Hardcopy lossless data storage and communications for electronic document processing systems

• US 5,486,686 A
• Filed: 05/18/1992
• Issued: 01/23/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Smith, Z. E. III, Zdybel, Frank Jr., Henderson, D. A. Jr., Hecht, David L., Sang, Henry W. Jr., Bloomberg, Dan S., Pedersen, Jan O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hajec, Donald T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FILIPEK, JEFFER
• Application Number:
  US07/887,563
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: 235/470, 235/432, 235/494, 235/456, 235/454, 235/375, 355/202, 355/204, 382/61, 382/56, 358/470, 364/523, 395/109
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32133 on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3204 of data relating to a user, sender, addressee, machine or electronic recording medium H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3214 of a date
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3232 of a page, copy or picture number
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3242 of processing required or performed, e.g. for reproduction or before recording H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3269 of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 Printing or stamping

Abstract

Machine readable electronic domain definitions of part or all of the electronic domain descriptions of hardcopy documents and/or of part or all of the transforms that are performed to produce and reproduce such hardcopies documents are encoded in codes that are printed on such documents, thereby permitting the electronic domain descriptions of such documents and/or such transforms to be recovered more robustly and reliably when the information carried by such documents is transformed from the hardcopy domain to the electronic domain.

Claims

1. In an electronic document processing system for transferring information back and forth between an electronic domain and a hardcopy domain;

said system including computer means for operating upon and storing electronic document files in a machine readable format in said electronic domain, input scanner means coupled to said computer means for transforming information from hardcopy documents in said hardcopy domain to said electronic domain, and printer means coupled to said computer means for printing human readable renderings of selected ones of said files on hardcopy documents;

the improvement comprising

an interface means between said computer means and said printer means for encoding at least one attribute of each of said selected electronic document files in a machine readable code that said printer means prints on said hardcopy documents along with the human readable renderings of the respective files;

said attribute of each file being content of said file that is defined in said electronic domain but not explicitly defined by the human readable rendering of said file that is printed by said printer means, whereby said attribute of each of said selected electronic document files is recoverable from the code printed on a corresponding hardcopy document when information carried by said corresponding hardcopy document is transformed from said hardcopy domain to said electronic domain, even when such an attribute is irrecoverable from the human readable rendering.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein

the attributes encoded in said code include machine readable electronic domain definitions of at least selected portions of the human readable renderings that said printer means prints on the respective hardcopy documents.

3. The improvement of claim 2 wherein

the attributes encoded in said code include complete machine readable electronic domain definitions of the human readable renderings that said printer means prints on the respective hardcopy documents.

4. The improvement or claim 1 wherein

the attributes encoded in said code include a machine readable electronic domain definition of at least a first attribute of said electronic document files that is incapable of being inferred reliably from said human readable renderings.

5. The improvement of claim 4 wherein

said first attribute relates to at least one structural characteristic of said electronic document files.

6. The improvement of claim 5 wherein

said electronic document files are encoded in accordance with predetermined structural encodings, and

said first attribute defines such encodings.

7. The improvement of claim 4

wherein said first attribute relates to at least one operation performed by said electronic processing system for producing said electronic document files.

8. The improvement of claim 4

wherein said first attribute relates to at least one operation performed by said electronic processing system for processing scanned-in representations of said electronic document files.

9. The improvement of claim 1 wherein

said renderings are composed of at least two colors, and the data embedded in said renderings quantitatively defines compositional values of each of said colors for at least selected portions of said renderings.

10. The improvement of any of claims 2-9 wherein

at least some of said code is compressed in accordance with a predetermined compression algorithm, and

another portion of said specifies a decompression algorithm for decompressing the compressed.

11. The improvement of any of claims 2-9 wherein

at least some of said code is encrypted, and

another portion of said code defines a key for decrypting the encrypted code.

12. The improvement of any of claims 2-9 wherein multiple copies of said code are redundantly printed on said hardcopy documents, thereby enabling such a scanner to recover said from any one of said copies.

13. The improvement of claim 1 wherein

the attributes encoded in said code enables such a computer means to authenticate scanned-in electronic domain representations of said renderings.

14. In an electronic document processing system having scanner means for transforming information from a hardcopy domain to an electronic domain, and rendering means for transferring representations of human readable information from sources in at least one-of said domains to hardcopy documents in said hardcopy domain in accordance with a transform having known attributes, including system attributes which are not explicitly defined by said human readable information;

the improvement comprising

means within said rendering means for printing a machine readable encoded description of at least one of the known system attributes, including system attributes which are not explicitly defined by said human readable information of said transform on said hardcopy documents along with said human readable information, such that at least one of said system attributes of said transform is stored on said hardcopy documents for retrieval when any of said hardcopy documents is transformed from said hardcopy domain to said electronic domain.

15. The improvement of claim 14

wherein said rendering means includes a printer for performing a printing process, and said encoded description defines at least one attribute of said printing process.

16. The improvement of claim 14 wherein

said renderings are composed of at least two colors, and

said encoded description quantitatively defines compositional values of each of said colors for at least selected portions of said human readable information.

17. The improvement of any of claims 14 or 16 wherein

one part of said encoded description is encrypted, and

another portion of said encoded description defines a key for decrypting said one part of said description.

18. The improvement of any of claims 14 or 16 wherein

at least one part of said encoded description is compressed in accordance with a predetermined compression algorithm.

19. The improvement of any of claim 18 wherein

another part of said encoded description specifies a decompression algorithm for decompressing said one part of said description.