Methods and systems for providing guided navigation

1. A computer-implemented method for providing guided navigation across different object types, comprising:

receiving a search request;

retrieving result objects in response to the search request, the result objects comprising the different object types, including a database object and an unstructured object;

creating a metadata database, by:

defining a number of the object types;

defining a number of generic attributes associated with the object types;

configuring the metadata database based on the defined number of object types and generic attributes; and

defining metadata, for each generic attribute of each object type, which maps an individual attribute of the object type to the corresponding generic attribute;

accessing the metadata database to obtain the metadata;

normalizing the result objects based on the accessed metadata, wherein the accessed metadata is associated with the generic attributes related to each of the object types, the accessed metadata including a mapping of one of the generic attributes to both the database object and the unstructured object;

generating guided navigation results across the different object types of the result objects based on the normalization; and

storing the generated guided navigation results in a memory.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein normalizing the result objects includes:

for each object type,

creating a value set for each of the generic attributes; and

adding to each value set metadata associated with a given generic attribute and individual attributes for the given object type.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the metadata includes mappings between the generic attributes and individual attributes for the given object type.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating guided navigation results includes:

grouping the result objects into groups; and

generating a user interface corresponding to the groups to enable a user to refine the search result.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating guided navigation results includes:

partitioning the value sets into subsets; and

generating the guided navigation results based on the subsets that enable a user to refine the search result.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata maps individual attributes of each object type to the generic attributes.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the object types include object types corresponding to structured and unstructured objects.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the guided navigation results include:

providing a user interface that groups the result objects into categories corresponding to the object types of the result objects.

9. A computer-implemented method for providing guided navigation across different object types, comprising:

defining the object types for result objects that are generated in response to a search request, the result objects including a database object and an unstructured object;

defining generic attributes common to the object types;

generating a database comprising the object types and generic attributes;

defining a number of the object types;

defining a number of the generic attributes associated with the object types;

configuring the database based on the defined number of object types and generic attributes;

defining metadata, for each generic attribute of each object type, which maps an individual attribute of the object type to the corresponding generic attribute;

accessing the metadata database to obtain the metadata;

normalizing the result objects based on the accessed metadata, wherein the accessed metadata is associated with the generic attributes related to each of the object types, the accessed metadata including a mapping of one of the generic attributes to both the database object and the unstructured object;

generating guided navigation results across the different object types of the result objects based on the normalization; and

storing the generated guided navigation results in a memory.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein generating the database includes:

for each object type:

defining, for each generic attribute, metadata that maps an individual attribute of the object type to the corresponding generic attribute.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further including:

generating search results in response to the search request, the search results including result objects of different types;

generating, based on the metadata, guided navigation results that categorize the search results into groups corresponding to the object types.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein defining generic attributes includes:

determining generic attributes that reflect characteristics that describe one or more individual attributes of the object types.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the object types include a first object type that is in a structured format and a second object type that is in an unstructured format.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the second object type is associated with documents that are obtained from the Internet.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the first object type includes objects that are associated with a structured database.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 , wherein the object types include a third object type that is in a structured format and includes objects that are associated with a second structured database.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the metadata includes:

first metadata corresponding to individual attributes associated with the first object type and each of the generic attributes; and

second metadata corresponding to individual attributes associated with the second object type and each of the generic attributes.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further including:

generating result objects based on a received search request, the generated result objects including objects that are of the first object type and second object type;

generating a value set for each generic attribute based on the first and second metadata; and

partitioning each value set into subsets that reflect guided navigation across the first and second result object types.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , wherein generating a value set includes:

generating a first value set for a first generic attribute by:

adding the metadata corresponding to the first generic attribute and each object type into the first value set.

20. A computer storage medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for providing guided navigation across different object types, the method comprising:

receiving a search request;

retrieving result objects in response to the search request, the result objects comprising the different object types, including a database object and an unstructured object;

creating a metadata database, by:

defining a number of the object types;

defining a number of generic attributes associated with the object types;

configuring the metadata database based on the defined number of object types and generic attributes; and

defining metadata, for each generic attribute of each object type, that maps an individual attribute of the object type to the corresponding generic attribute;

accessing the metadata database to obtain the metadata;

normalizing the result objects based on the accessed metadata, wherein the accessed metadata is associated with the generic attributes related to each of the object types, the accessed metadata including a mapping of one of the generic attributes to both the database object and the unstructured object; and

generating guided navigation results across the different object types of the result objects based on the normalization.

21. A system, including a processor and memory, for providing guided navigation across different object types of result objects, including:

a first computer system that provides a search request; and

a second computer system that:

generates search results based on the search request, the search results including result objects, retrieved in response to the search request, the result objects comprising the different object types, and including a database object and an unstructured object,

creates a metadata database, by:

defining a number of the object types;

defining a number of generic attributes associated with the object types,

configuring the metadata database based on the defined number of object types and generic attributes; and

defining metadata, for each generic attribute of each object type, that maps an individual attribute of the object type to the corresponding generic attribute;

accesses the metadata database to obtain the metadata;

normalizes the result objects based on the accessed metadata, wherein the accessed metadata is associated with the generic attributes related to each of the object type, the accessed metadata including a mapping of one of a plurality of generic attributes to both the database object and the unstructured object, and

generates guided navigation results across the different object types of the result objects based on the normalization.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the second computer system normalizes the result objects by:

for each object type,

creating a value set for each of the plurality of generic attributes corresponding to each individual attribute, and

adding to each value set metadata associated with a given generic attribute and individual attributes for the given object type.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the metadata includes mappings between the plurality of generic attributes and individual attributes for the given object type.

24. The system of claim 21 , wherein the second computer system generates the guided navigation results by:

grouping the result objects into groups; and

generating a user interface corresponding to the groups to enable the first computer system to refine the search result.

25. The system of claim 22 , wherein the second computer system generates the guided navigation results by:

partitioning the value sets into subsets; and

generating the guided navigation results based on the subsets that enable a user to refine the search result.

26. The system of claim 21 , wherein the metadata maps individual attributes of each object type to the plurality of generic attributes.

27. The system of claim 21 , wherein the object types include object types corresponding to structured and unstructured objects.

28. The system of claim 21 , wherein the second computer system generates the guided navigation results by:

providing a user interface that groups the result objects into categories corresponding to the object types of the result objects.

29. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the unstructured object is a document.

30. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the generic attributes include an object type, an object name, a creation timestamp, an author, or a source name.

31. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the generic attributes include an object type, an object name, a creation timestamp, an author, and a source name.

32. The computer-implemented method according to claim 31 , wherein the object name generic attribute is mapped to both:

a URL of the unstructured object; and

a first field of the database object.

33. The computer-implemented method according to claim 31 , wherein the source value generic attribute is mapped to both:

a string value of the unstructured document; and

a string value field in the database object.