Document management system

• US 5,893,908 A
• Filed: 11/21/1996
• Issued: 04/13/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited, Ricoh Corporation (Ricoh Company Limited)
• Inventors: Peairs, Mark, Cullen, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, RUAY L
• Application Number:
  US08/754,725
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 707/7, 707/8, 707/9, 707/10, 707/100, 707/200, 711/100, 345/351, 345/357, 345/428, 345/439, 358/402, 358/453, 358/462, 380/25, 399/366
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32561 using a programmed control device, e.g. a microprocessor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0081 Image reader H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0082 Image hardcopy reproducer H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0086 Image transceiver H04N2201/0093 and H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0087 Image storage device
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

An electronic document management system that takes advantage of advanced document analysis techniques. The electronic document management system may provide automatic archiving of documents and retrieval without the need to navigate through a directory structure or specify a filename. Document comparison is facilitated by automatic retrieval of a previous version of a document. A digital copier alerts a user when a document to be copies already exists electronically within a database.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of operating an archival system for documents, each document separable into a plurality of segments, each segment being a document subset selected from the group consisting of picture, paragraph, imbedded graphic, sentence and phrase, said method comprising the steps of:

capturing an image of an unindexed document into the document archive system;

separating said image of said unindexed document into said plurality of segments;

forming descriptors of at least one of said plurality of segments of said unindexed document image;

searching an index of descriptors for documents in a document database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said unindexed document image;

identifying at least one document as a previous version of said unindexed document, said at least one document having more descriptors in common with said segment of said unindexed document than an unrelated document; and

identifying said unindexed document as a later version of said at least one document in an index of said document database.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

updating a hypertext document comprising a first link to said at least one document by adding a second link to said later version of said at least one document.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said first link and second link comprise titles of said at least one document and said later version of said at least one document.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said updating step comprises:

extracting said title of said later version from a first page of said version.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said capturing step comprises scanning in using a facsimile machine.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said capturing step comprises scanning in using a copying machine.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said capturing step comprises intercepting printer output data.

8. A computer-implemented method of browsing a document image database comprising the steps of:

capturing a search key document image;

forming descriptors of at least a segment of said search key document image;

searching an index of descriptors of said document image database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said search kev document image;

identifying at least one document in said database as a matching document when the at least one document has more descriptors in common with said segment of said search key document image than a non-matching document; and

displaying a hypertext link to said matching document along with hypertext links to one or more other versions of said matching document.

9. An automatic document archiving system comprising:

an image capture device that captures document images;

an electronic storage system storing;

a database of document images;

an index of descriptors of said document images;

at least one hypertext document comprising links to said document images, wherein hypertext links to document images representing different versions of a document are ordered in accordance with version;

an archive control system coupled to said image capture device and said electronic storage system and configured to;

form descriptors of at least a segment of said unindexed document image;

search said index of descriptors for documents in a document database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said unindexed document image;

identify at least one document as a previous version of said unindexed document that has more descriptors in common with said segment of the unindexed document than an unrelated document;

store said unindexed document in said database;

store said formed descriptors in said index; and

add a link to said unindexed document adjacent to a link to said at least one document in said at least one hypertext document.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said image capture device comprises a copier.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein said image capture device comprises a facsimile machine.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein said image capture device comprises a scanner.

13. A document querying system comprising:

an image capture device that captures document images;

an electronic storage system storing;

a database of document images;

an index of descriptors of said document images;

at least one hypertext document comprising links to said document images, wherein hypertext links to document images representing different versions of a document are ordered in accordance with version;

a querying control system coupled to said image capture device and said electronic storage system and configured to;

form descriptors of at least a segment of a target document captured by said image capture device;

search said index using said formed descriptors of said segment of said target document;

identify at least one document in said database as a matching document when the at least one document has more descriptors in common with said segment of said target document than a non-matching document; and

display a hypertext link to said matching document along with hypertext links to one more other versions of said matching document.

14. A method of operating a digital copier comprising the steps of;

scanning in an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied, said segment being a document subset selected from the group consisting of picture, paragraph, imbedded graphic, sentence and phrase;

forming descriptors of said scanned-in segment of said document;

searching an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors; and

if a document of said document image database is identified as having more than a threshold count of said formed descriptors indicating a match, issuing an alert signal.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said different descriptors contribute with different weights to said threshold count.

16. A digital copier having access to a document image database, said copier comprising:

a scanner for capturing an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied;

a processor configured to;

scan in an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied;

form descriptors of said scanned-in segment of said document;

search an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors; and

if a document of said document image database is identified as having more than a threshold count of said formed descriptors indicating a match, issue an alert signal.

17. A computer-implemented method of comparing a current version of a document to a previous version of said document comprising the steps of:

forming descriptors of at least a segment of said current version, said segment being a document subset selected from the group consisting of picture, paragraph, imbedded graphic, sentence and phrase;

searching an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors of said scanned-in segment;

identifying at least one document as said previous version that has more descriptors in common with said segment than an unrelated document; and

performing a difference computation between said previous version and said current version.

18. A computer-implemented method of comparing a current version of a document and a previous version wherein text has been moved non-locally within said document between said previous and current versions, said method comprising the steps of:

dividing said current version into segments;

dividing said previous version into segments;

forming sets of descriptors for a plurality of said segments of said current version and said previous version; and

identifying segments that have moved non-locally within said document between previous and current versions by comparing said formed descriptors of said segments.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:

displaying thumbnail images of said current version and said previous version highlighting said segments that have moved non-locally.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said segments are paragraphs.