Systems and methods for collaboratively annotating electronic documents

Abstract

Systems and methods for sharing annotations associated with an electronic document. The annotations are created by one or more annotation authors and are shared with one or more other users. A method includes determining frequently annotated portions of the electronic document and providing indicators within the electronic document of the frequently annotated portions. In one embodiment, frequently used words within the annotations are also indicated within the text of the electronic document. In addition, or in another embodiment, the annotations can be searched based on a user's location within the electronic document.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of filtering electronic annotations, the method comprising:
 receiving a search request comprising address information associated with a user-selected portion of an electronic document, the address information uniquely identifying the electronic document and a location of the user-selected portion within the electronic document, the search request further comprising one or more search parameters;   filtering a plurality of annotations to find a subset of the annotations that are associated with the user-selected portion and match the search parameters; and   providing the subset of annotations to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search parameters comprise a most frequently annotated preference, the method further comprising filtering the plurality of annotations to include annotations for passages that are most frequently annotated. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising calculating a number of annotations associated with portions of the electronic document. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising filtering the subset of annotations based on access rights granted to the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising granting access based on a user subscribing to annotations in an annotation marketplace. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search parameters specify an author ranking, the method further comprising filtering the subset of annotations based on the author ranking. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search parameters specify an annotation population, the method further comprising filtering the subset of annotations based on the annotation population. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the annotation population is selected by the user, the annotation population comprising one or more of a school category, a graduating class category, a teacher/professor category, an educational status category, a company category, a tenure category, a manager category, a department category, and an expertise category. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising filtering the subset of annotations based on frequently used words within the subset of annotations. 
     
     
         10 . A method of presenting electronic annotations, the method comprising:
 receiving a selection of a portion of an electronic document from a user (user selected portion);   generating a search request comprising address information associated with the user-selected portion of the electronic document, the address information uniquely identifying the electronic document and a location of the user-selected portion within the electronic document the search request further comprising one or more search parameters;   in response to the search request, receiving annotations of the electronic document that are associated with the user-selected portion; and   displaying on a display an indication of the presence of the annotations to the user.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising displaying a frequency indicator indicating frequently annotated portions of the electronic document. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising calculating a number of annotations associated with portions of the electronic document. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving a search term, wherein generating the search request comprises generating a search request with search parameters comprising the search term. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the search term comprises a frequently used word. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising highlighting frequently used words within the user-selected portion. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the frequently used words are located in a frequently used word list, the method further generating a frequently used word list based on frequently used words in annotations of the electronic document. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising receiving an annotation population selected by the user for inclusion in the search parameters, the annotation population comprising one or more of a school category, a graduating class category, a teacher/professor category, an educational status category, a company category, a tenure category, a manager category, a department category, and an expertise category. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein generating the search request comprises automatically adding the address information to the search request upon a user's selection of the user-selected portion. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the user selected portion comprises a portion of the electronic document highlighted by the user. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the search parameters comprise a most frequently annotated preference and wherein receiving annotations comprises receiving the annotations for passages that are most frequently annotated.