System and method for processing digital annotations

• US 20050091027A1
• Filed: 10/15/2004
• Published: 04/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zaher, Maged N., Ruiz, Rafael R., Kramer, Axel, Bargeron, David M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for storing a digital annotation is provided. The method includes obtaining a notification of a creation of a digital annotation and identifying an anchor associated with the digital annotation. Once the digital annotation has been received and the anchor identified, a resource: locators representative of a location of the anchor is stored. The resource: locators includes a locator that contains at least one locator part. Additionally, a determination is made as to whether there is a content associated with the digital annotation, and if so, a resource: contents representative of the content associated with the digital annotation is stored.

Claims

1. A method for storing a digital annotation, the method comprising:

obtaining a notification of a creation of a digital annotation;

identifying an anchor associated with the digital annotation;

storing a first resource representative of a location of the anchor, wherein the first resource includes a locator, and wherein the locator includes at least one locator part;

determining if there is a content associated with the digital annotation; and

storing a second resource representative of a content associated with the digital annotation if it is determined that there is content associated with the digital annotation.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

determining a category representative of the digital annotation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a category is dependent upon an internal structure of the digital annotation.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determined category is selected from a group of categories including an embellishment, attachment, relationship, and action.

5. The method of claim 2, further including:

determining a type within the determined category for the digital annotation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital annotation includes a plurality of anchors.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a first anchor is within a first item of electronic data and a second anchor is within a second item of electronic data.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the digital annotation is a hyperlink including a source anchor and a destination anchor.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the source anchor identifies a first location within a first item of electronic data and the destination anchor identifies a second item of electronic data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one locator part is representative of a portion of the digital annotation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is annotation content associated with the digital annotation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is annotated content.

13. The method of claim 1, further including the limitation of storing a relationship defining a style of the digital annotation.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the style of the digital annotation identifies a directionality of the digital annotation.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a plurality of annotation content.

16. An annotation object model for storing a digital annotation, the annotation object model comprising:

an annotation class including;

an author identification identifying an author of the digital annotation;

a reference to a collection of resources;

a resources class identifying an anchor or a cargo associated with the digital annotation; and

a locators class including at least one locator part, wherein each locator part is representative of a portion of the digital annotation.

17. The annotation object model of claim 16, wherein the resource class includes annotation content associated with the digital annotation.

18. The annotation object model of claim 16, wherein the resource class includes a reference to annotation content associated with the digital annotation.

19. The annotation object model of claim 16, wherein the annotation object model further comprises:

a second collection of resources, wherein the second collection of resources includes both annotated content associated with the digital annotation, and a reference to annotated content associated with the digital annotation.

20. The annotation object model of claim 16, wherein the digital annotation is selected from a group of digital annotations consisting of:

a sticky note, a text comment, a snippet, inking, a margin bar, a highlight, a symbol, an underline, a bookmark, and a hyperlink.

21. The annotation object model of claim 16, wherein an annotation object according to the annotation object model is stored in an annotation store.

22. The annotation object model of claim 21, wherein the annotation store includes a plurality of annotation objects.

23. The annotation object model of claim 21, wherein the digital annotation is created on a computing device and wherein the annotation store is located on the same computing device.

24. The annotation object model of claim 21, wherein the digital annotation is created on a first computing device and the annotation store is located on a second computing device.

25. The annotation object model of claim 24, wherein an annotation object according to the annotation object model is generated on the first computing device and stored on the second computing device.

26. The annotation object model of claim 16, wherein the annotation object is stored separate from an item of electronic data that is being annotated.

27. A method for querying for an existing digital annotation, comprising:

receiving a query parameter;

determining a query type;

querying an annotation store for annotation objects matching the query parameter; and

returning a digital annotation associated with an annotation object that matches the query parameters.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the query parameter is a keyword.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the query parameter is a content search parameter, identifying a particular content to query for.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the query parameter is an annotation type.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the query type is a request identifying how the query results are to be returned.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the query type identifies that only one matching digital annotation is to be returned.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the query type identifies that all matching digital annotations are to be returned.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein querying an annotation store includes querying an annotation store for annotation objects.