Network-accessible collaborative annotation tool

• US 8,612,469 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2010
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pearson Education Incorporated (Pearson plc)
• Original Assignee: GlobalEnglish Corporation (Pearson plc)
• Inventors: Neff, Sam, Galang, Raymond, Parasuraman, Sundararajan
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US12/767,786
• Publication Number:
  US 20110113320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,331 Days
• US Class Current: 707/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A network-accessible toolbox permits collaborative annotation, facilitating interaction and communication among users. In an implementation, content on a Web page, or other page or document accessible through a network or the Internet, can be annotated. A user can view the page and with the toolbox, select content on the page and make an annotation or suggestion. Multiple users can view and make annotations to the same page at the same time. After annotations are made, users can view the page with annotations made by other users. The author or owner of the page can accept or reject the annotations or suggestions made to the page. If the owner accepts a particular suggestion, the selected content is replaced with the suggestion.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a Web page comprising a plurality of content to be displayed on a computer display device using a Web browser;

in response to a selection of a portion of a content by a first user using a pointing device, providing a first view of a pop-up toolbox to the first user, wherein the first view of the pop-up toolbox comprises a plurality of user-selectable options;

in response to a selection of a first user-selectable option by the first user using the pointing device, providing a second view of the pop-up toolbox to the first user, wherein the second view of the toolbox comprises a suggestion text entry box;

receiving at a server input from the first user comprising a first suggestion inputted into the suggestion text entry box; and

storing the first suggestion and position information on the first suggestion in a suggestions database at the server, wherein the plurality of content is stored in a separate database and the position information comprises information identifying the content and information identifying a location of the selected portion within the content

permitting a second user to select at least a portion of the content selected by the first user; and

permitting the second user to input a second suggestion for the at least a portion of the content selected by the first user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the storing the first suggestion and position information on the first suggestion in a suggestions database at the server comprises:

receiving a first position selected by the first user in a first paragraph; and

receiving a second position selected by the first user in the first paragraph.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 comprising:

before the second user inputs the second suggestion, permitting the second user to view the first suggestion made by the first user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 comprising:

after the second user inputs the second suggestion, permitting the first user to view the second suggestion made by the second user.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the permitting the second user to input a second suggestion comprises:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the second suggestion is associated with the second user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the content selected comprises a misspelled word.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the content selected comprises a grammatical error.

2. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting from a server system code and content associated with a Web page to a first client;

invoking via the code a pop-up toolbox after a first user selects a portion of the content using a pointing device at the first client, wherein the pop-up toolbox allows the user to input a first suggestion to be associated with the selected portion of content;

receiving from the first client the first suggestion associated with the selected portion of content and first information, wherein the first information comprises a content identifier, a start position of the selected portion within the content, and an end position of the selected portion within the content; and

storing the first information in a suggestions database, wherein the suggestions database is separate from a database that stores the content associated with the Web page;

permitting a second user at a second client to select at least a portion of the content selected by the first user; and

permitting the second user at the second client to input a second suggestion for the at least a portion of the content selected by the first user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the owner of the Web page comprises an author of the Web page.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

for an owner of the Web page, allowing the owner to view first and second suggestions; and

receiving from the owner a selection of the first suggestion and not the second suggestion.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

denying first and second users from modifying the Web page.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

permitting designating the first suggestion as an accepted suggestion; and

permitting designating the second suggestion as a discarded suggestion.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 comprising:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the first suggestion annotation is associated with the first user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 comprising:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the first suggestion has been made.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 comprising:

before the second user inputs the second suggestion, permitting the second user to view the first suggestion made by the first user.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 35 comprising:

after the second user inputs the second suggestion, permitting the first user to view the second suggestion made by the second user.

3. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a first Web page comprising a plurality of paragraphs to be displayed on a computer client display device using a Web browser, each paragraph comprising a plurality of characters;

detecting on the display a click of a left mouse button of a pointing device by a first user indicating a start position of a subset of characters within a first paragraph;

permitting the first user to hold down the left mouse button and drag a cursor of the pointing device over the subset of characters to select the subset;

highlighting the subset of characters on the display as the first user drags the cursor;

after detecting a release of the left mouse button by the first user indicating an end position of the subset, highlighting the subset of characters on the display in a translucent color and invoking a pop-up toolbox on the display in which the first user can enter a suggestion to be associated with the subset of characters; and

storing at a server system the suggestion and first information in a suggestions database, wherein the first information comprises a paragraph identifier identifying the first paragraph, the start position, and the end position, and the plurality of paragraphs are stored in a user Web pages database separate from the suggestions database,

wherein the start position designates a position in the first paragraph of a first Web page and the end position designates a position in the second paragraph, different from the first paragraph, of the first Web page.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein a maximum number of positions for a paragraph in the first Web page is a number of words in the paragraph plus one.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request from a first client device to view a first Web page comprising at least a first paragraph of user-generated content stored in a user Web pages database of a system;

transmitting the first Web page with computer code to the first client device, wherein the computer code is executable by a browser executing on first client device used to view the first Web page;

permitting a first user at the first client device to select text in the first paragraph from within the browser;

using the computer code at the first client device, detecting a selection of text in the first paragraph of the browser further comprising;

receiving a first position selected by the first user in the first paragraph; and

receiving a second position selected by the first user in the first paragraph;

using the computer code at the first client device, after the selection of text is made, permitting the first user to type a first annotation; and

storing in an annotations database the first annotation and an associated position of the first annotation in the first paragraph;

permitting a second user to select at least a portion of the text selected by the first user; and

permitting the second user to type a second annotation for the at least a portion of the text selected by the first user.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a Web page comprising a plurality of content to be displayed on a computer display device using a Web browser;

in response to a selection of a portion of a content by a first user using a first pointing device, providing a first view of a pop-up toolbox to the first user, wherein the first view of the pop-up toolbox comprises a plurality of user-selectable options;

in response to a selection of a first user-selectable option by the first user using the first pointing device, providing a second view of the pop-up toolbox to the first user, wherein the second view of the toolbox comprises a first suggestion text entry box;

receiving at a server input from the first user comprising a first suggestion inputted into the first suggestion text entry box;

storing the first suggestion and position information on the first suggestion in a suggestions database at the server;

in response to a selection of the portion of the content by a second user using a second pointing device, providing a third view of a pop-up toolbox to the second user, wherein the third view of the pop-up toolbox comprises a plurality of user-selectable options, and the selection of the portion of the content by a second user can comprise at least a portion of the content selected by the first user;

in response to a selection of a second user-selectable option by the second user using the second pointing device, providing a fourth view of the pop-up toolbox to the second user, wherein the fourth view of the toolbox comprises a second suggestion text entry box;

receiving at the server input from the second user comprising a second suggestion inputted into the second suggestion text entry box, wherein when the selection of the portion of the content by a second user comprises at least a portion of the content selected by the first user, the second suggestion is at least associated with the at least a portion of the text selected by the first user; and

storing the second suggestion and position information on the second suggestion in the suggestions database at the server.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 wherein the portion of the content selected by first and second users comprise the same content on the Web page.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 wherein the first user is connected to the Web page using a first client device and the second user is connected to the Web page using a second client device, different than the first client device.

21. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a first Web page comprising a plurality of paragraphs to be displayed on a computer client display device using a Web browser, each paragraph comprising a plurality of characters;

detecting on the display a click of a left mouse button of a pointing device by a first user indicating a start position of a subset of characters within a first paragraph;

permitting the first user to hold down the left mouse button and drag a cursor of the pointing device over the subset of characters to select the subset;

highlighting the subset of characters on the display as the first user drags the cursor;

after detecting a release of the left mouse button by the first user indicating an end position of the subset, highlighting the subset of characters on the display in a translucent color and invoking a pop-up toolbox on the display in which the first user can enter a suggestion to be associated with the selected subset of characters;

storing at a server system the suggestion and first information in a suggestions database, wherein the first information comprises a paragraph identifier identifying the first paragraph, the start position, and the end position, and the plurality of paragraphs are stored in a user Web pages database separate from the suggestions database;

permitting a second user to select at least a portion of the characters selected by the first user; and

permitting the second user to associate a second suggestion to the at least a portion of the characters selected by the first user;

for an owner of the first Web page, retrieving from the suggestions database the first information; and

indicating to the owner the subset of characters based on the retrieved first information.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21 comprising:

for the owner of the first Web page, retrieving from the suggestions database a second information associated with the second suggestion; and

indicating to the owner a subset of characters based on the retrieved second information.

23. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a first Web page comprising a plurality of paragraphs to be displayed on a computer client display device using a Web browser, each paragraph comprising a plurality of characters;

detecting on the display a click of a left mouse button of a pointing device by a first user indicating a start position of a subset of characters within a first paragraph;

permitting the first user to hold down the left mouse button and drag a cursor of the pointing device over the subset of characters to select the subset;

highlighting the subset of characters on the display as the first user drags the cursor;

after detecting a release of the left mouse button by the first user indicating an end position of the subset, highlighting the subset of characters on the display in a translucent color and invoking a pop-up toolbox on the display in which the first user can enter a suggestion to be associated with the selected subset of characters;

storing at a server system the suggestion and first information in a suggestions database, wherein the first information comprises a paragraph identifier identifying the first paragraph, the start position, and the end position, and the plurality of paragraphs are stored in a user Web pages database separate from the suggestions database,

wherein the start position designates a position in the first paragraph of the first Web page and the end position designates a position in a second paragraph, different from the first paragraph, of the first Web page;

for an owner of the first Web page, retrieving from the suggestions database the first information; and

indicating to the owner the subset of characters based on the retrieved first information.

24. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a Web page comprising a plurality of content to be displayed on a computer display device using a Web browser;

in response to a selection of a portion of a content by a user using a pointing device, providing a first view of a pop-up toolbox to the user, wherein the first view of the pop-up toolbox comprises a plurality of user-selectable options;

in response to a selection of a first user-selectable option by the user using the pointing device, providing a second view of the pop-up toolbox to the user, wherein the second view of the toolbox comprises a suggestion text entry box;

receiving at a server input from the user comprising a suggestion inputted into the suggestion text entry box; and

storing the suggestion and position information on the suggestion in a suggestions database at the server, wherein the plurality of content is stored in a separate database and the position information comprises information identifying the content and information identifying a location of the selected portion within the content,

wherein the position information comprises a start position designating a position in a first paragraph of the Web page and an end position designating a position in a second paragraph, different from the first paragraph, of the Web page.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 24 comprising:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the suggestion associated with the selected portion of content has been made.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 24 comprising:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the suggestion associated with the selected portion of content is associated with the user.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 24 comprising:

denying the user from modifying the Web page.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 24 wherein the user is a first user and the method comprises:

before a second user inputs a second suggestion, permitting the second user to view the suggestion made by the first user.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 comprising:

after the second user inputs the second suggestion, permitting the first user to view the second suggestion made by the second user.

25. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting from a server system code and content associated with a Web page to a client;

invoking via the code a pop-up toolbox after a user selects a portion of the content using a pointing device at the client, wherein the pop-up toolbox allows the user to input a suggestion to be associated with the selected portion of content;

receiving from the client the suggestion associated with the selected portion of content and first information, wherein the first information comprises a content identifier, a start position of the selected portion within the content, and an end position of the selected portion within the content; and

storing the first information in a suggestions database, wherein the suggestions database is separate from a database that stores the content associated with the Web page,

wherein the start position designates a position in a first paragraph of the Web page and an end position designates a position in a second paragraph, different from the first paragraph, of the Web page.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 comprising:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the suggestion associated with the selected portion of content has been made.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 comprising:

indicating to an owner of the Web page that the suggestion associated with the selected portion of content is associated with the user.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 comprising:

denying the user from modifying the Web page.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 25 wherein the user is a first user and the method comprises:

before a second user inputs a second suggestion, permitting the second user to view the suggestion made by the first user.