Electronic annotation of documents with preexisting content

A computer program product for annotating a printed document having preexisting content, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

• identifying a first copy of the printed document having the preexisting content, wherein the first copy of the printed document is printed from a digital document having a corresponding digital version of the preexisting content;
• receiving from a first smart pen, first handwritten annotations on the printed document, the first handwritten annotation captured using the first smart pen;
• identifying a second copy of the printed document having the preexisting content, wherein the second copy of the printed document is printed from the digital document having the corresponding digital version of the preexisting content;
• receiving from a second smart pen, second handwritten annotations on the second copy of the printed document, the second handwritten annotation captured using the second smart pen;
• merging the first handwritten annotations and the second handwritten annotations to generate a collective set of handwritten annotations;
• associating the collective set of handwritten annotations with the digital version of the preexisting content;
• storing the first and second captured handwritten annotations in association with the digital version of the preexisting content as an annotated digital document;
• detecting a background color of a particular area of the annotated digital document, the particular area having at least a portion of the first captured handwritten annotations;
• and
• formatting the portion of the first captured handwritten annotations in the particular area of the annotated digital document to have a color selected based on the detected background color.

A smart pen computing system for annotating a printed document having preexisting content, the smart pen computing system comprising:

• a first smart pen configured to identify a first copy of the printed document having preexisting content and for capturing first handwritten annotations on the first copy of the printed document, wherein the first copy of the printed document is printed from a digital document having a corresponding digital version of the preexisting content;
• a second smart pen configured to identify a second copy of the printed document having preexisting content and for capturing second handwritten annotations on the second copy of the printed document, wherein the second copy of the printed document is printed from the digital document having the corresponding digital version of the preexisting content;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable program instructions for:
• receiving the first handwritten annotations from the first smart pen;
• detecting a background color of a portion of the printed document having the first captured handwritten annotations;
• receiving the second handwritten annotations from the second smart pen;
• merging the first handwritten annotations and the second handwritten annotations to generate a collective set of handwritten annotations;
• associating the collective set of handwritten annotations with the digital version of the preexisting content;
• storing the first and second captured handwritten annotations in association with the digital version of the preexisting content as an annotated digital document;
• detecting a background color of a particular area of the annotated digital document, the particular area having at least a portion of the first captured handwritten annotations;
• and
• formatting the portion of the first captured handwritten annotations in the particular area of the annotated digital document to have a color selected based on the detected background color.

A method for annotating a printed document having preexisting content, the method comprising:

• identifying the printed document having the preexisting content, wherein the printed document is printed from a digital document having a corresponding digital version of the preexisting content;
• storing handwritten annotations captured from a smart pen interacting with the printed document having the preexisting content;
• detecting a background color of a portion of the printed document having the captured handwritten annotations;
• associating the captured handwritten annotations with the digital version of the preexisting content;
• storing the captured handwritten annotations in association with the digital version of the preexisting content as an annotated digital document;
• detecting a background color of a particular area of the annotated digital document, the particular area having at least a portion of the first captured handwritten annotations;
• and
• formatting the portion of the captured handwritten annotations in the particular area of the annotated digital document to have a color selected based on the detected background color.