Method and apparatus for annotating an electronic document

• US 9,189,467 B1
• Filed: 11/07/2001
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Patnoe, Christopher D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Thu
• Application Number:
  US10/045,906
• Time in Patent Office: 5,123 Days
• Field of Search: 715/522, 715/512, 715/523, 715/530, 715/230, 715/248, 715/249, 715/255, 715/200, 715/268
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A method and apparatus to mark-up an electronic document (i.e., a second electronic document) that is superimposed on a first electronic document keeping the first electronic document unchanged. The second electronic document is optionally viewed concurrently with the first electronic document. The second electronic document is capable of being viewed or modified using different application programs so long as the different application programs process the format used by the second electronic document. The second electronic document is saved as a separate document independent of the first electronic document.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

opening a first electronic document;

creating a second electronic document superimposed over the first electronic document to receive annotations in reference to the first electronic document;

creating, in response to creating the second electronic document to receive annotations, an association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document;

saving the second document as a separate document independent of the first document;

in response to a second opening of the first electronic document, and based upon the association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document that was annotated during a previous viewing of the first electronic document, automatically opening the second electronic document without user intervention;

superimposing the second electronic document with the annotations over the first electronic document; and

receiving additional annotations in reference to the first electronic document within the second electronic document concurrently while viewing the first electronic document beneath the second electronic document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising copying at least a portion of the first electronic document into at least a portion of the second electronic document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first electronic document and second electronic document are of a same file type.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to scrolling the second electronic document, concurrently scrolling the first electronic document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document is based on a user input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first electronic document is a word processing file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first electronic document is a spreadsheet file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first electronic document is a word processing file and the second electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an input creating a marked portion of the first electronic document within the second electronic document; and

copying content corresponding to the marked portion of the first electronic document into a corresponding portion of the second electronic document.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that are executable to cause a computer system to perform operations comprising:

opening a first electronic document;

creating a second electronic document superimposed over the first electronic document to receive annotations in reference to the first electronic document;

creating, in response to creating the second electronic document to receive annotations, an association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document;

saving the second document as a separate document independent of the first document;

in response to a second opening of the first electronic document, and based upon the association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document that was annotated during a previous viewing of the first electronic document, automatically opening the second electronic document without user intervention;

superimposing the second electronic document with the annotations over the first electronic document; and

receiving additional annotations in reference to the first electronic document within the second electronic document concurrently while viewing the first electronic document beneath the second electronic document.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise copying at least a portion of the first electronic document into at least a portion of the second electronic document.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first electronic document and second electronic document are of a same file type.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise in response to scrolling the second electronic document, concurrently scrolling the first electronic document.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document is based on a user input.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first electronic document is a word processing file.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first electronic document is a spreadsheet file.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the second electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first electronic document is a word processing file and the second electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an input creating a marked portion of the first electronic document within the second electronic document; and

copying content corresponding to the marked portion of the first electronic document into a corresponding portion of the second electronic document.

21. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

a data storage device having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising;

opening a first electronic document;

creating a second electronic document superimposed over the first electronic document to receive annotations in reference to the first electronic document;

creating, in response to creating the second electronic document to receive annotations, an association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document;

saving the second document as a separate document independent of the first document;

in response to a second opening of the first electronic document, and based upon the association between the first electronic document and the second electronic document that was annotated during a previous viewing of the first electronic document, automatically opening the second electronic document without user intervention;

superimposing the second electronic document with the annotations over the first electronic document; and

receiving additional annotations in reference to the first electronic document within the second electronic document concurrently while viewing the first electronic document beneath the second electronic document.

22. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise copying at least a portion of the first electronic document into at least a portion of the second electronic document.

23. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the first electronic document and second electronic document are of a same file type.

24. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise in response to scrolling the second electronic document, concurrently scrolling the first electronic document.

25. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

associating the first electronic document with the second electronic document based on user input.

26. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the first electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

27. The computer system of claim 26, wherein the second electronic document is a PDF file.

28. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the first electronic document is a word processing file and the second electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

29. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the first electronic document is a spreadsheet file and the second electronic document is a portable document format (PDF) file.

30. The computer system of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an input creating a marked portion of the first electronic document within the second electronic document; and

copying content corresponding to the marked portion of the first electronic document into a corresponding portion of the second electronic document.