Apparatus and method for automatically highlighting text in an electronic document

Abstract

An apparatus and method helps a user to determine parts of an electronic document that are of interest by allowing the user to define preferences for processing an electronic document, and by automatically highlighting one or more portions of the document according to the user preferences. Highlighting includes any way to enhance or alter the appearance of text, including bold, italics, underlining, change in font style, change in font size, change in color, change in background color, etc. The automatic highlighting of portions of the document attract the user's eyes to that portion of the document, which helps the user to discern whether or not the highlighted portion is relevant or interesting. The preferred embodiments also include a document generator that takes an input document and generates therefrom an output document that has one or more highlighted portions that are hard-coded into the document according to the user preferences.

1 . An apparatus comprising: 
 at least one processor;    a memory coupled to the at least one processor;    an electronic document residing in the memory; and    an automatic document processing mechanism residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the automatic document processing mechanism processing the electronic document and automatically producing selective highlighting for at least a portion of the electronic document to enhance the comprehension of the electronic document by a human reader, the automatic document processing mechanism determining which portions of the electronic document to selectively highlight based on user preferences, the user preferences including a specification of at least one word in the electronic document that triggers highlighting of a corresponding portion of the electronic document that includes a plurality of words not listed in the user preferences.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a sentence that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a paragraph that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a verb and object in a sentence that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a display mechanism that displays the selective highlighting in a display of the electronic document without altering the electronic document.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a conversion mechanism that generates a new electronic document that includes the selective highlighting.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein a manner of performing the selective highlighting is selected from the group consisting of: bold, italics, underline, double underline, font style, font size, font color, and background color.  
   
   
       8 . A method for selectively highlighting an electronic document, the method comprising the steps of: 
 (A) determining user preferences for selectively highlighting the electronic document, the user preferences including a specification of at least one word in the electronic document that triggers highlighting of a corresponding portion of the electronic document that includes a plurality of words not listed in the user preferences;    (B) reading the electronic document;    (C) processing the electronic document according to the user preferences; and    (D) selectively highlighting the corresponding portion of the electronic document according to the user preferences.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a sentence that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a paragraph that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a verb and object in a sentence that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising the step of displaying the electronic document with the selective highlighting to a human reader without altering the electronic document.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising the step of generating a new electronic document that includes the selective highlighting.  
   
   
       14 . A computer-readable program product comprising: 
 (A) an automatic document processing mechanism that processes an electronic document and automatically produces selective highlighting for at least a portion of the electronic document to enhance the comprehension of the electronic document by a human reader, the automatic document processing mechanism determining which portions of the electronic document to selectively highlight based on user preferences that include a specification of at least one word in the electronic document that triggers highlighting of a corresponding portion of the electronic document that includes a plurality of words not listed in the user preferences; and    (B) recordable media bearing the automatic document processing mechanism.    
   
   
       15 . The program product of  claim 14  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a sentence that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       16 . The program product of  claim 14  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a paragraph that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       17 . The program product of  claim 14  wherein the corresponding portion of the electronic document comprises a verb and object in a sentence that includes the at least one word in the user preferences specification.  
   
   
       18 . The program product of  claim 14  further comprising a display mechanism that displays the selective highlighting in a display of the electronic document.  
   
   
       19 . The program product of  claim 14  further comprising a conversion mechanism that generates a new electronic document that includes the selective highlighting without altering the electronic document.  
   
   
       20 . The program product of  claim 14  wherein a manner of performing the selective highlighting is selected from the group consisting of: bold, italics, underline, double underline, font style, font size, font color, and background color.