Method of and System for Updating Locally Cached Content Descriptor Information

1 . A method of finding and presenting content items based on query input received from a user in which the match for content items of potential interest is based at least in part on metacontent associated with content items on a local device that was provided by a remote catalog of metacontent, the method comprising:

providing on a remote server system a remote catalog of metacontent associated with content items, the metacontent describing the informational content of the content items;

providing on a local device a local collection of content items and associated metacontent, the metacontent associated with each content item describing the informational content of the corresponding content item;

from time to time, updating the metacontent associated with the content items of the local collection with metacontent of the remote catalog based on matching content items of the local collection with content items associated with metacontent of the remote catalog;

receiving query input from the user for finding at least one desired content item;

determining a subset of content items of the local collection associated with metacontent that at least partially matches the query input from the user, wherein at least one of the matching metacontents is metacontent updated from the remote catalog of metacontent; and

presenting the subset of content items on a display device based on at least one ranking criterion.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content items of the local collection include contact information records and the associated metacontent includes at least one of contact name, contact email address, contact company name, contact telephone number, and contact physical address.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content items of the local collection include audio/video items and the associated metacontent includes at least one of song name, song artist name, song album name, audio/video genre, video clip name, and actors featured in the audio/video item.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content items of the local collection include website links and the associated metacontent includes at least one of a URL address, domain name of the website link, website page title, and website category.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content items of the local collection include application store items and the associated metacontent includes at least one of application name, keywords associated with the application, application price, and application categories.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content items of the local collection include point of interest items and the associated metacontent includes at least one of name of point of interest, physical address of the point of interest, geographic location of the point of interest.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the content items of the local collection include text-based communication records and the associated metacontent includes at least one of subject field, text content of the communication, communication sender identifier, and communication receiver identifiers.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ranking criterion includes learned preferences of the user for content items of the local collection and local attribute values associated with the content items of the local collection, each local attribute value being based on interactions of the user with at least one content item of the local collection corresponding to the local attribute value.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the local attribute values include at least one of a periodicity of usage by the user, frequency of usage by the user, a duration of usage by the user, a number of interactions by the user, a last time of use by the user, temporal information associated with usage by the user, and location information associated with usage by the user.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the ranking criterion includes learned preferences of a plurality of users for content items of the local collection and global attribute values associated with the content items of the local collection, each global attribute value being based on interactions of a plurality of users with at least one content item of the local collection corresponding to the global attribute value.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the global attribute values include at least one of a periodicity of usage by the plurality of users, frequency of usage by the plurality of users, a duration of usage by the plurality of users, a number of interactions by the plurality of users, a last time of use by the plurality of users, temporal information associated with usage by the plurality of users, and location information associated with usage by the plurality of users.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the local device is one of a personal digital assistant, a Smartphone, and a tablet computer.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the subset of content items on the local device that at least partially matches the query input is determined as each character of the input is entered by the user.