Method for associating annotation with electronically published material

Abstract

The operating principle permits a reader of an electronically published document to create notes, bookmarks, or annotations and relate them to a particular location in the document. The record of such annotations or 'place marks' can be stored within or separately from the published material. Annotations stored separately from the originally published document are associated by name with the document and can either be accessed by a particular individual reader and/or shared and exchanged between individuals with access to the same (or copies of the) published electronic document for a variety of purposes. The attachment of annotations is a capability provided to the reader of an electronic document and does not require any specific preparation on the part of the writer or editor of an electronic document. The association of annotations with a particular context within the document exploits the fact that the writer in constructing an electronically published document has indicated the structure of the document by 'marking up' the material and identifying major document elements such as chapters, sections, sub-sections, paragraphs, figures, etc. It also uses relative position within the 'finest' identified document element to fix the precise position of some annotations that the reader wants to pinpoint to a particular line or word position.