Method and Apparatus for Tracking Documents

• US 20120030678A1
• Filed: 07/30/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mavro Imaging, LLC
• Original Assignee: Mavro Imaging, LLC
• Inventors: Minbiole, Eric P., Hayduchok, George L., Vasey, Michael W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,875,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/13 Type of disclosure document
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/413 Classification of content, e.g. text, photographs or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/414 Extracting the geometrical structure, e.g. layout tree; Block segmentation, e.g. bounding boxes for graphics or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00795 Reading arrangements details of scanning heads H04N1/024; scanning arrangements therefor H04N1/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/323 for tracing or tracking, e.g. forensic tracing of unauthorized copies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3242 of processing required or performed, e.g. for reproduction or before recording H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3247 Data linking a set of images to one another, e.g. sequence, burst or continuous capture mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for tracking documents. The documents are tracked by simultaneously monitoring each document'"'"'s electronic processing status and physical location. Determinations are made whether specific combinations of electronic processing states and physical locations are valid and whether specific movements of documents are permitted. Invalid combinations or movements are reported to a reporting station. The preparation of batches of documents prior to scanning may be monitored and operator metrics related to the batch prep process may be tracked. Exception documents rejected during document processing may be monitored to enable retrieval of such documents.

Claims

1. A method for tracking documents, comprising the steps of:

a. imaging documents having unique document identifiers to produce electronic images of the documents;

b. reading the unique document identifiers from the electronic images and linking the unique document identifiers to their respective documents and their respective electronic images;

c. processing the electronic images according to a set of image processes and providing an electronic status of the image processes associated with the electronic images;

d. monitoring the physical location of the documents by detecting the unique document identifiers of the documents as documents are moved to selected locations and providing a physical status associated with the physical location of the documents;

e. analyzing the electronic status and the physical status for compliance with a selected set of conditions;

f. reporting whether the electronic status and physical status for the documents are in compliance with the selected set of conditions.

2. A method for tracking documents having unique document identifiers, comprising the steps of:

a. processing electronic document images of the documents;

b. assigning unique document identifiers in association with selected documents and their document images;

c. assigning an electronic processing status for the documents corresponding to one or more electronic processing steps that operate on the document images;

d. assigning a physical location status for the documents corresponding to a physical location of the documents upon detection of the unique document identifiers from the documents at such physical location of the documents; and

e. associating the electronic processing status with the physical location of documents and reporting the associated electronic processing status and physical location to a user.

3. A method for tracking batches of documents, comprising the steps of:

a. assigning selected documents to a batch of documents;

b. assigning a unique batch identifier to the batch of documents to distinguish a batch of documents from any other batches;

c. processing document images of the documents in the batch according to a set of image processes;

d. assigning a processing status reflective of a state of the image processes for the batch;

e. detecting the unique batch identifier at a physical location of the batch of documents to provide a physical location for such batch;

f. associating the processing status of such batch with the physical location for the same batch; and

g. reporting the associated processing status and physical location of such batch.

4. The method of claim 3 including the steps of:

a. assembling selected batches of documents into a respective group of batches of documents;

b. assigning a unique group identifier to each respective group of batches of documents;

c. detecting the unique group identifier associated with a particular group of batches of documents at a selected physical location to provide a physical location for such group;

d. associating the processing status of the document images of the documents in the batches in such group with a physical location for such group; and

e. reporting the associated processing status and physical location of such group.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising the steps of:

a. identifying any document as a reject when the document image for such document fails to meet selected processing criteria and determining whether any document in a batch is a reject; and

b. identifying a group that contains a reject.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising the step of identifying whether a particular batch from a selected group of batches has the reject.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising the step of scanning each batch of documents within a group to determine which batch in the group contains the reject.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of associating the processing status of the document images of the documents in the batches in the group with a physical location for such group includes assigning a processing status to the group reflective of the processing status of the batches in the group.

9. The method of claim 3 including the steps of:

a. establishing processing criteria for the image processes;

b. detecting when a document in a batch violates the processing criteria; and

c. determining the physical location of the batch of documents containing the document that violates the processing criteria.

10. The method of claim 3 comprising the step of detecting when a batch of documents has a physical location but not a processing status.

11. The method of claim 3 comprising the steps of providing conditions of proper correlation between physical locations and the processing status, and detecting when a batch of documents has a physical location that is not properly correlated with the electronic processing status for such batch.

12. The method of claim 3 comprising the step of detecting the presence of a batch of documents at a specific location when the document images for such documents have not passed through a required image process that is a prerequisite to the location of the batch of documents at that specific location.

13. The method of claim 3 comprising the steps of providing a path of movement of the batch along a set of the physical locations and detecting whether a batch of documents at a physical location is out of sequence along the selected path of physical locations.

14. The method of claim 3 comprising the steps of providing time periods for the batch of documents relative to selected physical locations and detecting a batch of documents at a specific physical location at a selected time period is inconsistent with such physical location.

15. The method of claim 3 comprising the step of detecting when a batch of documents is checked out of a physical location.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising the step of detecting whether a batch of documents is checked out of a physical location for a time period that exceeds a selected time limit for check out.

17. The method of claim 15 comprising the step of detecting whether a batch of documents is checked out from a physical location that is not compatible with check out.

18. The method of claim 3 comprising the steps of identifying any document as a reject when the document image for such document fails to meet selected processing criteria and determining whether any document in a batch is a reject.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising the steps of reading the unique batch identifier for a batch at the physical location of the batch to determine if any documents in the batch have been identified as a reject.

20. The method of claim 18, comprising the step of providing a physical location of the batch containing documents identified as a reject.

21. The method of claim 20, including the step of providing the location of the document in the batch.

22. The method of claim 18, comprising of the step of displaying an image of a document in a batch that has been identified as a reject.

23. The method of claim 3 comprising the steps of:

a. separating the document images for a batch of documents into selected sub-batches based on selected processing criteria;

b. tracking the sub-batches of document images during processing;

c. identifying the batch of documents as being processed once all of the sub-batches are completely processed.

24. The method of claim 3, comprising the steps of:

a. separating the document images for a batch of documents into selected sub-batches based on selected processing criteria;

b. tracking the sub-batches of document images during processing;

c. correlating the physical location of the batch of documents with the processing of the sub-batches of document images.

25. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of assigning a unique batch identifier to the batch of documents to distinguish a batch of documents from any other batches includes providing pre-printed batch tickets having the unique batch identifier printed thereon and scanning the pre-printed batch ticket prior to imaging documents in the batch to associate the unique batch identifier with the documents to be imaged for that batch.

26. The method of claim 25 including calculating the time difference between the scanning of successive batch tickets to provide a time reflective of labor required for the preparation of a batch.

27. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of assigning a unique batch identifier to the batch of documents includes printing a unique batch ticket bearing a unique batch identifier to be placed with a selected batch of documents.

28. The method of claim 27 including the steps of starting a timer at the beginning of document preparation for prior to imaging of the documents and calculating the time between the start of the timer and the printing of the batch ticket to provide an amount of time for document preparation.

29. The method of claim 3 including the step of determining the number of pages in a particular batch to provide throughput tracking.