DOCUMENT ARCHIVING SYSTEM

• US 20080162603A1
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: GARG, Ashutosh, DATAR, Mayur
• Application Number:
  US11/847,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20080162603A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/127 with the intervention of an operator

Abstract

A system generates a text document from a received document image. Metadata elements may be assigned to all or part of the text document by a user or by a template used to generate the text document. The text document and the associated metadata elements may be stored to facilitate subsequent searching and retrieval of the text document or the document image based on contents of the text document and/or its associated metadata elements.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a document image;

converting the document image into a text document;

identifying at least one metadata element associated with the text document; and

storing the text document and the at least one searchable metadata element for subsequent retrieval based on a content of the text document or the at least one metadata element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the document image comprises capturing the document image with an optical scanner device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the document image comprises receiving an electronic version of the document image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the document image comprises automatically retrieving an electronic version of the document image from a remote device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the document image into the text document comprises:

performing optical character recognition on the document image to recognize the text of the document; and

generating the text document to include the recognized text of the document.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a template that includes instructions for converting portions of the document image into the text document; and

converting the document image into the text document based on the template.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving the template comprises retrieving the template from a template database accessible from a remote device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving the template is performed automatically upon receipt of the document image.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the template comprises information designating portions of the document image to be converted.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the template comprises information designating a minimum conversion confidence level for at least a portion of the text document.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a conversion confidence level for the portion of the text document;

determining whether the conversion confidence level meets or exceeds the minimum conversion confidence level designated in the template; and

reconverting at least a portion of the document image corresponding to the portion of the text document when it is determined that the conversion confidence level does not meet or exceed the minimum conversion confidence level.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein reconverting at least a portion of the document image comprises converting the portion of the document image at an increased resolution.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving a template including instructions for assigning the at least one metadata element to at least one portion of the text document corresponding to at least one portion of the document image; and

associating the at least one metadata element to the at least one portion of the text document based on the template.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the at least one metadata element with the text document comprises:

embedding the at least one metadata element within the text document.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an index that references the text document and includes content of the document and the at least one metadata element associated with the text document; and

storing the index for subsequent retrieval based on the content of the text document or the at least one metadata element.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving instructions to modify the text document;

modifying the text document in response to the received instructions to generate a modified text document; and

storing the modified text document and the at least one metadata element for subsequent retrieval based on the at least one searchable metadata element.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the instructions include instructions to correct or remove at least a portion of the text document.

18. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a confidence level indicative of an accuracy of the text document relative to the document image; and

recapturing the document image when it is determined that the confidence level is below a predetermined threshold.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein recapturing the document image comprises recapturing the document image at an increased resolution.

20. The method of claim 1, comprising:

assigning an access level to the text document prior to storing the text document.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein assigning the access level, further comprises:

identifying the access level associated with the text document; and

identifying authentication information required for the access level.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the authentication information includes one of a username/password combination, a personal identification number, a code, or biometric information.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the access level is based on a manner in which the document image was received.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the assigning the access level further comprises:

receiving a designation of one or more users that are granted access to the text document.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

storing the text document and the at least one metadata element for subsequent retrieval by the designated one or more users based on a content of the text document or the at least one metadata element.

26. A system, comprising:

means for receiving a document image;

means for retrieving a template that includes instructions for converting portions of the document image into a text document;

means for converting the portions of the document image into the text document based on the template;

means for identifying at least one metadata element associated with the text document; and

means for indexing the text document and the at least one metadata element to facilitate subsequent retrieval of the text document or the document image.

27. A system, comprising:

a document capture system to capture an image of a document; and

a processor system to;

identify text contained within the image;

generate a text document based on the identified text;

identify at least one metadata element associated with the text document; and

transmit the text document and the at least one metadata element to a database for subsequent retrieval of the text document or the document image based on at least one of the identified text or the at least one metadata element.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the document capture system comprises an optical scanner.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor system is further configured to:

automatically assign at least one initial metadata element to the text document based on a template.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one initial metadata element is associated with an entirety of the text document.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one initial metadata element is associated with a portion of the text document identified in the template.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor system is further configured to:

assign an access level to the text document,

wherein the access level identifies authentication information to be received prior to subsequent display of the text or image document.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the access level is associated with a group of users.

34. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions, comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a document image;

one or more instructions for identifying a template associated with the document image;

one or more instructions for converting the document image into a text document based on the template;

one or more instructions for identifying at least one metadata element associated with the text document,

wherein at least one of the at least one metadata element is automatically designated by the template; and

one or more instructions for storing the text document and the at least one metadata element for subsequent retrieval of the text document or the document image based on the at least one searchable metadata element.

35. A method, comprising:

receiving an image of a document from a scanning device;

performing optical character recognition on the document image to generate a text document based on the document image;

identifying at least one metadata element associated with the text document;

associating the at least one searchable metadata element with at least one portion of the text document;

assigning an access level indication to the text document indicating authentication information required to retrieve the text document; and

storing the text document the at least one metadata element, and the access level indication for subsequent retrieval of the document based on a content of the text document or the at least one metadata element.