Notification of activity around documents

Abstract

Users are able to subscribe to notifications regarding activity around particular documents (e.g., changes to and/or annotations to the documents). A variety of different notification parameters can be set by the user, allowing him or her to request the type(s) of notifications he or she would like to receive, as well as how frequently notifications are to be received.

1 - 9 . (canceled) 
   
   
       10 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request for a user to receive, at particular times, notification of changes to a document;   monitoring activity on the document; and   sending an electronic mail message to the user, the electronic mail message including an indication of changes to the document in the time since the user was last notified of changes to the document.   
   
   
       11 . A method as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the particular times comprise a user-configurable day, a user-configurable time, and a user-configurable interval. 
   
   
       12 . A method as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the indication of changes to the document is selected from a set including: no changes, minor changes, and significant changes. 
   
   
       13 . A method as recited in  claim 10 , further comprising including, in the electronic mail message, an indication of a time at which the most recent change was made to the document. 
   
   
       14 . A method as recited in  claim 10 , further comprising including, in the electronic mail message, annotations that have been made to the document in the time since the user was last notified of changes to the document. 
   
   
       15 - 46 . (canceled) 
   
   
       47 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from a user, a selection of a role corresponding to the user;   identifying a set of notification parameters associated with the role; and   notifying the user of activity on a document in accordance with the set of notification parameters.   
   
   
       48 . A method as recited in  claim 47 , wherein the set of notification parameters include a parameter identifying whether the user is to be notified of activity on the document by an electronic mail notification or a peripheral awareness notification. 
   
   
       49 . A method as recited in  claim 47 , wherein the set of notification parameters include a parameter identifying whether the user is to receive an abstract summarizing annotations on the document. 
   
   
       50 . A method as recited in  claim 47 , wherein the set of notification parameters include a parameter identifying how frequently the user is to be notified of annotations added to the document. 
   
   
       51 . A method as recited in  claim 47 , wherein the set of notification parameters associated with the role are user-defined. 
   
   
       52 . One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:
 receive, from a user, a request to subscribe to activity regarding a document;   receive, from the user, an indication of another document;   identify a set of notification parameters associated with the other document;   associate the set of notification parameters with the user for the document; and   notify the user of activity on the document in accordance with the set of notification parameters.   
   
   
       53 . One or more computer readable media as recited in  claim 52 , wherein the set of notification parameters include a parameter identifying whether the user is to be notified of activity on the document by an electronic mail notification or a peripheral awareness notification. 
   
   
       54 . One or more computer readable media as recited in  claim 52 , wherein the set of notification parameters include a parameter identifying whether the user is to receive an abstract summarizing annotations on the document. 
   
   
       55 . One or more computer readable media as recited in  claim 52 , wherein the set of notification parameters include a parameter identifying how frequently the user is to be notified of annotations added to the document. 
   
   
       56 . A system comprising:
 a database configured to store information regarding activity on a plurality of documents; and   a monitoring module configured to notify a user of activity on one or more of the plurality of documents in accordance with a subscription to notifications received from the user, the subscription indicating whether electronic mail notifications are to be used and whether peripheral awareness notifications are to be used.   
   
   
       57 . A system as recited in  claim 56 , wherein the monitoring module is further configured to:
 identify, for each of the plurality of documents, one or more annotations that have been made to the document,   include information regarding the annotations that have been made to the plurality of documents in a single electronic mail message,   send the single electronic mail message to the user if the user has subscribed to annotation notification for the plurality of documents,   receive a user request to receive notification of one or more annotations to the plurality of documents in response to one or more of a plurality of user-specified conditions being satisfied,   send, in response to one or more of the plurality of user-specified conditions being satisfied, the single electronic mail message to the user,   receive a request for the user to receive, at particular times, notification of changes to one of the plurality of documents,   monitor activity on the one of the plurality of documents,   include, in the single electronic mail message, an indication of changes to the one of the plurality of documents in the time since the user was last notified of changes to the one of the plurality of documents,   generate an abstract that summarizes the annotations that have been made to the plurality of documents,   include the abstract in the single electronic mail message,   receive a request for the user to be notified of replies by other users to a document annotation entered by the user,   monitor annotating of the document to determine when a reply to the document annotation is entered by one of the other users, and   send, to the user, a notification that the reply has been entered.   
   
   
       58 . A system as recited in  claim 56 , wherein the monitoring module is further configured to:
 receive, from the user, a selection of a role corresponding to the user and regarding one of the plurality of documents;   identify a set of notification parameters associated with the role; and   notify the user of activity on the one of the plurality of documents in accordance with the set of notification parameters.   
   
   
       59 . A system as recited in  claim 56 , wherein the monitoring module is further configured to:
 receive, from the user, an indication of one of the plurality of documents an indication of another of the plurality of documents;   identify a set of notification parameters associated with the other document;   associate the set of notification parameters with the user for the one document; and   notify the user of activity on the one document in accordance with the set of notification parameters.   
   
   
       60 . A system as recited in  claim 56 , wherein the monitoring module is further configured to send, to a computing device, information describing annotations that have been made to a document in order for an annotation ticket to be displayed within a persistent window on a display of the computing device. 
   
   
       61 . A system as recited in  claim 56 , wherein the monitoring module is further configured to send, to a computing device, information regarding annotations that have been made to a document in order for an annotation ticket and an annotation tooltip window to be displayed within a persistent window on a display of the computing device, wherein the annotation ticket includes a subset of the information and wherein the tooltip window includes the information.