Document Validation System and Method

• US 20070172062A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Decernis LLC (FoodChain ID Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Decernis LLC (FoodChain ID Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Raven, Clive, Kenny, Kevin, Zou, Yong, Waldo, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/252
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to the field of self-validating documents in supply chain management, documentation services and method for creating the same.

Claims

1. A system for validating at least a portion of a certification document for at least one material, comprising:

a certification document including at least one dynamic control statement relating to and defining parameters of use for said at least one material,

wherein said certification document is accessible by at least one recipient, and,

wherein said dynamic control statement is validated by retrieving validation information relating to said dynamic control statement from a dynamic source of validation information.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said certification document is generated by an authoring system, said authoring system including a dynamic standard phrase database for generating said at least one control statement.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one recipient stores said dynamic control statement and generates at least another certification document including said dynamic control statement and allows access to said at least another certification document to at least another recipient.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said dynamic control statement is a hyperlink to said updatable source of validation information, wherein said recipient validates said dynamic control statement by clicking on said hyperlink to retrieve said validation information, and wherein clicking on said hyperlink retrieves a source document opened at a page supporting said control statement.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said certification document includes a generated timestamp and wherein said retrieved validation information is indexed relative to at least said generated timestamp.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said certification document includes at least a link to a one of a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and a bar code identification code.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said at least one of said RFID and said bar code returns an index, compilation, or reference to changes, alerts, product recalls relating generally or specifically to the item with said RFID or said bar code identification.

8. The system of claim 1 said dynamic source of validation information is located on at least one secure web server.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said dynamic source of validation information is a logical function that returns at least one of a parameter of use and said dynamic control statement.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said system is integrated into at least one of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and an ERP module.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one material is a one of a chemical substance, a biological agent, a formulation, and a finished article.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said certification document is one of a purchase order, an advance shipment notice, a notice of product recall, a material safety data sheet, an import notification, a customer notice, and a bill of lading.

13. A method for validating at least a portion of a certification document for at least material, comprising:

accessing a certification document, said certification document including at least one dynamic control statement relating to and defining parameters of use for said at least one material; and

validating said dynamic control statement by retrieving validation information relating to said dynamic control statement from a dynamic source of validation information.

14. A method for creating a certification document for subsequent validation, comprising:

creating a certification document, said certification document including at least one dynamic control statement relating to and defining parameters of use for said at least one material; and

allowing access to said certification document, whereby said at least one dynamic control statement may be validated by retrieving validation information relating to said dynamic control statement from a dynamic source of validation information.

15. A method for indexing documents in a data processing system, said documents including a reference to at least one material, comprising:

inputting a document into said data processing system;

extracting at least one alphanumeric string from said document;

determining relevant alphanumeric strings from said extracted alphanumeric strings by processing said extracted alphanumeric strings utilizing at least one algorithm by comparing, in sequence and in combination, said extracted alphanumeric strings with material terms in at least a dictionary database of common material terms;

matching said relevant alphanumeric strings with materials alphanumeric strings stored in said data processing system; and

storing said matched alphanumeric strings in respective matched records in said data processing system.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein further comprising

cross-referencing said matched alphanumeric strings with matching master materials alphanumeric strings in said data processing system.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein said document is an updated document and further comprising:

comparing said matched alphanumeric strings with said stored documents; and

storing changed alphanumeric strings in said data processing system.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein said material terms include at least one of a proper name, an identifier, a synonym, a translation, class membership, a product, or combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of storing said matched alphanumeric strings includes storing a location in said document of said matched alphanumeric string.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein said at least one material is a one of a chemical substance, a biological agent, a formulation, and a finished article

21. The method of claim 15 wherein said at least one algorithm compares said extracted alphanumeric string with materials terms and, when a match is found, combines said extracted alphanumeric string with a subsequent alphanumeric string in said document and compares said combined alphanumeric string with materials terms, said algorithm repeating to compare and combine said alphanumeric strings until no match with a material term is found and thereby matching said combined alphanumeric strings with said material.

22. A method for indexing documents in a data processing system, said documents including a reference of at least one of a chemical substance and a biological agent, comprising:

inputting a document into said data processing system;

extracting at least one alphanumeric string from said document;

determining relevant chemical and biological strings from said extracted alphanumeric strings by processing said extracted alphanumeric strings utilizing at least one algorithm by comparing, in sequence and in combination, said extracted alphanumeric strings with chemical and biological terms in at least a dictionary database of common chemical and biological terms;

matching said relevant chemical and biological strings with chemical and biological strings stored in said data processing system; and

storing said matched chemical and biological strings in respective matched records in said data processing system.

23. A method for retrieving documents from a data processing system, said documents including a description of at least one of a chemical substance and a biological agent, comprising:

inputting a search term into said data processing system; and

returning search results from said data processing system, said search results including said search term and at least one of a proper name, an identifier, a synonym, a translation, class membership, a product, or combinations thereof relating to said search term.