Claims
- 1. A method of generating a digital document of a predetermined format comprising the steps of:
receiving a first document having a user-based format from a remotely located user; creating a document template for said user by processing said first document; receiving a second document from said user; determining whether said second document has said user based format; and converting said second document to said predetermined format using said document template.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said first document is a document which had been transmitted by said remotely located user by facsimile.
- 3. A method according to claim 2, where said facsimile was performed using e-Fax.
- 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said first document is a PDF document.
- 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said first document is a machine-readable document.
- 6. A method according to claim 1, further including the step of storing an association of said remotely located user with said user related format.
- 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein converting step includes the step of extracting data from said first document and mapping said data onto said template document.
- 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein converting step includes the step of generating an XML document.
- 9. A method according to claim 1, wherein said converting step includes the step of converting said first document into an intermediate document where embedded tags define the data fields.
- 10. A method according to claim 9, further including the step of converting said intermediate document into said predetermined format.
- 11. A method according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined format is an EDI purchase order.
- 12. A method according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined format is a format specified by a governmental entity.
- 13. A method according to claim 1, further including the steps of detecting an error occurring during the converting step; and correcting said detected error.
- 14. A method according to claim 1, further including the steps of displaying said first document; and displaying said template.
- 15. A method of generating a digital document of a predetermined format comprising the steps of:
receiving a first document having a user-based format having a plurality of fields from a remotely located user; creating a document template for said user by processing said first document; storing data in a data base identifying a predetermined characteristic of at least one of said plurality of fields; receiving a second document having a plurality of fields from said user; determining whether said second document has said user based format; converting said second document to said predetermined format using said document template; and determining whether an error has occurred during the converting step by determining whether at least one field in said second document has said predetermined characteristic.
- 16. A method according to claim 15, wherein said predetermined characteristic is that the field consists of numeric data.
- 17. A method according to claim 15, wherein said predetermined characteristic is that the field consists of both numeric data and alphabetic data.
- 18. A method according to claim 15, wherein said predetermined characteristic is that the field is an address field.
- 19. A method according to claim 15, wherein said predetermined characteristic is that the field is a purchase order number field.
- 20. A method according to claim 15, wherein said predetermined characteristic is that the field is to be validated by an external system.
- 21. A method of processing facsimile documents and for generating a digital document of a predetermined format comprising the steps of:
receiving a facsimile document having a user-based format from a remotely located user; extracting data from various fields of said facsimile document; mapping the extracted data onto a document template associated with said user-based format; and converting said facsimile document having a user-based format to a digital document having said predetermined format using said document template.
- 22. A method according to claim 21, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a purchase order.
- 23. A method according to claim 21, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a government form.
- 24. A method according to claim 21, further including the step of storing an association of said remotely located user with said user related format.
- 25. A method according to claim 21, further including the step of identifying the received document as being a facsimile document.
- 26. A method according to claim 21, further including the step of storing the received document in a document queue.
- 27. A method according to claim 21, wherein said received document is an e-Fax facsimile document.
- 28. A method according to claim 21, wherein converting step includes the step of generating an XML document.
- 29. A method according to claim 21, wherein said converting step includes the step of converting said first document into an intermediate document where embedded tags define the data fields.
- 30. A method according to claim 29, further including the step of converting said intermediate document into said predetermined format.
- 31. A method of generating digital documents of a predetermined format comprising the steps of:
receiving a first document of a first type having a first user-based format from a remotely located first user; receiving a second document of a second type having a second user-based format from a remotely located second user; packaging said first document as an attachment to a first e-mail transmission; packaging said second document as an attachment to a second e-mail transmission; and extracting the first document and the second document from said first and second e-mail transmissions, respectively; converting said first document to said predetermined format; and converting said second document to said predetermined format.
- 32. A method according to claim 31, wherein said predetermined format is an EDI document.
- 33. A method according to claim 31, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a purchase order.
- 34. A method according to claim 31, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a government form.
- 35. A method according to claim 31, further including the step of storing an association of said remotely located first user with said first user related format.
- 36. A method according to claim 31, further including the step of creating a document template for said user by analyzing said first document.
- 37. A method according to claim 31, further including the step of
extracting data from various fields of said first document; mapping the extracted data onto a document template associated with said first user-based format; and converting said first document having a user-based format to a digital document having said predetermined format using said document template.
- 38. A method according to claim 31, wherein said first document and said second document are received via the Internet.
- 39. A method according to claim 31, further including the steps of:
receiving a third document via physical postal mail; optically scanning said third document; packaging the optically scanned third document as an attachment to a third e-mail transmission; and converting the attachment to said third e-mail transmission to said predetermined attachment.
- 40. A method according to claim 31, further including the step of storing e-mail attachments into a data base organized as least in part by document type.
- 41. A method of processing documents of different types and generating a digital document of a predetermined format comprising the steps of:
receiving a document having a user-based format from a remotely located user; accessing a template document related to said user-based format; displaying said document having a user-based format in a first window of a display screen; displaying said template document in a second window of said display screen; identifying a first data field on said document having a user-based format; linking said first data field on said document having a user-based format with a field on said template document; and converting said document having a user-based format to a digital document having said predetermined format in part through said linking step.
- 42. A method according to claim 41, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a purchase order.
- 43. A method according to claim 41, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a government form.
- 44. A method according to claim 41, further including the step of identifying the received document as being a facsimile document.
- 45. A method according to claim 41, further including the step of storing the received document in a document queue.
- 46. A method according to claim 41, wherein said received document is an e-Fax facsimile document.
- 47. A method according to claim 41, wherein said converting step includes the step of generating an XML document.
- 48. A method according to claim 41, wherein said converting step includes the step of converting said first document into an intermediate document where embedded tags define the data fields.
- 49. A method according to claim 41, further including the step of packaging said first document as an attachment to an e-mail transmission.
- 50. A method according to claim 49, further including the step of storing said attachment in a data base organized as least in part by document type.
- 51. A computer system for generating digital documents of a predetermined format comprising:
an electronic document receiver for receiving a first document of a first type having a first user-based format from a remotely located first user and a second document of a second type having a second user-based format from a remotely located second user; a mail send processing system, operatively coupled to said electronic document receiver, for packaging said first document as an attachment to a first e-mail transmission and for packaging said second document as an attachment to a second e-mail transmission; an electronic mail extractor for extracting the first document and the second document from said first and second e-mail transmissions, respectively; and a document conversion processing system for converting said first document to said predetermined format and for converting said second document to said predetermined format.
- 52. A system according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined format is an EDI document.
- 53. A system according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a purchase order.
- 54. A system according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined format is the format for a government form.
- 55. A system according to claim 4, wherein said government form is for an application for a government grant.
- 56. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a template designer for creating a document template for said user by analyzing said first document.
- 57. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:
an infrastructure control module for monitoring the operation of said document conversion system.
- 58. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:
an infrastructure control module for performing system set up tasks.
- 59. A system according to claim 57, wherein said infrastructure control module is a browser-based user interface.
- 60. A system according to claim 58, wherein said infrastructure control module is a browser-based user interface
- 61. A system according to claim 1, wherein said mail extractor is operable to retrieve e-mail messages and to determine for each retrieved e-mail message the number of attachments that are associated therewith.
- 62. A system according to claim 1, further including a data base for storing documents and an e-mail server for receiving said first e-mail transmission and said second e-mail transmission.
- 63. A system according to claim 62, wherein said data base receives e-mail attachments for storage from said electronic mail extractor.
- 64. A method of generating digital documents of a predetermined format comprising the steps of:
receiving electronic documents as e-mail attachments by a mail server; storing said electronic documents in a data base; retrieving an electronic document from said data base; converting the retrieved document to an intermediate format in which identifying tags are associated with fields in the document; and transforming the intermediate format into said predetermined format.
- 65. A method according to claim 64, further including the step of storing mail header information associated with an electronic document.
- 66. A method according to claim 64, further including the step of storing a document identifier associated with each document.
- 67. A method according to claim 64, further including the step of generating a status table storing an indication of the status of each of a plurality of documents being converted.
- 68. A method according to claim 64, further including the step of monitoring the processing of each document being converted.
- 69. A method according to claim 64, wherein said intermediate format is XML.
- 70. A method according to claim 67, further including the step of updating the status table when a document has been successfully transformed into said predetermined format.
- 71. A method according to claim 64, wherein said predetermined format is an EDI format.
- 72. A method of appending to digital documents supplemental information comprising the steps of:
retrieving from a database a digital document which has been converted from a first format to a standard format; appending supplemental information to said digital document; tracking said supplemental information added to said digital document by associating identifying tags with each change; and storing said supplemental information added to said digital document and said associated tags in a data base.
- 73. A method according to claim 72, further including the step of retrieving a converted document associated with a given user.
- 74. A method according to claim 72, further including the step of storing supplemental information in the body of a document previously converted to said standard format;
- 75. A method of routing digital documents from one person to another comprising the steps of:
prompting the user to supply routing information for a digital document that has been changed from a previous version of said document, said routing information including a destination ID; routing said digital document to a recipient associated with said destination ID; notifying said recipient associated with said destination ID of the receipt of said digital document; and identifying to said recipient changes made to said digital document.
- 76. A method according to claim 75, further including the step of prompting said recipient to identify the next person to receive the digital document.
- 77. A method according to claim 76, further including the step of storing routing information related to said document.
- 78. A method according to claim 75, further including the step of identifying added textual information contained in said digital document.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of Provisional Application No. 60/428,918, filed Nov. 26, 2002, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in this application.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60428918 |
Nov 2002 |
US |