Techniques for viewing and searching documents from collections of documents

• US 10,694,071 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2014
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Matejka, Justin Frank, Fitzmaurice, George, Grossman, Tovi
• Primary Examiner(s): McQuitery, Diedra
• Application Number:
  US14/542,402
• Publication Number:
  US 20150154188A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,048 Days
• Field of Search: 707722, 715835, 715837, 715838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/743 a collection of video files or sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/102 Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers access by moving the head G11B3/08, G11B5/54, G11B7/085, G11B21/022; by moving the record carrier G11B15/005, G11B17/005, by driving of both record carrier and head G11B15/1816
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3871 the composed originals being of different kinds, e.g. low- and high-resolution originals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3935 with modification of image resolution, i.e. determining the values of picture elements at new relative positions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4728 for selecting a Region Of Interest [ROI], e.g. for requesting a higher resolution version of a selected region
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time

Abstract

A computing device is configured to generate a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows an end-user to search for particular document or documents within a large collection of documents. The GUI provides a view of the overall document collection and affords the end-user the ability to reduce the number of visual document thumbnails by means of keyword search. When the end-user identifies a candidate among the reduced number of thumbnails, the end-user may select the page view of the candidate document and conduct further review. If the selected candidate is not the target document, the end-user may select adjacent documents to seamlessly transition between reading and searching. An advantage to this approach is that the visual qualities of the documents, such as images, graphical layout, and color, among others, may be incorporated into the search process. Searching for a particular target document is, thus, expedited.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for viewing documents stored in a database, the method comprising:

retrieving a document file associated with a first document from the database;

splitting the document file into separate page files, wherein each of the separate page files is associated with a different page of the first document;

generating a composite page file by merging at least two of the separate page files;

generating a first composite image based on the composite page file, wherein the first composite image includes a plurality of rendered instances of the composite page file, wherein each rendered instance is associated with a different resolution level included in a plurality of resolution levels and comprises a visual representation of the composite page file at the different resolution level, and wherein a total number of resolution levels included in the plurality of resolution levels depends on a size of the first document; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the first composite image on a display device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first document is included in a plurality of documents, and each document included in the plurality of documents is identified via keyword search term input by a user.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first composite image further includes metadata indicating at least one of a title, an abstract, one or more authors, a venue, and a year, associated with the first document.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the composite page file further comprises:

compressing the at least two of the separate page files to generate compressed page files; and

merging the compressed page files to generate a first rendered instance.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second composite image illustrating a graphical overview of the database that includes a plurality of first-sized images, wherein each first-sized image corresponds to a different document in a plurality of documents, wherein the first document is included in the plurality of documents; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the second composite image on a display device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating a third composite image that includes a plurality of second-sized images, wherein each second-sized image corresponds to a different document in the plurality of documents; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the third composite image on a display device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein each image included in the plurality of first-sized images comprises a thumbnail image that is smaller than a corresponding image included in the plurality of second-sized images.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying a second document in the third composite image that is adjacent to the first document in the plurality of documents; and

generating a fourth composite image that correspond to the second document.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the previously-generated fourth composite image in response to receiving a selection from the end-user of the second document in the third composite image.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processing unit, cause the processing unit to facilitate viewing documents stored in a database by performing the steps of:

retrieving a document file associated with a first document from the database;

splitting the document file into separate page files, wherein each of the separate page files is associated with a different page of the first document;

generating a composite page file by merging at least two of the separate page files;

generating a first composite image based on the composite page file, wherein the first composite image includes a plurality of rendered instances of the composite page file, wherein each rendered instance is associated with a different resolution level included in a plurality of resolution levels and comprises a visual representation of the composite page file at the different resolution level, and wherein a total number of resolution levels included in the plurality of resolution levels depends on a size of the first document; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the first composite image on a display device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein each document included in a plurality of documents is identified via keyword search term input by a user.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein a plurality of variable-sized images includes a first image having a first resolution that corresponds to a first page of the first document and a second image having a second resolution that corresponds to a second page of the first document, wherein the first resolution exceeds the second resolution.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first composite image further includes metadata indicating at least one of a title, an abstract, one or more authors, a venue, and a year, associated with the first document.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein generating the composite page file further comprises the steps of:

compressing the at least two of the separate page files to generate compressed page files; and

merging the compressed page files to generate a first variable-sized image.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second composite image illustrating a graphical overview of the database that includes a plurality of first-sized images, wherein each first-sized image corresponds to a different document in a plurality of documents, wherein the first document is included in the plurality of documents;

generating a third composite image that includes a plurality of second-sized images, wherein each second-sized image corresponds to a different document in the plurality of documents; and

causing a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the second composite image and the third composite image on a display device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein each image included in the plurality of first-sized images comprises a thumbnail image that is smaller than a corresponding image included in the plurality of second-sized images.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a second document in the third composite image that is adjacent to the first document; and

generating a fourth composite image that correspond to the second document.

18. A system configured for viewing documents stored in a database, including:

a memory unit;

a processing unit coupled to the memory unit and configured to;

retrieve a document file associated with a first document from the database;

split the document file into separate page files, wherein each of the separate page files is associated with a different page of the first document;

generate a composite page file by merging at least two of the separate page files;

generate a first composite image based on the composite page file, wherein the first composite image includes a plurality of rendered instances of the composite page file, wherein each rendered instance is associated with a different resolution level included in a plurality of resolution levels and comprises a visual representation of the composite page file at the different resolution level, and wherein a total number of resolution levels included in the plurality of resolution levels depends on a size of the first document; and

cause a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the first composite image on a display device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processing unit is further configured to generate the composite page file by:

compressing one or more single page files; and

merging two or more compressed page files to generate a first variable-sized image.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

the processing unit coupled to the memory unit and configured to;

generate a second composite image illustrating a graphical overview of the database that includes a plurality of first-sized images, wherein each first-sized image corresponds to a different document in a plurality of documents, wherein the first document is included in the plurality of documents;

generate a third composite image that includes a plurality of second-sized images, wherein each second-sized image corresponds to a different document in the plurality of documents; and

cause a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the second composite image and the third composite image on a display device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

identify a second document in the third composite image that is adjacent to the first document; and

generate a fourth composite image that correspond to the second document.