PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8732600-B2
Application Number: US-91357910-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Browsing or searching user interfaces and other aspects

Abstract:
User interfaces for browsing and/or searching are described. In one embodiment, a method includes displaying a first display area for display representations of documents matching a search query, the first display area configured to display content of the documents which can have a plurality of different types of content including at least one of text-based content and a folder, and displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area. Other embodiments are also described, and computer readable media and apparatuses are also described.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 performing, by a computing device, a search using a search query, wherein the search is through indexed content and metadata of a plurality of files in a hierarchical file system; 
 generating search results including two or more files of the plurality of files; 
 determining associated file types for the two or more files; 
 using the file type for a file to identify a plug-in capable of processing content of the file, wherein the file type has an associated file format; 
 using the plug-in to dynamically generate a preview view entry for the file, wherein dynamically generating the preview view entry includes processing the content of the file, wherein processing the content includes using the plug-in to translate the file from the file format to a new file format, wherein the preview view entry includes a display of the content of the file in the new file format, and wherein the new file format is different from the file format; 
 generating a preview view including the preview view entry in a preview view area, wherein the preview view area further includes another preview view entry for at least one additional file having a different file type; 
 generating a list view including a list view entry for the file in a list view area; 
 concurrently displaying the preview view area and the list view area; 
 linking the list view and preview view, wherein linking includes displaying an indication of a selection of the preview view entry for the file when an input corresponding to a selection of the list view entry is received; 
 receiving an input corresponding to a selection of the preview view entry or the list view entry for the file; 
 identifying an application associated with the file format; and 
 opening the file using the identified application. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the file format is a native file format associated with the file type, and wherein the new file format is a standard file format. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the preview view entry for the file is generated and displayed without launching the application. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content of the file includes text content, image content, video content, audio content, or web content. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the input corresponds to a selection of the list view entry for the file. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the list view entry for the file includes an indication that the preview view entry is associated with the file. 
     
     
       7. A computer-implemented system, comprising:
 one or more data processors; and 
 one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media containing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:
 performing a search using a search query, wherein the search is through indexed content and metadata of a plurality of files in a hierarchical file system; 
 generating search results including two or more files of the plurality of files; 
 determining associated file types for the two or more files; 
 using the file type for a file to identify a plug-in capable of processing content of the file, wherein the file type has an associated file format; 
 using the plug-in to dynamically generate a preview view entry for the file, wherein dynamically generating the preview view entry includes processing the content of the file, wherein processing the content includes using the plug-in to translate the file from the file format to a new file format, wherein the preview view entry includes a display of the content of the file in the new file format, and wherein the new file format is different from the file format; 
 generating a preview view including the preview view entry in a preview view area, wherein the preview view area further includes another preview view entry for at least one additional file having a different file type; 
 generating a list view including a list view entry for the file in a list view area; 
 concurrently displaying the preview view area and the list view area; 
 linking the list view and preview view, wherein linking includes displaying an indication of a selection of the preview view entry for the file when an input corresponding to a selection of the list view entry is received; 
 receiving an input corresponding to a selection of the preview view entry or the list view entry for the file; 
 identifying an application associated with the file format; and 
 opening the file using the identified application. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the file format is a native file format associated with the file type, and wherein the new file format is a standard file format. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the preview view entry for the file is generated and displayed without launching the application. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the content of the file includes text content, image content, video content, audio content, or web content. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the input corresponds to a selection of the list view entry for the file. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the list view entry for the file includes an indication that the preview view entry is associated with the file. 
     
     
       13. A computer-program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause a data processing apparatus to:
 perform a search using a search query, wherein the search is through indexed content and metadata of a plurality of files in a hierarchical file system; 
 generate search results including two or more files of the plurality of files; 
 determine associated file types for the two or more files; 
 use the file type for a file to identify a plug-in capable of processing content of the file, wherein the file type has an associated file format; 
 use the plug-in to dynamically generate a preview view entry for the file, wherein dynamically generating the preview view entry includes processing the content of the file, wherein processing the content includes using the plug-in to translate the file from the file format to a new file format, wherein the preview view entry includes a display of the content of the file in the new file format, and wherein the new file format is different from the file format; 
 generate a preview view including the preview view entry in a preview view area, wherein the preview view area further includes another preview view entry for at least one additional file having a different file type; 
 generate a list view including a list view entry for the file in a list view area; 
 concurrently display the preview view area and the list view area; 
 link the list view and preview view, wherein linking includes displaying an indication of a selection of the preview view entry for the file when an input corresponding to a selection of the list view entry is received; 
 receive an input corresponding to a selection of the preview view entry or the list view entry for the file; 
 identify an application associated with the file format; and 
 open the file using the identified application. 
 
     
     
       14. The computer-program product of  claim 13 , wherein the file format is a native file format associated with the file type, and wherein the new file format is a standard file format. 
     
     
       15. The computer-program product of  claim 13 , wherein the preview view entry for the file is generated and displayed without launching the application. 
     
     
       16. The computer-program product of  claim 13 , wherein the content of the file includes text content, image content, video content, audio content, or web content. 
     
     
       17. The computer-program product of  claim 13 , wherein the input corresponds to a selection of the list view entry for the file. 
     
     
       18. The computer-program product of  claim 13 , wherein the list view entry for the file includes an indication that the preview view entry is associated with the file.

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/760,759 titled “Browsing Or Searching User Interfaces And Other Aspects,” filed Jun. 9, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,201,096 and is herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     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. 
     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. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION 
     Methods for managing data in a data processing system and systems for managing data are described herein. 
     A method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying a first display area for displaying two-dimensional (2-D) representations of documents matching a search query, the first display area configured to display content of the documents which can have a plurality of different types of content including at least one of text-based content and a folder, and the method further includes displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area. In at least certain embodiments, the content of the selected document can be zoomed from the first display area to display an enlarged view or may be presented as multiple pages which are selectable such that the document can be viewed one page at a time or several pages at a time. In certain embodiments, the first display area and the second display area are adjacent each other in the same moveable, closeable, resizable and minimizeable window, which includes user interface objects to receive user inputs to move the window, close the window, resize the window, maximize the window and minimize the window. Further, the window may include various user interface objects which allow the user to pick between different views, including a view which includes the first display area and the second display area. In at least certain embodiments, the first display area may be referred to as a “cover flow” view area and the second display area may be referred to as a “list display” view area. In at least certain embodiments, the method may include the performance of a search through metadata for various different kinds of documents, as well as an index database which includes a full-text inverted database containing the full text of the content of the documents within a data processing system. In certain embodiments, the documents may be organized and stored in a hierarchical file system, and a user interface program, such as the Finder from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., or Windows Explorer from Microsoft of Redmond, Wash., may be provided to allow the user to manage the location, etc. of the documents and files maintained by the hierarchical filing system (HFS). 
     In at least certain embodiments, a user may select a document in the list view and this causes the documents in the cover flow view to scroll in order to show the same document in the selected document position of a cover flow view. In certain embodiments, scrolling of the documents in the cover flow view is linked to the scrolling of documents in the list display view area such that scrolling in one area is matched by and coordinated with scrolling in the other area. In at least certain embodiments, the list display view area displays at least a portion of the documents matching the search query, and the order of the documents in the list view area matches the order of the documents shown in the cover flow view area which also shows documents matching the search query. The cover flow view area typically includes one set of documents on one side of the selected document and another set of documents on the other side of the selected document; the spacing between the documents is not uniform. In at least certain embodiments, documents on the left side of the selected document appear to be facing towards the right and therefore towards the selected document, while documents on the right side of the selected document appear to be facing towards the left side and therefore towards the selected document. The apparent direction each set of documents faces may be achieved by providing a perspective view in which one side of the document is longer than another side of the document even though, in fact, the underlying document has sides that are equal and parallel. 
     According to another aspect of the inventions described herein, a method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying a first display area for displaying two-dimensional representations of at least a portion of files and folders in a hierarchical file system, the first display area configured to display content of the files in the first display area, and displaying a second display area for selecting a selected document to be displayed in the first display area, wherein the second display area displays the two-dimensional representations of at least a portion of the files and folders in the hierarchical file system. In this method, the first display area and the second display area may be a cover flow view area and a list display view area, respectively, each of which are adjacent to each other in the same window which is moveable, resizable, closeable, minimizeable, and maximizeable. The window may include various user interface objects which allow a user to close, minimize, maximize, resize, or move the window. Further, the window may include user interface objects which allow a user to input various commands for operating on the files in the hierarchical file system, such as commands to move a file in the hierarchical file system (HFS), or create a copy of the file in the HFS, or delete a file, or create a new folder in the HFS or move a folder in the HFS or create a copy of the folder or delete the folder or move a file from a first folder to a second folder, etc. Each view area, such as the cover flow view area and the list display view area, may include scroll control user interface objects, such as a scroll bar and scroll arrows for allowing the user to scroll the views in each display area. The scrolling may be linked or not linked depending on the implementation. 
     According to another aspect of the inventions described herein, a method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying an icon of a folder, wherein the icon of the folder is at least partially transparent to show icons at least partially within the folder, and displaying a set of icons at least partially within the icon of the folder. In at least certain embodiments, the icons may rotate within the icon of the folder to display, after a sufficient amount of rotating, all viewable files in the folder, and wherein the folder represents a subdirectory in a hierarchical file system. In at least certain embodiments, the set of icons are animated to display at least a subset of the icons over a period of time. The set of icons may be animated by one of rotating, over time, the icons in the set of icons, or shuffling, over time, the icons in the set of icons, or displaying momentarily and sequentially each of the icons in the set of icons, etc. The icons in the set of icons in the folder may be at least one of graphical images or thumbnails of content of files represented by the icons. 
     Another method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes displaying an icon of a folder which includes files represented by the icons, the files being in a hierarchical file system and displaying automatically, without user interaction with the icon of the folder, an animation presenting a content or representation of each of the files, wherein a subset of the files is shown after a sufficient period of time. The animation may present the content or representation at least partially within the icon of the folder. The icon of the folder may or may not be transparent and the animation may present the content or representation on the face of the icon of the folder if the folder is not transparent. The animation may be one of rotating, over time, the content or representation of each of the files or shuffling, over time, the content or representation of each of the files or other mechanisms for displaying, over time, the various icons in the file. 
     According to another aspect of the inventions described herein, methods and software architectures provide previews of files, such as previews of content of the files without launching the applications which created those files. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first call, through a first application programming interface (API), to obtain a preview of content of a file, the first call being made by a first application program and being received by a preview generator, such as a preview generator daemon which is provided by operating system software; and the method also includes generating a request (which may be a call through a second API) to obtain a first software routine, such as a first plug-in, from a set of software routines, such as a set of plug-ins which may be extensible, wherein the first plug-in is configured to process a file type of the file to produce content in a format which can be displayed by the first application program. This method allows, at least in certain embodiments, for previews of content to be provided to the first application program for a wide variety of different file types (e.g. PDF, HTML, Visio, AutoCAD, PPT, DOC, text, XLS (Excel), JPG, and other file types noted herein, etc.) without requiring that the applications which created these files be launched in order to view the content. The first application program may be one of a set of programs including at least one user level program which use this method to present previews of content; for example, the first application program may be a file management software program (e.g. the Finder from Apple Inc. or Windows Explorer from Microsoft) or a search software program (e.g. Spotlight from Apple Inc.) or an email software program or a calendar software program or an instant messaging software program or other software programs. 
     In at least certain embodiments, the first application program (e.g. the Finder or Spotlight) displays an initial preview of the file in a first view which is one of a list view or an icon view or a cover flow view and wherein the initial preview is not configured to be interactive, within the first view, in response to user inputs and wherein the content produced through the first plug-in is configured to interactively display content of the file (e.g. page through or scroll through or browse through the content or zoom or resize the content or playback the content, such as playback a movie) in response to user inputs. This interactive display of content may also occur in the first view or zoom out from the first view or be layered over the first view. The first application program may also display, while displaying the initial preview within the first view, other initial previews of other files and data (e.g. data within a file such as an address information within a contact/address book database) within the first view. Further, the interactive content displayed through the first plug-in may be displayed in the first view while the other initial previews are also being displayed within the first view. 
     In at least certain embodiments, a method may further include generating a second call to a file system program to obtain an identifier of the file type of the file and receiving the identifier of the file type in response to the second call, wherein the identifier is used to select the first plug-in from the set of plug-ins. 
     In at least certain embodiments, the content produced through the first plug-in is displayable by the first application program without further conversion of data; in other embodiments, the content produced through the first plug-in may be in a standard format (e.g. HTML, text, PDF, JPG) which can be processed through the first application to generate displayed content. 
     Software architectures are also described, and these may include a preview generator daemon which interfaces with applications (e.g. Finder) which make calls to the preview generator daemon through a first application programming interface (API). The preview generator daemon may, in response to those calls, request plug-ins to provide the content of the files for a preview of that content without launching the applications which created those files. 
     Other aspects of the present inventions include various data processing systems which perform these methods and machine readable media which cause a data processing system to 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 flow chart 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  shows a method, according to one exemplary embodiment, of another aspect of the present inventions. 
         FIGS. 22A ,  22 B and  22 C show examples of previews of items found from a search query, with the previews being capable of being presented within the window showing the search results. 
         FIG. 23  is a flow chart which illustrates an exemplary method according to certain embodiments of the present invention which may include a cover flow view. 
         FIGS. 24A-24G  show examples of user interfaces for providing a cover flow view in the context of a software program for managing files in a file system, such as a hierarchical file system. 
         FIGS. 25A and 25B  provide examples of a user interface for showing a cover flow view to depict the results of a search of files and folders in a hierarchical file system or other file system. 
         FIG. 26A  is a flow chart which depicts an example of a method for interacting with representations of documents shown in a cover flow view; the interaction may include zooming or paging through or scrolling through the documents shown in the cover flow view. 
         FIGS. 26B-26I  provide examples of user interfaces for interacting with documents within a cover flow view according to at least certain embodiments of the present inventions. 
         FIGS. 27A-27N  show examples of user interfaces for causing zooming in and out from a cover flow view of a document, such as a movie. 
         FIG. 28A  is a flow chart showing an example of one method of animating icons within a partially transparent folder. 
         FIG. 28B  is a flow chart showing another example of an animation of an icon in a folder according to other embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 28C-28G  provide examples of user interfaces showing one embodiment of animations of icons within a folder. 
         FIGS. 29A-29E  show examples of animations on the cover of a folder. 
         FIGS. 30A-30E  show examples of user interfaces for animating thumbnails representing files within at least a partially transparent folder according to certain embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 31  shows an example of an architecture, which includes at least one application program interface (API), that allows an application, such as a user level application, to obtain a preview of files and other data without having to launch another application which created that file or other data. 
     
    
    
     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. 2007. 
       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 personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, media players (e.g. an iPod), devices which combine aspects or functions of these devices (e.g. a media player combined with a PDA and a cellular telephone in one device), an embedded processing device within another device, network computers, a consumer electronic device, and other data processing systems which have fewer components or perhaps more components may also be used with or to implement one or more embodiments of 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 microprocessor from Intel or 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. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Mul- 
                   
                 User 
                   
                 Copied 
                   
               
               
                 Item 
                 Parent in 
                   
                   
                   
                 ti- 
                   
                 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 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, 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                 System- 
                 ? 
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 e.g. CD, printed, 
                   
                   
                 provided 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 backedup 
                   
                   
                 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 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 EventTimes 
                 time/date the event starts 
                 CFDate 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Duration 
                 The length of time that 
                 CFNumber 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 the meeting lasts 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Invitees 
                 The list of people who 
                 CFString 
                 Yes 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
                   
                 Address 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 are invited to the 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Book 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 meeting 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Location 
                 The name of the location 
                 CFString 
                 No 
                   
                   
                 Yes 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 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 th . 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.  14 A 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. 
     Another aspect of the present inventions relates to previews, displayed within search results windows, which are at least one of being resizable, zoomable, or pageable through. For example, a first representation of a first file found by the search may be at least one of being resizable or zoomable or scrollable or pageable through within a display region, such as a window, which contains the results of the search.  FIG. 21  shows an exemplary method for performing at least some of the functionality of this aspect. In operation  2901 , a user&#39;s search input is received by a data processing system which, in turn, in operation  2903 , performs the search and then presents the search results based on the user&#39;s search input. In addition, the results are presented such that, for at least one file which was found by the search, the file is represented by a preview or other representation of the file, where the preview or other representation is either resizable or zoomable or scrollable or pageable through or a combination of those capabilities. For example, if the file which is found is a picture file, then a thumbnail of the picture file may be the representation which is resizable within the search results window, such that it can be enlarged in size or decreased in size on the display device within the search results window. Further, the picture, which is a thumbnail which represents the file, may be zoomable in that the content of the representation may be zoomed in (e.g. magnified) or out (e.g. demagnified) while maintaining the same area or size of the representation. In addition or alternatively, the content in the representation may be pageable in that multiple different pages of the content may be displayed either sequentially over time by paging through the multiple pages in sequence, as if one were flipping through pages in a book, or multiple pages may be spread out concurrently. One or more of these actions may be possible, depending upon the particular type of content. Images will typically be resizable or zoomable or scrollable and may also be pageable, for example. In at least certain embodiments of the present invention, as shown in operation  2907 , the representation within the search results window may be resized or scrolled or zoomed or paged through without having to launch the application which created the content. 
     A preview, at least in certain embodiments, can apply to files or other objects (e.g. records, emails, messages, vCards, etc.). A single page preview can be used for a thumbnail or in any situation where a single image is needed to provide a preview of an item. Multiple items can be previewed at once and compared, or viewed in sequence. When multiple items are previewed at once, they can be of any file type including many different file types. The previews can be shown in the same window as the search results window or in a separate window or in a layer that is overlaid above the item, shown in a search result, which is being previewed in the layer above. 
     A preview may be presented using a variety of different implementations, such as a plug-in implementation which uses one or more plug-ins, such as a QuickTime plug-in, etc. Each of the previews may be formatted in one of several standard data/file types (such as PDF, text, HTML, JPEG, a movie format, or a sound/music format). The previews may be either generated by the application, which created the item or file represented by the preview, when the item or file is stored or may be generated dynamically when needed. A dynamically generated preview may be produced by invoking a generator plug-in that translates the native format of the item being previewed to one of the “standard” data/file types (e.g. PDF, text, HTML, JPEG, a standard movie format, or a standard sound/music format). A preview generator plug-in may be loaded in a separate process to protect against failures and/or security vulnerabilities. Alternatively, a trusted generator plug-in (e.g. QuickTime), or a set of such plug-ins may be loaded directly in the process of presenting the search results and such plug-ins may be used to present the previews. A preview generator may be capable of handling multiple preview requests concurrently and the preview generator and/or the search software controlling the search results window may manage a queue of preview requests, and the search software can cancel or reorder the preview requests in the queue. 
     The following figures show examples of previews or other representations which are resizable or zoomable or scrollable or pageable through.  FIG. 22A  shows an example of a preview  3001  displayed on a display device, either within a search result window or as an overlay on the window. The preview  3001  is scrollable and resizable; it may be scrolled using any one of the scroll controls  3002 ,  3003  and/or  3004 . It may be resized using the resize control  3005 .  FIG. 22B  shows a preview  3010  which can display multiple documents or items in a scrollable format. The view shown in  FIG. 22B  of the preview  3010  shows only one document and another document can be selected for viewing using interface controls  3015 ,  3013 , and  3017 . The view of preview  3010  is scrollable using scroll controls  3011 ,  3012 A and/or  3012 B. The view of preview  3010  is also resizable using resize control  3005 . The user can also switch to display multiple documents or items at once in the view of preview  3010  by selecting the user interface control  3019  which will cause the preview shown in  FIG. 22B  to appear similar to the preview shown in  FIG. 22C  which shows multiple documents concurrently. The preview shown in  FIG. 22C  may also be scrollable. 
     Previews or other representations which are resizable or scrollable or zoomable or pageable through may also be provided in other user interfaces which may include alternative types of views such as a cover flow view which is further described below.  FIG. 23  provides an example of one method of using a cover flow view, such as the cover flow view area  2318  shown in  FIG. 24A . In operation  2301 , a data processing system displays one or more windows containing a user interface of a file system, such as a hierarchical file system (HFS) or a user interface of a search software, such as the search software known as Spotlight from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The window  2316  is an example of a window containing a user interface of a file system; in this case, the file system user interface is the program Finder from Apple Inc. Another example of a user interface for a file system is the user interface provided by the Windows Explorer computer program from Microsoft. An example of a window which contains a user interface of a search software, such as the search software Spotlight, is the window  2401  shown in  FIG. 25A . These windows may be moveable, resizable, closeable, and be able to overlap with other windows. For example, other windows may partially cover the window displayed in operation  2301  or the window displayed in operation  2301  may cover other windows. Moreover, the window may be moveable around the display device (e.g. by positioning a cursor over a portion of the window, such as the title bar of the window, and by then moving the cursor after the title bar has been selected by a user to thereby move the window) and the window may be resizable, by using one or more user interface objects as is known in the art, or closeable or minimizeable. In operation  2303 , the data processing system may display user selectable view options for displaying files and folders. These view options may include an icon view, or a list view, or a column view, or a cover flow view. One or more of these view options may be selected by a user through a user interface object, such as the icon view user interface object  2330  or the list view user interface object  2331 , or the column view user interface object  2332 , or the cover flow view user interface object  2333  shown in  FIG. 24A . These selectable view options may be displayed within the window displayed in operation  2301  or in another part of the user interface such as in a menu bar or other selectable menu object or a dock, such as dock  2317 . In operation  2305 , the data processing system may display scrolling user interface objects which may include arrow user interface objects, such as the up-scroll user interface object  2348  and the down-scroll user interface object  2349  shown in  FIG. 24A . These scrolling user interface objects may allow scrolling of one or more views either concurrently or separately as further described below. Each view may include its own set of scrolling user interface objects or a single set of scrolling user interface objects may be used to scroll both views if the scrolling is concurrent or linked as further described below. In operation  2307 , the data processing system may receive one or more user commands from the cover flow view area or from other view areas to perform file system operations, such as creating a new folder in the HFS, and the system responds by performing these operations. Commands may be received through various user interface objects, including pull-down menus on a menu bar, such as the menu bar  2312  shown in  FIG. 24A , or a contextual command user interface object, such as the contextual command user interface object  2335 , or through a dragging and dropping manipulation on an icon representing the document or file from one window to another window or within the same window, etc. These user interface objects may be in the same window as the window displayed in operation  2301  or in different or other portions of the user interface displayed on the display device of the data processing system. In addition to or instead of user commands to perform file system operations, the data processing system may receive user commands requesting a zoom or a scroll or a page through or a resizing of content displayed within the cover flow area as further described below. The data processing system may also, in operation  2309 , display user selectable options to sort a list or flow view either concurrently or separately. These user selectable options may include options to sort by the name of a file or the type/kind of file or the date last used or other parameters which may be used to sort files in either a list view or other types of views, such as an icon view or column view or a cover flow view as described further below. 
     It will be understood that the method shown in  FIG. 23  is one general example of a use of a cover flow view to display content within a file system and to receive commands for the file system through the cover flow view, such as through direct manipulation of icons representing documents in the cover flow view. Further, the method of  FIG. 23  may also be used in the context of receiving search inputs and providing the search results through software which provides a user interface for searching for files in a file system, such as an HFS. It will be appreciated that the operations shown in  FIG. 23 , as in other flow charts described herein, may be performed in a different order and may include fewer operations than shown in  FIG. 23  or may include more operations than shown in  FIG. 23 . 
       FIG. 24A  shows an example of the user interface on a display device  2311  which is coupled to a data processing system or which is part of a data processing system. The particular user interface shown in  FIG. 24A  represents the user interface of a file system provided by software which runs on an operating system and which may be referred to as a file management software; the Finder from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and Windows Explorer from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., are two examples of file management software which allow a user to manage files in an HFS maintained by a data processing system. The files can be displayed in one or more windows and users can perform operations on the files by selecting menu options or by performing direct manipulation, as in a drag and drop operation or by the use of contextual menu items or by the use of right-clicking on a file and selecting commands from a contextual menu (e.g. a contextual pop-up menu) or in other manners known in the art. The user interface as shown in  FIG. 24A  may include a menu bar  2312  which is displayed at the top of the display device in at least certain embodiments and which includes a pull-down menu such as the pull-down menu  2315  which includes the word “File” at the top of the pull-down menu, which is known in the art. The user interface may also include a dock  2317  or a task bar on some region of the screen, such as the lower bottom portion region of the screen, or in other locations. The task bar or dock may be used to house a minimized window as is known in the art, which results from the selection by the user of the minimize window user interface object  2324  shown in the upper left corner of the window  2316 . The activation of this minimize window user interface object  2324  causes the window to be minimized, as is known in the art, which results in an icon of the window appearing on the dock  2317  or, in other implementations, a task bar. The window can be put in its prior state by selecting that icon in the dock or the task bar. The window  2316  also includes a side bar region which is described above and which is also described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/873,661, filed Jun. 21, 2004. This side bar region is user-configurable and allows a user to add folders created by the user into the side bar region for easy access to those folders or directories without requiring the user to drill down through a hierarchy of folders to reach a desired folder. In the case of the side bar region  2320  shown in  FIG. 24A , the user has selected the folder “My Documents” which is a particular selected subdirectory in a HFS. The title bar of the window  2316  also shows the “My Documents” name, indicating that the files displayed within the window  2316  are within the folder “My Documents.” The window  2316  also includes two regions which display the files within this folder. The cover flow view area  2318  shows a cover flow view of the files within the “My Documents” folder. The list display view area  2319  also shows those files but in a traditional list view. As can be seen from  FIG. 24A , the list view and the cover flow view area are adjacent and contained within the same moveable, resizable, and minimizeable window. 
     The window  2316  also includes a search input field  2314 A into which a user may enter one or more search terms to cause the data processing system to perform a search, such as the searches described above, through metadata and/or one or more indexes of the full content of files, such as text files. The user interface may also include a search input menu area  2314 B which may be activated by the user (e.g. by clicking in the area on an icon in the area) to cause the display of another search input field into which a user can enter one or more search terms to cause a search to also be performed as described above. The window may also include one or more icons which a user can select to select one or more views within the window  2316 . Examples of such icons are the icons  2330 ,  2331 ,  2332 , and  2333  shown in the upper portion of the window  2316 . In particular, the icon view interface object  2330  may be selected by a user to cause the display of files within a particular folder or group of folders in an icon view manner as is known in the art. The selection of the list view user interface object  2331  will cause the display of files in a list, such as in a manner which is similar to the list display view area  2319 ; this list will typically include one or more columns, such as name, kind, and last used date as shown in  FIG. 24A  which can be used to sort the list in a variety of different ways as is described further below, in conjunction with, for example,  FIG. 24B . The column view user interface object  2332  may be selected by the user to cause a column view as is known in the art. Lastly, the cover flow view user interface object  2333  may be selected to cause a cover flow view which may be a view of the cover flow view area by itself or a view with the cover flow view area and the list display view area, such as the list display view area  2319  as shown in  FIG. 24A . The window  2316  may also include a close window user interface object  2322  and a maximize window user interface object  2325  which operate to close and maximize the window respectively as is known in the art. The window  2316  may also include a back control user interface object  2327  and a forward control user interface object  2328  which operate to toggle the contents of the window back or forward through a history list of the window&#39;s previous displays as is known in the art. The window  2316  may also include a contextual command user interface object  2335  which, when activated or selected, presents a menu of options such as the menu shown as menu  2365  (in  FIG. 24E ) or other menus from which a user can choose one or more commands depending on the context of the system. These commands may be commands to perform file system operations such as moving or copying files, or creating a folder or other operations, including search operations. The window  2316  may also include one or more scroll control user interface objects for the side bar region  2320 , such as the scroll control user interface objects  2361  which may be used to scroll up and down the side bar region  2320 . The window  2316  may also include a resize control user interface object  2326  which may be selected by a user and then dragged by the user to resize the window  2316  as is known in the art. 
     The window  2316  may have two sets of scroll control user interface objects. One set may control scrolling within the cover flow view area and the other set may control scrolling within the list display view area. The scrolling of one view area may be linked to the scrolling of the other view area, such that activation of a scroll control in one of the sets to cause scrolling in one view area will also cause a corresponding scrolling in the other view area. In alternative embodiments, the scrolling may not be linked, such that one area can be scrolled independently of the other area; for example, scrolling the list display view area does not cause scrolling in the cover flow view area in this alternative embodiment. The scroll controls for the cover flow view area include the scroll bar control object  2346  which may be dragged or moved by a user, and it further includes the left scroll user interface object  2344  which acts like a left scroll arrow, and the right scroll user interface object  2345  which acts as a right scroll arrow. Together these three objects are part of the scroll control user interface object  2343 . The scroll controls for the list display view area include a scroll bar control object  2347  and an up-scroll user interface object  2348  and a down-scroll user interface object  2349  to cause scrolling in a known manner. The cover flow view area includes a set of documents on one side of the selected document  2337  in the cover flow view area and another set of documents or files on the other side of the selected document  2337 . In particular, document  2339  and another document are on the left side of the selected document  2337  and the documents  2341  and  2353  are on the right side of the selected document  2337 . As can be seen from  FIG. 24A , the density of documents on either side of the selected document is higher than the density of documents between the rightmost edge of document  2339  and the leftmost edge of document  2341 . In other words, the selected document in the cover flow view is spaced apart from the collection of documents on either side of it. Furthermore, in the cover flow view, the documents on either side of the selected document are shown in perspective view such that the documents on the left side appear to face the selected document while the documents on the right side appear to face the selected document. Also, when several documents are on one side of the selected document, at least some of the documents are covered by other documents on that side; in other words, on that side, the documents are arranged in an overlapping manner. Further, when a document moves from one side of the selected document to the other side of the selected document, its content will appear to change the direction in which it faces. This can be seen by comparing document  2339  in  FIG. 24A  with document  2339  in  FIG. 24B . In the case of  FIG. 24A , the document  2339  appears to face towards the right side, which is towards the selected document  2337 , while in  FIG. 24B , the document  2339  appears to face towards the left, which is also towards the selected document  2337  in  FIG. 24B . As the document moves across the selected document position in the middle of the cover flow area, the direction of its content appears to switch. This may again be due to the perspective view in which the document appears to be angled. This may also be due to the use of different lengths of sides for two parallel sides of a thumbnail or icon in the cover flow view. For example, document  2339  appears to have two parallel sides which are vertical but which do not have an equal length even if the document represented by document  2339 , in fact, has two such sides which are of equal length. This can also be seen by comparing the two vertical sides of the thumbnail  2376  in  FIG. 24F . 
     It will be appreciated that the files and items displayed in the cover flow view and in the list view  2318  and  2319 , respectively, may include a variety of different documents of a variety of different types, such as text files, PDF files, picture files such as JPG files, web page (e.g. HTML) files, Microsoft Word or Excel files, movie files, other files and other file types noted herein, and folders or subdirectories as is commonly found in file management software such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. These folders may be containers for other documents in a hierarchical file system as is known in the art. 
     In addition to the use of a cover flow view for a view of files and folders in either or both of a file management software program (such as the Finder) or a search software program (such as Spotlight), a cover flow view may also be provided in “open” or “save as” windows which are presented/displayed to a user to allow the user to open an existing file from within an application (such as a word processing or image processing or web browsing application) or to save a file from within such application. 
       FIG. 24B  illustrates an example of how the sort controls in the list view, such as sort control  2319 A, may be used to change the order in which the files and/or folders are displayed within both the list view area  2319  and the cover flow view area  2318 . In particular, the user or the system has changed the order of the last used date by toggling the sort control user interface object  2319 A between two different states. In the case of  FIG. 24A , the dates are sorted from oldest to most recent, and in the case of  FIG. 24B , the files and/or folders are sorted from most recent to oldest. It will be appreciated that the user may similarly toggle or otherwise change one or more of the other sort control user interface objects (e.g. name; kind; etc.) in order to achieve different sortings of the files and/or folders. The change in sorting between  FIGS. 24A and 24B  is reflected in both the list display view area  2319  and the cover flow view area  2318 . It can be seen that the order of the files in both view areas in  FIG. 24A  is the same and is changed to that shown in  FIG. 24B  in which the order of the files in both view areas is also the same but different than the order shown in  FIG. 24A . 
     The user interface shown in  FIG. 24C  shows how the user or the system can change the selected document  2342  within the list display view area  2319  and thereby cause the change in the selected document shown in the cover flow view area. In the case of  FIG. 24A , the user or the system has selected as the selected document the document entitled “Sales Help,” thereby causing this document to also appear as the selected document  2337  in the cover flow view area  2318 . In the case of the user interface shown in  FIG. 24C , the user or the system has selected the document “MaxServ” as the selected document  2342  which has, in turn, caused the selected document to appear as document  2341  in the cover flow view area  2318 . In some embodiments, the selected document may be selected by selecting a document (e.g. document  2341 ) in the cover flow view to change the selected document in both views. 
       FIGS. 24D and 24E  will now be referred to while describing the various file system operations which a user may cause to be performed through the use of a file management software program such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. In the case of the user interface shown in  FIG. 24D , the user or the system has opened a second window  2355  which overlaps partially the window  2316 . The window  2355 , like the window  2316 , also includes various user interface objects, including user interface objects  2322 - 2325 ,  2327 - 2328 ,  2330 - 2333 , and  2326 . The window  2355  also includes a side bar region in which the user or the system has selected the folder “Instructions”  2357  which is different than the selected folder in the side bar region of the window  2316 . Hence, the window  2355  displays the contents of the folder or subdirectory “Instructions” which includes five files shown in the icon view area  2359 , which displays the files as icons because the user or the system has selected the icon view user interface object  2330  to cause the display of the files as icons, as is known in the art. The window  2355  also includes a search input field  2314 A into which a user or the system may enter a search input to cause the system to perform a search as described herein with respect to metadata and/or one or more indexes of full-text content in one or more index databases. The user may use the user interface shown in  FIGS. 24D and 24E  to perform a variety of different file management tasks using the file management software in either window or both windows. For example, the user may select one or more files or folders from either the cover flow area view or the list view area in window  2316  and drag the selected file(s) or folder(s) into the window  2355  to relocate the file or folder within the “Instructions” folder or another folder. By dragging a file or folder from either the cover flow view area within window  2316  or the list view area  2319 , the user can move that file from the “My Documents” folder to the “Instructions” folder (which is a different subdirectory in the HFS) by depositing the file or folder within the icon view area  2359  within the window  2355 . Alternatively, a user may drag a file from the window  2355  into the cover flow view area  2318  in the window  2316  or to the list view area  2319  within the window  2316  and thereby relocate the file from the “Instructions” folder into the “My Documents” folder. Numerous other file management activities may be performed from either the cover flow area or the list view or the icon view within window  2355 . For example, the user may select a document or folder within the cover flow view area and then select a command such as “copy” or “duplicate” which causes the file or document to be duplicated and then move that file, with either a drag and drop operation or a cut and paste operation or other operations, to another folder such as the “Instructions” folder. In certain embodiments, the user may use the contextual command user interface object  2335  to perform operations on a file or to perform other operations to manage the files using the file management software, such as the Finder. By selecting or activating the contextual command user interface object  2335 , a menu, such as the menu  2365 , may be displayed, and the user may then select an option from that menu by positioning the cursor  2363  over that option and pressing and releasing a button or otherwise indicating the selection of that menu option. As shown in  FIG. 24E , the user may select the option “New Folder” to create a new folder within the “My Documents” folder or may duplicate an existing file by selecting the file and then selecting “duplicate” or selecting “duplicate” and then selecting the file, in certain embodiments. Further, the user may make an alias or shortcut of a file selected to be selected. Further, the user may delete a file that has been selected or to be selected or may cause a file to be moved by selecting the “Move To” folder option. Numerous other file management operations may be performed either through direct manipulation methods (drag and drop operations) or right-clicking operations, in which a user selects a file by pressing the mouse&#39;s right button which causes the display of a contextual menu from which the user can select a file system operation, or by selecting the file pull-down menu  2315  which includes a variety of different possible commands, or by selecting other pull-down menus on the menu bar  2312  or by performing other operations known in the art. These various actions allow a user to utilize the cover flow view area as if it was an icon view or a list view to perform file management operations. These operations may include, for example, moving a file within the HFS; creating a copy of a file in the HFS; deleting a file in the HFS; creating a new folder in the HFS; moving a folder in the HFS; creating a copy of a folder in the HFS; deleting a folder in the HFS; moving a file from a first folder to a second folder in the HFS; moving a file or folder to or from the desktop; changing access permissions of a file or folder and/or changing the name of a file in the HFS. 
       FIGS. 24F and 24G  provide two further examples of a user interface for viewing files, browsing files, or manipulating files using a file management software, such as the Finder, from within the cover flow view area. In this case, the cover flow view area includes thumbnails of movies contained within the Movies folder  2373  shown in the side bar region  2330 . It will be appreciated that the window  2371  (in  FIG. 24F ) has different folders in the side bar and different documents in the Movies folder than the window  2316  (in  FIG. 24E ); this may be because the system has been changed over time, for example. The Movies folder includes movies shown in the list display view area  2319 , which are shown also, in the same order, in the cover flow view area  2318 . The thumbnails shown in the cover flow view area  2318  include thumbnails  2375 , which in this case is the selected document, as well as thumbnails  2376 ,  2377 , and  2378 , in addition to several other thumbnails shown on the right side of the selected document  2375 . A cursor  2379  is shown near the center of the thumbnail  2375 . As described herein, the user may perform a variety of different file management operations by selecting thumbnails within the cover flow view or icons within the list view to perform those operations. For example, in one embodiment, the user may select a thumbnail within the cover flow view area  2318  and drag that thumbnail to one of the folders in the side view area  2320  to relocate the particular thumbnail. For example, the user may select the thumbnail  2375  or another thumbnail within the cover flow view area  2318  and drag that particular selected thumbnail to the Utilities folder or to some other folder or location available within the side bar region  2320 . Alternatively, the user may drag the thumbnail to the desktop region  2313 . In addition to using a direct manipulation technique such as drag and drop, the user may select the object and then select a command either from a pull-down menu or the contextual command user interface object or may right-click on the selected document or other document within the cover flow area and select a command from a contextual or pop-up menu to perform a file management software operation.  FIG. 24G  shows the window  2471  after the user or the system has selected a different selected document in the cover flow area, which in this case is the thumbnail  2377 . This selection may occur by using the cursor  2379  and positioning the cursor  2379  at the thumbnail  2377  within the cover flow view area  2318  shown in  FIG. 24G  and pressing a button or otherwise selecting the thumbnail  2377 . Alternatively, this may occur by selecting the file corresponding to the thumbnail  2377  from within the list display area  2319 . Alternatively, this may also occur by using one or both of the scroll control user interface objects, such as the scroll bar control object  2346  or the scroll bar control object  2347 , etc. in order to cause scrolling within the cover flow view area and/or the list display view area. 
       FIGS. 25A and 25B  provide examples of user interfaces in which the cover flow view area is used in the context of a search software program, such as Spotlight from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The cover flow view area may be used to display the results of a search, in addition to an optional list view, and the user may be able to directly manipulate the icons or thumbnails retrieved by the search from the cover flow view area in order to obtain further information about the document or file retrieved by the search. For example, this further manipulation may include causing a zoom of the document to occur or to present multiple pages by paging through or scrolling through a document shown in the cover flow view. In the case of  FIGS. 25A and 25B , a user may have entered a search phrase (e.g. “movie”) into the search input field  2314 A and caused the data processing system to perform a search as described herein. For example, a search through metadata and/or an index database may retrieve various movies and cause the results of that search to be displayed in both the list display view area  2319  and the cover flow view area  2318 . As shown in the cover flow view area  2318 , seven files or movies have been retrieved, including those represented by the thumbnails  2405 ,  2407 ,  2409 , and  2411 . The cursor  2403  is available for use by the user to select one or more of the thumbnails for further inspection. For example, in the case of  FIG. 25B , the user has selected the thumbnail  2409  to present that thumbnail as the selected document in the middle of the cover flow area  2318 . This may be performed by either selecting the thumbnail  2409  directly in the cover flow area  2318  or by selecting that movie document within the list display view area  2319 . 
     An example of the use of the manipulation of a document or file from within the cover flow view area will now be provided relative to the method shown in FIG.  26 A in conjunction with  FIGS. 26B ,  26 C,  26 D,  26 E,  26 F,  26 G,  26 H, and  26 I. The method shown in  FIG. 26A  may begin in operation  2501  in which a window is displayed by the data processing system. The window may have a user interface of a cover flow view and optionally may also display a list view within the same window. An example of this operation is shown in  FIG. 26B  in which the window  2511  includes a cover flow view area  2318  and a list display view area  2319  in the same window  2511 . In operation  2503 , the data processing system receives a user&#39;s command to zoom or page through or scroll through a document shown in or selected from the cover flow view area. This command may be through the user&#39;s selection of a user interface object or a direct manipulation or a variety of other techniques described herein. For example, the user may desire to page through a multiple page document by selecting arrow icons such as the arrow icons  2521  or  2523 . In other embodiments, the user command may be the selection of a scroll control, such as one or more of the scroll controls  2531  or  2532  or  2533  shown in  FIG. 26F  in order to cause scrolling through the document. In other embodiments, the user interface object may, when selected, cause zooming of the object from one size to another size, such as the zooming shown in  FIGS. 27A-27N  or the zoomed view shown in  FIG. 26D  or  26 F. The system, in operation  2505 , responds to the user&#39;s command to zoom or page through or scroll through the document in or selected from the cover flow view area. Examples of the response of such a system are shown in  FIGS. 26C , and  26 E, and  26 I, for example. 
       FIG. 26B  shows the window  2511  which displays the search results of a search based on the word “instructions”  2512  entered into the search input field  2314 A or entered, alternatively, in a field presented in response to activating a search input menu area  2314 B. The search results produced a number of documents shown in both the list display view area  2319  and the cover flow view area  2318 . The list of documents includes the selected document  2514  which is shown as the thumbnail  2515 A within the cover flow view area  2318 . Other thumbnails or previews shown in the cover flow view area  2318  include thumbnails  2517 ,  2516 ,  2518 , and  2519 . The thumbnail or preview  2515 A includes a left arrow  2521  and a right arrow  2523 . These arrows may be used to page through, one page at a time or several pages at a time, a thumbnail representation of the file or document represented by the thumbnail  2515 A.  FIG. 26C  shows the result of the activation of the right arrow icon  2523 , causing the data processing system to present the second or next page of the document or file, which is shown as the thumbnail  2515 B in  FIG. 26C .  FIGS. 26D ,  26 E,  26 F,  26 G,  26 H, and  26 I also show alternative ways of presenting multiple pages through a preview or thumbnail which is activated from a cover flow view, such as the cover flow view area  2318 . In the case of  FIG. 26D , the thumbnail or preview is an enlarged view which may be zoomed with a continuous or intermittent animation from the thumbnail  2515 A to present the preview  2515 C as shown in  FIG. 26D . The preview or thumbnail  2515 C may also be paged through by activating either of the arrow icons  2521  or  2523 .  FIG. 26E  shows the second or next page of the document as the preview or thumbnail  2515 D which in effect is an enlarged or zoomed view of the thumbnail  2515 B shown in  FIG. 25C .  FIGS. 26F and 26G  show an alternative in which a scrolling user interface is provided to allow the user to scroll through multiple pages of a multiple page document. In particular, a scroll control user interface may include a scroll bar  2531 , an up arrow  2532 , and a down arrow  2533  which allows the user to see multiple pages in the preview mode, such as the preview  2515 E shown in  FIG. 26F , or the next page shown as preview  2515 F in  FIG. 26G . The embodiment shown in  FIGS. 26H and 26I  shows the use of a scrolling user interface to display a preview of a file or document within the cover flow view area  2318  without requiring a large, zoomed preview as in the case of the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 26F and 26G . In this case, the list display view area  2319  remains visible and useable while the cover flow view area  2318  displays multiple pages of a selected document, such as the selected document shown as interactive preview  2516 A. The user may scroll through the content of the preview  2516 A by using one or more of the scroll control user interface objects which include the scroll bar control user interface object  2546  or the up arrow  2547  or the down arrow  2545 . The view shown in  FIG. 26H  shows the top or beginning part of the document represented by the preview  2516 A, and the view shown in  FIG. 26I  shows the preview  2516 B which shows the bottom portion of the document represented by the preview  2516 B. 
     As described above, these previews or thumbnails may be shown by a set of software routines such as a set of plug-ins which are separate from a file management software program, such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. This separation between the plug-ins which renders the content and the Finder or other file management software provides security and stability because, for example, if the plug-in crashes, the Finder will not. These plug-ins may be a standard set of plug-ins that translate the native format of an item being previewed into one of a standard data/file type, such as PDF, text, HTML, JPG, a standard movie format or a standard sound/music format or into fully rendered content (e.g. a bit map). The set of plug-ins may be an extensible set of plug-ins and may interact with the file management software, such as the Finder or Windows Explorer, through a set of APIs in which the file management software makes a call to a plug-in management daemon which receives the call or API from the file management software (or other software program) and which, in turn, asks for the file type (e.g. UTI) from a file system kernel and matches one of the plug-ins in the standard set of plug-ins, which may be extensible, with the file type and which then calls the matched plug-in to cause the plug-in to load and return the content of the file (either in an immediately displayable form or in a standard format) as a preview to the file management software which, in turn, causes the preview to be displayed in, for example, the cover flow view area. This may occur in response to merely browsing the files through the use of the file management software, such as the Finder, or through the use of a search software program, such as Spotlight, to find files and then display previews or thumbnails of files retrieved by the search. As noted above, the preview or thumbnail may be generated dynamically upon request rather than when the item or file is stored or created by the application. This dynamic generation may be through an API. It will be understood that a dynamic generation of a preview or thumbnail may be provided without invoking or launching the application which created the file or document. Examples of software architectures to dynamically generate previews are discussed in conjunction with  FIG. 31 . In addition to a file management software program or a search software program, such as Spotlight, other software application programs may provide or use application programming interfaces (API) to request the preview generator or preview daemon to provide a preview or thumbnail of the content of a document within their windows. For example, an email program or a calendar program or a video conferencing application or an instant messaging application program or other application programs may also make a call to the preview generator or preview generator daemon to provide the content of a particular file in the manner described herein. In response to the call through an API from the email program or the calendar program or other program, the preview generator or preview generator daemon asks the file system for the file type and matches the file type with a plug-in having an ability to process that file type and causes that plug-in to be loaded (for example, by calling the plug-in through another optional API). The plug-in, in turn, processes the content of the file to generate the preview or thumbnail and provides that content to the original application which requested the content, such as the email program or a calendar program or, as noted above, a file management software. A preview or thumbnail may be provided in an inline preview manner in the cover flow view area or in an icon view or in an inline preview manner within a list view, such as the list view shown in  FIG. 17  (which includes a preview or thumbnail view) or in a “get information” or “properties” panel or window or in other uses. 
       FIGS. 24B ,  26 B, and  26 H will be referred to in order to provide an example of how an interactive preview may be presented through this set of software routines while also showing an initial set of previews. For example, thumbnails of files may be the initial set of previews shown in a particular view (e.g. list view or cover flow view), and the set of software routines provide an interactive preview, within the same view, for at least one of these initial previews. The initial previews may also be provided by this set of software routines, but these initial previews may not be interactive with the view; for example, they are not interactive within the view, in response to user commands so they will not, in response to user commands, allow a user to page through or scroll through or browse through the content or to zoom or resize the content or playback the content, such as playback the movie. On the other hand, the interactive preview is interactive in response to user commands in that it can respond to a user command to page through or scroll through or browse or resize or zoom the document represented by the interactive preview or playback the content, either within the particular view (e.g. a list view or cover flow view (see, e.g.  FIGS. 26B ,  26 H and  26 I) or icon view) or zoom out from the particular view (see, e.g.  FIGS. 27A through 27N ) or be layered over the particular view (see, e.g.,  FIG. 26D ). In  FIG. 24B , the document with the heading “HD DVR5444A” may be considered an initial preview in the cover flow view shown in  FIG. 24B . That same document is shown as an interactive preview (with paging buttons) in  FIG. 26B . That same document is shown again in an initial preview form in  FIG. 26H  while another document (which is shown as thumbnail  2516  in  FIG. 26B ) is shown in  FIG. 26H  as an interactive preview  2516 A with scroll controls, all within the same cover flow view. This same user interface for showing both initial previews and interactive previews may be used in a list view or icon view, such as a list view or icon view of files or folders from a search result or a list view or icon view of files and folders from within a file management software window (e.g. a Finder window). 
       FIG. 31  shows an example of a software architecture  3001  which may be used to dynamically generate previews, such as one or both of initial previews and interactive previews. This architecture may include one or more APIs, such as API  3011  and optional API  3012  to act as an interface between separate software programs. For example, API  3011  interfaces between a preview generator  3003 , which may be a preview generator daemon provided by an operating system software, and one or more application programs  3007  (such as a file management software program or a search software program, etc.). The one or more application programs  3007  make calls, through the API  3011 , in order to have a preview generated for a file or other item in a particular view. The preview generator  3003  is configured to receive those calls to generate a preview of the content of the file. The preview of the content can be generated by requesting a software routine (such as a first plug-in), in a set of software routines  3005 , to generate either displayable content or data in a standard format which can be converted by the application which made the call (or a helper application/plug-in or system resource) into displayable content. The first plug-in may be loaded and then process the file (from the storage  3010  of files and data) to generate the preview; the preview generator may determine the file type of the file by making a call, to determine the file type, to the file system software  3009  which returns an identifier of the file type of the file, and then the preview generator  3003  may match the file type with the most appropriate routine in the set of routines before causing the most appropriate routine to be loaded to generate the preview. Each software routine may include data identifying the file types it can process, and the preview generator matches the file type for the file, which was in the call through API  3011 , with the software routine which can process that file type, based on the data identifying the file types it can process. 
       FIGS. 27A-27N  provide an example of a preview or thumbnail which zooms out first from a small thumbnail view to a full-screen view and back into the small thumbnail view. This may occur though a continuous or substantially continuous animation or may occur in progressive, intermittent steps. In the case of a continuous or substantially continuous animation, if the content is a movie which plays over time with a sequence of related images, the movie may appear to play smoothly and continuously as the thumbnail expands from the thumbnail  2603  or the thumbnail  2610 A to the full-screen view shown in  FIG. 27J . In this case, it will be understood that the animation may begin with the user interface shown in  FIG. 27A  and proceed in series from  FIG. 27A  through and including  FIG. 27N . The animation may begin with the user placing the cursor  2605  over the thumbnail in the cover flow view area  2318  and then activating a command, such as pressing a button on a mouse or otherwise causing the system to display a play button, such as the play button  2609 . In one embodiment, merely hovering the cursor over the thumbnail  2603  may cause the display of the play button  2609  within the thumbnail  2603  as shown in  FIG. 27B . In alternative embodiments, the user may select playback by selecting an option from a pull-down menu or by pressing a key on a keyboard, etc. The user may begin the playback of the thumbnail by selecting the play button  2609  while the cursor  2605  is positioned over the play button  2609  as shown in  FIG. 27B . In response, the movie begins to play and the play button turns into a stop button  2612 . The movie may play as a small thumbnail, such as the thumbnail  2610 A, or may, in response to a user command or automatically in response to a playback command, expand or zoom to a larger size. As noted above, this expansion or zooming out may occur in a smooth, continuous fashion and the playback may occur and continue as the zooming occurs.  FIG. 27D  shows the expansion/enlargement of the thumbnail to create an enlarged thumbnail  2610 B which will continue to enlarge to become the thumbnails  2610 C and  2610 D as shown in  FIGS. 27E and 27F  and  27 G. As the thumbnail becomes enlarged, while the movie continues to play back, a window begins to appear from behind the movie, wherein the window includes user controls, such as a “close” control  2614 , “play” and other controls  2616 , and a full-screen control  2618 . In one embodiment, the zooming animation of the thumbnail&#39;s enlargement may stop at the stage shown in  FIG. 27G  and wait for further user input to either close the window (e.g. by activating the “close” user interface object  2614 ) or enlarge to full-screen mode by activating the user interface object  2618 . The thumbnail  2610 D provides for playback of the movie and allows the user to modify the volume or the position of the current frame in the movie by using the volume control  2622  or the timeline  2620 , respectively. If the user selects full-screen mode, then the movie begins to enlarge beyond the size shown in  FIG. 27G . This enlargement may again be smooth and continuous while the movie is playing.  FIGS. 27H and 271  represent two stages of such continuous enlargement from the window shown in  FIG. 27G . An example of full-screen mode is shown in  FIGS. 27J and 27K . The user interface now includes a stop control  2632 , a timeline control  2633  which may be used to adjust the current playback position of the movie, and a reduce size control  2631  which may be used to return the movie from full-screen mode back to the thumbnail through a sequence, which may be continuous, beginning with the user interface shown in  FIG. 27J  through the user interface shown in  FIG. 27N . 
     Another aspect of the inventions described herein relates to the use of animation to display the contents of a folder. This aspect will be shown through the examples given in  FIGS. 28A-30E .  FIG. 28A  shows an example of a method according to one embodiment which uses animations to display at least a subset of icons representing files within a folder. In operation  2651 , a data processing system displays an icon of a folder, the icon being at least partially transparent.  FIG. 28C  shows an example of a folder icon  2701  which is at least partially transparent, and  FIG. 30A  shows an example of a folder icon  2751  which is also partially transparent. In operation  2653 , the data processing system displays a set of icons at least partially within the icon of the folder.  FIG. 28C  shows an example of icons, such as icons  2707 ,  2709 ,  2711 , and  2713  at least partially within the folder icon  2701 .  FIG. 30A  shows another example of a set of icons which are at least partially within the folder icon  2751 ; in this case, the icons are thumbnails or previews of the documents within the folder. In particular, the thumbnails or previews  2757 ,  2758 ,  2759 , and  2761  are shown at least partially within the transparent folder icon  2751 . These previews or thumbnails may be generated dynamically (and stored temporarily in a cache for the animation) as described above to show the actual content of each file represented by the thumbnail or preview, such as thumbnail  2757 . In alternative embodiments, the thumbnail or preview may be generated by the application and stored in the file system as a preview for the particular file and retrieved and used to provide the preview, such as the thumbnail  2757 . Referring back to  FIG. 28A , operation  2655  involves the display by the data processing system of an animation of the set of icons to display at least a subset of the icons over a period of time. The animation may occur automatically without user interaction with the icon of the folder, such as the folder icon  2701 , or may occur in response to user activity such as the selection of a command or in response to the user moving a cursor over the icon of the folder, such as the folder icon  2701 , etc. The animation may involve one or more of a set of changing user interfaces over time. For example, the animation may include rotating, over time, the icons in the set of icons or shuffling, over time, the icons in the set of icons, or displaying momentarily and sequentially each of the icons in the set of icons or displaying momentarily and sequentially a group of the icons in the set of icons or rearranging, over time, the icons in the set of icons. After a sufficient period of time, all of the icons within the folder can be displayed such that a user can, by watching the animation, determine which files are within the folder. It will be understood that the folder may be a directory or folder in a hierarchical file system (HFS) which is maintained by file system software and which interacts with file management software such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. The shuffling of icons may be similar to the shuffling of cards in a deck of cards; this shuffling animation is shown in the sequence of images provided by  FIGS. 28C ,  28 D,  28 E,  28 F, and  28 G. In these figures, the icons  2707 ,  2709 ,  2711 , and  2713  appear to shuffle, one over the other, in a manner which is similar to cards in a deck of playing cards. In at least certain embodiments, the icons may be displayed within the folder, such as folder icon  2701  or folder icon  2751 , at different angles and different orientations as shown in  FIGS. 28C-28G  and  FIGS. 30A-30E . This may improve the visibility of the various icons such that more than one icon can be seen within the folder, such as the folder icon  2701  or  2751 . The sequence of the shuffling of the icons may be random or may be in the order selected by a current sorting criteria, such as the name of the file or the date last used, etc. In certain embodiments, the folder icon, such as folder icon  2701  or  2751 , may be displayed in any one of an icon view (selected through activation of the icon view user interface object  2330 ) or a list view, selected through activation of the list view user interface object  2331 , or a column view, selected by activation of the column view user interface object  2332 , or even a cover flow view, activated by selection of the cover flow view user interface object  2333 . Hence, for example, the animation within the folder icon  2701 , or the folder icon  2751 , may appear in the cover flow view area  2318  to provide the user with an indication of the files and documents within a folder without even requiring the user to open the folder into another view or window. 
       FIGS. 30A-30E  illustrate the shuffling of thumbnails within a partially transparent folder which is the folder icon  2751 . As shown in  FIG. 30A , the thumbnail  2751  appears on top of the other thumbnails  2758 ,  2759 , and  2761 . Then, over time, the thumbnail  2758  appears on top of the rest of the thumbnails  2759  and  2761  and  2757 , as shown in  FIG. 30B . Then, over time, as shown in  FIG. 30C , the thumbnail  2759  appears on top of the other thumbnails  2757  and  2761 . Then, over time, the thumbnail  2761  appears on top of the other thumbnails, such as thumbnail  2757 , which is beginning to return to the top as can be seen in  FIG. 30D . In  FIG. 30E , the thumbnail  2763  is shown on top of the other thumbnails, including thumbnail  2757 , which is shown immediately behind the thumbnail  2763  as the sequence of the shuffling is nearing completion. The animation, such as the shuffling, may occur continuously over time or may occur once through the entire sequence of files within the folder. The animation may occur without user input automatically in response to displaying the folder, or may occur in response to user input, such as positioning the cursor over the folder or hovering the cursor over the folder or activating a command to cause the animation. 
       FIG. 28B  represents an alternative method according to certain embodiments of the inventions. In operation  2671 , the data processing system displays an icon of a folder which includes files in a hierarchical file system. The icon may be displayed in a file management software program, such as the Finder or Windows Explorer. In operation  2673 , the data processing system may then display automatically (e.g. without user interaction with the icon of the folder) an animation presenting a content or representation of each of the files. This may occur in any one of the various views of a hierarchical file system, including a cover flow view, an icon view, a column view, or a list view as described above. The animation may involve shuffling, or rotating, or the other forms of animation described herein. 
       FIGS. 29F-29E  represent another embodiment in which the folder animates over time to indicate to the user the content of the folder. In this case, the folder may not be transparent but rather is opaque and the icon is displayed on the face of the folder over time. Hence, the face of the folder begins as face  2751  and changes over time through faces  2752 ,  2753 ,  2754 ,  2755 . 
     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: 20101027
Publication Date: 20140520
Grant Date: 20140520
Priority Date: 20070609
Inventors: ROBERT JULIEN
BRAY CEDRIC
GOOSSENS THOMAS
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G06F16/41", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/0482", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/4387", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/0482", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/116", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/116", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/04817", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/48", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/4387", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/41", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/48", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/04817", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 39714081