Method and System for Tree Representation of Search Results
An illustrative method according to a set of instructions stored on a memory of a computing device includes receiving, by a processor of the computing device, a search input. The method further includes determining, by the processor, the presence of a plurality of electronic files related to the search input. The method further includes displaying, by the processor, on a graphical user interface (GUI), representative information of the plurality of electronic files related to the search input, where the representative information comprises a hierarchical tree structure.
1 . A method according to a set of instructions stored on a memory of a computing device, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processor of the computing device, a search input;
determining, by the processor, the presence of a plurality of electronic files related to the search input; and
displaying, by the processor, on a graphical user interface (GUI), representative information of the plurality of electronic files related to the search input, wherein the representative information comprises a hierarchical tree structure.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the presence of the plurality of electronic files related to the search input comprises searching a plurality of different electronic storage locations.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the processor, a manipulation command.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the manipulation command comprises a request for expanding a first level of the hierarchical tree structure.
5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying, by the processor and in response to the manipulation command, preview data of at least one electronic file associated with the first level of the hierarchical tree structure.
6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising displaying, by the processor and in response to the manipulation command, a second level of the hierarchical tree structure, wherein the second level is related to the first level, and further wherein the second level was not displayed on the GUI prior to reception of the manipulation command.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical tree structure comprises a plurality of folders, and further wherein some of the plurality of folders are subordinate to other of the plurality of folders.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of folders indicate different physical locations of the plurality of electronic files, different virtual locations of the plurality of electronic files, or different data types of the plurality of electronic files.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein displaying the representative information comprising a hierarchical tree structure comprises:
determining, by the processor, a number of the plurality of electronic files in each of the plurality of folders that are related to the search input; and
displaying, by the processor, the number of the plurality of electronic files in each of the plurality of folders that are related to the search input alongside a representation of each of the plurality of folders.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining, by the processor, that one of the plurality of folders contains no electronic files related to the search input;
displaying, by the processor, a representation of the folder with no electronic files related to the search input that is different than the representation of folders that contain electronic files related to the search input.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the representation of the folder with no electronic files related to the search input is displayed as a different color or shade of color than the representation of folders that contain electronic files related to the search input.
12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the processor, a more relevant portion of the hierarchical tree structure based on a predetermined criteria for organizing search results.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined criteria comprises a device access pattern of one or more electronic storage locations where the plurality of electronic files are stored, a frequency of use of the one or more electronic storage locations, file access patterns of each of the plurality of electronic files, file frequency of use of each of the plurality of electronic files, a device ranking of the one or more electronic storage locations, or a file ranking of each of the plurality of electronic files.
14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the more relevant portion of the hierarchical tree structure is displayed on the GUI.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a less relevant portion of the hierarchical tree structure is not displayed on the GUI unless a manipulation command to display the less relevant portion is received.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electronic files comprise both e-mails and other data files, and further wherein the method comprises displaying, by the processor, the e-mails and the other data files on separate tabs on the GUI, wherein display of the separate tables can be toggled back and for between the e-mails and the other data and wherein the GUI comprises a single window.
17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
grouping, by the processor, clusters of the plurality of electronic files by data type; and
displaying, by the processor and on the GUI, cluster representative information regarding each of the clusters of the plurality of electronic files.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein sub-folders of the cluster representative information indicate virtual location or physical storage location.
19 . An apparatus comprising:
a memory;
a processor coupled to the memory; and
a first set of instructions stored on the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive a search input;
determine the presence of a plurality of electronic files related to the search input; and
display, on a graphical user interface (GUI), representative information of the plurality of electronic files related to the search input, wherein the representative information comprises a hierarchical tree structure.
20 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations, wherein the instructions comprise:
instructions to receive a search input;
instructions to determine the presence of a plurality of electronic files related to the search input; and
instructions to display, on a graphical user interface (GUI), representative information of the plurality of electronic files related to the search input, wherein the representative information comprises a hierarchical tree structure.