ANNOTATION VALIDITY USING PARTIAL CHECKSUMS

• US 20080209310A1
• Filed: 04/30/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brian J. Cragun, William C. Rapp
• Original Assignee: Brian J. Cragun, William C. Rapp
• Inventors: CRAGUN, BRIAN J., RAPP, WILLIAM C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,964 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention generally provide a system, method and article of manufacture for validating annotations describing one or more portions of a data object. In general, prior to displaying a requested annotation, a current change detection value may be calculated from current data extracted from portions of the data object described by the annotation. The current change detection value may be compared to a previously saved change detection value calculated from data extracted from the portions of the data object at the time the annotation was generated. A mismatch in the current change detection value and the previously saved change detection value indicates a change in the annotated portions of the data object, which may render the annotation invalid. The annotated portions of the data object may be continuous or discontinuous.

Claims

1. A tangible computer-readable medium containing a program which, when executed by a processor, performs operations comprising:

receiving, from a user, a request for an annotation for one or more portions of a data object;

calculating a current change detection value for data extracted from the one or more portions in response to receiving the request;

comparing the current change detection value to a previous change detection value calculated for data extracted from the one or more portions prior to receiving the request; and

if the current and previous change detection values do not match, indicating to the user that the requested annotation is invalid due to a change in the one or more portions of the data object.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise providing the user with options comprising at least one of:

editing the annotation;

overwriting the previous change detection value with the current change detection value to reflect the change in the one or more portions of the data object; and

deleting the annotation.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise, prior to receiving the request for the annotation:

creating the requested annotation;

calculating the previous change detection value; and

creating an annotation record containing an index to the one or more portions, the current change detection value, and the requested annotation.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the one or more portions of the data object comprise discontinuous portions.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, further comprising:

extracting data from the one or more portions of the data object to a buffer; and

calculating the change detection value on the data extracted to the buffer.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising storing the annotation record in an annotation database.

7. An annotation system, comprising:

an annotation database stored in a storage device;

an annotation generation component which, when executed by a processor of the annotation system, is configured to generate an annotation for one or more portions of a data object, calculate at least a first change detection value on data extracted from the on one or more portions of the data object, create an annotation record containing the first change detection value and the generated annotation, and store the annotation record in the annotation database; and

an annotation validation component which, when executed by a processor of the annotation system, is configured to calculate at least a second change detection value on data extracted from the one or more portions of the data object in response to receiving a request for the generated annotation from a user, compare the first and second change detection values, and provide an indication to the user that the one or more portions of the data object have changed if the first and second change detection values do not match.

8. The annotation system of claim 7, wherein the one or more portions of the data object comprise discontinuous data elements.

9. The annotation system of claim 7, wherein the annotation generation component and the annotation validation component are configured to calculate change detection values for each of the one or more portions of the data object.

10. The annotation system of claim 7, wherein the annotation validation component is configured to provide an indication to the user that the one or more portions of the data object have changed by generating a message.

11. The annotation system of claim 10, wherein the generated message includes the requested annotation.

12. The annotation system of claim 10, wherein the annotation validation component is further configured to provide the user with the option of overwriting the first change detection value with the second change detection value.

13. The annotation system of claim 10, wherein the annotation validation component is further configured to provide the user with the options of editing or deleting the requested annotation.