Lightweight reference user interface
First Claim
1. A method of providing information associated with a selected item in an electronic document, comprising:
- receiving a selection of an item contained in an electronic document;
passing data representing the selected item to an information source;
at the information source, parsing a data source for information associated with the selected item;
returning the information associated with the selected item;
displaying a user interface in the electronic document in proximity to the selected item; and
displaying the information associated with the selected item in the user interface.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lightweight information user interface is provided for displaying information about a selected text item, data item or other object in an electronic document that minimizes interruption of workflow with the electronic document. Upon selection of an item in an electronic document a quick look-up function may be invoked for retrieving information from a local or remote information source about the selected item. Retrieved information, for example, dictionary definitions, translations, contacts information and research information, is displayed in close proximity to the selected item in a lightweight user interface.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of providing information associated with a selected item in an electronic document, comprising:
-
receiving a selection of an item contained in an electronic document;
passing data representing the selected item to an information source;
at the information source, parsing a data source for information associated with the selected item;
returning the information associated with the selected item;
displaying a user interface in the electronic document in proximity to the selected item; and
displaying the information associated with the selected item in the user interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of providing information associated with a selected item in an electronic document, comprising:
-
receiving a selection of an item contained in an electronic document;
passing data representing the selected item to a recognizer module for determining whether the selected item corresponds to a given data type;
if the selected item corresponds to a given data type, passing the data representing the selected item to an information source containing information associated with the given data type;
at the information source, parsing a data source for information associated with the selected item;
returning information associated with the selected item that is further associated with the given data type;
displaying a user interface in the electronic document in proximity to the selected item; and
displaying the information associated with the selected item in the user interface.
-
-
19. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of providing information associated with a selected item in an electronic document, comprising:
-
receiving a selection of an item contained in an electronic document;
querying one or more data sources for information associated with the selected item;
displaying a user interface in the electronic document in proximity to the selected item; and
if the information associated with the selected item is received from more than one source, displaying the information in the user interface in one or more sections where information from a first data source is displayed in a first section and where information from a second data source is displayed in a second section. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification