Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Paolo Marcucci

Carlos Brito

Scott S Hysom

Tyler Kien Beam

David Fields

Chris McConnell

Christopher Clayton McConnell

Shannon Scott Hysom

Evgeny Ivanovich Tvorun

Scott Hysom

System and methods for directing a federated search using a location description file to locate a data source are provided. For a federated search, a location description may be used to describe the location of each data source searched, and may further be used to connect the user to that particular data source. The format of such a location description file may include several elements, some of which provide information on how to display the file (e.g., name, description, author, icon link, etc.) and other elements (e.g., simple location, location type, etc.) are used to connect the user to the location of the data source.

Location description for federation and discoverability

Embodiments of the present invention provide a schema to describe the structure of a data store that may be used to query the data store. The schema may include a property description describing static and contextual attributes of a property of the data store. The schema may also include a property reference describing contextual attributes of a property of the data store, while referencing static attributes from a property description in another schema. In some instances, the schema may further describe item types and/or kinds for the data store.

Schema for federated searching

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for aggregating schema data from two or more schemas are provided. Embodiments of the present invention include receiving schema definitions for two or more schemas. An aggregated property description for an individual property that is common to the two or more schemas may be created. The aggregated property description includes property attribute values that are the same for the property description in both schemas. Where the attribute values are different, rules may be applied to determine which attribute value to include in the aggregated property description. In one embodiment, the less capable of the two different attribute values is included in the aggregated property description.

Aggregating schema data from multiple sources

Methods and computer-readable media are provided for performing a federated search using a library description file to locate multiple data sources. For a federated search, a library description can be used to describe a set of data sources searched, and may further be used to describe how search results should be presented to a user. The format of such a library description file can include multiple elements, some of which provide information on how to display the library and others that define which data sources are included in the library. The library description file can be created according to library description template.

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Paolo Marcucci