Method for associating annotations with document families

• US 20060150079A1
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wall, David A., Martin, Sean J., Feigenbaum, Lee D., Tran, Hoa T., Fish, Douglas R., Albornoz, Jordi A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,230,326 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

The present invention generally provides methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for managing an annotation system that includes storing annotations for a document family, i.e., a series of versions of a data source. Annotations created for one version of the data source may be viewed in context from both subsequent and prior versions of the same data source. Embodiments of the invention associate annotations with both a data source “family identifier” as well as a “version identifier.” Other than adding a family ID to the data source, the data source remains unchanged. The family ID is maintained across different versions of the data source, whereas version IDs are determined for a specific version of the data source. Version IDs can be constructed from each data source directly, and do not need to be stored.

Claims

1. A method for associating annotations with a data source family, comprising:

receiving a request to create a first annotation for data content in an initial version of a data source;

generating a family identifier, wherein the family identifier is associated with the initial version of the data source and with subsequent versions of the data source;

obtaining annotation content for a first annotation associated with a portion of data content in the initial version of the data source;

associating the first annotation with the family identifier and with the initial version of the data source; and

storing the family identifier in the initial version of the data source.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, storing the first annotation in an annotation store along with (i) an indication of the family identifier and (ii) an indication of the version of the data source for which the annotation was created.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, storing a copy of the initial version of the data source in the annotation store.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the annotation content comprises text content, graphical content, audio content, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the family identifier comprises a hash value generated using a SHA-1, MD5, or other hash algorithm.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

receiving a request to create a second annotation for a modified version of the initial data source;

obtaining annotation content for the second annotation;

associating the second annotation with the family identifier and with the modified version of the data source;

storing in an annotation store, (i) the annotation content, (ii) the family identifier and (iii) an indication of the version of the data source corresponding to the modified version of the data source; and

storing the family identifier in the modified version of the data source.

7. A method of displaying annotations created for different versions of a data source, comprising:

determining a family identifier associated with the data source;

determining a version identifier associated with the data source;

retrieving, from an annotation store, a set of one or more annotation records wherein each annotation record indicates the family identifier and the version identifier of the data source associated with the annotation record; and

displaying, for each annotation record with a version identifier matching the version identifier associated with the data source, an indication that annotation content is available for data content in the data source.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the family identifier comprises a hash value generated from a SHA-1, MD5, or other hash algorithm.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising;

displaying an indication that an annotation record exists in the annotation store with a matching family identifier but with a non-matching version identifier;

displaying, in response to a request, the annotation record with a matching family identifier but with a non-matching version identifier;

retrieving the version of the data source identified by the non-matching version identifier; and

displaying the version of the data source version of the data source identified by the non-matching version identifier.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, selecting at least one annotation record with a matching family identifier but non-matching version identifier to associate with the version of the data source.

11. A computer-readable medium containing a plurality of instructions which, when executed on a computer system is configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request to create a first annotation for data content in an initial version of a data source;

generating a family identifier, wherein the family identifier is associated with the initial version of the data source and with all subsequent versions of the data source;

obtaining annotation content for a first annotation associated with the data content in the initial version of the data source;

associating the first annotation with the family identifier and the initial version of the data source; and

storing the family identifier in the initial version of the data source.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise, storing the first annotation in an annotation store along with (i) an indication of the family identifier and (ii) an indication of the version of the data source for which the annotation was created.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising, storing a copy of the initial version of the data source in the annotation store.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the family identifier comprises a hash value generated using a SHA-1, MD5, or other hash algorithm.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to create a second annotation for a modified version of the initial data source;

obtaining annotation content for the second annotation;

associating the second annotation with the family identifier and with the modified version of the data source;

storing in an annotation store, (i) the annotation content, (ii) the family identifier and (iii) an indication of the version of the data source corresponding to the modified version of the data source; and

storing the family identifier in the modified version of the data source.

16. A computer-readable medium containing a plurality of instructions which, when executed on a computer system is configured to perform operations comprising of displaying annotations created for different versions of a data source, comprising:

determining a family identifier associated with the data source;

determining a version identifier associated with the data source;

retrieving, from an annotation store, a set of one or more annotation records wherein each annotation record indicates the family identifier and the version identifier of the data source associated with the annotation record; and

displaying, for each annotation record with a version identifier matching the version identifier associated with the data source of the data source, an indication that annotation content is available for data content in the data source.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

displaying an indication that an annotation record exists in the annotation store with a matching family identifier but with a non-matching version identifier;

displaying, in response to a request, the annotation record with a matching family identifier but non-matching version identifier;

retrieving the version of the data source identified by the non-matching version identifier; and

displaying the version of the data source version of the data source identified by the non-matching version identifier.

18. A system for managing annotations created for multiple versions of a data source;

comprising;

an annotation management application configured to associate different versions of the data source with a common family identifier and to associate annotations created for the data source with both a family identifier and a version identifier, wherein a version identifier corresponds to a particular one of the multiple versions of the data source;

a database used to store annotations created for the multiple versions of a data source; and

an interface configured to display an indication of annotations created for a current version of a data source and an indication of annotations created for other versions of the data source.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the data source is selected from a spreadsheet, database table, text document, word processor document, image or combinations thereof.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the family identifier comprises a hash value generated from a SHA-1, MD5, or other hash algorithm.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the interface comprises, a first window configured to display the current version of the data source and an indication of annotations created for the current version of the data source and, in a second window, an indication of annotations created for other versions of the data source.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the interface is further configured to display, in the second window, the version of the data source for which the annotation was originally created.