Methods and systems for receiving and distributing annotations of a digital work include receiving an annotation of the digital work, storing the annotation, and providing the annotation to a user. The user may be required to submit a valid authorization credential for the annotation. Annotations may be textual or graphical, and may be associated with particular content in a digital work. Indicators may be displayed to identify content in the digital work for which annotations are available. A user may exchange compensation or perform a specified action for access to an annotation. Some or all of the compensation received for an annotation may be distributed to the author of the annotation. Multiple annotations may be listed in an order based a criterion, such as ranking, price, or date of receipt. Users that purchase a digital work may automatically receive an authorization credential to receive annotations of the digital work.

Claims

52 · 5 independent · depth 4

52 granted claims

›1.independentA computer-implemented method for providing an annotation of a digital work, comprising:nunder control of instructions that are executed by one or mor…+21

›2.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein an annotation of the digital work is received in a graphical format.d2+1

›4.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein an annotation includes highlighting of text in the digital work.d2

›5.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein an annotation is provided such that the annotation is viewable by the user concurrent with a display of the digital wor…d2

›6.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein an annotation is provided such that the annotation is normally hidden and becomes viewable when a cursor or pointer is …d2

›7.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the digital work is textual and the particular content in the digital work is identified by an indicator displayed near…d2

›8.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the digital work is an audio or audiovisual work and the particular content in the digital work is identified by an ind…d2

›9.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the particular content in the digital work is identified by an indicator displayed with a listing of contents for the d…d2

›10.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein an annotation includes an image.d2

›11.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the user has obtained the authorization credential in exchange for compensation paid by the user, the method further co…d2+1

›13.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization credential is specific to an annotation desired by the user.d2

›14.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion is a ranking of the annotations assigned by others who previously have viewed the annotations.d2

›15.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion is a price assigned to each of the annotations.d2

›16.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion is a date of receipt of each of the annotations.d2

›17.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein an annotation, when combined with the digital work to which it pertains, becomes accessible upon accessing the digital …d2

›18.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the user has obtained the authorization credential in exchange for purchase of the digital work to which an annotation …d2

›19.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the user has obtained the authorization credential in exchange for user-performance of a specified action.d2+2

›22.↳ 1The method of claim 1, further comprising submitting the authorization credential to a validation system that generates an indication of the credentia…d2

›23.independentA non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution by a computing system,…+9

›24.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further configured with program instructions that direct the computing system to receive the annotation in a…d2

›25.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that direct the computing system to receive t…d2

›26.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that direct the computing system to store the…d2

›27.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that direct the computing system to receive t…d2

›28.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that direct the computing system to facilitat…d2+1

›30.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the authorization credential is specific to the annotation provided to the user.d2

›31.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that direct the computing system to provide t…d2

›32.↳ 23The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the specified action is electronically previewing a digital work.d2

›33.independentA computer-implemented method for providing an annotation of a digital work, comprising:nunder control of instructions that are executed by one or mor…+10

›34.↳ 33The method of claim 33, further comprising providing one or more images of the digital work to the user such that the annotation provided to the user …d2+3

›38.↳ 33The method of claim 33, wherein the digital work originates from a source and wherein the author of the annotation and the source of the digital work …d2

›39.↳ 33The method of claim 33, wherein the digital work originates from a source and wherein the user to whom the annotation is provided and the source of th…d2

›40.↳ 33The method of claim 33, wherein the annotation is provided to the user via an online marketplace.d2+1

›42.↳ 33The method of claim 33, wherein an annotation of the digital work is further subject to annotation by another author.d2

›43.↳ 33The method of claim 33, wherein the indication of particular content of the digital work to which the annotation pertains is received from an author o…d2

›44.independentA computing system programmed to provide a marketplace for annotations of digital works, comprising:na computing subsystem that receives digital works…+4

›49.independentA non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution by a computing system,…+3

Classifications

3 codes

IPC · International Patent Classification

Section G — Physics

G06F21/00

USPC · US Patent Classification

705/57705/64

Claim changes

Soon

Coming soonHow the claims changed between publication and grant

See which claims were amended, added or cancelled during examination, with every added and removed word marked.

AmendedAddedCancelledUnchanged

The published claims of this patent are not paired with the granted ones in what we hold.

File wrapper

⤢ drag to zoom

USPTOApplicanthover for detail · click to open

Pendency

6.3 y

2,288 days filing → grant

Office actions

non-final + final

Responses

5 RCE

Interviews

examiner interview summaries

Appeals

notices of appeal

Examiner

Pierre E Elisca

art unit 3714 · TC 3700

Law firm

Law firm · Log in to unlock

Citations: 198 back · 0 forward

See the full prosecution history — every USPTO and applicant action on this file, in order.

Term & fees

See the term timeline — pendency span, in-force span, the maintenance fees paid and both computed expiry dates.

Priority chain

1 priority documents

›Priority documents — 1

Type	Document	Date
related publication	US 20060161578 A1	20 Jul 2006

Validity challenges

See the validity challenges on record — reexaminations, IPRs and PGRs, with their institution decisions and outcomes.

Citations

See every patent this one cites and every patent that cites it back — publication, assignee, and how each one was found.