Associating information with an electronic document

• US 20060242574A1
• Filed: 09/15/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brill, Eric D., Richardson, Matthew R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,631 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/210
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

A system for associating information comprises an association module that uses anchoring information to associate a first piece of information with a second piece of information, wherein the second piece of information is not part of the first piece of information. The system further includes a rendering module that presents the second piece of information for use. Methods for using such a system are also described.

Claims

1. A system for associating information, comprising:

an association module that uses anchoring information to associate a first piece of information and a second piece of information, wherein the second piece of information is different from the first piece of information; and

a rendering module that presents the second piece of information for use.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first piece of information is one of a web page, a text document, a blog entry, a wiki, an image file, an audio file, and a multimedia file.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the anchoring information is one of a domain name, a uniform resource locator, a keyword, form data, and a file location.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the second piece of information is one of a note, a Web page, an intranet page, a text document, an image file, an audio file, a search term, a search result, an interface for a search engine, a wiki, a blog, an RSS feed, a news feed, an interface for a chat session, an interface for a notification-based chat session, an instant message, a tag, a rating, an in-link, an out-link, and an advertisement.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a creation module that creates the second piece of information.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the creation module is one of a text editor, a graphics application, an audio application, a multimedia application, a blogging application, a syndication application, a Web publishing application, a chat application, an instant messaging application, a tagging application, and a rating application.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a privacy module that protects personal information of a user of the association module.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the rendering module is pluggable.

9. A computer-implemented method for associating pieces of information, comprising:

using anchoring information from a first piece of information to obtain a second piece of information; and

presenting the second piece of information to a user together with the first piece of information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein using anchoring information includes one of using a domain name, using a uniform resource locator, using a keyword, using form data, and using a file location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein using anchoring information to obtain a second piece of information includes obtaining at least one of a note, a Web page, an intranet page, a text document, an image file, an audio file, a search term, a search result, an interface for a search engine, a wiki, a blog, an RSS feed, a news feed, an interface for a chat session, an interface for a notification-based chat session, an instant message, a tag, a rating, an in-link, an out-link, and an advertisement.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising creating the second piece of information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein creating the second piece of information includes at least one of using a text editor, using a graphics application, using an audio application, using a multimedia application, using a blogging application, using a syndication application, using a Web publishing application, using a chat application, using an instant messaging application, using a tagging application, and using a rating application.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising protecting personal information of the user.

15. A system for associating pieces of information, comprising:

means for using anchoring information from a first piece of information to obtain a second piece of information; and

means for presenting the second piece of information to a user together with the first piece of information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the means for using anchoring information includes one of means for using a domain name, means for using a uniform resource locator, means for using a keyword, means for using form data, and means for using a file location.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for using anchoring information to obtain a second piece of information includes means for obtaining at least one of a note, a Web page, an intranet page, a text document, an image file, an audio file, a search term, a search result, an interface for a search engine, a wiki, a blog, an RSS feed, a news feed, an interface for a chat session, an interface for a notification-based chat session, an instant message, a tag, a rating, an in-link, an out-link, and an advertisement.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising means for creating the second piece of information.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for creating the second piece of information includes at least one of a text editor, a graphics application, an audio application, a multimedia application, a blogging application, a syndication application, a Web publishing application, a chat application, an instant messaging application, a tagging application, and a rating application.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising means for protecting personal information of the user.