Patent ID: 7865516

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for identifying data objects related to temporal characteristics, comprising: identifying, by a search engine, at least one first data object that has been previously stored, wherein the at least one first data object has one or more associated temporal characteristics and wherein the at least one first data object is identified based on input criteria from a user via a graphical user interface; presenting, via the graphical user interface, the at least one first data object; extracting, by the search engine, at least one associated temporal characteristic from the at least one first data object thereby forming at least one extracted temporal characteristic in order to perform a search for at least one second data object; presenting, via the graphical user interface, the at least one extracted temporal characteristic; receiving, by the search engine, a selection of a temporal characteristic from the at least one extracted temporal characteristic thereby forming a selected temporal characteristic; presenting, via the graphical user interface, the selected temporal characteristic in association with a timeline that indicates a number of items that match the selected temporal characteristic; receiving, by the search engine, a date range associated with the selected temporal characteristic, wherein the data range is detected by the search engine via an adjustment of the date range through at least one control associated with the graphical user interface and wherein the adjustment is made by the user either via a before date control that slides along the timeline adjusting a before date, an after date control that slides along the timeline adjusting an after date, or both the before date control that slides along the timeline adjusting the before date and the after date control that slides along the timeline adjusting the after date; based on the adjustment of the date range, automatically searching, by the search engine, for the at least one second data object based on the selected temporal characteristic and the date range; and presenting, via the graphical user interface, the results of the search, wherein the at least one second data object is presented along with the extracted temporal characteristic in association with the timeline that indicates the number of items found associated with the selected temporal characteristic and either a number of items found before the selected temporal characteristic, a number of items found after the selected temporal characteristic, or both the number of items found before and after the selected temporal characteristic.