US 6,272,489 B1Granted

Visually oriented, easily navigable search facility

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsThyra L. Rauch, Sarah D. Redpath, John L. Scanlon, David A. Schell

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Abstract

A technique, system, and computer program for providing a visually oriented, easily navigable search facility. Templates containing field names and possible default values are stored for each available task for this user, preferably in a memory cache or disk cache. When the user enters a value or pattern into a field of the search criteria, this value or pattern is retained. When a subsequent search is requested, the retained values are checked to determine if the user already entered values for any fields of the now-current template. If so, then those values are automatically filled in for this current template. The user is allowed to override any of the filled-in values, and these overrides will also become retained values. Retained values are cleared when the user exits the search facility, or when the user explicitly requests to clear the values.

Claims24

Dependent claims

In a computing environment, computer readable code for providing a visually oriented, easily navigable search facility, said computer readable code comprising:

a subprocess for displaying a visual model for using said search facility;
a subprocess for accessing a plurality of search templates, each of said search templates comprising a collection of one or more search fields;
a subprocess for enabling a user of said search facility to enter search criteria into said collection of search fields of a selected one of said search templates which is accessed and displayed using said visual model, wherein said entered search criteria comprise at least one of (1) one or more data values and (2) one or more data patterns;
a subprocess for retaining said entered search criteria pertaining to said collection of search fields;
a subprocess for performing a first search using said entered search criteria;
and
a subprocess for automatically copying one or more of said retained search criteria into selected search fields of a second subsequently-accessed and subsequently-displayed one of said search templates, wherein said selected search fields are those which are also present in said collection of search fields for which said search criteria were retained, even though said second search template may have a different collection of search fields than said selected search template and said selected search fields may be differently arranged on said second search template than on said selected search template, thereby pre-filling said second search template for performing a second search.

4 more elements

A system for providing a visually oriented, easily navigable search facility, said system comprising:

means for displaying a visual model for using said search facility;
a plurality of search templates, each of said search templates comprising a collection of one or more search fields;
means for enabling a user of said search facility to enter search criteria into said collection of search fields of a selected one of said search templates which is displayed using said visual model, wherein said entered search criteria comprise at least one of (1) one or more data values and (2) one or more data patterns;
means for retaining said entered search criteria pertaining to said collection of search fields;
means for performing a first search using said entered search criteria;
and
means for automatically copying one or more of said retained search criteria into selected fields of a second subsequently-displayed one of said search templates, wherein said selected search fields are those which are also present in said collection of search fields for which said search criteria were retained, even though said second search template may have a different collection of search fields than said selected search template and said selected search fields may be differently arranged on said second search template than on said selected search template, thereby pre-filling said second search template for performing a second search.

4 more elements

A method of providing a visually oriented, easily navigable search facility, said method comprising the steps of:

displaying a visual model for using said search facility;
providing a plurality of search templates, each of said search templates comprising a collection of one or more search fields;
enabling a user of said search facility to enter search criteria into said collection of search fields of a selected one of said search templates which is displayed using said visual model, wherein said entered search criteria comprise at least one of (1) one or more data values and (2) one or more data patterns;
retaining said entered search criteria pertaining to said collection of search fields;
performing a first search using said entered search criteria;
and
automatically copying one or more of said retained search criteria into selected fields of a second subsequently-displayed one of said search templates, wherein said selected search fields are those which are also present in said collection of search fields for which said search criteria were retained, even though said second search template may have a different collection of search fields than said selected search template and said selected search fields may be differently arranged on said second search template than on said selected search template, thereby pre-filling said second search template for performing a second search.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.