ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTS USING RULES

• US 20120311426A1
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Desai, Anish, Yao, Lifang, Bhardwaj, Sharad
• Granted Patent: US 9,690,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing

Abstract

One or more computers receive input indicative of multiple files to be analyzed together, by performing one or more predetermined actions, using the contents (e.g. strings of text) of a corresponding one or more structures. The one or more structures are identified by the presence in each file, of corresponding names. The one or more structures are normally written into the files for use by an application program to layout the contents therein in a structured manner. The one or more computers are programmed to automatically parse each file, to identify therein the one or more layout structures e.g. based on the presence in each file of corresponding names of layout structures. After parsing, the one or more computer(s) perform the one or more predetermined actions, to obtain an output structure that holds the results based on the contents of each layout structure identified in each file.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions comprising:

instructions to receive first input indicative of a set of word-processing documents each of which is to be checked for a layout structure that is associated with a name;

wherein at least a portion of the name is used commonly across at least a subset of word-processing documents in the set, to identify the layout structure;

instructions to receive second input indicative of at least the portion of the name and third input indicative of an action to be performed when the second input is found to match the name associated with the layout structure, in any word-processing document in the set;

instructions to automatically search the set of word-processing documents to identify the layout structure associated with the name matching the second input;

instructions to repeatedly perform the action indicated by the third input by use of text comprised in the layout structure identified based on the second input, at least once for each word-processing document in the subset; and

instructions to automatically store in a computer memory, a result of execution of the instructions to repeatedly perform.

2. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein:

the name is located in a predetermined sequence relative to said each layout structure in said each word-processing document in the subset.

3. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 2 wherein:

the second input does not identify a position of said layout structure in a page; and

the instructions to automatically process are independent of said position.

4. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein:

the layout structure is a word-processing table comprising a plurality of tabular cells and additional names;

the additional names are arranged relative to one another by said word-processing table in a predetermined arrangement of the tabular cells;

the plurality of instructions further comprise instructions to receive fourth input indicative of at least a portion of an additional name among said additional names; and

wherein said action is to be performed by said plurality of instructions when the fourth input is found to match the additional name, in addition to said matching of the second input to said name associated with the layout structure.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 4 wherein:

the word-processing table is horizontal; and

at least two of the additional names are arranged horizontally relative to one another in the predetermined arrangement, to define headers of two columns in the table.

6. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 4 wherein:

the word-processing table is vertical; and

at least two of the additional names are arranged vertically relative to one another in the predetermined arrangement, to define headers of two rows in the table.

7. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein:

the layout structure is a word-processing section comprising a plurality of subsections and additional names arranged indented relative to one another by said layout structure to form a hierarchy on one or more pages;

the plurality of instructions further comprise instructions to receive fourth input indicative of at least a portion of an additional name among said additional names; and

wherein said action is to be performed by said plurality of instructions when the fourth input is found to match the additional name, in addition to said matching of the second input to said name associated with the layout structure.

8. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein:

the second input further comprises a style; and

the layout structure is identified in the subset of word-processing documents when said style in the second input matches a style of the layout structure.

9. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein:

the layout structure is a word-processing section comprising a word-processing table and associated therewith an additional name;

the plurality of instructions further comprise instructions to receive fourth input indicative of at least a portion of said additional name; and

wherein said action is to be performed by said plurality of instructions when the fourth input is found to match the additional name, in addition to said matching of the second input to said name associated with the layout structure.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise:

instructions to display the layout structure in association with the name; and

wherein the instructions to receive the second input are arranged among the plurality of instructions to be executed after execution of the instructions to display.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 10 wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise:

instructions to receive an identifier of an additional word-processing document comprising a plurality of names and a corresponding plurality of layout structures associated therewith, the additional word-processing document comprising default text;

wherein the plurality of names comprises said name, and the plurality of layout structures comprises said layout structure associated with said name and the additional word-processing document is used by said instructions to display.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 11 wherein:

the additional word-processing document does not identify a position of said layout structure in a page.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 wherein:

the instructions to automatically search comprise instructions to remove a plurality of images from the set of word-processing documents to obtain an intermediate set of documents in a rich format of a word-processor and convert the intermediate set of documents into a set of documents comprising a plurality of tags in a markup language.

14. A method of analyzing word-processing documents by using one or more computers, the method comprising:

receiving first input indicative of a set of word-processing documents each of which comprises a section comprising a section number preceding a section name, and a table adjacent to a table name;

wherein the table name is used commonly across the set of word-processing documents to identify the table and the section name is used commonly across the set of word-processing documents to identify the section;

receiving second input indicative of the table name and third input indicative of a first action to be performed when the table of the table name is found in any word-processing document;

receiving fourth input indicative of the section name and fifth input indicative of a second action to be performed when the section of the section name is found in any word-processing document;

the one or more computers automatically searching the set of word-processing documents to identify within at least a subset of word-processing documents in the set, the table associated with the table name and the section associated with the section name;

the one or more computers repeatedly performing the first action by use of text comprised in the table and the second action by use of text comprised in the section, for each word-processing document in the subset; and

the one or more computers automatically storing in a computer memory, a result of the repeatedly performing.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

receiving an identification of an additional word-processing document comprising the table name and associated therewith the table;

wherein the table in the additional word-processing document comprises default text;

displaying at least the table name and the default text in the table retrieved from the additional word-processing document;

wherein the second input is received after said displaying; and

wherein the additional word-processing document is prepared by use of a specific word-processor and the set of word-processing documents are prepared as copies of the additional word-processing document and thereafter customized by input to the specific word-processor to change the default text.

16. An apparatus for interfacing with a user, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving first input indicative of a set of word-processing documents each of which comprises a section associated with a section name, the section comprising a table associated with a table name;

wherein the table name is used commonly across the set of word-processing documents to identify the table and the section name is used commonly across the set of word-processing documents to identify the section;

wherein the section name is used commonly across the set of word-processing documents to identify the section and the table name is used commonly across the set of word-processing documents to identify the table within the section having the section name;

means for receiving second input indicative of each of the table name and the section name;

means for receiving third input indicative of an action to be performed when the table associated with the table name is found within the section associated with the section name, in any word-processing document;

means for automatically searching the set of word-processing documents to identify within at least a subset of word-processing documents in the set, the table associated with the table name within the section associated with the section name;

means for repeatedly performing the action by use of text comprised in the table, for each word-processing document in the subset; and

means for automatically storing in a computer memory, an output of at least one of the means for repeatedly performing.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising:

means for receiving an additional word-processing document comprising the table name and associated therewith the table comprised in the section associated with the section name; and

means for displaying at least the table name and the section name retrieved from the additional word-processing document.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising:

means for displaying the table name and default text for the table; and

means for receiving an identification of the action after said displaying.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein:

the means for automatically storing stores the output in a spreadsheet.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein:

the means for automatically storing stores the output in a relational database.