Methods and systems for generating documents

• US 20030172343A1
• Filed: 03/06/2002
• Published: 09/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: GE Corporate Financial Services, Inc. (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Krishna, Seshadri Venkata, Crisci, Christopher D., Narayanan, Shriram, Leymaster, Mark Hendricks, Abbott, Preston Holliday
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,899 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists

Abstract

A document assembly production system including a server and at least one remote computer is provided. The server has a plurality of templates and other document assembly assets stored therein. The remote computer is configured to communicate with the server to access the plurality of templates and the other assembly assets to assemble fully formatted documents without using any document-assembly software and word processing software stored on the remote computer.

Claims

1. A document assembly production system comprising:

a server having a plurality of templates and other document assembly assets stored therein; and

at least one remote computer configured to communicate with said server directing said server to access said plurality of templates and said other assembly assets to assemble fully formatted documents without using any document-assembly software and word processing software stored on said at least one remote computer.

2. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 further comprising at least one database coupled to said server, each template stored in said database.

3. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 2 wherein said database comprises at least one security system that limits access to said database to authorized users.

4. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to restructure and reassemble a previously assembled document.

5. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to restructure and reassemble previously assembled documents by performing at least one of changing parameters within the previously assembled document, and adding new data to the previously assembled document while reusing organizational elements and document specific data common to the previously assembled document.

6. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to assemble documents from an invoked template and said other assembly assets to assure compliance with state and federal laws, rules, and regulations, and business entity rules, regulations, and policies.

7. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to integrate pre-approved documents from another computer system into said assembled document as said documents are being assembled.

8. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to display at least one of a user identity who created said document assembly and a workflow status of said document assembly.

9. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to display a report including at least one of a summary of all document assembly elements, a summary of missing and incomplete parameters, and a summary of missing and corrupted document assembly elements.

10. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 9 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to displayed the report prior to finalizing the assembly of the fully-formatted documents.

11. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one remote computer is further configured to communicate with said server to provide secure access to said server such that only authorized users can access said document assembly data, reports generated by said system relating to said assembled documents, data links provided within said system, and data stored in at least one database coupled to said server.

12. A document assembly production system comprising a server and a remote system, said server comprising a processor module which generates a HTML page displaying a series of questions on said remote system relating to a desired structure of a document to be assembled.

13. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said processor module is configured to generate a dynamic tree for displaying the series of questions in stages on said remote system.

14. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said processor module is further configured to generate a dynamic tree for displaying the series of document structure questions on said remote system, and to prompt a user to respond to the series of questions as the user progresses through the question tree.

15. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said processor module is further configured to dynamically change the series of document structure questions displayed on said remote system based on at least one response entered by a user.

16. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 15 wherein said processor module is further configured to demote on the display a subsequent document structure question that is inconsistent with a previously responded to document structure question.

17. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said processor module is further configured to designate at least one document structure question displayed on said remote system as mandatory such that a mandatory document structure question is automatically assigned a response by said processor module that corresponds to a response entered by a user to a linked antecedent document structure question.

18. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said processor module is further configured to dynamically mark at least one of the document structure questions with at least one of informational responsive symbols, and colors.

19. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said processor module is further configured to align the display on said remote system after the display has been refreshed to facilitate understanding of a selected structure for the document to be assembled.

20. A document assembly production system comprising a server and at least one remote computer, said server in communication with a processor module, said server configured to:

generate a web page displaying a series of questions on said at least one remote computer to be responded to by a user; and

fill in a plurality of fill points within an incomplete assembled document stored in said server to complete an assembled document.

21. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 further comprising at least one database coupled to said server, each incomplete assembled document stored in said database.

22. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 21 wherein said database comprises at least one security system that limits access to said database to authorized users.

23. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to restructure and reassemble a previously assembled document.

24. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to restructure and reassemble a previously assembled document by performing at least one of changing parameters within the previously assembled document, and adding new data and insertable documents to the previously assembled document while reusing organizational parameters, insertable documents, and data common to the previously assembled document.

25. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to assemble documents from at least one template stored in said database, each of said template configured to assure compliance with state and federal laws, rules, and regulations, and business entity rules, regulations, and policies.

26. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to integrate pre-approved documents and files from another computer system into said assembled document.

27. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to display at least one of a report and summary including at least one of a user identity who created said document assembly data, a user identity who last modified said document assembly data, and a workflow status of said document assembly.

28. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to display a report including at least one of a summary of all document assembly parameters, a summary of missing and incomplete data, and a summary of missing and corrupted document assembly elements.

29. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to communicate with said processor module to provide secure access to said server such that only authorized users can access said assembled documents data, reports and summaries generated by said system relating to said assembled documents, data links provided within said system, and data stored in at least one database coupled to said server.

30. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to designate at least one question displayed on said remote system as mandatory such that a mandatory question is automatically assigned a response by said server that corresponds to a response entered by a user to a linked antecedent question.

31. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 20 wherein said server is further configured to generate and display the series of questions on said at least one remote computer based on a document assembly structure selected by the user.

32. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 31 wherein said server is further configured to prompt the user to assure that each question within the series of questions is properly responded to prior to data being communicated between said server and said at least one remote computer.

33. A document assembly authoring system comprising a server having a plurality of templates and other document assembly assets stored therein, and at least one remote computer in communication with said server, said server comprising an administration module for creating and managing said plurality of templates and said other document assembly assets.

34. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 further comprising at least one database, said administration module is further configured to store said plurality of templates and said other document assembly assets in said database.

35. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 wherein said administration module is further configured to generate, change, and mange said plurality of templates and said other assembly assets through said remote computer.

36. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 wherein said administration module includes at least one security system that limits access to said system to authorized users.

37. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 wherein said administration module is further configured to manage security and user access to said system such that only authorized users can access said templates and said other assembly assets stored in said server.

38. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 wherein said administration module is further configured to communicate with a processor module such that specific templates from said plurality of templates are displayed on said remote computer to be selected to assemble a document.

39. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 wherein said administration module is further configured to prevent changes to each of said plurality of templates that has been used to assemble at least one document such that said template may be utilized when making subsequent changes to said document.

40. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 33 wherein said administration module is further configured to designate at least one document structure question displayed on said remote system as mandatory such that a mandatory document structure question is automatically assigned a response by said server that corresponds to a response entered by a user to a linked antecedent document structure question.

41. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 34 wherein said administration module is further configured to synchronize said input documents prior to utilizing said input documents in document assembly such that only a single version of a particular input document may be utilized.

42. A document assembly system in accordance with claim 41 wherein said administration module is further configured to prevent at least one of unauthorized changes and multiple versions under a single input document name.

43. A secure computer-based method for assembling output documents using a server coupled to a database and at least one remote computer, said database having a plurality of templates stored therein, said method comprising:

displaying document structure questions at the remote computer, where the questions displayed are controlled by logic and conditions imbedded in a user selected template, and are displayed in a tree format;

receiving a response for each question displayed;

altering the displayed structure question tree based on at least one response received from a user; and

generating the assembled documents based on the responses received from the user.

44. A method in accordance with claim 43 further comprising:

using a template selected by the user from the plurality of templates to gather the responses from the user; and

identifying pre-assigned, modifiable input documents from a collection of available input documents compatible with the template selected to construct the documents to be assembled.

45. A method in accordance with claim 44 further comprising:

receiving additional data from the user as requested by the selected template to complete the modifiable portion of the document to be assembled as designated by the input documents.

46. A method in accordance with claim 45 further comprising:

assembling the output documents based on the selected template and data received from the user; and

delivering the output documents and at least one summary relating to the output documents to the user through the remote computer.

47. A method in accordance with claim 43 wherein receiving a response for each question displayed comprises receiving a response from the user for each displayed document structure question and dynamically altering the displayed structure question tree based on at least one response received from the user.