Patent ID: 7254593

Claim:
A method of carrying forward annotations to a data source when the data source is modified, each of the annotations being stored as an annotation record in an annotation data store, the method comprising the steps of: retrieving a first data source version identifier based on a prior version of the data source; generating a second data source version identifier based on a modified version of the data source, the modified version having at least one of content, form, and structure that is different from the prior version; querying the annotation data store for the annotations that apply to the prior version of the data source; and adding a new entry into the annotation record of at least one of the annotations that is returned by the query, the new entry in the annotation record including the second data source version identifier and point information indicating coordinates of at least one part of the modified version of the data source that the at least one annotation returned by the query is meant to annotate, so as to associate the at least one annotation with point information corresponding to at least two versions of the data source.