Mass document storage and retrieval system
First Claim
1. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon and wherein images imprinted on at lest some of said documents include log designs which identify organizations originating the documents, including the steps ofoptically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents;
- automatically assigning an identification to each documentand to the image representation of each document;
automatically machine-selecting search words from the image representation of each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage;
converting the selected search words to code;
correlating the converted search words with the identification of the document from which the search words were selected,storing the converted search words in code in a non-volatile memory;
storing in mass storage the image representation of each documentforming a logo table of stored images of logo designs identifying the organizations together with information in code form about the sender employing each such design,when a document having a design is scanned, conducting a pattern search of the stored images in the logo table to seek a match between the scanned design and a stored image,when a pattern match is found, retrieving and correlating with the identification of the document the identifying organization information associated with the matched pattern from the logo table, andwhen a match is not found, flagging the document for manual addition of the design and identifying company information to the logo table.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A sequence of documents is delivered to an optical scanner in which each document is scanned to form a digital image representation of the content of the document. In one embodiment, the image representation is converted into code (ASCII) and is automatically examined by data processing apparatus to select search words which meet predetermined criteria and by which the document can subsequently located. In another embodiment, the image is not converted. The search words are stored in a nonvolatile memory in code form and the entire document content is stored in mass storage, either in code or image form. Techniques for selecting the search words are disclosed.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon and wherein images imprinted on at lest some of said documents include log designs which identify organizations originating the documents, including the steps of
optically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents; -
automatically assigning an identification to each document and to the image representation of each document; automatically machine-selecting search words from the image representation of each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage; converting the selected search words to code; correlating the converted search words with the identification of the document from which the search words were selected, storing the converted search words in code in a non-volatile memory; storing in mass storage the image representation of each document forming a logo table of stored images of logo designs identifying the organizations together with information in code form about the sender employing each such design, when a document having a design is scanned, conducting a pattern search of the stored images in the logo table to seek a match between the scanned design and a stored image, when a pattern match is found, retrieving and correlating with the identification of the document the identifying organization information associated with the matched pattern from the logo table, and when a match is not found, flagging the document for manual addition of the design and identifying company information to the logo table. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon, at least some of said documents including logo designs which identify organizations originating the documents, including the steps of
optically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents; -
automatically assigning a unique identification number to each image representation of each document; automatically machine-selecting search words from each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage; converting the selected search words to code; correlating the converted search words with the identification of the document in image from which the search words were selected, storing the converted search words and identification in code in a non-volatile memory; and storing in mass storage the image representation of each document; and searching for a document by the steps of selecting a search word, entering into volatile memory the search word in code, comparing the search word with search words stored in the non-volatile memory until a match is found, recalling from mass storage the image representations of those documents having identification numbers associated with the matched search word in the non-volatile memory, displaying an image thereof; forming a logo table of stored images of logo designs identifying the organizations together with information in code form about the sender employing each such design, when a document having a design is scanned, conducting a pattern search of the stored images in the logo table to seek a match between the scanned design and a stored image, when a pattern match is found, retrieving and correlating with the identification of the document the identifying organization information associated with the matched pattern from the logo table, and when a match is not found, flagging the document for manual addition of the design and identifying company information to the logo table.
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13. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon comprising
optically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents wherein the digital representation of each document includes a plurality of pixel lines forming lines of characters in the image; -
automatically assigning an identification to each image representation of each document; automatically machine-selecting search words from each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage including evaluating the first pixel line in each character line to detect characters having the height characteristics of capital letters, and evaluating each detected character to determine if it is a capital letter; converting the selected search words to code; correlating the converted search words with the identification of the document in image from which the search words were selected, storing the converted search words and identification in code in a non-volatile memory; and storing in mass storage the image representation of each document. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon and wherein images imprinted on at least some of said documents include log designs which identify organizations originating the documents, including the steps of
optically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents; -
automatically assigning an identification to each document and to the image representation of each document; selecting search words from the image representation of each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage; converting the selected search words to code; correlating the converted search words with the identification of the document from which the search words were selected, storing the converted search words in code in a non-volatile memory; storing in mass storage the image representation of each document forming a logo table of stored images of logo designs identifying the organizations together with information in code form about the sender employing each such design, when a document having a design is scanned, conducting a pattern search of the stored images in the logo table to seek a match between the scanned design and a stored image, when a pattern match is found, retrieving and correlating with the identification of the document the identifying organization information associated with the matched pattern from the logo table, and when a match is not found, flagging the document for manual addition of the design and identifying company information to the logo table.
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20. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon and wherein images imprinted on at least some of said documents include logo designs which identify organizations originating the documents, including the steps of
optically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents; -
selecting search words from the image representation of each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage; converting the selected search words to code; storing the converted search words in code in a non-volatile memory; storing in mass storage the image representation of each document; forming a logo table of stored images of logo designs identifying the organizations together with information in code form about the sender employing each such design; when a document having a design is scanned, conducting a pattern search of the stored images in the logo table to seek a match between the scanned design and a stored image, when a pattern match is found, retrieving and correlating with the document the identifying organization information associated with the matched pattern from the logo table, and when a match is not found, flagging the document for manual addition of the design and identifying company information to the logo table.
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21. A method of retrievably storing contents of a plurality of documents having images imprinted thereon comprising
optically scanning the documents to form a digital representation of the images on the documents wherein the digital representation of each document includes a plurality of pixel lines forming lines of characters in the image; -
automatically machine-selecting search words from each document to be used in locating the document from mass storage including evaluating the first pixel line in each character line to detect characters having the height characteristics of capital letters, and evaluating each detected character to determine if it is a capital letter; converting the selected search words to code; storing the converted search words in code in a non-volatile memory; and storing in mass storage the image representation of each document.
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Specification