Validation, rejection, and modification of automatically generated document annotations

• US 8,719,692 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vanderwende, Lucretia Henrica, Naim, Oscar Gerardo, Wongsuphasawat, Krist
• Primary Examiner(s): Mills, Frank D
• Application Number:
  US13/045,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20120233534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: 715/231
• US Class Current: 715/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities

Abstract

A mixed-initiative annotation framework is described herein. A document that includes several sentences is presented to a user, and an extractor module analyzes at least one sentence and automatically extracts a subject, predicate, object triple therefrom. The subject, predicate, object triple is displayed in graphical relation with the sentence as a proposed annotation to the sentence. Graphical options are presented to the user that allow the user to accept the proposed annotation, reject the proposed annotation, or modify the proposed annotation.

Claims

1. A method executed by a processor of a computing device, the method comprising:

displaying a portion of a document on a display screen;

receiving a selection of the portion of the document that is free of annotations, the portion of the document comprising a sentence;

responsive to receiving the selection, displaying a first text entry field, a second text entry field, and a third text entry field on the display screen, wherein the first text entry field is configured to receive a subject of the sentence, the second text entry field is configured to receive an object of the sentence, and the third text entry field is configured to receive a predicate that relates the subject of the sentence to the object of the sentence;

receiving a first entry in the first text entry field, a second entry in the second text entry field, and a third entry in the third text entry field; and

responsive to receiving the first entry, the second entry, and the third entry, storing the first entry, the second entry, and the third entry collectively as an annotation to the portion of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching for content in the document that corresponds to predefined criteria;

locating a second portion of the document that corresponds to the predefined criteria based at least in part upon the searching for the content in the document that corresponds to the predefined criteria;

extracting a tuple of words or phrases from the second portion of the document, the tuple of words or phrases comprises an ordered set of words or phrases, the ordered set of words or phrases comprises a first word or phrase, a second word or phrase, and a third word or phrase that relates the first word or phrase to the second word or phrase;

displaying the tuple on the display screen as a proposed annotation to the document; and

displaying a first user-selectable graphical object on the display screen together with the proposed annotation, wherein selection of the first graphical object causes the proposed annotation to be one of validated, rejected, or modified.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the document is displayed on the display screen by way of an application executing on the computing device, and wherein the application executing on the computing device is one of a word processing application or a web browser.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the user-selectable graphical object is one of a radio button, a depressible graphical button, a check box, or a text entry field.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein selection of the first graphical object causes the proposed annotation to be validated, and further comprising causing the proposed annotation to be retained in a data store of the computing device as a portion of the document responsive to receipt of the selection of the first graphical object.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a third portion of the document, wherein the third portion of the document comprises text;

responsive to receiving the selection of the third portion of the document, automatically generating another tuple based at least in part upon the text in the third portion of the document; and

displaying the another tuple on the display screen as another proposed annotation.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the first word or phrase is a subject of a sentence, the second word or phrase is an object of the sentence, and the third word or phrase is a predicate in the sentence that relates the subject to the object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the annotation is desirably published; and

responsive to receiving the indication, causing the annotation to be transmitted to a data repository that is accessible to users by way of a network.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the indication, generating a data packet, wherein the data packet comprises the annotation and relationship data that relates the annotation to at least one attribute of the document; and

transmitting the data packet to the data repository.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is configured for execution on a mobile telephone.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to automatically extract tuples from the document; and

searching for content in the document that corresponds to predefined criteria responsive to receiving the request to automatically extract the tuples from the document.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to automatically extract tuples from the document comprises a selection of the predefined criteria from amongst a plurality of criteria options.

13. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that comprises components that are executable by the processor, the components comprising;

a document display component that causes a selected document to be displayed on a display screen of a computing device, wherein the document comprises a plurality of portions;

a receiver component that receives a selection of a portion of the document from amongst the plurality of portions, the portion of the document comprising a sentence, wherein responsive to receiving the selection of the portion of the document, the document display component causes a first text entry field, a second text entry field, and a third text entry field to be displayed in relation to the portion of the document, the first text entry field configured to receive a subject of the sentence, the second text entry field configured to receive an object of the sentence, and the third text entry field configured to receive a predicate that relates the subject of the sentence to the object of the sentence, content received in the first text entry field, the second text entry field, and the third text entry field stored in computer-readable data storage as an annotation to the selected document.

14. The system of claim 13 comprised by an application that is executing on a server, wherein the application is accessible to a client computing device by way of a web browser.

15. The system of claim 13 comprised by an application executing on a client computing device, wherein the application is one of a word processing application or a web browser.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising a publisher component that causes tuples validated by the user to be transmitted to a data repository that is accessible to others.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the receiver component receives a selection of a second portion of the document from amongst the plurality of portions, the system further comprising:

an extractor component that, responsive to the receiver component receiving the selection of the second portion of the document, automatically extracts a tuple from the second portion of the document, wherein the tuple comprises a first word or phrase, a second word or phrase, and a third word or phrase that relates the first word or phrase to the second word or phrase, wherein subsequent to the extractor component automatically extracting the tuple from the second portion of the document, the document display component displays the tuple as a proposed annotation on the display screen of the computing device, and the tuple provides a description of the second portion of the document; and

an option presenter component that causes a plurality of graphical objects to be displayed on the display screen together with the tuple, wherein the plurality of graphical objects correspond to validation of the tuple, rejection of the tuple, and modification of the tuple.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one graphical object in the plurality of graphical objects corresponds to modification of the tuple, and wherein the at least one graphical object facilitates user-selection of one of a plurality of alternates to the first word or phrase, the second word or phrase, or the third word or phrase.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one graphical object in the plurality of graphical objects corresponds to modification of the tuple, and wherein the at least one graphical object comprises a text entry field that is configured to receive a user-generated replacement for one of the first word or phrase, the second word or phrase, or the third word or phrase.

20. A computer-readable memory comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

displaying a portion of a document on a display screen, the portion of the document comprising a sentence;

receiving a selection of the portion of the document;

responsive to receiving the selection of the portion of the document, displaying, in graphical relation with the portion of the document, a first text entry field, a second text entry field, and a third text entry field, the first text entry field configured to receive a subject of the sentence, the second text entry field configured to receive an object of the sentence, and the third text entry field configured to receive a predicate that relates the subject to the object;

receiving the subject in the first text entry field;

receiving the object in the second text entry field;

receiving the predicate in the third text entry field;

responsive to receiving the subject in the first text entry field, the object in the second text entry field, and the predicate in the third text entry field, storing the subject, the object, and the predicate as an annotation to the portion of the document.