Apple patent in the Spotlight

January 29, 2005 on 2:56 pm | In Interesting Patents |

Apple’s latest operating system, code-named "Tiger," is slated for release in the coming months.  One of the new features this release will add is a "desktop search" program called Spotlight.

Microsofts forthcoming operating system, code-named "Longhorn" was likewise rumored to have such an integral desktop search program, but in September MS pulled the program (WinFS) from Longhorn development. I wonder if Apple’s pending patent application had anything to do with it.  One of the Apple blogs recently noted that Apple just received (1/25/05) a patent on its Spotlight technology.   See: Apple Spotlight patent predates Microsoft’s Longhorn announcement by three years .  The patent, USPN 6,847,959 covers a universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.

Claim 1 is amazingly broad:

1. A method for locating information in a computer system, comprising the steps of: inputting an information identifier; providing said information identifier to a plurality of plug-in modules each using a different heuristic to locate information which matches said identifier; providing at least one candidate item of information from said modules; and displaying a representation of said candidate item of information.

The claim seems to describe what I’ve heard about how Spotlight works…Spotlight is built into the OS and is directly linked to all of the sources of data on your computer.  As data changes, Spotlight is told about the update and the index is automatically updated in the background.   An amazing claim…

UPDATE:  Via Scoble — eWeek article:  Microsoft Won’t Bundle Desktop Search with Windows.

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