Storing and retrieving the visual form of data

• US 7,082,436 B1
• Filed: 01/05/2000
• Issued: 07/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Waters Technologies Ireland Ltd. (Waters Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NuGenesis Technologies Corp. (Waters Corporation)
• Inventors: Bayiates, Edward L.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRUONG, CAM Y T
• Application Number:
  US09/478,156
• Time in Patent Office: 2,393 Days
• Field of Search: 707500-506, 707/10, 707/102, 707/3, 707/104.1, 715/102, 715500-506, 715/500.1, 715/513, 715/523, 715/522, 715/526
• US Class Current: 707/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/918 Location
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• 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

Abstract

Data representing a visual form of data is received. The data including content data and format data indicating the manner in which the content data is to be visually represented. At least some of the content data is identified in accordance with a template, which includes one or more extraction instructions. The retrieved data may then be stored in the identified content data. Or, in response to the data, an action may be taken such as initiating a process. A template may be applied to several data files, storing visual forms of data and the information from those files may be stored in a database in association with the visual forms of data. A user may input an extraction instruction by visually identifying a region of a sample visual form of data and selecting a manner to extract the content data in reference to the identified region.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for producing a visual form of data comprising:

receiving data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

analyzing said visual form of data using a template and identifying at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

storing the identified at least some of the content data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising normalizing the data representing the visual form of data.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the data is normalized in accordance with a displayed form of the visual form of data.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the visual form of data is characterized by a plurality of dimensions characterized by at least two coordinate systems, wherein normalizing the data representing the visual form of data includes converting values expressed in the two coordinate system into a common coordinate system.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the common coordinate system is the coordinate system of a displayed form of the visual form of data.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the extraction instruction includes information indicating location of at least some of the content data based on the common coordinate system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data representing the visual form of

data comprises data in a format required by an operating system layer for outputting the visual form of data by a printer.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the operating system layer is Windows operating system and the data representing the visual form of data is a Windows metafile.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a sample visual form of data,

receiving data from a user indicating location of data selected by the user in the displayed sample visual form of data, and

forming the extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of the data selected by the user.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

storing the extraction instruction.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

storing the extraction instruction in association with data representing the sample visual form of data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the received data further represents a plurality of visual forms of data.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein storing the identified at least some of the content data further includes storing the identified at least some of the content data in association with the data representing a corresponding one of a plurality of visual forms of data.

14. Computer readable media containing a computer program to produce a visual form of data, comprising instructions for:

receiving data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

analyzing said visual form of data using a template and identifying at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

storing the identified content data as at least one tag value.

15. Computer system for producing a visual form of data comprising:

an input port that receives data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format, said input port receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

a processor that forms an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data, analyzes said visual form of data using a template and identifies at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, wherein said visual form of data is characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, wherein said template includes said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction, said processor extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

a storage media for storing the identified at least some of content data as at least one tag value.

16. A computer implemented method for processing a visual form of data comprising:

transmitting a computer program comprising instructions for;

receiving data representing a visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

analyzing said visual form of data using a template and identifying at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

storing the identified at least some of the content data in a database.

17. A computer implemented method for producing a visual form of data comprising:

receiving data representing a visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

analyzing said visual form of data using a template and identifying at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

initiating performance of an action based on results of said identifying of at least some of the content data.

18. Computer readable media containing a computer program includes instructions for producing a visual form of data, comprising:

receiving data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

analyzing said visual form of data using a template and identifying at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of said string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

initiating performance of an action based on results of said identifying at least some of the content data.

19. Computer system for producing a visual form of data comprising:

an input port that receives data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, wherein said visual form of data corresponds to one of a print format or a display format, said input port receives data indicating a location of selected data;

a processor that forms an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data, analyzes said visual form of data using a template, and identifies at least some of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said processor initiates performance of an action based on results of said identification of at least some of the content data, where said visual form of data is characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, where said template includes said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, wherein said extraction instruction includes information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction, and

said processor extracts a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template.

20. A computer implemented method for processing a visual form of data comprising:

receiving data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

analyzing said visual form of data using a template and identifying at least some of the content data in accordance with said template having an extraction instruction after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

extracting a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

storing the identified at least some of the content data as at least one tag value.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

creating said template.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

editing said template.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said editing said template further comprises:

editing said extraction instruction included in said template.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

displaying a sample visual form of data;

receiving user location data indicating a location of data selected by a user in the displayed sample visual form of data; and

forming the extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of the data selected by the user.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

storing the extraction instruction.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

storing the extraction instruction in association with data representing the sample visual form of data used during creating said template.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein storing the identified at least some of the content data further includes storing the identified at least some of the content data in association with the data representing a corresponding one of a plurality of visual forms of data.

28. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

normalizing the data representing the visual form of data.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

translating coordinate references to coordinate references of a display system.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

scaling text strings in accordance with a display device.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

joining and splitting text.

32. The method of claim 20, wherein the extraction instruction locates data in a report area and inserts the data located into a selected tag in association with a report corresponding to the visual form of data.

33. The method of claim 20, wherein the extraction instruction locates data in a direction relative to a selected reference point in a report and inserts the data located into a selected data in association with the report corresponding to the visual form of data.

34. The method of claim 20, wherein the template further comprises another extraction instruction which determines whether at least one selected word is within a report corresponding to the visual form of data and accordingly sets a boolean tag in association with said report.

35. The method of claim 20, wherein the extraction instruction inserts data into a selected tag in association with a report corresponding to the visual form of data based on data included in the report.

36. A computer implemented method for processing a visual form of data comprising:

receiving data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

receiving data indicating a location of selected data;

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

applying a template to the visual form of data;

analyzing said visual form of data using said template and identifying a portion of the content data in accordance with said template after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said template including extraction instructions indicating how to extract content data from the visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction; and

extracting, in accordance with at least one extraction instruction in said template, a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

applying the template to previously stored data.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

applying the template to data in connection with a print operation.

39. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

storing said tag value in association with a report corresponding to said visual form of data.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein the visual form of data is characterized by at least one of a plurality of dimensions and the extraction instruction includes information with respect to location of a reference marker and a direction in at least one of said plurality of dimensions;

and wherein identifying said portion of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying said portion of the content data in the direction.

41. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

creating said template.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

editing said template.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said editing said template further comprises:

editing an extraction instruction included in said template.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

displaying a sample visual form of data;

receiving user location data indicating a location of data selected by a user in the displayed sample visual form of data; and

forming an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of the data selected by the user.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

storing the extraction instruction.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

storing the extraction instruction in association with data representing the sample visual form of data used during creating said template.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein storing the identified at least some of the content data further includes storing the identified at least some of the content data in association with the data representing a corresponding one of a plurality of visual forms of data.

48. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

normalizing the data representing the visual form of data.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

translating coordinate references to coordinate references of a display system.

50. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

scaling text strings in accordance with a display device.

51. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

joining and splitting text.

52. The method of claim 36, wherein one of the extraction instruction locates data in a report area and inserts the data located into a selected tag in association with a report corresponding to the visual form of data.

53. The method of claim 36, wherein one of the extraction instruction locates data in a direction relative to a selected reference point in the report and inserts the data located into a selected data in association with a report corresponding to the visual form of data.

54. The method of claim 36, wherein one of the extraction instruction determines whether at least one selected word is within a report corresponding to the visual form of data and accordingly sets a boolean tag in association with said report.

55. The method of claim 36, wherein one of the extraction instruction inserts data into a selected tag in association with a report corresponding to the visual form of data based on data included in the report.

56. A system for processing a visual form of data comprising:

a data receiver that receives data representing the visual form of data, the received data comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually displayed, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format, said data receiver receiving data indicating a location of selected data, an extraction instruction formed based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

a template runner that applies a template to said visual form of the data and analyzes said visual form of data using said template and identifies a portion of the content data used in generating at least one tag value after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction, a tag value being extracted for at least one tag identified in said template; and

a database in which said template is stored.

57. The system of claim 56, further comprising:

a template builder that creates said template and stores said template to said database.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein said template builder is used to edit and review the extraction instructions included in said template.

59. A computer program product stored in a storage medium and used to process a visual form of data comprising:

machine executable code that receives data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

machine executable code that receives data indicating a location of selected data;

machine executable code that forms an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

machine executable code that analyzes said visual form of data using a template and identifies at least some of the content data in accordance with said template having an extraction instruction after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

machine executable code that extracts a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

machine executable code that stores the identified at least some of content data in a database.

60. A computer program product stored in a storage medium and used to produce a visual form of data in a computer system comprising:

machine executable code that receives data representing the visual form of data, the data received comprising content data and format data indicating a manner in which the content data is to be visually represented, wherein said format data is applied to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data corresponding to one of a print format or a display format;

machine executable code that receives data indicating a location of selected data;

machine executable code that forms an extraction instruction based on location data identifying the location of selected data;

machine executable code that applies a template to the visual form of data;

machine executable code that analyzes said visual form of data using said template and identifies a portion of the content data in accordance with said template, said template including extraction instructions indicating how to extract content data from the visual form of data after applying said format data to said content data to produce said visual form of data, said visual form of data being characterized by a plurality of dimensions represented using a coordinate system, said template including said extraction instruction used in identifying a location of a string included in said content data, said location of the string being represented using the coordinate system and corresponding to the location of the string as represented in the visual form of data, said extraction instruction including information with respect to a reference marker and a direction in one of the plurality of dimensions where identifying at least some of the content data includes searching in the direction for identifying at least some of the content data in the direction;

machine executable code that extracts a tag value for at least one tag identified in said template; and

machine executable code that stores the identified at least some of the content data as at least one tag value.