Organizational viewing techniques

Abstract

Annotation techniques are provided. In one aspect, a method for processing a computer-based material is provided. The method comprises the following steps. The computer-based material is presented. One or more portions of the computer-based material are determined to be of interest to a user. The one or more portions are annotated to permit return to the one or more portions at a later time. In another aspect, a user interface is provided. The user interface comprises a computer-based material; a viewing focal area encompassing a portion of the computer-based material; and one or more indicia associated with and annotating the portion of the computer-based material.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for processing a computer-based material, the method comprising the steps of:
 presenting the, by a processing device, computer-based material to a user on a screen; 
 determining, by the processing device, one or more portions of the computer-based material that are of interest to the a user based upon identification by the user of at least in part on a time the one or more portions of the computer-based material when the one or more portions of the computer-based material are located in a viewing focal area of the screen, wherein an extent the time or placement of the viewing focal area can be is configured to be variably set based on user preferences, or by selection by the user of the one or more portions of the computer-based material; and 
 automatically annotating, by the processing device, the computer-based material with indicia to permit rapid return by one or more hyperlinks to the one or more portions thereofof the computer-based material that are identified to be of interest to the user at a later time. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-based material includes one or more of files, web pages, documents, data spreadsheets and computer displayable media. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more portions include one or more of specific areas, scroll positions, navigation positions, lines of text, characters of text, lines of data and characters of data. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the one or more portions of the computer-based material are determined to be of interest to the user is based on an indication of an amount of time the user views the one or more portions in the viewing focal area. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the one or more portions of the computer-based material are determined to be of interest to the user is based on an amount of time the one or more portions are located in the viewing focal area of the screen. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the one or more portions of the computer-based material are determined to be of interest to the user is based on a number of instances that the one or more portions are located in the viewing focal area of the screen. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the one or more portions of the computer-based material are determined to be of interest to the user is based on active passive identification of the one or more portions by the user. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of annotating further comprises the step of associating, by the processing device, one or more indicia with the one or more portions. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of annotating further comprises the steps of:
 associating, by the processing device, one or more indicia with the one or more portions; and 
 ranking, by the processing device, the one or more indicia based on when each of the one or more indicia were associated with the one or more portions. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of annotating further comprises the steps of:
 associating, by the processing device, one or more indicia with the one or more portions; and 
 ranking, by the processing device, the one or more indicia based on an indication of an amount of time the user spent viewing the one or more portions. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 associating, by the processing device, one or more indicia with the one or more portions; and 
 imposing, by the processing device, a maximum viewing time limit beyond which the one or more indicia are removed or modified. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more portions include one or more of scroll positions, navigation positions, lines of text, characters of text, lines of data and characters of data. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the one or more portions of the computer-based material are determined to be of interest to the user is based on active identification of the one or more portions located in the viewing focal area by the user. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the one or more portions of the computer-based material that are of interest to the user are determined is based upon active or passive identification by the user of the one or more portions of the computer-based material when the one or more portions of the computer-based material are located in a viewing focal area of the screen, wherein an extent or placement of the viewing focal area can is configured to be variably set based on an indication of user preferences, or by selection by the user of the one or more portions of the computer-based material. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-based material comprises a document and wherein the viewing focal area encompasses a middle of a viewable portion of the document. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the viewing focal area is positioned based on an analysis of content of the computer-based material. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of annotating further comprises the steps of:
 associating, by the processing device, one or more indicia with the one or more portions; and 
 organizing, by the processing device, the one or more indicia based on an amount of user interest. 
 
     
     
       18. A non-transitory computer user interface provided on a screen readable medium having instructions stored thereon defining at least one program that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform actions comprising:
 providing a computer-based material; 
 defining an extent or placement of a viewing focal area of thea screen encompassingconfigured to display a portion of the computer-based material, wherein anthe extent or placement of the viewing focal area can beis configured to be variably set based on user preferences; and 
 one or more indicia associated with and annotatingautomatically annotating the portion of the computer-based material with indicia and including one or more hyperlinks permitting rapid return to the one or more portions of the computer-based material that are of interest to the user at a later time; 
 wherein automatically annotating the portion of the computer-based material occurs in response to the portion of the computer-based material being displayed in the viewing focal area of the screen for a predetermined time. 
 
     
     
       19. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the computer-based material comprises one or more of files, web pages, documents, data spreadsheets and computer displayable media. 
     
     
       20. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the viewing focal area has one or more of a user-configurable size and a user-configurable placement. 
     
     
       21. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia are placed on a scroll bar associated with the computer-based material, at one or more positions corresponding with a location of the portion of the computer-based material. 
     
     
       22. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia comprise tags having information related to indicating an amount of time the portion was viewed by a user. 
     
     
       23. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia comprise tags having information associated with an input by a user. 
     
     
       24. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia comprise tags having chronological information displayed therein the information being related to when the portion was viewed by a user. 
     
     
       25. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia are automatically created when the portion of the computer-based material is presented in the viewing focal area beyond a threshold time limit. 
     
     
       26. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia are automatically created when the portion of the computer-based material is present in the viewing focal area for at least a threshold number of times. 
     
     
       27. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia comprise toolbar buttons that, when activated, are configured to present a next most recently previously annotated portion of the computer-based material. 
     
     
       28. The user interface non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more indicia comprise toolbar buttons that, when activated, are configured to present a next highly-ranked previously annotated portion of the computer-based material, based upon one or more of length lengths of time viewed and number of instances viewed, previously annotated portion of the computer-based material. 
     
     
       29. An apparatus for processing a computer-based material, the apparatus comprising:
 a memory; and 
 at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative configured to:
 present the computer-based material to a user on a screen; 
 determine one or more portions of the computer-based material that are of interest to the a user based upon on an identification by the user of the one or more portions of the computer-based material when based on a time the one or more portions of the computer-based material are located displayed in a viewing focal area of the screen, wherein an extent the time the one or more portions of the computer-based material is displayed on the viewing focal area or placement of the viewing focal area can be within the screen is configured to be variably set based on user preferences, or by selection by the user of the one or more portions of the computer-based material; and 
 
 automatically annotate the computer-based material with indicia to permit rapid return by one or more hyperlinks to the one or more portions thereofof the computer-based material that are identified to be of interest to the user at a later time. 
 
     
     
       30. An article of manufacture for processing a computer-based material, comprising a machine readable, non-transitory medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
 presenting the computer-based material to a user on a screen; 
 determining one or more portions of the computer-based material that are of interest to the a user based upon identification by the user of at least in part on a time the one or more portions of the computer-based material when the one or more portions of the computer-based material are located in a viewing focal area of the screen, wherein an extent the time or placement of the viewing focal area can be within the screen is configured to be variably set based on user preferences, or by selection by the user of the one or more portions of the computer-based material; and 
 automatically annotating, by the processing device, the computer-based material with indicia to permit rapid return by one or more hyperlinks to the one or more portions thereofof the computer-based material that are identified to be of interest to the user at a later time. 
 
     
     
       31. A method, comprising:
 identifying, by a processing device, a portion of data visible on a focal viewing area of a display based at least in part on a time parameter associated with the focal viewing area, wherein a location of the focal viewing area within the display or the time parameter associated with the focal viewing area are configured to be variably set;   automatically annotating, by the processing device, the portion of the data with indicia based on the selection; and   associating, by the processing device, a hyperlink to the indicia to permit rapid return to the portion of the data at a later time.    
     
     
       32. The method of claim 31, further comprising setting, by the processing device, the time parameter based on a type of media item comprising the data.  
     
     
       33. The method of claim 31, wherein the focal viewing area comprises at least one of predetermined dimensions within the display, a predetermined number of lines of text, characters or images or any combination thereof, a predetermined percentage of an area of the display, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       34. The method of claim 31, wherein the time parameter comprises at least one of a time period for displaying the portion of the data within the focal viewing area of the display or a number of times the portion of the data is displayed within the focal viewing area of the display in a predetermined time period, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       35. The method of claim 31, further comprising modifying, by the processing device, the hyperlink based on the time parameter.  
     
     
       36. The method of claim 31, further comprising associating, by the processing device, the portion of the data with indicia configured to indicate supplemental information.  
     
     
       37. The method of claim 36, wherein the supplemental information comprises at least one of a time the data was viewed, an amount of time the data was in the focal viewing area of the display, chronological information indicating when the data was in the focal viewing area of the display, information input manually, a rank of the data, a summary of the data, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       38. The method of claim 31 further comprising:
 monitoring, by the processing device, an amount of time the portion of the data is displayed within the focal viewing area; and   identifying the portion of the data based on the amount of time the portion of the data is displayed.    
     
     
       39. The method of claim 31 further comprising assigning, by the processing device, a rank to the portion of the data based on the time parameter.  
     
     
       40. The method of claim 39 further comprising annotating, by the processing device, the portion of the data to identify the rank.  
     
     
       41. The method of claim 31 further comprising displaying, by the processing device, chronological information corresponding to a viewing record of the portion of the data.  
     
     
       42. A computer-readable memory device having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
 identifying a portion of data visible on a focal viewing portion of a display of at least a portion of a page based at least in part on a time parameter associated with the focal viewing portion, a location of the focal viewing portion within the display or the time parameter being configured to be variably set;   automatically annotating the identified portion of the data with indicia; and   associating a hyperlink to the indicia to permit rapid return to the identified portion of the data at a later time.    
     
     
       43. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the operations further comprise setting the time parameter associated with the focal viewing portion based on a type of media item including the data that is being displayed.  
     
     
       44. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the focal viewing portion comprises at least one of predetermined dimensions within the display, a predetermined number of lines of text, characters or images or any combination thereof, a predetermined percentage of an area of the display, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       45. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the time parameter comprises at least one of a time period for displaying the portion of the data within the focal viewing portion, a number of times the portion of the data is displayed within the focal viewing portion, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       46. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the operations further comprise modifying the hyperlink based on the parameter associated with the focal viewing portion.  
     
     
       47. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the operations further comprise automatically annotating the identified portion of the data with the indicia configured to indicate the hyperlink or supplemental information.  
     
     
       48. The computer-readable memory device of claim 47, wherein the supplemental information comprises at least one of a time the data was viewed, an amount of time the data was in the focal viewing portion, chronological information indicating when the data was in the focal viewing portion, information input manually, a rank of the data, and a summary of the data.  
     
     
       49. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the operations further comprise:
 monitoring an amount of time any portion of the data is displayed within the focal viewing portion; and   identifying the any portion of the data as being of interest to a user based on the amount of time the any portion of the data is displayed in the focal viewing portion.    
     
     
       50. The computer-readable memory device of claim 42, wherein the operations further comprise assigning a rank to the portion of the data based on the time parameter.  
     
     
       51. The computer-readable memory device of claim 50, wherein the operations further comprise annotating the portion of the data to identify the rank.  
     
     
       52. The computer-readable memory device of claim 51, wherein the operations further comprise displaying chronological information corresponding to a viewing record of the identified portion of the data.  
     
     
       53. An apparatus, comprising:
 a memory device configured to store instructions associated with an application program; and   a processing device that, in response to executing the instructions stored on the memory device, is configured to:
 identify a portion of data visible on a viewing focal area of a display by monitoring of a time parameter associated with the viewing focal area of the display; 
 automatically annotate the identified portion of the data with indicia; and 
 associate a hyperlink to the indicia to permit rapid return to the identified portion of the data at a later time; 
   wherein a location of the viewing focal area on the display or the time parameter associated with the viewing focal area of the display is configured to be variably set.    
     
     
       54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processing device is further configured to set the time parameter associated with the viewing focal area based on a type of media item including the data.  
     
     
       55. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the viewing focal area comprises at least one of predetermined dimensions within the display, a predetermined number of lines of text, characters or images or any combination thereof, a predetermined percentage of an area of the display, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       56. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the time parameter comprises at least one of a time period for displaying the data within the viewing focal area, a number of times the data is displayed within the viewing focal area, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       57. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processing device is further configured to modify the hyperlink based on the parameter associated with the viewing focal area.  
     
     
       58. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processing device is further configured to associate the data with indicia configured to indicate supplemental information.  
     
     
       59. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein the supplemental information comprises at least one of a time the identified portion of the data was viewed, an amount of time the identified portion of the data was in the viewing focal area, chronological information indicating when the identified portion of the data was in the viewing focal area, information input manually, a rank of the identified portion of the data, a summary of the identified portion of the data, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       60. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processing device is further configured to:
 monitor an amount of time a particular portion of the data is displayed within the viewing focal area; and   identify the particular portion of data based on the amount of time the particular portion of the data is displayed within the viewing focal area.    
     
     
       61. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processing device is further configured to assign a rank to the data based on the time parameter associated with the viewing focal area.  
     
     
       62. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein the processing device is further configured to automatically annotate the portion of the data to identify the rank.  
     
     
       63. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the processing device is further configured to display chronological information corresponding to a viewing record of the portion of the data.  
     
     
       64. An apparatus comprising:
 means for identifying a portion of data visible on a focal viewing portion of a display of at least a portion of a page based at least in part on a time parameter associated with the focal viewing portion;   means for automatically annotating the portion of the data with indicia; and   means for associating a hyperlink to the indicia to permit rapid return to the portion of the data at a later time;   wherein a location of the focal viewing portion within the display or the time parameter being configured to be variably set.    
     
     
       65. The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising means for setting a location of the focal viewing portion based on a type of media item including the data.  
     
     
       66. The apparatus of claim 64, wherein the focal viewing portion comprises at least one of predetermined dimensions within the display, a predetermined number of lines of text, characters or images or any combination thereof, a predetermined percentage of an area of the display, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       67. The apparatus of claim 64, wherein the time parameter comprises at least one of a time period for displaying the data within the viewing focal area, a number of times the data is displayed within the focal viewing portion, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       68. The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising means for modifying the hyperlink based on the time parameter associated with the focal viewing portion.  
     
     
       69. The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising means for associating the portion of the data with indicia configured to indicate supplemental information.  
     
     
       70. The apparatus of claim 69, wherein the supplemental information comprises at least one of a time the data was viewed, an amount of time the data was in the focal viewing portion, chronological information indicating when the data was in the focal viewing portion, information input manually, a rank of the data, a summary of the data, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
       71. The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising:
 means for monitoring an amount of time the portion of the data is displayed within the focal viewing portion; and   means for identifying the portion of the data based on the amount of time the portion of the data is displayed within the focal viewing portion.    
     
     
       72. The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising means for assigning a rank to the portion of the data based on the time parameter.  
     
     
       73. The apparatus of claim 72, further comprising means for annotating the portion of the data to identify the rank.  
     
     
       74. The apparatus of claim 64, further comprising means for displaying chronological information corresponding to a viewing record of the data.