 operates in response to navigation of the virtual folder. As discussed above, enumerator component 222 receives a list of IDs from rowset parser component 218 and sends a new filter from navigation to query builder component 220. Enumerator component 222 also sends data to shell browser and view component 240 including a list of IDs that are sent to be inserted into the view after navigation.

 Attribute factory component 224 takes a list of IDs and attribute identifiers and sends the values of these attributes. The property factory component 224 receives data from the handler factory component 214, including the property handler. As noted above, the property factory component 224 also receives data from the other shell folder component 234, including properties from other folders. Property factory component 224 also sends data including item properties to shell browser and view component 240, as requested by the view.

Shell browser and view component 240 displays the contents of the folder in a window and handles all interactions with the user's displayed files or items, such as clicking, dragging, and navigating. In this way, shell browser and view component 240 receives user actions. Shell browser and view component 240 also obtains data regarding the code operations required from the folder, in this case folder processor 210.

As mentioned above, virtual folders present regular files and folders (also known as directories) to users in various views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on disk. Thus, the system can take a property stored in a database and represent it as a container, such as a folder. Since the user is already familiar with working with folders, presenting virtual folders in a similar manner allows the user to adapt more quickly to the new system.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a routine 300 in which a user provides a query and returns a selected item again. In block 302 the folder processor gets a query from the user. At block 304, the folder processor forwards the query to the relevant database. At block 306, the associated database provides the results back to the folder processor. At block 308, the folder processor provides the results to the user in the form of virtual folders and items.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a routine 320 in which virtual folders are organized and displayed on a screen in accordance with a default query or a query from a user. In block 322, if the user first opens the virtual folder, a default query is used. This default query is taken from the registry. For example, the default query of the music library may be to represent all songs grouped into albums. At block 324, the folder processor constructs a query object for this query and then forwards the query to the associated database. At block 326, the associated database generates the results of the query and passes them back to the folder processor as database rows and columns.

At block 328, the folder processor takes these results and converts them from the data of the rows and columns into the enumerator structure, which is placed on the screen as the final virtual folders and items for use as a folder view for user interaction. At decision block 330, the user determines whether to change the view (by generating another query or "pivot"). For example, a user can generate a "view all artists" pivot. If the user wants to change the view, the routine returns to block 324 where the folder processor forwards this new query to the associated database and receives the results of the new row and column again, constructing a new enumerator structure. This process continues as described above, such that the folder view is erased and updated to use the enumerator to then drag the "artist" object to the screen.

In one example, an album object is provided that represents a container that a user can navigate to. For example, double-clicking the "Beatles" album will navigate the view so you can see all the songs of the Beatles. The folder processor issues a "Show All Beatles Songs" query to the relevant database, which sends the row and column data for these songs. The folder processor forms an enumerator for all of these songs, which then appear on the screen.

The user can browse the virtual folder and select the view at any point. From the above example, after shortening to just show the song, the user can change the view to just show the song as an album. The process of changing the view of an item to another display is called "stacking". This is because the items are arranged in a "stack" based on the display. In this case, the songs are rearranged in a stack for each of the multiple albums. The user then navigates to one of these stacks, where he can only see songs from a particular album. Again, the user can rearrange the views of these remaining songs in a stack based on characteristics (eg, rating). When a rating feature is selected, songs from the Beatles album appear on the stack as one, two or three star ratings.

The result of each query depends on which physical location is included in the range. For example, a range can be created that includes only folders in the user's "My Documents" folder. Alternatively, the range may include all folders on a computer, or all folders on a plurality of network connected computers. The user can view and change the range through the Effective Range property sheet. As an example, the scope property sheet may be exposed by right-clicking on the virtual folder and selecting "Properties". The user can add new folders to the scope or remove previously added folders.                 

The users in the group whose virtual folders provide a particular utility are knowledge workers. Virtual folders allow knowledge workers to easily switch between documents viewed by file type, project, case number, and author. Since knowledge workers tend to use different methods to organize their documents, each can use virtual folders to accommodate these different preferences.

5 is a tree diagram of the folder structure according to the physical folder structure on the hard drive. This physical folder organization is based on the conventional realization of folders, which is based on NTFS or other existing file systems. These folders are referred to as physical folders because their structure is based on the actual physical underlying file system structure on disk. As described in more detail below, this is in contrast to a virtual folder that forms a location independent view that allows a user to manipulate files and folders in a manner similar to those currently used to manipulate physical folders.

As shown in FIG. 5, the folder 400 is a "My Documents" folder. At the first level, folder 400 includes folders 410, 420, and 430 corresponding to clients 1, 2, and 3, respectively. At a second level, each folder 410, 420, 430 includes folders 411, 421, and 431, respectively, each of which corresponds to a contract for the selected client. At the third level, each of folders 411, 421, and 431 includes folders 412, 422, and 432, respectively, which correspond to year 2001, respectively. At the third level, each folder 411, 421, and 431 also includes folders 413, 423, and 433, respectively, each corresponding to year 2002.

It will be appreciated that there are a number of obstacles for users who wish to navigate the physical folder file structure as shown in FIG. For example, if a user wants to work with all contracts created by the user, the user must first navigate to folder 411 to work with the contract for Client 1, and then the folder to reach the contract for Client 2. Navigate back to 421 and again to folder 431 for the contract for Client 3. This configuration makes it difficult for a user to access all contracts, and generally cannot view and manipulate all contracts at the same time. Similarly, if the user wants to see all the contracts created in year 2001, the user must navigate and re-navigate each of folders 412, 422, and 432. As described in more detail below, the virtual folders of the present invention provide an improved file system structure.

6 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure. As described in more detail below, virtual folders form a location independent view that allows a user to manipulate their files and folders in a convenient way. As shown in FIG. 6, virtual folders are represented in a stack. The virtual folder 500 is an "all items" folder. At the first level, the virtual folder 500 includes virtual folders 510, 520, and 530 corresponding to the client, contract, and year, respectively. As will be explained in more detail below, this structure allows the user to access the parameters according to the desired parameters.

FIG. 7 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure of FIG. 6, wherein at a second level the virtual folder 510 further includes virtual folders 511 and 512, which correspond to the contract and year, respectively. In other words, the client stack of the virtual folder 510 is further filtered by contract and year. The process of determining which files and items are included in each virtual folder is described in more detail below.

FIG. 8 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure of FIG. 7, where, at a third level, the virtual folder 511 includes a virtual folder 513 corresponding to the year. In other words, the contract stack of the virtual folder 511 is further filtered by year. The virtual folder structure of the virtual folders 510, 511, and 513 is organized according to the client, contract, and year, while the virtual folder enables the generation of sequences of other structures, as described in more detail below with reference to FIG. Will be understood.

FIG. 9 is a tree diagram of the virtual folder structure of FIG. 6, where at a second level, the virtual folder 520 is further filtered to virtual folders 521 and 522 corresponding to the client and year. At the third level, the virtual folder 521 is further filtered to the virtual folder 523 corresponding to the year. 8 and 9, the flexibility of the virtual folder system is described. In other words, in the virtual folder system, the user can navigate the virtual folder according to a desired parameter as opposed to being dependent on the position-independent view of the physical file structure as shown in FIG.

10 is a diagram illustrating a screen display 600 showing a stack of document libraries. As mentioned above, the stack can be used to indicate the type of virtual folder. As described in more detail below, the screen display 600 includes a quick link element 610-613, a filter element 620-626, an operating element 630-633, an information and control element 640-645, and Virtual folder stacks 651-655.                 

The quick link elements include a "All Categories" quick link 610, a "All Authors" quick link 611, a "January Tasks" quick link 612, and a selection 613 for displaying additional quick links. do. As will be described in more detail below, a quick link can be selected by a user to effect navigation of a desired virtual folder. Quick links are provided by the system, and some quick links can be created and stored by the user.

The filter elements are "filter by" indicator 620, input blank 621, "by date" indicator 622, "year" selector 623, "select author" &Quot; selection 624, " category " selection 625, and " additional filter " The "Filter by Item" indicator 620 informs the user that the following items are used to filter the virtual folder or items. The input blank 621 provides an area for the user to type in a new filter term desired. The "by date" indicator 622 selects a date from the "year" selector 623 to inform the user that the virtual folder or item can be filtered up to the selected year. The "choose author" selector 624 allows the user to filter according to a particular author. The "Choose Category" selector 625 allows the user to filter according to the selected category. "Additional filter" selection 626 allows the user to present additional filters on the display.

The operation selector includes a "new category formation" selector 630, an "operation" selector 631 and 632, and an "additional operation" selector 633. As will be described in more detail below, the operations presented are generally for preferred functions, and in particular for operations that are useful for the type of virtual folder currently being displayed. For example, the "create new category" selector 630 allows the user to form a new category that is selected by the user and displayed in a new stack.

As mentioned above, the operation selection units 631 and 632 relate specifically to the type of folders and items being displayed. For example, this display is for a document library, and its "action" selections 631 and 632 relate to actions specifically tailored to the document, such as editing or forming an attachment. If this library is a photo library, the " action " selectors 631 and 632 may be for special operations relating to the photo, such as forming a photo album or sharing a photo with another user.

Information and control elements include information lines 640 and 641, control lines 642, backspace controls 643, and information lines 644 and 645. Information lines 640 and 641 provide information about the current navigation of the virtual folder or item. In this example, information line 640 represents more complete navigation, indicating that the current navigation is to the document library, while information line 641 indicates that the document library is in a storage area. Control line 642 provides a number of standard controls, and backspace button 643 allows the user to go back during navigation. Information line 644 provides various information about the content of this navigation. In this example, information line 644 indicates that there are 41 items occupying 100MB in the stack of the document library. Information line 645 is useful for providing additional information, such as additional information for the selected file.

The stack of document libraries is "ABC Corp." Stack 651, "Backup Stack" 652, "Business Plan" Stack 653, "XYZ Corp." Stack 654 and a "marketing report" stack 655. The number above each stack indicates how many items are in each stack. For example, "ABC Corp." Stack 651 is shown to contain eight items. The total number of items in the stack is added to the number of items shown in the information line 644, which is 41 in this example. A selection box SB is provided that can be used to select a desired item by the user. "ABC Corp." Selection of stack 651 creates a view of the items in that stack, as described below with respect to FIG.

FIG. 11 is the “ABC Corp.” of FIG. 10. It is a figure explaining the screen display which shows the item of the stack 651. As shown in FIG. Information lines 640 and 641 show this navigation as "ABC Corp." Indicates that it represents a stack. "ABC Corp." Stack 651 is shown to include eight documents 751-758, each corresponding to documents 1-8. Information line 644 thus indicates that there are eight items occupying 20 MB of memory. The document in FIG. 11 further includes ABC Corp. It can be arranged in a stack within a stack. In other words, ABC Corp. Within the virtual folder represented by the stack 651, additional virtual folders may be organized to hold documents, as described below with respect to FIGS. 12-16.

12 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which a stacking function is selected for the document of FIG. 11. As shown in FIG. 12, the user may pull the function box 760. The function box 760 includes a "view" selector 761, an "icon arrangement by item" selector 762, a "stack" selector 763, a "refresh" selector 764, and "open with folder". Selector 765, "cut" selector 766, "copy" selector 767, "cancel" selector 768, "new document" selector 769 and "characteristic" selector ( 770). Selection box SB is shown around " stack " selection 763.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which the “author stack by each parameter” parameter is selected for the stack function of FIG. 12. As shown in FIG. 13, a box 780 is displayed that presents various stack options. The stack options include a "stack off" option 781, a "stack by category" option 782, a "stack by author" option 783, and a "stack by user" option 784. The selection box SB is shown around the "author stack" option 783.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which files of FIG. 13 are stacked for each author. As shown in Fig. 14, stacks 791 and 792 correspond to author Bob and Lisa, respectively. As indicated by the number above each stack, Bob stack 791 contains two items, while Lisa stack 792 contains five items. Item 758 (corresponding to Document 8) does not have an author and therefore is not included in the "author" stack. Stacks 791 and 792 represent "ABC Corp." It can be organized in multiple levels as in stack 651. Therefore, the virtual folder is named "ABC Corp." within the document library. It can be formed at multiple levels, such as the " Lisa " stack 792 within the stack 651.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which the "Stack by Category" option is further selected to re-stack the file of FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, the select box SB is around a "Stack by Category" option 782. Since some of the items are already stacked in the stacks 791 and 792, the selection of the "Stack by Category" option 782 stacks the items again, as described in more detail below with respect to FIG.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which the file of FIG. 14 is stacked again by category. As shown in FIG. 16, the stacks 793 and 794 are each labeled "XYZ Corp.". And the "Marketing Report" category. Items 751 and 752 corresponding to documents 1 and 2 are not specified in any additional categories, and therefore do not enter any of the other category stacks.

17 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which a quick link of a physical folder is selected. The selection box SB appears to be around the "All Folders" quick link 616. As described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 18, a “All Folders” quick link 616 is provided to switch to a view of a physical folder.

18 is a diagram for explaining a screen display showing a physical folder. The physical folder shown contains files in the virtual folder stack of FIG. In other words, items contained within stacks 651-655 of FIG. 17 are also included in specific physical folders of the system. These are the "My Documents" folder 851 located on the current computer in FIG. 18, the "Desktop" folder 852 located on the current computer, the "Foo" folder 853 located on hard drive C, the server. A "My Files" folder 854 located on an external drive, an "External Drive" folder 855 located on an external drive, a "My Documents" folder 856 located on another computer, and a "desktop" located on another computer "Folder 857.

As shown in FIG. 18, the user can switch the virtual file display of FIG. 17 to the physical file display of FIG. 18. This allows the user to toggle between virtual file display and physical file display, as desired for the current task. The various locations of the physical folders 851-857 also illustrate the relatively large scope of the virtual file system, as described in more detail below.

19 is a flowchart illustrating a routine 880 in which a user can directly manipulate a virtual folder. As described in more detail below, the mechanism provided for manipulating virtual folders is similar to those currently used to manipulate regular folders (eg, click and drag, copy, paste, etc.). As shown in FIG. 19, at block 882, the system defines an action that a user can perform for direct manipulation of a virtual folder represented as a display object. At block 884, the user executes the defined action. As described above, one example of this is that a user clicks and drags a virtual folder to another virtual folder to copy its contents. At block 886, the virtual folder and / or content is manipulated as indicated by the action performed by the user.

FIG. 20 illustrates a screen display in which a new west coast stack 656 has been added to the stack of FIG. 10. West coast stack 656 is formed by the user creating a new category called "West Coast." In its initial formation, the new west coast stack 656 has zero items empty. In the embodiment of FIG. 20, two items are added to the west coast stack 656. One way to add an item to the stack is to select a specific item, and add additional categories to the item's category metadata, such as adding a category "West Coast" to the two items, as in the embodiment of FIG. 20. Just add This process describes that the category data is the metadata property of the item, which is a type of special property. In other words, this type of property has no absolute meaning and may be assigned an arbitrary value by the user. For example, the category "attribute" has an arbitrary value while the "author" attribute must be the name of a person. As described in detail below with respect to FIG. 21, an item may also be clicked and dragged to copy from another stack to the west coast stack 656 (in which case the category of the item is automatically updated to include the “west cost”). ). In this regard, FIG. 20 shows ABC Corp. < RTI ID = 0.0 > B < / RTI > It is shown around the stack 651.

21 shows direct manipulation of this file by ABC Corp .; A diagram illustrating the screen display used to copy from stack 651 to west coast stack 656. In other words, as shown in FIG. After selecting stack 651, the user clicks and drags this stack to copy it to west coast stack 656, as shown in FIG. Accordingly, the west coast stack 656 having two items in FIG. It appears to contain a total of ten items, including an additional eight items from the stack 651. ABC Corp. When an item from stack 651 is copied to west coast stack 656, this is the original ABC Corp. In addition to the category, the category description of the eight items is modified to include the "West Coast" category as well. This is a type of direct operation that can be performed.

Another example of a direct operation is to right click on an item and select delete. In one embodiment, if the delete function is selected by the user, the user is queried whether the items are all deleted together or only removed from the current virtual folder. If the item is only removed from the current virtual folder category stack as described above, this can be accomplished by removing the desired category from the item's metadata. In other words, ABC Corp. One of the items copied from the stack 651 to the west coast stack 656 is ABC Corp. If desired to be removed from the stack 651, this can be accomplished by modifying the category data such that a particular file no longer contains a "West Coast" category.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart describing a routine 900 of a system for dynamically forming new filter terms. Filter terms are used to manipulate virtual folders. The filter term is used as a set of tools to reduce the set of items. In one embodiment, the filter consists of metadata categories and their values (presented to the user in the user interface as a clickable link or drop-down menu). The user can click on a filter term to filter the result set of the current item on the display.

22 illustrates a method of dynamically forming a filter. As shown in FIG. 22, at block 902, the characteristics (from the metadata) of the items aggregated on the current display are reviewed. At block 904, the proposed filter term is dynamically formed based on the characteristics of a typical item. At block 906, the proposed filter term is presented to the user for a possible choice for filtering the item. As an example of this process, the system reviews the characteristics of a set of items, and if an item has an "author" as a property, the filter can provide a list of authors to the item-specific filter. Next, when a particular author is clicked on, items that do not have that author are removed from the set on the display. This filtering process is used as a mechanism to reduce the set of items on the display.

23 is a flowchart illustrating a routine 920 of a system for filtering items based on selection of filter terminology. At block 922, the user enters a new filter term or selects one of the filter terms presented by the system. As noted above, filter terms may be dynamically formed by the system or may be preset. At block 924, the items in the set on the display are evaluated with respect to whether the selected characteristic matches the filter term. For example, if the filter term is for an item written by "Bob", then the item is evaluated according to whether the author property includes "Bob". At block 926, items that do not match the selected characteristics are removed from the set on the display.

24-29 generally describe how the filtering process appears on the screen display. As described below with reference to FIGS. 24-29, in one embodiment, filtering may generally operate according to the following process. After the user clicks on a filter value, items outside the filter range disappear from the screen. This disappearance is generally intended to make it clear that the item is being removed and that no new item is being added. The back button 643 may be selected by the user to cancel the filter operation. In one embodiment, a navigation stack is formed that includes sequential filter actions, which are used to cancel each of the filter actions when the back button 643 is selected. Each time a filter value is selected, information areas 640 and 641 are updated to indicate the current filter value. In one embodiment, after the filter value is selected, the user is provided with the option to save the new quick link as the current filter navigation, as described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 30. As the filter value is selected, the filter control can be updated to suit the items remaining in the view.

FIG. 24 illustrates a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 10 is filtered under the term “AB”. As shown, in the filter area 621 the term "AB" is typed by the user. Information lines 640 and 641 indicate that the items in the display are currently filtered by the term "AB". As shown, ABC Corp. Stack 651 still contains eight items, while backup stack 652 currently contains three items, and XYZ Corp. Stack 654 also includes three items. Thus, information line 644 indicates that there are a total of 14 items that occupy a total of 35 MB of memory.

FIG. 25 illustrates a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 10 is filtered under the term “ABC”. Regarding the filter term "AB" in FIG. 24, the user simply types the additional letter "C" to make the total filter term "ABC". As shown in FIG. 25, information lines 640 and 641 indicate that an item on the display includes the term “ABC”. ABC Corp. Stack 651 still indicates that it contains eight items, while backup stack 652 currently only contains two items. XYZ Corp. Stack 654 has disappeared because none of its content matches the "ABC" filter. Information line 644 indicates that there are a total of ten items currently occupying a total of 25 MB of memory in the stack on the display. As such, FIGS. 24 and 25 provide examples of how a user may write new filter terms and how those filter terms are used to filter items shown on the display.

Backbutton 643 can be used to allow the user to go back during the filtering process. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 10, back button 643 allows the user to go back during navigation. In connection with the example of FIGS. 24 and 25, after filtering with the term “ABC” of FIG. 25, the user can select the back button 643 to go back one step of the filtering process, thereby returning to the state of FIG. 24. Will go back. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the back button 643 can clear the entire filter terminology, thus returning to the state before that filtering occurred. In this case, when the back button 643 is pressed in FIG. 25, the user returns to the state of FIG.

In one embodiment, in addition to the back button, additional means are provided for the user to go back or modify the filtering navigation. This additional means refers to allowing the user to directly access and modify the information line 641 and change the filter navigation accordingly. In other words, the information line 641 can be directly accessed and modified to remove one or more of the applied filters, or to modify the values of any of the applied filters. This feature is described in more detail in US patent application Ser. No. 10 / 420,040, filed April 17, 2003, commonly assigned and incorporated herein by reference.

A timer may also be used in connection with the user's typing in the filter term, as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25. The timer is used to monitor pauses in typing by the user. After the selected no typing interval, the filter is applied. For example, in the state of FIG. 24, the user types the filter term “AB” without a significant time delay between “A” and “B”. After typing the term "AB", the user pauses to generate the state shown in Figure 24, where the filter term "AB" is applied. Shortly after, the user adds the letter "C" to complete the filter term "ABC" and then pauses again, at which point the filter term "ABC" is applied as shown in FIG.

In one embodiment, after the user types a filter term in the filter area 621 and then selects another filter or navigation, the navigation state is updated, and the filter term in the filter area 621 becomes empty again. . In addition, as described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 26-29, other filter controls may be updated based on the selection of specific filter terms.

26 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which the filter term "year 2002" is selected. As noted above, year selector 623 below date-based indicator 622 includes years 2000, 2001, or 2002. The selection box SB appears to be around year 2002, indicating that the user is selecting it by the desired filter term.                 

27 is a diagram illustrating a screen display to which the filter term "2002" is applied. Also shown is another " month selection " selection 623A. As shown in FIG. 27, after applying the filter term "2002", the number of items in the stack is reduced. In particular, ABC Corp. Stack 651 currently contains six items, backup stack 652 includes eight items, business plan stack 653 contains three items, and XYZ Corp. Stack 654 currently contains five items. Information line 644 represents a total of 22 items occupying a total of 50 MB of memory. Information lines 640 and 641 indicate that the items shown on the display have been filtered to include the filter term “2002”.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a screen display presented with a list for selecting months for filtering. A box 950 is provided that includes a list of months. This box 950 is provided on the display when the user selects the "choose a month" selection 623A. Selection box SB is shown around January.

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which the stack of FIG. 28 is further filtered to January and further shows a filter term of "day". As shown in FIG. 29, information lines 640 and 641 indicate that the items on the display are filtered with the term “January”. Backup stack 652 is shown to contain two items, and business plan stack 653 is also shown to contain two items. Information line 644 indicates that there are a total of four items on the display, which occupy a total of 10 MB of memory. A "choose day" selector 623B is provided if the user wants to further filter the results by a particular date.

As described with reference to FIGS. 24-29, filter terms may be presented by the system or typed by a user. Once the filter term is selected, the remaining filter term presented can be updated (eg, after year “2002” is selected in FIG. 26, the option to select a year in FIG. 27 is no longer presented and instead “ Choose a month "option). As mentioned above, the back button 643 is selected when the user attempts to go back through the filtering process. For example, after " January " is selected in FIG. 29, if the user selects back button 643, as shown in FIG. 27, the filtering process is reversed to year " 2002. " The filter menu includes a "item stack" function, which works similarly to the item stack function described above with respect to FIGS. 15 and 16. For example, the "file type" filter may have a choice of "Excel", "Powerpoint", "Word", and "Stack by file type". Selecting the "item stack" feature transforms the view to reveal a stack of different file types.

In general, filters can be configured to apply to various properties of a file or item. In one embodiment, the filter comprises an alphabetic index; Individual value; date; And numerical ranges, and the like. Examples of characteristics of the alphabetic index may include file name, author, artist, easy-to-contact name, owner, document author, document title, document subject, and description. Examples of characteristics of individual values include location, file type (application name), genre, track, decade (for music); Includes rating (for music), bit rate, security, document category, document page count, document comments, camera model, dimensions, product name, product version, image X, image Y, and document formation time . Examples of characteristics of the date include the last contact, last modified, formed, and date taken (photographed). An example of a characteristic of a numerical range may be file size.

It will be appreciated that the filters described above with respect to FIGS. 24-29 allow the user to find a particular item of interest by narrowing the list of items. As a specific example, according to the process described above, a user can narrow the list of current documents to display only Microsoft Word files that were written by a specific person and edited last weekend. This feature allows users to find specific items in many lists, eliminating the need for users to manually scan each item in the list.

30 is a flowchart describing a routine 940 for forming a new quick link. As described in more detail below, a quick link is a predetermined link that a user can click to form a view of a set of selected items. In one embodiment the quick link may be thought of in the form of a pivot. Quick links provide a mechanism for searching virtual folders. Clicking on a quick link will allow the user to take the desired folder (similarly, clicking on "favorites" will allow the user to take a website). The quick link may be predetermined by the system or set by the user. For example, clicking on "all authors" will bring up the views stacked by the author. Click "All Documents" to get a flat view of all documents for all storage areas. The user can form his own quick link.

As shown in FIG. 30, at block 942, the user makes a selection on the display to indicate that a new quick link is currently formed with filter terms or navigation. At block 944, the user provides a new name for the new quick link. At block 946, the new quick link is saved and the new quick link name is provided in the Quick Links section on the display.

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating a screen display for forming a new quick link called "January operation" based on the filtering of FIG. As mentioned above, in FIG. 29, the stack is filtered by January. In FIG. 31, the user instructed the filtering of FIG. 29 to be saved as a new quick link and named this new quick link "January task". Thus, a new January job quick link 612 appears in the quick link section of the display. Regarding forming a new quick link, the user is typically provided with an option such as "save this set as a quick link".

32 is a diagram illustrating a screen display in which a quick link of "all authors" is selected. As shown in FIG. 32, the selection box SB appears around all author selection sections 611. Examples of other sets that can be accessed by quick links are "All Authors", "Recent Documents", "All Documents I've Shared", "All Documents I've Authored", "All Documents I've Not Created", "Desktop "And" all types ".

33 is a diagram illustrating a screen display on which a list of all authors of the item of FIG. 32 is presented. As shown in FIG. 33, an information line 950 is provided that represents a column indicating the item, author, date modified, type, size, and location of the item. A list of authors 951-954 appears corresponding to authors 1-4, respectively.                 

FIG. 34 is a diagram for explaining a screen display in which "author 1" is selected from the list of FIG. Author 1's document includes documents 951A and 951B corresponding to Documents 1 and 2, respectively. Document 951A, authored by Author 1, is modified on July 11, 2001, indicates that it is a Microsoft Excel file, occupies 282Kb of memory, and is obtained from location // server1 / folder2. Document 951B, authored by Author 1, is modified on December 22, 2002, indicates that it is a Microsoft Word file, occupies 206 Kb of memory, and is physically stored in Document / Folder 1 in location. Documents 951A and 951B may include items from various physical locations, as described in more detail below.

35 is a flowchart describing a routine 960 for forming a new library. One example of a library is the document library described above with respect to FIG. In general, libraries consist of a large group of available files that can be associated together. For example, a picture may be one library, music may be another, and documents may be another. Libraries can provide tools and actions related to specific types of items. For example, the photo library may include tools and filters related to photo manipulation, such as forming a slideshow or sharing a photo. As shown in FIG. 35, at block 962, a new library is formed that includes the items with the selected characteristics. At block 964, the selected items are grouped into a library. At block 966, tools and / or actions related to the characteristics of the selected item or other desired functionality are provided.                 

36 illustrates a screen display showing a collection of useful libraries. As shown in FIG. 36, the library includes a document library 971, a photo and video library 972, a music library 973, a message library 974, a contact library 975, and a TV and movie library 976, In addition, it includes all item libraries 997. All item libraries 997 are shown to contain 275 items, the total number of items in all other combined libraries. Information line 644 represents a total of 275 items occupying a total of 700 MB of memory. Note that the document library 971 is the library described above with reference to FIG.

37 is a flowchart describing a routine 990 for defining a range of a virtual folder set. As will be described in more detail below, the virtual folder system can represent items from multiple physical locations (e.g., multiple hard drives, multiple computers, multiple network locations, etc.) so that all items are easily accessible to the user. do. For example, a user can present music files from multiple physical locations on a single display, and manipulate all the files at once.

As shown in FIG. 37, at block 992, the effective range for the physical location from which the item originated is defined. At block 994, in response to the query, an item is pulled from the physical location defined in this scope. At block 996, all items dragged to the query are presented on a single display.

38 is a block diagram illustrating various sources forming an effective range of a virtual folder set. As shown in FIG. 38, system 1000 includes current computer 1010, additional computer 1020, external and removable storage 1030, and a location 1040 on a network. Full coverage 1001 is described as including all physical locations from which a user's items come to form a set. The range can be set and modified by the user. As is well known, other diagrams depict items such as the My Documents folder on the current computer and various documents coming from the server, and FIG. 18 representing physical folders physically stored in multiple locations, and the like. It explains.

39 is a flowchart describing a routine 1080 that includes non-file items in a set of virtual folders. Non-file entries are typically contrasted with file entries located in a physical file repository. Examples of non-file items are such as email, or contacts. As shown in FIG. 39, at block 1082, the database is used to include non-file items along with file items that can be retrieved by a query. At block 1084, in response to the query, a non-file item and a file item matching this query are drawn. At block 1086, non-file items and file items that match the query appear on the display.

40 is a diagram illustrating a screen display showing various non-file items. As shown in FIG. 40, items are filtered to include "John". An item that includes a contact item 1101, an email item 1102, and a document item 1103 and 1104 is shown. The contact item 1101 and the email item 1102 are non-file items. The system allows these non-file items to be included in regular file items so that they can be organized and manipulated as desired by the user. As described above with respect to FIG. 2, this non-file item is included entirely in the associated database 230, which includes information about the characteristics of the file.

41 through 50 illustrate a virtual address bar corresponding to the information line 641 of FIG. 10 and formed according to the present invention. As will be described in more detail below, the virtual address bar includes a plurality of segments, each segment corresponding to a filter for selecting content. The corresponding filter of each segment collectively represents a virtual address for selecting content.

41 is a block diagram of an example network computing environment 1200, or any other aspect of the invention described herein, suitable for operating a virtual address bar. Exemplary network computing environment 1200 includes a computing device 1202, such as a personal computer described with respect to FIG. 1, for interacting with a user, wherein the user is stored locally or remotely to the computing device. You can see the file. Although the following description describes the invention in connection with a personal computer, computing device 1202 is capable of interacting with, but not limited to, mini and mainframe computers, PDAs, tablet computers, and other users. It will be appreciated that in addition to this there are many types of physical devices, including devices capable of displaying stored content.

Exemplary network computing environment 1200 stores accessible files on computing device 1202 and includes one or more servers 1204, such as server 1204, connected to the computing device via a communication network, such as the Internet 1206, as shown in FIG. 41. Include a remote server. In addition, computing device 1202 may also be connected to other information sources that store files or other content, such as remote database 1208. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that files and information stored in both the remote server 1024 and the remote database 1208, as well as local storage devices such as hard disk drives (FIG. 1), may be used as computing device 1202 as part of an integrated file system on the computing device. It will be appreciated that it is accessible to and displayable here. In addition, although specific configurations of remote server 1204 and remote database 1208 are shown in FIG. 41, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that these specific configurations are for illustration only and are not intended to be limiting to the invention. will be.

42 illustrates an example file viewer 1300 with a conventional address bar 1302 associated with displaying a file in a computer file system, as can be seen in the prior art. For illustrative purposes, a file viewer is a view or window on a display device, such as a display device (FIG. 1), for displaying a file or other content to a user. The file viewer may be a window for displaying a file to a user in response to a specially executable program. Alternatively, the file viewer may be a view in an open or closed dialog on an executable program that needs to store or retrieve data from a storage device connected locally or remotely to the computer system. It should be noted that the above example of the file viewer is for the purpose of illustration and is not limited to the present invention.

The address of the conventional address bar 1302 corresponds to a specific location in the file system. As previously described, in order to edit the address displayed in the conventional address bar 1302, the user must modify the address according to the specific knowledge of the file system. Alternatively, the user can select an entry in tree view 1304 to navigate to an alternate location. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that external control of address bar 1302 may also be utilized, which is not shown in other example file views 1300. Although the address displayed in the conventional address bar 1302 corresponds to a specific location in the file system, related files distributed between multiple folders in the file system cannot be displayed in relation to the conventional address file 1302.

43 illustrates an example file viewer 1400 having a virtual address bar 1402 associated with displaying a file in a computer file system. The virtual address bar 1402 corresponds to the information line 641 of FIG. 10. The virtual address bar 1402 having the virtual address 1404 is configured to display information similar to that displayed by the conventional address 1304 of the conventional file viewer 1300 of FIG. 42. The virtual address, also referred to as the virtual path, refers to a file stored in a computer file system according to a selection standard.

Similar to conventional addresses, such as address 1304 in FIG. 42, the selection standard for virtual addresses refers to files stored at specific locations in the file system hierarchy. However, in contrast to conventional addresses, the standard of selection of virtual addresses may reference files that are irrelevant to their specific file system location. Thus, a virtual address refers to a file stored at multiple locations in a computer file system. As shown in FIG. 43, the file viewer 1400 according to the virtual address 1404 of the virtual address bar 1402 can add additional files such as files 1406 and 1408 that are not visible in the file viewer 1300 of FIG. 42. I can display it. In addition, the virtual address bar 1402 can also be used to display content other than files of a computer file system. For example, the virtual address bar 1402 can be used to reference content that includes system devices, system services, or Internet locations.

44A illustrates manipulating a segment of virtual address 1404 in virtual address bar 1402 to navigate in a computer file system. Each virtual address bar, such as virtual address bar 1402, consists of one or more interactive segments, such as segments 1502, 1504, 1506, and 1508. Each segment of the virtual address bar corresponds to a predetermined filter or selection standard for all useful content or files accessible to the computer file system. The filters of all segments of the virtual address bar 1402 collectively represent the virtual address of the virtual address bar.

The first segment of the virtual address bar, such as segment 1502, is referred to as a root segment or root filter. The root segment represents the broadest category of content useful for selection by the virtual address bar 1402. For example, segment 1502 "file" represents a filter that references all files accessible to the computer file system. Alternatively, the root segment represents a filter that references all system services available to the user on the computer system, or a filter that references all hardware devices installed in the computer system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various alternative route filters may be utilized by the present invention. Therefore, the above-described example is for illustrative purposes and is not intended to limit the present invention. In addition, the label displayed for each segment, such as the "file" of the root segment 1502, is illustrative and does not limit the invention. According to one embodiment, the label displayed on the segment is user configurable.

Each additional segment of the virtual address bar 1402, such as segments 1504, 1506, and 1508, displays additional filters applied when selecting and displaying a file or content in the file viewer 1400. For example, root segment 1502 " files " refers to all files useful in a computer system. Segment 1504 " document library " selects a file generated by a user, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, or other document generation application, and filters the file selected by root segment 1502. Segment 1506 " Word Document " filters the file selected by segment 1504 according to a document formed using a word processor, such as a Microsoft Word application. Finally, segment 1508 " author A " filters the word processing document selected by segment 1506 according to whether it was written as " author A ". Therefore, the content selected according to the virtual address displayed in the virtual address bar 1402 must satisfy a filter corresponding to all segments of the virtual address bar.

The segments of the virtual address bar 1402 are generally ordered from the most comprehensive filter to the less comprehensive filter. For example, as discussed above, segment 1502 "file" is the broadest and most comprehensive. Segment 1506 "word document" and segment 1508 "author A" are less inclusive. The virtual address bar 1402 shows a segment order from left to right, and for the sake of explanation, segments 1504, 1506, and 1508 follow the root segment 1502. However, it will be understood that other arrangements, such as configuration from top to bottom, are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the orientation from left to right is illustrative and is not intended to limit the invention.

As discussed above, segments of virtual address bars 1042, such as segments 1502, 1504, 1506, and 1508, do not necessarily correspond to specific locations in a computer file system, such as folders, drives, and directories. Thus, the segment 1504 "document library" may refer to files or content distributed across multiple servers, drives, or folders / directories. However, certain segments of the virtual address bar 1402 may refer to specific locations with a computer file system hierarchy. Virtual address segments referring to specific file system locations are further described below with reference to FIGS. 48A and 48B.

In contrast to conventional address bars, each segment of virtual address bar 1402 represents an operable interactive user interface element. For example, a segment of the virtual address bar 1402 may be monitored in response to a user selection to see if the cursor is positioned over this segment for a particular period and removed from the virtual address bar by dragging user interaction. Thus, as shown in FIG. 44A, the user places the cursor 1510 over a segment of a virtual address bar 1402, such as segment 1504 " document library, " and selects or clicks the segment to associate with FIG. 44B. As described above, navigation to that level, i.e., truncation of the virtual address from that segment.

44B shows the result of selecting a segment 1504 of the virtual address bar 1402. By clicking on a segment 1504 of the virtual address bar 1402, the user is instructing to navigate to that level of the virtual address. In effect, the user is cutting out the filter that follows the selected segment. For example, clicking segment 1504 "document library" (FIG. 44A), the final virtual address 1404 no longer contains segments 1506 "word document" and 1508 "author A". (Figure 44A). In addition, the final virtual address 1404 of the virtual address bar 1402 becomes more comprehensive as the user navigates through a less restrictive set of filters. This is due to the addition of a document including the document 1512, the document 1514, and the document 1516 to the file viewer 1400 of FIG. 44B, which is not visible in the file viewer 1400 of FIG. 44A, and the limitation of space. In the file viewer 1400 (FIG. 44B), it can be seen that there is a scroll button 1518 indicating that an additional file that cannot be displayed can be viewed.

In addition to selecting a segment in the virtual address bar to navigate the less restrictive segment, the user may wish to navigate to or select a peer filter of the current segment at the virtual address. Peer filters are alternate filters that are selected and applied to any segment of the virtual address bar. For example, with respect to FIG. 44A, the peer filter of segment 1506 "word document" may include a filter such as "Excel document", "Journals", and the like. Other types of filters, including specific file system locations, hardware devices, or computer services, can also be applied to any segment of the virtual address bar. The peer filter may or may not be logically related to the current filter of any segment. Each segment of the virtual address bar may have a peer filter. Selecting a segment's peer filter in the virtual address bar refers to navigating laterally. Selecting a peer filter of segments in the virtual address bar is described below with respect to FIGS. 45A-45D and also with respect to FIG. 49.

45A-45D illustrate selecting a peer filter associated with a segment of a virtual address in the virtual address bar 1600. As shown in FIG. 45A, the virtual address bar 1600 has a virtual address that includes segments 1602-1608, which are multiple segments. In order to select a peer filter for any interactivity segment in the virtual address bar 1600, the user must make an alternative selection, or a replacement operation for this interactivity segment. One method for alternative selection is to right click on any segment. Right click is well known and refers to the use of a mouse secondary button or other input device, where the secondary button is usually to the right of the mouse. Alternatively, because an interactive segment can monitor when the cursor is positioned over it, an alternative choice is to place the cursor over the interactive segment, sometimes called hovering, to leave the cursor for a predetermined amount of time. Can be done. However, the present description describes other alternatives for allowing peer filters to be displayed, which are for illustration only and are not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are many different ways to form alternative choices.

To illustrate alternatively selecting a segment with reference to FIG. 45A, the user first positions the cursor 1610 over the segment 1604 " document library, " Let's do it. 45B shows the result of replacing the segment 1604 "document library" in the virtual address bar 1600. As shown in FIG. 45B, after selecting and replacing segment 1604 "Document Library", peer filter view 1612 is displayed with the peer filter corresponding to the selected segment. It should be understood that the peer filter presented in the peer filter view 1612 is for illustration only and is not intended to limit the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 45C, to select an alternate peer filter, the user selects a peer filter by placing the cursor 1610 over one of the filters presented in the peer filter view 1612, such as peer filter 1614. As shown in FIG. 45D, after selecting alternate peer filter 1614, previously selected segment 1604 (FIG. 45A) is replaced with a new segment 1616 representing the selected alternate peer filter 1614. In addition, the segments that follow the segment 1604 selected in place of the virtual address bar 1600 of FIG. 45A, in particular the segments 1606 " journals " and 1608 " all documents in 2002 " At 1600 it is removed. Although not shown, files or content previously selected according to segment 1604 "document library", segment 1606 "journal", segment 1608 "all documents of the year 2002" are no longer displayed in the corresponding file viewer. Only files or content selected according to segment 1602 " file " and segment 1616 " picture library "

Segments can be added to virtual addresses in the virtual address bar through multiple user interactions at the end of existing segments. To add a filter to the virtual address of the virtual address bar, the user can manipulate a file viewer with an operable control or virtual address bar associated with the particular filter found in the window. For example, referring to file viewer 1400 of FIG. 43, a user can click on operable control 1412 "2003" to add a corresponding filter to virtual address 1404 of virtual address bar 1402. have. Alternatively (not shown), the user can manually enter a known filter at the end of the virtual address by typing the name of the filter. There are several different ways to add a filter to a virtual address, all of which are within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above examples are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the present invention.

When a filter is added to a virtual address in the virtual address bar, a process is performed to ensure that the newly added filter does not conflict with any filter currently present as part of the virtual address. If a newly added filter conflicts with the current filter, the current filter is removed. If the newly added filter is different from the width of the current filter, that is, slightly wider than the current filter, the newly added filter will collide with the current filter of the virtual address. In addition, if the newly added filter is mutually exclusive with the current filter, the newly added filter will collide with the current filter. However, if the newly added filter is equivalent to the current filter, it is not added because it is ineffective. It is to be understood that the foregoing description of the conflict is merely illustrative and is not intended to limit the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there may be conflicts between other filters that are possible to fall within the scope of the present invention.

46A to 46D illustrate the removal of a collision with the current filter by adding a filter to the virtual address 1702 of the virtual address bar 1700. 46A illustrates example virtual address 1702 displayed in virtual address bar 1700. As shown in FIG. 46B, a new filter indicated by segment 1706 " 2002 " is added to the virtual address 1702. As shown in FIG. As discussed above, a new filter is added at the end of the virtual address, as indicated by placing segment 1706 " 2002 " at the end of the segment of the virtual address bar 1700 of FIG. 46B. Then, the process performed to add segment 1706 "2002" determines that the added filter does not conflict with the current filter of virtual address 1702. Thus, the current filter is not removed from the virtual address 1702.

As shown in FIG. 46C, another filter, represented by segment 1708 "author A", is added to virtual address 1702. The process performed to add this new filter would determine that the new filter "author A" collides with the filter indicated by segment 1704 "author AF", since the new filter "author A" is narrower than the current filter. . Thus, segment 1704 "author A-F" is removed from virtual address bar 1700 and segment 1708 "author A" is added to the end of the segment of the virtual address bar.

FIG. 46D illustrates the result of adding segment 1710 "2003" to the virtual address bar 1700 of FIG. 46C. The filter of the virtual address 1702 is limited, not cumulative. Each filter further defines the selected content. Thus, mutually exclusive filters prevent the virtual address 1702 from selecting any file or content, resulting in a conflict. As shown in FIG. 46D, segment 1706 " 2002 "

When a virtual address bar such as the virtual address bar 1800 (FIG. 47A) cannot fully display the virtual address due to the size limitation of the virtual address bar, only a part of the virtual address is displayed according to the size of the virtual address bar. However, the non-display portion of the virtual address can still be accessed by the user. In particular, the virtual address displays a visual indicator operable to scroll the virtual path in the virtual address bar. 47A and 47B illustrate an example virtual address bar 1800 that displays a virtual address when the virtual address exceeds the display capacity of the virtual address bar. 47A and 47B, scroll icons 1802 and 1804 indicate the direction in which the virtual address bar 1800 can scroll to display the previous non-display portion of the virtual address. However, although this figure illustrates the use of a scroll icon, this is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many other ways to scroll the virtual address of the virtual address bar, all of which are considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

48A is a block diagram illustrating a virtual address bar 1900 having segments that reference both virtual and physical locations in a file system. As discussed above, the virtual address of the virtual address bar 1900 includes segments that reference specific locations within the computer file system hierarchy, and also includes segments that reference virtual or logical locations within the computer file system. Files or content referred to as virtual segments can be distributed among many physical locations. The virtual address bar 1900 includes a segment that references a physical location and a segment that references a virtual location. For example, the virtual address bar 1900 includes a segment 1902 " local disk C: " in a particular drive " C " that refers to a file or content included in a particular area of a computer file system. Alternatively, segment 1904 "case file" itself refers to a file or content stored in multiple folders of the computer file system hierarchy associated with the case file. However, in combination with segment 1902 "local disk (: C)", segment 1904 "case file" refers only to the case file found on local drive "C". In addition, segment 1906 " include 'fax' " further filters the files on local disk: C to associate with the case file depending on whether they contain the word " fax ".

As shown in FIG. 48B, the virtual address bar 1900 can be configured to function as a conventional address bar. For example, referring to FIG. 48A, if the cursor 1908 is placed in an empty space of the virtual address bar 1900 and clicked therein, the virtual address bar 1900 displays a segment representing the virtual address. As shown at 48B, it is switched to functioning as a conventional address bar displaying the conventional address 1910. The conventional address 1910 of the virtual address bar 1900 of FIG. 48B is approximate to the virtual address shown in the virtual address bar 1900 of FIG. 48A. However, the filters of the virtual address bar 1900 of FIG. 48A that do not correspond to the physical location of the computer file system cannot be displayed and are removed from the conventional address 1910. In particular, segment 1904 " case file " and segment 1906 " include 'fax' " are not part of conventional address 1910 (FIG. 48B).

In order to reconstruct the virtual address bar 1900 that acts as a conventional address bar, the user must instruct it in a manner other than clicking on an empty area of the bar to function normally as a virtual address bar. When configured to function as a conventional address bar, the virtual address bar should allow the user to click on a blank area for the purpose of address editing. Clicking on a blank area of the conventional address bar places the editing cursor at the end of the address / path for editing purposes. Thus, as described above, in order to reconfigure the virtual address to function again in a conventional manner, the user presses a predetermined key or key sequence, such as the Esc or Tab key, or clicks another area of the window or view to display the window or view. You should place the focus on another area of the. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other user's operations may cause the virtual address bar 1900 to be reconfigured to function again in the usual mode as described above, all of which are within the scope of the present invention.

49 is a flowchart illustrating a peer filter selection routine 2000 for selecting a peer filter for an identified segment of a virtual address bar. Beginning at block 2002, the routine 2000 detects peer filter selection activation. Activating the peer selection process has been described above with respect to FIGS. 45A-45D. At block 2004, the segment for which peer filter selection has been requested is identified. At block 2006, a peer filter of the identified segment is determined from a list of predetermined peer filters. At block 2008, the peer filter is displayed to the user. At block 2010, a user's peer filter selection is obtained from the indicated peer filters. At block 2012, the virtual address is truncated by removing the segment identified from the virtual address bar, and additional segments that follow this identified segment. At block 2014, a segment representing the selected peer filter is attached to the remaining segments of the virtual address bar. Thereafter, the routine 2000 ends.

50 is a flowchart illustrating an example additive filter routine 2100 for adding a filter to a virtual address in a virtual address bar. Beginning at block 2102, the example routine 2100 obtains a filter that is added to the virtual address. For example, as described above with respect to FIG. 43, the filter may be added to the virtual address in response to user actions external to the virtual address bar, or alternatively may be added directly to the virtual address by typing in the name of a predefined filter. have.

At block 2104, a determination is made whether the new filter conflicts with the current filter already at the virtual address. As already described in connection with FIGS. 46A-46D, the new filter may collide with the current filter by significantly narrowing or widening the area of the current filter. Alternatively, the new filter may collide with the current filter because the new filter is mutually exclusive with respect to the current filter. At decision block 2104, if a new filter conflicts with the current filter, then at block 2106 the current filter is removed from the virtual address. Alternatively, at block 2104, if the new filter does not conflict with the current filter, or after removing the current collision filter at block 2106, the new filter is added at the end of the virtual address at block 2108. . Thereafter, the exemplary routine 2100 ends.

51-57 are diagrams of systems and methods according to another aspect of the present invention for providing an improved user experience in a shell browser. In particular, it provides a system and method that allows a user to more easily identify an item based on metadata associated with the item.

Returning to FIG. 51A, window 2200 shows a screen sized display area for the shell user's graphical user interface. Window 2200 includes a preview window area 2202 and a view area 2204. Preview window 2202 includes preview control 2206, user interface (UI) or edit control 2208, and job control 2210. Typically, preview control 2206 will provide the user with an image or other visible display of the item being previewed (eg, the selected file). Preview control 2206 may also present control to the user, such as an iterator button that causes the user to click a mouse button to shift focus from one item to the next. Metadata corresponding to one or more items and / or metadata corresponding to an item container may be displayed at various locations within the window 2200. For example, edit controls and metadata are co-located within the edit control area 2208 so that the edit control area not only contains a display of key properties of the previewed item, but also presents the user with the option to make edits to the metadata. You can do it. Job control 2210 includes jobs related to namespaces and / or selections.

For the purposes of the present invention, the terms "metadata" and "user modifiable metadata" exclude shell item names. The term "cell item name" refers to a property used for the purpose of classifying and displaying items in a shell browser. As noted above, one aspect of the present invention is the ability of a user to edit metadata in a shell browser.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the presence of optional features in window 2200 is possible in the present invention. For example, preview control 2206 and task control 2210 are not necessarily essential features for the purposes of the present invention. Moreover, other non-essential features not shown in FIG. 51A are also within the scope of the present invention, such as toolbars that allow the user to open / close the preview window, including iterator buttons or show / hide buttons. Nevertheless, these and other optional features can help the user to easily locate a particular item in a shell browser.

View area 2204 provides a listview of one or more items 2212, such as system files or folders. The term "listview" refers to an open or list of items in a container. The terms "item" and "cell item" are used herein interchangeably to refer to files, folders and other such containers, and other non-file objects that can be displayed in list views. Examples of non-file objects include, but are not limited to, contacts, favorites, email messages. The terms "shell browser" and "file system browser" refer to browsers that allow a user to navigate various namespaces, including files and other non-file items.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention allows for many possible designs and layouts of the window 2200. For example, preview window 2202 is shown above view area 2204 in FIG. 51A. However, other layouts, such as positioning the preview window 2202 and the view area 2204 laterally, are clearly within the scope of the present invention. The position of the edit control 2208 is also independent of the position of the displayed metadata and independent of the position of the other controls. There are also many possible view types for items shown in the listview area 2204, such as details, slideshows, filmstrips, thumbnails, tiles, icons, and the like.

FIG. 51B is similar to FIG. 51A except that view area 2204 is replaced with view area 2214 where item 2212 is displayed in detail mode. As is typical for shell items displayed in detail mode, item 2212 is arranged in columns on the left side of view area 2214, and one or more column headings 2216 are corresponding items located in the same row. Forms an upper row of a set of columns containing metadata 2218 about. Importantly, the present invention enables the user to explicitly change metadata values to other values through the illustration of one or more edit controls 2208 anywhere within window 2200. For example, edit control may be provided within the preview window 2202 and / or view area 2214. For example, edit control that is initially invisible to the user may be provided within the view area 2214. Such control can be illustrated, for example, when a user hoveres over metadata 2218 and then clicks to enter edit mode.

Referring next to FIG. 52, a description of the welcome window 2300 is provided in a shell browser. The welcome window is referred to as "null selection" because it displays a namespace or container as opposed to a selection window. If the user still does not make a selection, the preview window 2302 displays the metadata 2304 and the main work with the folder or shell library. If desired, tasks may be separated into main task 2306 and other related tasks 2308. Welcome window 2300 also includes a view area 2310 through which a number of files or other items 2312 can be viewed. The welcome window metadata 2304 includes information such as the characteristics of the container (eg, my picture), in which case the metadata representation can be static. Alternatively, welcome window metadata 2304 includes information, such as sampling of metadata from each item in the container, in which case the metadata display may change frequently. For example, the metadata representation may be limited to the characteristics of one item at a time by cycling from one item to the next every 30 seconds.

53 is a schematic diagram of a selection window 2400 in a shell browser. In contrast to the welcome window, the selection window represents a selection by the user. When the user selects a container or folder, the selection window does not have to be the same as the welcome window of that container or folder. In FIG. 53, selection window 2400 includes preview window 2402 including preview control 2404, metadata display 2406, and job display 2408. Similar to welcome window 2300 (FIG. 52), selection window 2400 also includes a view area 2410 through which a number of files or other items 2412 can be viewed. However, in Fig. 53, the user selects one of the files. Thus, preview control 2404 displays a preview image of the selected file, metadata display 2406 indicates the characteristics of the selected file, and job display 2408 displays a menu of related jobs for operating on the selected file. To provide.

FIG. 54 is a schematic diagram similar to the selection window of FIG. 53 except for including a context menu 2500 to allow a user to modify metadata of the shell browser according to an embodiment of the present invention. The context menu 2500 of FIG. 54 presents the user with several options for changing the selected metadata. The plain text shown in the menu 2500 is of course only an example of an option type that can be presented to the user for editing the displayed metadata. The context menu may be provided in any window, including a welcome window, to enhance the user's experience. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any number of various context menus may be supported by the present invention. For the present invention, there is provided a context menu such as an editable metadata context menu 2500 as one means to enable user modification of the displayed metadata in the shell browser. The user can bring up the context menu, for example by clicking on the corresponding text or object in the preview window.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is capable of means other than a context menu that enables the user to modify the displayed metadata within the shell browser. Another means of this is for the user to click on the metadata to enter edit mode. Conversely, the user can hover over the relevant text or object in the preview window to enter edit mode. Various other means can be used within the scope of the present invention.

55 is a flowchart illustrating a method 2600 that enables a user to modify metadata displayed in a welcome window in a shell browser, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The method 2600 includes displaying a welcome window and metadata associated with the welcome window at 2602. Next, at 2604, the method provides control for the modification of the displayed metadata of the user. If the user operates a control to modify the metadata displayed at 2606, then associate the modified metadata at 2608 with the welcome window so that the modified metadata is displayed after the welcome window is displayed.

56 is a flowchart illustrating a method 2700 that enables a user to modify metadata displayed in a selection window in a shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The method 2700 first displays a number of items, such as items in the welcome window or items in the selected container, at 2702. If the user selects one or more of the items at 2704, the method displays metadata associated with the item selected at 2706. At 2708, the method provides control over modification of the user's displayed metadata. If the user manipulates a control to modify the metadata displayed at 2710, the method associates the metadata modified at 2712 with the selected item so that the modified metadata is displayed after the selected item is displayed.

If the user selects a plurality of items at 2704, the displayed metadata may include cross-interesting properties of the selected items, combinations of properties or new properties associated with the selected item. Alternatively, the displayed metadata may include a recursive sample of metadata from each of the selected items (eg, recursing from metadata of one selected item to metadata of the next selected item every 30 seconds). The display of metadata resulting from the selection of all items can be the same as the display of metadata resulting from the null selection.

57 is a block diagram of a data structure 2800 that includes user modifiable metadata associated with an item displayed in a shell browser. Data structure 2800 includes a title field 2802 that indicates the name of the item. In the case of a non-file item, the title field 2802 may include the name of that property regardless of which property is used to alphabetize the item in the list view. Data structure 2800 includes a user editable property field 2804 that includes one or more properties associated with the displayed item, where the user editable property is to be displayed in a shell browser with the displayed item. The data structure 2800 may optionally include a lead-only property field 2806 associated with the displayed item and including a lead-only property that is displayable in the shell browser. If there is a size limitation in the metadata display in the shell browser, the number of properties of the fields 2804 and 2806 may be limited. Thus, data structure 2800 may optionally include all property fields 2808, which point to a link or pointer to a location (e.g., property page) that includes all of the properties or metadata associated with the displayed item. Include. Of course, not all property fields 2808 are required if the fields 2804 and 2806 include all properties associated with the displayed item. Data structure 2800 may be stored on one or more computer readable media, such as in a file system or shell, to provide a rich storage view within a shell browser, thereby providing an improved user experience.

The present invention is capable of many scenarios that were not possible with conventional shell browsers. As a first example, a student may manage a project using the preview pane. When he acquires new documents as part of the project he is working on, he can select these documents from his document library and enter the name of the document author and the name of the project in the keyword field using the edit controls. The new document now appears in the student's Favorites view: "Documents grouped by keyword and listed by author." A second example of a new scenario possible by the present invention relates to an employee looking for material for an upcoming advertising campaign. As he browses his employer's photo collection using the Shell browser, he selects two photos and adds a new keyword "Summer 2003 campaign" from the preview window. After updating the metadata for multiple selections, the employee can view all of the "Summer 2003 campaign" files grouped together by pivoting by keyword. Many other scenarios using the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

58-66 are diagrams of a system and method for extending the functionality of an object previewer in a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types. As described in more detail below, a shell browser is provided that includes a default previewer and an extensibility mechanism. The default previewer provides standard level of functionality for many item types. The extensibility mechanism enables functionality beyond the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more item types.

58 is a schematic diagram of a graphical user interface for browsing pictures stored in folders in a shell browser environment used to view other non-picture files and folders. As described above, the need to easily identify items stored in a computing environment such as a PC is rapidly increasing. With regard to digital pictures, the user has conventionally had to import a third party software program to view a particular file on the PC. 58 illustrates a conventional film strip view that allows a user to more easily view and identify images associated with any file within the graphical operating environment. The purpose of this film strip view is to eliminate the need for other software programs when browsing a folder of pictures by providing a fast iterative process that allows the user to preview a large image of one or more picture files in the folder.

58 is directed to a system for browsing pictures stored in a folder, in which a series of folder pictures are presented as single row thumbnails within an environment (ie, a shell browser) used to view other non-picture files and folders. . This displays an expanded preview of the thumbnail selected by the user, allowing the user to selectively cursor over the entire thumbnail. 58 is a display diagram of a window on a user's screen. As shown, the window 3200 is divided into several areas including a header area, a work option area 3206, a preview control area 3202, a caption or comment area, and a film strip area 3204. The job options area 3206 includes a list of jobs that can be selected by the user to perform various operations regarding the management of files and folders, as well as other system selections. Some of these operations are specific to the picture of the film strip area 3204 and the preview control area 3202. The preview control area 3202 is a space in which the expanded preview image of the user selection picture is displayed. This space also contains navigation icons that help the user in iterating through a series of pictures. Just below the preview control area is a caption or comment area that can be used to display various text information. The film strip area 3204 provides space for displaying a row of picture file thumbnail images P1, P2, P3, and P4 contained in any folder. In addition, the film strip area 3204 also includes a cursor to allow the user to scroll through the folders of picture files. The film strip region 3204 may include and display thumbnail images in a mixed direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 58, P1, P2, and P4 are landscape paintings while P3 is a portrait.

The user can select one of the thumbnail images, which causes a larger preview image of the user thumbnail selection image to be displayed within the preview control area. In addition, the user selection of the thumbnail image also allows the user to select and execute any of the jobs listed in the job option area 3206 with respect to the selected image. The first control button repeats in one direction, making it possible to quickly and continuously preview the extended image of each of the thumbnail images in any folder. In other words, the user does not need to specifically "click" on each and every successive thumbnail image to preview the picture. Instead, the user only needs to click the first control button to repeatedly move through the folder. The second control button performs a similar repeating function except that it is in the opposite direction.

Returning to FIG. 59, window 3300 shows a screen sized display area for the graphical user interface of a general-purpose shell browser. Window 3300 includes preview window area 3302 and view area 3304. Preview window 3302 includes preview control 3306, edit or metadata control 3308, and job control 3310. Typically, preview control 3306 provides the user with an image or other visible representation of the item being previewed (eg, the selected file). Preview control 3306 may present control to the user, such as an iterator button, that allows the user to click a mouse button to shift focus from one item to the next. Edit control 3308 not only includes an indication of key properties of the previewed item, but also presents the user with controls for making edits to the metadata. Task control 3310 includes tasks related to namespaces and / or selections.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention achieves the presence of optional features within window 3300. For example, metadata control 3208 and task control 3210 are not necessarily essential features for the purposes of the present invention. Moreover, other non-essential features not shown in FIG. 59 are also within the scope of the present invention, such as a toolbar that allows the user to open / close the preview window, including an iterator button or a show / hide button. Although not shown, these and other optional features can help a user easily locate a particular item in a shell browser.

View area 3304 provides a list view of one or more items 3312, such as system files or folders. The term "listview" refers to an enumeration or list of items in a container. The terms "item" and "shell item" are used herein to interchangeably refer to files, folders, and other such files and other non-file objects that can be represented in the listview. Similarly, "shell item" refers to an item in a shell library. Examples of non-file objects may include, but are not limited to, contacts, favorites, and email messages. The terms "shell browser" and "file system browser" are used herein to interchangeably refer to a browser that allows a user to navigate through multiple namespaces, including files and other non-file items.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is capable of many designs and layouts for window 3300. For example, preview window 3302 is shown above view area 3304 in FIG. 59. However, it is apparent that other layouts, such as arranging the preview window 3302 and the view area 3304 laterally, are also within the scope of the present invention. There are also as many views as possible also for the items shown in the view area 3304, such as details, slideshows, film strips, thumbnails, tiles, icons.

Next, the welcome window 3400 will be described in a shell browser with reference to FIG. 60. The welcome window is sometimes referred to as the "null select" window because it represents a namespace or container as opposed to the select window. If the user has not yet made a selection, the preview window 3402 displays the metadata 3404 and the main work with the folder or shell library. If desired, the task may be divided into a primary task 3406 and other related tasks 3408. Welcome window 3400 also includes a view area 3410 from which a number of files or other items 3412 can be viewed. The welcome window metadata 3404 includes information such as the properties of the container (eg, my picture), in which case the metadata display is static. Alternatively, welcome window metadata 3404 may include information, such as sampling of metadata from each item in the container, in which case the metadata display changes frequently. For example, the metadata representation may be cycled from one item to another every 30 seconds and limited to the characteristics of one item at a time.

61 illustrates a selection window 3500 of a shell browser. In contrast to the welcome window, the selection window represents a selection by the user. If the user selects a container or folder, the selected window does not have to be the same as the welcome window for that container or folder. In FIG. 61, the selected window 3500 includes a preview window 3502 that includes a preview control 3504, a metadata display 3506, and a job display 3508. Similar to the welcome window 3400 (FIG. 60), the selection window 3500 also includes a view area 3510 through which a number of files or other items 3512 can be viewed. However, in Fig. 61, the user selects one of the files. Accordingly, preview control 3504 displays a preview image of the selected file, metadata display 3506 indicates the characteristics of the selected file, and job display 3508 displays a menu of related tasks for operating on the selected file. to provide.

62 is a schematic diagram of a selection window similar to the selection window 3500 of FIG. 61 except having extended control in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The selection window 3600 includes a preview window 3602 including a preview control 3604 with an extended control 3614, a metadata display 3606, and a job display 3608. The selection window 3600 also includes a view area 3610 through which a number of files or other items 3612 can be viewed. As the user selects one of the files 3612, the preview control 3604 displays a preview image of the selected file, the metadata display 3606 indicates the characteristics of the selected file, and the job display 3608 selects the selected file. Provides a menu of related tasks for operating on files.

Extended control 3614 typically exhibits more than the level of functionality available from a shell browser. For example, a default preview window or preview control, such as shown in FIGS. 58 and 61, may simply display a preview image of the selected item. If the item is a word processing document or slide presentation, the default preview image may be the first page of the document or slide deck. However, when extended to make the functionality of the preview image more interactive, the user can very easily manipulate expansion control 3614 to page through the document or slide presentation. This enhanced feature allows the user to browse more comprehensively without opening the previewed item, which enhances the user's experience, especially since it is useful for files that cannot be easily identified based on only the first page.

Extended control 3614 may be made available to the user as part of an alternate previewer in a shell browser. The term "previewer" may refer to a preview window that includes a preview control or a preview control. The present invention provides a shell browser that enhances the user experience by providing a user with a default previewer that provides standard levels of functionality for multiple item types and one or more alternative previewers that provide multiple levels of functionality for a particular item type. To achieve. Opening the development of alternative previewers to independent software vendors (ISVs) and other third party developers adds value to the file browsing experience by presenting relevant forms of files in an easily recognizable way. The present invention includes, but is not limited to, various file types including image files, video files, contacts, games, scanners, video cameras, document files, spreadsheet files, slide presentation files, drawing files, and tablet link files. And a previewer for non-file item types.

The present invention enables a number of scenarios that were not possible with conventional shell browsers, some of which have been described above. The third party will be able to describe and prove the file type by providing code that can look inside the file type and provide a meaningful image that the user will understand. For example, Apple has implemented the QuickTime ^TM preview control, which is displayed when the user selects a QuickTime ^TM file in a shell browser. This preview control is more than the default previewer in the operating system's shell, including the ability to represent the first 5 seconds of a QuickTime ^TM movie and / or provide buttons and controls for the user to start the QuickTime ^TM player. It can provide an alternative or extension level of. Alternative previewers of music files may provide similar extensions. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the possibilities of extension of the alternative previewer are non-limiting.

FIG. 63 is a schematic diagram with a selection window similar to FIG. 61 except that it includes a context menu 3714 that allows a user to modify the metadata of the shell browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The selection window 3700 includes a preview window 3702 that includes a preview control 3704, a metadata display 3706, and a job control 3708. The selection window 3700 also includes a view area 3710 where you can view multiple files or other items 3712. Those skilled in the art will understand that metadata control 3706 and task control 3708 are not necessarily essential features for the purposes of the present invention. The present invention provides for the presence of these and / or other optional features that may help a user easily locate a particular item in a shell browser or improve the user's experience.                 

The context menu 3714 of FIG. 63 presents the user with several options, including a selection range to select a default previewer or an alternate previewer for the selected item. The plain text shown in menu 3714 is, of course, only one example of the type of option that may be presented to the user for selecting the previewer. Context menus can be provided in any window, including a welcome window, to enhance the user's experience. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many various context menus may be supported by the present invention. For purposes of the present invention, one means for enabling user selection of the previewer within a shell browser is to provide a context menu, such as context menu 3714. The user can, for example, click on the corresponding text or object in the preview window to bring up the context menu.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention provides a means other than a context menu to select a previewer of the displayed item among a plurality of available previews in the shell browser. Another such means is that the user clicks on the preview control to enter the selection mode. Similarly, the user can right-click in the preview window to select the previewer. Conversely, the user can enter the selection mode by hovering over the relevant text or over the related object in the preview window. Many alternative means are possible within the scope of the invention.

64A is a flowchart illustrating a method 3800 for allowing a user to select a previewer of a shell browser that supports multiple item types, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The method 3800 provides a plurality of previewers to the shell browser at 3802. Multiple previewers may include a default previewer for multiple item types and one or more alternate previewers for a particular item type. These alternative previewers may include applications developed and installed by third parties. At 3804, method 3800 presents to the user two or more previewer selections for a particular item type. The prompt to select the previewer is initialized by the shell browser (eg when displaying a new item type) and / or by the user (eg by clicking on an object to display a context menu). Upon receiving an input from the user indicating a selection of one of the previewers for a particular item type at 3806, the method 3800 then associates the selected previewer at 3808 with the particular item type. The selected previewer remains in use until the user selects another. However, if the selected previewer is an installed application, the application is deleted to stop using the selected previewer.

64B illustrates a method 3810 for automatically selecting a previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. This method 3810 provides a plurality of previewers to the shell at 3812. The plurality of previewers may include a default previewer for multiple item types and one or more alternate previewers of a particular item type. These alternative previewers may include installation applications developed by third parties.

At 3814, the system (as opposed to the user) automatically explicitly selects a default previewer from two or more available previewers for the particular item type. The system can select the previewer in response to events such as the display of a new item type or the presence of an alternate previewer. The system is configured to select a default previewer based on logical rules. In exceptional cases, the system may decide to invalidate the rule at 3816 and select a previewer that is not selected as an applicable rule. For example, if the rule is to select a useful previewer that is newer than the current default previewer, the installed application may generally have the authority to change the default previewer from the installed application to the currently available previewer. However, the shell browser may, for example, reserve the right to override changes proposed by newly installed applications. For example, invalidation is appropriate when a newly installed application cannot be authenticated as the proper owner of the item type.

In either case, the method 3810 may associate the previewer selected at 3818 with a particular item type. However, if the selected previewer is an installed application, deleting the application stops the use of the selected previewer.

Next, referring to FIG. 65, a flowchart of a method 3900 for enabling the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types according to one embodiment of the present invention is described. The method 3900 includes providing a shell browser with a default previewer for multiple item types at 3902. The method 3900 further includes providing an extensibility mechanism for third party development of the alternate previewer for at least one of the plurality of items at 3904. The alternate previewer may be registered with the shell browser at 3906. In the case of installed applications, registration may occur at the time of installation. For example, if the application is installed as an OEM, the alternate previewer must be registered before the user acquires the computer. Alternatively, the user can install this application locally or remotely.

There are many possible approaches to the extensibility mechanism mentioned above at 3904. One of these approaches is to expose a set of application program interfaces (APIs) so that independent software vendors (ISVs) and other third party developers can develop alternative previewers. In the API approach, there is a registration mechanism that allows ISVs to associate their preview controls with item types owned by the ISV. When an item or file of that type is selected in the shell browser, the preview control of the ISV is exemplified through this registration mechanism and extensibility APIs. The API provides the preview control with data, namely data representing the selected item in the view and data representing the parent container of the item in the view. The preview control works with this data and provides a user interface through an API presented to the shell browser. The user can provide input with keystrokes and mouse events that are delivered by the shell browser to preview controls that can act as user input events.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many approaches are possible in the context of the extensibility mechanism of the present invention. In addition to the API approach, similar functions can be achieved via user configuration, pointers in HTML, or hosting in Flash. Moreover, the extensibility model requires that only one application owning the selected item type provide only one alternative previewer. In other words, the number of available previewers may be limited to the default previewer and one alternate previewer to eliminate the user's poor experience when multiple registered extension previewers are in competition with each other. However, another model is to provide one additional previewer for any application that can handle the selected item type. The alternative model is to have the running code provide an additional previewer for any item type. It may also be desirable to replace or remove the default previewer under certain circumstances. Many other models may possibly be provided by the present invention.

66 is a block diagram of a data structure 4000 stored on one or more computer readable media and including information representing a plurality of previewers in a shell browser. Data structure 4000 includes a default previewer field 4002 that includes information indicating a default previewer that supports multiple item types. The alternate previewer field 4004 includes information indicating the alternate previewer of the first item type. The other alternative previewer field 4006 may include information indicating a second alternative previewer for the first item type, or may include information indicating an alternative previewer for the second item type. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some cases there may be one alternate previewer field, and in other cases there may be more than one alternate previewer field. The selected previewer field 4008 includes information indicating whether to invoke a default previewer or an alternate previewer when items of a particular item type are displayed in a shell browser. If field 4006 includes information indicating an alternate previewer for the second item type, then the selected previewer field 4010 may display the default previewer or when one or more items of the second item type are displayed in a shell browser. It may include information indicating whether to call the alternative previewer. Information contained in fields 4002, 4004, and / or 4006 consists of previewer code that is configured to execute when the user selects an object of that type.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and described, it will be understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, it will be appreciated that the locations of the various UI features shown herein are exemplary and changeable, and that other locations of the various UI features still fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Moreover, other aspects of the invention described herein may be formed in various combinations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (124)

A method for presenting a set of items in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing items, the method comprising: Forming a library comprising an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating items in the library How to include. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from the user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for modification of the user to the displayed metadata How to include. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window that displays a group of items and also displays metadata values associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. The method of claim 1, further comprising a previewer method that enables use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that enables a third party to develop alternative previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include The method of claim 1, further comprising a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using the virtual address bar, The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, Wherein the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise a virtual path. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a virtual address bar user interface control for selecting an accessible item on a computer system for display, The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering an item, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a method of displaying an item, The method for displaying the item is Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the item to a user, Method for presenting the item to the user, Providing a database that allows both non-file items and file items to be retrieved by a query; Receiving a query and dragging both a non-file item and a file item that matches the query to match the query; And Presenting both the non-file item and a file item that match the query on the display. How to include. A system for leaking items stored in memory to a user, A folder processor for obtaining a query from a user; And Related database for storing information about items Including, The folder processor obtains a query from a user and sends the query to the associated database, The relevant database provides the results back to the folder processor, Based on the results from the relevant database, the folder processor provides the results to the user as a virtual folder. The method of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a shell browser method that allows a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for user modification of the displayed metadata How to include. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a shell browser, The shell browser, A window for displaying a group of items and for displaying metadata values associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable modification of at least a portion of the user of the metadata value displayed in the window System comprising a. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a previewer to enable use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer, A shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Extensibility mechanisms that enable third parties to develop alternate previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types System comprising. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types System comprising. 12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a virtual address bar that provides a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system. The virtual address bar, A virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And One or more additional interactivity segments of the virtual bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricts an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, And the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise virtual paths. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a virtual address bar user interface control for selecting items accessible to the computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. The method of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a method of filtering items, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item System comprising a. The method of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a method for presenting the set of items, Method for presenting the set of items, Forming a library to include an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating the items of the library System comprising a. The method of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display System comprising a. A method of exposing an item to a user in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing an item having an associated metadata characteristic, the method comprising: Selecting a first metadata characteristic; Retrieving an item with the selected first metadata characteristic; And Providing a first virtual folder display object representing the set of items having the first metadata property How to include. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for user modification of the displayed metadata How to include. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window for displaying a group of items and for displaying metadata associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises a previewer method that enables the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that enables a third party to develop alternative previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include. 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using the virtual address bar. The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, Wherein the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise a virtual path. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises providing a virtual address bar user interface control to select an item accessible to the computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering an item, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the set of items, Method for presenting the set of items, Forming a library to include an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating the items of the library How to include. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. A method of operating an item in a computer system having a display and a memory for storing the item, the method comprising: Representing a group of items as a virtual folder; And Providing at least a first defined action that can be executed for direct manipulation of the virtual folder, When the first defining operation is executed, the virtual folder is manipulated as indicated by the executed operation. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; Providing control for user modification of the displayed metadata How to include. 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window for displaying a group of items and for displaying metadata associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising a previewer method for enabling the use of third party previewers in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that enables a third party to develop alternative previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include. 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, Wherein the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise a virtual path. 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising providing a virtual address bar user interface control for selecting items accessible to a computer system for display. The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering items, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the set of items, Method for presenting the set of items, Forming a library to include an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating the items of the library How to include. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. A method of filtering items in a computer system having a display and memory for storing items, the method comprising: Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for user modification of the displayed metadata How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window for displaying a group of items and for displaying metadata associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises a previewer method that enables the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that enables a third party to develop alternative previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, further comprising a virtual address bar method that provides a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar. The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, Wherein the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise a virtual path. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises providing a virtual address bar user interface control for selecting an item accessible to the computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering items, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the set of items, Method for presenting the set of items, Forming a library to include an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating the items of the library How to include. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein the method further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. A method of viewing a selected item in a computer system having a display and memory for storing the item, Storing the link in a set of desired items that the user wants to navigate to; And Presenting the link on the display such that a user can return to the view of the desired set of items by clicking on the link. How to include. 52. The method of claim 51, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for modification of the user to the displayed metadata How to include. The method of claim 51, wherein the method further comprises providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window for displaying a group of items and for displaying metadata associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. 53. The method of claim 51, further comprising a previewer method for enabling the use of third party previewers in shell browsers that support multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that enables a third party to develop alternative previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 52. The method of claim 51, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include. 53. The method of claim 51, further comprising a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar, The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, Wherein the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise a virtual path. 53. The method of claim 51, further comprising providing a virtual address bar user interface control for selecting an accessible item to a computer system for display. The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. The method of claim 51, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering an item, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. The method of claim 51, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the set of items, Method for presenting the set of items, Forming a library to include an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating the items of the library How to include. The method of claim 51, wherein the method further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. A method of presenting an item to a user in a computer system having a display and memory for storing the item, the method comprising: Providing a database that allows both non-file items and file items to be retrieved by a query; Receiving a query and dragging both a non-file item and a file item matching the query in response to the query; And Presenting both the non-file item and a file item that match the query on the display. How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from a user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for modification of the user to the displayed metadata How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window for displaying a group of items and for displaying metadata associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises a previewer method that enables the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that enables a third party to develop alternative previewers for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided by the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises a virtual address bar method that provides a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar, The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, Wherein the first interactivity segment and one or more additional interactivity segments comprise a virtual path. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises providing a virtual address bar user interface control for selecting an accessible item to a computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting items for display. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering items, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display each representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate the item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the set of items, Method for presenting the set of items, Forming a library to include an item having one or more specific metadata properties; Automatically grouping items with the one or more specific metadata properties into the library; And Providing one or more tools for manipulating the items of the library How to include. 62. The method of claim 61, wherein the method further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Defining an effective range of a physical memory location from which the item originates, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. A method of providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar, the method comprising: Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting the item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, And the first interactivity segment and the one or more additional interactivity segments comprise virtual paths. 72. The method of claim 71, wherein a filter is provided on the display such that the filter can be selected by the user to filter the item based on metadata characteristics specified by the filter. 72. The method of claim 71, wherein a quick link is provided on the display for selection by a user to view a specified set of items. 72. The method of claim 71, wherein a library is provided that includes a collection of items and a set of tools for manipulating the items. 72. The method of claim 71 wherein the item in the virtual folder can be physically stored in memory at various physical locations. 76. The method of claim 75, wherein the various physical locations comprise at least one of a current computer and several computers, locations on a network, and external storage devices. 72. The method of claim 71, wherein the item includes both file items and non-file items. 78. The method of claim 77, wherein the non-file item comprises at least one of a contact or an email. 72. The method of claim 71, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for enabling a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from the user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for user modification of the displayed metadata How to include. 72. The method of claim 71, further comprising a previewer method for enabling the use of third party previewers in shell browsers that support multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; Providing an extensibility mechanism that allows a third party to develop an alternate previewer for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. In a computer implemented method for allowing a user to modify metadata in a shell browser, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from the user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for a user's modification of the displayed metadata How to include. 84. The method of claim 81, wherein a filter is provided on the display for selection by a user to filter an item based on the metadata characteristic specified by the filter. 82. The method of claim 81, wherein a quick link is provided on the display for selection by a user to view a specified set of items. 82. The method of claim 81, wherein a library is provided that includes a collection of items and a set of tools for manipulating the items. 82. The method of claim 81, wherein the item in the virtual folder can be physically stored in memory at various physical locations. 86. The method of claim 85, wherein said various physical locations comprise at least one of a current computer and several computers, locations on a network, and external storage devices. 82. The method of claim 81, wherein the item includes both file items and non-file items. 88. The method of claim 87, wherein the non-file item comprises at least one of a contact or an email. 84. The method of claim 81, further comprising a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar. The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, And the first interactivity segment and the one or more additional interactivity segments comprise virtual paths. 82. The method of claim 81, further comprising: providing a virtual address bar user interface control to select an item accessible to a computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. A computer-implemented method that enables the use of third party previewers in shell browsers that support multiple item types, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that allows a third party to develop an alternate previewer for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 92. The method of claim 91, wherein a filter is provided on the display for selection by a user to filter an item based on the metadata characteristic specified by the filter. 92. The method of claim 91, wherein a quick link is provided on the display for selection by a user to view a specified set of items. 92. The method of claim 91, wherein a library is provided that includes a collection of items and a set of tools for manipulating the items. 92. The method of claim 91, wherein said item in a virtual folder can be physically stored in memory at various physical locations. 95. The method of claim 95, wherein the various physical locations comprise at least one of a current computer and several computers, locations on a network, and external storage devices. 92. The method of claim 91, wherein the item includes both file items and non-file items. 98. The method of claim 97, wherein said non-file item comprises at least one of a contact or an email. 92. The method of claim 91, further comprising a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using a virtual address bar, The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, And the first interactivity segment and the one or more additional interactivity segments comprise virtual paths. 92. The method of claim 91, further comprising providing a virtual address bar user interface control to select an item accessible to a computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. In a computer system having a display and a memory for storing a plurality of different types of items, a method of presenting a library of said items, comprising: Providing a library comprising items of a similar type; And Providing a similar set of UI properties for each of the libraries How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein said other type comprises at least two of document, image, and music. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the similar set of UI properties includes properties for editing. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the similar set of UI properties includes properties for creating a new category. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the similar set of UI properties includes properties for editing the item's metadata. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the similar set of UI properties includes properties for changing the pivot. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the library can also include different types of items in addition to including similar types of items. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the method further comprises a shell browser method for allowing a user to modify metadata in the shell browser, The shell browser method, Displaying a plurality of items; Receiving a first input from the user indicating a selection of at least one displayed item; Displaying metadata associated with the at least one selected item; And Providing control for user modification of the displayed metadata How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, further comprising providing a shell browser, The shell browser, A window that displays a group of items and also displays metadata values associated with one or more of the displayed items; And Edit control to enable user modification of at least a portion of the metadata value displayed in the window How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the method further comprises a previewer method for enabling the use of a third party previewer in a shell browser that supports multiple item types, The previewer method, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that allows a third party to develop an alternate previewer for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, further comprising providing a shell browser configured to display a plurality of items representing a plurality of item types, The shell browser, A default previewer that provides standard level of functionality for multiple item types; And Extensibility mechanism to enable functionality above the standard level provided to the default previewer for one or more of the plurality of item types How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the method further comprises a virtual address bar method for providing a virtual path to an item stored in a computer file system using the virtual address bar, The virtual address bar method, Displaying a virtual address bar operative to include a first interactivity segment, wherein the first interactivity segment refers to an item on the computer file system according to a corresponding filter for selecting an item; And Adding one or more additional interactivity segments to the virtual address bar, each additional interactivity segment further restricting an item referenced by the previous interactivity segment. Including, And the first interactivity segment and the one or more additional interactivity segments comprise virtual paths. 102. The method of claim 101, further comprising providing a virtual address bar user interface control to select an item accessible to a computer system for display; The virtual address bar, A plurality of interactivity segments, each interactivity segment corresponding to a filter for selecting an item for display. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the method further comprises a method of filtering items, The method for filtering the item is Providing a plurality of display objects on the display, each display object representing one or more items; Filtering the item indicated by the display object based on a filter term; And Modifying the display object provided on the display to indicate an item remaining after filtering of the item How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the method further comprises a method for displaying an item, Method for displaying the item, Define an effective range of the physical memory location from which the item emerges, the effective range comprising a current computer memory and at least one other physical location; Receiving a query and retrieving an item from the physical location defined in the scope in response to the query; And Presenting the item drawn from the query to a view on the display How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the method further comprises a method for presenting the item to a user, Method for presenting the item to the user, Providing a database that allows both non-file items and file items to be retrieved with a query; Receiving a query and dragging both non-file items and file items that match the query in response to the query; And Presenting on the display both the non-file item and a file item matching the query. How to include. In a computer-implemented method that enables the use of third-party previewers in shell browsers that support multiple item types, Providing a shell browser having a default previewer for the plurality of item types; And Providing an extensibility mechanism that allows a third party to develop an alternate previewer for at least one of the plurality of item types How to include. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein a filter is provided on the display for selection by a user to filter an item based on the metadata characteristic specified by the filter. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein a quick link is provided on the display for selection by a user to view a specified set of items. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein a library is provided that includes a collection of items and a set of tools for manipulating the items. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein said item in a virtual folder can be physically stored in memory at various physical locations. 124. The method of claim 121, wherein the various physical locations comprise at least one of a current computer and several computers, locations on a network, and external storage devices. 102. The method of claim 101, wherein the item includes both file items and non-file items. 123. The method of claim 123, wherein the non-file item comprises at least one of a contact or an email.

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