EP0751672A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
System and method for archiving digital versions of documents and for generating quality printed documents therefrom
Assignee: Panasonic Corp
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Filing: 1996-05-16
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2016-05-16
Abstract
Abstract An inventive page encoding, printing, retrieval and archiving system and method wherein document information designators are encoded for pages, are described. The designator includes information regarding the location of the digital representation of the page and optionally includes page generation and reproduction information. An enhanced copier (30) or facsimile machine scans the printed designator and retrieves the stored digital representation of the page and outputs a 'subsequent original' of the page. In the alternative, when the copier (30) cannot directly access the digital representation of the page, the enhanced copier can decode the page generation and reproduction information found in the designator and apply the information to production of a high-quality photocopy. The inventive equipment is additionally adapted to create digital representations of pages, create designators for the digital representations, store the digital representations along with the designators, and output printed versions of the pages including the designators.
Inventors
- 👤 Daniel Lopresti
- 👤 Jeffrey Esakov
- 👤 Jiangying Zhou
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 22:30
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32128; H04N1/32133; H04N1/32561; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3226; H04N2201/3242; H04N2201/3252; H04N2201/3269; H04N2201/3271; H04N2201/3274; H04N2201/3277
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 34
Claim 1
Independent Claim
121 words
A photocopying system including at least a photo-copier and at least one storage location for producing a high quality paper version of a page placed on an imaging surface thereof, comprising: scanning means for scanning said page to locate encoded indicia on said page; means for photocopying said page if no encoded indicia is located; means for decoding encoded indicia located on said page to ascertain the address of said storage location at which a stored digital representation of said page is stored; means for accessing said stored digital representation of said page; and means for outputting a paper version of said page from said accessed stored digital representation or from said means for photocopying when no encoded indicia is found.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
23 words
The photocopying system of Claim 1 wherein said means for scanning further comprises means for producing a generated digital representation of said page.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
The photocopying system of Claim 2 further comprising means for encoding indicia about said generated digital representation of said page.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
21 words
The photocopying system of Claim 3 further comprising means for archiving said generated digital representation of said page and said indicia.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
43 words
The photocopying system of Claim 4 wherein said means for archiving said generated digital representation of said page and said indicia comprises at least one storage location at said photocopier and at least one means for cataloging said indicia for subsequent access thereto.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
35 words
The photocopying system of any of Claims 3, 4 or 5 further comprising means for providing said generated digital representation of said page and said indicia for storage in at least one remote storage location.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
The photocopying system of any preceding Claim further comprising means for applying said decoded indicia to enhance outputting of said paper version.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
The photocopying system of any preceding Claim wherein said means for scanning comprises means for performing optical character recognition on said page and further comprising means for applying said decoded indicia to enhance said optical character recognition.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
95 words
The photocopying system of any of Claims 1 to 5 wherein said at least one storage location comprises a remote storage facility wherein said means for accessing said stored digital representation of said page comprises: means for establishing communication with a remote storage facility; means for assembling at least one request packet including at least address and page identifying information for transmission to said remote storage facility; means for transmitting said at least one request packet to said remote storage facility; and means for receiving said at least one stored digital representation of said page.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
30 words
The photocopying system of any preceding Claim wherein said means for outputting a paper version comprises means for converting said accessed digital representation to an analog version of said page.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
92 words
A facsimile system for communicating at least the content data of a page placed on the imaging surface thereof including a facsimile machine and at least one storage location, comprising: scanning means for scanning said page; means for recognizing encoded indicia on said scanned page; means for decoding encoded indicia located on said page to ascertain the storage location address at which a stored digital representation of said page is stored; means for accessing said stored digital representation of said document; and means for receiving said stored digital representation of said page.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
30 words
The facsimile system of Claim 11 further comprising digitizing means for digitizing the content data of said scanned page to create a digitized representation if no encoded indicia is recognised.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
The facsimile system of Claim 11 or 12 further comprising means for transmitting one of said stored digital or said digitized representation of said page.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
103 words
The facsimile system of any of Claims 11 to 13 wherein said at least one storage location comprises a remote storage entity and wherein said means for accessing said stored digital version of said page comprises: means for establishing communication with the remote storage entity at which said digital representation of said page is stored; means for assembling at least one request packet including at least said storage location address and page identifying information from said decoded indicia; means for transmitting said at least one request packet to said remote storage entity; and means for receiving said stored digital representation of said page.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
21 words
The facsimile system of Claim 13 or 14 further comprising means for encoding indicia about said digitized representation of said page.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
24 words
The facsimile system of any of Claims 13 to 15 further comprising means for archiving said digitized representation of said page and said indicia.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
43 words
The facsimile system of Claim 16 wherein said means for archiving said digitized representation of said page and said indicia comprises at least one storage location at said facsimile machine and at least one means for cataloging said indicia for subsequent access thereto.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
33 words
The facsimile system of any of Claims 15 to 17 further comprising means for providing said digitized representation of said page and said indicia for storage in at least one remote storage location.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
62 words
The facsimile system of any of Claims 11 to 18 further comprising: means for receiving at least one digital transmission comprising at least content data from at least one remote facsimile machine; means for converting the content data of said at least one digital transmission to analog data; and means for outputting said analog data as a paper version of said page.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
36 words
The facsimile system of Claim 19 wherein said at least one digital transmission includes encoded indicia thereon and wherein said scanning means and decoding means are adapted to scan said digital transmission and decode indicia therefrom.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
28 words
The facsimile system of any of Claims 11 to 20 further comprising means for applying said decoded indicia to enhance outputting of said paper version of said page.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
40 words
The facsimile system of any of Claims 11 to 21 wherein said means for scanning comprises means for performing optical character recognition on said page and further comprising means for applying said decoded indicia to enhance said optical character recognition.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
136 words
A system for archiving and retrieving archived pages, comprising: at least one archive server comprising storage means and control means associated with said storage means, said control means being adapted to receive digital transmissions, store said digital transmissions, and access said digital transmissions; at least one input device adapted to provide digital transmissions of pages to said at least one archive server, said digital transmissions including digital content data and encoded indicia; and at least one output device including means to convert digital content data of said digital transmissions received from said at least one input device and said at least one archive server to analog data; means for decoding said encoded indicia; means for applying decoded indicia for converting said digital content data; and means for outputting analog data as paper versions of said page.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
65 words
A method for providing a reproducible page having content data comprising the steps of: providing a digital representation of the content data of said page; encoding information relating to said digital representation; storing said digital representation of said content data and said encoded information in at least one storage location; and outputting an analog version of said page comprising content data and said encoded information.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of Claim 24 further comprising the steps of: imaging said analog version of said page; decoding said encoded information; and applying said encoded information to output a version of said page.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of Claim 25 wherein said applying said encoded information comprises the steps of: accessing said stored digital representation; and outputting a printed version of said page.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
114 words
A method for operation of a page retrieval network for archiving and retrieving of one or more pages comprising at least one input device, at least one archive server for storing digital representations of said pages, and at least one output device, the method comprising the steps of: inputting a digital representation of each of said one or more pages at said at least one input device; encoding at least one page encoding for each of said one or more documents, said page encoding comprising page identification and storage information; and storing said digital representation and said page encoding for each of said one or more pages at said at least one archive server.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of Claim 27 wherein said inputting of said digital representation comprises generating said page on a computer.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of Claim 27 wherein said inputting of said digital representation comprises creating a bitmap of an analog version of each of said one or more pages.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
27 words
The method of any of Claims 27 to 29 further comprising the step of outputting a paper analog version of each of said one or more pages.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of Claim 30 wherein said outputting comprises photocopying a paper version of each of said one or more pages.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of Claim 30 wherein said outputting comprises the steps of: accessing said digital representation of said page; converting said digital representation to analog information; and outputting said analog information.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
57 words
The method of Claim 32 wherein said accessing comprises the steps of: scanning a paper version of said page; locating at least one page encoding on said paper version of said page; decoding said at least one page encoding to ascertain the storage location for said digital representation; and accessing said digital representation at said storage location.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of Claim 31 wherein said photocopying comprises the steps of: scanning a paper version of said page; locating at least one page encoding on said paper version of said page; decoding said at least one page encoding to ascertain information for photocopying said paper version of said page; and applying said information to photocopy said paper version of said paper.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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