Patent ID: 6687878
Filing Date: 2004-02-03
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
A system for collaborative document annotation, comprising:a document file and a notes database file located on one or more servers, said document file for storing one or more documents, said notes database for storing one or more notes, each note associated with a particular document; one or more notes clients coupled to a network, each notes client operative to locally display a representation of a document remotely stored in said document file, each notes client adapted to enable a user to annotate said local version of said document with one or more notes, wherein any number of users in said network may simultaneously annotate their respective said local version of said document; a notes server of said one or more servers being coupled to said network and operative to manage and maintain said notes database and to process and respond to notes events generated by said one or more notes clients; and synchronization means within each notes client and said notes server, wherein in response to a synchronization event initiated by one of said notes clients said synchronization means adapted to send notes events generated by said one of said notes clients to said notes server for merging with the contents of said notes database and to return to said one of said notes clients an updated notes list incorporating annotations previously made by all other notes clients that have synchronized with said notes server since synchronization between said one of said notes clients and said notes server was last performed.