Patent ID: 8276061

Claim:
A method for highlighting and annotating electronic documents, said method comprising: receiving, by a computer, a first electronic document selected by a user; highlighting, by said computer, a first text of words selected by said user in said first electronic document, said user providing a first annotation to said first highlighted text, said first annotation comprising words that perform one of summarizing and disambiguating said first highlighted text; storing, by said computer, said first highlighted text and said first annotation in a user profile for said user; providing, by said computer, a first list of synonyms for said words comprising said first highlighted text and said first annotation, said first list of synonyms being determined by an ontology accessed by said computer; receiving, by said computer, a second electronic document selected by said user; comparing, by said computer, said words of said first highlighted text, said words of said annotation, and said first list of synonyms of said first highlighted text and said first annotation, which are stored in said user profile, to a second text of words in said second electronic document and a second list of synonyms for said words comprising said second text, said second list of synonyms being determined by said ontology accessed by said computer and being stored in said user profile; and automatically highlighting, by said computer, portions of text in said second electronic document, where said second text of words and said second list of synonyms match any of said first highlighted text of words, said first annotation of words, and said first list of synonyms stored in said user profile.