CN114861613A

CN114861613A - Method, apparatus, device, and medium for managing annotations in electronic books

Info

Publication number: CN114861613A
Application number: CN202210610440.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王建; 谢伟健; 彭威
Original assignee: Beijing ByteDance Network Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing ByteDance Network Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-05-31
Filing date: 2022-05-31
Publication date: 2022-08-05

Abstract

According to implementations of the present disclosure, methods, apparatuses, devices, and media for managing annotations in an ebook are provided. In one method, in a first paragraph in the ebook, an identifier location of an annotation identifier is determined, the annotation identifier pointing to an annotated object in the first paragraph. In at least one other paragraph in the ebook than the first paragraph, a second paragraph is searched for that includes the annotation identifier. In response to determining that the first paragraph and the second paragraph include the same annotated object, annotation content for the annotated object is extracted from the second paragraph. The annotation content is provided at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location. In this way, the particular annotation content associated with the annotation identifier can be automatically found in the ebook, and the annotation content can be automatically provided in the vicinity of the annotation identifier.

Description

Method, apparatus, device, and medium for managing annotations in electronic books

Technical Field

Example implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of electronic books, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, device, and computer-readable storage medium for managing annotations of an electronic book.

Background

With the development of digitization technology, it has become possible to convert a paper book into an electronic book, and display the electronic book on a terminal device. Books may include annotations, i.e., content that provides instructions for certain content in the work. Generally, annotated objects are indicated with annotation identifiers (e.g., [1], etc.) in a paper book, and the specific annotation content of each annotated object is guided with an annotation identifier in an annotation section at the end of the paper book. If the e-book is displayed by the original format of a paper book, this will result in the reader having to repeatedly perform a page turning action in order to find the annotation content at the end of the book. Further, after the reader finishes viewing the annotation, the reader needs to manually return to the text portion to continue reading. At this time, how to display the annotations in a more convenient and faster manner becomes an urgent problem to be solved in the management of the electronic books.

Disclosure of Invention

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for managing annotations in an ebook is provided. In a first paragraph in the ebook, an identifier location of an annotation identifier is determined, the annotation identifier pointing to an annotated object in the first paragraph. In at least one other paragraph in the ebook than the first paragraph, a second paragraph is searched for that includes the annotation identifier. In response to determining that the first paragraph and the second paragraph include the same annotated object, annotation content for the annotated object is extracted from the second paragraph. The annotation content is provided at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for managing annotations in an ebook is provided. The device includes: a determination module configured to determine, in a first paragraph in the ebook, an identifier location of an annotation identifier, the annotation identifier pointing to an annotated object in the first paragraph; a search module configured to search for a second paragraph comprising an annotation identifier in at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph; an extraction module configured to extract annotation content for the annotated object from the second paragraph in response to determining that the first and second paragraphs include the same annotated object; and a providing module configured to provide the annotation content at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location.

In a third aspect of the disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes: at least one processing unit; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processing unit and storing instructions for execution by the at least one processing unit, the instructions when executed by the at least one processing unit cause the apparatus to perform a method according to the first aspect of the disclosure.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, having stored thereon a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that what is described in this summary section is not intended to limit key features or essential features of implementations of the disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

The above and other features, advantages and aspects of various implementations of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like or similar reference characters designate like or similar elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example environment in which implementations of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a process for managing annotations in an Ebook, according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a predefined format for annotations, according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a process for determining whether two paragraphs include the same annotated object, according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a data structure for managing annotations, according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a process for providing annotated content in response to a user action, in accordance with some implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for managing annotations in an Ebook, according to some implementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for managing annotations in an Ebook, according to some implementations of the present disclosure; and

fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a device capable of implementing various implementations of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Implementations of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While certain implementations of the present disclosure are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein, but rather are provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and implementations of the present disclosure are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

In describing implementations of the present disclosure, the terms "include," including, "and their like are to be construed as being inclusive, i.e.," including, but not limited to. The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "one implementation" or "the implementation" should be understood as "at least one implementation". The term "some implementations" should be understood as "at least some implementations". Other explicit and implicit definitions are also possible below. As used herein, the term "model" may represent an associative relationship between various data. For example, the above-described association may be obtained based on various technical solutions that are currently known and/or will be developed in the future.

It will be appreciated that the data involved in the subject technology, including but not limited to the data itself, the acquisition or use of the data, should comply with the requirements of the corresponding laws and regulations and related regulations.

It is understood that before the technical solutions disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are used, the user should be informed of the type, the use range, the use scene, etc. of the personal information related to the present disclosure and obtain the authorization of the user through an appropriate manner according to the relevant laws and regulations.

For example, in response to receiving an active request from a user, a prompt message is sent to the user to explicitly prompt the user that the requested operation to be performed would require the acquisition and use of personal information to the user. Thus, the user can autonomously select whether to provide personal information to software or hardware such as an electronic device, an application program, a server, or a storage medium that performs the operations of the disclosed technical solution, according to the prompt information.

As an optional but non-limiting implementation manner, in response to receiving an active request of the user, the prompt information is sent to the user, for example, a pop-up window manner may be used, and the prompt information may be presented in a text manner in the pop-up window. In addition, a selection control for providing personal information to the electronic device by the user selecting "agree" or "disagree" can be carried in the pop-up window.

It is understood that the above notification and user authorization process is only illustrative and not limiting, and other ways of satisfying relevant laws and regulations may be applied to the implementation of the present disclosure.

Example Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example environment 100 in which implementations of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the environment 100 of FIG. 1, an Ebook may be displayed in multiple pages 110, …, and 120. One or more paragraphs in the ebook may be displayed in page 110. For example, a paragraph may include annotation identifiers [1], [ 2 ], and [ 3 ], among others. Here, the annotation identifier points to the annotated object, e.g., annotation identifier [1] may point to the word "planet", annotation identifier [ 2 ] may point to the word "short planet", and annotation identifier [ 3 ] may point to the word "asteroid", etc.

In the original format of a paper book, annotations may be displayed at the end of the ebook, for example, at page 120. At this time, the reader of the electronic book has to turn from page 1 to page N in order to read the annotation, and then continue reading from page N back to page 1, which results in a poor user experience. Further, the annotation identifier shown in fig. 1 points to the end of the annotated object and does not explicitly indicate the scope of the annotated object. For example, the reader may need to carefully distinguish between the annotation identifier [ 2 ] to point to "short planet" or "planet".

Technical solutions have been proposed to display annotation content in the vicinity of an annotated object. However, the existing technical solutions cannot establish an accurate association between the annotated object and the annotated content, and some technical solutions also rely on a large amount of manual processing. In this case, it is desirable to provide a more efficient technique for managing annotations. It is desirable to manage annotations in an ebook in an automated manner, thereby improving the user experience of the reader of the ebook.

Annotation summary of management procedures

In order to solve the deficiencies in the above technical solutions, a technical solution for managing annotations in an electronic book is proposed. Hereinafter, an outline of one exemplary implementation according to the present disclosure is described with reference to fig. 2. Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram 200 of a process for managing annotations in an ebook, according to some implementations of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, a first paragraph 210 (a paragraph in which an annotation identifier appears) and a second paragraph 220 (a paragraph of annotation content providing an annotation identifier) may be respectively determined from a plurality of paragraphs of the electronic book 230. In particular, a plurality of paragraphs of the ebook 230 may be scanned in sequence and searched for a paragraph that includes an annotation identifier. Assuming that an annotation identifier (e.g., [1 ]) is found to appear in a paragraph, the paragraph can be considered as the first paragraph 210, at which point the annotation identifier 232 can point to the annotated object in the first paragraph 210.

It will be appreciated that while FIG. 1 shows the annotation identifier after the annotated object, the annotation identifier may also be located before the annotated object in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. Alternatively and/or additionally, annotation identifiers (e.g., planets) may also be provided in superscript or subscript fashion ^【1】 Or a planet _【1】 Etc.).

Further, in at least one other paragraph in the Ebook 230 than the first paragraph 210, the second paragraph 220 including the annotation identifier 232 may be searched. For example, the paragraphs in the Ebook 230 may be scanned one by one to find the second paragraph 220 that includes the annotation identifier 232. Alternatively and/or additionally, since the annotations are typically located at the end of the Ebook 230, it may be determined from the end of the Ebook 230 whether each paragraph includes an annotation identifier 232 one by one. In this way, search efficiency may be improved and processing time may be reduced.

After the second paragraph 220 has been found, the first paragraph 210 and the second paragraph 220 may be compared to determine whether the two paragraphs include the same annotated object. As shown in fig. 2, since the first paragraph 210 and the second paragraph 220 each include the annotated object "planet," it may be determined that the second paragraph 220 includes particular annotation content associated with the annotation identifier 232, and thus annotation content for annotating "planet" may be extracted from the second paragraph 220. Further, the electronic book may be displayed in a new format in the display page 240. For example, the annotation content 242 can be provided at an annotation location corresponding to the annotation identifier location (e.g., below the annotation identifier).

With example implementations of the present disclosure, the particular annotation content associated with the annotation identifier 232 may be automatically found in the ebook 230, and the annotation content 242 may be automatically provided in the vicinity of the annotation identifier. In this way, the annotation content can be accurately found and displayed. At this point, the reader does not have to page back and forth through the ebook, but can see the annotation content directly near the annotated object.

Concrete implementation of annotation management process

In the following, further details regarding annotation management will be described. According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the identifier position of the annotation identifier 232 in the first paragraph 210 in the ebook may be determined first. Here, the annotation identifier 232 may point to the annotated object in the first paragraph 210 and may have a variety of formats. For example, annotation identifier 232 may include a serial number for uniquely identifying the annotated object. The serial number may include a variety of expression formats, for example, the serial number may be represented by the arabic numerals 1, 2, 3, etc.; for another example, the serial number may be represented by a Chinese character of one, two, three, etc.; as another example, the serial numbers may be represented by letters A, B, C, etc. At this time, the serial numbers expressed in the corresponding format may be searched in the plurality of paragraphs of the electronic book 230 in order to determine the position of the annotation identifier 232. For example, the paragraphs of the ebook 230 may be searched for paragraphs including "1", "2", "3", etc. sequence numbers to determine the corresponding identifier positions.

According to an example implementation of the present disclosure, the annotation identifier 232 may further include at least any one of a start symbol and an end symbol for representing the annotation identifier. For example, in the above example, the annotation identifier "[ 1] includes a start symbol" [ and end symbol "]. Also for example, the annotation identifier can also include start and end symbols in other formats, such as, "[" and "]", "" and "", and so forth. Alternatively and/or additionally, the annotation identifier may further comprise one of a start symbol and an end symbol, e.g., the annotation identifier may be denoted as "1").

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the annotation identifier 232 may be searched in a predetermined format of the annotation identifier 232, if the predetermined format is already known. For example, the passages of the ebook 230 may be searched for annotation identifiers "[ 1]," [ 2 ], "[ 3 ], and so on. In this way, it is possible to avoid misjudging the numbers appearing in the body of the electronic book 230 as the comment identifier. At this time, it is possible to improve the accuracy of recognizing the annotation identifier and improve the performance of managing the annotation.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a search may be performed in multiple paragraphs of the ebook 230 to find corresponding annotation identifiers. Further, various information of the found annotation identifier may be stored. For example, the body annotation data may be stored in a binary manner (annotation identifier, identifier location). At this time, the body annotation data on the annotation identifier "[ 1] may be represented as (1, jth position of section I). At this time, the first item in the binary group represents the serial number of the comment identifier, and the second item represents the position of the comment identifier in the electronic book 230. For example, the identifier position indicates: the first character (or the last character) in the comment identifier is located at the jth position of the I-th section in the electronic book 230.

Alternatively and/or additionally, the doublet may also take other formats, such as ([ 1 ]), page X, segment Y, position Z. It will be appreciated that although the identifier positions are shown above as being represented in segment and character numbers, the identifier positions may also be represented based on row numbers and in-row offsets. Alternatively and/or additionally, the positions of two elements in a duplet may be exchanged, in which case the duplet may be represented as (identifier position, annotation identifier). Alternatively and/or additionally, the extracted data may also be stored based on other means besides the doublet, e.g., the extracted data may be stored based on a table, an array, and/or other means.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the ebook 230 may be searched for a second paragraph 220 that includes specific annotated content. For example, the second paragraph 220 including the annotation identifier 232 may be searched in at least one other paragraph in the Ebook 230 than the first paragraph 210. In general, the passage including the particular annotation content may have a predetermined format, and the second passage 220 may be found based on the predetermined format. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, each paragraph in the electronic book 230 may be checked one by one, and a paragraph satisfying the following format is taken as the second paragraph 220.

In the following, more details of the predetermined format are described with reference to fig. 3. Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram 300 of a predefined format for annotations according to some implementations of the present disclosure. The predefined format 310 may be expressed as: comment identifier + first content + connector + second content. Here, the symbol "+" may indicate, for example, a following relationship. In other words, the predefined format 310 requires: the header of the paragraph should include an annotation identifier; following the annotation identifier, the first content (with the connection symbol as the end marker); following the first content, a join symbol; and following the connector symbol, a second content (with a last segment symbol (e.g., period) as an end marker).

Specific examples of the contents of the items in the predetermined format 310 are described with reference to the second paragraph 220. As shown in fig. 3, annotation identifier 320 may represent an identifier at a paragraph header position, e.g., "1"; the first content 322 may represent text, such as "planet," between the annotation identifier 320 and the connector 324. Connector 324 may include a predetermined character, for example, a colon ": ", hyphen" - ", or other predetermined character. The second content 326 may represent text between the hyphen 324 and a punctuation (e.g., period) at the end of the paragraph, e.g., "a celestial body that runs around a star, …. "according to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the predefined format 310 may also specify that there is no more text following the second content 326. With the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, by searching for paragraphs satisfying the predetermined format 310 in the ebook 230, the second paragraph 220 containing the annotation content can be quickly and accurately found.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the above-described contents included in the second paragraph 220 may be stored as annotation content data and in a multi-group manner. For example, the annotation content data may include (paragraph position, sequence number of annotation identifier within the paragraph, first content, second content). Specifically, the data extracted from the second paragraph 220 may be stored as (paragraph K, 1, planet, a celestial body that orbits around the stars, …).

Having determined the first paragraph 210 and the second paragraph 220, it may be determined whether the first paragraph 210 and the second paragraph 220 include the same annotated object. For more details regarding determining an annotated object, see FIG. 4, which FIG. 4 shows a block diagram 400 of a process for determining whether two paragraphs include the same annotated object, according to some implementations of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the annotated object pointed to by the annotation identifier 232 may be determined in the first paragraph 210. It will be appreciated that since the identifier position of the annotation identifier 232 indicates the end position of the annotated object, the start position of the annotated identifier is not known. At this time, the text region where the annotated object is located can be determined using the extracted body annotation data 410 and the annotation content data 420.

As shown in fig. 4, the location of the annotation identifier 232 in the first paragraph 210 in the ebook 230 can be located using the identifier location 412 in the body annotation data 410, which represents the end location of the annotated object. Further, a length of the first content 322 in the annotation content data 420 may be determined, the length representing the number of words of the annotated object. At this time, the number of words of "planet" of the first content 322 is 2, and the text area 430 can be determined forward from the jth position of the ith section in the electronic book 230 along the scanning direction 416. At this time, the length of the text area 430 is 2, that is, the same as the length of the first content 322. Further, the text within the text area 430 may be determined to be an annotated object in the first paragraph 210. As shown in fig. 4, the text in the text area 430 of the first paragraph 210 is the same as the first content 322 extracted from the second paragraph 220. I.e., both are "planets," the annotated objects in the first paragraph 210 and the second paragraph 220 are considered to be the same.

With the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the start position of the annotated object may be accurately found by scanning forward from the identifier position 412 text of a specified length (which is determined by the length of the first content 322 in the second paragraph 220). At this time, a portion between the start position and the end position indicated by the identifier position 412, i.e., an annotated object. In this way, the annotated object in the body part can be accurately determined for subsequent establishment of an associative relationship between the annotated object and the annotated content.

In accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, in the event that it is determined that the first paragraph 210 and the second paragraph 220 include the same annotated object, the body annotation data 410 and the annotation content data 420 may be bound for further determination of the annotation content. FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram 500 of a data structure for managing annotations according to some implementations of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, body annotation data 410 and annotation content data 420 can be bound. Further, the second content 326 in the annotation content data 420 may be directly used as the annotation content of the annotated object. At this time, the annotated object is "planet", and the annotated content may be determined as "a celestial body that runs around a star, …".

It will be appreciated that although the binding annotation identifier [1] is described above as an example only with the annotation identifier [1] relating to the body annotation data 410 and the annotation content data 420. The respective annotation identifiers can be processed in a similar manner, for example, the body annotation data 510 and the annotation content data 520 associated with the annotation identifier [ 2 ] can have the data as shown in fig. 5. At this time, the annotated object is "short planet", and the annotated content may be determined to be "one kind …".

The binding has been described as successful, and in some cases, there may be a binding failure. For example, the Ebook 230 may include text numbers, which may cause errors in identifying the annotation identifier. Suppose the Ebook 230 includes the paragraphs "Life Presence conditions include (1) oxygen, (2) water …". Since the paragraph includes the numbers 1, 2, etc., "(1)" and "(2)" in the above paragraph may be mistakenly considered as the annotation identifier. Assume at this time that the annotation content data 420 is the same as above, i.e., (section K, 1, planet, a celestial body that runs around a star, …).

In the binding process, two words obtained by scanning forward from the position where the text number "(1)" is located are "included", and are not "planet" in the annotation content data 420. At this time, it can be judged that an error has occurred in determining the comment identifier, that is, "(1)" is not the comment identifier but the body in the electronic book 230. With example implementations of the present disclosure, it may be verified whether the correct annotated object exists before the identified annotation identifier. In this way, an associative relationship can be established between the annotated object and the annotation content in a more accurate manner. Alternatively and/or additionally, the processing results of the binding failure may be submitted to manual processing for further lookup of the failure cause.

It has been described above how to identify the annotation identifier and annotation content from the ebook 230. Further, the annotation content may be provided at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location. For example, the comment content may be provided at the identifier position, and specifically, the comment content may be provided at the upper side, lower side, left side, or right side of the identifier position.

It will be appreciated that the annotation identifiers may interfere with the reader's normal reading because the annotation identifiers "[ 1]," [ 2 ], "[ 3 ], etc. are not the textual content of the electronic book 230, but rather are auxiliary symbols inserted to facilitate finding annotations. At this time, the annotation identifier may be removed from the first paragraph 210 of the electronic book 230, that is, "[ 1]," [ 2 ], "[ 3 ], etc. are no longer displayed. In this way, the interference of the auxiliary symbols on the normal reading of the reader can be reduced, and the reading experience of the reader is further improved.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the annotated object and other content of the ebook 230 may adopt different display styles in order to explicitly present the boundaries of the annotated object. For example, the annotated object may be displayed with a different font, color, background color; as another example, the annotated object may be underlined, boxed, or otherwise displayed in a different visual form. With the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, the reader can clearly determine the boundaries of the annotated object via different display manners, thereby clearly knowing for which part of the ebook 230 the annotation content is provided.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the annotation content 242 may be displayed directly adjacent to the annotated object. In this way, the reader can find the corresponding annotation content directly near the annotated object, thereby facilitating the reader's understanding of the book content. The annotation content may interfere with the normal layout of the book, may be displayed in different ways, and is further provided upon receiving an interactive request from the reader.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram 600 of a process for providing annotated content in response to user actions, according to some implementations of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, in the display page 610, the annotated object "planet" may be displayed in a different format. In other words, the wireframe may alert the reader that the "planet" is the annotated object, and the annotation content may be retrieved through further interaction. In the context of this disclosure, readers may perform various actions with respect to annotated objects. For example, the reader can click (with a finger and/or stylus) on the annotated object, can double click on the annotated object, can press the annotated object, can slide the annotated object, can drag the annotated object, or can hover over the annotated object, among others.

In the event an action from the reader is detected, a display page 240 may further be provided. That is, an annotation location for displaying the annotation content 242 may be determined and the annotation content 242 is displayed at the annotation location. The annotation content 242 may be displayed in a variety of formats, for example, the annotation content 242 may be displayed in a font, color, font size, etc. different from the body text, the annotation content 242 may be displayed in an annotation box, the annotation content 242 may be displayed in a floating bubble manner, and so forth. Using the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, the reader can understand the detailed meaning of the annotated object without paging the page back and forth. In this way, the reader experience may be improved, and the reader may be facilitated to understand the contents of the book more quickly.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, at least any one of the following factors may be further considered in determining the annotation location: the resolution, font size, margin, line spacing, etc. of the display used to display the electronic book. In particular, the annotation position may be adjusted to suit the resolution of the display. For another example, the size of the region occupied by the annotation content, and thus the display position, may be determined based on the display font, the font size, and the line spacing. Alternatively and/or additionally, the determination to display the annotation content within the page or within a bar annotation region outside the page (e.g., to the right of the page) may be based on the size of the margin.

It will be understood that although the specific process related to managing annotations is described above with only the annotation identifier "[ 1] as an example. According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a similar process may be performed for each annotation identifier in the ebook 230. For example, for the annotation identifier "[ 2"), body annotation data (2, paragraph I, J1 locations) and annotation content data (K1, 2, short planet, one …) may be generated. At this time, an association relationship may be established between the two, and it is determined that the annotated object pointed to by the annotation identifier "[ 2 ] is" short planet ", and the annotation content is" one kind … ". Further, for the annotation identifier "[ 3 ], body annotation data (3, section I, position J2) and annotation content data (section K2, 3, asteroid, one …) may be generated. At this time, an association relationship may be established between the two, and it is determined that the annotated object pointed to by the annotation identifier "[ 3 ] is" asteroid ", and the annotation content is" one kind … ". The corresponding annotation content may then be displayed at the corresponding annotation location, respectively.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the above-described process may be implemented in a reading application that provides an electronic book reading service. For example, the reading application may read the ebook 230 described above and identify annotated objects and annotation content associated with the respective annotation identifier from the ebook 230. Further, the annotation content may be displayed at a suitable annotation location. With example implementations of the present disclosure, annotations in an ebook may be managed in an accurate and efficient manner. In this way, the annotation content pointed to by the annotation identifier can be accurately identified and displayed at a location convenient for the reader to read.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, annotations in an ebook may be managed in real time during the reader's reading process. For example, an electronic book laid out in a conventional manner may be imported into a reading application. The above-described process may be performed during the import phase or in real-time during the reader's reading process. In this way, the annotation content can be displayed in real time in the reading page as the reader progresses. In this way, the corresponding annotation content may be displayed to the user in real-time and accurately in the vicinity of the annotated object without additional pre-processing.

Example procedure

Fig. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 700 for managing annotations in an ebook, according to some implementations of the present disclosure. Specifically, at block 710, in a first paragraph in the ebook, an identifier location of an annotation identifier is determined, the annotation identifier pointing to an annotated object in the first paragraph; at block 720, searching for a second paragraph that includes the annotation identifier in at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph; at block 730, determining that the first and second paragraphs include the same annotated object; if the determination is yes, the method proceeds to block 740, at which point the annotation content for the annotated object is extracted from the second paragraph; and at block 750, providing the annotation content at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location.

According to an example implementation of the present disclosure, in at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph, searching for a second paragraph that includes the annotation identifier comprises searching for the second paragraph based on: the header of the second paragraph includes an annotation identifier; after annotating the identifier, the second paragraph includes the first content with the connector symbol as an end marker; a second paragraph, following the first content, includes a connector symbol; and after the join symbol, the second paragraph includes second content with a last-paragraph symbol as an end flag.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, in response to determining that the first paragraph and the second paragraph include the same annotated object, extracting annotation content for the annotated object from the second paragraph comprises: determining in the first paragraph an annotated object that is pointed to by the annotation identifier; determining whether the first content included in the second paragraph is the same as the annotated object; and in response to determining that the first content is the same as the annotated object, extracting the second content from the second paragraph as the annotated content.

According to an exemplary implementation of the disclosure, determining the annotated object that is pointed to by the annotation identifier in the first paragraph comprises: determining a length of the first content in the second paragraph; determining a text region in the first paragraph corresponding to the identifier position based on the length; and identifying the text in the text region as an annotated object in the first paragraph.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, further comprising: removing the annotation identifier from the first paragraph of the ebook; and causing the annotated object in the first paragraph to be displayed in another style different from the display style of the ebook.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, providing annotation content at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location comprises: in response to receiving the action performed on the annotated object in the first paragraph, determining an annotation location based on the text region corresponding to the identifier location; and providing the annotation content at the annotation location.

According to one exemplary implementation of the disclosure, the action performed on the annotated object comprises at least any one of: single click, double click, press, slide, hover, and drag for an annotated object.

According to an example implementation of the present disclosure, determining the annotation location based on the text region corresponding to the identifier location further comprises adjusting the annotation location based on at least any one of: the resolution, font size, margin, and line spacing of a display used to display an electronic book.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, an annotation identifier comprises: at least one of a serial number for indicating an annotated object, a start symbol and an end symbol for indicating an annotation identifier.

Example apparatus and devices

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 800 for managing annotations in an ebook, according to some implementations of the present disclosure. The apparatus 800 comprises: a determination module configured to determine, in a first paragraph in the ebook, an identifier location of an annotation identifier, the annotation identifier pointing to an annotated object in the first paragraph; a search module configured to search for a second paragraph comprising an annotation identifier in at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph; an extraction module configured to extract annotation content for the annotated object from the second paragraph in response to determining that the first and second paragraphs include the same annotated object; and a providing module configured to provide the annotation content at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location.

According to an exemplary implementation of the disclosure, the search module is further configured to search for the second paragraph based on: the header of the second paragraph includes an annotation identifier; after annotating the identifier, the second paragraph includes the first content with the connector symbol as an end marker; a second paragraph, following the first content, includes a connector symbol; and after the join symbol, the second paragraph includes second content with a last-paragraph symbol as an end flag.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the extraction module includes: an object determination module configured to determine in the first paragraph an annotated object that is pointed to by an annotation identifier; a comparison module configured to determine whether the first content included in the second paragraph is the same as the annotated object; and a content extraction module configured to extract second content from the second paragraph as the annotation content in response to determining that the first content is the same as the annotated object.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the object determination module includes: a length determination module configured to determine a length of the first content in the second paragraph; a region determination module configured to determine a text region in the first paragraph corresponding to the identifier position based on the length; and an identification module configured to identify a text in the text region as an annotated object in the first paragraph.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, further comprising: a removal module configured to remove an annotation identifier from a first paragraph of the ebook; and a display module configured to cause the annotated object in the first paragraph to be displayed in another style different from the display style of the ebook.

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, the providing module includes: a location determination module configured to determine, in response to receiving the action performed with respect to the annotated object in the first paragraph, an annotation location based on the text region corresponding to the identifier location; and a content providing module configured to provide the annotation content at the annotation location.

According to one exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a location determination module includes: an adjustment module configured to adjust an annotation location based on at least any one of: the resolution, font size, margin, and line spacing of a display used to display an electronic book.

Fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a device 900 capable of implementing multiple implementations of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the computing device 900 illustrated in FIG. 9 is merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the functionality or scope of the implementations described herein in any way. The computing device 900 shown in fig. 9 may be used to implement the methods described above.

As shown in fig. 9, computing device 900 is in the form of a general purpose computing device. Components of computing device 900 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 910, memory 920, storage 930, one or more communication units 940, one or more input devices 950, and one or more output devices 960. The processing unit 910 may be a real or virtual processor and can perform various processes according to programs stored in the memory 920. In a multi-processor system, multiple processing units execute computer-executable instructions in parallel to improve the parallel processing capabilities of computing device 900.

Computing device 900 typically includes a number of computer storage media. Such media may be any available media that is accessible by computing device 900 and includes, but is not limited to, volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. The memory 920 may be volatile memory (e.g., registers, cache, Random Access Memory (RAM)), non-volatile memory (e.g., Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory), or some combination thereof. Storage 930 may be a removable or non-removable medium and may include a machine-readable medium, such as a flash drive, a magnetic disk, or any other medium that may be capable of being used to store information and/or data (e.g., training data for training) and that may be accessed within computing device 900.

Computing device 900 may further include additional removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile storage media. Although not shown in FIG. 9, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a "floppy disk") and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk may be provided. In these cases, each drive may be connected to a bus (not shown) by one or more data media interfaces. Memory 920 may include a computer program product 925 having one or more program modules configured to perform the various methods or acts of the various implementations of the disclosure.

The communication unit 940 enables communication with other computing devices over a communication medium. Additionally, the functionality of the components of computing device 900 may be implemented in a single computing cluster or multiple computing machines, which are capable of communicating over a communications connection. Thus, computing device 900 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more other servers, network Personal Computers (PCs), or another network node.

The input device 950 may be one or more input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, trackball, or the like. Output device 960 may be one or more output devices such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. Computing device 900 may also communicate with one or more external devices (not shown), such as a storage device, a display device, etc., communication devices with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computing device 900, or communication devices (e.g., network cards, modems, etc.) that enable computing device 900 to communicate with one or more other computing devices, as desired, via communication unit 940. Such communication may be performed via input/output (I/O) interfaces (not shown).

According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions is provided, wherein the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor to implement the above-described method. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer program product, tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and comprising computer-executable instructions, which are executed by a processor to implement the method described above. According to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, on which a computer program is stored, which when executed by a processor implements the method described above.

Various aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus, devices and computer program products implemented in accordance with the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-readable program instructions.

These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to a processing unit of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processing unit of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer-readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer, programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer-readable medium storing the instructions comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various implementations of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The foregoing has described implementations of the present disclosure, and the above description is illustrative, not exhaustive, and is not limited to the implementations disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described implementations. The terminology used herein was chosen in order to best explain the principles of various implementations, the practical application, or improvements to the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand various implementations disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for managing annotations in an ebook, comprising:

in a first paragraph in the ebook, determining an identifier location of an annotation identifier that points to an annotated object in the first paragraph;

searching for a second paragraph in the ebook that includes the annotation identifier in at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph;

in response to determining that the first paragraph and the second paragraph include the same annotated object, extracting annotation content for the annotated object from the second paragraph; and

providing the annotation content at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein searching for the second paragraph that includes the annotation identifier in the at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph comprises searching for the second paragraph based on:

the header of the second paragraph includes the annotation identifier;

after the annotation identifier, the second paragraph includes first content with a connector symbol as an end marker;

subsequent to the first content, the second paragraph includes a connector symbol; and

the second paragraph includes second content having a last paragraph symbol as an end flag after the join symbol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein in response to determining that the first paragraph and the second paragraph include the same annotated object, extracting the annotation content for the annotated object from the second paragraph comprises:

determining in the first paragraph an annotated object that is pointed to by the annotation identifier;

determining whether the first content included in the second paragraph is the same as the annotated object; and

in response to determining that the first content is the same as the annotated object, extracting the second content from the second paragraph as the annotation content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the annotated object that is pointed to by the annotation identifier in the first paragraph comprises:

determining a length of the first content in the second paragraph;

determining a text region in the first paragraph corresponding to the identifier position based on the length; and

identifying text in the text region as an annotated object in the first paragraph.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

removing the annotation identifier from the first paragraph of the ebook; and

causing the annotated object in the first paragraph to be displayed in another style that is different from the display style of the ebook.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the annotation content at the annotation location corresponding to the identifier location comprises: in response to receiving an action performed with respect to the annotated object in the first paragraph,

determining the annotation location based on the text region corresponding to the identifier location; and

providing the annotation content at the annotation location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the action performed on the annotated object comprises at least any one of: single click, double click, press, slide, hover, and drag for the annotated object.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the annotation location based on the text region corresponding to the identifier location further comprises adjusting the annotation location based on at least any one of: a resolution, font size, margin, and line spacing of a display used to display the electronic book.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the annotation identifier comprises: at least one of a serial number for representing the annotated object, a start symbol and an end symbol for representing the annotation identifier.

10. An apparatus for managing annotations in an ebook, comprising:

a determination module configured to determine, in a first paragraph in the ebook, an identifier location of an annotation identifier that points to an annotated object in the first paragraph;

a search module configured to search for a second paragraph in the ebook that includes the annotation identifier in at least one other paragraph in the ebook other than the first paragraph;

an extraction module configured to extract annotation content for the annotated object from the second paragraph in response to determining that the first paragraph and the second paragraph include the same annotated object; and

a providing module configured to provide the annotation content at an annotation location corresponding to the identifier location.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the search module is further configured to search for the second paragraph based on:

the header of the second paragraph includes the annotation identifier;

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the extraction module comprises:

an object determination module configured to determine in the first paragraph an annotated object that is pointed to by the annotation identifier;

a comparison module configured to determine whether the first content included in the second paragraph is the same as the annotated object; and

a content extraction module configured to extract the second content from the second paragraph as the annotation content in response to determining that the first content is the same as the annotated object.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the object determination module comprises:

a length determination module configured to determine a length of the first content in the second paragraph;

a region determination module configured to determine a text region in the first paragraph that corresponds to the identifier position based on the length; and

an identification module configured to identify a word in the word region as an annotated object in the first paragraph.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a removal module configured to remove the annotation identifier from the first section of the ebook; and

a display module configured to cause the annotated object in the first paragraph to be displayed in another style that is different from a display style of the ebook.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the providing means comprises:

a location determination module configured to determine the annotation location based on the text region corresponding to the identifier location in response to receiving an action performed on the annotated object in the first paragraph; and

a content providing module configured to provide the annotation content at the annotation location.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the action performed on the annotated object comprises at least any one of: single click, double click, press, slide, hover, and drag for the annotated object.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the location determination module comprises: an adjustment module configured to adjust the annotation location based on at least any one of: a resolution, font size, margin, and line spacing of a display for displaying the electronic book.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the annotation identifier comprises: at least one of a serial number for representing the annotated object, a start symbol and an end symbol for representing the annotation identifier.

19. An electronic device, comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processing unit and storing instructions for execution by the at least one processing unit, the instructions when executed by the at least one processing unit cause the electronic device to perform the method of any of claims 1-9.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.