Method, system, and apparatus for data reuse

• US 8,290,958 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2003
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Dictaphone Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Boone, Keith W., Chaparala, Sunitha, Fordyce, Cameron, Gervais, Sean, Manoukian, Roubik, Ogrinc, Harry J., Titemore, Robert G., Hopkins, Jeffrey G.
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US10/448,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20040243551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,427 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/2, 715/513, 715/526, 715/530
• US Class Current: 707/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A system and method may be disclosed for facilitating the creation or modification of a document by providing a mechanism for locating relevant data from external sources and organizing and incorporating some or all of said data into the document. In the method for reusing data, there may be a set of documents that may be queried, where each document may be divided into a plurality of sections. A plurality of section text groups may be formed based on the set of documents, where each section text group may be associated with a respective section from the plurality of sections and each section group includes a plurality of items. Each item may be associated with a respective section from each document of the set of documents. A selected item within a selected section text group may be focused. The selected item may be extracted to a current document. The current document may be exported to a host application.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of identifying, from at least one of a plurality of documents stored in electronic storage, text for inclusion in a new document, the method comprising:

issuing a user-specified query for documents in the electronic storage matching at least one parameter specified in the query, wherein the query is specified via at least one user interface;

receiving, in response to issuance of the query, at least one document matching the at least one parameter;

identifying topical sections in the at least one document;

displaying, via the at least one user interface, names of the identified topical sections in the at least one document without displaying the entirety of the text of each of the identified topical sections;

associating at least one indicator with each of the identified topical sections, each of the indicators being in either a selected state or a non-selected state;

displaying for each of the identified topical sections, the at least one indicator associated with it, each displayed indicator comprising information indicating whether it is in the selected state or the non-selected state;

providing, in the at least one user interface, a capability for a user to view text from at least one of the identified topical sections, a capability for the user to select at least one portion of the text of the at least one of the identified topical sections for inclusion in the new document, and a capability for the user to selectively alter the state of each displayed indicator for the identified topical sections; and

in response to receiving user input via the at least one user interface indicating that the user has finished altering the states of the displayed indicators, copying into the new document text from each identified topical section for which the at least one displayed indicator associated therewith comprises information indicating it is in the selected state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter specifies a document type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter specifies an author.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of documents comprises medical records pertaining to medical patient visits and the at least one parameter specifies a type of patient visit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter specifies a time of creation or a time range of creation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the at least one selected portion of the text of the at least one identified topical section to a document editing application in which the new document is opened.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one associated indicator for each of the identified topical sections comprises at least one selectable check box.

7. At least one non-transient computer readable medium, encoded with instructions, that when executed perform a method of identifying, from at least one of a plurality of documents stored in electronic storage, text for inclusion in a new document, the method comprising:

issuing a user-specified query for documents in the electronic storage matching at least one parameter specified in the query, wherein the query is specified via at least one user interface;

receiving, in response to issuance of the query, at least one document matching the at least one parameter;

identifying topical sections in the at least one document;

displaying, via the at least one user interface, names of the identified topical sections in the at least one document without displaying the entirety of the text of each of the identified topical sections;

associating at least one indicator with each of the identified topical sections, each of the indicators being in either a selected state or a non-selected state;

displaying for each of the identified topical sections, the at least one indicator associated with it, each displayed indicator comprising information indicating whether it is in the selected state or the non-selected state;

providing, in the at least one user interface, a capability for a user to view text from at least one of the identified topical sections, a capability for the user to select at least one portion of the text of the at least one of the identified topical sections for inclusion in the new document, and a capability for the user to selectively alter the state of each displayed indicator for the identified topical sections; and

in response to receiving user input via the at least one user interface indicating that the user has finished altering the states of the displayed indicators, copying into the new document text from each identified topical section for which the at least one displayed indicator associated therewith comprises information indicating it is in the selected state.

8. The at least one non-transient computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one parameter specifies a document type.

9. The at least one non-transient computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one parameter specifies an author.

10. The at least one non-transient computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the plurality of documents comprises medical records pertaining to medical patient visits and the at least one parameter specifies a type of patient visit.

11. The at least one non-transient computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one parameter specifies a time of creation or a time range of creation.

12. The at least one non-transient computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

sending the at least one selected portion of the text of the at least one identified topical section to a document editing application in which the new document is opened.

20. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one associated indicator for each of the identified topical sections comprises at least one selectable check box.

13. A computer system comprising:

at least one tangible memory that stores processor-executable instructions encoded for identifying, from at least one of a plurality of documents stored in electronic storage, text for inclusion in a new document; and

at least one processor, coupled to the at least one tangible memory, configured to execute the instructions stored in the at least one tangible memory to;

issue a user-specified query for documents in the electronic storage matching at least one parameter specified in the query, wherein the query is specified via at least one user interface;

receive, in response to issuance of the query, at least one document matching the at least one parameter;

identify topical sections in the at least one document;

display, via the at least one user interface, names of the identified topical sections in the at least one document without displaying the entirety of the text of each of the identified topical sections;

associate at least one indicator with each of the identified topical sections, each of the indicators being in either a selected state or a non-selected state;

display for each of the identified topical sections, the at least one indicator associated with it, each displayed indicator comprising information indicating whether it is in the selected state or the non-selected state;

provide, in the at least one user interface, a capability for a user to view text from at least one of the identified topical sections, a capability for the user to select at least one portion of the text of the at least one of the identified topical sections for inclusion in the new document, and a capability for the user to selectively alter the state of each displayed indicator for the identified topical sections; and

in response to receiving user input via the at least one user interface indicating that the user has finished altering the states of the displayed indicators, copy into the new document text from each identified topical section for which the at least one displayed indicator associated therewith comprises information indicating it is in the selected state.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one parameter specifies a document type.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one parameter specifies an author.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of documents comprises medical records pertaining to medical patient visits and the at least one parameter specifies a type of patient visit.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one parameter specifies a time of creation or a time range of creation.

18. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

send the at least one selected portion of the text of the at least one identified topical section to a document editing application in which the new document is opened.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one associated indicator for each of the identified topical sections comprises at least one selectable check box.