The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 20, 2010
Filed:
May. 18, 2007
Shishir Samir Mehrotra, Seattle, WA (US);
Richard Louis Negrin, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Greg S Friedman, Redmond, WA (US);
David John Nettleton, Seattle, WA (US);
Nigel R Ellis, Redmond, WA (US);
Joshua M Michaels, San Francisco, CA (US);
Shishir Samir Mehrotra, Seattle, WA (US);
Richard Louis Negrin, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Greg S Friedman, Redmond, WA (US);
David John Nettleton, Seattle, WA (US);
Nigel R Ellis, Redmond, WA (US);
Joshua M Michaels, San Francisco, CA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to creating, maintaining, and using relationships between items. In aspects, items such as files, folders, and other objects may be stored in a data store. A user may desire to form a relationship between two items that provides additional semantic information regarding the relationship. To do so, an instance of an item reference is created and populated with data that associates the item reference with a source item and optionally a target item. The item reference is part of a type hierarchy and inherits properties from ancestor types. These types are included in a payload of the item reference and may be exposed to programs that seek to obtain information about the relationship indicated by the item reference. An item reference may be added without changing other data about the referenced items.