Patent Application
20150242383
Cross-reference is hereby made to U.S. application Ser. No. ______; entitled “Methods and Systems for Capturing, Sharing, and Printing Annotations”; filed simultaneously herewith (Attorney File No. 20130353US01).
The present disclosure generally relates to document handling, and more particularly, to methods and systems for capturing, sharing, and/or printing annotations related to physical documents.
It is a very common practice to annotate or take notes on various forms or written material. For example, a user reading a physical document may add comments relevant to the written material. In some cases, the user may add comments that are especially relevant to a certain portion of the written material, and may indicate a connection between the comments and the associated portion of the written material. For example, the user may add comments in a nearby available free space and/or connect the comments with the associated text. The user may also highlight or underline important content, or use other various marking strategies. In other words, a user may annotate a document by writing comments or notes in a nearby available free space, highlighting, or underlining content, or the like. In one example, the user may add a comment that is relevant to a sentence or phrase that the user considers will be better understood by virtue of the additional information. In another example, the user may highlight content that is considered important or that facilitates a better understanding of the written material.
However, the annotations discussed above are linked to the physical document and do not allow the user to share the annotations with others. The related art includes certain techniques for sharing annotations made on electronic documents, but fails to enable sharing of annotations made on physical documents. Therefore, there is a need for methods and systems enabling a user to share annotations on physical documents with other users.
In one embodiment, a method for handling hand-written annotation related to one or more physical documents is disclosed. The method includes receiving a physical document including hand-written annotation, the hand-written annotation is made by a user corresponding to at least a portion of the physical document. The method further includes capturing the hand-written annotation and corresponding position information of the hand-written annotation, wherein capturing further includes capturing position information of the at least portion of the physical document. Further, the method includes storing the captured hand-written annotation, position information of the hand-written annotation and position information of the at least portion of the physical document. Moreover, the method includes associating the hand-written annotation to the at least portion of the physical document. Additionally, the method includes sharing the hand-written annotation with other users. The method as disclosed is performed by a processor.
In further embodiment, a machine-implemented method of sharing hand-written annotation, via an augmented reality mode is disclosed. The method includes initiating an application on a mobile device with a camera view in an augmented reality mode. The method further includes hovering the mobile device over a physical document. Further, the method includes identifying the document and based on the identification, identifying one or more hand-written annotations available for at least a portion of the physical document. Moreover, the method includes retrieving the identified hand-written annotations corresponding to the at least portion of the physical document. Additionally, the method includes augmenting the camera view with the hand-written annotations by superimposing the hand-written annotations in the camera view, based on position information of the at least portion of the physical document.
In furthermore embodiment, a machine-implemented method for sharing hand-written annotations is disclosed. The method includes receiving a request from a user, the request includes a document as input for one of: printing, scanning and copying. The method further includes identifying the document. Further, the method includes checking for one or more hand-written annotations stored in a server, corresponding to at least a portion of the identified document. Moreover, the method includes retrieving the one or more hand-written annotations from the server corresponding to the at least portion of the document. Additionally, the method includes augmenting an output document with the one or more hand-written annotations.
In an additional embodiment, a method for sharing hand-written annotations is disclosed. The method includes identifying one or more users accessing a document online. The method further includes checking for one or more hand-written annotations stored corresponding to at least a portion of the document. Moreover, the method includes retrieving the one or more hand-written annotations from a server, based on the availability. Additionally, the method includes positioning the one or more hand-written annotations over the document accessed by the one or more users.
In still other embodiment, a device is disclosed. The device includes an imaging module configured for capturing a physical document including one or more hand-written annotations corresponding to at least a portion of the physical document, the one or more hand-written annotations are made by a user. The device further includes an application interacting with the imaging module, and is configured for: identifying the one or more hand-written annotations and position information of the hand-written annotations, and position information of the at least portion of the physical document; extracting the one or more hand-written annotations from the physical document, position information of the hand-written annotations, and position information of the at least portion of the physical document. Moreover, the device includes a processing module, interacting with the application, configured for sharing the one or more hand-written annotations with other users, based on a preference of the user.
In yet other embodiment, a system for capturing, and sharing one or more hand-written annotations on physical documents is disclosed. The system includes a mobile device including: an imaging module configured for capturing a physical document including hand-written annotations corresponding to at least a portion of the physical document, the hand-written annotations are made by a user. The system includes an application interacting with the imaging module configured for identifying the hand-written annotations and position information of the hand-written annotations, and position information of the at least portion of the physical document; extracting the one or more hand-written annotations from the physical document, position information of the hand-written annotations, and position information of the at least portion of the physical document. The system further includes a processing module, interacting with the application, configured for: sending the hand-written annotations along with the position information to a server. The system includes the server including a receiving module configured for receiving the hand-written annotations along with the position information from the mobile device; a storage module for storing the hand-written annotations and the position information; and a processing module for sharing the hand-written annotations with other users, when the other users reading a copy of the document.
In an additional embodiment, an application configured for sharing hand-written annotations is disclosed. The application is configured to receive a request from a user, the request includes a document as input for one of: printing, scanning and copying; identify the document; check for one or more hand-written annotations stored in a server corresponding to at least a portion of the identified document; retrieve the one or more hand-written annotations from the server corresponding to the at least portion of the document; and augment an output document with the one or more hand-written annotations.
In yet other embodiment, an application configured for sharing hand-written annotations is disclosed. The application is configured to: receive a physical document from a user; identify the physical document and based on the identification, identify one or more hand-written annotations available for at least a portion of the physical document; retrieve the identified hand-written annotations corresponding to the at least portion of the physical document; and augment a camera view with the hand-written annotations by superimposing the hand-written annotations in the camera view, based on position information of the at least portion of the physical document.
The following detailed description is provided with reference to the figures. Exemplary, and in some case preferred, embodiments are described to illustrate the disclosure, not to limit its scope, which is defined by the claims. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a number of equivalent variations in the description that follows.
Definitions of one or more terms that will be used in this disclosure are described below. The term, “document” refers to any document such as an electronic document, or a physical document. Further, the “document” may be a document having a single page including text, images, or a combination of these or the document may have multiple pages. The phrase “annotation” includes any comments or notes, highlights, underlines, or any other types of remarks made by a user on the document. In the context of the present disclosure, the “annotation” made by the user refers to a hand-written annotation.
The term “device” is intended to include any device having capability of processing, storing, and/or displaying annotations and/or content to the user. Various examples of such devices can be, but not limited to, smart phones, tablets, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), multi-function device, scanning device or so forth. In some cases, the “device” includes an imaging module such as a camera operable in an augmented reality mode or includes a scanning module. In general, “augmented reality” refers to the technology that superimposes computer-generated information, such as images, text, etc., on a user's view of the real world to provide a composite view in real time. In the context of the present disclosure, “augmented reality” superimposes hand-written annotation on a user's view of the real world. As used herein, a “Multi-Function Device” (MFD) is a single device that offers a number of traditionally separate functionalities, such as printing, copying, scanning, and/or faxing. An “application” running on the device can be any application which is configured for processing documents having hand-written annotations and communicating with other devices or modules. In particular, the “application” is configured for handling hand-written annotations, for example, capturing, sharing, and printing the hand-written annotations.
The term “server” refers to any device capable of processing annotations and/or any content related to the document and communicating with other devices in a network. In context of the present disclosure, the phrase “user” may refer to a user who annotates the document, whereas “other users” or “users” refer to the ones with whom the annotations made by the “user” are shared.
Some embodiments are directed to methods, and systems for capturing, sharing and printing annotations made by a user on a physical document. To this end, the present disclosure can be viewed as having an annotator end, a server end, and a viewer end. At the annotator end, a user makes one or more annotations on a physical document, and captures those annotations. The captured annotations are then sent to a server. At the server end, the annotations are stored/saved in any format, for example, an image format. The server shares the stored annotations with other users who are reading and/or viewing the same document. At the viewer end, the other users view the annotations shared by the server. In one embodiment, the other users can view the annotations using a device operable in an augmented reality mode, when reading a physical copy of the document. In another embodiment, the other users can view the annotations with the help of a browser-plug in, when reading an electronic copy of the document. In some embodiments, the annotations are printed for the other users.
As shown, the user 102 reads a document and makes one or more annotations 105a, 105b (collectively 105) corresponding to at least a portion of the document 103a, 103b (collectively 103), respectively. The at least portion of the document 103 can be one or more phrases, one or more sentences, one or more paragraphs or the entire document. One exemplary snapshot is shown in
In some embodiments, the server 108 creates a database including association between the at least portion of the physical document and annotations.
Initially, a user annotates a physical document. The annotation made by the user is hereinafter referred to as hand-written annotation. At 202, the method includes receiving the physical document by a device such as a mobile device or a multi-function device. The physical document includes hand-written annotation made by the user corresponding to at least a portion of the document. Then, the device scans the document along with the hand-written annotation. After scanning, at 204, the hand-written annotation and corresponding position information of the hand-written annotation are captured from the document. Along with this, the at least portion of the document and the position information of the document are also extracted. In some embodiments, the method includes identifying position information of the hand-written annotation as well the position information of the least portion of the document. Thereafter, the captured hand-written annotation, position information of the hand-written annotation, the at least portion of the document, and/or position information of the at least portion of the document are sent to a server. At 206, the server stores the received information for later retrieval/use.
Then at 208, the hand-written annotation is associated to the at least portion of the document and this is performed by the server. Finally, at 210, the extracted hand-written annotation is shared with other users. The hand-written annotation is shared when the other users access the same document, for example, when the other users read and/or view a copy of the document. In some embodiments, the hand-written annotation is shared with the other users based on a preference defined by the user, who has annotated the document. The hand-written annotation can be shared in one of a mode: private and public. In the private mode, the user defines or creates a group of people with whom he wishes to share the hand-written annotation and this can be accomplished via messages, emails, multimedia messages or any similar techniques. Before sharing the annotation, the step of authentication may be performed. For example, the server may authenticate each user of that group to receive the hand-written annotation. In the public mode, the hand-written annotation is shared with all the users who are accessing the same document. For example, the hand-written annotation is shared when the other users view and/or read a copy of the document. The copy can be a physical copy or an electronic copy of the document.
In cases where the other users are viewing a physical copy of the document, then the hand-written annotation is shared via a mobile device or equivalent device of those users, particularly, via a camera view in an augmented reality mode. In such cases, the other users require hovering their mobile device over the document they are viewing. After this, the mobile device identifies the document and interacts with the server to retrieve any annotations available corresponding to that document. Subsequently, the annotations are displayed to the users via the mobile device.
In some embodiments, the method includes placing markers on the document to notify the availability of annotations for a particular portion/position of the document. These markers may be placed when the number of annotations for the document exceed a pre-defined value, for example ten. The pre-defined value may be defined by the server. In other examples, the markers may be placed based on the content of the annotations. Upon actuation, the annotations can be displayed to the other users. For example, a user may click the marker or may touch the marker to view the annotations.
In cases, where the other users are viewing an electronic copy, then the server automatically determines the annotations available corresponding to that document or a portion of the document, and based on the availability, the annotations are shared and are subsequently displayed to the other users.
In some embodiments, the hand-written annotation is printed upon receiving a request from the other users. The request received from the other users may relate to printing, scanning and/or photocopying the document. While processing the document, the device identifies the document and checks for any available annotations stored in the server. If so, the annotations are printed along with the document request. In some cases, the annotations can be embedded at the desired position inside the document, while in other cases, one or more references numbers (marked as 708) can be placed inside the document (see
In some embodiments, the method includes converting the hand-written annotation into a digitized format.
In some embodiments, the method includes validating the hand-written annotation made by the user. For example, a subject matter expert may validate and thus, approves the hand-written annotation. Based on his approval, the hand-written annotation is shared publicly with the other users. This is done to ensure accuracy of the hand-written annotation made by the user. In some cases, the subject matter may approve multiple hand-written annotations corresponding to the same portion of the document. The multiple hand-written annotations may be made by the same user or may be made by different users.
An application is initiated on a mobile device with a camera view in an augmented reality mode, at 402. The device is then hovered over a physical copy of the document (marked as 711,
In some embodiments, the method includes determining position of the hand-written annotations in the camera view. The position can be determined using one or more context sensitive methods as known in the art. Then, the hand-written annotations are positioned in the camera view. In some embodiments, the hand-written annotations are positioned according to the original position information as received from the server. In other embodiments, the hand-written annotations may be positioned based on their relative position with respect to the document content. Here, the method also includes determining relative position of the hand-written annotation, based on relative position of the at least portion of the physical document in the camera view. In such cases, before positioning or superimposing the hand-written annotations over the physical document, boundary of the document is identified.
For the sake of understanding, an example has been described. Consider a physical document with the word “Xerox” and its associated hand-written annotation as “Document Company”. The server may have line number and co-ordinates of “Xerox” and co-ordinates of “Document Company” associated with it. When the physical document in augmented reality view is cropped (using border detection and processed for OCR), the line number and co-ordinates of the printed content, i.e., “Xerox” is identified. Hand-written annotation “Document Company” is overlaid near “Xerox” relative to the co-ordinates of the annotation “Document company” and word “Xerox” in the server. In the server, if the coordinates of “Xerox” is “100*200” and “Document Company” is “200*200”; and the co-ordinates of “Xerox” in AR cropped view is “50*100”, then, co-ordinates of “Document company” which may be overlaid are “100*100”.
For a person skilled in the art, it is understood that OCR as mentioned above is just an exemplary, other techniques may also be utilized. In some embodiments, the phrase “Xerox” can be identified based on image matching and the annotations can be placed accordingly.
In additional embodiments, the method of viewing annotations related to a document is explained for scenarios, where the other users are viewing the document online. In such instances, the method utilizes a plug-in such as a browser plug-in, installed on a device used by a user. The method begins with the user reading a document, and while reading, the browser plug-in identifies the document. Then, the plug-in automatically communicates with the server and communicates the identified information to the server. The server then identifies one or more available annotations corresponding to at least a portion of document and transmits the annotations to the plug-in. The plug-in then inserts or positions the annotations over the document. The technique of positioning the hand-written annotation over the document has been discussed above in detail. In some cases, the annotations are displayed to the user at the bottom of the page (marked as 714,
In some embodiments, the hand-written annotations are merged/embedded at appropriate positions in the output document.
In certain embodiments, before generating the output document, the device inserts one or more reference numbers corresponding to the at least portion of the document, the reference numbers link or relate to the hand-written annotations. Then, the document with reference numbers is printed and the annotations are printed as a supplement page. Alternatively, the annotations are printed as an appendix page or footnote.
For a person skilled in the art, it is understood that the methods discussed above can be implemented using any machine, device or system having a processor. In some embodiments, an application may be configured to execute the methods as discussed above or to handle the hand-written annotations.
The imaging module 604 is a traditional module such as camera, configured for capturing an image. In the context of present disclosure, the imaging module 604 is configured for capturing a document that includes one or more hand-written annotations. In the case of a mobile device, the imaging module 604 is a camera. In some cases, the camera may be operable in an augmented reality mode. One of skill in the art will understand the concepts of augmented reality along with its implementation on the device 602. When the device 602 is operating in the augmented reality mode, the hand-written annotations superimposed on the document are displayed to the user. In the case of a multi-function device, the imaging module 604 is a scanning module. The imaging module 604 then interacts with an application 606 running on the device 602 for further processing.
The application 606 is configured for handling the hand-written annotations related to the document. Handling the hand-written annotations involves capturing the hand-written annotations, sharing the hand-written annotations, and/or printing the hand-written annotations. In particular, the application 606 is configured for identifying the printed content and hand-written annotations made by a user. Upon identification, the application 606 identifies position information of the hand-written annotations and content corresponding to which the user has made annotation. The application 606 then passes the identified information to the processing module 608 for further operations. In many embodiments, the application 606 is configured for positioning hand-written annotations over the physical document.
The processing module 608 then interacts with another device in a network such as a server. Here, the processing module 608 transmits the hand-written annotation, position information and corresponding content to the server 612. The server 612 then saves this information in any desired format.
The display module 610 is configured for displaying information to the user. In the context of the present disclosure, the display module 610 enables the user to view the hand-written annotations received from the server 612.
The server 612 is configured for processing requests received from the client device 602.
The receiving module 614 is configured for receiving information from the client device 602. The information includes hand-written annotations, position information, a portion of the document corresponding to which the user has made annotation. Along with this, the server receives position information of the portion of the document. In some cases, the receiving module 614 also receives dimensions of the document.
The storage module 616 is configured for storing the received information in any desired format. One such format can be an image format.
The processing module 618 is configured for sharing the hand-written annotations with other users who are viewing and/or reading a copy of the document. The other users may be viewing and/or reading the copy of the document using their devices, for example, mobile devices. The mobile device includes an application installed on it and the application enables the users to view the annotations in an augmented reality view. In those embodiments, the application is configured for positioning the hand-written annotations over the physical document. In some cases, the hand-written annotations are positioned at original location/position, while in other cases, the hand-written annotations are positioned relative to the position of the least portion of the document in the camera view. In the latter case, the application is configured to determine the relative positions of the hand-written annotations with respect relative position of the at least portion of the document in a camera view.
The present disclosure discloses methods, and systems for automatically capturing and sharing annotations with one or more users, thereby eliminating manually sharing a document having annotation, for example, via email, photocopy or the like.
For a person skilled in the art, it is understood that one or more blocks or steps of the flowchart/method, and combinations of blocks or steps in the flowchart, can be implemented by a hardware device including a processor, computer program product, or a combination of hardware device or software that is capable of executing application and/or instructions.
It will be appreciated that several of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
