Abstract:
A system and method for assigning a disposition to a document through information flow knowledge is presented. Functional categories that each describe a type of document are defined. Information flow knowledge regarding a plurality of documents that each belong to different ones of the functional categories is captured. A procedure is defined for each of the functional categories including at least one disposition derived from the information flow knowledge, which is applicable to those documents belonging to the functional category. An input document is loaded from one of paper or electronic form. The input document is processed by evaluating characteristics to determine the functional category to which the input document most closely fits. Information is extracted from content contained in the input document. The procedure for the functional category of the input document to the information are applied and the disposition is related to the input document.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/472,762, filed Dec. 27, 1999, pending, the priority filing date of which is claimed, and the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.  
       FIELD  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to the field of document management, and more particularly, to a system for providing document management for the organization, handling, and retention of personal documents. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     Financial documents commonly found in the home such as bills, invoices, receipts, bank and brokerage statements, and tax records tend to pile up over time and become difficult to manage effectively. The volume of paper itself becomes a storage problem, and if the person&#39;s house is destroyed in a disaster such as an earthquake or fire, the owner of the documents can lose valuable records and financial information.  
         [0004]     Existing approaches for managing personal documents include Internet banking and bill payment web sites, spreadsheet programs, and software for organizing electronic documents. One problem with existing approaches is that they do not relate the different types of documents to each other. Existing systems also do not provide a centralized repository for storing and managing documents. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a personal document management system that provides centralized organization, handling, and retention capabilities.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0005]     The present invention provides a document management system that provides centralized organization, handling, and retention capabilities. Documents in paper and electronic document format are loaded into the system, important information is extracted, and the documents are handled appropriately based on knowledge about the information flow between documents and the transactions that are associated with each document. Document specific handling procedures use the extracted information to relate documents to each other and to provide information about activities related to the documents, for example, bill-payment. Decisions about when to keep and when to discard documents are made in order to determine which documents should be backed up to a secondary or remote location for later retrieval. Documents that are to be kept are downloaded via the system&#39;s centralized backup capability, thus allowing a user to download documents to a location outside the home or office, allowing for retrieval if the original documents are destroyed.  
         [0006]     One embodiment provides a system and method for applying an information flow to an input document. Information flow for a plurality of related documents that each belong to different ones of a plurality of functional categories is analyzed. Procedures for the documents in the functional categories comprising at least one disposition derived from the information flow are specified. The functional category to which an input document belongs is determined. Information is extracted from the input document. The procedure for the functional category of the input document to the information is applied to find the disposition.  
         [0007]     A further embodiment provides a system and method for assigning a disposition to a document through information flow knowledge. Functional categories that each describe a type of document are defined. Information flow knowledge regarding a plurality of documents that each belong to different ones of the functional categories is captured. A procedure is defined for each of the functional categories including at least one disposition derived from the information flow knowledge, which is applicable to those documents belonging to the functional category. An input document is loaded from one of paper or electronic form. The input document is processed by evaluating characteristics to determine the functional category to which the input document most closely fits. Information is extracted from content contained in the input document. The procedure for the functional category of the input document to the information are applied and the disposition is related to the input document.  
         [0008]     Still other embodiments of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is described embodiments of the invention by way of illustrating the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be readily obtained and understood by referring to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals denote like elements as between the various drawings. The drawings are briefly described below.  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a personal document management system in an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating steps that are performed in a method for managing personal documents in an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0012]     An embodiment of the present invention provides a system for personal document management. The system of the present invention performs methods that may be implemented on a computer system having a computer-readable medium and may be performed using computer-executable instructions. The computer-executable instructions may be included in a computer program product. The methods may also include transferring a computer program product from one or more first computers to one or more second computers through a communications medium.  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram  100  illustrating a document management system in an embodiment of the present invention. Such a document management system would be useful for personal documents or in a small office/home office (SOHO) environment. Document management system  100  includes a local computer system  102 , such as a personal computer and a remote computer system  104  such as that provided by an off-site Internet service provider. Local computer system  102  and remote computer system  104  are connected to each other through a communications network  106 . The local computer system  102  includes a processor  108  having local storage  110 . Storage  110  includes an operating environment  112  and software  114  configured to provide document handling according to an embodiment of the present invention. Local computer system  102  also includes a scanner  116  and other input devices  118 , such as a keyboard or a computer-readable medium. Paper documents  120  are input to the system via the scanner  116 , which converts the documents to electronic format and loads them into the storage  110 . Electronic documents (not shown) may be loaded into storage  10  without being scanned, via input  118  to processor  108 . Local computer system  102  also includes an output device  122 , for example a printer or a display device that is connected to processor  108 .  
         [0014]     Remote computer system  104  may be used for securely backing up documents to be retained. The documents to be retained are organized for effective use and are securely backed up to remote computer system  104  using a communications network  106 , such as the Internet. Remote computer system  104  includes a processor  124  that is connected to a remote storage device  126 . One reason for backing up the documents to another location such as remote computer system  104  is to provide the ability to retrieve the information contained in the documents in case any of the original documents or the documents loaded onto computer system  102  are lost or destroyed.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart  200  illustrating an example of steps that may be performed in a method for managing personal documents in an embodiment of the present invention. The method begins, step  202 , and a document is loaded, step  204 . The document may loaded by being retrieved electronically (for example, from a disk or from the Internet) or the document may be loaded by being scanned in from a paper document. The document has a format and a category associated with it, each described further below. The format indicates whether the document is in paper or electronic form. The category relates to the function of the document. For example, some document categories include bills, invoices, receipts, bank and brokerage statements, tax returns, product warranties and checks. Categories such as bills and receipts may be divided up into subcategories such as credit card, utility, mortgage, or insurance. Miscellaneous categories may also be set up, step  212  described further below, so that the user may define categories that are not already defined in the system, for example documents coming from an external source such as business trip receipts.  
         [0016]     Once the document is loaded, step  204 , the document is then characterized, step  206 , to determine the document category. Categorizing a document may be done in numerous ways. The content of the document, or data items included in the document, might be used to characterize it. For example, one might search for a data item such as a bank account number to find a bank statement, or one might search for a data item such as the name of a company (such as the utility company) to find a bill. The shape of the document might be used separately or in conjunction with the document content to categorize the document. For example, long and skinny documents often are receipts such as a purchase receipt or an ATM machine receipt. Alternatively, the user could identify a pattern that may be used for categorizing the document. For example, a user could specify what a document is when it is input to the system and label the document as belonging to a particular category, such as a bill, a statement, etc. The user might also customize the system by training the system to detect additional document types. This could be done by programming the system to accept and identify additional formats (by using layout or template information), text information (such as an account number or a merchant name), or images in a document (for example a logo).  
         [0017]     An embodiment of the present invention could optionally check to determine whether category-specific procedures are available, step  208 . If the procedures are available on the system, then they could be applied to the document, step  210 . If no procedures relating to the particular document category are found on the system, then a user might optionally train the system to handle a new category, step  212 , by customizing the system. After training the system to deal with the category, step  212 , the new procedures might then be applied to the document, step  210 . If the categorization for the document has changed enough that the procedures do not apply, step  214 , then the document might be re-categorized in step  206 . Otherwise, processing continues to step  216 , where the document information is extracted.  
         [0018]     Category-specific document handling procedures are applied to the document in step  210 . The category-specific document handling procedures embody knowledge about flows of information between the documents entered into the document handling system. Documents may be organized by category, by a time component, or by transaction. For example, organization by category might include associating credit card receipts with credit card bills and checks that are used to pay the credit card bills. An example of organization by a time component might include keeping a list of credit card statements in order by date. An example of organizing documents by transaction might include associating the warranties on purchased items with the receipts from the sale of the item and/or the credit card bill showing the purchase of the item. Checks and ATM receipts and their amounts may be associated with bank statements. One way of associating checks with bank account statements is to use the standard line at the bottom of a check that includes the account number and the amount that the check was cashed for. Trade confirmations may be associated with brokerage account statements.  
         [0019]     Knowledge about how these documents relate to home activities such as filing tax returns, making insurance claims, and contesting bills, might also be reflected in the document handling procedures. A set of category-specific handling rules may be implemented in the document handling system by default, and may be customized to meet a particular user&#39;s needs.  
         [0020]     Based on the document category, information is extracted from the document, step  216 . The information that may be extracted from the documents include for example, account numbers, due dates, check numbers, recipient names, etc. that are associated with the input documents. This information might be extracted by using text searching techniques, image identification techniques, or by identifying the format of a particular document. For example, a credit card bill tends to have the same format from month to month. By taking advantage of the layout of the document, the relevant information such as the account number, the purchases made, and the balance may be extracted based on their usual locations in the layout of the document. A template could be set up to reflect the credit card bill format. This template could be changed when the credit card company changes the format of the bill. Credit card companies could even make their bill formats accessible via the Internet so that the user can download it into the document system so that the relevant information may be extracted accurately.  
         [0021]     The information extracted in step  216  might be used to link the document to other related documents, step  218 . Optionally, documents may be backed up and retained, step  220 , after which processing ends, step  222 . Using the knowledge referred to above, an embodiment of the present invention also may be used to guide a user in setting up and carrying out a retention plan for home documents. Document retention is a valuable feature because it provides the user the ability to retrieve the retained document information if the original documents are lost, stolen or destroyed. The decision to retain and backup a document, step  220  is based on the document&#39;s category, age, and other information that a user might input into the system. Document retention rules reflect the fact that documents typically lose their usefulness after a long enough period of time. For example, it is not necessary to keep tax records after approximately seven years, so a user may wish to dispose of them or not back them up to off-site storage. Also a user may wish to override and change any default document retention rules to fulfill a particular need, such as a desire to keep some documents private by not backing them up to a remote system on the Internet. In order to retrieve documents that have been backed up, the user simply accesses the remote computer system  104  and downloads them onto the local computer system  102  through the network  106 .  
         [0022]     While the embodiments of the present invention described herein have focused on personal document management featuring specific examples of financial document handling and Internet backup capability, other types of documents and backup methods could be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, it should be appreciated that the above description is merely illustrative, and should not be read to limit the scope of the invention or the claims.