Bookmarking and placemarking a displayed document in a computer system

• US 6,992,687 B1
• Filed: 12/07/1999
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cluts, Jonathan C., Woolf, Susan D., Beezer, John L., Baird, Andrew C., Rubin, Daryl E.
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US09/456,127
• Time in Patent Office: 2,247 Days
• Field of Search: 345/776, 345/777, 345821-824, 345856-862, 345/774, 345/711, 345/747, 345/745, 345/811, 345/808, 345/804, 345/805, 345/744, 345/837, 345/802, 345/767, 707/217, 707/219, 725/38
• US Class Current: 715/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

While viewing an electronically displayed document, a user creates a bookmark by selecting a desired part of a document to be marked. In response, a visual indicator is displayed and a bookmark object is created preferably separate from the document. The bookmark object comprises information linking the bookmark object to the desired part of the document as well as user-modifiable properties. If another part of the document is subsequently displayed, at least a portion of the visual indicator is still displayed. Later selection of the portion of the visual indicator causes the desired portion of the document to be re-displayed. Because the object is separate from the document, it may be viewed and sorted by its properties apart from its display with the document. A placemark is created whenever the display of a current document is discontinued. In response to a discontinuation signal, a placemark object comprising information linking the placemark object to a last-viewed part of the document is created. Subsequent selection of the document for re-display causes the last-viewed part of the document to be displayed.

Claims

1. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of bookmarking a document rendered on the display, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing to a desired part of the document;

responsive to the first selection signal, displaying a visual indicator representative of a bookmark with the desired part of the document; and

responsive to the first selection signal, generating a bookmark object represented by the visual indicator,

wherein the visual indicator is displayed at least partially outside of the document,

wherein the bookmark object comprises user-modifiable properties corresponding to the visual indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first selection signal is indicative of the selection device pointing to a predetermined region of the desired part of the document.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first selection signal is indicative of the selection device pointing to a user-selected point within the predetermined region, and wherein the visual indicator is displayed at the user-selected point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator comprises information identifying the desired part of the document.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:

displaying information regarding at least the bookmark based on properties of bookmarks.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising a step of:

displaying a list comprising information regarding a plurality of bookmarks based on user-selected ones of the properties of bookmarks.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the bookmark object is generated within a user space separate from the document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the bookmark object comprises information linking the bookmark object to the desired part of the document.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of:

receiving a removal signal corresponding to the visual indicator; and

responsive to the removal signal, removing, from the display, the visual indicator and eliminating the bookmark object.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of:

displaying another part of the document and, while the other part of the document is being displayed, displaying at least a portion of the visual indicator.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising steps of:

receiving a second selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing to the at least the portion of the visual indicator; and

responsive to the second selection signal, displaying the desired part of the document.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of:

receiving a second selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing to another desired part of a same page of the document; and

responsive to the second selection signal, displaying a second visual indicator representative of a second bookmark with the other desired part of the same page of the document.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-modifiable property comprises information defining a shape of the visual indicator.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-modifiable property comprises information defining a color of the visual indicator.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-modifiable property comprises information defining a font of the visual indicator.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-modifiable property comprises information defining a title of the visual indicator.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-modifiable property comprises information defining textual content of the visual indicator.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the textual content includes a link.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a list of user-modifiable properties corresponding to the visual indicator.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of receiving at least a second selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing to a desired user-modifiable property in the list.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user-modifiable property is the desired user-modifiable property.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-modifiable property comprises information defining a default property.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein another part of the document is a different page of the document.

24. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable components for bookmarking a document rendered on a display, the computer-executable components comprising:

a receiver component that is capable of taking as input a first selection signal indicating selection of a desired part of the document;

a display component that is capable of causing, in response to the first selection signal, a visual indicator to be displayed with the desired part of the document, wherein the display component is capable of causing the visual indicator to be displayed at least partially outside of the document; and

a generating component that, responsive to the first selection signal, is capable of creating a bookmark object represented by the visual indicator, wherein the generating component is capable of providing, as part of the bookmark object, user-modifiable properties corresponding to the visual indicator.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24;

wherein the receiver component is capable of responding to the first selection signal indicating that the selection device is pointing to a predetermined region of the desired part of the document.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the receiver component is capable of responding to the first selection signal indicating that the selection device is pointing to a user-selected point within the predetermined region, and wherein the display component is capable of causing the visual indicator to be displayed at the user-selected point.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the display component is capable of causing the visual indicator to comprise information identifying the desired part of the document.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the display component is capable of causing at least a portion of the visual indicator to be displayed while another part of the document is being displayed.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the receiver component is capable of taking as input a second selection signal indicating the selection of the at least the portion of the visual indicator, and wherein the display component is capable of causing the desired part of the document to be displayed responsive to the second selection signal.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the generating component is capable of creating the bookmark object within a user space separate from the document.

31. The computer-readable medium of claims 24, wherein the generating component is capable of providing, as part of the bookmark object, information linking the bookmark object to the desired part of the document.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the user-modifiable properties comprising information defining at least one of:

a color of the visual indicator, a shape of the visual indicator, a font of the visual indicator, a title of the visual indicator and textual content of the visual indicator.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 having further computer-executable components comprising:

a removal component, responsive to a removal signal corresponding to the visual indicator, that is capable of removing, from the display, the visual indicator and that is capable of causing the bookmark object to be eliminated;

wherein the receiver component is capable of taking as input the removal signal.

34. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of bookmarking a document rendered on the display, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing to a desired part of the document;

responsive to the first selection signal, displaying a first visual indicator representative of a first bookmark with the desired part of the document;

responsive to the first selection signal, generating a first bookmark object represented by the first visual indicator;

receiving a second selection signal indicative of the selection device pointing to another desired part of a same page of the document;

responsive to the second selection signal, displaying a second visual indicator representative of a second bookmark with the other desired part of the same page of the document; and

responsive to the second selection signal, generating a second bookmark object represented by the second visual indicator;

wherein the first and second visual indicators are displayed at least partially outside of the document;

wherein the first bookmark object comprises user-modifiable properties corresponding to the first visual indicator and the second bookmark object comprises user-modifiable properties corresponding to the second visual indicator.