Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention, roughly described, is directed to a system for recognizing annotated anchors in documents, and subsequently processing the annotated anchors. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Active reading of conventional, paper documents often involves marking or annotating text by a reader as they read using a number of methods, the most obvious of which is to highlight the text to or place a written notation adjacent to the text. Typical annotations include margin notes, vertical bars, graphic notations, highlights, underlines, circles, etc. References to external documents (ex: hypertext documents, footnotes, etc.) in text generally stand out due to their grammatical citation which creates a visual and contextual distinction from the surrounding text. 
     There are several currently existing techniques available to users for annotating documents. For example, methods exist for annotating online documents using a web browsing facility, electronic meeting systems (e.g. the “whiteboard” feature in Microsoft&#39;s Netmeeting™), and through word processing software. In some of the more basic systems, annotation of documents may comprise manually listing the documents (by writing on paper, using the cut and paste feature of an operating system clipboard, or using the book marking function of the browser), none of which leaves a persistent trace within the displayed document. 
     More advanced annotation techniques exist for digitally marking documents, such as the method of digital ink as described in Schilit et al., Beyond Paper: Supporting Active Reading with Free Form Digital Ink Annotations, Proceedings of CHI98. These more advanced systems reduce the amount of reader interruption which often results from basic annotation techniques. 
     Systems also exist for detecting the annotation context and organizing those annotations for the user by displaying a list of just the annotated passages. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,014, filed Sep. 15, 1997, a technique for organizing annotations in the context of the document in which they appear is described. Other systems, such as the one described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/222,962 filed Dec. 30, 1998, provide a method for maintaining freeform ink annotations on changing views. This technique involves maintaining freeform ink annotations on changing views by anchoring ink strokes to specific objects that can move around or change size. 
     Each of these techniques reduces reading interruption and provides readers with an overview of the annotated portions of a document. However, in electronic documents, users are often presented with the decision of whether to follow a link contained within the document or to continue reading. If a reader decides to follow the link, the current document is often replaced by the target document, thus interrupting reading flow. Alternatively, if the reader decides not to follow the link and continues reading, the reader may forget to return and follow the link, may be unable to remember why the link was interesting, or may not be able to locate the link. 
     Many strategies are used by readers presented with such decisions. One is the “read first, follow links later” strategy. Under this strategy a reader will read the entire document and then return and follow the links they found interesting. This strategy relies on a reader&#39;s ability to remember which links were interesting, and where in the document they were located. 
     Another strategy is to “follow links as they are encountered.” Using this strategy a user follows links they find interesting as they approach each link. In addition to interrupting the flow of reading, another problem with this strategy is that it may result in a reader losing track of the original document. Often when a link is followed the original document is removed from the viewing area and replaced with the target of the link. 
     Another strategy for managing the task of reading documents containing links is to gather the links using a link-gathering interface. Examples of conventional link gathering interfaces include the bookmark facility of Web browsers, and spatial hypertexts such as VIKI (Marshall, C. C., Shipman, F. M. III and Coombs, J (1994) VIKI: Spatial Hypertext Supporting Emergent Structure. In Proceedings of The European Conference on Hypertext 1994 (Edinburgh, Scotland September 19–23): ACM Press, 13–23.); Data Mountain (Robertson, G. G. (1998) Data Mountain: Using Spatial Memory for Document Management. In Proceedings of UIST98 (San Francisco, Calif. November 2–4), ACM Press, 153–162.); Web Squirrel (Bernstein, 1998, http://www.eastgate.com/squirrel/); and Web Forager (Card, S. K., Robertson, G. G., and York, W. (1996) The WebBook and the Web Forager: An Information Workspace for the World-Wide Web. In Proceedings of CHI96 (Vancouver, BC April 13–18), ACM Press, 11–117.). While this type of explicit link gathering may be less computationally intensive than annotation processing, it is more difficult on the user for whom annotation is a generally intuitive and well-honed skill. 
     Still other systems maintain annotations on Web pages that may change unpredictably, but such systems have not considered processing the annotations that are near anchors. For example, Equill visual markup, (www.equill.com), and I-markup (www.imarkup.com) associate freeform ink annotations with objects in a Web page, but do not allow a reader to manipulate documents based on these marks. 
     Additionally, a number of systems that provide hypertext graph searching capability have been described in literature (e.g., Consens, M. P., Eigler, F. Ch., Hasan, M. Z., Mendelzon, A. O., Noik, E. G., Ryman, A. G., and Vista, D. (1994) Architecture and Applications of the Hy+ Visualization System, IBM Systems Journal, 33 (3), 458–476). Such tools allow the user to pose queries and to manipulate documents based on hypertext topology to identify desired nodes based on graph connectivity. 
     Even with all these different techniques and strategies for making reading and annotating documents easier and more manageable, current techniques still either interrupt the reader&#39;s concentration or rely on the reader&#39;s ability to later locate the interesting links and remember why they were interesting. 
     Thus, there is a desire for a system which will allow a user to defer link following while not losing track of the links location within a document. Additionally, there is a desire for a system which extends beyond just explicit link gathering interfaces. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides readers with a mechanism that allows them to defer link following in a document by detecting the reader&#39;s interest in a particular external document through their freeform markings and annotations, and processing these detected marks in various ways. In general, two different kinds of processing are supported: (1) using the reader&#39;s marks on or near hypertext link anchors—annotated anchors—to define a collection of documents of interest from all possible external document references that the reader encounters; and (2) using these marks to help the reader visualize the interconnections of interest. 
     The invention, roughly described, comprises a system for detecting annotated anchors in a document. In one aspect, the invention includes a method for detecting a reader&#39;s annotations in a document and determining the presence of a document reference in the document proximate to the annotation. These document references are referred to herein as “anchors” and hence the system identifies “annotated anchors” in the document under consideration by the reader. 
     In a further aspect, the detection is accomplished by a method, which may be in the form of programming code, which groups annotation marks and determines whether a document reference is positioned in or near the annotations. The system detects both explicit anchors, such as hypertext links, and implicit anchors, such as bibliographic references or citations. 
     In another aspect, the annotated anchors detected are referenced in a data structure to allow for further processing of the annotated anchors. In an embodiment, the data structure may be hierarchical, spatial, sequential, etc. 
     An additional component of the system of the invention is the processing which may occur on the annotated anchors once detected. Such processing includes: generating a list illustrating the documents that are targets of annotated anchors, with or without the annotation metadata, to allow for deferred link following; constraining the list illustrating the target documents; searching a document database for documents containing one or more references to these target documents; pre-fetching documents from a document database; allowing propagation of the annotations to other anchors which reference the same target in the same document or in other documents and/or hypertext structures; and suppressing or enhancing links based on defined annotation structures. The list may be generated from any serializable structure, such as hierarchical, spatial, sequential, etc. 
     In another aspect, a method for detecting and processing annotated anchors in a document is provided. The method includes the steps of detecting an annotation in the document, detecting, proximate to or within the annotation, the presence of an anchor; and, processing the annotated anchor. 
     According to still another aspect, an apparatus for detecting and processing an annotated anchor in a document is provided. The apparatus includes a processor, and a processor readable storage medium in communication with the processor which contains processor readable program code. The processor readable program code programs the apparatus to detect an annotation in the document, and detect, proximate to or within the annotation, the presence of an anchor. In addition to detecting annotated anchors, the apparatus is also programmed to perform various processes on the annotated anchor. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments thereof. Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the specification and drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows various examples of annotations which may be formed using conventional annotation techniques; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a hardware system suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart outlining a method for detecting and processing an annotated anchor, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating examples of various processing one might perform on the data retrieved and stored in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart outlining the list process, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  illustrate examples of output generated using the list process, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart outlining the process of constrain searching, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a flowchart outlining the process of identifying review articles or hub documents, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a flowchart outlining the process of pre-fetching documents, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart outlining the process of propagating annotated anchors, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 11  illustrates an example of an output from the process of propagating annotated anchors, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 12  is a flowchart outlining the process of link suppression, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 13  is a flow chart outlining the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 14–15  illustrate examples of output resulting from the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures, according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 16  is a flowchart outlining the process of displaying annotated anchors together with a target, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and, 
         FIG. 17  illustrates an example of output resulting from the process of displaying annotated anchors together with a target, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method, and article of manufacture for detecting and processing annotated anchors within documents. The system may be applied in any number of physical contexts. For example, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as their own application, or work within existing applications, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or any other document viewing application. Additionally, the system may be implemented to function with a single document or a collection of multiple documents. 
     A “document” as described herein, may be any representation of thoughts by means of conventional marks or symbols. For example, a document may be an electronic document, such as a .pdf, .doc, .wpd, .rtf, html, or any other type of similar electronic file. Additionally, a document maybe video, still image, or picture. In general, a document may be any graphical representation which is viewable by a reader. 
     “Annotation” as described herein, may be any freeform marking or indication which is associated (such as sequentially, logically, etc.) to at least portion of a document. An annotation may be positioned anywhere, irrespective of document structure, and may be generated with any type of marking, regardless of extent or type. For example, an annotation may be a pinpoint, circle, star, underline, highlight, square, doodle, written comments, or any other type of graphical representation. 
     An annotation maybe as simple as the placement of a single dot or point, as long as the reader is free to position the dot or point. While an annotation, such as a dot or point is viewable with the document, the annotation may be stored apart from the document with which the annotation is associated. Additionally, as described herein, an annotation is distinguishable from bookmarks, such as those used in Microsoft Reader®. Such bookmarks generally cannot be placed anywhere on a displayed document, nor can they be made with any type of marking. 
     An “anchor” as described herein, is any perceivable manifestation of a link or reference to another document or to another portion of the current document. An anchor may be explicit, such as a hyperlink in a web page, or it may be implicitly defined, such as by the grammar one uses to identify documents in certain forms or citations. For example, “http://www.ibm.com/sfasp/”  603  illustrated in  FIG. 6A , is an example of an explicit anchor. Alternatively, “Chandler v. Miller” ( FIG. 6B ), which is a reference to another document, is an example of an implicit anchor. 
     As described herein, annotating an anchor is distinguishable from selecting an anchor. Readers select an anchor explicitly to perform an action at that particular moment, such as accessing a related document or location. Annotating an anchor is part of a delayed engagement with the target document. By annotating an anchor a reader can continue reading the document without having to access the related document or location at that particular moment. 
       FIG. 1  represents various examples of annotations  100 – 106  which may be generated by a reader on document  100  using any conventional annotation technique. For example, annotations  101 ,  102 ,  105 , and  106  are generated by a reader digitally highlighting a portion of document  100 . Annotations  103 , and  104  are generated by a reader marking on document  100  using any pointing device which is capable of accessing any portion of document  100 . In general, an annotation may be made using any document annotation technique. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a computing device architecture  200  suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present invention. The computing device architecture  200  includes a processor  220  communicating with a display  240 , a storage device  260 , and an input/output interface  225 . The storage device  260  stores a document  222  which is displayable on display  240 . The input/output interface  225  communicates with any number of conventional input/output devices  224  such as a mouse  226 , a keyboard  228  and/or a pen-based device  230 . A reader manipulates the input/output devices  224  to annotate the document  222  while it is displayed on display  240 . The computing device  200  then stores these annotations in either storage device  260  or a different storage device (not shown). 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , computing device architecture  200  may be implemented using a programmed general purpose computer. However, computing device  200  may also be implemented using a special purpose computer, laptop computer, any paper user interface coupled to an entertainment context, (i.e. video), a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and any necessary peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, or the like. In general, any device on which a finite state machine capable of implementing embodiments of the present invention can be used to implement the computing device architecture  200 . 
     Additionally, as shown in  FIG. 2 , memory  260  may be an article of manufacture, such as a computer readable medium. For example, memory  260  may be a magnetic hard disk, an optical disk, a floppy disk, CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read-Only memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), or any other readable or writeable data storage technology, singly or in combination. 
     Memory  260  may include an operating system  205 , such as Microsoft Windows® or Unix®, wherein the operating system  205  is capable of executing programs or applications using the computing device architecture  200 . An embodiment of the present invention is implemented as a software program  207 , and is stored on memory  260 . In an embodiment, software program  207  can be implemented to function as its own application or may be implemented to function within an existing application, such as Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Word, or any other type of document viewing application. Additionally, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented to function with any type of language, such as English, Japanese, Spanish, etc. 
     As will be understood, embodiments of the present invention, such as software program  207 , may be in the form of a software program, a software object, a software function, a software subroutine, a software method, a software instance, a code fragment, a hardware operation or user operation, singly or in combination. It is understood that software program  207  can be implemented using any programming code, such as C, C++, FORTRAN, Visual Basic, Java, etc. Additionally, software program  207  may be implemented using one, two, or any number of computing devices  200 . 
     Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the link  270  connecting the memory  260  and the processor  200  can be a wired or wireless link to a network (not shown). The network can be a local area network, a wide area network, an Intranet, the Internet or any other distributed processing and storage network. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart outlining a method for detecting an annotated anchor within a document, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As one who is skilled in the art will appreciate,  FIGS. 3 ,  5 ,  7 – 10 ,  12 ,  13 , and  16  illustrate logic boxes for performing specific functions. In an alternate embodiment, more or fewer logic boxes may be used. In an embodiment of the present invention, a logic box may represent a portion of software program  107  illustrated in  FIG. 2 , or any portion of embodiments of the present invention. 
     The method begins at logic box  301 , where the system receives a document. In logic box  302  a reader begins annotating the document. Annotations can be made within a document using any currently available document annotation technique. As a reader is reading the document and making annotations, control is passed to logic box  303 . 
     In logic box  303  the system determines whether there is an annotation within the document. If it is determined that there is no annotation within the document control is returned to logic box  302  and the process is repeated until the document is removed or an annotation is made. If however, it is determined in logic box  303  that an annotation has been made, control is passed to logic box  305 . 
     In logic box  305  it is determined whether an anchor is proximate or within the annotation. If it is determined in logic box  305  that there are no anchors proximate or within the annotation, control is passed to logic box  306 , and the annotation is ignored in the process, or manipulated according to other current annotation processing schemes. Once the annotation has been ignored or otherwise processed, control is returned to logic box  303  and the process is repeated. 
     If however, it is determined in logic box  305  that there is an anchor proximate or within the annotation, control is passed to logic box  307  and the anchor located in logic box  305  is added to a list of annotated anchors and control is passed to logic box  309 . 
     In logic box  309  the list of annotated anchors generated in logic box  307  is processed. The list may be processed using any of the processing techniques illustrated in  FIG. 4  and described below, singly or in combination. Once the desired processing has been performed in logic box  309 , control is returned to logic box  303  and the logic boxes are repeated until the document is removed or all annotations have been processed. 
     In an embodiment, other techniques for modifying or managing annotations may be performed prior, subsequent to, or during the process  300 . For example, in an embodiment, annotations made in logic box  302  may be modified according to the techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,523 titled “Method and Apparatus for Dynamically Grouping a Plurality of Graphic Objects,” which is herein incorporated by reference, which group a plurality of objects, or annotations, based on time and space. Additional techniques for grouping and modifying annotations may include adding to an annotation made by a reader the remainder of a sentence, or paragraph, if a portion of the sentence or paragraph was not originally annotated. 
     In such an example, modifications may be made prior to the processing of logic boxes  303 – 309 , and logic boxes  303 – 309 , described above, will be processed using the modified annotations. 
     Additionally, in an embodiment logic boxes may be removed from the process illustrated in  FIG. 3 . For example, the process may be performed without adding the annotated anchor to an annotated anchor list  307 . In such an embodiment, once an annotated anchor is determined in logic box  305 , control is passed to logic box  309  and the anchor is processed according to any of the processing techniques described below. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the different processes which may be performed on the list of annotated anchors generated using the process described with respect to  FIG. 3 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. Annotated anchor data  402  relates to the list of annotated anchors generated in logic box  307  during the process  300  ( FIG. 3 ). It will be understood that the processes illustrated in  FIG. 4  may be performed on the list of annotated anchors  402  or alternatively may be performed on each annotation as it is made in a document. 
     Once a reader has finished reading and annotating a document they may wish to follow the links which were annotated during their reading. Accordingly, the list process  404  will be performed on the annotated anchor data  402  to generate a “to-read” list. List process  404  allows a reader to read a document, annotate any portion of the document using existing annotation techniques, and later review a list of only annotations containing anchors. The system provides a reader with the ability to keep track of anchors which they find interesting, without interrupting reading. The user can annotate on or around the anchor, and defer the accessing of the related document until a later time. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a flowchart outlining the list process  404  illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Upon initiation of the process in logic box  501 , control is passed to logic box  503  where the system obtains annotated anchor data  402 . 
     In logic box  505  the system determines the readers preferences for displaying the annotated anchor data  402 . For example, the user may desire to organize the list based on metadata of the target documents (such as the target document&#39;s title, author, size, when created, etc.), metadata of the annotations (such as the location of the annotations within the present document, when the annotations were made, the color, shape, size of the annotations, etc.), metadata of the annotated anchor (such as the link it represents, its location in the document, etc.), or any other desired organizational technique. Additionally, a reader may desire to view the entire annotation which contains each anchor, just the first annotation containing each anchor, just the anchors themselves, or any other display format selected by the reader. 
     In logic box  507  a “to-read” list is generated from the annotated anchor data  402  based on the readers preferences obtained in logic box  505 . Upon generation of a “to-read” list, control is passed to logic box  509  and the “to-read” list is displayed on display  240  ( FIG. 2 ). 
       FIGS. 6A and 6B  illustrate examples of “to-read” lists  600 ,  650  generated from the anchor data  402  using the list process  404 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The lists  600 ,  650  may be generated from one, two, or as many documents as selected by the reader. 
       FIG. 6A  includes anchors  601 ,  603 ,  605 ,  607 , annotations  609 ,  611 ,  613 ,  615 ,  617 ,  617  and some surrounding context  621 ,  623 ,  625 ,  627 ,  629  to make the anchors more comprehensible. 
     The list may be formatted according to any user created attributes and may include annotations from one, two, or as many documents as desired. For example, list  600  is formatted based on the order in which the annotated anchors  601 – 607  first appear in the document titled “Yeung et al., 1998.” Additionally, a reader may select to group annotations containing anchors which point to the same target. For example, in  FIG. 6A  annotations  609  and  611  both include an anchor which points to the same target document. Thus, annotations  609  and  611  may be grouped and listed under the same anchor  601 . 
       FIG. 6B  illustrates another “to-read” list  650  of annotated anchors generated using the list process  404  illustrated in  FIG. 5 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The list  650  is formatted first by target documents of the annotated anchors and ordered by frequency of annotations. In this example, the target document which has corresponding anchors most frequently annotated is  Vernonia v. Action , Supreme Ct., June 1995  651 . The next most frequently annotated target document is  Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives&#39; Assoc. , Sup. Ct, March 1989  652 . Included under each target document heading  651 ,  652  is the document from which the annotation is located  653 ,  655 ,  657 , the annotated anchor which points to the target document  659 ,  661 ,  663 , and surrounding context  665 ,  667 ,  669 . 
     Each of the to-read lists  600 ,  650 , or any other to-read list generated according to the process illustrated in  FIG. 5 , provides a reader access to the linked document, access to the context of the annotation, as well as access to the document in which the annotation was made. A reader can select a target in the list to follow the link, or select the annotation to return to that portion of the document. 
     The annotated anchor data  402  may also be treated as a collection, and content and/or metadata searches of the collection may be performed according to an embodiment of the present invention. For example, a reader may select the constraint search process  406  and have the system display only annotations which were made using a particular color, such as yellow, annotations of a particular shape, such as a circle, or any other user-defined criteria. 
     Additionally, if a reader wishes to determine the meaning of a technical term used within the document they are currently reading, the constraint search process  406  will search the target documents which the annotated anchors point to and provide an overview of how the term is used in these documents. This overview may be displayed in a format similar to that shown in  FIGS. 6A and 6B . Alternatively, the results may be ranked or filtered by the number of annotated anchors for each returned document, the types of annotations on the anchors, the type of the link that was annotated, etc. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of constrain searching  406  of  FIG. 4 . The process begins at logic box  701  and control is passed to logic box  703  where the system obtains annotated anchor data  402 . 
     In logic box  705  the system determines the constraint criteria selected by a reader. For example, the constraint criteria may be the color or shape of an anchor, or searching the target documents for a particular term. 
     In logic box  707  the system searches for all information which meets the constraint criteria and generates a constrained list. Upon generation of the constrained list control is passed to logic box  709  and the list is displayed on display  240  ( FIG. 2 ). 
     The process illustrated as block  408  in  FIG. 4 , provides a reader with the ability to search for “hubs” that cite many target documents which are referenced by an annotated anchor. For example, if a researcher has collected a dozen references of interest, and would rather read an article reviewing those documents than read the dozen papers, the researcher can locate a hub document that cites some or all of the other documents. Additionally, an embodiment of the present invention can provide an interface for refining such searches, for example by marking individual documents in the list as being more or less important. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of identifying review articles or hub documents  408  of  FIG. 4 . The process begins at logic box  801  and control is passed to logic box  803  where the system obtains annotated anchor data  402 . 
     In logic box  805  the system locates a document or documents which reference at least one target document identified in annotated anchor data  402 . The system may search a predefined list of documents for a reference, or alternatively the system may search for any document which contains references to multiple target documents. Once a list of search results has been generated, control is passed to logic box  807  and the system displays the results of the search performed in logic box  805  on display  240  ( FIG. 2 ). In an embodiment, the results may be displayed in a format similar to that illustrated in  FIGS. 6A and 6B , or in any other reader-selected format. 
     The process of pre-fetching documents  410  provides additional functionality and portability to embodiments of the present invention. This technique is often useful when the system is implemented using a device which may not have constant access to target documents. Such devices may be laptops, Palm tops, or other mobile computing devices. 
     The process of pre-fetching  410  obtains target documents of annotated anchors prior to the time the reader actually attempts to access the document. 
     Current techniques for pre-fetching documents obtain all of the documents referenced by the document being viewed. This is often undesirable because there may be many referenced documents and to pre-fetch all of them would be expensive, and both time and space consuming. An example of such as system is described in CiteSeer (Giles et al., 1998) which runs searches over the Web to identify articles corresponding to references in academic papers. The CiteSeer system retrieves each of these articles and builds an article reference database. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of pre-fetching documents  410  of  FIG. 4 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process begins at logic box  901  and control is passed to logic box  903  where the system obtains an annotated anchor. The annotated anchor may be obtained as soon as the reader performs the annotation or alternatively from annotated anchor data  402 . 
     In logic box  905  the system determines whether the target document has already been pre-fetched or already contained in memory. If it is determined in logic box  905  that the system already has the target document, control is returned to logic box  903  and the process continues until all annotated anchors have been processed. If however, it is determined that the target document has not been pre-fetched, control is passed to logic box  907 . 
     In logic box  907  the system fetches the target document and stores it in memory  260  ( FIG. 1 ) or another memory location which will later be accessible. Once the target document has been fetched, control is passed to logic box  909  and the system determines whether there is another annotated anchor within the document. If it is determined that there is another annotated anchor, control is returned to logic box  903  and the process is repeated for that annotated anchor. If, however, it is determined in logic box  909  that there are no other annotated anchors, control is returned to logic box  309  of  FIG. 3 . 
     In addition to using annotated anchors to generate a “to-read” list, and to gather/organize and pre-fetch documents, the process of propagating annotations to other anchors  412  illustrated in  FIG. 4  may be implemented according to an embodiment of the present invention. Propagating annotations to other anchors helps a reader visualize interconnections of interest, or alternatively to suppress undesired links. Visualizing interconnections provides a reader with advanced notice as to whether they found an anchor interesting. The technique of propagating anchors provides a trail marking facility which reduces the disorientation that often accompanies densely anchored documents. By propagating annotations of anchors to other anchors which point to the same target, a reader can determine whether an anchor points to a target whose anchor has already been annotated. This is often beneficial when several different anchors reference the same target. 
     Additionally, when a reader sees an annotation which has been propagated to a subsequent anchor, the reader can select the annotation and the system will display the original annotated anchor or anchors (if the anchor has been annotated more than once). Providing this additional information allows a reader to select between viewing more context for a specific anchor, navigating to the full context of the annotated anchor, navigating to the target of the anchor, or returning to reading the original document. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of propagating annotations to other anchors  412  of  FIG. 4 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process begins at logic box  1001  and control is passed to logic box  1003  where the system obtains an annotated anchor. The annotated anchor may be obtained as soon as the reader performs the annotation or alternatively, from annotated anchor data  402 . 
     In logic box  1005  the system determines the target of the annotated anchor. The target may be another document or another location in the same document. Once the target is determined, control is passed to logic box  1007  and a determination is made as to whether there is another anchor which points to the same target. The system may search for other anchors within the same document, or for anchors in any document which may be accessed by the reader. Additionally, as new documents are accessed by a reader, the system may scan those documents to determine if anchors exist within the document and if the anchors point to a target with an already-annotated anchor. If it is determined in logic box  1007  that there are other anchors which point to the same target as the annotated anchor, control is passed to logic box  1009 . If however, it is determined in logic box  1007  that there are no other anchors which point to the same target as the annotated anchor, control is passed to logic box  1011 . 
     In logic box  1009  the anchor located in logic box  1007  is annotated with an annotation similar to the annotation made by the reader on the original anchor. For example, if a user circles an anchor, and another anchor which points to the same target is located, the system will circle the newly-found anchor. 
     In logic box  1011  it is determined whether there is an annotated anchor which represents a different target. If an annotated anchor to another target exists, control is returned to logic box  1003  and the process is repeated. However, if no other annotated anchors exist, control is returned to logic box  309  of  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 11  illustrates a snippet of two web pages  1100  and  1105 , illustrating an example of an output resulting from the process of propagating annotations  412 , illustrated in  FIG. 10 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. This technique propagates annotation  1102 , made by a reader on or around anchor  1101 , to other anchors  1103  which reference the same target. In an embodiment, once an anchor has been annotated in one document, the annotation can be propagated to all other anchors pointing to the same target. These anchors may be in the same document or in other documents which the reader may access. For example, referring to  FIG. 11 , if a reader annotates the anchor “People Finder”  1101  with a check annotation  1102 , all other instances of an anchor which points to the same target will receive a similar annotation. Thus, “People Finder”  1103  located in document  1105  is updated with a similar check annotation  1104 . By updating anchors which point to the same target as an annotated anchor the reader will know that each of those anchors point to the same target. 
     In addition to propagating annotations to other anchors which reference the same target, a reader may also select the process of link suppression  418  ( FIG. 4 ) and have all anchors relating to an annotated anchor suppressed. For example, when a reader approaches a densely-linked document with a particular information need, the reader may wish to suppress some links that are not relevant to the current situation. If the reader crosses out an anchor to an unwanted link, the system can subsequently suppress all anchors which point to the same target, thereby reducing visual clutter and eliminating the distraction of deciding whether or not to follow, or annotate such links. 
     The process of link suppression  418  illustrated in  FIG. 12  functions in a similar manner to the process of propagating annotations to other anchors  412 , illustrated in  FIG. 10 . 
       FIG. 12  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of link suppression  418  of  FIG. 4 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process begins at logic box  1201  and control is passed to logic box  1203  where the system obtains an indication from a reader that a anchor is undesired, or uninteresting. The indication may be made by the reader marking an anchor in a particular manner to designate that it is not interesting. Such marking may be in the form of striking out the anchor, marking an X on the anchor, or any other reader selected marking. It will be appreciated that a reader may make a marking on an anchor contained in a document, on an anchor which is being displayed as a result of any of the above-described processes, or on any other anchor which is viewable by the reader. 
     Once a marked anchor has been received, control is passed to logic box  1205  where the system determines the target of the marked anchor. Once the target is determined, control is passed to logic box  1207 . 
     In logic box  1207  a determination is made as to whether there is another anchor which points to the same target. The system may search for other anchors within the same document, or for anchors in any document which may be accessed by the reader. Additionally, as new documents are accessed, the system may scan those documents to determine if any anchors pointing to the target exist within the document. If it is determined in logic box  1207  that there are other anchors which point to the same target as the marked anchor, control is passed to logic box  1209 . 
     In logic box  1209  the anchor located in logic box  1207  is suppressed using a reader selected suppression technique. For example, a reader may desire to have all anchors which relate to an uninteresting target grayed out, presented in a format matching the other existing text, or in any other desired fashion. Once the anchor located in logic box  1207  has been suppressed, control is returned to logic box  1207  and the process is repeated. 
     If however, it is determined in logic box  1207  that there are no other anchors which point to the same target as the annotated anchor, control is passed to logic box  1211  and the system determines whether there are any other anchors which have been marked by a reader to indicate that they are undesirable. If it is determined that there are other undesired anchors, control is returned to logic box  1205  and the process is repeated for each additional undesired anchor. If, however, there are no other undesired anchors, control is returned to logic box  309  of  FIG. 3 . 
     Annotations of anchors may also be propagated onto visualizations of hypertext structures using the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures  414 , illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Generating and displaying hypertext structures which represent a group of documents and their interconnections is well known in the art and will not be described in detail. 
     Hypertext structures illustrating a large number of documents with a large number of interconnections are often very dense and difficult to understand. The process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures  414 , described with respect to  FIG. 13  makes these structures more distinctive and easier for a reader to understand, as illustrated in  FIGS. 14 and 15 . 
       FIG. 13  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures  414  of  FIG. 4 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process begins at logic box  1301  and control is passed to logic box  1303  where the system obtains an annotated anchor. 
     In logic box  1305  the system determines the target of the annotation and in logic box  1307  the system determines a node on a hypertext structure which represents the target document. In logic box  1309  the node located in logic box  1307  is annotated with an annotation similar to the annotation made by the reader on the original anchor. For example, if a user annotates an anchor with a circle, a circle will be propagated onto a node which represents the target of the circled anchor. 
     In logic box  1311  the system determines whether there is another annotated anchor which has not been propagated. If it is determined that there are other annotated anchors, control is returned to logic box  1303  and the process is repeated. If however, it is determined that there are no other annotated anchors, control is passed to logic box  1313  and the hypertext structure with the propagated annotations is displayed on display  240  ( FIG. 2 ). 
       FIGS. 14 and 15  illustrate examples of an output resulting from the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures  414  illustrated in  FIG. 13 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     In  FIG. 14  each node in the hypertext structure  1400 , such as nodes  1401 ,  1402 , and  1403  represent a document. The lines interconnecting each node, such as lines  1405 ,  1407 , and  1409  represent a link, either unidirectional or bi-directional, between documents. Annotations  1411 ,  1413 ,  1415 , and  1417  illustrate annotations which have been propagated to a node  1421 ,  1423 ,  1425 ,  1427  using the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures  414  illustrated in  FIG. 13 . Each annotation  1411 – 1417  represents an annotation made by a reader on an anchor, and each node  1421 – 1427  represents the target of the respective annotated anchor. For example, annotation  1417  represents an annotation made on an anchor which points to a document tilted xclipboard, and node  1427  represents target document xclipboard. 
       FIG. 15  illustrates another hypertext structure  1500  containing propagated annotations, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 15  each node in the hypertext structure  1500 , such as nodes  1501 ,  1502 , and  1503  represent a document. The link lines interconnecting each node, such as link lines  1505 ,  1507 , and  1509  represent a link, either unidirectional or bi-directional, between documents. Annotations  1511 , and  1513  illustrate annotations which have been propagated to a node  1521 , and  1523  using the process of propagating annotations to hypertext structures  414  illustrated in  FIG. 13 . Each annotation  1511 – 1513  represents an annotation made by a reader on an anchor, and each node  1521 – 1523  represents the target of the respective annotated anchor. For example, annotation  1511  represents an annotation made on an anchor which points to a document tilted human factors, and node  1523  represents target document electronic mail. 
     Additionally, in an embodiment, the system can display on the hypertext structure  1500  what document the annotation is being propagated from by altering the representation of the link line. For example, link line  1531  is displayed thicker than the other link lines and with an arrow, thereby indicating that annotation  1511  is being propagated from document  1502 . Accordingly, document  1502  contains an anchor to document  1521  which has been annotated by a reader using a check mark. 
     In an embodiment, a user may select to have annotations made in a document propagated to the node representing the document in which the annotation is actually contained. For example, referring again to  FIG. 14 , if a user made annotation  1413  in a document titled pbmtogem.1, the annotation would be propagated to node  1423  in the hypertext structure  1400  which represents document pbmtogem.1. 
     Additionally, in an embodiment, anchors which have been marked by a reader as uninteresting may have the node and/or the link line which corresponds to the uninteresting anchor and link suppressed in the display of the hypertext structure  1400 . For example, referring to  FIG. 15 , a user has marked in a document represented by node  1541  an anchor which points to a target represented by node  1543  as uninteresting. Accordingly, link line  1545  has been suppressed and node  1543  has been suppressed  1547 . 
     Once a reader has decided to follow an annotated anchor, either from a to-read list, from an actual annotation, from a hypertext structure, or from any other location, the system will display the target of the annotated anchor and either some or all of the annotations which include an anchor to the target. 
       FIG. 16  illustrates a flowchart outlining the process of displaying annotated anchors together with target  416  of  FIG. 4 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process begins at logic box  1601  and control is passed to logic box  1603  where the system receives a selection by a reader of an annotated anchor. This selection may be from any of the outputs of the above-described processes or directly from a document. 
     In logic box  1605  the target of the selected annotated anchor is determined and obtained. In logic box  1607  a determination is made as to whether there are other annotated anchors which point to the same target. If it is determined that other annotated anchors point to the same target control is passed to logic box  1609  and each of the other annotated anchors which point to the same target are gathered. If however, it is determined that there are no other annotated anchors which point to the target control is passed to logic box  1611 . 
     In logic box  1611  the target and each of the annotated anchors which point to the target are displayed on display  240  so that all information is simultaneously viewable. 
       FIG. 17  illustrates an example of an output generated from the process of displaying annotated anchors together with target document  416 , illustrated in  FIG. 16 , according to an embodiment of the present invention. Once a reader has selected an anchor, the annotation  1701  which includes the selected anchor, any other annotated anchor which points to the same target, and the target  1703  are made viewable. By displaying one or more annotated anchors together with a target, the system reminds the reader of why they decided to read the target  1703 , and where they have seen references to the target  1703  before. The annotated anchors may also help the reader interpret the target. 
     It should be understood that the particular embodiments described above are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention, and various modifications could be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Thus, the scope of the present invention is limited only by the claims that follow.

Technology Category: 3