Abstract:
A method and system for launching a target application. A predefined data type is identified by: determining that a first row of a parser table including a first regular expression formulating a string of characters includes rows ordered from a more general to a more specific regular expression; setting a first regular expression as a regular expression matching the string; resetting the regular expression with a second regular expression, of a next row of the parser table, that formulates the string more specifically than the first regular expression; and selecting the predefined data type in the row of the regular expression as the predefined data type of the string, upon performing the resetting for all rows of the parser table. The target application previously associated with a combination of the identified data type and a source application containing the string is identified and launched with the string as a parameter.

Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation application claiming priority to Ser. No. 11/764,222, filed Jun. 17, 2007 which claims priority from EPO Patent Application Serial No. EP06300904 filed on Aug. 31, 2006 and entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LAUNCHING A SPECIFIC PROGRAM FROM A SIMPLE CLICK ON A STRING OF CHARACTERS. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention relates generally to the field of computer programs, and more particularly to a computer system and method for automatically launching a program or executing a specific action from a simple keyboard or mouse operation on a string of characters. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    When working in an application, users often have the need to run another application (such as a mail application, a presentation, agenda, etc.) or to execute a specific action represented by a string of characters. The problem is that when the user reads a string of characters that he/she needs for another purpose, he/she must make a separate note including this string, or copy this string in a clipboard and then paste it in another application. 
         [0004]    According to the prior art, the hyperlink function provides the ability to start a web browser from a specific string of characters in a text. The example hereafter illustrates this prior art. The fact of writing “www.” followed by other characters such as “ibm.com” is automatically recognized in an office application like Lotus® WordPro as a web page, and the string is outlined in blue and underlined. Once the mouse cursor is on the string, when the user clicks on or executes a sequence of keys (Ctrl/click), he/she automatically opens a web browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer, and opens the written url. This ability must be set in the program where the string is written. For a text written with Microsoft® Word, the automatic formatting of hyperlinks must be kept “on” in the settings by selecting “tools”—“autocorrect options”—tab “Autoformat as you type”—and select “Internet and network paths with hyperlinks.” 
         [0005]    Another possibility is to use a hyperlink associated with an e-mail address, for instance genius@emc2.de. In this particular case, a Ctrl/click action will open the user&#39;s favorite mail application, and will allow him to send a mail to the owner of this mail address. 
         [0006]    The two examples above show that it is possible to start unique applications, based on a specific and fixed string of characters, which has been previously associated with the unique application. There is no way of performing this function other than opening a web browser for a web address, and writing an e-mail for a mail address. 
         [0007]    Other prior art examples may be found, such as the ability to click on a phone number when running a specific phone application, but in all cases the scheme is the following: within a specific application or program, inputting a specific string of characters to allow the user to reach a unique application, and always the same application. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    Briefly stated, a method, system and computer program for automatically launching a target application based on characteristics of a selected string of characters in a source application includes the steps of receiving a command resulting from a user&#39;s action, selecting a string of characters in a source application; identifying among one or a plurality of predefined regular expressions, a regular expression matching the selected string of character; identifying a predefined data type previously associated with the source application and the regular expression matching the selected string of character; identifying a predefined target application previously associated with the identified data type and the source application; and launching the target application. 
         [0009]    According to an embodiment of the invention, a method for automatically launching a target application based on characteristics of a selected string of characters in a source application includes the steps of (a) receiving a command resulting from a user&#39;s action selecting a string of characters in a source application; (b) identifying among one or a plurality of predefined regular expressions, a regular expression matching the selected string of characters; (c) identifying a predefined data type previously associated with the source application and the regular expression matching the selected string of characters; (d) identifying a predefined target application previously associated with the identified data type and the source application; and (e) launching the target application. 
         [0010]    According to an embodiment of the invention, a system for automatically launching a target application based on characteristics of a selected string of characters in a source application includes means for receiving a command resulting from a user&#39;s action selecting a string of characters in a source application; means for identifying among one or a plurality of predefined regular expressions, a regular expression matching the selected string of characters; means for identifying a predefined data type previously associated with the source application and the regular expression matching the selected string of characters; means for identifying a predefined target application previously associated with the identified data type and the source application; and means for launching the target application. 
         [0011]    According to an embodiment of the invention, a program product comprising program codes stored in a computer readable storage medium implements the steps of (a) receiving a command resulting from a user&#39;s action selecting a string of characters in a source application; (b) identifying among one or a plurality of predefined regular expressions, a regular expression matching the selected string of characters; (c) identifying a predefined data type previously associated with the source application and the regular expression matching the selected string of characters; (d) identifying a predefined target application previously associated with the identified data type and the source application; and (e) launching the target application. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1A  shows a block diagram of a computer system in which the present invention may be embodied. 
           [0013]      FIG. 1B  shows a block diagram of a software system including an operating system, an application software, and a user interface for carrying out the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2A  shows a Parser Table structure which is used to determine the data type according to the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2B  shows a Launcher Table structure which is used to determine the application to be launched according to the data type according to the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  shows a flow chart describing the steps of the method according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0017]    The invention is partially based on the use of regular expressions. Regular expressions are used for the recognition of patterns in texts. 
         [0018]    A regular expression, often called a pattern, is an expression that describes a set of strings. Regular expressions are usually used to give a concise description of a set without having to list all elements. For example, the set containing the three strings Handel, Händel, and Haendel can be described by the pattern “H(ä|ae?)ndel”, or alternatively, it is said that the pattern matches each of the three strings. As a side note, there are usually multiple different patterns describing any given set. 
         [0019]    Most formalisms provide the following operations to construct regular expressions: 
         [0020]    (a) Alternation. A vertical bar separates alternatives. For example, “gray|grey” matches gray or grey. 
         [0021]    (b) Grouping. Parentheses are used to define the scope and precedence of the operators. For example, “gray|grey” and “gr(a|e)y” are different patterns, but they both describe the set containing gray and grey. 
         [0022]    (c) Quantification. A quantifier after a character or group specifies how often that preceding expression is allowed to occur. The most common quantifiers are ?, *, and +. The question mark “?” indicates there is 0 or 1 in the previous expression (character). For example, “colou?r” matches both color and colour. The asterisk “*” indicates there are 0, 1 or any number of the previous expression. For example, “go*gle” matches ggle, gogle, google, etc. The plus sign “+” indicates that there is at least 1 of the previous expression. For example, “go+gle” matches gogle, google, etc. but not ggle. 
         [0023]    These constructions can be combined to form arbitrarily complex expressions, very much like one can construct arithmetical expressions from the numbers and the operations +, −, * and /. 
         [0024]    “H(ae?|ä)ndel” and “H(a|ae|ä)ndel” are valid patterns, and furthermore, they both match the same strings as the example from the beginning of the Detailed Description. The pattern “((great)*grand)?(father|mother)” matches any ancestor: father, mother, grand father, grand mother, great grand father, great grand mother, great great grand father, great great grand mother, great great great grand father, great great great grand mother and so on. 
         [0025]    Example of syntax. The precise syntax for regular expressions varies among tools and application areas. Examples of syntax for the regular expression are available on the Web by searching under “syntax regular expression.” 
         [0026]    Meta Characters.
       Escape character \   Single Character Meta characters   . Matches any one character   [ . . . ] Matches any one character in a set   [̂ . . . ] Matches any one character not in the set   [:class:] Character classes
           {[:alnum:]][[:alpha:]][[:blank:]][[:cntrl:]][[:digit:]][[:graph:]]   [[:lower:]][[:print:}]{[:punct:}]{[:space:}]{[:upper:}][{:xdigit:]]   
               
 
         [0035]    Quantifiers. 
         [0036]    ? Matches the previous character zero or one times 
         [0037]    * Matches the previous character zero or more times 
         [0038]    + Matches the previous character one or more times 
         [0039]    \{n\} Matches the previous character n times 
         [0040]    \{n,m\} Matches the previous character at least n &amp; at most m 
         [0041]    \{n,\} Matches the previous character n or more times 
         [0042]    Anchors. 
         [0043]    ̂Matching at the start the line 
         [0044]    $ Matching at the end of line 
         [0045]    \&lt; Matching at start of word 
         [0046]    \&gt; Matching at end of word 
         [0047]    \b Matching at the beginning or the end of a word 
         [0048]    \B Matching any character not at the beginning or end of word 
       Grouping \(\) 
       [0049]    Backreference \1 \2 . . . \9 
         [0050]    Table 1 shows examples of items and their regular expressions. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Item 
                 Regular Expression 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 Postal State Abbr 
                 [A-Z]\{2\} 
               
               
                 City, State 
                 .+, [A-Z]\{2\} 
               
               
                 Month, day, year 
                 [A-Z][a-z]\{2,9\} [0-9]\{1,2\}[0- 
               
               
                   
                 9]\{2,4\} 
               
               
                 Formatted Dollar 
                 \$[ 0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9] 
               
               
                 Local Phone number 
                 [0-9]\{3|}−[0-9]\{4\} 
               
               
                 Floating point number 
                 −?[0-9]+\.[0-9]+ 
               
               
                 Hexadecimal number 
                 0x[0-9a-fA-F]+ 
               
               
                 Any line 
                 {circumflex over ( )}.*$ 
               
               
                 Blank line 
                 {circumflex over ( )}$ 
               
               
                 html inline code 
                 &lt;[{circumflex over ( )}&gt;]+&gt; 
               
               
                 Email address, e.g.,  
                 [a-z0-9_−]+\(\.[a-z0-9_−]*\)@[a-z0-9_− 
               
               
                 “user@hosts.com” 
                 ]+\(\.[a-z0-9]+\)+ 
               
               
                 Email address, e.g.,  
                 \(“?[a-zA-Z]+”?[ \t]*{circumflex over ( )}\&lt;\(\.[a-z0-9_− 
               
               
                 “Joe Doe” 
                 ]*\)@[a-z0-9_−]+\(\.[a-z0-9]+\)+\&gt; 
               
               
                 Protocol Validity matches  
                 [a-z]+:// 
               
               
                 web base protocol  
                   
               
               
                 such as http:// ftp:// https:// 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0051]    In the examples in Table 1, some typical regular expressions are presented that can be used in the present invention. The present invention is based on the following principles. (1) Regular expression are defined for identifying a specific user defined data type. (2) Depending on the context (which is the running application), the possibility is given to the user, through a contextual menu, to launch a pre-programmed application with the identified character string as variable. 
         [0052]    Physical View 
         [0053]    As shown in  FIG. 1A , the present invention may be embodied on a computer system  100  comprising a central processor  101 , a main memory  102 , an input/output controller  103 , a keyboard  104 , a pointing device  105  (e.g., mouse, track ball, pen device, or the like), a display device  106 , and a mass storage  107  (e.g., hard disk). Additional input/output devices, such as a printing device  108 , may be included in the system  100  as desired. As illustrated, the various components of the system  100  communicate through a system bus  110  or similar architecture. In a preferred embodiment, the computer system  100  includes an IBM-compatible personal computer, which is available from several vendors including IBM of Armonk, N.Y.. 
         [0054]    As illustrated in  FIG. 1B , a computer software system  150  is provided for directing the operation of the computer system  100 . Software system  150 , which is stored in system memory  102  and on disk memory  107 , includes a kernel or operating system  151  and a shell or interface  153 . One or more application programs, such as application software  152 , may be “loaded” (i.e., transferred from storage  107  into memory  102 ) for execution by the system  100 . The system  100  receives user commands and data through user interface  153 ; these inputs may then be acted upon by the system  100  in accordance with instructions from operating module  151  and/or application module  152 . The interface  153 , which is preferably a graphical user interface (GUI), also serves to display results, whereupon the user may supply additional inputs or terminate the session. In a preferred embodiment, operating system  151  and interface  153  are Microsoft Win2000/XP, available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Application module  152 , includes a data type analyzer and an application launcher of the present invention as described in further detail herein below. 
         [0055]    Logical Tables 
         [0056]    (1) Parser Table.  FIG. 2A  depicts a table called Parser Table in the present description. The Parser Table  200  is a two column table, where the first column represents a regular expression  210 , and the second column represents the DATA Type  220  corresponding to the regular expression. Each regular expression and data type is user defined. The three rows  230 ,  231 , and  233  are associated with different data types, respectively named “MSISDN”, “Email”, and “GSM MSISDN.” 
         [0057]    (2) Launcher Table.  FIG. 2B  depicts a table called Launcher Table in the present description, and which preferably includes five different records  290 ,  291 ,  292 ,  293 , and  294 . To each DATA Type corresponds an entry  260  in the Launcher Table  250 . Each entry preferably includes (a) the DATA Type  220  defined in the Parser Table (See  FIG. 2A ), (b) the active application  265  which is the application managing the window in which the characters string has been selected, (c) the target application  270  which is the application to be launched when the selected characters string is identified as having the Data type corresponding to this entry, and (d) the Usage Frequency which defines the rate usage of this target application. 
         [0058]    If no active application is defined or an “*” has been set, this entry is used for any application. This field allows to define different target applications for the same data type, potentially depending on the active application. For instance, the record  293  specifies that a data type “Email” is associated to the target application “Outlook” when the active application is “Word”, while the record  294  specifies that the same data type “Email” is associated to the target application “Lotus Notes” when the active application is “Wordpro”. 
         [0059]      FIG. 3  depicts the flow chart describing the steps of the method according to the present invention. At step  300 , the method is initialized and starts. At step  305 , a user in the source application selects a string of characters. At step  310 , the user executes in a preferred embodiment a right click on the mouse on the selected string of characters to launch an application associated with this string of characters. At step  315 , a process for determining the selected data type is started. This process parses the selected string of character using the previously described Parser Table  200  ( FIG. 2A ). Each entry of the Parser Table  200  is scanned to match a user defined regular expression with the selected string of characters. As soon as the string of characters matches a regular expression, the data type corresponding to the regular expression matching the string of character is saved in a local variable. The scanning continues until the end of the Parser Table  200 . 
         [0060]    If a new entry match again the characters string, case of subtype (type refinement), the newly detected type is saved in place of the previously saved data type. This means that the user must take care of the regular expression order, defining the most general rule in first, and refining the rule after. 
         [0061]    As example, a string of ten digits beginning by “0” in France, may be considered as a telephone number (type MSISDN). It is true for both number “0492114000” and “0612345678”. But if a rule associating a type “GSM MSISDN” is added, if the second digit is equal to “6”, then the characters string “0612345678” will be typed “GSM MSISDN” while characters string “0492114000” will be typed “MSISDN”. 
         [0062]    At step  320 , when the Parser Table  200  is fully scanned, the process determines whether or not a data type is identified for the selected string of characters. If it is the case, then control is given to step  325 ; otherwise control is given to step  360 . At step  325 , the application(s) associated with this data type and the source application type is(are) retrieved. This “retrieve process” uses the Launcher Table  250  ( FIG. 2B ) and creates a temporary table containing the target application  270  and the percentage of usage  275  for each entry of the Launcher Table  250  which matches the previously identified data type and active application. 
         [0063]    At step  330 , the process checks whether at least one application associated with this data type and the source application has been identified at the previous step. If it is the case, then control is given to step  335 ; otherwise control is given to step  360 . At step  335 , the process checks whether a single application has been identified at step  325 . If it is the case, then control is given to step  350 ; otherwise control is given to step  340 . 
         [0064]    At step  340 , the user is prompted with a list box comprising all applications eligible to process the data type identified. This list box presents all applications ordered by their percentage of use, with the more used application in first. At step  345 , a test is performed to check if the user has selected an application. If it is the case, then control is given to step  350 ; otherwise control is given to step  360 . At step  350 , the either unique or user selected target application is launched with the user selected characters string as argument or parameter. At step  360 , the process is ended. 
         [0065]    The description focuses on the presently preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are embodied in an application operative in the Microsoft Windows environment. The present invention, however, is not limited to any particular application or any particular environment. Instead, those skilled in the art will find that the system and methods of the present invention may be advantageously applied to a variety of system and application software, including database management systems, word processors, and the like. Moreover, the present invention may be embodied on a variety of different platforms, including Macintosh, UNIX, NextStep, and the like. Therefore, the description of the exemplary embodiments is for purposes of illustration and not limitation. While the present invention has been described with reference to a particular preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment and that various modifications and the like could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.