Methods and Systems for Annotation of Digital Informatin

A computer-implemented method for comparing a plurality of annotated unique identifiers including a first unique identifier and a second unique identifier, the method comprising:

• determining, by a computer system, existence of a first annotation entity associated with the first unique identifier and a second annotation entity associated with the second unique identifier, wherein each of the first annotation entity and the second annotation entity includes one or more attributes and data associated with the one or more attributes, and wherein the first annotation entity includes at least one attribute that is compatible with at least one attribute of the second annotation entity;
• comparing the at least one attribute of the first annotation entity to the at least one attribute of the second annotation entity;
• and
• presenting, by the computer system, comparison results, the comparison results including the first unique identifier, the second unique identifier, and comparison information for the at least one compatible attribute.

A computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a processing unit of a user system to annotate a unique identifier associated with digital information, the plurality of instructions comprising:

• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to receive a search term associated with an item of interest, the search term including one or more words or phrases;
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to obtain information in response to the search term;
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to present the information, wherein the presented information includes a unique identifier representing the information;
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to receive input indicative of a selection of the unique identifier for annotation;
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to provide one or more attributes to be associated with the unique identifier;
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to receive data to be associated with the one or more attributes;
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to annotate the unique identifier by associating the one or more attributes with the unique identifier;
• and
• instructions that cause the processing unit of the user system to save the annotated unique identifier on a storage unit.

A computer-implemented method for sharing annotated digital information, the method comprising, by a computer system:

• presenting a user with information received in response to a search term, the information including one or more unique identifiers, wherein each unique identifier is associated with an item of information.
• identifying one or more attributes to be associated with a first unique identifier from among the one or more unique identifiers;
• receiving data to be assigned to the one or more attributes;
• annotating the first unique identifier by associating the one or more attributes with the first unique identifier to obtain an annotated first unique identifier;
• and
• communicating the annotated first unique identifier to an external system, the external system configured to store the annotated first unique identifier in a database.

A computer-readable storage medium containing program instructions that, when executed by a controller within a computer, cause the controller to execute a method of sharing annotated information, the method comprising:

• receiving a search term, the search term including one or more words or phrases;
• searching the Internet for one or more websites that include information that matches the search term,
• displaying information associated with the one or more websites, each website being represented by a unique uniform resource identifier (URI) and including one or more web pages;
• selecting a first URI, representing a first website, to be annotated;
• providing one or more attributes to be associated with the first URI;
• associating data from the one or more web pages of the first website with the one or more attributes;
• annotating the first URI by associating the plurality of attributes with the first URI to obtain an annotated first URI;
• and
• communicating the annotated first URI to an external system to be shared among a plurality of client computer systems.

A user-interface resident on a computer, the user-interface comprising:

• a display screen including:
• a first section for accepting a search term;
• a second section for selecting a search engine to execute the search term;
• a third section for displaying a unique identifier for a website identified by the search engine;
• a fourth section for displaying at least a portion of information included on the identified website;
• a fifth section for selecting an attribute to be associated with the unique identifier;
• and
• a sixth section for entering data to be associated with the selected attribute.

A system for sharing annotated digital information comprising:

• a client computer configured to provide a search term to a search engine, the client computer comprising:
• a user interface module configured to accept the search term and present search results to a user;
• and
• an annotation collection module configured to communicate with the user interface and one or more search engines to provide search results to the user interface;
• an annotation management unit comprising:
• a database module configured to store annotation information, the annotation information including one or more annotated unique identifiers and information associated with the annotated unique identifiers;
• an annotation engine configured to communicate with the annotation collection module to exchange annotation information, identify annotated unique identifiers, from among the search results, and communicate information associated with the annotated unique identifiers to the user interface via the annotation collection module.