Automated Publishing System That Facilitates Collaborative Editing And Accountability Through Virtual Document Architecture

• US 20080028300A1
• Filed: 07/08/2004
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: US LYNX LLC
• Original Assignee: US LYNX LLC
• Inventors: Davie, Loren, Cartine, Becky, Krieger, Michael Alex, Brown, Kathie, Kelly, Scott C., Napolitan, David, Smith, Amy
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention automates the publishing of financial, legal, and governmental documents and any other publications that are structured and require compliance with corporate or external standards and may share content elements. It gives users control in an always-on, familiar environment: the Internet. Due to its virtual document architecture and ability to operate over the Internet and intranets, the system facilitates collaborative work and traces accountability. The key concept behind automating publishing is to control scheduling and costs by better content management. The present invention handles document content as small, reusable components, down to the paragraph and table cell level. The interface helps users assemble documents from these version-controlled components with automated support. The system applies context and filtering criteria stored with each component to locate and apply content fragments to a current document. The system of the present invention can apply structural rules and content requirements to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and company business rules. A working virtual document within the system always incorporates the current version of all constituent elements.

Claims

1. An automated document publishing system comprising:

a user interface for managing a document;

a memory having data stored thereon, said data including at least one of a content library, structural rules, deployment specific data, or deployment specific business processes;

a processor for automatically assembling an active edition of the document based on said data stored in said memory;

whereby a proof of said document is generated from said active edition; and

whereby said document is published when said proof is approved.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein content in said content library is arranged as a plurality of components, said plurality of components being enabled to be shared by a number of documents.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said document is a structured document comprising a number of elements, each element providing structural information or referring to a component stored in said content library.

4. The system according to claim 1 further comprising an issue generator for generating a number of issues associated with said proof prior to approval of said proof.

5. A method for automatically publishing a document comprising the steps of:

assembling an active edition of said document from at least one of a content library, structural rules, deployment specific data, or deployment specific business processes;

editing said active edition using a user interface;

generating a proof from said active edition;

reviewing said proof; and

publishing said proof.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said step of reviewing further comprises editing said active edition used to generate said proof so as to generate a new proof for review.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of generating a number of issues associated with said proof, wherein a user has to address said number of issues before said proof is published.

8. A version controlled content library comprising a number of components having content associated therewith, wherein each of said number of components has a number of versions associated therewith.

9. The version controlled content library according to claim 8, wherein said number of versions are foreign language translations of the components with which said number of versions is associated.

10. The version controlled content library according to claim 8, wherein said number of versions are customized for specific locations.

11. The version controlled content library according to claim 8, wherein said components are shared by a plurality of documents.

12. The version controlled content library according to claim 8, wherein said components are enabled to be edited by a user and said user, through the use of a user interface, can apply the edited components to said document, all future documents, all archived documents, or all documents.

13. The version controlled content library according to claim 12, wherein an audit trail of all edits made to said components are stored.

14. A structure bar describing a conceptual and organizational structure of a document;

said structure bar comprising;

a container representing a section of said document;

a component associated with an element in said document in said container;

a number of handles, each handle associated with a single container or component, said handle is used to manipulate said container component.

15. The structure bar according to claim 14, further comprising a hybrid tree diagram wherein the user may navigate said document being edited.

16. The structure bar according to claim 14, wherein said structure bar enforces document structure rules and markup syntax.

17. A virtual structured document comprising:

structural elements for building a structure for said virtual structured document; and

content elements for defining locations in said virtual structured document to place pointers to components residing in a content library,

whereby said virtual structured document is assembled based on at least one of structural rules, deployment specific data, or deployment specific business processes.

18. The virtual structured document according to claim 17, further comprising required components, wherein said virtual structured document can not be approved for publication unless said required elements are in said virtual structured document.

19. The virtual structured document according to claim 17, wherein the system identifies the candidate components for use in said virtual structured document based on at least one of context rules, deployment specific data, deployment specific business processes, or component properties.