Document storage system including a user interface for associating documents into groups

• US 7,430,714 B1
• Filed: 04/30/1999
• Issued: 09/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Savitzky, Stephen, Peairs, Mark, Wolff, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/302,552
• Time in Patent Office: 3,441 Days
• Field of Search: 707/530, 705/58, 705/52, 713/176, 713/165, 713/166, 713/167, 713/168, 713/182, 713/153, 713/161, 713/183, 713/1, 715/531.1, 715/200, 715/209, 715/255, 715/273, 715/274, 715/741, 715/743, 717/153, 717/161, 717/176, 717/182, 717/183
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/608 Secure printing

Abstract

An electronic document handling system places electronic documents on stacks and “staples” the documents in a stack together. A user selects at least one document and places the selected document(s) onto a stack, The system generates a cover sheet including a table of contents; a title; keywords and/or annotations; and/or controls for: adding or deleting pages or documents from the stack, changing cover sheet contents, and/or controls for “stapling” the stack. An electronic file including the cover sheet data electronically represents a stapled stack. The stack can be secured by encryption with a user or system supplied key or password. The system computes a cryptographic checksum for the stack of documents and affixes the user'"'"'s or the system'"'"'s digital signature to the cover sheet. After stapling, the stack or a file representing the stack is stored in a stack database or file structure.

Claims

1. In an electronic document handling system, a method of manipulating documents comprising the steps of:

displaying a first list of documents, wherein the first list of documents lists the documents that are selected for inclusion in an open stack;

displaying a second list of documents, wherein the second list of documents list documents that have not been selected for inclusion in the open stack;

displaying a user interface control operative to obtain selections from a user of documents from the second list for inclusion in the open stack;

generating a staple data object representing an association of selected pages of at least two selected documents;

generating an electronic cover sheet for the staple data object, wherein the electronic cover sheet includes a visual indication that the existence of the association of selected pages and selected documents together at one time has been cryptographically secured by the staple data object;

accepting from the user a list of at least one page of at least two electronic documents;

referencing each page or each electronic document in the list as an item of the staple data object;

prompting for the staple instruction by presenting the user with a stapler icon which, when selected, represents a staple instruction;

accepting the staple instruction from the user when the user selects the stapler icon, wherein for each of the at least two selected documents, if a document is not stored in a permanent storage, the document is copied to the permanent storage to create the permanent copy of the document and the staple data object is updated to refer to the permanent copy of the document; and

cryptographically securing the combination of the pages of the at least two electronic documents of the staple data object in response to receipt of the staple instruction, thereby creating an unalterable indicator of the existence and integrity of the association of selected pages and selected documents together at one time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accepting a list is a step of accepting a manually input list.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accepting a list is a step of accepting a computer-generated list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of presenting the user with an online form as an aid to selecting pages or documents for association as the stack.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of copying the selected pages and selected documents in the stack to static storage.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of copying the selected pages and selected documents in the stack to a local storage device local to the electronic document handling system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating an electronic cover sheet for the stack object further comprises:

generating controls for adding and deleting selected pages and selected documents from the stack.

7. In an electronic document handling system, a method of associating documents comprising the steps of:

generating a stack object representing an association of selected pages and selected documents;

generating an electronic cover sheet for the stack object, wherein generating an electronic cover sheet for the stack object further comprises;

storing the electronic cover sheet in a stack database, where it can be referenced;

accepting from a user a list of at least one page of at least one electronic document;

referencing each page or each electronic document in the list as an item of the stack object;

accepting a staple instruction from the user, wherein for each of the selected pages and selected documents, if a selected page or a selected document is not stored in a permanent storage, the selected page or selected document is copied to the permanent storage to create a permanent copy of the selected page or selected document and the staple data object is updated to refer to the permanent copy of the selected page or selected document;

cryptographically securing the stack object in response to receipt of the staple instruction, thereby creating an unalterable indicator of the existence and integrity of the association of selected pages and selected documents together at one time, wherein cryptographically securing the stack object in response to receipt of the staple instruction further comprises;

using a stack signature to secure the stack object, wherein the stack signature is a checksum of the contents of all of the selected pages and selected documents in the stack, signed by a digital signature of the user or a digital signature or private key of the system;

opening the secured stack object upon receipt of a stack open instruction;

presenting the contents of the secured stack object for perusal by the user;

accepting additions and deletions of items on the secured stack object; and

resecuring the secure stack upon receipt of a stack restaple operation.