Multimedia document sharing method and apparatus

• US 20040193571A1
• Filed: 03/31/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Elliot, Ame, Barrus, John, Rhodes, Bradley, Savitzky, Stephen, Wolff, Gregory, McCall, Kim
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,583 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

A document sharing system includes producing an updatable collection of multimedia documents. A collection coversheet provides a facile medium for handling and distributing large collections of documents. The system includes techniques for subsequent access to the collection, including printing all or portions of the collection.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a collection of information comprising:

receiving an image of a collection coversheet, the coversheet having an overview area within which a plurality of first graphics are arranged, some of the first graphics representing documents contained in associated with the collection of information;

identifying a collection identifier from the image, the collection identifier indicative of a storage location of the collection of information, the collection identifier being associated with one or more access permissions;

selectively presenting a first plurality of the graphics based on one or more of the access permissions;

presenting a plurality of second graphics, each second graphic corresponding to a user action;

detecting a user-selection indicating a selection of one or more of the first graphics and a corresponding user action second graphic; and

performing the user action corresponding to the selected second graphic upon the selected document.

determining whether to perform the user action based on one or more of the access permissions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the image of a collection coversheet is an electronic representation of the collection coversheet.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving an image of a collection coversheet includes scanning in a paper copy of the collection coversheet.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user-selection represents one or more documents and the user-action is one of displaying the one or more documents, printing the one or more documents, communicating the one or more documents to one or more users, and grouping the one or more documents into a group.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the graphics includes a graphic associated with a second collection, the method further comprising detecting user input indicating selection of the graphic, wherein the step of presenting information is a step of presenting elements comprising the second collection.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of presenting comprises displaying information on a visual display device.

4-6. -6 (canceled)

8. (Canceled)

11. A method for processing information comprising:

receiving first information representative of a first collection of information, the information comprising a collection identifier and a plurality of images, the collection identifier being associated with the first collection of information;

presenting the images;

detecting a user selection, the user selection indicative of a selected image;

detecting a user action; and

performing the user action on second information associated with the selected image.

wherein the collection identifier is associated with one or more access permissions,

wherein images presented in the step of presenting are base on the access permissions,

wherein the step of performing is conditionally on an access permission of the information associated with the selected image.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the first information is representative of a collection coversheet, the images being formed on the collection coversheet.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of receiving includes scanning in a collection coversheet.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the selected image represents a document, and the user action is one of displaying the document, printing the document, and sending the document.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the selected image represents a document and the action is one of creating a new collection of information, the new collection of information comprising as at least the document.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the steps of detecting a user selection and detecting a user action include detecting input from one or more input devices.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the steps of detecting a user selection and detecting a user action include detecting graphics from among the images representative of the user selection and of the user action.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the first collection of information comprises a plurality of documents, each document being represented by one of the images, wherein the step of presenting the collection of images includes determining a layout and displaying the images according to the layout, wherein determining the layout is performed without user-provided directions for the layout.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the first collection of information further comprises one or more nested collections, each nested collection being represented by one of the images, wherein the step of presenting the collection of images includes determining a layout and displaying the graphics according to the layout, wherein an image that represents one of the nested collections includes one or more images representative of elements comprising the nested collection.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein the selected image represents a nested collection, and the user action is a step of presenting elements comprising the nested collection.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein the steps of presenting comprise displaying information on a visual display device.

23. The method of claim 11 wherein the steps of presenting comprise displaying information on a PDA.

24. The method of claim 11 wherein the collection identifier is a bar machine-readable code.

43. The method of claim 11 wherein the collection identifier is further associated with one or more access permissions, wherein images presented in the step of presenting are based on the access permissions.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the step of performing the user action is conditional on an access permission with the second information.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein the second information is an electronic document.

46. The method of claim 43 wherein the collection coversheet includes an overview area, the images are arranged within one or more access regions which define the overview area, wherein the one or more access permissions are associated with the access regions, wherein access to the second information is further based on the access permission of the access region within which the selected image is arranged.

47. The method of claim 24 wherein the machine-readable code is a bar code.

13. (Canceled)

25. A computer program product for processing information, the computer program product comprising a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon computer program code configured to operate a computer processing system to perform the method steps of:

receiving an electronic data representation of a coversheet, the coversheet comprising a collection identifier which identifies a collection of information, the coversheet further comprising an overview area having arranged therein one or more graphics representative of elements of the collection of information;

detecting the collection identifier from the electronic data representation, wherein the collection identifier is associated with at least one access permission;

presenting one or more of the graphics, wherein the one or more graphics which are presented are determined based on the access permission;

detecting a user selection, the user selection indicating a selected element in the collection of information; and

detecting a user action and in response thereto conditionally performing the user action on the selected element based on the access permission.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the steps of detecting a user selection and detecting a user action include detecting input from one or more input devices.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the steps of detecting a user selection and detecting a user action include detecting graphics from among the images representative of the user selection and of the user action.

28. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the overview area comprises one or more access regions within which the graphics are arranged, the access regions having associated therewith a plurality of access permissions, the collection identifier being associated with the access permissions, wherein the one or more graphics which are presented are determined based on the access permission of the respective access region in which the graphics are arranged.

29. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the electronic data representation is a scanned image of the coversheet.

30. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein one or more graphics are displayed on a visual display device.

31. A method for processing information comprising:

receiving an image of a collection coversheet, the coversheet having an overview area within which a plurality of graphics are arranged, some of the graphics representing documents contained inassociated with a collection of information;

identifying a collection identifier from the image, the collection identifier associated with the collection of information;

detecting a first graphic in the image, the first graphic associated with a document;

detecting a second graphic in the image, the second graphic associated with an action to be performed on the document; and

performing the action, including accessing the document based on the collection identifier.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the collection identifier is associated with an access permission, wherein the step of performing the action is conditional based on the access permission.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the overview area comprises one or more access regions, wherein the collection identifier is associated with a plurality of access permissions for the access regions, the step of performing the action includes determining whether there is permission to perform the action based on the access permission of the respective access region within which the first graphic is arranged.

34. The method of claim 31 wherein the action is an action to display the document

35. The method of claim 31 wherein the action is a print action.

36. The method of claim 31 wherein the action is an action to send the document to one or more recipients, the second graphic further including information indicative of the one or more recipients.

37. The method of claim 31 wherein the action is one of creating a new collection, the method further comprising receiving additional information, associating the new information with the new collection, associating the document with the new collection, and creating a new coversheet, the new coversheet having formed thereon a second collection identifier, a document image representing the document, and one or more new images representing the additional information.

38. The method of claim 31 wherein the collection identifier is a ba machine-readable code.

39. A data processing system for processing information comprising a computer processing component;

and computer program code configured to operate the computer processing component to perform the method steps of claim 31.

48. The method of claim 38 wherein the machine-readable code is a bar code.

40. Apparatus for accessing information comprising:

input means for receiving image data; and

software means, operatively coupled to the input means, for processing image data representative of a collection coversheet, the collection coversheet being associated with a collection of information and comprising a collection identifier and an overview area within which one or more graphics are arranged, the collection of information comprising one or more documents which are represented by some of the graphics,

the software means further for performing method steps of;

identifying the collection identifier from the image data, the collection identifier associated with the collection of information;

detecting a first graphic in the image data, the first graphic associated with at least one document;

detecting a second graphic in the image data, the second graphic associated with an action to be performed on the document; and

performing the action, including accessing the document based on the collection identifier.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the collection identifier is associated with an access permission, the step of performing the action includes being conditional on the access permission.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein the overview area comprises one or more access regions, wherein the collection identifier is associated with a plurality of access permissions for the access regions, the step of performing the action includes determining whether there is permission to perform the action based on the access permission of the respective access region within which the first graphic is arranged.

49. A method for accessing a collection of information comprising:

receiving an identifier which identifies a collection of information, the collection of information being associated with one or more electronic documents;

displaying one or more graphical elements on a display, the one or more graphical elements representative of a list of one or more actions;

detecting a user-selected of one of the actions; and

in response to detecting the user-selected action, performing the user-selected action,

wherein the user-selected action is applied to at least some part of the collection of information.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the collection of information comprises one or more versions of the collection, each version of the collection being associated with one or more documents, the method further comprising receiving a version identifier indicative of a selected version of the collection, the recited steps being applied to the selected version.

51. The method of claim 49 wherein the identifier is associated with one or more access permissions, wherein the one or more graphical elements that are displayed are determined based on the access permissions.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the step of performing the user-selected action is conditional on an access permission associated with the at least some part of the collection of information.

53. The method of claim 49 wherein the collection of information is further associated with an identifier that identifies one or more sub-collections of information.

54. The method of claim 53 further comprising displaying graphical elements representative of contents of the sub-collection of information, wherein the user-selected action is applied to at least some part of the sub-collection of information.

55. The method of claim 49 wherein receiving an identifier includes scanning in an image formed on paper.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the image is an image of a machine-readable code.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the machine-readable code is a bar code.

58. The method of claim 49 further comprising detecting a selection of some part of the collection of information to which the user-selected action is applied.

59. The method of claim 49 wherein the user-selected action is applied to the collection of information in its entirety.

60. Apparatus for accessing a collection of information comprising:

a data processing component;

a video display component; and

a user input device, the data processing component comprising computer program code configured to control the data processing component to perform the method steps of claim 49, wherein the step of displaying is performed on the video display component and the step of detecting includes receiving information from the input device.

61. The apparatus of claim 60 further comprising a scanner device coupled to provide data to the data processing component, wherein the step of receiving is performed by the scanning device.

62. A method for manipulating a collection of information comprising:

receiving a first identifier associated with a first collection of information, the first collection of information being associated with one or more first electronic documents;

receiving a second identifier associated with a second collection of information, the second collection of information being associated with one or more second electronic documents; and

creating a second version of the first collection of information, the second version being associated with the first electronic documents and with a representation of the second collection of information.

63. The method of claim 62 further comprising associating the first identifier with the second version of the first collection of information, wherein the first identifier is associated with the first collection of information and with the second version.

64. The method of claim 62 wherein receiving a first identifier includes scanning an image formed on paper.

65. The method of claim 62 wherein receiving a second identifier includes scanning an image formed on paper.

66. The method of claim 62 wherein receiving a second identifier includes receiving user input from a user, the user input representative of the second identifier.

67. The method of claim 62 further comprising producing a visual representation of the second version of the first collection, the visual representation comprising first graphical elements corresponding to the first electronic documents and a second graphical element corresponding to the second collection of information.

68. The method of claim 67 wherein the first electronic documents comprise one or more of digital images, audio recordings, scanned images, and data files.

69. The method of claim 67 wherein the visual representation is formed on one of paper and a display device.

70. The method of claim 62 further comprising producing a visual representation of the second version of the first collection, the visual representation comprising a plurality of graphical elements representative of the first electronic documents and of the second electronic documents, including a graphical element which identifies the second electronic documents as belonging to the second collection of information.

71. Apparatus for accessing a collection of information comprising a data processing component, the data processing component comprising computer program code configured to control the data processing component to perform the method steps of claim 62.

72. A method of accessing a collection of information comprising:

receiving an identifier, the identifier being associated with a collection of information, the collection of information being associated with one or more electronic documents;

obtaining a representation of at least a portion of the collection of information;

detecting user-provided annotations in the representation, the user-provided annotations indicative of one or more actions on at least some part of the collection of information; and

performing the one or more actions on at least some part of the collection of information.

73. The method of claim 72 wherein detecting includes receiving user input from a user, the user-provided annotations comprising the user input.

74. The method of claim 72 wherein receiving an identifier includes scanning an image formed on paper, the image including an image of the identifier and an image of the representation.

75. Apparatus for accessing a collection of information comprising a data processing component, the data processing component comprising computer program code configured to control the data processing component to perform the method steps of claim 72.