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Methods and systems for managing dataRelated Patent Categories: Data Processing: Database And File Management Or Data Structures, Database Or File Accessing, Query Processing (i.e., Searching)Methods and systems for managing data description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050289127, Methods and systems for managing data. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/877,584, filed on Jun. 25, 2004. This application also claims priority to co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/643,087 filed on Jan. 7, 2005, which provisional application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; this application claims the benefit of the provisional's filing date under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 19(e). This present application hereby claims the benefit of these earlier filing dates under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Modern data processing systems, such as general purpose computer systems, allow the users of such systems to create a variety of different types of data files. For example, a typical user of a data processing system may create text files with a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or may create an image file with an image processing program such as Adobe's PhotoShop. Numerous other types of files are capable of being created or modified, edited, and otherwise used by one or more users for a typical data processing system. The large number of the different types of files that can be created or modified can present a challenge to a typical user who is seeking to find a particular file which has been created. [0003] Modern data processing systems often include a file management system which allows a user to place files in various directories or subdirectories (e.g. folders) and allows a user to give the file a name. Further, these file management systems often allow a user to find a file by searching for the file's name, or the date of creation, or the date of modification, or the type of file. An example of such a file management system is the Finder program which operates on Macintosh computers from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Another example of a file management system program is the Windows Explorer program which operates on the Windows operating system from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Both the Finder program and the Windows Explorer program include a find command which allows a user to search for files by various criteria including a file name or a date of creation or a date of modification or the type of file. However, this search capability searches through information which is the same for each file, regardless of the type of file. Thus, for example, the searchable data for a Microsoft Word file is the same as the searchable data for an Adobe PhotoShop file, and this data typically includes the file name, the type of file, the date of creation, the date of last modification, the size of the file and certain other parameters which may be maintained for the file by the file management system. [0004] Certain presently existing application programs allow a user to maintain data about a particular file. This data about a particular file may be considered metadata because it is data about other data. This metadata for a particular file may include information about the author of a file, a summary of the document, and various other types of information. A program such as Microsoft Word may automatically create some of this data when a user creates a file and the user may add additional data or edit the data by selecting the "property sheet" from a menu selection in Microsoft Word. The property sheets in Microsoft Word allow a user to create metadata for a particular file or document. However, in existing systems, a user is not able to search for metadata across a variety of different applications using one search request from the user. Furthermore, existing systems can perform one search for data files, but this search does not also include searching through metadata for those files. SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION [0005] Methods for managing data in a data processing system and systems for managing data are described herein. [0006] These methods and system provide ways to protect the privacy of files and/or metadata for the files based on user (and/or system) defined access permissions. [0007] In one aspect of the inventions described herein, an exemplary method of processing data includes receiving a search query from a first user, and performing a search, based on a search query, of at least metadata of a first plurality of files, determining a set of permissions for the first user, which set of permissions define at least a right to view information, wherein the type of information in metadata for files of a first type differs from a type of information in metadata for files of the second type. In certain embodiments, the set of permissions prevents the display of information about a first set of files and metadata for the first set of files for which the first user does not have access to view and wherein the search is performed without regard to the set of permissions, but results of the search are filtered to provide the displayed results. [0008] According to another aspect of the invention described herein, an exemplary method includes receiving a search query from a first user having a set of permissions defined relative to at least a set of files within a first plurality of files accessible on the data processing system, and performing a search using a search query, wherein the search is not limited by the set of permissions of the first user, and the search produces a first set of files matching the search query, and filtering, after the search, the first set of files with the set of permissions to produce the second set of files for which the first user has permission to access. In a typical implementation of this exemplary method, the first set of files includes files which represent metadata for other files included within the first set of files, and some of the metadata for which the first user does not have permission to access is filtered out as part of the filtering, thereby preventing the first user from having access to such metadata. In certain exemplary implementations of this method, the filtering may use a permissions cache which includes permission information for files which have been found from prior search queries (e.g. the files matched prior search queries and thus were "hits" and their identification information, such as a unique, persistent identifier, and their permission information were saved in the permission cache for use in filtering of future searches). The permissions cache will often have the necessary information about at least some of the files matching the search query and thus the search software can avoid having to request permissions information for all files matching the search query. This use of a permissions cache will improve the speed of filtering because, typically, fewer requests to the file system software which maintains file system information, including the permissions information, will be required. In other words, rather than requesting permissions information for every file which matches the current search query, the request for permissions information (e.g. a request from the software searching the metadata database and the content index database to the file system software) can be limited to files which have not had their permissions information stored in the permissions cache. [0009] In an exemplary embodiment which uses a permissions cache, an exemplary method includes receiving a search query from a user having a set of permissions defined relative to at least a set of files within a plurality of files accessible on the data processing system and performing a search using the search query, wherein the search is not limited by the set of permissions and the search produces a first set of files matching the search query, and determining a state of at least a portion of a permissions cache, and filtering, either after the search or as the search is being performed, the first set of files with at least those portions of the permissions cache which are determined to be valid. The filtering uses, to the extent that the portions of the permissions cache are valid, the permissions information in the permissions cache to determine which files can be displayed to the user who inputted the search query. To the extent that the permissions cache is invalid, a method may either look up the permissions of files having known invalid permissions information in the permissions cache (and use the permissions information in the permissions cache for those files having valid permission information in the cache) or may discard the entire permissions cache and build a new permissions cache as new searches are performed. After the filtering process, the system presents in a display the files matching the search query and matching the permissions criteria of the user. [0010] It will be appreciated that the searching for files which match a search query and the validation of permissions for those files may occur concurrently; for example, as files, which match the search query, are found in the searching process, their permissions can be examined to determine whether the user can view or otherwise get access to the files while the search, using the search query, continues to look for other files that match the search query. [0011] Other aspects of the present invention include various data processing systems which perform these methods and machine readable media which perform various methods described herein. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0012] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. [0013] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a data processing system, which may be a general purpose computer system and which may operate in any of the various methods described herein. [0014] FIG. 2 shows a general example of one exemplary method of one aspect of the invention. [0015] FIG. 3A shows an example of the content of the particular type of metadata for a particular type of file. [0016] FIG. 3B shows another example of a particular type of metadata for another particular type of file. [0017] FIG. 4 shows an example of an architecture for managing metadata according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention. [0018] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. [0019] FIG. 6 shows an example of a storage format which utilizes a flat file format for metadata according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention. [0020] FIGS. 7A-7E show a sequence of graphical user interfaces provided by one exemplary embodiment in order to allow searching of metadata and/or other data in a data processing system. [0021] FIGS. 8A and 8B show two examples of formats for displaying search results according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention. Continue reading about Methods and systems for managing data... Full patent description for Methods and systems for managing data Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Methods and systems for managing data patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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