Computer-based document management system

• US 6,810,404 B1
• Filed: 10/08/1997
• Issued: 10/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ScanSoft, Inc. n/k/a Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Suleman, Dani, Ferguson, David R., Whittemore, Gregory L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Millin, V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Colbert, Ella
• Application Number:
  US08/947,032
• Time in Patent Office: 2,575 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707/204, 707/203, 707/205, 707/500, 707/513, 707/514, 707/10, 707/5, 707/104.1, 707/200, 382/140, 345/349, 715/500, 715/513, 715/514, 709/209
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A computer-based electronic document and/or paper-based document management application program. The program provides an efficient way to automatically import, index, categorize, store, search, retrieve, manipulate and archive electronic documents. The program is also capable of managing documents regardless of document type or document format.

Claims

1. In a computer-based document management system, a method for archiving an electronic document comprising the steps of:

defining an archiving condition for use in determining whether an electronic document is to be archived;

electronically analyzing a document attribute of an electronic document to determine if the document attribute satisfies the archiving condition; and

triggering said automatic archiving process in order to electronically archive the electronic document if the document attribute satisfies the archiving condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the archiving condition is user-defined.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the document attribute is selected from a group of document attributes comprising document size, document type, file age, date document was last opened and subject matter of document.

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

storing an archive index entry for the electronic document in an archive index.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary for displaying a thumbnail of the electronic document.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the archive index entry is an STG file.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary for identifying an archive memory location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of electronically archiving the electronic document comprises the steps of:

removing the electronic document from a first memory location; and

storing the electronic document in an archive memory location.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the archive memory location is a removable storage medium, with respect to said computer-based system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of electronically archiving the electronic document comprises the steps of:

displaying a user prompt indicating that the document attribute matches the archiving condition;

displaying a user prompt requesting that the user define a storage medium onto which the electronic document will be archived;

generating an archive index entry for the electronic document;

storing the archive index entry in an archive index; and

removing the electronic document from a present memory location to the user-defined storage medium.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user-defined storage medium is a removable storage medium.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary for displaying a thumbnail of the electronic document.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary for identifying the user-defined storage medium.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the archive index entry is an STG file.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a document management program which executes the steps of:

defining an archiving condition;

electronically analyzing a plurality of electronic documents; and

electronically archiving an electronic document from amongst the plurality of electronic documents if the electronic document contains a document attribute or attributes that match the archiving condition.

16. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 15, wherein the archiving condition is defined by a user.

17. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 15, wherein the document attribute or attributes are selected from a group of document attributes comprising document size, document type, document age, date document was last opened and subject matter of document.

25. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 15, wherein said executable step of electronically archiving the electronic document comprises the executable steps of:

displaying an indication that the document attribute or attributes match the archiving condition;

displaying a user prompt requesting that the user define a storage medium onto which the electronic document will be archived;

generating an archive index entry;

storing the archive index entry in an archive index; and

copying the electronic document from a present memory location to the user-defined storage medium.

26. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 25, wherein said program further comprises the executable step of:

deleting the electronic document from the present memory location.

27. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 25, wherein the user-defined storage medium is a removable storage medium.

28. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 25, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary for displaying a thumbnail of the archived electronic document.

29. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 25, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary to identify the user-defined storage medium.

30. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 25, wherein the archive index entry is an STG file.

18. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with 15, wherein said program further comprises the executable step of:

storing an archive index entry for the electronic document in an archive index.

19. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 18, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary for displaying a thumbnail of the archived electronic document.

20. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 18, wherein the archive index entry comprises data necessary to identify the archive memory location.

21. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 18, wherein the archive index entry is an STG file.

22. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with 15, wherein said executable step of electronically archiving the electronic document comprises the executable step of:

copying the electronic document from a first memory location to an archive memory location.

23. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 22, wherein said program further comprises the executable step of:

deleting the electronic document from the first memory location.

24. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 22, wherein the archive memory location is a removable storage medium.

31. In a computer-based document management system, a method for archiving an electronic document comprising the steps of:

defining an archiving condition for use in determining whether an electronic document is to be archived;

identifying an attribute associated with the electronic document;

determining whether the attribute satisfies the archiving condition; and

triggering the automatic archiving process in order to electronically archive the electronic document if it is determined that the attribute satisfies the archiving condition.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising the step of:

preserving a link between said computer-based document management system and the archived electronic document by maintaining a thumbnail representation of the electronic document.

33. In a computer-based electronic document management system, a method for retrieving an archived electronic document comprising the steps of:

maintaining an archive index, wherein the archive index includes an entry for each archived electronic document, and wherein each entry defines the storage medium on which the electronic document is archived;

selecting the archive index entry associated with the electronic document to be retrieved;

prompting a user to make available to the computer-based electronic document management system, the storage medium upon which the electronic document is stored, based on the information contained in the selected archive index entry; and

importing the electronic document from the storage medium.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising the steps of:

identifying the electronic document to be retrieved by searching a plurality of thumbnail representations, where the computer-based electronic document management system maintains a thumbnail representation for each archived electronic document.