Shared document annotation

• US 7,885,955 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Van Olst, Daniel G., Erol, Berna, Graham, Jamey, Hull, Jonathan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali; Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hocker; John P
• Application Number:
  US11/461,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20070047780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,653 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 707 1- 10, 707/102, 707/722, 707/915, 707/999.102, 707999001-99901
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/274 Syntactic or semantic context, e.g. balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/40 Document-oriented image-based pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/915 Image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). In one particular embodiment, the MMR system includes a method, system, and computer program product for shared document annotation. A shared annotation is received or retrieved for a source document displayed in a browser. A modified document comprising a hotspot corresponding to the shared annotation is displayed in the browser, and upon a printing command, coordinates are captured corresponding to a printed representation of the modified document and the hotspot, resulting in a rendered page layout comprising the printed representation including the hotspot.

Claims

1. A computer method of shared document annotation, comprising:

(A) displaying a source document in a browser;

(B) locating a mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document, the mixed media reality document data structure comprising;

the source document;

an annotation; and

a first hotspot that links the annotation to the source document;

(C) receiving a shared annotation and a designation of a portion of the source document associated with the shared annotation;

(D) updating the mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document to include a second hotspot that links the shared annotation to the designated portion of the source document and to include a modified source document that comprises a selectable portion associated with the second hotspot;

(E) displaying in the browser the modified source document comprising the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot;

(F) in response to a print command, capturing coordinates corresponding to a printed representation of the modified source document and coordinates corresponding to the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot; and

(G) rendering a page layout comprising the printed representation including the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot,

(H) wherein the shared annotation and designation are retrieved from a shared annotation server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional shared annotation and an additional designation of an additional portion of the source document for association with the additional shared annotation; and

wherein the modified source document further comprises the additional shared annotation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared annotation and designation are added by an end user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the browser is a Windows application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the browser is Internet Explorer and the source document is an HTML file.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing coordinates further comprises parsing the printed representation for a subset of the coordinates corresponding to the designation for the second hotspot.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating one or more clips with the second hotspot.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the page layout.

9. A computer method of displaying a shared document annotation, comprising:

(A) displaying a source document in a browser;

(B) locating a mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document, the mixed media reality document data structure comprising;

the source document;

an annotation; and

a first hotspot that links the annotation to the source document;

(C) retrieving a shared annotation associated with the source document;

(D) updating the mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document to include a second hotspot that links the shared annotation to a designated location of the source document and to include a modified source document that comprises the shared annotation;

(E) displaying in the browser the modified document comprising the shared annotation;

(F) in response to a print command, capturing coordinates corresponding to a printed representation of the modified source document and coordinates corresponding to a location of the shared annotation within the printed representation that corresponds to the designated location within the source document; and

(G) rendering a page layout comprising the printed representation and the second hotspot associated with the location of the shared annotation within the printed representation,

(H) wherein the shared annotation and designation are retrieved from a shared annotation server.

10. A computer program product for shared document annotation, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

computer program code, coded on the medium, for;

displaying a source document in a browser;

locating a mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document, the mixed media reality document data structure comprising;

the source document;

an annotation; and

a first hotspot that links the annotation to the source document;

receiving a shared annotation and a designation of a portion of the source document associated with the shared annotation;

updating the mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document to include a second hotspot that links the shared annotation to the designated portion of the source document and to include a modified source document that comprises a selectable portion associated with the second hotspot;

displaying in the browser the modified source document comprising the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot;

in response to a print command, capturing coordinates corresponding to a printed representation of the modified source document and coordinates corresponding to the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot; and

rendering a page layout comprising the printed representation including the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot,

wherein the shared annotation and designation are retrieved from a shared annotation server.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer program code coded on the medium for:

receiving an additional shared annotation and an additional designation of an additional portion of the source document for association with the additional shared annotation; and

wherein the modified document further comprises the additional shared annotation.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the shared annotation and designation are added by an end user.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the browser is a Windows application.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the browser is Internet Explorer and the source document is an HTML file.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein capturing coordinates further comprises parsing the printed representation for a subset of the coordinates corresponding to the designation for the second hotspot.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising associating one or more clips with the second hotspot.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising storing the page layout.

18. A computer program product for displaying a shared document annotation, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

computer program code, coded on the medium, for;

displaying a source document in a browser;

locating a mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document, the mixed media reality document data structure comprising;

the source document;

an annotation; and

a first hotspot that links the annotation to the source document;

retrieving a shared annotation associated with the source document;

updating the mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document to include a second hotspot that links the shared annotation to a designated location of the source document and to include a modified source document that comprises the shared annotation;

displaying in the browser the modified document comprising the shared annotation;

in response to a print command, capturing coordinates corresponding to a printed representation of the modified source document and coordinates corresponding to a location of the shared annotation within the printed representation that corresponds to the designated location within the source document; and

rendering a page layout comprising the printed representation and the second hotspot associated with the location of the shared annotation within the printed representation,

wherein the shared annotation and designation are retrieved from a shared annotation server.

19. A system for shared document annotation, the system comprising;

a display device for displaying the source document in the browser;

a processor for locating a mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document, the mixed media reality document data structure comprising;

the source document;

an annotation; and

a first hotspot that links the annotation to the source document;

an annotation module for receiving a shared annotation and a designation of a portion of the source document associated with the shared annotation,

updating the mixed media reality document data structure associated with the source document to include a second hotspot that links the shared annotation to the designated portion of the source document and to include a modified source document that comprises a selectable portion associated with the second hotspot, and for transmitting the modified document comprising the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot to the display device for display;

a feature extraction module for, in response to a print command, capturing coordinates corresponding to a printed representation of the modified source document and coordinates corresponding to the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot; and

a render module for rendering a page layout comprising the printed representation including the selectable portion associated with the second hotspot,

wherein the shared annotation and designation are retrieved from a shared annotation server.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the shared annotation and designation are retrieved from a shared annotation server.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the shared annotation and designation are received from an end user.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein capturing coordinates further comprises parsing the printed representation for a subset of the coordinates corresponding to the designation for the second hotspot.

23. The system of claim 19, further comprising a hotspot module for associating one or more clips with the second hotspot.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising a storage module for storing the page layout.