Electronic file management hierarchical structure

• US 8,799,336 B1
• Filed: 02/11/2013
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Burgess, Cleburne R., Burns, Michael P., Newman, Daniel L., Askin, Keith M., Garcia, Ana M., Smelser, Theron D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Phuong Thao
• Application Number:
  US13/764,525
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• Field of Search: 707/829, 707/956
• US Class Current: 707/829
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

Based on received data descriptive of an event, a hierarchical data structure is constructed comprising structural elements associated with components of an event. A file folder hierarchy corresponding to the hierarchical data structure is created. User interfaces facilitate user access to files and folders in the hierarchies. Certain documents may be designated as documents of record and access to those documents is limited to processes that will not modify the original electronic document, thereby preserving it. Facilities for creating working copies of documents of records and associating them within the hierarchies are provided. A scanning information sheet that may have an electronically readable data imprint containing information about a document to be scanned is described for facilitating the migration of paper documents into an electronic file management system.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executed by a processing resource to:

receive a document having data descriptive of a number of components of an insurance claim;

construct, responsive to receiving the data, a hierarchical data structure based on the received data, wherein a first portion of the hierarchical data structure comprises a number of automatically populated structural elements common to all insurance events, and a second portion of the hierarchical data structure comprises a number of automatically populated structural elements associated with the number of components of the insurance claim described in the data;

associate a portion of the data with a corresponding structural element of the hierarchical data structure; and

create an electronic file folder hierarchy that corresponds to the hierarchical data structure.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the number of automatically populated structural elements common to all insurance events include at least one substructure corresponding to a component common to all insurance events.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the number of automatically populated structural elements associated with the number of components of the insurance claim described in the data include at least one substructure automatically populated based on a type of a component of the insurance claim.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein there is a one-to-one correspondence between the electronic file folder hierarchy and the corresponding hierarchical data structure.

5. The medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to:

receiving a document having data descriptive of an additional number of components of the insurance claim;

add at least one structural element to the hierarchical data structure responsive to the received data descriptive of the additional number of components of the insurance claim; and

add at least one electronic file folder to the electronic file folder hierarchy, each added electronic file folder corresponding to an added structural element.

6. The medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to determine a particular component of the number of components of the insurance claim the received data describes based on metadata associated with the data.

7. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executed by a processing resource to:

receive a document having data descriptive of components of an event associated with an insurance claim;

construct, responsive to receiving the data, a hierarchical data structure based on the received data, wherein a first portion of the hierarchical data structure comprises a number of automatically populated structural elements common to all insurance events, and a second portion of the hierarchical data structure comprises a number of automatically populated structural elements corresponding the components of the event described by the data;

associate portions of the data with particular structural elements of the number of automatically populated structural elements corresponding to the components of the event described by the data; and

create an electronic file folder hierarchy that corresponds to the structural elements populating the hierarchical data structure.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the components include at least one of a party, a property, an entity, a government agency, a litigation document, a party to litigation, a witness, an expert, and a consultant related to the event.

9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the number of automatically populated structural elements corresponding to the components of the event described by the data comprise predefined elements corresponding to a categorization of the components of the event described by the data.

10. The medium of claim 7, wherein to receive data includes scanning a paper document to an electronic document.

11. The medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to create a scan information sheet containing further data including which structural element the scanned paper document is associated with.

12. The medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to:

receive data descriptive of an additional component of the event, the additional component being different from a plurality of previously received components of the event;

add at least one structural element to the hierarchical data structure responsive to receiving the data descriptive of the additional component; and

add at least one electronic file folder to the electronic file folder hierarchy, each of the at least one added electronic file folder corresponding to an added structural element.

13. The medium of claim 7, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to determine the event corresponding to the data based on metadata associated with the data.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executed by a processing resource to:

receive an electronic document having data descriptive of a number of components of an insurance claim;

construct, responsive to receiving the data, a hierarchical data structure based on the received data, wherein a first portion of the hierarchical data structure comprises a number of automatically populated structural elements common to all insurance events, and a second portion of the hierarchical data structure comprises a number of automatically populated structural elements associated with the number of components of the insurance claim described in the data;

receive a second electronic document;

notify a user that the second electronic document is available for association to its corresponding structural elements of the hierarchical data structure associated with the insurance claim;

associate the second electronic document with a corresponding structure element, wherein to associate includes to store the second electronic document in an electronic file folder corresponding to a component of the insurance claim, and wherein the second electronic document is rendered directly accessible by the user without the user navigating through an electronic file structure within which the second electronic document is stored; and

limit a type of operation that may be performed on the second electronic document.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the second electronic document includes at least one of a report, a bill, a legal document, a reference material, an insurance policy, an image, an audio recording, a video recording, a witness statement, and a consultant report.

16. The medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to select a document type associated with the second electronic document.

17. The medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions executed by the processing resource to display the hierarchical data structure to the user, wherein a structural element associated with a corresponding component of the insurance claim is selectable to display details associated with the structural element.

18. The medium of claim 14, wherein to limit the type of operation that may be performed on the second electronic document includes prohibiting the user from modifying the second electronic document.

19. The medium of claim 18, further comprising creating a working copy of the second electronic document modifiable by the user.