System and method for annotating an electronic document independently of its content

A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

• display a page of an electronic document on a display device using a document browser that permits a user to move forward and backward among a plurality of document pages;
• detect a selection of an annotation mode that permits the user to annotate a currently displayed document page;
• receive annotation stroke input from a user input device, the annotation stroke input indicating movement associated with the user input device for a continuous distance about a stroke location on the currently displayed document page;
• and
• store annotation stroke data based on the received annotation stroke input, said annotation stroke data comprising data corresponding to the stroke location and the movement associated with the user input device, wherein the annotation stroke data is stored in an annotation file associated with the user, the annotation file stored separately from the electronic document,
• wherein the computer-readable storage medium is not a signal.

A computer system for annotating pages of an electronic document independently of the contents of the electronic document, the computer system comprising:

• a display device;
• a user input device;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the display device and the user input device, the computing device comprising a processor and a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• display a page of the electronic document on the display device using a document browser that permits a user to move forward and backward among a plurality of document pages;
• detect a selection of an annotation mode that permits the user to annotate a currently displayed document page;
• receive annotation stroke input from the user input device, the annotation stroke input indicating movement associated with the user input device for a continuous distance about a stroke location on the currently displayed document page;
• and
• store annotation stroke data based on the received annotation stroke input, said annotation stroke data comprising data corresponding to the stroke location and the movement associated with the user input device, wherein the annotation stroke data is stored in an annotation file associated with the user, the annotation file stored separately from the electronic document.