Managing document annotations in a publish/subscribe system

Abstract

Managing document annotations in a publish/subscribe system is described. A publishing system creates annotations of a document that include references to where the annotations are to be displayed; stores the annotations separately from the document; names an annotation set using tags; sets roles and permissions for use of the annotation set, including access permissions based on a time and/or location constraint of a subscribing user; and publishes the annotation set to a publish/subscribe broker for access by the subscribing users. A subscribing system subscribes a user to annotations of a document, wherein each annotation is separate from the document and includes reference to where the annotations are to be displayed. The subscribing system also defines a role of the subscribing user, wherein use permissions of the annotations by the subscribing user are controlled based on the role, including time and/or location constraints of the subscribing user.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.