System and method for annotation of web pages

Abstract

The invention relates generally shared annotation systems. More particularly, the invention provides a method for automatically navigating a document in a display, the method comprising: receiving an annotation related to the document, the annotation generated by a user at a first client; associating the annotation with a first indication in the document; receiving, from a user at a second client, an input to navigate a first portion of a display at the second client, the input causing the first indication to be displayed in the first portion of the display; and in response to the input, automatically displaying the annotation of the display at the second client.

1 . A method for allowing users of web browsers to annotate a web page, the method comprising:
 displaying with one or more computer processors, a web page comprising content and annotation indicators wherein the annotation indicators are embedded within the content displayed on the web page by inserting start tags and stop tags directly into a portion of the content to identify the portion of the content associated with the annotation indicators, wherein the start tags and stop tags are hypertext markup language compatible such that the annotation indicators continue to be displayed in association with the selected content when a user varies the size of the web page, adds to the content, or zooms in on portions of the content;   updating the web page to display a first annotation indicator associated with a first user's selected portion of content by inserting a first start tag and a first stop tag into the first user's selected portion of content;   allowing at least a second user to access the web page and to add a second annotation by allowing the second user to select a portion of the content of the web page while the web page continues to be displayed to the first user;   capturing location data describing the second user's selected portion of content;   updating the web page to display a second annotation indicator associated with the second user's selected portion of content by inserting a second start tag and a second stop tag directly into the second user's selected portion of content;   determining with one or more servers whether the portion of content selected by the first user is related to the portion of content selected by the second user;   updating with the one or more servers the web page to display within the first display a multiple annotation indicator that combines the first annotation indicator from the first user with at least a second annotation indicator from the second user based on whether the selected portions of content are related;   when the multiple annotation indicator is selected, automatically displaying on the web page, at least the first and second annotations associated with the multiple annotation indicator; and   when an annotation is selected, automatically highlighting the annotated content on the web page located between the start and stop tags associated with the multiple annotation indicator.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the multiple annotation indictors comprise a single annotation indictor that displays information about the first and second annotations when a cursor points to the multiple annotation indicator. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a user can select one of the annotations from the displayed information associated with the multiple annotation indicator and the selected annotation is displayed in a second display of the web page. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising allowing the first user to select and deselect via a web browser, annotations in a first group of annotations to create a first list of preferred annotations. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising selectively filtering the annotations based on user input to create a list of preferred annotations. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein selectively filtering the annotations is based upon at least one of the group consisting of a list of user friends, individual user selection, ratings from other users, and annotation type. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection of the portion of content comprises selection of a paragraph represented in the web page by a paragraph identifier tag. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selection of the portion of content comprises selection of a portion of an image embedded in the web page. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the selection of the portion of the content comprises the selection of an arbitrary string of characters from the content in the web page, and further comprises expanding the location data to include whole words in which characters from at least one of the whole words are included in the selected string of characters. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein capturing location data comprises capturing a paragraph identifier tag for a paragraph within the web page in which the selected portion of content is located. 
   
   
       11 . A method for allowing users of web browsers to annotate a web page, the method comprising:
 displaying with one or more computer processors, a web page comprising content and annotation indicators wherein the annotation indicators are embedded within the content displayed on the web page such that the annotation indicators continue to be displayed in association with the selected content when a user varies the size of the web page, adds to the content, or zooms in on portions of the content;   updating the web page to display at least a first annotation indicator associated with a first user's selected portion of content;   updating the web page to display at least a second annotation indicator associated with a second user's selected portion of content;   determining with one or more computer processors whether the portion of content selected by the first user is related to the portion of content selected by the second user;   updating with the one or more computer processors the web page to display a multiple annotation indicator that combines at least the first annotation indicator from the first user with at least a second annotation indicator from the second user based on whether the selected portions of content are related;   when a multiple annotation indicator is selected, automatically displaying on the web page, at least a portion of the first and second annotations associated with the multiple annotation indicator.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the multiple annotation indictors comprise a single annotation indictor that displays information about the first and second annotations when a cursor points to the multiple annotation indicator. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein a user can select one of the annotations from the displayed information associated with the multiple annotation indicator and the selected annotation is displayed in a second display of the web page. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising allowing the first user to select and deselect via a web browser, annotations in a first group of annotations to create a first list of preferred annotations. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising selectively filtering the annotations based on user input to create a list of preferred annotations. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein selectively filtering the annotations is based upon at least one of the group consisting of a list of user friends, individual user selection, ratings from other users, and annotation type. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein selecting the portion of content comprises selecting a paragraph represented in the web page by a paragraph identifier tag. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein selecting the portion of content comprises selection of a portion of an image embedded in the web page. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein selecting the portion of the content comprises the selection of an arbitrary string of characters from the content in the web page, and further comprises expanding the location data to include whole words in which characters from at least one of the whole words are included in the selected string of characters. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein capturing location data comprises capturing a paragraph identifier tag for a paragraph within the web page in which the user's selected portion is located.