SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTELLIGENTLY
MARKING ONLINE AND OFFLINE RESOURCES
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICAnONS
[0001] This application is related to India Patent Application No.
I771/DEL/20 II, entitled "System and Method for Contextual and Collaborative
Knowledge Generation and Management through an Integrated Online-Offline
Workspace" and filed on June 22,2011, which is herein incorporated by reference in its
entirety as though fully and completely set forth herein.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The invention relates generally to a technique for marking electronic
resources, and in particular to an intelligent tool for marking electronic resources in an
online and offline mode.
[0003] While browsing for certain content on the network, frequently by means of
search tools like Google and Yahoo, end-users retrieve numerous results, not all of which
are of use to the user. The user may be interested in fewer results and would like to or
prefer to save those key results for future reference such that that he/she has those chosen
results handy. Fortunately, content browsing technologies often include a simple
indexing technology for memorizing the network addresses of content distributing
locations of interest to end-users. Referred to in the art as "bookmarking", this simple
indexing technology, on command, can store the network address CURL address)
associated with content actively viewed through the content browser. Subsequently, the
end-user can access a list of indexed and stored bookmarks to retrieve previously viewed
content from a network address CURL address) associated with the stored bookmark.
[0004] However, the current bookmark applications at best bookmark a webpage
and allow the user to type in some comment for his/her reference. The process of
manually entering reference comment is cumbersome, particularly if the user is looking
at multiple pages at a time and wants to bookmark pages of interest to come back to it
later for detailed review. Similarly, if a user searches for a topic on a search engine and
wants to bookmark few results for future review based on the displayed summary, he
needs to open the page and then bookmark it. Bookmarking the search engine page will
either open the search engine home page or at best open the search result page. Thus, a
user cannot directly bookmark a webpage, by simply bookmarking the associated
uniform resource locator (URL) address, without opening the page.
[0005] Further, a user may come across web-links while working in an offline
mode on his access device. These web-links can be present as hyperlinks in any
document saved locally on the user's access device and can probably be of user's interest.
Thus the user might want to bookmark one or more of these links. Using the current state
of the art bookmarking applications such web-links can only be bookmarked upon
opening them through a network connection. Moreover, a user may need to bookmark a
file or a document saved locally on the user's access device for future reference. Current
bookmarking techniques are limited in their application with respect to offline
bookmarking of such electronic resources.
[0006] It is therefore desirable to provide an intelligent tool for marking
electronic resources that overcomes above discussed and other limitations of current
bookmarking applications.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for
intelligently marking electronic resources in an online and offline mode.
[0008] It is another object of the present invention to allow a user to bookmark a
desired URL address without necessarily opening the corresponding webpage and along
with a summary of the webpage.
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[0009] It is yet another object of the present invention to allow a user to
bookmark a webpage along with a desired selected content from within the webpage as a
summary for that bookmark.
[0010] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an intelligent
marking application compatible with various online and offline digital content access
platforms so as to bookmark web-links directly from the platform itself. In one
embodiment, it is an object of the invention to bookmark web-links present in files,
documents, emails, and applications accessed locally form a user's access device.
[0011] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an intelligent
marking application to bookmark offline electronic resources such as a document or a file
for future reference along with a summary of the electronic resources.
[0012] The present intelligent marking application achieves all the objectives, set
forth above. The marking application or tool can be installed on various online and
offline digital content access platforms and upon installation, can be used for marking
electronic resources in a manner as described later in this patent application. The various
online digital content access platforms may include, but are not limited to, web-browsers
such as Mozilla Firefox, or Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome, or Safari, or Opera, or
the like. The various offline digital content access platforms may include, but are not
limited to, applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes,
Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Desktop search, or the like. The various digital content
access platforms may also include, but are not limited to, collaboration-data-management
platforms such as Google Docs, or Zoho, or MS SharePoint, or the integrated onlineoffl
ine platform described in the related India Patent Application No. I77l1DEL/20 II, or
the like. The present intelligent marking technique allows a user to mark the whole
search result page or each individual search result from the search engine result page
along with a summary of content. Additionally, the user may select a portion of the
content from the web page which interests him and then hit the selectable marking icon.
The intelligent marking technique of the present application not only marks the page but
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also provides the user selected content or text as the summary. Thus, a user may save the
whole search along with the summary of what was searched for, may save each
individual result within the search along with a summary that is provided by the search
engine, and/or may save individual page along with a user selected content as the
summary. Another important aspect of the present marking application is the ability of
the application to be locally downloaded and installed on the user's access device,
thereby enabling the user to mark any file or document that is accessed locally on the user
access device or any hyperlinked URL address present within such files documents.
[0013] Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be
apparent from reviewing the detailed description and drawings of the present invention
set forth herein.
DRAWINGS
[0014] Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with
reference to the attached drawings in which:
[0015] FIG. I depicts a block diagram of an intelligent marking system In
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0016] FIGS. 2-6 illustrate various aspects of an intelligent marking application
for marking electronic resources in online mode;
[0017] FIG. 7 illustrates an aspect of the intelligent marking application for
marking electronic resources in offline mode; and
[0018] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for marking
electronic resources in accordance with aspects of the present technique.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] According to one embodiment of the present invention, system and
method are provided for facilitating marking of electronic resources, in a manner as
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described subsequently in this detailed description. The invention provides an intelligent
marking application or tool that may be employed in various online and offline digital
content access platforms. The various online platforms may include, but are not limited
to, web-browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, or Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome, or
Safari, or Opera, or the like. The various offline platforms may include, but are not
limited to, applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes,
Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Desktop search, or the like. The various digital content
access platforms may also include, but are not limited to, collaboration-data-management
platforms such as Google Docs, or Zoho, or MS SharePoint, or the integrated onlineoffline
platform described in the related India Patent Application No. 17711DEL/20II, or
the like. Further, the intelligent marking application may also be employed locally for
offline marking of electronic resources such as documents or files saved locally on a
user's access device or hyperlinks from within the locally stored documents or files.
[0020] The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,
wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout.
[0021] FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of the intelligent marking system 100 for
marking electronic resources according to the present invention. The system 100 may
include at least a portion of a processor based user's access device, such as a desktop
computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a Smartphone, a mobile phone,
or the like. It should also be understood that although several modules in FIG. 1 are
depicted as residing within system 100, such modules may alternatively reside in a
different system. An installation module 102 installs the intelligent marking application
or tool within a digital content access application or platform on the user's access device,
as requested by the user. A presentation module 104 presents the installed intelligent
marking application within the digital content access application or platform to the user
through graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The GUIs enable the user to interact with the
intelligent marking application as will be described in greater detail with reference to
FIGS. 2-7. Additionally, a mark creation module 106 allows the user to create
bookmarks for electronic resources in multiple ways via the GUls. Once a bookmark is
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created, a mark saving module 108 saves it within a bookmark memory (not shown in the
drawings). The bookmark memory may reside on one or more remote servers accessible
over a network as in online platform, this memory will subsequently be referred to as the
online bookmark memory; or locally within a pre-determined file on the user's access
device as in offline application or platform, this memory will subsequently be referred to
as the offline bookmark memory; or both. It should be noted that, in certain
embodiments, the bookmark memory may be part of the one or more modules of the
system 100.
[0022] Referring now to FlG.2, an interface 200 represents an online search
engine's interface or webpage within a web-browsing application's window 210. The
search engine may be any of the search engines available on the World Wide Web
(WWW) such as Google search engine, or Yahoo search engine, or Wikipedia search
engine, or MSN search engine, or Dogpile search engine, or the like. Also, the web
browsing application may include, but is not limited to, web-browsers such as Mozilla
Firefox, or Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome, or Safari, or Opera, or the like. A text
or query box 202 is provided by the search engine within the interface 200 where the user
enters search query 204 and subsequently clicks on a search button 206 to retrieve the
search results for the query 204. Upon installation of intelligent marking application or
tool by the application installation module 102, a selectable marking icon 208 is
presented by the presentation module 104 on the toolbar 212 associated with the webbrowsing
application's window 210. It should be noted that the selectable marking icon
208 is displayed on the toolbar 212 irrespective of the interface currently active within
the web-browsing application's window 210. However, the user may anytime choose to
hide or temporarily disable the selectable marking icon 208 by customizing his webbrowser's
toolbar settings.
[0023] Turning now to FIG.3, a search result page 300, corresponding to the
user's query 204, is displayed within the web-browsing appl ication' s window 210.
Shown by 302, 304, and 306 are the search results retrieved by the search engine. These
search results 302, 304, and 306 are displayed along with their respective uniform
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resource locator (URL) addresses as indicated by 310, 312, and 314. Upon detection of
one or more hyperlinked URL addresses within the search result page 300, or within any
other webpage currently active in the web-browsing application's window 210, the
presentation module 104 inserts or embeds a selectable marking icons 308 with each of
the one or more hyperlinked URL addresses. While only three search results and their
corresponding embedded selectable marking icons have been illustrated in the figure, it is
to be understood that several of such results may be retrieved by the search engine and
with every such result a selectable marking icon 308 will be associated.
[0024] The intelligent marking application allows a user to mark either an entire
webpage or interface 200 currently active within the web-browsing application's window
210, or a hyperlinked URL address 310, 312, and 314 present within the webpage or
interface 200 upon selection of the selectable marking icon 208 or 308 respectively via
the mark creation module 106. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the user can create a bookmark
for the entire search result page 300 by clicking on the selectable marking icon 208. It
should be noted that the text description "Save this page" associated with marking icon
208 is for illustration purpose only. This or other such descriptive text may be displayed
to aid the user on moving the cursor or mouse to the marking icon 208. Once the
bookmark is created, the mark saving module 108 allows the user to save the created
bookmark in the bookmark memory. The user may choose to save the bookmark in the
online and/or offline bookmark memories. It should be noted that saving the bookmark
in the offline bookmark memory makes the bookmarked webpage available to the user
even in the absence of a network connection. As will be appreciated by those skilled in
the art, this feature is enabled by downloading of the entire webpage so as to make it
available offline. Further, the bookmark is saved along with a default, user-defined, or
user-selected summary of the webpage or the interface 300. In certain embodiments, a
created bookmark is saved along with a title, a summary, and the corresponding URL
address. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, saving the bookmark created for the search
result page 300 saves the bookmark with: a title 204, which is the search query input by
the user; a summary, which is a default summary, as provided by the search engine for
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the search conducted; and a URL address 316 which corresponds to the worldwide web
address of the search result page 300. It should be noted that, in certain embodiments,
the intelligent marking application may be configured to accept a user-defined summary
of the bookmark upon clicking of the selectable marking icon 208. Additionally, as will
be described with reference to FIG. 6, the summary for the bookmark can be userselected,
instead of the default summary, if so desired by the user.
[0025] Referring now to FIG. 5, another aspect of the intelligent marking
application is described in reference to the search result page 300. The user often gets a
fair idea of the relevancy of a particular result by its title and the summary provided. As
the number of search results retrieved for a query is generally exhaustive, it is timeconsuming
to open every result and thereafter bookmark it. Thus, the present intelligent
marking application enables the user to directly bookmark one or more search results
without having to necessarily open the webpage associated with the desired result. This
is accomplished by clicking selectable marking icons 308. If the user finds the result 302
relevant to his search, he can create a bookmark for this result by simply clicking on the
selectable marking icons 308 without essentially opening the webpage corresponding to
the result 302. Again, it should be noted that the text description "Save this page"
associated with marking icon 308 is for illustration purpose only. This or other such
descriptive text may be displayed to aid the user on moving the cursor or mouse to the
marking icon 308. The saving of bookmark created through the marking icons 308 is
similar to the saving of bookmark created through the marking icon 208 as described
above with reference to FIG. 4. Also, the user may choose to save the bookmark in any
of the online and/or offline bookmark memories. Saving the bookmark created for the
search result 302 saves the bookmark with: a title 502, which is the title for the search
result as displayed on the search result page 300; a summary 504, which is a default
summary corresponding to the search result 302; and a URL address 310 which
corresponds to the worldwide web address of the search result 302. Here again, it should
be noted that, in certain embodiments, the intelligent marking application may be
configured to accept a user-defined summary of the bookmark upon clicking of the
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selectable marking icon 208. Additionally, as will be described with reference to FIG. 6,
the summary for the bookmark can be user-selected, instead of the default summary, if so
desired by the user.
[0026] FIG. 6 shows an aspect of the intelligent marking application wherein the
user may select the summary to be saved along with the bookmark. Shown in the FIG. 6
is the webpage 600 which is opened upon clicking on the search result 302 of search
result page 300. Bookmarking either the currently active page 600 or the search result
302 saves the bookmark with the default summary 504. However, the user, if he so
desires, can save the bookmark with desired web content as the summary. In case the user
wants to bookmark the webpage 600 with the web-content 602 as the summary, the user
needs to select the web-content 602 prior to hitting the selectable marking icon 208.
Once the web-content 602 is selected, the user may hit the selectable marking icon 208 to
create a bookmark. The bookmark thus created will be saved along with: a title 502; a
summary comprising the web-content 602; and a URL address 310. This summary
comprising web-content 602, instead of the default summary 504, is the user-selected
summary. While the webpage 600 is shown to explain this feature, it should be noted
that this feature of the intelligent marking application remains the same for any other
webpage currently active within web-browsing application's window 210.
[0027] FIG. 7 illustrates an aspect of the intelligent marking application for
marking electronic resources in offline mode. Once installed by the application
installation module 102 on any offline platform, the intelligent marking application may
be used to create bookmarks for hyperIinked URL addresses present within any file or
document saved locally on the user's access device and accessed via the offline platform.
Shown by 700 is desktop window of user's access device. In an exemplary embodiment,
a MS word document 702 is saved on the desktop which upon being accessed by MS
Word application (offline digital content access platform) opens as the complete
document within the MS Word application window 704. As illustrated, the document
702 contains a hyperlinked URL address 706. The intelligent marking application parses
the document 702 and upon detection of the hyperlinked URL address 706, the
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presentation module 104 embeds and displays a selectable marking icon 708, associated
with the hyperlinked URL address 706. Clicking the selectable marking icon 708 creates
a bookmark for the hyperlinked URL address 706. The created bookmark may be saved
in the online and/or offline bookmark memory. It should be noted that saving the
bookmark in the offline bookmark memory makes the bookmarked webpage available to
the user even in the absence of a network connection. As will be appreciated by those
skilled in the art, this feature is enabled by downloading of the entire webpage on
detection of the network connection so as to make it available offline. Further, the
bookmark may be saved along with a default, a user-defined, or a user-selected summary.
For example, in certain embodiments, the bookmark may be saved along with: a title that
may be title of the associated webpage; a summary comprising default summary of
webpage or default summary and/or name and location of the document 702 within the
user's access device; and the hyperlinked URL address 706. Alternatively, in certain
embodiments, the intelligent marking application may be configured to accept a userdefined
summary of the bookmark. Alternatively, in certain embodiments, the summary
for the bookmark may be user-selected portion of the document 702.
[0028] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in certain embodiments,
the intelligent marking application may bookmark the file or document saved locally on
the user's access device by clicking on the selectable marking icon present on the toolbar
of the digital content access platform. For example, with respect to FIG. 7, upon
installation of the intelligent marking tool, a selectable marking icon (not shown) may be
presented on the toolbar 710 of the MS Word application window 704. The user may
create a bookmark for the entire document 702 by clicking on the selectable marking
icon. Once the bookmark is created, the created bookmark may be saved in the
bookmark memory. In certain embodiments, a created bookmark is saved along with a
name of the document, a summary, and a corresponding file location. The user may
choose to save the bookmark in the online and/or offline bookmark memories. It should
be noted that saving the bookmark in the online bookmark memory makes the
bookmarked document 702 available to the user over online platform. As will be
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appreciated by those skilled in the art, this feature is enabled by uploading of the
document 702 on the online bookmark memory so as to enable its access over online
platform. Further, the bookmark is saved along with a default, a user-defined, or a userselected
summary of the document 702. The default summary may be a title or abstract
of the document 702. Alternatively, user may choose to enter some notes as a userdefined
summary while bookmarking the document 702. Finally, as discussed above
with reference to FIG. 6, the summary may be a user-selected portion of the document
702.
[0029] It should be noted that the intelligent marking application may be installed
in a variety of other online and/or offline digital content access platform and applications
such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, Google
Desktop search, Copernic Desktop search, any mobile or desktop applications, and so
forth. In certain embodiments, the interface 200, 300, and 600 such as one described
with reference to FIGS. 2-6 may be an offline or a desktop search engine's interface such
as that of Google Desktop search, Copernic Desktop search, and so forth within the
respective application window. A local search performed via the desktop search engine
may display a number of documents, ell)ails, or files as search result. Similar to the
techniques described with reference to FIGS. 2-6, the intelligent marking application
installed on the desktop search application may enable the user to bookmark the entire
search result or one or more of the individual search results directly from the desktop
search engine's interface via a selectable marking icon. The user may choose to save the
bookmark in any of the online and/or offline bookmark memories. The created
bookmark is saved along with a title, a summary, and the corresponding file location.
Here again, it should be noted that, the summary may be a default, a user-defined, or a
user-selected summary.
[0030] As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, a variety of techniques
may be employed to mark electronic resources. For example, the exemplary intelligent
marking system 100 may mark electronic resources by the techniques discussed herein.
In particular, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, control logic
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and/or automated routines for performing the techniques and steps described herein may
be implemented by the intelligent marking system 100 of FIG. I, either by hardware,
software, or combinations of hardware and software. For example, suitable code may be
accessed and executed by the intelligent marking system 100 to perform some or all of
the techniques described herein. Similarly application specific integrated circuits
(ASICs) configured to perform some or all of the techniques described herein may be
included in the intelligent marking system 100.
[0031] For example, referring now to FIG. 8, exemplary control logic 800 for
marking electronic resources via a marking application, such as the intelligent marking
tool described above, is depicted via a flowchart in accordance with aspects of the present
technique. As illustrated in the flowchart, the control logic 800 includes the steps of
configuring a digital content access platform on the user access device to enable a
marking tool at step 802, accessing an electronic resource having a electronic resource
locator (ERL) address or comprising one or more hyperlinked ERL addresses at step 804,
providing a selectable marking icon for each ERL address via the marking tool at step
806, creating a marking for the ERL address upon selection of the corresponding
selectable marking icon at step 808, and storing the created marking within the online
platform or within a pre-determined file at step 810.
[0032] As discussed above, the digital content access platform is an online
collaborative digital content management platform, a stand-alone digital content
management platform, a web-browser, a document editing application, or any other
similar online or offline platform. Further, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the
art, the ERL address is a local or network address of an electronic resource. For example,
the ERL address may be a uniform resource locator (URL) address of a webpage, or a
location or path of an electronic resource within the user access device such as document
location, file path, and so forth. Moreover, it should be noted that the selectable marking
icon may be any visual indicator such as an image, a text, a marker, or a combination
thereof. The selectable marking icon may be integrated within the digital content access
platform for marking the electronic resource having the ERL address. Further, in certain
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embodiments, the selectable marking icon may be embedded within the accessed
electronic resource comprising the one or more hyperlinked ERL addresses and placed
next to each of the each ofERL addresses.
[0033] In certain embodiments, storing the marking at step 810 comprises storing
the marking with a title, a summary, and the ERL address corresponding to the marked
electronic resource having the ERL address or the marked hyperlinked ERL address from
within the electronic resource. It should be noted that the summary may be a default
summary based upon parsing of the electronic resource or a user-defined summary based
on notes entered by the user. Alternatively, in certain embodiments, the summary may be
a user-selected summary based upon selection made by the user within the electronic
resource. The stored marking may reside within a pre-determined file on the user access
device. Further, in certain embodiments, the stored marking may reside within the digital
content access platform.
[0034] As will be also appreciated, the above described techniques may take the
form of computer or controller implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing
those processes. The disclosure can also be embodied in the form of computer program
code containing instructions embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CDROMs,
hard drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the
computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer or controller, the
computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The disclosure may also be
embodied in the form of computer program code or signal, for example, whether stored in
a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer or controller, or transmitted
over some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber
optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the computer program code is
loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for
practicing the invention. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the
computer program code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic
circuits.
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[0035] Other embodiments, uses and advantages of the present invention will be
apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of
the invention disclosed herein. The specification and examples should be considered
exemplary only. The intended scope of the invention is only limited by the claims
appended hereto.

CLAIMS:
A method for marking, the method comprising:
configuring a digital content access platform on the user access device to enable a
marking tool;
accessing an electronic resource having a electronic resource locator (ERL)
address or comprising one or more hyperlinked ERL addresses;
providing a selectable marking icon for each ERL address via the marking tool;
creating a marking for the ERL address upon selection of the corresponding
selectable marking icon; and
storing the created marking within the online platform or within a pre-determined
file.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital content access platform is an online
collaborative digital content management platform, a stand-alone digital content
management platform, a web-browser, a document editing application, or any other
similar online or offline platform.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectable marking icon is integrated within
the digital content access platform for marking the electronic resource having the ERL
address.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectable marking icon is embedded within
the accessed electronic resource comprising the one or more hyperlinked ERL addresses
and placed next to each of the one or more hyperlinked ERL addresses.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the marking comprises storing the
marking with a title, a summary, and the ERL address corresponding to the marked
electronic resource having the ERL address or the marked hyperlinked ERL address from
within the electronic resource.
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6. The method of claim 5, wherein the summary is a default summary based upon
parsing of the electronic resource or a user-defined summary based on notes entered by
the user.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the summary is a user-selected summary based
upon selection made by the user within the electronic resource.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored marking resides within a predetermined
file on the user access device or within the digital content access platform.
9. The method of claim I, wherein the ERL address comprises a uniform resource
locator (URL) address, or a location or path of an electronic resource within the user
access device.
10. A system for marking, the system comprising:
an installation module for enabling a marking tool within a digital content access
platform on a user access device;
a presentation module for providing a selectable marking icon for each ERL
address via the marking tool; and
a mark creation module for creating a marking for the ERL address upon selection
of the corresponding selectable marking icon; and
a mark storing module for storing the created marking within the digital content
access platform or within a pre-determined file.