Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Zile Wei

Michael Shilman

Charlton E Lui

Sashi Raghupathy

F David Jones

David Bargeron

Jian Wang

Patrice Y Simard

Yu Zou

Tomer Moscovich

A digital ink annotation process and system for processing digital documents and digital ink annotations therein. An annotation's position is maintained within a document such that the original intent and meaning of the annotation is preserved. This is true even if the document is edited, resized, displayed on a different device or otherwise modified. The process includes automatic and manual grouping of digital ink strokes within a document to define digital ink annotations, classifying the annotations according to annotation type, and anchoring the annotations to appropriate regions or positions in a document. The process further includes reflowing the annotations in a new document layout such that the annotations conform and adapt to the new layout while preserving the original intents and meanings of the annotations. The system includes a classification module, an anchoring module, a reflow module and a clean-up module to implement the digital ink annotation process.

Recognizing, anchoring and reflowing digital ink annotations

Flexible and efficient systems and methods for organizing, analyzing, and processing digital ink incrementally analyze input data (e.g., representing ink strokes) as the user continues to add to, edit, or modify the data. In this manner, processing is performed promptly as the ink is entered, and the processing system and method can effectively keep up with the user. This prevents long processing delays, because the systems and methods need not first process a large volume of ink data present after the user has entered has completely filled a page with ink.

Incremental system for real time digital ink analysis

The present invention leverages classification type detectors and/or context information to provide a systematic means to recognize and anchor annotation strokes, providing reflowable digital annotations. This allows annotations in digital documents to be archived, shared, searched, and easily manipulated. In one instance of the present invention, an annotation recognition method obtains an input of strokes that are grouped, classified, and anchored to underlying text and/or points in a document. Additional instances of the present invention utilize linguistic content, domain specific information, anchor context, and document context to facilitate in correctly recognizing an annotation.

Freeform digital ink annotation recognition

Electronic ink layout analysis systems and methods provide flexibility and efficiency in organizing, analyzing, and processing digital ink. These layout analysis systems and methods allow users substantial freedom in entering electronic ink into a pen-based computer system. Using these systems and methods, a user's input digital ink is not constrained by requirements that a user write in a specific screen orientation, that a user write in one specific orientation on all portions of a page, or that a user write using a specific minimum or maximum sized stroke. Rather, the systems and methods freely allow the user to write anywhere on a given page, in any orientation or size, while still enabling effective and efficient handwriting recognition and other processing of the input digital ink.

Handwriting layout analysis of freeform digital ink input

A digital ink annotation process and system for processing digital documents and digital ink annotations therein. The process and system maintain an annotation's position within a document such that the original intent and meaning of the annotation is preserved. This is true even if the document is edited, resized, displayed on a different device or otherwise modified. The digital ink annotation process includes automatic and manual grouping of digital ink strokes within a document to define digital ink annotations, classifying the annotations according to annotation type, and anchoring the annotations to appropriate regions or positions in a document. The process further includes reflowing the annotations in a new document layout such that the annotations conform and adapt to the new layout while preserving the original intents and meanings of the annotations. A digital ink annotation system includes a classification module, an anchoring module, a reflow module and a clean-up module to implement the digital ink annotation process.

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Beijing, China

Zile Wei