Method for verifying record code prior to an action based on the code

• US 6,820,093 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2002
• Issued: 11/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hyperphrase Technologies LLC
• Original Assignee: Hyperphrase Technologies LLC
• Inventors: De La Huerga, Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US10/307,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20030131024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 715 Days
• Field of Search: 711/164, 711/163, 707/104.1, 712/226, 345/558, 714/12, 380/239, 709/231, 717/163, 705/1
• US Class Current: 707/687
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/12 Use of codes for handling textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/221 Parsing markup language streams streaming G06F40/149
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method to be used with a processor and at least a first record, the processor capable of facilitating at least a sub-set of possible record modifications including copying, moving, altering and deleting, the processor having access to characteristic sets which correspond to record codes, at least a first segment of the first record having characteristics that match a first characteristic set which distinguishes the first segment from other record segments, the first record also including a first record code which can be used by the processor and other processors to distinguish the first segment from other record segments, at least one processor performing at least one action based on the record codes in the first record, the method for verifying record codes prior to actions based thereon, the method comprising the step of, prior to allowing an action related to the first record code to be performed, verifying accuracy of the first record code.

Claims

1. A method to be used with a processor capable of facilitating at least a sub-set of possible records modifications including copying, moving, altering and deleting, the processor having access to information characteristic sets that correspond to records codes that can be inserted into records to identify record segments and that can be used to perform actions, the method for automatically inserting record codes into records and for verifying record codes prior to performing actions based thereon, the method comprising the steps of:

specifying at least one verify event that will occur between a time a record is modified and a time an action based on record codes is completed;

creating a first record;

identifying record segments in the first record that have segment characteristics that match at least one of the characteristic sets;

inserting record codes into the first record to distinguish the record segments having segment characteristics that match the characteristic sets from the other segment in the first record;

monitoring for a verify event; and

when a verify event occurs, verifying accuracy of the record codes in the first record.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of verifying includes determining if first record modifications have occurred and where first record modifications have occurred, determining if the modifications cause additional record segments in the first record to have segment characteristics that match at least one of the characteristic sets and inserting record codes into the first record to distinguish the additional record segments having segment characteristics that match the characteristic sets from the other segments in the first record.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of verifying includes determining if first record modifications have occurred and where first record modifications have occurred, determining if the modifications distinguish the segment characteristics of the segments distinguished by the inserted record codes from the corresponding characteristic sets and, where the modifications distinguish segment characteristics of a segment distinguished by inserted record codes from the corresponding characteristic set, eliminating the record code.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of verifying further includes the steps of, if a record code is eliminated, after eliminating the record code, determining if the characteristics of any segment of the document match one of the characteristic sets and, if a segment matches one of the characteristic sets, inserting record codes corresponding to the matching characteristic set into the first record to distinguish the matching segment from other record segments.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of verifying includes identifying first record modifications and, when a modification occurs, determining if the modification could possibly distinguish segment characteristics of any of the coded segments from the corresponding characteristic sets and, if the modification could possibly distinguish a segment, eliminating the record codes associated with the segment.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of verifying further includes the steps of monitoring the record for modifications and, when a modification occurs, identifying all record segments that have characteristics that may be altered by the modification and eliminating all of the record codes associated with the identified record segments.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of verifying further includes the steps of, if a record code is eliminated, after eliminating the record code, determining if the characteristics of any segment of the document match one of the characteristic sets and, if a segment matches one of the characteristic sets, inserting record codes corresponding to the matching characteristic set into the first record to distinguish the matching segment from other record segments.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of verifying includes the steps of receiving the first record, eliminating all existing record codes, using the characteristic sets to identify record segments having characteristics that match the characteristic sets and inserting record codes into the first record.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein at least one verify event includes accessing the first record.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein at least one verify event includes storing the first record for subsequent use.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein one segment distinguished by a first record code is a first record segment having first segment characteristics that may be related to a related sub-set of first record segments and wherein the step of verifying includes monitoring the related sub-set for modifications and, when at least one related sub-set modification occurs, eliminating the first record code from the first record.

12. The method of claim 11 further including the step of, after any related sub-set modification has occurred and prior to a verify event, rendering the first record code corresponding to the first record segment unactionable.

13. The method of claim 11 for use with an interface that enables a system user to move a cursor about a display within the first record and wherein at least one verify event includes movement of the cursor from the related sub-set.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of determining if the modification could possibly distinguish segment characteristics of any of the coded segments from the corresponding characteristic sets includes, for each code record segment, monitoring modifications to a related record portion selected from the group consisting of the record segment, a paragraph containing the record segment, a sentence containing the record segment, and a record segment area including the record segment.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the record codes include at least one hyperlink code linking first record segments to second records, formatting code indicating that the first record segments are associated with second records, XML codes, access codes to second records, address formatting codes associated with second records and formatting address codes for the first record.

16. The method of claim 1, where actions based on record codes include at least one of activating a hyperlink related to a first record code to retrieve a second record, activating a database link related to a first record code to retrieve a second record, sending at least the a section of the first record including a record segment to a computer address, copying at least a section of the first record including a record section, inserting at least a section of the first record into a second record, saving the first record to a storage device and accessing at least a section of the first record form within a second record.

17. The method of claim 1 where each code includes a code pair including a start code and an end code, the step of inserting including placing the start code before a record segment and the end code after a record segment.

18. The method of claim 3 further including the steps of, prior to eliminating a record code, indicating that the first record has been modified and allowing a system user to determine if the record code should be eliminated.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one verify event includes receiving a action command requiring an action to be performed that is associated with the first record.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one verify event includes receiving an action command requiring an action to be performed that is associated with at least one of the coded record segments.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of verifying includes, if the coded record segment associated with the required action has characteristics that are different than the characteristic set associated with record code, indicating a mismatch to a system user.

22. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of, prior to a verify event and after record codes have been inserted into the first record, monitoring the first record for modifications and, when a modification occurs, flagging the first record as modified.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the step of verifying further includes removing all codes from the first record, determining if the characteristics of any first record segment match one of the characteristic sets and, if the characteristics of a segment match one of the characteristic sets, inserting record codes corresponding to the matching characteristic set into the first record to distinguish the matching segment from other record segments.

24. The method of claim 1 further including the steps of, after inserting the record codes into the first record and prior to a verify event, monitoring the first record for modifications, identifying all record segments including record codes that may be rendered inaccurate because of the modifications performed and flagging all of the record segments including record codes that may be inaccurate.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the step of verifying includes eliminating all inaccurate record code in the flagged segments.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of verifying further includes examining the first record to identify additional record codes that should be added to first record as a function of the record content and adding the identified record codes to the first record.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of eliminating includes eliminating all record codes from the flagged record segments.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein a processor performs the steps of identifying and inserting, the first record includes at least some manually inserted codes and the step of verifying includes verifying only processor inserted codes prior to allowing actions related thereto to be performed.

29. The method of claim 28 further including the step of determining when verification will cause processor inserted codes to conflict with manually inserted codes and, when a conflict exists, providing a choice to a system user of accepting one of the processor inserted codes and the manual codes.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one verify event includes at least one of accessing any part of the first record, storing any part of the first record, copying any part the first record, attaching any part of the first record to another record, commanding that an action be performed that is related to the first record and indicating that edits to any part of the first record have been completed.

31. A method to be used with a processor capable of facilitating at least a sub-set of possible record modifications including copying, moving, altering and deleting, the processor having access to information characteristic sets that correspond to record codes that can be inserted into records to identify record segments and that can be used to perform actions, the method for automatically inserting record codes into records and for verifying record codes prior to performing actions based thereon, the method comprising the steps of:

specifying at least one verify event that will occur between a time a record is modified and a time an action based on record codes is completed;

creating a first record;

identifying record segments in the first record that have segment characteristics that match at least one of the characteristic sets;

inserting record codes into the first record to distinguish the record segments having segment characteristics that match the characteristic sets from the other segments in the first record;

monitoring for modifications to the first record;

where the first record is modified, monitoring for a verify event; and

when a verify event occurs, verifying accuracy of the record codes in the first record.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the step of monitoring for modifications includes identifying record segments having characteristic sets that may be altered by the modifications and wherein the step of verifying includes verifying the record codes associated with the record segments having characteristic sets that may have been altered by the modifications.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the step of verifying includes eliminating the record codes from the record segments having characteristic sets that may have been altered by the modifications.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of verifying further includes the steps of, if a record code is eliminated, after eliminating the record code, determining if the characteristics of any segment of the document match one of the characteristic sets and, if a segment matches one of the characteristic sets, inserting record codes corresponding to the matching characteristic set into the first record to distinguish the matching segment from other record segments.

35. The method of claim 31 wherein at least one verify event includes at least one of accessing any part of the first record, storing any part of the first record, copying any part the first record, attaching any part of the first record to another record, commanding that an action be performed that is related to the first record and indicating that edits to any part of the first record have been completed.

36. A method to be used with a processor and at least a first record, the processor capable of facilitating at least a sub-set of possible record modifications including copying, moving, altering and deleting, the processor linked to characteristic sets which correspond to record codes, at least a first sub-set of first record segments having characteristics that can be used to distinguish a first record segment from other record segments, the first record also including a first record code which can be used by the processor and other processors to distinguish the first segment from other record segments, at least one processor performing at least one action based on the record codes in the first record, the method for verifying record codes prior to actions based thereon, the method comprising of:

monitoring the first segment sub-set for modifications and, when at least one first segment sub-set modification occurs, eliminating the first record code from the first segment sub-set prior to allowing an action related to the first record code to be performed.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of monitoring the first segment sub-set for modifications includes waiting for a verify event to occur and, when a verify event occurs, identifying any first segment sub-set modifications.

38. The method of claim 37 further including the step of, after any first sub-set modification has occurred and prior to the verify event, rendering the first record code corresponding to the first record segment unactionable.

39. The method of claim 37 for use with an interface that enables a system user to move a cursor about a display within the first record and wherein the step of waiting for a verify event includes monitoring when the cursor is removed from the first segment sub-set.

40. The method of claim 36 wherein there are additional characteristic sets which correspond to additional record codes and, wherein the step of verifying further includes the steps of, if the first record code corresponding to the first characteristic set is eliminated, after eliminating the first record code, determining if the characteristic of any segment of the document match one of the characteristic sets and, if a segment matches one of the characteristic sets, inserting record codes corresponding to the matching characteristic set into the first record to distinguish the matching segment from other record segments.