PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8239351-B2
Application Number: US-81118907-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Methods and systems for managing permissions data

Abstract:
Methods, systems and computer readable media which use permissions checking when deciding whether to allow access to a file are described. In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a directory in a hierarchical file system and determining, in response to the notification, whether to update partially a permissions cache which is used in screening access based on permissions, such as access to search results. The determining may include a comparison of an identifier of the directory to a data structure of cached directories which have files represented in the permissions cache.

Claims:
1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:
 generating search results by searching a metadata database or an index database without regard to permissions; 
 determining that permission information for a file in the search results is not included in a permissions cache; 
 determining valid permission information for the file in a hierarchical file system; 
 adding the valid permission information for the file to the permissions cache; 
 adding directory information for the file to a directory cache, wherein the directory cache identifies directories having files included in a permissions cache; 
 receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a directory in the hierarchical file system; 
 determining, in response to the notification, whether the directory is listed in the directory cache; 
 invalidating or deleting at least a portion of the permissions cache when the directory is listed in the directory cache; and 
 maintaining validity of the permissions cache when the directory is not listed in the directory cache. 
 
     
     
       2. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein the determining that a file&#39;s permission information is not included in the permissions cache further comprises comparing the directory to the directory cache and wherein the directory is a subdirectory. 
     
     
       3. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein the invalidating or deleting a portion of the permissions cache is terminated automatically after a period of time, and the entire permissions cache is invalidated or flushed when the invalidating or deleting the portion of the permissions cache is incomplete when terminated. 
     
     
       4. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein invalidating or deleting at least a portion of the permissions cache is performed for a first portion of the permissions cache while a second portion of the permissions cache is not invalidated or deleted. 
     
     
       5. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein the directory cache is configured as a fixed size Bloom filter in which directory identifiers are hashed and stored in the directory cache. 
     
     
       6. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein separate permission caches and directory caches are maintained for each user and each permission cache and each directory cache is stored as one or two files in the hierarchical file system. 
     
     
       7. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a file in the hierarchical file system; 
 determining whether to partially update the permissions cache for permissions of the file in response to the receiving of the notification of the change of permissions of the file. 
 
     
     
       8. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein the permissions cache is used in screening search results based on permissions. 
     
     
       9. The medium as in  claim 1 , wherein the directory cache stores hashed directory identifiers in a lossy manner. 
     
     
       10. The medium as in  claim 1 , further comprising finding any files that are children of the directory. 
     
     
       11. A machine implemented method comprising:
 generating search results by searching a metadata database or an index database without regard to permissions; 
 determining that permission information for a file in the search results is not included in a permissions cache; 
 determining valid permission information for the file in a hierarchical file system; 
 adding the valid permission information for the file to the permissions cache; 
 adding directory information for the file to a directory cache, wherein the directory cache identifies directories having files included in a permissions cache; 
 receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a directory in the hierarchical file system; 
 determining, in response to the notification, whether the directory is listed in the directory cache; 
 invalidating or deleting at least a portion of the permissions cache when the directory is listed in the directory cache; and 
 maintaining validity of the permissions cache when the directory is not listed in the directory cache. 
 
     
     
       12. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the determining that a file&#39;s permission information is not included in the permissions cache further comprises comparing the directory to the directory cache, and wherein the directory is a subdirectory. 
     
     
       13. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the invalidating or deleting a portion of the permissions cache is terminated automatically after a period of time, and the entire permissions cache is invalidated or flushed when the invalidating or deleting the portion of the permissions cache is incomplete when terminated. 
     
     
       14. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein invalidating or deleting at least a portion of the permissions cache is performed for a first portion of the permissions cache while a second portion of the permissions cache is not invalidated or deleted. 
     
     
       15. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the directory cache is configured as a fixed size Bloom filter in which directory identifiers are hashed and stored in the directory cache. 
     
     
       16. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein separate permission caches and directory caches are maintained for each user and each permission cache and each directory cache is stored as one or two files in the hierarchical file system. 
     
     
       17. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a file in the hierarchical file system; 
 determining whether to partially update the permissions cache for permissions of the file in response to the receiving of the notification of the change of permissions of the file. 
 
     
     
       18. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the permissions cache is used in screening search results based on permissions. 
     
     
       19. The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the directory cache stores hashed directory identifiers in a lossy manner. 
     
     
       20. The medium as in  claim 10 , wherein the invalidated or deleted portion of the permissions cache corresponds to the files found to be children of the directory. 
     
     
       21. The method as in  claim 11 , further comprising finding any files that are children of the directory. 
     
     
       22. The method as in  claim 21 , wherein the invalidated or deleted portion of the permissions cache corresponds to the files found to be children of the directory.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     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&#39;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, especially with regard to the search itself and corresponding time and resource cost of the search. 
     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&#39;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 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. 
     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. Additionally, existing systems often do not provide searching access to all the files to which a user potentially has permission to access, do not exploit assumptions regarding permissions that can be made, especially on file location and exclusivity of access. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION 
     Methods for managing data in a data processing system and systems for managing data are described herein. 
     These methods and systems provide ways to protect the privacy of files and/or metadata for the files based on user (and/or system) defined access permissions. 
     In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a directory in a hierarchical file system (HFS) and determining, in response to the notification, whether to update partially a permissions cache which is used in screening access based on permissions, such as screening access to search results. The determining may include a comparison of an identifier of the directory to a data structure of cached directories which have files represented in the permissions cache. The method may further include updating, for at least a period of time, at least a portion of the permissions cache; this updating may include either setting invalidity data for the portion or removing the portion from the permissions cache, and this updating may be performed in response to determining to update partially the permissions cache. This method avoid a problem created when a directory&#39;s permission changes, such as when a temporary folder (e.g. a temporary subdirectory in the HFS) created by a program (e.g. during a download process) causes a change for a directory&#39;s permissions; in the past, this change may cause an entire permissions cache to be invalidated even though no files in the permission cache are children of the temporary folder. In other words, the change in a directory&#39;s permissions caused a still-valid permissions cache to be invalidated because there was no way to determine whether files in the permissions cache were children of the directory which changed. This method uses the notification of a change of permissions of a directory and the data structure of cached directories to determine if the files in the permissions cache are within the directory which changed. The method may further include determining to not update the permissions cache if the directory is not one of the cached directories in the data structure. The updating, if performed, may be terminated automatically after the period of time, and if the updating is incomplete when terminated, the entire permission cache is either invalidated or flushed. The data structure may be implemented as a full, lossless list of all directories which are parents of the files listed or identified in the permissions cache, or the data structure may be implemented as a fixed size Bloom filter in which directory identifiers are hashed and then stored in the Bloom filter. 
     In another exemplary embodiment, a method includes receiving a notification of a change of permissions of a directory in an HFS and determining, in response to the notification, whether to update a permissions cache. The determining of whether to update is based on a comparison of the directory, in the notification, to a data structure for cached directories having files represented in the permissions cache. The permissions cache may be used in determining whether to allow access to files, such as screening search results based on permissions. The permissions cache is not updated if the directory, which h may be specified in the notification, is not one of the cached directories in the data structure which stores representations of identifiers for the cached directories. In an implementation of this embodiment, the entire permissions cache is either invalidated or flushed (rather than partially updated) if the determining of whether to update determines that the directory is one of the cached directories. In another implementation of this embodiment, a portion of the permissions cache is updated for at least a period of time if the directory specified through the notification is one of the directories in the cached directories. 
     Other aspects of the present invention include various data processing systems which perform these methods and machine readable media excluding signals and carrier waves which perform various methods described herein. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       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. 
         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. 
         FIG. 2  shows a general example of one exemplary method of one aspect of the invention. 
         FIG. 3A  shows an example of the content of the particular type of metadata for a particular type of file. 
         FIG. 3B  shows another example of a particular type of metadata for another particular type of file. 
         FIG. 4  shows an example of an architecture for managing metadata according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         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. 
         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. 
         FIGS. 8A and 8B  show two examples of formats for displaying search results according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 9  shows another exemplary user interface of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  shows another exemplary user interface of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 11A-11D  show, in sequence, another exemplary user interface according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 12A-12D  show alternative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 13A and 13B  show further alternative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 14A ,  14 B,  14 C, and  14 D show further alternative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 15A ,  15 B,  15 C and  15 D show another alternative embodiment of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 16A and 16B  show certain aspects of embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 17  shows an aspect of certain embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 18A and 18B  show further aspects of certain embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 19A ,  19 B,  19 C,  19 D, and  19 E show further illustrative embodiments of user interfaces according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 20  is a flow chart which illustrates another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 21  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 22A ,  22 B,  22 C, and  22 D illustrate the display of a display device on which an embodiment of the method of  FIG. 21  is performed. 
         FIG. 23  is a flow chart which illustrates an exemplary method according to certain aspects of the inventions. 
         FIG. 24  is a flow chart which illustrates another exemplary method according to certain aspects of the inventions described herein. 
         FIG. 25  is a flow chart which illustrates a further more specific exemplary method according to certain aspects of the inventions. 
         FIGS. 26 and 27  provide an example of user interfaces which allow a user to set preferences with respect to how information is kept private and how information is displayed in response to searches. 
         FIG. 28A  is a flowchart which illustrates another exemplary method according to certain embodiments of the inventions in which a permissions cache is used. 
         FIG. 28B  is a flowchart which illustrates another exemplary method which includes the use of a permissions cache. 
         FIGS. 29A and 29B  are flowcharts which illustrate other exemplary methods which include the use of a permissions cache. 
         FIG. 30  shows a general example of one exemplary method of one aspect of the invention. 
         FIG. 31  shows a general example of file structure on a storage device corresponding to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 32  shows another general example of file structure on a storage device corresponding to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 33  shows a general example of searching an embodiment configured to use multiple subindexes. 
         FIG. 34  shows a general example of searching an embodiment configured to use multiple subindexes and a permissions cache. 
         FIG. 35  shows a general example of searching an embodiment configured to use virtual subindexes within a single index. 
         FIG. 36  shows a general example of searching an embodiment configured to use virtual subindexes within a single index and a permissions cache. 
         FIG. 37  shows a general example of searching an embodiment using full text subindexes. 
         FIG. 38  shows a general example of searching an embodiment using metadata subindexes. 
         FIG. 39  shows a general example of searching an embodiment using full text subindexes. 
         FIG. 40  shows a general example of searching an embodiment using metadata subindexes. 
         FIG. 41  shows a general example of searching a storage device without an index. 
         FIGS. 42A ,  42 B, and  42 C show exemplary embodiments of subindex entries, subindexes, and an index composed of subindexes, respectively. 
         FIG. 43  is a flow chart showing an exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 44  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 45A and 45B  show exemplary embodiments of index entries and an index composed of entries, respectively. 
         FIG. 46  is a flow chart showing an exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 47  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 48A and 48B  show an example of a storage device to be indexed and an example of a corresponding index, respectively.  FIG. 48C  shows a full text index database. 
         FIG. 49  is a flow chart showing an exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 50  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 51  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 52  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 53  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 54  is a flow chart showing another exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 55A and 55B  show an example of a permissions cache entry and a permissions cache composed of entries, respectively. 
         FIG. 56  is a flow chart showing an exemplary method of the present invention. 
         FIG. 57A  shows an example of a software architecture and data structures for implementing an embodiment of a permission cache with a list or other data structure of cached directories. 
         FIG. 57B  shows an example of a directory structure in a hierarchical file system according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 58  is a flow chart which illustrates a method of using a permission cache with a list or other data structure of cached directories. 
         FIG. 59  is a flow chart which shows a method for updating permissions in an embodiment which uses a permission cache with a list or other data structure of cached directories. 
         FIG. 60  shows an example of an implementation of a data structure for the cached directories. 
         FIG. 61  shows an example of a method, according to one embodiment, for using a permission cache and a list or other data structure of cached directories with a removable storage volume, such as a removable hard drive or flash memory volume. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The subject invention will be described with reference to numerous details set forth below, and the accompanying drawings will illustrate the invention. The following description and drawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, in certain instances, well known or conventional details are not described in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. 
     The present description includes material protected by copyrights, such as illustrations of graphical user interface images. The owners of the copyrights, including the assignee of the present invention, hereby reserve their rights, including copyright, in these materials. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever. Copyright Apple Inc. 2004. 
       FIG. 1  shows one example of a typical computer system which may be used with the present invention. Note that while  FIG. 1  illustrates various components of a computer system, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components as such details are not germane to the present invention. It will also be appreciated that network computers and other data processing systems which have fewer components or perhaps more components may also be used with the present invention. The computer system of  FIG. 1  may, for example, be a Macintosh computer from Apple Inc. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the computer system  101 , which is a form of a data processing system, includes a bus  102  which is coupled to a microprocessor(s)  103  and a ROM (Read Only Memory)  107  and volatile RAM  105  and a non-volatile memory  106 . The microprocessor  103  may be a G3 or G4 microprocessor from Motorola, Inc. or one or more G5 microprocessors from IBM. The bus  102  interconnects these various components together and also interconnects these components  103 ,  107 ,  105 , and  106  to a display controller and display device  104  and to peripheral devices such as input/output (I/O) devices which may be mice, keyboards, modems, network interfaces, printers and other devices which are well known in the art. Typically, the input/output devices  109  are coupled to the system through input/output controllers  108 . The volatile RAM (Random Access Memory)  105  is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) which requires power continually in order to refresh or maintain the data in the memory. The mass storage  106  is typically a magnetic hard drive or a magnetic optical drive or an optical drive or a DVD RAM or other types of memory systems which maintain data (e.g. large amounts of data) even after power is removed from the system. Typically, the mass storage  106  will also be a random access memory although this is not required. While  FIG. 1  shows that the mass storage  106  is a local device coupled directly to the rest of the components in the data processing system, it will be appreciated that the present invention may utilize a non-volatile memory which is remote from the system, such as a network storage device which is coupled to the data processing system through a network interface such as a modem or Ethernet interface. The bus  102  may include one or more buses connected to each other through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters as is well known in the art. In one embodiment the I/O controller  108  includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals and an IEEE 1394 controller for IEEE 1394 compliant peripherals. 
     It will be apparent from this description that aspects of the present invention may be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other data processing system in response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM  107 , RAM  105 , mass storage  106  or a remote storage device. In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system. In addition, throughout this description, various functions and operations are described as being performed by or caused by software code to simplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by a processor, such as the microprocessor  103 . 
     Capturing and Use of Metadata Across a Variety of Application Programs 
       FIG. 2  shows a generalized example of one embodiment of the present invention. In this example, captured metadata is made available to a searching facility, such as a component of the operating system which allows concurrent searching of all metadata for all applications having captured metadata (and optionally for all non-metadata of the data files). The method of  FIG. 2  may begin in operation  201  in which metadata is captured from a variety of different application programs. This captured metadata is then made available in operation  203  to a searching facility, such as a file management system software for searching. This searching facility allows, in operation  205 , the searching of metadata across all applications having captured metadata. The method also provides, in operation  207 , a user interface of a search engine and the search results which are obtained by the search engine. There are numerous possible implementations of the method of  FIG. 2 . For example,  FIG. 5  shows a specific implementation of one exemplary embodiment of the method of  FIG. 2 . Alternative implementations may also be used. For example, in an alternative implementation, the metadata may be provided by each application program to a central source which stores the metadata for use by searching facilities and which is managed by an operating system component, which may be, for example, the metadata processing software. The user interface provided in operation  207  may take a variety of different formats, including some of the examples described below as well as user interfaces which are conventional, prior art user interfaces. The metadata may be stored in a database which may be any of a variety of formats including a B tree format or, as described below, in a flat file format according to one embodiment of the invention. 
     The method of  FIG. 2  may be implemented for programs which do not store or provide metadata. In this circumstance, a portion of the operating system provides for the capture of the metadata from the variety of different programs even though the programs have not been designed to provide or capture metadata. For those programs which do allow a user to create metadata for a particular document, certain embodiments of the present invention may allow the exporting back of captured metadata back into data files for applications which maintain metadata about their data files. 
     The method of  FIG. 2  allows information about a variety of different files created by a variety of different application programs to be accessible by a system wide searching facility, which is similar to the way in which prior art versions of the Finder or Windows Explorer can search for file names, dates of creation, etc. across a variety of different application programs. Thus, the metadata for a variety of different files created by a variety of different application programs can be accessed through an extension of an operating system, and an example of such an extension is shown in  FIG. 4  as a metadata processing software which interacts with other components of the system and will be described further below. 
       FIGS. 3A and 3B  show two different metadata formats for two different types of data files. Note that there may be no overlap in any of the fields; in other words, no field in one type of metadata is the same as any field in the other type of metadata. Metadata format  301  may be used for an image file such as a JPEG image file. This metadata may include information such as the image&#39;s width, the image&#39;s height, the image&#39;s color space, the number of bits per pixel, the ISO setting, the flash setting, the F/stop of the camera, the brand name of the camera which took the image, user-added keywords and other fields, such as a field which uniquely identifies the particular file, which identification is persistent through modifications of the file. Metadata format  331  shown in  FIG. 3B  may be used for a music file such as an MP3 music file. The data in this metadata format may include an identification of the artist, the genre of the music, the name of the album, song names in the album or the song name of the particular file, song play times or the song play time of a particular song and other fields, such as a persistent file ID number which identifies the particular MP3 file from which the metadata was captured. Other types of fields may also be used. The following chart shows examples of the various fields which may be used in metadata for various types of files. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Cop- 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 User 
                   
                 ied 
                   
               
               
                 Item 
                 Parent in 
                   
                   
                   
                 Multi- 
                   
                 set- 
                 Get- 
                 with 
                 App 
               
               
                 name 
                 hierarchy 
                 Attribute name 
                 Description/Notes 
                 CFType 
                 value 
                 Localized 
                 table 
                 table 
                 copy 
                 viewable 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 Item 
                 n/a 
                 Authors 
                 Who created or 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contributed to the 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contents of this item 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Comment 
                 A free form text 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 comment 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ContentType 
                 This is the type that is 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 ? 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 determined by UTI 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ContentTypes 
                 This is the inheritance of 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 ? 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the UTI system 
               
               
                   
                   
                 CreatedDate 
                 When was this item 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 created 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DisplayName 
                 The name of the item as 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Finder (or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the user would like to 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Launch 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 read it. Very well may 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Services) 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 be the file name, but it 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 may also be the subject 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 of an e-mail message or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the full name of a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 person, for example. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Keywords 
                 This is a list words set 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 System- 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Ask 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 by the user to identify 
                   
                   
                 provided 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 arbitrary sets of 
                   
                   
                 keywords 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 organization. The scope 
                   
                   
                 (if any) 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 is determined by the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 user and can be flexibly 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 used for any kind of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 organization. For 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 example, Family, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Hawaii, Project X, etc. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Contact 
                 A list of contacts that 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Ask 
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Keywords 
                 are associated with this 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document, beyond what 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 is captured as Author. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 This may be a person 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 who&#39;s in the picture or a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document about a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 person or contact 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (performance review, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contract) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ModifiedDate 
                 When this item was last 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 modified 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Rating 
                 A relative rating (0 to 5 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                 n/a 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 value) on how important a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 particular item is to you, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 whether it&#39;s a person, file 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 or message 
               
               
                   
                   
                 RelatedTos 
                 A list of other items that 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 are arbitrarily grouped 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 together. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 TextContent 
                 An indexed version of any 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 content text 
               
               
                   
                   
                 UsedDates 
                 Which days was the 
                 CFDate 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 opened/viewed/played 
               
               
                 Content/ 
                 Item 
                 Copyright 
                 Specifies the owner of this 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                 Data 
                   
                   
                 content, i.e. Copyright 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Apple Computer, Inc. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 CreatorApp 
                 Keeps track of the 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 ? 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 application that was used 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 to create this document (if 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 it&#39;s known). 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Languages 
                 The languages that this 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document is composed in 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (for either text or audio- 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 based media) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ParentalControl 
                 A field that is used to 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 ? 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 determine whether this is 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 kid-friendly content or not 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Publishers 
                 The name or a person or 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                   
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 organization that published 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 this content. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PublishedDate 
                 The original date that this 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 content was published (if it 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 was), independent of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 created date. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Reviewers 
                 A list of contacts who 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                   
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 have reviewed the contents 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 of this file. This would 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 have to be set explicitly by 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 an application. 
               
               
                 Image 
                 Data 
                 ReviewStatus 
                 Free form text that used 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 ? 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 to specify where the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document is in any 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 arbitrary review process 
               
               
                   
                   
                 TimeEdited 
                 Total time spent editing 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 WhereTos 
                 Where did this go to, eg. 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 System- 
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 CD, printed, backedup 
                   
                   
                 provided 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 words 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 only (if 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 any) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 WhereFroms 
                 Where did this come 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 System- 
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 from, e.g. camera, email, 
                   
                   
                 provided 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 web download, CD 
                   
                   
                 words 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 only (if 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 any) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 BitsPerSample 
                 What is the bit depth of 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the image (8-bit, 16-bit, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 etc.) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ColorSpace 
                 What color space model 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 ColorSync 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 is this document 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Utility? 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 following 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ImageHeight 
                 The height of the image 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 in pixels 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ImageWidth 
                 The width of the image 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 in pixels 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ProfileName 
                 The name of the color 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 ColorSync 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 profile used with for 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Utility? 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 image 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ResolutionWidth 
                 Resolution width of this 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 image (i.e. dpi from a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 scanner) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ResolutionHeight 
                 Resolution height of this 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 image (i.e. dpi from a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 scanner) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 LayerNames 
                 For image formats that 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contain “named” layers 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (e.g. Photoshop files) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Aperture 
                 The f-stop rating of the 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 camera when the image 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 was taken 
               
               
                   
                   
                 CameraMake 
                 The make of the camera 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 that was used to acquire 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 this image (e.g. Nikon) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 CameraModel 
                 The model of the camera 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 used to acquire this 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 image (Coolpix 5700) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DateTimeOriginal 
                 Date/time the picture 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 was taken 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ExposureMode 
                 Mode that was used for 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the exposure 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ExposureTime 
                 Time that the lens was 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 exposed while taking the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 picture 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Flash 
                 This attribute is 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 overloaded with 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 information about red- 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 eye reduction. This is 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 not a binary value 
               
               
                   
                   
                 GPS 
                 Raw value received 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 from GPS device 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 associated with photo 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 acquisition. It hasn&#39;t 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 necessarily been 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 translated to a user- 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 understandable location. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ISOSpeed 
                 The ISO speed the 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 camera was set to when 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the image was acquired 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Orientation 
                 The orientation of the 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 camera when the image 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 was acquired 
               
               
                   
                   
                 WhiteBalance 
                 The white balance 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 setting of the camera 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 when the picture was 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 taken 
               
               
                   
                   
                 EXIFversion 
                 The version of EXIF 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 that was used to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 generate the metadata 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 for the image 
               
               
                 Time- 
                 Data 
                 AcquisitionSources 
                 The name or type of 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                 based 
                   
                   
                 device that used to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 acquire the media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Codecs 
                 The codecs used to 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 encode/decode the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DeliveryType 
                 FastStart or RTSP 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Duration 
                 The length of time that 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the media lasts 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Streamable 
                 Whether the content is 
                 CFBoolean 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 prepared for purposes of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 streaming 
               
               
                   
                   
                 TotalBitRate 
                 The total bit rate (audio 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 &amp; video combined) of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the media. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 AudioBitRate 
                 The audio bit rate of the 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 AspectRatio 
                 The aspect ratio of the 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 video of the media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ColorSpace 
                 The color space model 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 used for the video aspect 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 of the media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FrameHeight 
                 The frame height in 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 pixels of the video in the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FrameWidth 
                 The frame width in 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 pixels of the video in the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ProfileName 
                 The name of the color 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 profile used on the video 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 portion of the media 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VideoBitRate 
                 The bit rate of the video 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 aspect of the media 
               
               
                 Text 
                 Data 
                 Subject 
                 The subject of the text. 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 This could be metadata 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 that&#39;s supplied with the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 text or something 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 automatically generated 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 with technologies like 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 VTWIN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PageCount 
                 The number of printable 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 pages of the document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 LineCount 
                 The number of lines in 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 WordCount 
                 The number of words in 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 URL 
                 The URL that will get 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 you to this document (or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 at least did at one time). 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Relevant for saved 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 HTML documents, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 bookmarks, RSS feeds, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 etc. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PageTitle 
                 The title of a web page. 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Relevant to HTML or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 bookmark documents 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Google 
                 Structure of where this 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Hierarchy 
                 page can be found in the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Google hierarchy. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Relevant to HTML or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 bookmark documents 
               
               
                 Compound 
                 Data 
                 &lt;Abstract&gt; 
                 There are no specific 
                 n/a 
                 n/a 
                 n/a 
                 n/a 
                 n/a 
                 n/a 
                 n/a 
               
               
                 document 
                   
                   
                 attributes assigned to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 this item. This is to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 catch all app-specific 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 file formats that fall 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 within Data, but don&#39;t fit 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 into any of the other 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 types. Typically these 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 documents have 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 multiple types of media 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 embedded within them. 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (e.g. P 
               
               
                 PDF 
                 Compound 
                 NumberOfPages 
                 The number of printable 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                 document 
                   
                 pages in the document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PageSize 
                 The size of the page 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 stored as points 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFTitle 
                 PDF-specific title 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFAuthor 
                 PDF-specific author 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
                   
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFSubject 
                 PDF-specific subject 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFKeywords 
                 PDF-specific keywords 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFCreated 
                 PDF-specific created 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFModified 
                 PDF-specific modified 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 PDFVersion 
                 PDF-specific version 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 metadata for the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SecurityMethod 
                 Method by which this 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 document is kept secure 
               
               
                 Presentation 
                 Compound 
                 SlideTitles 
                 A collection of the titles 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                 (Keynote) 
                 document 
                   
                 on slides 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SlideCount 
                 The number of slides 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SpeakerNotesContent 
                 The content of all the 
                 CFString 
                 ? 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 speaker notes from all of 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the slides together 
               
               
                 Application 
                 Item 
                 Categories 
                 The kind of application 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 this is: productivity, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 games, utility, graphics, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 etc. A set list that 
               
               
                 Message 
                 Item 
                 Recipients 
                 Maps to To and Cc: 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 addresses in a mail 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 message. 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Priority 
                 The priority of the 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 message as set by the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 sender 
               
               
                   
                   
                 AttachmentNames 
                 The list of filenames that 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 represent attachments in 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 a particular message 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (should be actionable 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 within the Finder) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Authors 
                 maps to From address in 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 mail message 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Comment 
                 Not applicable to Mail 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 right now (should we 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 consider?) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ContentType 
                   
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ContentTypes 
                   
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 CreatedDate 
                 When was this message 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 was sent or received 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DisplayName 
                 Subject of the message 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Keywords 
                 There will be a way to 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 System- 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Ask 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 set keywords within 
                   
                   
                 provided 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Mail 
                   
                   
                 keywords 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 (if any) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Contact 
                 Could be where 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Ask 
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Keywords 
                 recipients are held 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ModifiedDate 
                 Not applicable 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Rating 
                 A relative rating (0 to 5 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                 n/a 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 stars) on how important 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 a particular message is 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 to you (separate from a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 message&#39;s Priority) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 RelatedTos 
                 Potentially threaded 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 messages could be put 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 into this category 
               
               
                   
                   
                 TextContent 
                 An indexed version of 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the mail message 
               
               
                   
                   
                 UsedDates 
                 The day/time in which 
                 CFDate 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the mail message was 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 viewed/read 
               
               
                 Contact 
                 Item 
                 Company 
                 The company that this 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contact is an employee 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 of 
               
               
                   
                   
                 E-mails 
                 A list of e-mail 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 Mail 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 addresses that this 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contact has 
               
               
                   
                   
                 IMs 
                 A list of instant message 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 iChat 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 handles this contact has 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Phones 
                 A list of phone numbers 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 that relate to this contact 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Addresses 
                 A list of physical 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 addresses that relate to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 this person 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Authors 
                 the name of the owner of 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the Address Book 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (current user name) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Comment 
                   
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ContentType 
                   
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ContentTypes 
                   
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 CreatedDate 
                 date the user entered this 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 into his AddressBook 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 (either through import or 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 direct entry) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DisplayName 
                 Composite name of 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 contact (First Name, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Last Name) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Keywords 
                 There will be a way to 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 System- 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Ask 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 set keywords within 
                   
                   
                 provided 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Address Book 
                   
                   
                 keywords 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 (if any) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Contact 
                   
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
                 Ask 
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Keywords 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ModifiedDate 
                 Last time this contact 
                 CFDate 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 entry was modified 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Rating 
                 A relative rating (0 to 5 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                 n/a 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 stars) on how important 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 a particular contact is to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 you (separate from a 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 message&#39;s Priority) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 RelatedTos 
                 (potentially could be 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 Yes 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 used to associate people 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 from the same company 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 or family) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 TextContent 
                 An indexed version of 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the Notes section 
               
               
                   
                   
                 UsedDates 
                 The day/time in which 
                 CFDate 
                 Yes 
                 No 
                 No 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the contact entry was 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 viewed in Address Book 
               
               
                 Meeting 
                 Item 
                 Body 
                 text, rich text or 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                 (TBD) 
                   
                   
                 document that represents 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the full content of the 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 event 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Description 
                 text describing the event 
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                 time/date the event starts 
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                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
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                 The length of time that 
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                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the meeting lasts 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Invitees 
                 The list of people who 
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                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 meeting 
               
               
                   
                   
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                 The name of the location 
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                 where the meeting is 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 taking place 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     One particular field which may be useful in the various metadata formats would be a field which includes an identifier of a plug in or other software element which may be used to capture metadata from a data file and/or export metadata back to the creator application. 
     Various different software architectures may be used to implement the functions and operations described herein. The following discussion provides one example of such an architecture, but it will be understood that alternative architectures may also be employed to achieve the same or similar results. The software architecture shown in  FIG. 4  is an example which is based upon the Macintosh operating system. The architecture  400  includes a metadata processing software  401  and an operating system (OS) kernel  403  which is operatively coupled to the metadata processing software  401  for a notification mechanism which is described below. The metadata processing software  401  is also coupled to other software programs such as a file system graphical user interface software  405  (which may be the Finder), an email software  407 , and other applications  409 . These applications are coupled to the metadata processing software  401  through client application program interface  411  which provide a method for transferring data and commands between the metadata processing software  401  and the software  405 ,  407 , and  409 . These commands and data may include search parameters specified by a user as well as commands to perform searches from the user, which parameters and commands are passed to the metadata processing software  401  through the interface  411 . The metadata processing software  401  is also coupled to a collection of importers  413  which extract data from various applications. In particular, in one exemplary embodiment, a text importer is used to extract text and other information from word processing or text processing files created by word processing programs such as Microsoft Word, etc. This extracted information is the metadata for a particular file. Other types of importers extract metadata from other types of files, such as image files or music files. In this particular embodiment, a particular importer is selected based upon the type of file which has been created and modified by an application program. For example, if the data file was created by PhotoShop, then an image importer for PhotoShop may be used to input the metadata from a PhotoShop data file into the metadata database  415  through the metadata processing software  401 . On the other hand, if the data file is a word processing document, then an importer designed to extract metadata from a word processing document is called upon to extract the metadata from the word processing data file and place it into the metadata database  415  through the metadata processing software  401 . Typically, a plurality of different importers may be required in order to handle the plurality of different application programs which are used in a typical computer system. The importers  413  may optionally include a plurality of exporters which are capable of exporting the extracted metadata for particular types of data files back to property sheets or other data components maintained by certain application programs. For example, certain application programs may maintain some metadata for each data file created by the program, but this metadata is only a subset of the metadata extracted by an importer from this type of data file. In this instance, the exporter may export back additional metadata or may simply insert metadata into blank fields of metadata maintained by the application program. 
     The software architecture  400  also includes a file system directory  417  for the metadata. This file system directory keeps track of the relationship between the data files and their metadata and keeps track of the location of the metadata object (e.g. a metadata file which corresponds to the data file from which it was extracted) created by each importer. In one exemplary embodiment, the metadata database is maintained as a flat file format as described below, and the file system directory  417  maintains this flat file format. One advantage of a flat file format is that the data is laid out on a storage device as a string of data without references between fields from one metadata file (corresponding to a particular data file) to another metadata file (corresponding to another data file). This arrangement of data will often result in faster retrieval of information from the metadata database  415 . 
     The software architecture  400  of  FIG. 4  also includes find by content software  419  which is operatively coupled to a database  421  which includes an index of files. The index of files represents at least a subset of the data files in a storage device and may include all of the data files in a particular storage device (or several storage devices), such as the main hard drive of a computer system. The index of files may be a conventional indexed representation of the content of each document. The find by content software  419  searches for words in that content by searching through the database  421  to see if a particular word exists in any of the data files which have been indexed. The find by content software functionality is available through the metadata processing software  401  which provides the advantage to the user that the user can search concurrently both the index of files in the database  421  (for the content within a file) as well as the metadata for the various data files being searched. The software architecture shown in  FIG. 4  may be used to perform the method shown in  FIG. 5  or alternative architectures may be used to perform the method of  FIG. 5 . 
     The method of  FIG. 5  may begin in operation  501  in which a notification of a change for a file is received. This notification may come from the OS kernel  403  which notifies the metadata processing software  401  that a file has been changed. This notification may come from sniffer software elements which detect new or modified files and deletion of files. This change may be the creation of a new file or the modification of an existing file or the deletion of an existing file. The deletion of an existing file causes a special case of the processing method of  FIG. 5  and is not shown in  FIG. 5 . In the case of a deletion, the metadata processing software  401 , through the use of the file system directory  417 , deletes the metadata file in the metadata database  415  which corresponds to the deleted file. The other types of operations, such as the creation of a new file or the modification of an existing file, causes the processing to proceed from operation  501  to operation  503  in which the type of file which is the subject of the notification is determined. The file may be an Acrobat PDF file or an RTF word processing file or a JPEG image file, etc. In any case, the type of the file is determined in operation  503 . This may be performed by receiving from the OS kernel  403  the type of file along with the notification or the metadata processing software  401  may request an identification of the type of file from the file system graphical user interface software  405  or similar software which maintains information about the data file, such as the creator application or parent application of the data file. It will be understood that in one exemplary embodiment, the file system graphical user interface software  405  is the Finder program which operates on the Macintosh operating system. In alternative embodiments, the file system graphical user interface system may be Windows Explorer which operates on Microsoft&#39;s Windows operating system. After the type of file has been determined in operation  503 , the appropriate capture software (e.g. one of the importers  413 ) is activated for the determined file type. The importers may be a plug-in for the particular application which created the type of file about which notification is received in operation  501 . Once activated, the importer or capture software imports the appropriate metadata (for the particular file type) into the metadata database, such as metadata database  415  as shown in operation  507 . Then in operation  509 , the metadata is stored in the database. In one exemplary embodiment, it may be stored in a flat file format. Then in operation  511 , the metadata processing software  401  receives search parameter inputs and performs a search of the metadata database (and optionally also causes a search of non-metadata sources such as the index of files  421 ) and causes the results of the search to be displayed in a user interface. This may be performed by exchanging information between one of the applications, such as the software  405  or the software  407  or the other applications  409  and the metadata processing software  401  through the interface  411 . For example, the file system software  405  may present a graphical user interface, allowing a user to input search parameters and allowing the user to cause a search to be performed. This information is conveyed through the interface  411  to the metadata processing software  401  which causes a search through the metadata database  415  and also may cause a search through the database  421  of the indexed files in order to search for content within each data file which has been indexed. The results from these searches are provided by the metadata processing software  401  to the requesting application which, in the example given here, was the software  405 , but it will be appreciated that other components of software, such as the email software  407 , may be used to receive the search inputs and to provide a display of the search results. Various examples of the user interface for inputting search requests and for displaying search results are described herein and shown in the accompanying drawings. 
     It will be appreciated that the notification, if done through the OS kernel, is a global, system wide notification process such that changes to any file will cause a notification to be sent to the metadata processing software. It will also be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, each application program may itself generate the necessary metadata and provide the metadata directly to a metadata database without the requirement of a notification from an operating system kernel or from the intervention of importers, such as the importers  413 . Alternatively, rather than using OS kernel notifications, an embodiment may use software calls from each application to a metadata processing software which receives these calls and then imports the metadata from each file in response to the call. 
     As noted above, the metadata database  415  may be stored in a flat file format in order to improve the speed of retrieval of information in most circumstances. The flat file format may be considered to be a non-B tree, non-hash tree format in which data is not attempted to be organized but is rather stored as a stream of data. Each metadata object or metadata file will itself contain fields, such as the fields shown in the examples of  FIGS. 3A and 3B . However, there will typically be no relationship or reference or pointer from one field in one metadata file to the corresponding field (or another field) in the next metadata file or in another metadata file of the same file type.  FIG. 6  shows an example of the layout in a flat file format of metadata. The format  601  includes a plurality of metadata files for a corresponding plurality of data files. As shown in  FIG. 6 , metadata file  603  is metadata from file  1  of application A and may be referred to as metadata file A 1 . Similarly, metadata file  605  is metadata from file  1  of application B and may be referred to as metadata file B 1 . Each of these metadata files typically would include fields which are not linked to other fields and which do not contain references or pointers to other fields in other metadata files. It can be seen from  FIG. 6  that the metadata database of  FIG. 6  includes metadata files from a plurality of different applications (applications A, B, and C) and different files created by each of those applications. Metadata files  607 ,  609 ,  611 , and  617  are additional metadata files created by applications A, B, and C as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
     A flexible query language may be used to search the metadata database in the same way that such query languages are used to search other databases. The data within each metadata file may be packed or even compressed if desirable. As noted above, each metadata file, in certain embodiments, will include a persistent identifier which uniquely identifies its corresponding data file. This identifier remains the same even if the name of the file is changed or the file is modified. This allows for the persistent association between the particular data file and its metadata. 
     User Interface Aspects 
     Various different examples of user interfaces for inputting search parameters and for displaying search results are provided herein. It will be understood that some features from certain embodiments may be mixed with other embodiments such that hybrid embodiments may result from these combinations. It will be appreciated that certain features may be removed from each of these embodiments and still provide adequate functionality in many instances. 
       FIG. 7A  shows a graphical user interface which is a window which may be displayed on a display device which is coupled to a data processing system such as a computer system. The window  701  includes a side bar having two regions  703 A, which is a user-configurable region, and  703 B, which is a region which is specified by the data processing system. Further details in connection with these side bar regions may be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/873,661 filed Jun. 21, 2004, and entitled “Methods and Apparatuses for Operating a Data Processing System,” by inventors Donald Lindsay and Bas Ording. The window  701  also includes a display region  705  which in this case displays the results of searches requested by the user. The window  701  also includes a search parameter menu bar  707  which includes configurable pull down menus  713 ,  715 , and  717 . The window  701  also includes a text entry region  709  which allows a user to enter text as part of the search query or search parameters. The button  711  may be a start search button which a user activates in order to start a search based upon the selected search parameters. Alternatively, the system may perform a search as soon as it receives any search parameter inputs or search queries from the user rather than waiting for a command to begin the search. The window  701  also includes a title bar  729  which may be used in conjunction with a cursor control device to move, in a conventional manner, the window around a desktop which is displayed on a display device. The window  701  also includes a close button  734 , a minimize button  735 , and a resize button  736  which may be used to close or minimize or resize, respectively, the window. The window  701  also includes a resizing control  731  which allows a user to modify the size of the window on a display device. The window  701  further includes a back button  732  and a forward button  733  which function in a manner which is similar to the back and forward buttons on a web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Safari. The window  701  also includes view controls which include three buttons for selecting three different types of views of the content within the display region  705 . When the contents found in a search exceed the available display area of a display region  705 , scroll controls, such as scroll controls  721 ,  722 , and  723 , appear within the window  701 . These may be used in a conventional manner, for example, by dragging the scroll bar  721  within the scroll region  721 A using conventional graphical user interface techniques. 
     The combination of text entry region  709  and the search parameter menu bar allow a user to specify a search query or search parameters. Each of the configurable pull down menus presents a user with a list of options to select from when the user activates the pull down menu. As shown in  FIG. 7A , the user has already made a selection from the configurable pull down menu  713  to specify the location of the search, which in this case specifies that the search will occur on the local disks of the computer systems. Configurable pull down menu  715  has also been used by the user to specify the kind of document which is to be searched for, which in this case is an image document as indicated by the configurable pull down menu  715  which indicates “images” as the selected configuration of this menu and hence the search parameter which it specifies. The configurable pull down menu  717 , as shown in  FIG. 7A , represents an add search parameter pull down menu. This add search parameter pull down menu allows the user to add additional criteria to the search query to further limit the search results. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7A , each of the search parameters is logically ANDed in a Boolean manner. Thus the current search parameter specified by the user in the state shown in  FIG. 7A  searches all local disks for all images, and the user is in the middle of the process of selecting another search criteria by having selected the add search criteria pull down menu  717 , resulting in the display of the pull down menu  719 , which has a plurality of options which may be selected by the user. 
       FIG. 7B  shows the window  701  after the user has caused the selection of the time option within pull down menu  719 , thereby causing the display of a submenu  719 A which includes a list of possible times which the user may select from. Thus it appears that the user wants to limit the search to all images on all local disks within a certain period of time which is to be specified by making a selection within the submenu  719 A. 
       FIG. 7C  shows the window  701  on the display of a data processing system after the user has selected a particular option (in this case “past week”) from the submenu  719 A. If the user accepts this selection, then the display shown in  FIG. 7D  results in which the configurable pull down menu  718  is displayed showing that the user has selected as part of the search criteria files that have been created or modified in the past week. It can be seen from  FIG. 7D  that the user can change the particular time selected from this pull down menu  718  by selecting another time period within the pull down menu  718 A shown in  FIG. 7D . Note that the configurable pull down menu  717 , which represents an add search parameter menu, has now moved to the right of the configurable pull down menu  718 . The user may add further search parameters by pressing or otherwise activating the configurable pull down menu  717  from the search parameter menu bar  707 . If the user decides that the past week is the proper search criteria in the time category, then the user may release the pull down menu  718 A from being displayed in a variety of different ways (e.g. the user may release the mouse button which was being depressed to keep the pull down menu  718 A on the display). Upon releasing or otherwise dismissing the pull down menu  718 A, the resulting window  701  shown in  FIG. 7E  then appears. There are several aspects of this user interface shown in  FIG. 7A-7E  which are worthy of being noted. The search parameters or search query is specified within the same window as the display of the search results. This allows the user to look at a single location or window to understand the search parameters and how they affected the displayed search results, and may make it easier for a user to alter or improve the search parameters in order to find one or more files. The configurable pull down menus, such as the add search parameter pull down menu, includes hierarchical pull down menus. An example of this is shown in  FIG. 7B  in which the selection of the time criteria from the pull down menu  717  results in the display of another menu, in this case a submenu  719 A which may be selected from by the user. This allows for a compact presentation of the various search parameters while keeping the initial complexity (e.g. without submenus being displayed) at a lower level. Another useful aspect of the user interface shown in  FIG. 7A-7E  is the ability to reconfigure pull down menus which have previously been configured. Thus, for example, the configurable pull down menu  713  currently specifies the location of the search (in this case, all local disks), however, this may be modified by selecting the pull down region associated with the configurable pull down menu  713 , causing the display of a menu of options indicating alternative locations which may be selected by the user. This can also be seen in  FIG. 7D  in which the past week option has been selected by the user (as indicated by “past week” being in the search parameter menu bar  707 ), but a menu of options shown in the pull down menu  718 A allows the user to change the selected time from the “past week” to some other time criteria. Another useful aspect of this user interface is the ability to continue adding various search criteria by using the add search criteria pull down menu  717  and selecting a new criteria. 
     It will also be appreciated that the various options in the pull down menus may depend upon the fields within a particular type of metadata file. For example, the selection of “images” to be searched may cause the various fields present in the metadata for an image type file to appear in one or more pull down menus, allowing the user to search within one or more of those fields for that particular type of file. Other fields which do not apply to “images” types of files may not appear in these menus in order reduce the complexity of the menus and to prevent user confusion. 
     Another feature of the present invention is shown in  FIGS. 7A-7E . In particular, the side bar region  703 A, which is the user-configurable portion of the side bar, includes a representation of a folder  725  which represents the search results obtained from a particular search, which search results may be static or they may be dynamic in that, in certain instances, the search can be performed again to obtain results based on the current files in the system. The folder  725  in the example shown in  FIGS. 7A-7E  represents a search on a local disk for all images done on December 10. By selecting this folder in the side bar region  703 A, the user may cause the display in the display region  705  of the results of that search. In this way, a user may retrieve a search result automatically by saving the search result into the side bar region  703 A. One mechanism for causing a search result or a search query to be saved into the side bar region  703 A is to select the add folder button  727  which appears in the bottom portion of the window  701 . By selecting this button, the current search result or search query is saved as a list of files and other objects retrieved in the current search result. In the case where the search query is saved for later use rather than the saving of a search result, then the current search query is saved for re-use at a later time in order to find files which match the search query at that later time. The user may select between these two functionalities (saving a search result or saving a search query) by the selection of a command which is not shown. 
       FIGS. 8A and 8B  show another aspect of a user interface feature which may be used with certain embodiments of the present invention. The window  801  of  FIG. 8A  represents a display of the search results which may be obtained as a result of using one of the various different embodiments of the present invention. The search results are separated into categories which are separated by headers  805 ,  807 ,  809 , and  811  which in this case represent periods of time. This particular segmentation with headers was selected by the user&#39;s selecting the heading “date modified” using the date modified button  803  at the top of the window  801 . An alternative selection of the kind category by selecting the button  802  at the top of the window  801 A shown in  FIG. 8B  results in a different formatting of the search results which are now categorized by headers which indicate the types of files which were retrieved in the search and are separated by the headings  815 ,  817 ,  819 , and  821  as shown in  FIG. 8B . The use of these headings in the search results display allows the user to quickly scan through the search results in order to find the file. 
       FIG. 9  shows another aspect of the present invention that is illustrated as part of the window  901  shown in  FIG. 9 . This window includes a display region  905  which shows the results of the search and the window also includes two side bar regions  903 A and  903 B, where the side bar region  903 A is the user-configurable portion and the side bar region  903 B is the system controlled portion. A folder add button  927  may be selected by the user to cause the addition of a search result or a search query to be added to the user-configurable portion of the side bar. The window  901  also includes conventional window controls such as a title bar or region  929  which may be used to move the window around a display and view select buttons  937  and maximize, minimize and resize buttons  934 ,  935 , and  936  respectively. The window  901  shows a particular manner in which the results of a text-based search may be displayed. A text entry region  909  is used to enter text for searching. This text may be used to search through the metadata files or the indexed files or a combination of both. The display region  905  shows the results of a search for text and includes at least two columns,  917  and  919 , which provide the name of the file that was found and the basis for the match. As shown in column  919 , the basis for the match may be the author field or a file name or a key word or comments or other data fields contained in metadata that was searched. The column  921  shows the text that was found which matches the search parameter typed into the text entry field  909 . Another column  911  provides additional information with respect to the search results. In particular, this column includes the number of matches for each particular type of category or field as well as the total number of matches indicated in the entry  913 . Thus, for example, the total number of matches found for the comments field is only 1, while other fields have a higher number of matches. 
       FIG. 10  shows certain other aspects of some embodiments of the present invention. Window  1001  is another search result window which includes various fields and menus for a user to select various search parameters or form a search query. The window  1001  includes a display region  1005  which may be used to display the results of a search and a user-configurable side bar portion  1003 A and a system specified side bar portion  1003 B. In addition, the window  1001  includes conventional scrolling controls such as controls  1021  and  1022  and  1021 A. The window further includes conventional controls such as a title bar  1029  which may be used to move the window and view control buttons  1037  and maximize, minimize, and resize buttons  1034 ,  1035 , and  1036 . A start search button  1015  is near a text entry region  1009 . A first search parameter menu bar  1007  is displayed adjacent to a second search parameter bar  1011 . The first search parameter search bar  1007  allows a user to specify the location for a particular search while two menu pull down controls in the second search parameter menu bar  1011  allow the user to specify the type of file using the pull down menu  1012  and the time the file was created or last modified using the menu  1013 . 
     The window  1001  includes an additional feature which may be very useful while analyzing a search result. A user may select individual files from within the display region  1005  and associate them together as one collection. Each file may be individually marked using a specific command (e.g. pressing the right button on a mouse and selecting a command from a menu which appears on the screen, which command may be “add selection to current group”) or similar such commands. By individually selecting such files or by selecting a group of files at once, the user may associate this group of files into a selected group or a “marked” group and this association may be used to perform a common action on all of the files in the group (e.g. print each file or view each file in a viewer window or move each file to a new or existing folder, etc.). A representation of this marked group appears as a folder in the user-configurable portion  1003 A. An example of such a folder is the folder  1020  shown in the user-configurable portion  1003 A. By selecting this folder (e.g. by positioning a cursor over the folder  1020  and pressing and releasing a mouse button or by pressing another button) the user, as a result of this selection, will cause the display within the display region  1005  of the files which have been grouped together or marked. Alternatively, a separate window may appear showing only the items which have been marked or grouped. This association or grouping may be merely temporary or it may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped and by keeping a folder  1020  or other representations of the grouping within the user-configurable side bar, such as the side bar  1003 A. Certain embodiments may allow multiple, different groupings to exist at the same time, and each of these groupings or associations may be merely temporary (e.g. they exist only while the search results window is displayed), or they may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped within each separate group. It will be appreciated that the files within each group may have been created from different applications. As noted above, one of the groupings may be selected and then a user may select a command which performs a common action (e.g. print or view or move or delete) on all of the files within the selected group. 
       FIGS. 11A ,  11 B,  11 C, and  11 D show an alternative user interface for allowing a user to input search queries or search parameters. The user interface shown in these figures appears within the window  1101  which includes a user-configurable side bar region  1103 A and a system specified side bar region  1103 B. The window  1101  also includes traditional window controls such as a window resizing control  1131  which may be dragged in a conventional graphical user interface manner to resize the window, and the window further includes scrolling controls such as controls  1121 ,  1122 , and  1123 . The scrolling control  1121  may, for example, be dragged within the scrolling region  1121 A or a scroll wheel on a mouse or other input device may be used to cause scrolling within a display region  1105 . Further, traditional window controls include the title bar  1129  which may be used to move the window around a desktop which is displayed on a display device of a computer system and the window also includes view buttons  1137  as well as close, minimize, and resize buttons  1134 ,  1135  and  1136 . A back and forward button, such as the back button  1132 , are also provided to allow the user to move back and forth in a manner which is similar to the back and forth commands in a web browser. The window  1101  includes a search parameter menu bar  1111  which includes a “search by” pull down menu  1112  and a “sort by” pull down menu  1114 . The “search by” pull down menu  1112  allows a user to specify the particular search parameter by selecting from the options which appear in the pull down menu once it is activated as shown in  FIG. 11B . In particular, the pull down menu  1113  shows one example of a pull down menu when the “search by” pull down menu  1112  has been activated. The “sort by” pull down menu  1114  allows a user to specify how the search results are displayed within a display region  1105 . In the example shown in  FIGS. 11A-11D  a user has used the “sort by” pull down menu  1114  to select the “date viewed” criteria to sort the search results by. It should also be noted that the user may change the type of view of the search results by selecting one of the three view buttons  1137 . For example, a user may select an icon view which is the currently selected button among the view buttons  1137 , or the user may select a list view or a column view. 
       FIG. 11B  shows the result of the user&#39;s activation of a “search by” pull down menu  1112  which causes the display of the menu  1113  which includes a plurality of options from which the user may choose to perform a search by. It will be appreciated that there are a number of different ways for a user to activate the “search by” pull down menu  1112 . One way includes the use of a cursor, such as a pointer on a display which is controlled by a cursor control device, such as a mouse. The cursor is positioned over the region associated with the “search by” menu title (which is the portion within the search parameter menu bar  1111  which contains the words “search by”) and then the user indicates the selection of the menu title by pressing a button, such as a mouse&#39;s button, to cause the pull down menu to appear, which in this case is the menu  1113  shown in  FIG. 11B . At this point, the user may continue to move the cursor to point to a particular option within the menu, such as the “time” option. This may result in the display of a submenu to the left or to the right of the menu  1113 . This submenu may be similar to the submenu  719 A or to the menu  1214  shown in  FIG. 12A . If the “kind” option is selected in the menu  1113 , the submenu may include a generic list of the different kinds of documents, such as images, photos, movies, text, music, PDF documents, email documents, etc. or the list may include references to specific program names such as PhotoShop, Director, Excel, Word, etc. or it may include a combination of generic names and specific names.  FIG. 11C  shows the result of the user having selected PhotoShop type of documents from a submenu of the “kind” option shown in menu  1113 . This results in the display of the search parameter menu bar  1111 A shown in  FIG. 11C  which includes a highlighted selection  1111 B which indicates that the PhotoShop type of documents will be searched for. The search parameter menu bar  1111  appears below the search parameter menu bar  1111 A as shown in  FIG. 11C . The user may then specify additional search parameters by again using the “search by” pull down menu  1112  or by typing text into the text entry field  1109 . For example, from the state of the window  1101  shown in  FIG. 11C , the user may select the “search by” pull down menu  1112  causing the display of a menu containing a plurality of options, such as the options shown within the menu  1113  or alternative options such as those which relate to PhotoShop documents (e.g. the various fields in the metadata for PhotoShop type of documents). A combination of such fields contained within metadata for PhotoShop type documents and other generic fields (e.g. time, file size, and other parameters) may appear in a menu, such as the menu  1113  which is activated by selecting the “search by” pull down menu. The user may then select another criteria such as the time criteria. In this case, the window  1101  displays a new search parameter menu bar  1115  which allows a user to specify a particular time. The user may select one of the times on the menu bar  1115  or may activate a pull down menu by selecting the menu title “time,” which is shown as the menu title  1116 . The state of the window  1101  shown in  FIG. 11D  would then search for all PhotoShop documents created in the last 30 days or 7 days or 2 days or today or at any time, depending on the particular time period selected by the user. 
       FIGS. 12A ,  12 B,  12 C and  12 D show another example of a user interface for allowing the creation of search queries for searching metadata and other data and for displaying the results of the search performed using a search query. The different implementation shown in  FIGS. 12A-12D  shows a user interface presentation in a column mode; this can be seen by noting the selection of the column button, which is the rightmost button in the view buttons  1237  shown in  FIG. 12A . The window  1201  has two columns  1211  and the display region  1205 , while the window  1251  of  FIG. 12C  has three columns which are columns  1257 ,  1259 , and the display region  1255 , and the window  1271  has three columns which are columns  1277 ,  1279 , and the display region  1275 . 
     The window  1201  shown in  FIGS. 12A and 12B  includes a display region  1205  which shows the results of a search; these results may be shown dynamically as the user enters search parameters or the results may be shown only after the user has instructed the system to perform the search (e.g. by selecting a “perform search” command). The window  1201  includes conventional window controls, such as a resizing control  1231 , a scrolling control  1221 , a title bar  1229  which may be used to move the window, a window close button, a window minimize button, and a window resize button  1234 ,  1235 , and  1236 , respectively. The window  1201  also includes a user-configurable side bar region  1203 A and a system specified side bar region  1203 B. It can be seen from  FIG. 12A  that a browse mode has been selected as indicated by the highlighted “browse” icon  1203 C in the system specified side bar region  1203 B. The window  1201  also includes a text entry region  1209 , which a user may use to enter text for a search, and the window  1201  also includes view selector buttons  1237 . 
     A column  1211  of window  1201  allows a user to select various search parameters by selecting one of the options which in turn causes the display of a submenu that corresponds to the selected option. In the case of  FIG. 12A , the user has selected the “kind” option  1212  and then has used the submenu  1214  to select the “photos” option from the submenu, resulting in an indicator  1213  (photos) to appear in the column  1211  under the “kind” option as shown in  FIG. 12A . It can also be seen that the user has previously selected the “time” option in the column  1211  and has selected from a submenu brought up when the “time” option was selected the “past week” search parameter. When the user has finished making selections of the various options and suboptions from both the column  1112  and any of the corresponding submenus which appear, then the display showed in  FIG. 12B  appears. Note that the submenus are no longer present and that the user has completed the selection of the various options and suboptions which specify the search parameters. Column  1211  in  FIG. 12B  provides feedback to the user indicating the exact nature of the search query (in this case a search for all photos dated in the past week), and the results which match the search query are shown in the display region  1205 . 
       FIGS. 12C and 12D  show an alternative embodiment in which the submenus which appear on a temporary basis in the embodiment of  FIGS. 12A and 12B  are replaced by an additional column which does not disappear after a selection is made. In particular, the column  1259  of the window  1251  functions in the same manner as the submenu  1214  except that it remains within the window  1251  after a selection is made (wherein the submenu  1214  is removed from the window after the user makes the selection from the submenu). The column  1279  of window  1271  of  FIG. 12D  is similar to the column  1259 . The window  1251  includes a side bar which has a user-configurable side bar region  1253 A and a system defined side bar region  1253 B. The system specified side bar region  1253 B includes a “browse” selection region  1254  which has a clear button  1258  which the user may select to clear the current search query. The window  1271  of  FIG. 12D  provides an alternative interface for clearing the search query. The window  1271  also includes a user configurable side bar region  1273 A and a system specified side bar region  1273 B, but the clear button, rather than being with the “search” region  1274  is at the top of the column  1277 . The user may clear the current search parameter by selecting the button  1283  as shown in  FIG. 12D . 
       FIG. 13A  shows another embodiment of a window  1301  which displays search results within a display region  1302 . The window  1301  may be a closeable, minimizeable, resizable, and moveable window having a resizing control  1310 , a title bar  1305  which may be used to move the window, a text entry region  1306  and a user configurable portion  1303 , and a system specified portion  1304 . The window  1301  further includes buttons for selecting various views, including an icon view, a list view, and a column view. Currently, the list view button  1316  has been selected, causing the display of the search results in a list view manner within the display region  1302 . It can be seen that the text (“button”) has been entered into the text entry region  1306  and this has caused the system to respond with the search results shown in the display region  1302 . The user has specified a search in every location by selecting “everywhere” button  1317 . Further, the user has searched for any kind of document by selecting the “kind” option from the pull down menu  1315  and by selecting the “any” option in the pull down menu  1319 . The where or location slice  1307  includes a “+” button which may be used to add further search parameters, and similarly, the slice  1308  includes a “+” and a “−” button for adding or deleting search parameters, respectively. The slice  1307  further includes a “save” button  1309  which causes the current search query to be saved in the form of a folder which is added to the user configurable portion  1303  for use later. This is described further below and may be referred to as a “smart folder.” The search input user interface shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B  is available within, in certain embodiments, each and every window controlled by a graphical user interface file management system, such as a Finder program which runs on the Macintosh or Windows Explorer which runs on Microsoft Windows. This interface includes the text entry region  1306  as well as the slices  1307  and  1308 . 
     The window  1301  shown in  FIG. 13B  shows the activation of a menu by selecting the search button  1323 A, causing a display of a menu having two entries  1323  and  1325 . Entry  1323  displays recently performed searches so that a user may merely recall a prior search by selecting the prior search and cause the prior search to be run again. The menu selection  1325  allows the user to clear the list of recent searches in the menu. 
       FIGS. 14A ,  14 B, and  14 C show examples of another window in a graphical user interface file system, such as the Finder which runs on the Macintosh operating system. These windows show the results of a particular search and also the ability to save and use a smart folder which saves a prior search. The window  1401  shown in  FIG. 14A  includes a display region  1403 , a user configurable region  1405 , a smart folder  1406 , a system specified region  1407 , an icon view button  1409 , a list view button  1410 , and a column view button  1411 . The window  1401  also includes a text entry region  1415  and a location slice  1416  which may be used to specify the location for the search, which slice also includes a save button  1417 . Additional slices below the slice  1416  allow the user to specify further details with respect to the search, in this case specifying types of documents which are images which were last viewed this week. The user has set the search parameters in this manner by selecting the “kind” option from the pull down menu  1419  and by selecting the “images” type from the pull down menu  1420  and by selecting the “last viewed” option from pull down menu  1418  and by selecting “this week” from the pull down menu  1422 . The user has also selected “everywhere” by selecting the button  1421  so that the search will be performed on all disks and storage devices connected to this system. The results are shown within the display region  1403 . The user can then save the search query by selecting the “save” button  1417  and may name the saved search query as “this week&#39;s images” to produce the smart folder  1406  as shown in the user configurable portion  1405 . This allows the user to repeat this search at a later time by merely selecting the smart folder  1406  which causes the system to perform a new search again, and all data which matches the search criteria will be displayed within the display region  1403 . Thus, after several weeks, a repeating of this search by selecting the smart folder  1406  will produce an entirely different list if none of the files displayed in the display region  1403  of  FIG. 14A  are viewed in the last week from the time in which the next search is performed by selecting the smart folder  1406 . 
       FIG. 14B  shows a way in which a user may sort or further search within the search results specified by a saved search, such as a smart folder. In the case of  FIG. 14B , the user has selected the smart folder  1406  and has then entered text “jpg”  1425  in the text entry region  1415 . This has caused the system to filter or further limit the search results obtained from the search query saved as the smart folder  1406 . Thus, PhotoShop files and other files such as TIF files and GIF files are excluded from the search results displayed within the display region  1403  of  FIG. 14B  because the user has excluded those files by adding an additional search criteria specified by the text  1425  in the text entry region  1415 . It can be seen that the “jpg” text entry is ANDed logically with the other search parameters to achieve the search results displayed in the display region  1403 . It can also be seen that the user has selected the icon view by selecting the icon view button  1409 . Thus, it is possible for a user to save a search query and use it later and to further limit the results of the search query by performing a search on the results of the search query to further limit the search results. 
       FIG. 14C  shows the window  1401  and shows the search results displayed within the display region  1403 , where the results are based upon the saved search specified by the smart folder  1406 . The user has caused a pull down menu  1427  to appear by selecting the pull down region  1427 A. The pull down region  1427  includes several options which a user may select. These options include hiding the search criteria or saving the search (which is similar to selecting the button  1417 ) or showing view options or opening the selected file. This allows the user, for example, to hide the search criteria, thereby causing the slice  1416  and the other search parameters to be removed from the window  1401  which is a moveable, resizable, minimizeable, and closeable window. 
       FIG. 14D  shows an example of a user interface which allows the user to specify the appearance of a smart folder, such as the smart folder  1406 . 
       FIGS. 15A ,  15 B,  15 C, and  15 D show an example of a system wide search input user interface and search result user interface. In one particular exemplary embodiment, these user interfaces are available on the entire system for all applications which run on the system and all files and metadata, and even address book entries within an address book program, such as a personal information manager, and calendar entries within a calendar program, and emails within an email program, etc. In one exemplary embodiment, the system begins performing the search and begins displaying the results of the search as the user types text into a text entry field, such as the text entry field  1507 . The search results are organized by categories and are displayed as a short list which is intentionally abbreviated in order to present only a selected number of the most relevant (scored) matches or hits to the search query. The user can ask for the display of all the hits by selecting a command, such as the “show all” command  1509 .  FIG. 15A  shows a portion of a display controlled by a data processing system. This portion includes a menu bar  1502  which has at its far end a search menu command  1505 . The user can select the search menu command by positioning a cursor, using a mouse, for example, over the search menu command  1505  and by pressing a button or by otherwise activating or selecting a command. This causes a display of a text entry region  1507  into which a user can enter text. In the example shown in  FIG. 15A , which is a portion of the display, the user has entered the text “shakeit” causing the display of a search result region immediately below a “show all” command region  1509  which is itself immediately below the text entry region  1507 . It can be seen that the hits or matches are grouped into categories (“documents” and “PDF documents”) shown by categories  1511  and  1513  within the search result region  1503 .  FIG. 15B  shows another example of a search. In this case, a large number of hits was obtained (392 hits), only a few of which are shown in the search result region  1503 . Again, the hits are organized by categories  1511  and  1513 . Each category may be restricted in terms of the number of items displayed within the search result region  1503  in order to permit the display of multiple categories at the same time within the search result region. For example, the number of hits in the documents category may greatly exceed the available display space within the search result region  1503 , but the hits for this category are limited to a predetermined or dynamically determinable number of entries within the search result region  1503  for the category  1511 . An additional category, “top hit” is selected based on a scoring or relevancy using techniques which are known in the art. The user may select the “show all” command  1509  causing the display of a window, such as window  1601  shown in  FIG. 16A .  FIG. 15C  shows a display of a graphical user interface of one embodiment of the invention which includes the menu bar  1502  and the search menu command  1505  on the menu bar  1502 .  FIG. 15D  shows another example of the search result region  1503  which appeared after a search of the term “safari” was entered into the text entry region  1507 . It can be seen from the search result region  1503  of  FIG. 15D  that the search results are again grouped into categories. Another search result window  1520  is also shown in the user interface of  FIG. 15D . It can be seen that application programs are retrieved as part of the search results, and a user may launch any one of these application programs by selecting it from the search result region, thereby causing the program to be launched. 
       FIGS. 16A and 16B  show examples of search result windows which may be caused to appear by selecting the “show all” command  1509  in  FIG. 15A  or  15 B. Alternatively, these windows may appear as a result of the user having selected a “find” command or a some other command indicating that a search is desired. Moreover, the window  1601  shown in  FIGS. 16A and 16B  may appear in response to either of the selection of a show all command or the selection of a find command. The window  1601  includes a text entry region  1603 , a group by menu selection region  1605 , a sort by menu selection region  1607 , and a where menu selection region  1609 . The group by selection region  1605  allows a user to specify the manner in which the items in the search results are grouped according to. In the example shown in  FIG. 16A , the user has selected the “kind” option from the group by menu selection region  1605 , causing the search results to be grouped or sorted according to the kind or type of document or file. It can be seen that the type of file includes “html” files, image files, PDF files, source code files, and other types of files as shown in  FIG. 16A . Each type or kind of document is separated from the other documents by being grouped within a section and separated by headers from the other sections. Thus, headers  1611 ,  1613 ,  1615 ,  1617 ,  1619 ,  1621 , and  1623  designate each of the groups and separate one group from the other groups. This allows a user to focus on evaluating the search results according to certain types of documents. Within each group, such as the document groups or the folder groups, the user has specified that the items are to be sorted by date, because the user has selected the date option within the sort by menu region  1607 . The user has also specified that all storage locations are to be searched by selecting “everywhere” from the where menu selection region  1609 . Each item in the search result list includes an information button  1627  which may be selected to produce the display of additional information which may be available from the system. An example of such additional information is shown in  FIG. 17  in which a user has selected the information button  1627  for item  1635 , resulting in the display of an image  1636  corresponding to the item as well as additional information  1637 . Similarly, the user has selected the information button for another item  1630  to produce the display of an image of the item  1631  as well as additional information  1632 . The user may remove this additional information from the display by selecting the close button  1628  which causes the display of the information for item  1635  to revert to the appearance for that item shown in  FIG. 16A . The user may collapse an entire group to hide the entries or search results from that group by selecting the collapse button  1614  shown in  FIG. 16A , thereby causing the disappearance of the entries in this group as shown in  FIG. 16B . The user may cause these items to reappear by selecting the expand button  1614 A as shown in  FIG. 16B  to thereby revert to the display of the items as shown in  FIG. 16A . 
     The search results user interface shown in  FIGS. 16A and 16B  presents only a limited number of matches or hits within each category. In the particular example of these figures, only the five top (most relevant or most highly sorted) hits are displayed. This can be seen by noticing the entry at the bottom of each list within a group which specifies how many more hits are within that group; these hits can be examined by selecting this indicator, such as indicator  1612 , which causes the display of all of the items in the documents category or kind for the search for “button” which was entered into the text entry region  1603 . Further examples of this behavior are described below and are shown in conjunction with  FIGS. 18A and 18B . It will be appreciated that window  1601  is a closeable and resizable and moveable window and includes a close button and a resizing control  1625 A. 
       FIGS. 18A and 18B  illustrate another window  1801  which is very similar to the window  1601 . The window  1801  includes a text entry region  1803 , a group by menu selection region  1805 , a sort by menu selection region  1807 , and a where menu selection region  1809 , each of which function in a manner which is similar to the regions  1605 ,  1607 , and  1609  respectively of  FIG. 16A . Each item in a list view within the window  1801  includes an information button  1827 , allowing a user to obtain additional information beyond that listed for each item shown in the window  1801 . The window  1801  further includes headers  1811 ,  1813 ,  1815 ,  1817 ,  1819 ,  1821 , and  1823  which separate each group of items, grouped by the type or kind of document, and sorted within each group by date, from the other groups. A collapse button  1814  is available for each of the headers. The embodiment shown in  FIGS. 18A and 18B  shows the ability to switch between several modes of viewing the information. For example, the user may display all of the hits within a particular group by selecting the indicator  1812  shown in  FIG. 18A  which results in the display of all of the images files within the window  1801  within the region  1818 A. The window is scrollable, thereby allowing the user to scroll through all the images. The user can revert back to the listing of only five of the most relevant images by selecting the “show top  5 ” button  1832  shown in  FIG. 18B . Further, the user can select between a list view or an icon view for the images portion shown in  FIGS. 18A and 18B . The user may select the list view by selecting the list view button  1830  or may select the icon view by selecting the icon view button  1831 . The list view for the images group is shown in  FIG. 16A  and the icon view for the images group is shown in  FIGS. 18A and 18B . It can be seen that within a single, moveable, resizable, closeable search result window, that there are two different views (e.g. a list view and an icon view) which are concurrently shown within the window. For example, the PDF documents under the header  1819  are displayed in a list view while the images under the header  1817  are displayed in an icon view in  FIGS. 18A and 18B . It can also be seen from  FIGS. 18A and 18B  that each image is shown with a preview which may be capable of live resizing as described in a patent application entitled “Live Content Resizing” by inventors Steve Jobs, Steve Lemay, Jessica Kahn, Sarah Wilkin, David Hyatt, Jens Alfke, Wayne Loofbourrow, and Bertrand Serlet, filed on Jun. 25, 2004, and being assigned to the assignee of the present inventions described herein, and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
       FIG. 19A  shows another example of a search result window which is similar to the window  1601 . The window  1901  shown in  FIG. 19A  includes a text entry region  1903  and a group by menu selection region  1905  and a sort by menu selection region  1907  and a where menu selection region  1908 . Further, the window includes a close button  1925  and a resizing control  1925 A. Text has been entered into the text entry region  1903  to produce the search results shown in the window  1901 . The search results again are grouped by a category selected by a user which in this case is the people options  1906 . This causes the headers  1911 ,  1913 ,  1915 , and  1917  to show the separation of the groups according to names of people. Within each group, the user has selected to sort by the date of the particular file or document. The user interface shown in  FIG. 19A  allows a user to specify an individual&#39;s name and to group by people to look for communications between two people, for example.  FIG. 19B  shows another way in which a user can group a text search (“imran”) in a manner which is different from that shown in  FIG. 19A . In the case of  FIG. 19B , the user has selected a flat list from the group by menu selection region  1905  and has selected “people” from the sort by menu region  1907 . The resulting display in window  1901 A is without headers and thus it appears as a flat list. 
       FIG. 19C  shows the user interface of another search result window  1930  which includes a text entry region  1903  and the selection regions  1905 ,  1907 , and  1908  along with a scrolling control  1926 . The results shown in the window  1930  have been grouped by date and sorted within each group by date. Thus, the headers  1932 ,  1934 ,  1936 ,  1938 , and  1940  specify time periods such as when the document was last modified (e.g. last modified today, or yesterday, or last week). Also shown within the search results window  1930  is the information button  1942  which may be selected to reveal further information, such as an icon  1945  and additional information  1946  as shown for one entry under the today group. This additional information may be removed by selecting the contraction button  1944 . 
       FIG. 19D  shows a search result window  1950  in which a search for the text string “te” is grouped by date but the search was limited to a “home” folder as specified in the where menu selection region  1908 . Time specific headers  1952 ,  1954 ,  1956 , and  1958  separate items within one group from the other groups as shown in  FIG. 19D . 
       FIG. 19E  shows an alternative embodiment of a search result window. In this embodiment, the window  1970  includes elements which are similar to window  1901  such as the selection regions  1905 ,  1907 , and a scrolling control  1926  as well as a close button  1925  and a resizing control  1925 A. The search result window  1970  further includes a “when” menu selection region  1972  which allows the user to specify a search parameter based on time in addition to the text entered into the text entry region  1903 . It can be seen from the example shown in  FIG. 19E  that the user has decided to group the search results by the category and to sort within each group by date. This results in the headers  1973 ,  1975 ,  1977 , and  1979  as shown in  FIG. 19E . 
       FIG. 20  shows an exemplary method of operating a system wide menu for inputting search queries, such as the system wide menu available by selecting the search menu command  1505  shown in  FIG. 15A  or  15 B, or  15 C. In operation  2001 , the system displays a system wide menu for inputting search queries. This may be the search menu command  1505 . The user, in operation  2003 , inputs a search, and as the search query is being inputted, the system begins performing and begins displaying the search results before the user finishes inputting the search query. This gives immediate feedback and input to the user as the user enters this information. The system is, in operation  2005 , performing a search through files, metadata for the files, emails within an email program, address book entries within an address book program, calendar entries within a calendar program, etc. The system then, in operation  2007 , displays an abbreviated (e.g. incomplete) list of hits if there are more than a certain number of hits. An example of this abbreviated listing is shown in  FIG. 15B . The listing may be sorted by relevance and segregated into groups such as categories or types of documents. Then in operation  2009 , the system receives a command from the user to display all the hits and in operation  2011  the system displays the search results window, such as the window  1601  shown in  FIG. 16A . This window may have the ability to display two different types of views, such as an icon view and a list view within the same closeable, resizable, and moveable window. It will be appreciated that the searching, which is performed as the user is typing and the displaying of results as the user is typing may include the searching through the metadata files created from metadata extracted from files created by many different types of software programs. 
       FIGS. 21 , and  22 A,  22 B,  22 C, and  22 D will now be referred to while describing another aspect of the inventions. This aspect relates to a method of selecting a group of files, such as a group of individual data files. In an exemplary method of this aspect, a data processing system receives a selection of a plurality of items, such as data files, folders (e.g. graphical user interface representations of subdirectories), application programs or a combination of one or more of these items. This selection may be performed by one of the many conventional ways to select a plurality of items such as (a) positioning a cursor at each item individually (e.g. through the movement of a mouse) and indicating a selection individually by, for example, pressing and releasing a button, such as a mouse&#39;s button; (b) pointing a cursor at a first item in a list and indicating a selection of the first item and pointing the cursor at a last item in a list of items and indicating a selection of all items from the first item to the last item in the list; (c) drawing a selection rectangle by a dragging operation of the cursor, etc. Thus operation  2101  shown in  FIG. 21  receives one or more inputs indicating a selection of a plurality of items. The system in operation  2103  receives a command requesting both the creation of a new storage facility (e.g. a folder) and an association of the plurality of items with the new storage facility. While the operation  2103  is shown following operation  2101 , in certain embodiments operation  2103  may precede operation  2101 . The association of operation  2103  may be a copy or a move operation. For example, the user may select multiple items and then command the system to move those items from their existing locations to a new folder which is created in one operation as a result of the move and create new folder command. In response to the command received in operation  2103 , the system creates a new storage facility, such as a new folder, with a predetermined directory path name or a user specified path name and the system further associates the selected plurality of items with the new storage facility. This association may be either a move or a copy operation. A copy operation would typically involve making a copy of each selected item and storing the item with a path name that reflects the storage of the item within the new folder having a predetermined directory path name or a user specified directory path name. A move operation, in which the items are moved into the new folder, may merely change the path names associated with each of the selected items (rather than making a copy of the items) which changed path names will reflect the new file system location (e.g. within the subdirectory of the new folder) of the selected items. 
       FIGS. 22A-22D  show one example of the method of  FIG. 21 . A desktop  2201  on a display device is shown containing multiple windows and also an icon  2227  on the desktop. A cursor  2211  is also shown on the desktop. The windows  2203 ,  2205 , and  2207  each contain a plurality of items shown as icons. In particular, window  2203  includes a data file represented by icon  2215  in a folder (e.g. a graphical representation of a subdirectory in a file storage system) represented by icon  2217 . The window  2205  includes a program icon  2223  and a document icon  2219  and another document icon  2225  and a folder icon  2221 . The window  2207  shows a list view of several files including “File B.” The user may then, using the cursor  2211  or using other conventional user interface techniques, select multiple items. This may be done with one input or more inputs which indicate the selection of multiple items.  FIG. 22B  shows the result of the user having selected icons  2215 ,  2217 ,  2223 ,  2225 ,  2227 , and “File B” in window  2207 . It can be seen that the cursor  2211  is positioned adjacent to the icon  2225  at this point in the operation. Then the user, after having selected a plurality of items, may invoke the command referred to in operation  2103 . An example of this is shown in  FIG. 22C  which represents a portion of the desktop  2101 , which portion is designated  2201 A as shown in  FIG. 22C . The user has caused a pop up menu  2230  to appear, which pop up menu includes three options  2231 ,  2232 , and  2233 . Option  2231  would allow a user to move all the selected items into the trash (e.g. delete them) while options  2232  and  2233  relate to the command referred to in operation  2103  of  FIG. 21 . In particular, option  2232  is a command which is selectable by the user to create a new folder and, in the same operation, move the items which have been selected into the new folder. Option  2233  is a command which allows the user to, in one operation, create a new folder and copy the selected items into the new folder. In the example shown in  FIGS. 22A-22D , the user will select option  2232 , thereby causing the system to create a new storage facility, such as a new folder with a predetermined directory name (e.g. “new folder”) or alternatively, a user specified path name. This result is shown in  FIG. 22D  in which the desktop  2201  now includes a new window labeled “new folder” which represents and shows the contents of this new folder, which is also shown as the folder  2253  which is a graphical user interface representation of this new folder. 
     It will be appreciated that this method may employ various alternatives. For example, a window may appear after the command option  2232  or  2233  has been selected, and this window asks for a name for the new folder. This window may display a default name (e.g. “new folder”) in case the user does not enter a new name. Alternatively, the system may merely give the new folder or new storage facility a default path name. Also, the system may merely create the new folder and move or copy the items into the new folder without showing the new window as shown in  FIG. 22D . 
     Modern computer operating systems allow different users of the same computer system. These operating systems also allow for the different users to establish ways to protect the privacy of their files such that a first user cannot view contents or modify contents of a second user&#39;s files and vice versa if the first and second user take the appropriate steps to limit access. For example, if the first user limits access to the first user&#39;s files such that other users cannot read or write to those files or execute the files, then access will be limited to the first user for the first user&#39;s files. So, if the second user limits access to the second user&#39;s files by setting permissions or other access control features for those files (or one or more files), then read or read and write access or other permutations of access privileges or permissions to the second user&#39;s files may be limited. According to certain aspects of the inventions described herein, methods and systems for protecting metadata for user&#39;s files are provided to preserve the privacy of the metadata of the files in addition to the files themselves. A permission information for each file may also be stored within the metadata for each file (or the indexed content of the file) such that when a search is done and search results are displayed, metadata and files may be protected by access permissions set by each user or by the system. For example, if the search produces a match for a file and its corresponding metadata but the user who owns that file has controlled the access to the file such that only that user can view the file, then a search by another user which matches both the file and the metadata will not reveal the file or the metadata when the search is done by the other user. It will be appreciated that, at least in certain embodiments, the permissions for the metadata of a file may be inherited or otherwise obtained from the permissions for the file itself. 
       FIG. 23  shows one exemplary method in which the privacy of files and the metadata for those files may be protected according to certain aspects of the inventions described herein. In operation  2301 , the system receives a search query from the first user and performs, in operation  2303 , a search for all possible matches or hits without regard to permissions, such as permissions for the first user. Then in operation  2305 , the data processing system determines access permissions for each file for that first user. Access permissions may include a read only access permission or a read and write access permission or an execute access permission in the case of an executable file. Other types of permissions and access statuses and various combinations and permutations of these statuses may be employed. Typically, the access permissions are defined on a file by file basis and also apply to the metadata for each corresponding file. Also, the permissions can be defined for a group of files, such as files within a directory. A file for which a permission may be defined may include a user data file, such as a portable document file (PDF) or a word processing file or a spreadsheet file or a drawings file or files which are not executable files, and it may include a directory or a link to a remote file or web site or web page which is stored at a remotely located data processing system. The access permissions which are determined in operation  2305  are used to filter the matches or hits produced in operation  2303 . The filtering of the hits or matches results in showing only those files for which the user making the query (in this case the first user) is permitted to view. This user is normally the currently logged in user. This method preserves the privacy of files owned by other users and also the privacy of the metadata about those files by not displaying the content of those other files and by not displaying the metadata for those other files for which the user does not have access to view or read. It will be appreciated that, in certain embodiments, operations  2303  and  2305  may be performed concurrently by structuring a search query which takes into account the access permissions and (through a BOOLEAN AND operator) the search query itself provided by the first user. It will also be appreciated that the filtering may use a permissions cache to filter the files based on access permissions. 
       FIG. 24  shows an alternative method in which the access permissions are determined first in order to select a group of files which are then searched using the search query. In operation  2401 , the data processing system receives a search query from the current user, and then determines in operation  2403  the access permissions of the current user for each file which in turn determines a selected group or portion of the files on the data processing system. This selected group or portion of files represents those files for which the current user has at least read access permission. All other files on the system cannot be viewed by the current user. Then operation  2405  is performed in which the search is performed on only those selected files. Those files for which the current user does not have read access are not searched since they were selected out of the group in operation  2403 . The results for this search will then displayed in operation  2407 . The method of  FIG. 24  may be advantageous in certain situations, among other reasons, in which users are required to store their files in only certain directories in a directory structure. Files which are stored outside of those directories are not accessible to users which own those directories. For example, if a first user is required to store files only in the first user&#39;s directories, and if files stored in other directories are not accessible to the first user, then the method of  FIG. 24  can efficiently determine the group of files to which the first user has access and then perform a search on only those files by searching within only the directories which the first user has access to. The method of  FIG. 24  may, as with the method of  FIG. 23 , protect the privacy of the metadata of a file in addition to the file itself. For example, if a first user enters a search query which matches a file and metadata for the file of a second user who has restricted access to that file such that the file can only be used by and viewed by the second user, the method of  FIG. 24  will prevent the first user from seeing those files of the second user and also the metadata about those files. 
       FIG. 25  shows another exemplary method which shows how the files and the metadata of the files of the first user may be protected and kept private relative to a second user, even when the search queries of the second user match information in the metadata from files of the first user. In operation  2501 , the data processing system optionally receives a first user&#39;s log in information and logs in the first user. A log in process may occur automatically (e.g. a default process was established to assume a certain user always uses the data processing system) or it may occur as a result of an application or operating system program requesting a user to specify at least a user name and optionally a password. Operation  2503  represents a typical use by the first user who may be storing files, such as a new file or modifying an existing file which is stored. In each case a file is stored with define permissions based on the current user and selections of the user. For example, the first user may specify that a certain file is to remain private such that read access or write access is only given to the first user and to no other user. Metadata for the files stored in operation  2503  is also stored in operation  2505 . This metadata may be stored by importing or exporting metadata from the files stored in operation  2503  into a metadata database. When the first user is done, the first user typically logs out in operation  2507 , thereby allowing the second user to log-in in operation  2509 . It will be appreciated that in certain operating systems, it is possible for the two users to be concurrently logged in, although that is not the circumstance of  FIG. 25 . After the second user has logged in, the second user stores files with the second user&#39;s defined permissions. These new files or modified files are stored with permissions that indicate whether other users may have access to these files. In operation  2513 , metadata for the files of the second user are also stored in the metadata database. Optionally, each metadata file or entry for a corresponding user file may include the defined permissions for that particular file. In operation  2515 , a search query from a second user is received and a data processing system performs in operation  2517 , a search using the search query without regard to permissions. In other words, the search is performed without limiting the search based upon access permissions, such as only those files which may be viewed by the second user. In operation  2519 , files for which the second user does not have read access are filtered out based on the access permissions for the second user. In other words, files that were found in the search in operation  2517  are filtered out based on the access permissions resulting in only those files which match the search criteria and which the second user does have read access to. Results of this search are displayed in operation  2521 . A method of  FIG. 25  protects the privacy of both the files and the metadata for the files based on the access permissions of the current user who entered the search query. 
     The method of  FIG. 25  may be performed with a metadata base wherein the metadata is obtained from files of different types. In this situation, the type of information in metadata for a first type of file will differ from a type of information in metadata for a second type of file. Optionally, the permission and information for each file may be stored within the corresponding metadata file for that file. 
     In certain embodiments it may desirable to provide the user with the ability to set preferences for these searching functions provided by the various embodiments described herein.  FIGS. 26 and 27  provided an example of user interfaces which allow a user to set such preferences. Window  5701  shown in  FIG. 26  includes a privacy button  5703  and a results button  5705 . These two buttons switch between windows  5701  (which is selected when the privacy button  5703  is activated) and window  5701   a  (which is selected and displayed when the results button  5705  has been activated). The window  5701  also includes a list  5705  which displays folders and files which can be added to the list by using the add button  5709  or which can be removed from the list by using the remove button  5711 . Adding a folder to the list  5707 , in certain embodiments, will prevent files contained within those folders from being indexed and thus they will not appear in the search results. In certain embodiments, the metadata from these files will also not be included in any metadata databases so that searches through metadata will not retrieve these files. A folder may be removed from the list  5707  by selecting the folder and then selecting the remove button  5711 . A folder may be added to the list  5707  by activating the add button  5709  which then causes a file open window to be displayed, from which the user can select a folder or file to be added to the list  5707 . The window  5701  also includes a check box  5713  which allows the user to activate and specify a particular keyboard shortcut. The particular shortcut which is selected may be selected from the pull down menu  5715 . In an alternative embodiment, adding a folder to the list  5707  does not prevent the contents of the folder from being indexed or searched, but the contents are not displayed in the search results. In other words, the contents of folders in the list  5707  are still indexed and still searched, but they are not displayed in the search results (and thus they are hidden); in a further alternative embodiment, they can be caused to be displayed by the entry of a password or code by the user. 
     The window  5701   a  in  FIG. 27  is displayed in response to activating the results button  5705 . This window includes a list  5800 , which is a list of the various categories which appear in the search result windows. The check boxes, such as check box  5801 , may be checked by a user to indicate that the particular category may appear in search results. If a check box is not selected (e.g. there is no check in the box), then the category will not appear in the search results window (however, for reasons relating to efficiency of indexing, the items within such category will still be indexed, and searched through, even though they do not appear in the search results). The order of the categories may be changed by dragging the categories within the list  5800 . 
     A permissions cache may be used, in certain embodiments, to determine permissions information for files as part of the process of generating a response to a user&#39;s search query. For example, a permissions cache may be used to filter files, based on the permissions of the files, after having retrieved a set of files which match a search query. The use of a permissions cache will often allow a system to process a search query and validate permissions faster than another system which does not use a permissions cache. When a permissions cache is not used, the search software which manages and searches a metadata database and/or a content index database must request another, separate software component, such as the file system software which manages a file system database (which includes the information about file directory structures and permissions information for files in the file system), for the permissions information for files which match the search query. These requests between software components can increase the time required to process search queries. The permissions cache will also often contain the needed permissions information because a user will often search for the same types of documents. Furthermore, once a permissions cache has been created over a period of time, it will contain the permissions information for many of the files that a user is interested in and this information will remain valid because many users do not intentionally change the permissions of their files. 
     A permissions cache may contain, for each file having had its permissions cached, at least in certain embodiments, a file identifier and conventional permissions information for the associated file. The file identifier may be a persistent, unique file identification number, and the conventional permissions information may include read, write and execute permissions for an owner (or other user) of the file as well as read, write and execute permissions for a group (“group permissions”) and also possibly permissions for other users. Normally, the permissions information is stored on a nonvolatile storage, such as a hard drive or other permanent, mass storage device. The permissions cache may be managed by the search and database software component which maintains and searches the metadata database (e.g. metadata database  415 ) and/or the index database (e.g. index database  421 ). The permissions cache may be used to filter or otherwise process search queries or search results. As described further herein, the permissions cache may be deleted in its entirety even if it is only partially invalid or may be deleted, and corrected, only in its portions which are invalid. Notifications from the file system software or operating system kernel may be used to indicate whether portions of the permissions cache are invalid because a permission of a file or directory has changed. These notifications are normally made from the file system software or operating system kernel to the software components which manage and search the metadata database and the index database. These notifications normally identify the file (e.g. by specifying the file&#39;s persistent, unique identifier) and indicate that the permissions have changed. These notifications may further include the new permissions information in certain embodiments. These notifications may also be the same notifications which, as described herein, indicate that a file has been modified and hence metadata for that file may need to be re-imported into the metadata database (and/or the content of the file needs to be re-indexed and incorporated into the index database); examples of these notifications are described in connection with  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 28A  shows an embodiment in which notifications are used to invalidate an entire permissions cache (even if a permission was changed for only one file). This approach is a conservative approach, but for the many users who rarely, if ever, change a permission of a file, then the permissions cache will rarely, if ever, need to be entirely invalidated. In operation  2801  of  FIG. 28A , one or more notifications about any change in permissions for any file (which is intended to be searchable) is received by a component, such as a software component which manages the permissions cache. This software component may be the software component(s) which manage and search the metadata database and the index database. In operation  2803 , the entire permissions cache is marked as invalid in response to receiving the one or more notifications, and a new permissions cache is created over time as new searches are performed. Operation  2805  represents this creation of the new permissions cache. The method returns to operation  2801  when any new notifications are received which would require that the entire new permissions cache be invalidated, and the process would repeat. 
       FIG. 28B  shows an example of an embodiment which uses a permissions cache to validate permissions as part of a search process. In this example, it is assumed that the entire permissions cache is invalidated (e.g. as in the method of  FIG. 28A ), and it is also assumed that the search criteria is used to perform the search through, for example, a metadata database and/or an index database, without regard to permissions and then the permissions for files found in the search are validated in the rest of the process. It will be understood that the validation of permissions of files and the searching for files matching the search query could be performed concurrently; in other words, as files which match the search query are found, their permissions can be validated while the search, using the search query, continues to look for other files that match the search query. In operation  2851  of  FIG. 28B , the search query is received and a search is performed. This search is normally done for all possible results (e.g. files which match the search query) without regard to permissions for the files. Then in operation  2853 , the state of the permissions cache is determined. The state depends upon the notifications which indicate whether any permissions have changed; these notifications are shown, for example, in  FIG. 28A . The component, such as a software component, which manages the permissions cache receives the notifications and marks the entire permissions cache as invalid upon receiving the notification. If the permissions cache has been marked as invalid, then it is entirely deleted and a new permissions cache is created (and marked as valid) as new searches are performed, such as in operations  2855 ,  2857 , and  2859 . In these operations, the permissions for each file found in the current search being processed are determined and added to the new permissions cache and the results of the search are displayed or otherwise presented, showing only those files which the user has permission to view. 
     In operation  2853 , the system determines that the permissions cache is valid if no notifications (as in  FIG. 28A ) have been received since the existing permissions cache was first created. If the existing permissions cache is valid, then processing proceeds to operation  2861  in which it is determined whether the file&#39;s permissions information is within the permissions cache. If the permissions information for the current file being processed is within the permissions cache, then processing proceeds to operation  2867 . If the permissions information is not within the permissions cache, then operations  2863  and  2865  follow operation  2861 , and in operations  2863  and  2865  the permissions for the file are determined (e.g. the software component managing the permissions cache sends a request to the file system software which searches its file system database to obtain the permissions information and then passes this information back to the software component) and are added to the permissions cache for this file. In operation  2867 , the permissions information for the file are examined, using the permissions cache, and it is determined, in operation  2867 , whether the user will be given access to the file (which may be metadata for a file or the file itself or both) based on the permissions information and who the user is. In operation  2869 , it is determined whether there are further files, retrieved by the search query, which require validation of permissions; if there are such files, then processing returns to operation  2853  and continues as described above. If there are no further files, then the results of the search, after filtering for permissions, are displayed. It will be appreciated that the results may be displayed as each file has its permissions validated (e.g. after operation  2867 ) rather than after determining that all searched and found files have had their permissions validated. 
       FIG. 29A  shows an embodiment in which notifications are used to invalidate only an invalid portion of the permissions cache rather than the entire permissions cache. This approach may be appropriate where it is anticipated that a user will often change permissions of one or more files. In operation  2901 , one or more notifications about any change in permissions for any file (which is intended to be searchable) is received by a component, such as a software component, which manages the permissions cache. This software component may be the software component(s) which manage and search the metadata database and the index database. In operation  2903 , those portions of the permissions cache which are identified in the notifications from operation  2901  are marked as invalid. Typically, if there is an entry in the permissions cache for the file identified in the notification, then the entry is marked as invalid. In operation  2905 , the permissions information, for a file marked as invalid in the permissions cache, is updated when processing search results which include the file in the results; this is described further below. In certain alternative embodiments, the permissions information for the file marked as invalid may be updated at the time of the notification rather than when, at a later time, a future search result includes the file. For example, the permissions information in the permissions cache for the file may be updated upon receiving the notification if the notification includes the necessary changes or the entire permissions information for the file. 
       FIG. 29B  shows an example of another embodiment which uses a permissions cache to validate permissions as part of a search process. In this example, it is assumed that only an invalid portion of a permissions cache is invalidated upon receiving a notification, such as in the example shown in  FIG. 29A . It will be understood that the validation of permissions of files and the searching for files matching the search query could be performed concurrently; in other words, as files, which match the search query, are found, their permissions can be validated while the search, using the search query, continues to look for other files that match the search query. In operation  2951 , the search query is received and a search is performed. This search is normally done for all possible results (e.g. files which match the search query) without regard to permissions for the files. In operation  2953 , it is determined whether, for the current file being processed, its permissions information is stored within the permissions cache. If it is so stored, then processing proceeds to operation  2955 , in which it is determined whether the permissions information, in the permissions cache, for the file is valid. If it is valid, then processing proceeds to operation  2961 . If in operation  2953 , it is determined that there is no permissions information for the file then processing proceeds to operation  2957 . If operation  2955  determines that the permissions information, in the permissions cache, is invalid, then processing proceeds to operation  2957 . In operation  2957 , the permissions information for the file are determined (e.g. the software component managing the permissions cache sends a request to the file system software which searches its file system database to obtain the permissions information and then passes this information back to the software component) and are added to the entry for the file in the permissions cache in operation  2959 . Operation  2961  follows either operations  2959  or  2955 , and it examines the permissions information, using the permissions cache, and determines, for the current user, whether the user will be given access to the file (which may be metadata for a file or the file itself or both) based on the permissions information and who the user is. In operation  2963 , it is determined whether there are further files, retrieved by the search query, which require validation of permissions; if there are such files, then processing returns to operation  2953  and continues as described above. If there are no further files, then the results of the search, after filtering for permissions, are displayed. It will be appreciated that the results may be displayed as each file has its permissions validated (e.g. after operation  2961 ) rather than after determining that all searched and found files have had their permissions validated. 
     In certain alternative embodiments, the software managing permissions filtering for the search engine(s) may create multiple permissions caches, such as one permissions cache for each user account. These caches are processed in a similar manner described herein and are used for their corresponding user. 
     In certain embodiments it is beneficial to partition an index containing data or metadata according to certain criteria. One exemplary implementation of such a partitioning is to partition the indexed data according to the location of files or other parameters related to exclusivity of access to files. 
       FIG. 30  shows an example of an embodiment in which an index is created and maintained in order to improve searching performance by reducing the frequency with which permission checks need be performed. In certain embodiments, operation  3001  places data associated with files located in a certain user&#39;s home folder into one partition, while data associated with files located in a public or shared folder might be placed into a different partition. In certain embodiments, assumptions about a certain user&#39;s permissions to access certain files might be aligned with the partition. For example, assumptions that improve the performance of searching a certain user&#39;s home folder, as seen in operation  3003 , allow for ignoring of permissions when retrieving results from one index or partition of an index while checking permissions when retrieving results from another index or partition. Certain exemplary embodiments would receive notification from an operating system when files changed with respect to their indexed criteria. In certain embodiments, as in operation  3002 , the index would be updated to reflect the file&#39;s new standing in relation to the index, so that the privacy of the file is protected without sacrificing a performance improvement from the indexing. 
     In certain exemplary implementations, the underlying organization of files on a storage device may provide structure for a searchable index, as is seen in  FIG. 31 . Storage device  3101  contains folders  3102  and  3103 , where folder  3102  contains files  3104  and  3106  belonging to user A and shared folder  3103  contains file  3106 . In certain exemplary embodiments, this structure is used to form an assumption that files  3104  and  3105 , being located in user A&#39;s home folder, need not be permission checked if it is A searching them, while file  3106 , being outside user A&#39;s home folder, should be permission checked before allowing user A to view data associated with the file. 
     In certain other exemplary implementations, the underlying organization of files on a storage device may provide the basis for a different assumption, such as assuming that if user A is the only user with access to a particular file, it is unnecessary to perform a permission check when user A searches that file.  FIG. 32  demonstrates the organization of such a storage device  3201 . File  3202 , to which users A and B have access  3206 , would require a permission check before user A could search it, because it lies outside assumption  3205  supported by the structure. Files  3203  and  3204  on the other hand lie within the bounds of assumption  3205  because only user A has access  3207  and  3208  to them. 
     In certain exemplary implementations, searching an index may occur as in  FIG. 33 . Beginning with operation  3301 , a search query is received from a user. Next in operation  3302 , the user&#39;s subindex is searched for files satisfying the search query. The subindex may be within a master index and partitioned virtually to be a distinct part of the master index or it may be physically distinct (as in the case of a separate distinct data structure stored in physically distinct storage addresses than other subindexes). Operation  3303  retrieves any files corresponding to hits from the storage device. In operation  3304 , retrieved files are displayed immediately, as they were found within the subindex corresponding to the searching user. Next in operation  3305 , the shared subindexes are searched using the same query, but permission checks are performed in operation  3306  as these files are not in the user&#39;s subindex. Hits found during operation  3305  that satisfy permission check  3306  are retrieved from the storage device in operation  3307  and displayed to the user in operation  3308 . 
     In another exemplary embodiment, such as in  FIG. 34 , permission check  3306  is replaced by operation  3400 , in which a permissions cache is consulted in order to determine whether the user has permission to view the shared hit. The use of a permissions cache is described above. One exemplary implementation of checking a permissions cache is contained in  FIG. 56 , described subsequently. 
     In another exemplary embodiment, a single index is searched in  FIG. 35 . In operation  3501 , a search query is received from a user. Next, in operation  3502 , index entries containing the user&#39;s name (as the owner of a file) are searched for files matching the search query. Files found in operation  3502  are immediately retrieved and displayed to the user in operation  3503 . In operation  3504 , index entries not containing the user&#39;s name (as the owner of the file) are searched for files matching the search query. In operation  3505 , a permission check is performed to determine if the user has permission to view the files found in operation  3504 . In operation  3506 , those hits that the user can view are displayed to the user. In one exemplary implementation, as seen in  FIG. 36 , operation  3505  is replaced with operation  3600 , which utilizes a permissions cache to determine if the user has permission to view the files found in operation  3504 . One exemplary implementation of checking a permissions cache is contained in  FIG. 56 , described subsequently. 
     In one exemplary implementation of the invention, described in  FIG. 37 , an index  3707  composed of subindexes  3708  and  3715  are searched using search queries  3701 ,  3702 , and  3703 . In one embodiment, query criteria  3704  is first tested against files contained within user&#39;s subindex  3708 . The query is satisfied by file data  3712  and  3714  contained within entries  3709  and  3710 , thus files  3711  and  3713  associated with entries  3709  and  3710  are considered hits for query  3701 . In one embodiment, files  3711  and  3713  are immediately retrieved from a storage device and displayed to the user, since the files are located within user&#39;s subindex  3708  and need not be permission checked prior to access. In yet another embodiment, query  3701  is subsequently used to search shared subindex  3715 , matching file data  3718  in entry  3716 , thus file  3717  is a hit for this search query. Since entry  3716  is inside shared subindex  3715 , a permission check is necessary before file  3717  can be viewed by the user. Query results  3722  indicate that while files  3711  and  3713  required no permission check as being in user subindex  3709 , file  3717  requires a permission check before displaying the results showing file  3717 . In certain exemplary embodiments, a permission check involves referencing a permissions cache, described, for example, in  FIG. 56 , discussed below. If the user who made the search query does not have proper permissions to view the file, then file  3717  (and any representation or portion thereof), will not be presented (e.g. not be displayed) to that user. 
     In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, index  3707  is searched using search query  3702 , wherein query criteria  3705  contains a plurality of words and a number. In certain embodiments, the criteria  3705  would be interpreted to search for occurrences of the word “mmm” occurring within two or less words of the word “goo.” For example, this search is through the full text content, represented by the subindexes, of the files. In another embodiment, criteria  3705  is first compared against entries contained within user subindex  3709 , matching in this case entry  3710 , making file  3713  a hit for query  3702 . As this is a hit within user subindex  3708 , the file  3713  or other representations of that file, in certain embodiments, is immediately retrieved from a storage device and displayed to the user. This result is reflected in results  3723 , indicating that entry  3709  was the only match to query  3702  and that it resides in user subindex  3708 . In yet another embodiment, search query  3703  produces results  3724 , which in this is the empty set, as no files match the search criteria  3706 . 
     In certain embodiments, such as described in  FIG. 38 , index  3805  is composed of subindexes  3806  and  3813 , wherein the subindexes are composed of entries such as  3807 , containing metadata describing files corresponding to the entry. In one exemplary embodiment, the metadata is the size of the corresponding file. Search query  3801 &#39;s search criteria  3802  will therefore match files whose size is less than 100 kilobytes. The size of file  3809  as indicated by metadata  3808  is within the parameters of search criteria  3802 , as is the size of file  3812 , denoted by metadata  3811 . Entries  3807  and  3810  within user subindex  3806  are therefore matched by query  3801 , thus files  3809  and  3812  are hits for query  3801 . In certain embodiments, files  3809  and  3812  being contained within user subindex  3806 , are immediately retrieved from a storage device and delivered to the user without checking permissions for those files. In certain embodiments, the search will turn to shared subindex  3813 , where file  3816 , whose size is indicated in metadata  3815 , also matches search criteria  3802 , making file  3816  a hit. Since file  3816 &#39;s corresponding entry  3814  is located in shared subindex  3813 , a permission check must be performed before the file can be retrieved for display. These results are indicated in results  3818 . In certain exemplary embodiments, a permission check involves referencing a permissions cache, described, for example, in  FIG. 56 , discussed below. In certain other embodiments, query  3803  with criteria  3804  is used as the basis for a search of index  3805 , but matches only entry  3810  in user subindex  3806 . The only hit therefore is file  3812 , which will be retrieved and displayed immediately without checking permissions for those files, as indicated by results  3817 . 
     In another exemplary embodiment, such as described in  FIG. 39 , index  3907  is composed of entries  3909 ,  3913 , and  3917 , wherein entries  3909  and  3913  contain user name  3910  and  3914 . In certain embodiments, entries  3909  and  3913  in a single index  3907  sharing the same user name  3910  and  3914  result in a virtual subindex  3908  which is a subindex for user A. Files  3911  and  3915  are located in virtual subindex  3908  and may be retrieved immediately from a storage device without a permission check. Search query  3901  with search criteria  3902  is tested against the contents  3912 ,  3916 , and  3920  of index  3907 , matching entries  3909 ,  3913 , and  3917 . Files  3911  and  3915 , corresponding to entries  3909  and  3913 , which are located within virtual subindex  3908 , are immediately retrieved from a storage device without permission checks. File  3919 , also a hit, is located within entry  3917 , which lies outside virtual subindex  3908  since its user name  3918  is null, and thus requires a permission check before display to the user. Query  3901  therefore produces results  3921 . In certain exemplary embodiments, a permission check involves referencing a permissions cache, described, for example, in  FIG. 56 , discussed below. 
     In other embodiments, query  3903  contains criteria  3904 , which is composed of a plurality of words and a number, such that the criteria is matched when the word “mmm” is found within two or fewer words as “goo.” This search criteria matches entry  3913 , containing file  3915 . Entry  3913  is located within virtual subindex  3908  and therefore is retrieved immediately without a permission check, as noted in results  3922 . In other embodiments, query  3905  containing criteria  3906  matches no entries in the index and requires no files to be retrieved, indicated by results  3923 . 
     In another exemplary embodiment, described in  FIG. 40 , an index  4005  is composed of entries  4007 ,  4011 , and  4015 . Entries  4007  and  4011  contain user names  4008  and  4012 , which in this particular embodiment are identical, resulting in virtual subindex  4006 . Entry  4015  occurs outside virtual subindex  4006  as its user name  4016  does not match the “user A” name. In certain embodiments, entries such as  4007  contain metadata describing the file with which the entry is associated. Entry  4007  is here associated with file  4009 , which has a size  4010 . Search query  4001 , containing search criteria  4002  will therefore match entries associated with files whose size is less than  4002 . In this particular embodiment, criteria  4002  matches two entries contained within the index, since metadata  4014  and  4018  satisfy query  4001 . Entry  4011 , being within virtual subindex  4006 , will have its associated file  4013  (or a representation of the file, such as basic information about the file such as file name, pathname, size, creation or modification dates, and file type) immediately retrieved (without a permissions check) from a storage device for display to the user, while entry  4015 , occurring outside virtual subindex  4006 , will require a permission check before file  4017  can be retrieved and displayed, as indicated in search results  4019 . In certain exemplary embodiments, a permission check involves referencing a permissions cache, described, for example, in  FIG. 56 , discussed below. In yet another embodiment, query  4003  containing criteria  4004  would match entries  4007  and  4011  inside virtual subindex  4006 , resulting in the immediate retrieval of files  4009  and  4013  for display to the user, as indicated in results  4020  without checking permissions for those files having their index data within virtual subindex  4006  for the user who made the search query. 
     In certain embodiments, like  FIG. 41 , searches are performed directly upon storage device  4106 , composed of files  4108  and  4110  located within user folder  4107  and file  4112  located outside user folder  4107 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 41 , there are no indexes of full text content (or metadata) of the files, and thus the searching is performed on the files themselves. Query  4100  containing criteria  4101  is compared against files in user folder  4106 , matching file content  4109  and  4111 , and thus files  4108  and  4110  are hits. As the hits are located in user folder  4106 , no permission check is required before they can be displayed to user. However, criteria  4101  also matches file content  4113 , making file  4112  a hit, but a hit located outside user folder  4106 , and thus a permissions check is required before file  4112  can be displayed to the user, as reflected in results  4114 . In certain exemplary embodiments, a permission check involves referencing a permissions cache, described, for example, in  FIG. 56 , discussed below. In certain other embodiments query  4102  containing criteria  4103  contains a plurality of words and a number, such that the criteria is matched when the word “mmm” is found within two or fewer words as “goo.” This query matches file  4110 , which is located in user folder  4106 , thus the file  4110  or a representation of the file can be immediately displayed to the user without a permission check, as indicated in results  4115 . In certain other embodiments a query  4104  with criteria  4105  may be used, which matches no files and thus requires no permission checks, as indicated in results  4116 . 
     In one exemplary embodiment, the foundation of the index built in operation  3001  is subindex entry  4200 , described in  FIG. 42A , which contains file data  4201  and file identifier  4203 . In certain embodiments, file data  4201  is a portion (e.g. a word) of the full text (or other content) of a file, and in other embodiments, file data  4201  may be metadata about a file or it may be a combination of the full content and metadata. File identifier  4203 , in certain embodiments, represents a path to the file on a storage device or a unique, persistent file identifier (such as a file identification number which is unique and persistent even if the file is changed).  FIG. 42B  describes a subindex  4204 , which is composed of entries  4205 . In certain embodiments, as described in  FIG. 42C , a plurality of subindexes  4207  are created as a result of operation  3001  to produce index  4208 , wherein each of the subindexes  4207  are associated with separate groups of files sharing a common attribute. In certain exemplary embodiments, the attribute may be file location or exclusivity of access. 
     In another exemplary embodiment,  FIG. 43  describes a method for implementing operation  3001 . In certain embodiments, the implementation receives a user name and a list of files and folders from the operating system during operation  4301 . In certain embodiments, after receipt of this data, data structures for a user&#39;s subindex and a shared subindex are created during operation  4302 . In certain other embodiments, these data structures are created prior or concurrently with operation  4301 . Having both data structures and data, in operation  4303  the home folder associated with the user name is identified, followed by operation  4304  during which the files residing with the user&#39;s folder are identified. In certain embodiments, operation  4305  stores at least a portion of the content and document identifiers of files located in the user&#39;s home folder in a subindex associated with that user&#39;s home folder. In certain other embodiments, metadata describing the file might be stored in the subindex. In certain embodiments, operation  4306  then identifies the files located in shared folders outside the user&#39;s home folder, and in operation  4307  stores the contents and document identifiers of those files in a shared subindex associated with the location of the files identified in  4306 . In certain other embodiments, metadata describing the files identified in operation  4306  might be stored. In certain other embodiments, operations  4306  and  4307  might run before or concurrently with operations  4304  and  4305 . 
     In certain exemplary embodiments, operation  3001  partitions files based on exclusivity of access. In one exemplary implementation of operation  3001 , described in  FIG. 44 , operation  4400  receives a user name and a list of files and folders from the operating system. Operation  4401  then creates data structures for a user&#39;s subindex and a shared subindex. In other implementations, operation  4401  occurs before or concurrently with operation  4400 . Operation  4402  identifies those files to which the user identified by the user name received in  4400  has exclusive access. In certain embodiments, operation  4403  stores at least a portion of the content and document identifiers of files found in operation  4402  in a user subindex associated with the user identified by the user name received in  4400 . In certain other embodiments, the data stored may be metadata. In operation  4404 , files to which the user does not have exclusive access are identified and then in operation  4405  stores at least a portion of the content and document identifiers of those files in a shared subindex associated with the location of the files identified in  4404 . In certain other embodiments, operation  4405  may store metadata about the files identified. In certain other embodiments, operations  4404  and  4405  run before or concurrently with operations  4402  and  4403 . 
     In another exemplary embodiment, index  4504  described in  FIG. 45B  produced by operation  3001  is composed of entries  4506  of the type described in  FIG. 45A  as entry  4500 . Entry  4500  contains data from file  4501 , user name  4502 , and file identifier  4503 . In certain embodiments, data from file  4501  is at least a portion of the full text content of a document. In certain other embodiments, data from file  4501  may be metadata describing a file. In certain embodiments, file identifier  4503  may be a path to a file on a storage device or it may be a unique, persistent file identification value, such as a number. In certain embodiments, user name  4502  identifies a user in whose home folder the file identified by file identifier  4503  is located. In certain other embodiments, user name  4502  identifies a user who has exclusive access to the file identified by file identifier  4503 . In certain embodiments, virtual subindex  4505  is created by entries of type  4500  containing identical values for user name  4502 , which indicates that the files share the partitioning criteria. In certain embodiments, the criteria is file location. In certain other embodiments, the criteria may be exclusivity of access to the file. 
     In another exemplary embodiment, operation  3001  may be implemented using the method described in  FIG. 46  to produce an index  4504  with a partition criteria of file location. In operation  4600 , a user name and list of files and folders is received from the operating system, followed in operation  4601  by the creation of an index data structure. In certain embodiments, operation  4601  may be performed before or concurrently with operation  4600 . In operation  4602 , the user&#39;s home folder is identified within the list of folders. In operation  4603 , files contained in the user&#39;s home folder are identified. In certain embodiments, operations  4602  and  4603  are executed concurrently. In operation  4604 , index entry data structures are created for files in the user&#39;s home folder. In certain embodiments, operation  4604  may be executed concurrently with operations  4602  and  4603 . Operation  4604  additionally stores file identifiers, file contents, and the user name in the entries. Certain embodiments may store metadata in the entry. In operation  4605  the entries are stored in the index data structure, which in certain embodiments may occur concurrently with operation  4604 . In operation  4606 , files outside the user&#39;s home folder are identified. In operation  4607 , entries are created with file identifiers, file content, and the user name corresponding to files located outside the user&#39;s home folder. These files are subsequently stored in the index data structure in operation  4608 . In certain embodiments, the file content may be metadata. In certain other embodiments, operations  4606 - 08  may be executed concurrently. In certain other embodiments, operations  4606 - 08  may be executed concurrently with operations  4603 - 05 . 
     In another exemplary implementation, operation  3001  may be implemented using the method described in  FIG. 47  to produce an index  4504  with exclusivity of access as the partition criteria. In certain embodiments, operation  4700  receives a user name and a list of files and folders from the operating system. Operation  4701  then creates an index data structure. Operation  4702  identifies files to which the user has exclusive access. Operation  4703  then creates data structures with the now available information: the user&#39;s name, the file identifier, and the contents of the file. In certain embodiments, the data stored in the entry may be metadata. In operation  4704 , the entries are stored in the index data structure. Operation  4705  identifies files in the list that the user identified by the user name received in operation  4700  does not have exclusive access to. Operation  4706  creates index entries corresponding to these files, and operation  4707  stores those entries in the index. In certain embodiments, one or more of the steps may be executed concurrently. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, operation  3001  will take storage device  4800  described in  FIG. 48A  and produce index  4806  described in  FIG. 48B  or the full text index shown in  FIG. 48C . Storage device  4800  contains user folder  4801  and shared folder  4804 . In certain embodiments, operations  3001  will partition index  4806  according to file location. Files in user folder  4801 , for example may be partitioned into user subindex  4807 . File  4802 , contained in user folder  4801 , may be associated with entry  4808 , wherein entry  4808  contains identifier  4809  referring to file  4802 . File  4802  has content  4815 , which may be represented in entry  4808  as content  4818 . In the full text index of  FIG. 48C , the content  4815  is dispersed in multiple entries, each having a file identifier. In certain embodiments, content  4818  may contain metadata, rather than full text content, describing the file identified by file identifier  4809 . File  4803 , also located in user folder  4801 , may be associated with entry  4810  in user subindex  4807 , with content  4819  reflecting file content  4816  and file identifier  4811  referring to file  4803 . File  4805  is located in shared folder  4804 , and may therefore be associated with an entry  4813  in shared subindex  4812 . Content  4820  may contain file content  4817 , or, in certain embodiments, metadata describing file  4805 . 
     In certain exemplary embodiments, operation  3002  updates the index over time as files change and may be implemented with a method like that described in  FIG. 49 . In certain embodiments, the index resulting from operation  3001  may represent a partitioning based on exclusivity of access. Operation  4900  may therefore receive a file with changed access settings and a user name with a subindex to be updated. Operation  4901  identifies the subindex the file would have been stored in given its old access settings. In one embodiment, the old subindex in which the file was stored may have been a shared subindex. In another embodiment, the old subindex in which the file was stored may have been a user subindex. In still another embodiment, the file was not previously indexed because of its location or recent creation. In operation  4902 , the index entry corresponding to the file received in  4900  is removed from its subindex. In operation  4903  the new access settings for the file received in  4900  are ascertained. In decision  4904 , certain embodiments of this method inquire as to whether the user identified by the user name received in  4900  currently has exclusive access to the file. If the user now has exclusive access as in transition  4905 , operation  4907  creates and stores a new entry associated with the file in the user&#39;s subindex. If the user does not now have exclusive access as in transition  4906 , operation  4908  creates and stores a new entry associated with the file in a shared subindex. 
     In certain exemplary embodiments, operation  3002  may be implemented with a method like that described in  FIG. 50 , integrating the maintenance of a permissions cache into a method for maintaining an index. Three new operations are added to the method described in  FIG. 49  to accomplish this. First, between operations  4900  and  4901 , an operation invalidates a permissions cache entry for the received user/file combination. In certain embodiments, operation  5000  may be executed concurrently with other operations in the method described in  FIG. 50 . In certain embodiments, a permissions cache entry will not yet exist for the user/file combination received in operation  4900 , and operation  5000  will execute without invalidating a permissions cache entry associated with this user/file combination. After either operation  4907  or  4908  occurs, operation  5001  is executed, which in certain embodiments will perform a permission check to determine if the user has permission to access the file. Operation  5002  then stores a new entry in the permissions cache associated with this user/file combination and further containing the results of the permission check. In certain embodiments, a permissions cache is implemented as described in  FIG. 56 , described below. 
     In certain exemplary embodiments, operation  3001  may partition based on the location of files. In such embodiments, operation  3002  may be implemented with a method like that described in  FIG. 51 . In operation  5101 , a file that&#39;s been moved to a different folder is received, along with a user name identifying the user whose subindex is to be updated. In operation  5102 , the folder the file was previously located in is identified. Operation  5103  then determines what subindex is associated with the folder in which the file was previously located. Operation  5104  removes the entry associated with the file from the previous subindex. Operation  5105  determines which folder the file is currently located in. Decision  5106  inquires as to whether the file is currently located in the home folder belonging to the user identified in operation  5101 . If the file is currently located in the user&#39;s home folder, transition  5107  is followed, leading to operation  5109 , which creates and stores a new entry containing the file&#39;s identifier and contents in the user&#39;s subindex. In certain embodiments, the data stored in the entry is metadata describing the file. If the file is not currently located in the user&#39;s home folder, transition  5108  is followed, leading to operation  5110 , which creates and stores a new entry containing the file&#39;s identifier and contents in a shared subindex associated with the folder in which the file is currently located. In certain embodiments, the data stored in the entry is metadata describing the file. 
     In certain embodiments, it is desirable to integrate into operation  3002  the maintenance of a permissions cache, such as that described in  FIG. 56  and described below. In certain embodiments, operation  3001  creates an index by partitioning files according to their location. The method described in  FIG. 51  is one implementation of a method to maintain such an index.  FIG. 52  describes the method of  FIG. 51  with permissions cache maintenance integrated into it. The first added operation is  5200 , which invalidates a permissions cache entry associated with the user/file combination received in operation  5101 . In certain embodiments, a corresponding permissions cache entry may not yet exist, in which case operation  5200  will not change anything during the current execution. Following either operation  5109  or operation  5110 , operation  5201  performs a permission check upon the file in light of the user as they were received in operation  5101 . Operation  5202  then updates a permissions cache entry with the result of the check, wherein said entry corresponds to the user/file combination received in operation  5101 . In certain embodiments, a permissions cache entry corresponding to the user/file combination received in  5101  may not yet exist, in which case operation  5202  may create and store a new permissions cache entry. 
     In certain embodiments, it is desirable to partition files in operation  3001  according to their location and produce an index made up of entries, wherein subindexes exist virtually. In certain embodiments, operation  3002  may be implemented with the method described in  FIG. 53  to maintain such an index. In operation  5300 , a file that has moved to a different folder and a user whose index is to be updated are received. Operation  5301  then identifies the previous folder in which the file was stored, and operation  5302  retrieves the index entry associated with the file. In certain embodiments, the data structure underlying the index entry may be discarded, while in other embodiments, the data may be changed. In operation  5303 , the folder in which the file is currently located is identified. Operation  5304  then updates the index entry associated with the file to reflect the file&#39;s new location. Decision  5305  determines whether the file is currently stored in the user&#39;s home folder. If the file is currently stored in the user&#39;s home folder, transition  5306  is followed and operation  5308  updates the index entry&#39;s user name with the user&#39;s name. If the file is not currently stored in the user&#39;s home folder, transition  5307  is followed and operation  5309  clears the index entry&#39;s user name. In certain embodiments, clearing the index entry&#39;s user name may represent assigning a null value to the corresponding data element. In other embodiments, clearing the entry&#39;s user name may represent assigning a constant value to the corresponding data element. In operation  5310 , the updated index entry is stored back in the index, with the virtual subindex defined by various values of entries&#39; user names correspondingly updated. 
     In certain embodiments, it is desirable to integrate maintenance of a permissions cache to operation  3002 . One exemplary embodiment of such a permissions cache is described in  FIG. 56 , discussed below. In some embodiments, wherein operation  3001  produces a single index partitioned by file location, operation  3002  may be implemented with the method described in  FIG. 54 , which integrates permissions cache maintenance functionality into the method described in  FIG. 53 . The first additional operation is  5400 , wherein a permissions cache entry associated with the user/file combination received in operation  5300  is invalidated. In certain embodiments, a permissions cache entry may not yet exist for the user/file combination received in operation  5300 . In such embodiments, the current operation  5400  will not invalidate a permissions cache entry. Operation  5401  follows the execution of operation  5310 , performing a permissions check to determine if the user has permission to access the file in its new location. Operation  5402  then updates a permissions cache entry with the results of the permission check and the user/file combination received in operation  5300 . In certain embodiments where no permissions cache entry yet exists for the user/file combination received in operation  5300 , one may be created and stored by the method described in  FIG. 54 . 
     In certain embodiments, it is desirable to integrate a permissions cache into the method described in  FIG. 30  and referenced elsewhere in this description. In one embodiment, the foundation of a permissions cache is a permissions cache entry  5500 , described in  FIG. 55 . Permissions cache  5505  is composed entries  5506 , each of which is of the type entry  5500 . An entry  5500  contains a flag  5501 , which in certain embodiments takes on the value of true or false depending on whether the user identified by user name  5503  has permission or does not have permission to access the file identified by file identifier  5502 , respectively. Entry  5500  also contains indicator  5504  which indicates whether or not the entry is still valid. 
     In certain embodiments, it is desirable for the invention to utilize a permissions cache. In other embodiments, a permissions cache is integrated into those circumstances in which a permissions check is needed before a file may be displayed to a user. In certain embodiments, the method described in  FIG. 56  may be used to implement the permissions cache. In certain embodiments, the method described in  FIG. 56  is invoked because the knowledge of whether a given user has access to a given file is necessary; the expected result of the invocation is whether such access exists. Operation  5600  receives a file identifier and a user name. Operation  5601  then searches the permissions cache for an entry corresponding to the file identified by the file identifier and the user identified by the user name as received in operation  5600 . If a corresponding entry exists in the cache, transition  5602  is followed to operation  5604  which tests the entry to determine if its contents are valid. If the entry does not exist in the permissions cache, transition  5603  is followed to operation  5605  which creates a new permissions cache entry data structure. If operation  5604  determines that the existing entry is a valid entry, transition  5607  is followed to operation  5608  which returns the value of the permissions cache entry&#39;s flag indicating whether this user has access to that file. However, if the entry indicates that it is invalid, transition  5606  is followed to operation  5609 . Also, if the entry did not exist and operation  5605  created a new entry, the method also transitions to operation  5609 , in which a permissions check is performed for this user/file combination. The results of the permission check are stored in the entry&#39;s flag in operation  5610  and the entry&#39;s validity indicator is set to valid. In certain embodiments, this may be the same data structure in memory with new values written to it, and in other embodiments it may be a new data structure in memory. In operation  5611 , the value of the entry&#39;s flag is returned to the user. 
       FIGS. 57A-61  will now be referred to in order to describe certain embodiments which use a data structure which contains representations of identifiers of directories which are parents of files in a permissions cache. In other words, the data structure stores representations of identifiers of directories that have children in the permissions cache. This data structure can be used to prevent a problem in which a still-valid permissions cache is entirely invalidated when a directory&#39;s permissions change. This problem is often created when a temporary folder, such as a temporary subdirectory in a hierarchical filing system, is created by a program (e.g. by a program during a download process) which causes a change for permissions for a directory. A directory&#39;s permissions may also change when moving a folder from one folder to another folder or when explicitly changing the permissions of a folder or when someone is added to a work group for a folder, etc. In the past, this change may cause an entire permissions cache to be invalidated even though no files in the permission cache are children of the directory which has had its permissions changed, such as a temporary folder. According to one embodiment of the present inventions, these changes in permissions for a directory can be monitored by an operating system, such as a kernel or file system, to provide notification that permissions for a directory have changed. According to one embodiment, a method may use the notification of a change of permissions of a directory and may use the data structure of cached directories to determine if the files in the permissions cache are within the directory which changed. If the directory which has changed contains no files in the permissions cache, then the permissions cache does not need to be updated or invalidated. The embodiments relating to  FIGS. 57A-61  may be used with at least some of the foregoing methods. For example, those methods which use a permissions cache when searching or screening search results may benefit from using a data structure of cached directories in order to avoid unnecessarily invalidating an entire permissions cache. Further, in at least certain embodiments, a portion of the permissions cache may be flushed or invalidated by using the data structure of cached directories to determine which portion of the permissions cache needs to be invalidated or flushed rather than flushing or invalidating the entire permissions cache if a file within the permissions cache is contained within the directory having a changed permission. 
       FIG. 57A  shows an example of a software architecture which uses a data structure of cached directories. This software architecture  5701  may include a list of directory identifiers  5703 , which is a form of a data structure of cached directories. This software architecture further includes a permissions cache, such as the permissions caches described previously herein; this permissions cache  5705  may be a list of file identifiers or other identifiers which identify files for which permissions have been checked. This permissions cache may be on a user-by-user basis such that each user has its own permissions cache. The list of directory identifiers  5703  is a list of directories that contain the files listed in the permissions cache  5705 . In other words, the directory identifiers in the list of directory identifiers  5703  identify directories that have children in the permission cache. This will be explained further below in conjunction with  FIG. 57B . The software architecture  5701  also includes software  5707  for managing and creating and updating both the permissions cache  5705  and the cached directories in the list of directory identifiers  5703 . The software  5707  and the scout software  5709  perform the operations shown in  FIG. 59  as well as performing the operations in  FIG. 58  which relate to the management of the two caches, the permissions cache  5705  and the list of directory identifiers  5703 . For example, the software  5707  builds and updates both the permissions cache  5705  and the list of directory identifiers  5703 . The scout software  5709  is, in one embodiment, called by the software  5707  in operation  5907  to find all files which are children of the directory which has had its permissions changed and which was the subject of the notification in operation  5901  of  FIG. 59 . Both the software  5707  and the scout software  5709  are operatively coupled to the memory storing the data structures which constitute the permissions cache  5705  and the list of directory identifiers  5703 . The software  5707  is coupled to a notification source  5713  which may be a software resource in a kernel and which provides a notification of either a file or directory change with respect to the permissions of the file or the directory. The notification source  5713  may be coupled to another resource  5711  which includes file tracking resources, which track the location (e.g. path name) of the file and changes to those locations as well as changes to the location (path) of a directory. In addition, the resource  5711  includes kernel resources, which receive calls from the scout software  5709  and from the software  5707  to provide information about the files or directories, such as the path name or other location identifiers for the files or directories. It will also be understood that the software  5707 , and optionally the scout software  5709 , may be coupled to user-level programs such as a file management software, such as the Finder or Windows Explorer, or a search software, such as Spotlight, in order for Spotlight or the Finder to make use of the permissions cache. The scout software  5709  may, in addition to finding all files which are children of the directory which has had its permissions changed and was the subject of the notification in operation  5901 , also invalidate or remove those children from the permission cache in order to update the permissions cache. 
     In alternative embodiments, the scout software  5709  may be omitted; in this case, the cached directories are kept in the list of directory identifiers  5703  in order to determine whether or not the permissions cache should be entirely invalidated or not. If permissions change for a directory which does not contain children in the permissions cache, then the permissions cache does not need to be invalidated. On the other hand, if the directory which has had its permissions changed contains a child or children within the permissions cache, then the permissions cache is entirely invalidated. This embodiment may be useful in those cases where users rarely or the system rarely changes permissions for directories. 
     The list of directory identifiers  5703  may be a simple list of every parent for every file in the permissions cache, wherein the list is lossless and complete. In alternative embodiments, the list of directory identifiers may be a lossy data structure, such as a Bloom filter, which is a space-efficient, probabilistic data structure that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set; false positives are possible with a Bloom filter, but false negatives are not. Elements can be added to the set, but typically not removed, although this can be addressed with a counting filter. An implementation of a Bloom filter for the list of directory identifiers  5703  is described further below in conjunction with  FIG. 60 . 
       FIG. 57B  will now be referred to in order to explain how one embodiment of the software architecture  5701  may operate by using both the permissions cache and a list of directory identifiers, such as the permission cache  5705  and the list of directory identifiers  5703 .  FIG. 57B  shows a diagram of certain folders or directories and files within those folders or directories which may be maintained in a hierarchical filing system  5721 . A root directory or a subdirectory Users  5723  may be the main user directory or the only directory into which users are allowed to store files. The rectangles show other subdirectories, including subdirectories  5725 ,  5727 ,  2729 ,  5731 ,  5733 ,  5735 ,  5737 ,  5739 , and  5741 . Each of these may be considered folders displayed in a file management software program, such as the Finder from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Certain documents, shown in circles, are also stored in the hierarchical file system within their respective folders or subdirectories. Hence, document A 4 , also shown as document  5743 , is stored within the folder  5731 . Documents  5745 ,  5747 , and  5749  are stored within the folder or subdirectory  5733 . Documents  5751  and  5753  are stored within the folder or subdirectory  5737 , and documents  5755  and  5757  are stored within the folder or subdirectory  5741 . Assume that documents  5743 ,  5749 , and  5753  have been retrieved from prior search queries, and as a result have had their permissions determined and stored within the permissions cache  5705 . An example of an embodiment for implementing that process is shown in  FIG. 58 . Further, also assume that the parent directories for those three documents  5743 ,  5747 , and  5753  have had their identifiers stored in the list of directory identifiers  5703 ; this may also be performed, in certain embodiments, by the method shown in  FIG. 58 . Hence, the directories identified in the list of directory identifiers  5703  are directories  5731 ,  5725 ,  5723 ,  5733 ,  5727 , and  5737 . Should permissions for a directory not listed in the list of directory identifiers  5703  be changed, then, by following the method of, for example,  FIG. 59 , it can be determined that the permissions cache does not need to be invalidated or modified at all. For example, if permissions for the directory  5729  change, it can be determined by comparing that directory to the list of directory identifiers  5703  that no change needs to be made to the permissions cache  5705 . Similarly, if permissions were changed for the directory  5741 , it can be determined that no changes are required for the permissions cache  5705  by implementing, for example, the method shown in  FIG. 59 . On the other hand, if permissions for the directory  5731  change, then permissions for the file  5743  need to be updated (e.g. those permissions need to be marked as invalid). 
       FIG. 58  shows an example of a method which may be used to create and update a permissions cache and a list of directory identifiers having cache directories. The method shown in  FIG. 58  is an embodiment which uses a permissions cache to validate permissions as part of a search process, although it will also be understood that this embodiment may also be alternatively used to decide whether to give access to files for other processes, such as file management software processes (e.g. file access processes provided by the Finder) or other user-level application software. In this example, it is assumed that the entire permissions cache may be invalidated in certain circumstances (e.g. as a result of a timeout of the scout software that is described in conjunction with  FIG. 59 ), but the cache may also be partially invalidated, leaving a portion unchanged and another portion updated (e.g. invalidated or removed or flushed) either through the method shown in  FIG. 58  or the method shown in  FIG. 59 . It is also assumed that the search criteria is used to perform the search through, for example, one or more metadata databases and/or index databases (e.g. full context indexed database or databases) without regard to permissions, and then the permissions for files found in the search are validated in the rest of the process. It will be understood that the validation of permissions of files and the searching for the files matching the search query could be performed concurrently; in other words, as files which match the search query are found, their permissions can be validated while the search, using the search query, continues to look for other files that match the search query. In operation  5803  of method  5801 , the search query is received and a search is performed. The search is normally done for all possible results (e.g. files which match the search query) without regard to permissions for the files. Then in operation  5805 , the state of the entire permissions cache is determined. The entire permissions cache may become invalid as a result of, in at least certain embodiments, the scout software running out of time to perform its operations as explained herein in conjunction with  FIG. 59 . If the entire permissions cache is invalid, then operation  5807  follows in which permissions are determined for each file found in the search. Further, in operation  5809 , permission information for those files is added to the permission cache and directory information for those files is added to the list of directories containing the cached directories, such as the list of directory identifiers  5703 . These operations may be performed by the software  5707 . As new searches are performed, the permissions cache is built up over time and the cached directories are also built up over time and used for subsequent searching. After the permissions checking and permissions cache building operations, the results of the search may be displayed or otherwise presented in operation  5811 . The results are limited by the user&#39;s permission as described above. 
     If operation  5805  determines that the state of the permissions cache is valid (at least in part), then operation  5813  is performed to determine whether the file&#39;s permission information is in the permissions cache. If it is not, processing proceeds to operation  5815  in which the permissions for the file are determined, and these permissions are added to the permissions cache in operation  5817  which also adds the directory information for the file to the list of directories (cached directories), such as the list of directory identifiers  5703 . At this point, processing may continue from operation  5817  to operation  5819  as shown in  FIG. 58 . In operation  5813 , if it is determined that the file&#39;s permission information is in the cache, then processing proceeds to operation  5814  in which it is determined whether the file&#39;s permissions information is valid. If it is not, processing proceeds to operation  5815  and operation  5817 ; otherwise, processing proceeds to operation  5819  in which the file is included in the results to be displayed if the user is permitted to view or otherwise access the file. Then in operation  5821 , it is determined whether there are any further files, retrieved by the search query, which require validation of permissions; if there are such files, then processing returns to operation  5805  and continues as described above. If there are no further files, then the results of the search, after filtering for permissions, are displayed or are otherwise presented. It will be appreciated that the results may be displayed as each file has its permissions validated rather than after determining that all searched and found files have had their permissions validated. It will also be appreciated that, in other embodiments, the order of operations may be changed or different than shown in  FIG. 58  and that additional operations or fewer operations may also be performed. The method of  FIG. 58  may also be modified in an embodiment in which the permissions cache is either entirely valid or invalidated should a change arise, rather than being partially valid and updating the state of the invalid portion of the permissions cache. 
     While the method shown in  FIG. 58  relates to an embodiment in which the permissions cache is built and updated and the list of directory identifiers is built and updated, the method shown in  FIG. 59  relates to an aspect of determining whether the permissions cache should be updated or invalidated based upon a change to the permissions of a directory, such as the folder  5731  or the folder  5729  shown in  FIG. 57B . In operation  5901 , a notification is received that a file or directory has had its permissions changed. This notification may be provided by an operating system kernel or a file system application running on the operating system kernel or by a notification source which is coupled to receive calls or notices from a kernel or file system application. The notification may be received by permissions software, such as the software  5707  shown in  FIG. 57A . In response to receiving the notification, operation  5903  determines whether the change in permissions is for a directory or a file. If the change in permissions is a change for a file, then operation  5905  follows operation  5903 . In operation  5905 , it is determined whether the file has an identifier already in the permissions cache. If it does not, then the notification is ignored. This is a case where a file has previously not been processed to have its identifier added to the permissions cache, and hence it is appropriate to ignore the notification. On the other hand, if the file&#39;s identifier has been previously placed in the permissions cache, then the identifier is marked as invalid or removed from the permissions cache in order to update the permissions cache. This operation allows for the permissions cache to be partially invalid (and marked as such) and remain intact for the portion of the permissions cache which is still valid. If operation  5903  determines that permissions for a directory have changed, then processing proceeds to operations  5907  which involve, potentially, a series of operations. If the directory is determined to be represented in the list of directories (cached directories) then, in one embodiment, scout software is called to attempt to correct the permission cache or to update the permissions cache for all children of that directory. On the other hand, if the directory is not represented in the list of directories (cached directories), then the notification is ignored. The scout software attempts to find all files which are children of the directory which was the subject of the notification. Further, the scout software may, after finding those files, attempt to invalidate or remove those children from the permissions cache. In other words, the scout software will remove file identifiers (or mark as having invalid permissions data) for those files which are children of the directory which was the subject of the notification in operation  5901 . In certain embodiments, it may be desirable to limit the amount of time for the scout software to operate. This may be particularly desirable where the scout software is using a data structure, such as a Bloom filter, which may contain false positives. In other words, the scout software may be looking for files which are not in the permissions cache given that a false positive can occur with a Bloom filter. In this embodiment, the scout software may be given a limited amount of time to operate and attempt to find the files which are children of the directory that is the subject of the notification and to flush or invalidate the file identifiers in the permissions cache for files which are children of that directory. In certain embodiments, it may be desirable to limit the amount of time under which the scout software may operate, even if a Bloom filter is not used for the list of directory identifiers. For example, if the list of directory identifiers is complete and lossless (e.g. a normal list of directories), it may still be desirable to limit the amount of time the scout software has to run because the operation of this software may place too high a burden on the data processing system, causing it to appear slow, etc. If the amount of time for the scout software runs out, and the scout software has not completed its tasks, such as finding all files which are children of the directory or updating the permissions cache for those files, then it is necessary to invalidate the entire permissions cache because it is no longer clear which portions are valid. In an alternative embodiment, the status of the scout software may be saved which indicates the amount of work which remains for the scout software, and at idle times for the data processing system, the scout software may be called again with a saved state to start up, from that saved state, the scout software to attempt to complete its processing. In certain embodiments, the scout software does not attempt to update the list of directory identifiers; for example, in the case where a Bloom filter is used for the list of directory identifiers, the scout software does not attempt to modify the list of directory identifiers. In alternative embodiments, the scout software may also modify the list of directory identifiers so that it is also updated in addition to the permissions cache. 
       FIG. 60  shows an example of a data structure for storing a list of directory identifiers (cached directories). This particular embodiment assumes that a fixed-size Bloom filter is used as this data structure. It will be appreciated that there are numerous other data structures which may be used rather than a Bloom filter. The directory identifier  6001 , which represents any parent of a file in a permission cache, is hashed in a hash function  6003 . This hash function may be a modulo operation or other operations which produce a value which then can be stored in an array, which may be a fixed size, such as a Bloom filter  6005 . The array can then be checked later by taking a directory identifier received in a notification (such as the notification in operation  5901 ) and performing the same hash function on that directory identifier and determining whether a value after that hash function has been stored in the location corresponding to that value. If the value has been stored in that particular location, then the location remains as it was before; on the other hand, if the value has not been stored there, then a value, such as a 1, is written to the location to indicate that the directory should be added to the list of directory identifiers. 
       FIG. 61  shows an optional method which may be used for a removable volume, such as a removable hard drive or flash drive. This method allows the use of a permissions cache and the list of directory identifiers with such a removable volume. In operation  6001 , a user command is received to eject the removable volume. In response, the data processing system stores, in operation  6003 , the permissions cache and the cache directories for each user. These may be stored on the removable volume itself or on a volume of the data processing system to which the removable volume is coupled. Operation  6003  also includes storing a time stamp of the ejection of the removable volume and a time stamp of the last modification time for files in the file system for the removable volume. These time stamps can be used when the removable volume is mounted again on a data processing system to determine whether or not the permissions cache and the list of directory identifiers is still valid. If the time stamps are close enough in time (e.g. as measured by the difference in time being compared to a predetermined value) then it is concluded that the permissions cache and the cache directories are still valid. If, on the other hand, the difference in time is too large, then the data processing system determines that both the permissions cache and the list of directory identifiers is invalid and must be rebuilt, using a method such as the method shown in  FIG. 58 . 
     In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20070607
Publication Date: 20120807
Grant Date: 20120807
Priority Date: 20070607
Inventors: HOERNQVIST JOHN M.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G06F16/168", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/168", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F21/6218", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F2221/2141", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/144", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F21/6218", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F2221/2141", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/144", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 40096809