Information storage and retrieval system for storing and retrieving the visual form of information from an application in a database

• US 6,260,044 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1998
• Issued: 07/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Waters Technologies Corporation (Waters Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NuGenesis Technologies Corp. (Waters Corporation)
• Inventors: Bayiates, Edward Lawrence, Bush, Fitzhugh Gordon III, Gregory, Carey Edwin, Nagral, Ajit S., Dos Santos, Carl Philip Emmanuel, Kaulgud, Milind
• Primary Examiner(s): AMSBURY, WAYNE P
• Application Number:
  US09/213,019
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/6, 707/7, 707/104
• US Class Current: 707/697
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/915 Image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The visual form of data from a computer program is received and stored in a database. The visual form of the data may be received, for example, in response to a print operation by the computer program or by some other operation such as a cut and paste sequence of operations or by sending the data to another application. The visual form of the data may be stored as a vector image that permits scalability. The visual form of the data may be stored with other identifying information or tags in the database to facilitate searching of the database. The data in the database may be encoded in a manner that ensures data integrity and that permits detection of when data has been compromised. In one embodiment, a service layer application is provided to control access to the database by performing encoding and decoding of the data in the database. The service layer may have an application programming interface that permits many applications to have access to the database. Another application may be provided for accessing the visual form of the data from the database and for providing this data to another computer program. Such an application permits a user to create compound documents from data in the database using the other computer program.

Claims

1. A method or storing visual information from a laboratory control and analysis program that generates visual information in connection with performing a print operation, the method comprising:

providing a driver that intercepts the visual information from the program, wherein the driver appears to the program as a print driver;

causing the program to perform a print operation to generate the visual information;

the driver receiving the visual information from the program;

providing at least two tags associated with the visual information, wherein one of the tags is not part of the visual information generated by the program and wherein one of the tags is part of the visual information generated by the program;

providing a database based catalog that stores at least one of the at least two tags;

adding at least one of the at least two tags to the catalog; and

storing the visual information, wherein the visual information and the at least two tags may be accessed by another application that displays the visual information and displays visual indicators corresponding to the at least two tags.

2. A method, according to claim 1, wherein the visual information is stored in a metafile.

3. A method, according to claim 2, wherein the metafile is an EMF file.

4. A method, according to claim 1, wherein the visual information corresponds to a vector image.

5. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least one keyword associated with the visual information, wherein the visual information may be accessed by matching the keyword in connection with a search operation.

6. A method, according to claim 5, wherein the at least one keyword is provided by prompting a user to enter the at least one keyword prior to storing the visual information.

7. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing the catalog and the visual information to an application that is different from the program.

8. A method, according to claim 7, wherein the visual information is useable by the application.

9. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

indexing text information that is provided in the visual information.

10. A method, according to claim 9, wherein indexing includes ordering the text information to allow subsequent searching of the text information according to relative location of the text information in the visual information.

11. A method, according to claim 1, wherein causing the program to perform a print operation includes causing the program to perform at least one of:

manual mode printing and batch mode printing.

12. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a checksum for the visual information; and

storing the checksum along with the visual information.

13. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least a portion of the collection of tags and at least a portion of the visual information to an application that does not store the visual information.

14. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least a portion of the visual information to an application that does not store the visual information.

15. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least a portion of the visual information to an application that is different from the program.