The notion of "ignoring" "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" I believe first originated with Aronofsky when he was still attached who stated that the film would be self contained and not reference anything from that movie.
Now I am partly being sarcastic with the "ignore" stuff and have been for quite some time, but I have read and been told that "X-Men Origins" will not be referenced or at the very least referenced very little in "The Wolverine". Obviously this could have changed during production and with re-writes, but for the most part I don't think this is the case.
That all aside, I'm really excited for this film, in fact it's increased.