Document management system

Claim 2

A computer-implemented method of operating an archival system for documents, each document separable into a plurality of segments, each segment being a document subset selected from the group consisting of picture, paragraph, imbedded graphic, sentence and phrase, said method comprising the steps of: capturing an image of an unindexed document into the document archive system; separating said image of said unindexed document into said plurality of segments; forming descriptors of at least one of said plurality of segments of said unindexed document image; searching an index of descriptors for documents in a document database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said unindexed document image; identifying at least one document as a previous version of said unindexed document, said at least one document having more descriptors in common with said segment of said unindexed document than an unrelated document; and identifying said unindexed document as a later version of said at least one document in an index of said document database.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of: updating a hypertext document comprising a first link to said at least one document by adding a second link to said later version of said at least one document.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2 wherein said first link and second link comprise titles of said at least one document and said later version of said at least one document.

Claim 5

The method of claim 2 wherein said updating step comprises: extracting said title of said later version from a first page of said version.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 wherein said capturing step comprises scanning in using a facsimile machine.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 wherein said capturing step comprises scanning in using a copying machine.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 wherein said capturing step comprises intercepting printer output data.

Claim 9

A computer-implemented method of browsing a document image database comprising the steps of: capturing a search key document image; forming descriptors of at least a segment of said search key document image; searching an index of descriptors of said document image database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said search kev document image; identifying at least one document in said database as a matching document when the at least one document has more descriptors in common with said segment of said search key document image than a non-matching document; and displaying a hypertext link to said matching document along with hypertext links to one or more other versions of said matching document.

Claim 10

A computer-implemented method of browsing a document image database comprising the steps of: capturing a search key document image; forming descriptors of at least a segment of said search key document image; searching an index of descriptors of said document image database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said search kev document image; identifying at least one document in said database as a matching document when the at least one document has more descriptors in common with said segment of said search key document image than a non-matching document; and displaying a hypertext link to said matching document along with hypertext links to one or more other versions of said matching document.

Claim 11

An automatic document archiving system comprising: an image capture device that captures document images; an electronic storage system storing: a database of document images; an index of descriptors of said document images; at least one hypertext document comprising links to said document images, wherein hypertext links to document images representing different versions of a document are ordered in accordance with version; an archive control system coupled to said image capture device and said electronic storage system and configured to: form descriptors of at least a segment of said unindexed document image; search said index of descriptors for documents in a document database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said unindexed document image; identify at least one document as a previous version of said unindexed document that has more descriptors in common with said segment of the unindexed document than an unrelated document; store said unindexed document in said database; store said formed descriptors in said index; and add a link to said unindexed document adjacent to a link to said at least one document in said at least one hypertext document.

Claim 12

An automatic document archiving system comprising: an image capture device that captures document images; an electronic storage system storing: a database of document images; an index of descriptors of said document images; at least one hypertext document comprising links to said document images, wherein hypertext links to document images representing different versions of a document are ordered in accordance with version; an archive control system coupled to said image capture device and said electronic storage system and configured to: form descriptors of at least a segment of said unindexed document image; search said index of descriptors for documents in a document database using said formed descriptors of said segment of said unindexed document image; identify at least one document as a previous version of said unindexed document that has more descriptors in common with said segment of the unindexed document than an unrelated document; store said unindexed document in said database; store said formed descriptors in said index; and add a link to said unindexed document adjacent to a link to said at least one document in said at least one hypertext document.

Claim 13

The system of claim 9 wherein said image capture device comprises a copier.

Claim 14

The system of claim 9 wherein said image capture device comprises a facsimile machine.

Claim 15

The system of claim 9 wherein said image capture device comprises a scanner.

Claim 16

A document querying system comprising: an image capture device that captures document images; an electronic storage system storing: a database of document images; an index of descriptors of said document images; at least one hypertext document comprising links to said document images, wherein hypertext links to document images representing different versions of a document are ordered in accordance with version; a querying control system coupled to said image capture device and said electronic storage system and configured to: form descriptors of at least a segment of a target document captured by said image capture device; search said index using said formed descriptors of said segment of said target document; identify at least one document in said database as a matching document when the at least one document has more descriptors in common with said segment of said target document than a non-matching document; and display a hypertext link to said matching document along with hypertext links to one more other versions of said matching document.

Claim 17

A document querying system comprising: an image capture device that captures document images; an electronic storage system storing: a database of document images; an index of descriptors of said document images; at least one hypertext document comprising links to said document images, wherein hypertext links to document images representing different versions of a document are ordered in accordance with version; a querying control system coupled to said image capture device and said electronic storage system and configured to: form descriptors of at least a segment of a target document captured by said image capture device; search said index using said formed descriptors of said segment of said target document; identify at least one document in said database as a matching document when the at least one document has more descriptors in common with said segment of said target document than a non-matching document; and display a hypertext link to said matching document along with hypertext links to one more other versions of said matching document.

Claim 20

The method of claim 14 wherein said different descriptors contribute with different weights to said threshold count.

Claim 21

A digital copier having access to a document image database, said copier comprising: a scanner for capturing an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied; a processor configured to: scan in an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied; form descriptors of said scanned-in segment of said document; search an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors; and if a document of said document image database is identified as having more than a threshold count of said formed descriptors indicating a match, issue an alert signal.

Claim 22

A digital copier having access to a document image database, said copier comprising: a scanner for capturing an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied; a processor configured to: scan in an image of at least a segment of a document to be copied; form descriptors of said scanned-in segment of said document; search an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors; and if a document of said document image database is identified as having more than a threshold count of said formed descriptors indicating a match, issue an alert signal.

Claim 23

A computer-implemented method of comparing a current version of a document to a previous version of said document comprising the steps of: forming descriptors of at least a segment of said current version, said segment being a document subset selected from the group consisting of picture, paragraph, imbedded graphic, sentence and phrase; searching an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors of said scanned-in segment; identifying at least one document as said previous version that has more descriptors in common with said segment than an unrelated document; and performing a difference computation between said previous version and said current version.

Claim 24

A computer-implemented method of comparing a current version of a document to a previous version of said document comprising the steps of: forming descriptors of at least a segment of said current version, said segment being a document subset selected from the group consisting of picture, paragraph, imbedded graphic, sentence and phrase; searching an index of descriptors of a document image database using said formed descriptors of said scanned-in segment; identifying at least one document as said previous version that has more descriptors in common with said segment than an unrelated document; and performing a difference computation between said previous version and said current version.

Claim 25

A computer-implemented method of comparing a current version of a document and a previous version wherein text has been moved non-locally within said document between said previous and current versions, said method comprising the steps of: dividing said current version into segments; dividing said previous version into segments; forming sets of descriptors for a plurality of said segments of said current version and said previous version; and identifying segments that have moved non-locally within said document between previous and current versions by comparing said formed descriptors of said segments.

Claim 26

A computer-implemented method of comparing a current version of a document and a previous version wherein text has been moved non-locally within said document between said previous and current versions, said method comprising the steps of: dividing said current version into segments; dividing said previous version into segments; forming sets of descriptors for a plurality of said segments of said current version and said previous version; and identifying segments that have moved non-locally within said document between previous and current versions by comparing said formed descriptors of said segments.

Claim 27

The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of: displaying thumbnail images of said current version and said previous version highlighting said segments that have moved non-locally.

Claim 28

The method of claim 18 wherein said segments are paragraphs.