Method and apparatus for publishing documents over a network

• US 8,082,328 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2009
• Issued: 12/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Hull, Jonathan J., Balabanovic, Marko, Hart, Peter, Wolff, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): BOUTAH, ALINA A
• Application Number:
  US12/625,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20100077478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 756 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/225, 709/229, 726/22, 726227-228, 715/255
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

An apparatus and method for publishing an electronic document on a network is described. In one embodiment, an apparatus for publishing an electronic document on a wide area network comprising at least one server and a client, a client having memory for storing an electronic document, and means for sending the electronic document to the server, wherein a URL is associated with the electronic document, a security key associated with the URL, and means for sending a URL to a user.

Claims

1. An electronic document sending method comprising:

accepting an electronic document;

identifying a first file format of the accepted electronic document, wherein the first file format is a printer language format;

converting the electronic document from the first file format to a second file format suitable for public disclosure by a World Wide Web (WWW) server;

saving a copy of the electronic document;

generating a URL and a password for accessing the electronic document;

sending the electronic document converted to the second file format to the WWW server for the public disclosure;

sending the URL and the password to a user; and

instructing the WWW server to automatically delete the electronic document from the WWW server upon occurrence of a deletion condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying the file format of the accepted electronic document is performed only when the electronic document is accepted based on a set of predetermined conditions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of predetermined conditions includes one or more of the electronic document is free of pornographic material, the electronic document is free of violent material, the electronic document is not designated as confidential, and the electronic document is free from viruses.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein saving the copy of the electronic document is performed without an explicit command from a user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the deletion condition is a number of times the electronic document has been accessed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the deletion condition is an expiration of a time period beginning at an initial access of the electronic document by a user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the deletion condition is an expiration of a time period beginning when the WWW server performs the public disclosure of the electronic document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the deletion condition is a successful download of the electronic document to a predetermined Internet Protocol (IP) address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the deletion condition is an occurrence of a deletion date.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the deletion condition is a successful download of the electronic document to all users authorized to access the electronic document.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the WWW server customizes display of the electronic document tailored to a type of the electronic document.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic document is limited to access by users having usernames and passwords authorized for electronic document.

13. A publishing system comprising:

a memory;

a computing system to receive an electronic document and approve content of the electronic document, wherein responsive to the content of the electronic document being approved, the computing system to convert the electronic document from a first file format to a second file format, generate a URL and a password for accessing the electronic document, send the electronic document converted to the second file format to a server, send the URL and the password to a user, instruct the server to automatically delete the electronic document from the server upon occurrence of a deletion condition, wherein the first file format is a printer language format and the second file format is suitable for public disclosure by a World Wide Web (WWW) server.

14. The publishing system of claim 13, further comprising:

the server to receive the electronic document converted to the second file format from the system and publicize the electronic document in the second file format over a network until the deletion condition occurs.

15. The publishing system of claim 14, wherein the server automatically deletes the electronic document from the server when the deletion condition occurs, wherein the deletion condition is one or more of:

a number of times the electronic document has been accessed, an expiration of a first time period beginning at an initial access of the electronic document by a user, an expiration of a second time period beginning when the server publicized the electronic document over the network, a first successful download of the electronic document to a predetermined Internet Protocol (IP) address, an occurrence of a deletion date, and a second successful download of the electronic document to all users authorized to access the electronic document.

16. The publishing system of claim 13, wherein the computing system approves the content of the electronic document when one or more of a set of predetermined conditions are met, including:

the electronic document is free of pornographic material, the electronic document is free of violent material, the electronic document is not designated as confidential, and the electronic document is free from viruses.