Patent Document ID: 7904469
Application ID: 12025129

Base Claim:
1. A method of exchanging information, comprising: displaying first query results from a first query; receiving, from a user, a data object selected from the first query results; providing an interface allowing the user to annotate the selected data object from the first query results, comprising: creating an annotation describing the selected data object, whereby the annotation associates the selected data object with metadata describing the selected data object; identifying an entity encompassing a plurality of fields, wherein at least one of the fields in the plurality of fields is included in the selected data object; and associating the annotation with the entity, whereby the annotation is associated with all fields in the plurality of fields encompassed by the entity; storing the annotation with a reference to the associated entity; displaying second query results from a second query, wherein the entity encompasses at least a portion of the second query results, and wherein the second query results do not contain the selected data object described by the annotation; and displaying an indication of the annotation.

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Claim 6:
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to input from the user: displaying the annotation; and displaying the selected data object described by the annotation.