ANNOTATION STRUCTURE TYPE DETERMINATION

• US 20110154178A1
• Filed: 02/28/2011
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grev, Christine A., Rath, Cale T., Cragun, Brian J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,811,513 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

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for organizing and selecting structures used to generate forms for capturing information as annotations made for a variety of different type data objects are provided. Some embodiments allow annotation structures to be associated with specific pairings of data object types and user roles via entries in a configuration file. When a user selects a set of one or more data objects for annotation, the configuration file may be accessed to determine a proper annotation structure for use in generating an annotation form based on the selected data objects and a role of the user.

Claims

1. A method for selecting an annotation structure for use in entering annotation data, comprising:

receiving a request from a user to create an annotation for at least one data object identified by a set of identifying parameters; and

retrieving, from a configuration file, information identifying at least one annotation structure associated with the at least one data object based, at least in part, on the set of identifying parameters and a role of the user, the annotation structure defining one or more annotation fields into which annotation data will be entered.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a graphical user interface, based on the at least one annotation structure, for receiving annotation data entered by a user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of identifying parameters comprises at least at least one parameter indicating a data source and at least one parameter indicating an annotatable data object within the data source.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of identifying parameters comprises at least one parameter indicating a data source subtype specifying a particular type of the data source.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the information identifying the at least one annotation structure comprises searching the configuration file for information identifying one or more annotation structures associated with the set of identified parameters and the role of the user.

6. A computer-readable storage medium containing an executable component for selecting an annotation structure for use in generating a form for entering annotation data which, when executed by a processor, performs operations comprising:

receiving a request from a user to create an annotation for at least one data point identified by a set of identifying parameters; and

retrieving, from a configuration file, information identifying at least one annotation structure associated with the at least one data point based, at least in part, on the set of identifying parameters and a role of the user, wherein the annotation structure defines one or more annotation fields into which the annotation will be entered.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein retrieving the information identifying at least one annotation structure associated with the at least one data point is based, at least in part, on a credential of the user.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the credential of the user comprises an identified role of the user.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the at least one data point comprises a plurality of data points.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the plurality of data points comprises data points from different data sources.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein retrieving, from a configuration file, information identifying at least one annotation structure associated with the at least one data object comprises:

determining if the plurality of data points are of differing types; and

if so, retrieving, from a configuration file, one or more annotation structures associated with a set of data points of the same differing types.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein retrieving the one or more annotation structures, comprises:

determining, for each differing type, if a number of data points in the specified set having that type falls within a range specified in the configuration file; and

if so, retrieving an identification of one or more annotation structures associated with the set of data points of the same differing types.

13. A system for creating annotations for data points contained in one or more different type data sources, comprising:

a set of annotation structures, each specifying one or more annotation fields;

at least one configuration file associating annotation structures with sets of one or more annotatable data points; and

an annotation server configured to receive a request from a user to create an annotation for at least one data point identified by a set of identifying parameters and retrieve, from the configuration file, information identifying at least one annotation structure associated with the at least one data point based on the set of identifying parameters and a role of the user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one data point comprises a plurality of data points from at least two different data sources.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one configuration file comprises:

at least one point map associating one or more annotation structures with a data point of a single type; and

at least one disparate point set map associating one or more annotation structures with a set of data points, wherein the set of data points comprises at least two different type data points.