Device and method for examining, verifying, correcting and approving electronic documents prior to printing, transmission or recording
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for pre-flight checking electronically-recorded documents to assure compatibility between said electronically-recorded documents and an output printing device, comprisingan electronic computer,an input device,an output printing device,a memory device,a set of instructions for said computer,means for said electronic computer for accepting an electronic document file,means for said electronic computer determining the type of said electronic document file,means for setting preferences for said electronically-recorded document font characteristics,means for setting and recording in said memory device preferences for said electronically-recorded document graphic element formats,means for extracting and identifying said document font characteristics from said file,means for extracting and identifying said document graphic element formats from said file,means for comparing said font characteristics in said electronically-recorded document to said preferences set and stored in said memory device,means for storing results of said comparison in said memory device,outputting results of said comparison on said output device,said outputted results comprising indications of inconsistencies between the said preferences set and font characteristics extracted from said electronically-recorded document,said outputted results comprising indications of inconsistencies between the said preferences set and said graphic element formats extracted from said electronically-recorded document.
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Abstract
Disclosed is a software implemented device and method for examining, verifying, correcting and approving electronically-recorded documents, prior to their final output, whether printing, transmission or recording. The disclosed device and method permits the user to assure that the diverse elements of the composite file, such as text, fonts, graphic formats, layout instructions and the like, which may exist in one or more electronic files, will be accessible by, and compatible with the output device. The present embodiment is able to assemble all elements of an electronic file, group of files or an electronic document into one location, whether physical or logical. The present embodiment also allows the above-described analysis on a multiplicity of file types, without need to use the specific file-creation applications used to create the files. This is accomplished by identifying the internal characteristics of the elements of files generated by a multiplicity of file or document creation computer applications and providing a computer software implemented device to decode the information for analysis or presentation. The importance of the present invention lies in its ability to find inconsistencies, incompatibilities, corrupted data and errors not visible to the human checker, to report them or automatically repair them, and, in so doing, to save significant amounts of wasted time and resources in the intermediate or final printing, transmission or recording phase. The present invention allows the user to set custom sets of preferences, establishing unique criteria for the analysis. A further implementation allows the software-implemented device to learn from experience and suggest changes or make changes automatically based on user preferences.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for pre-flight checking electronically-recorded documents to assure compatibility between said electronically-recorded documents and an output printing device, comprising
an electronic computer, an input device, an output printing device, a memory device, a set of instructions for said computer, means for said electronic computer for accepting an electronic document file, means for said electronic computer determining the type of said electronic document file, means for setting preferences for said electronically-recorded document font characteristics, means for setting and recording in said memory device preferences for said electronically-recorded document graphic element formats, means for extracting and identifying said document font characteristics from said file, means for extracting and identifying said document graphic element formats from said file, means for comparing said font characteristics in said electronically-recorded document to said preferences set and stored in said memory device, means for storing results of said comparison in said memory device, outputting results of said comparison on said output device, said outputted results comprising indications of inconsistencies between the said preferences set and font characteristics extracted from said electronically-recorded document, said outputted results comprising indications of inconsistencies between the said preferences set and said graphic element formats extracted from said electronically-recorded document.
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10. In electronic document processing, a method for pre-flight checking at least one electronic document intended for printing including the steps of
identifying the native format of said electronic document, identifying elements comprising said electronic document, setting preferences for said elements, comparing said identified elements to said pre-defined preferences, generating reports containing results of said comparison, generating reports containing suggestions for remedying inconsistencies between said set preferences and said elements in said electronic document.
Specification