Method and apparatus for automated procedure initiation in a data processing system including soliciting an evaluation vote from users automatically determined in response to identification of a functional area associated with a document

The method and apparatus of the present invention may be utilized to automatically initiate additional procedures in a data processing system with regard to documents stored therein. A selected document, such an invention disclosure document, is identified and evaluations of the selected document are automatically solicited from a selected group of evaluators enrolled within the data processing system. In one embodiment of the present invention the evaluators are automatically selected in response to the technical or functional subject matter of the document. Each evaluation of a document is then stored and the content of all evaluations are then utilized to automatically initiate an additional procedure. For example, if a majority of evaluations indicate that a selected document should be closed, the file is automatically closed and a report is automatically generated indicating this action. Similarly, a number of evaluations indicating a request for additional information may be utilized, in accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention, to automatically initiate a search request directed to an appropriate search facility. A display of a summary of all evaluations is also preferably provided so that a computer user may override or counterman the automatic initiation of a selected procedure.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,661, entitled "Method 
and Apparatus for Automated Document Distribution in a Data Processing 
System," U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/579,473, entitled "Method and 
Apparatus for Automated Meeting Agenda Generation in a Data Processing 
System, " U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,869, entitled "Method and Apparatus for 
Electronic Corroboration of Documents in a Data Processing System," all 
filed of even date herewith and assigned to the assignee hereof, and 
incorporated by reference herein. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Technical Field 
The present invention relates in general to an improved data processing 
system and in particular to a method and system for automatically 
initiating additional procedures within a data processing system. Still 
more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus 
for automatically generating reports and initiating additional procedures 
with regard to a document within a data processing system in response to 
stored evaluators of that document. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
The modern electronic office is rapidly supplanting and replacing many 
aspects of the traditional paper office. Modern office systems utilize 
electronic mail, voice mail, centralized databases and other forms of 
electronic communication to decrease the amount of so-called "float" 
encountered in a traditional paper society. By utilizing electronic mail 
it is possible for a document to be simultaneously transmitted to multiple 
recipients at various points around the world. Despite the advent of 
widespread electronic communication, selected activities within the 
traditional paper office have been difficult to implement in an electronic 
society. 
For example, the automatic initiation of procedures in a data processing 
system in response to an external stimulus is well known in the art. Alarm 
circuits are known which may be utilized to control the initialization or 
termination of various security procedures. Similarly, access code 
programs are often utilized to permit a computer user accessed to a 
building, office or file in response to the entry by the computer user of 
an appropriate security code. However, the initiation of one or more of a 
plurality of different procedures based upon the existence or nonexistence 
of multiple factors is not possible in the prior art. Thus, the initiation 
of a data processing procedure based upon anything more than a simple 
presence or absence of a particular signal or code is unknown in the art. 
Those skilled in the electronic office art appreciate that it would be 
highly desirable to implement one of a plurality of different procedures 
based upon the substantive content of a document or a group of documents. 
Such an advance in the data processing system art would greatly enhance 
the efficiency of the electronic office and permit a much larger amount of 
clerical work to be automated without the necessity of human intervention. 
Therefore, it should be apparent that a need exists for a method and 
apparatus which permits the automatic initiation of additional procedures 
within a data processing system in response to a complex set of 
parameters. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved 
data processing system. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved data 
processing system which permits automatic initiation of additional 
procedures in a data processing system. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved 
data processing system which permits the automatic generation of reports 
and the automatic initiation of additional procedures with regard to a 
document which is stored within a data processing system in response to 
stored evaluations of that document. 
The method and apparatus of the present invention may be utilized to 
automatically initiate additional procedures in a data processing system 
with regard to documents stored therein. A selected document, such an 
invention disclosure document, is identified and evaluations of the 
selected document are automatically solicited from a selected group of 
evaluators enrolled within the data processing system. In one embodiment 
of the present invention the evaluators are automatically selected in 
response to the technical or functional subject matter of the document. 
Each evaluation of a document is then stored and the content of all such 
evaluations are then utilized to automatically initiate an additional 
procedure. For example, if a majority of evaluations indicate that a 
selected document should be closed, the file is automatically closed and a 
report is automatically generated indicating this action. Similarly, a 
number of evaluations indicating a request for additional information may 
be utilized, in accordance with the method and apparatus of the present 
invention, to automatically initiate a search request directed to an 
appropriate search facility. A display of a summary of all evaluations is 
also preferably provided so that a computer user may override or 
countermand the automatic initiation of a selected procedure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference now to the figures and particular with reference to FIG. 1, 
there is depicted a pictorial representation of a data processing system 8 
which may be utilized to implement the method of the present invention. As 
may be seen, data processing system 8 may include a plurality of networks, 
such as Local Area Networks (LAN) 10 and 32, each of which preferably 
includes a plurality of individual computers 12 and 30, respectively. Of 
course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a plurality of 
Intelligent Work Stations (IWS) coupled to a host processor may be 
utilized for each such network. 
As is common in such data processing systems, each individual computer may 
be coupled to a storage device 14 and/or a printer/output device 16. One 
or more such storage devices 14 may be utilized, in accordance with the 
method of the present invention, to store the various documents which may 
be periodically accessed, processed and/or transmitted by a user within 
data processing system 8, and thereafter utilized to automatically 
generate a meeting agenda in accordance with the method of the present 
invention. In a manner well known in the prior art, each such document may 
be stored within a storage device 14 which is associated with a Resource 
Manager or Library Service, which is responsible for maintaining and 
updating all documents associated therewith. 
Still referring to FIG. 1, it may be seen that data processing network 8 
also include multiple central computer systems, such as central computer 
system 18, which may be preferably coupled to Local Area Network (LAN) 10 
by means of communications link 22. In the preferred embodiment, central 
computer system 18 is an IBM System/370, although other computer systems, 
such as an IBM Application System/400 or PS/2 could also be used. In 
addition, central computer system 18 is not necessary if one or more local 
area networks are sufficient to connect all desired users. Central 
computer system 18 may also be coupled to a storage device 20 which may 
also serve as remote storage for Local Area Network (LAN) 10. Similarly, 
Local Area Network (LAN) 10 may be coupled via communications link 24 
through a subsystem control unit/communications controller 26 and 
communications link 34 to gateway server 28. Gateway server 28 Is 
preferably an individual computer or Interactive Work Station (IWS) which 
serves to link Local Area Network (LAN) 32 to Local Area Network 10 such 
that electronic mail messages may be easily transmitted and received 
between individuals within either network. 
As discussed above with respect to Local Area Network (LAN) 32 and Local 
Area Network (LAN) 10, a plurality of documents may be stored within 
storage device 20 and controlled by central computer system 18, as 
Resource Manager or Library Service for the documents thus stored. Of 
course, those skilled in the art that central computer system 18 may be 
located a great geographical distance from Local Area Network (LAN) 10 and 
similarly Local Area Network (LAN) 10 may be located a substantial 
distance from Local Area Network (LAN) 32. That is, Local Area Network 
(LAN) 32 may be located in California, while Local Area Network (LAN) 10 
may be located in Texas and central computer system 18 may be located in 
New York. 
As will be appreciated upon reference to the foregoing, it is often 
desirable for users within one portion of distributed data processing 
network 8 to be able to create or select a document for transfer to other 
users within data processing network 8. This is generally accomplished 
utilizing any suitable software application which permits documents, notes 
or other collections of data to be transmitted or received throughout data 
processing network 8. Examples of such applications are PROFS, 
OfficeVision, or CMS note facility used by IBM computers. In the case of 
invention disclosure documents or other similar documents, the method and 
apparatus of the present invention will permit an electronic corroboration 
of such documents to be obtained at a subsequent time. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is depicted a high level flow chart which 
illustrates the creation of an electronic invention disclosure document 
which may be automatically distributed in accordance with the method and 
apparatus of the present invention. As is illustrated, the process begins 
at block 48 and thereafter passes to block 50 which depicts the creation 
of an invention disclosure document. In the preferred embodiment, the user 
is prompted for personal information about each inventor, critical dates 
information about statutory bar dates, and information about the problem 
solved and the solution. Next, block 52 gives the user the opportunity to 
revise the invention disclosure document, if such revision is necessary. 
Block 54 depicts a determination of whether or not co-inventor review is 
required and if so, the process passes to block 56 which illustrates the 
automatic transmission of copies of the invention disclosure document to 
each listed co-inventor. Next, the process returns to block 52 to 
illustrate the review and revision of the invention disclosure document 
based upon input from one or more co-inventors. 
If, as a result of the determination illustrated in block 54, no additional 
co-inventor review is required, or all co-inventors have reviewed the 
invention disclosure document, then the process passes to block 58 which 
depicts the creation of a document profile/functional area identification. 
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the creation of this profile 
may be accomplished coincident with the creation of the invention 
disclosure by providing a form document which includes one or more data 
entry blanks which permit the creator of the document to identify the 
document by subject matter, author and functional area. Alternatively, as 
discussed herein, the creator of an invention disclosure document may be 
presented with a menu screen which lists multiple functional areas from 
which the document creator may select an appropriate listing. Similarly, a 
functional area identification may be automatically assigned in response 
to an examination of personal information inputted for each inventor, such 
as department number, division, building, et cetera, by correlating the 
employee's division or department with a functional area identification. 
Next, block 60 illustrates a determination of whether or not it is desired 
to create a hard copy of the invention disclosure document. If so, the 
process passes to block 62 which depicts the printing of a hard copy of 
the invention disclosure document. At this point, block 64 depicts the 
determination of whether or not the invention disclosure document is now 
in final form and ready to be submitted to an evaluation facility by the 
performance of an automated error check to determine if all required data 
for a complete invention disclosure document has been entered. A date/time 
stamp is also automatically assigned to each invention disclosure document 
to assist in the management and corroboration of such documents. 
Thereafter, block 66 illustrates the transmission of the invention 
disclosure document to an evaluation facility and the process terminates, 
as depicted in block 68. 
While the method and apparatus of the present invention will find 
application in the automated distribution of any electronic document, the 
illustrated example discloses the distribution of invention disclosure 
documents. Accordingly, the revised invention disclosure document and its 
associated profile/functional area identification information will 
thereafter be transmitted to an intellectual property law facility for 
further processing. 
In alternate embodiments of the present invention wherein the electronic 
document to be distributed is a suggestion, the preceding description is 
also applicable; however, the term "inventor" should be replaced by 
"suggestor." Further processing of a suggestion will be done by a 
suggestion evaluation facility, rather than an intellectual property law 
facility as described herein. 
Referring again to FIG. 1, it should be apparent to those skilled in the 
art that an evaluation facility for such documents may be located at any 
point within data processing network 8. Often a centralized evaluation 
facility is utilized for such documents; however, many large corporate 
entities utilize a decentralized evaluation facility wherein all invention 
disclosure documents from a particular geographic area are routed to a 
local evaluation facility. 
With reference now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a high level flow chart 
which depicts the automatic distribution of an electronic invention 
disclosure document for evaluation and corroboration, in accordance with 
the method and apparatus of the present invention. As is depicted, this 
process begins at block 70 and thereafter passes to block 72 which 
illustrates a determination of whether or not an invention disclosure 
document has been received at the evaluation facility. If not, the process 
merely iterates until such time as this event occurs. After receiving an 
invention disclosure document at the evaluation facility, block 74 depicts 
the determination of whether or not the document received is a valid 
invention disclosure document. That is, whether or not the invention 
disclosure document is organized in the desired format and includes all 
required information. If the document received is not valid, an error 
message is generated, as illustrated in block 76, and the process returns 
to block 72 to await the receipt of a subsequent invention disclosure 
document. Next, block 78 depicts the automatic assigning of a unique 
identifier, such as a disclosure number, to be associated thereafter with 
the invention disclosure document. In the preferred embodiment, the 
disclosure number includes an indication of the year the disclosure was 
received and a four digit number beginning at "0001" and sequentially 
incrementing each time a new disclosure is received. 
At this point, block 80 illustrates the identification of the functional 
area for the invention disclosure document from the profile information 
contained with the document and the automatic assignment of a cognizant 
attorney. Thereafter, block 82 illustrates the automatic distribution of 
the invention disclosure document to the cognizant attorney and one or 
more preselected evaluators, determined in accordance with the functional 
area information contained within the document profile which was developed 
as discussed herein. This is accomplished by automatically creating a 
distribution list of appropriate evaluators, along with corresponding 
electronic addresses, in response to the aforementioned functional area 
information. In this manner, an invention disclosure document may be 
efficiently and automatically distributed to a plurality of evaluators for 
a determination as to the eventual status of the invention disclosure 
document. 
Block 84 then illustrates the automatic distribution of a copy of the 
invention disclosure document to a disaster recovery site. In this manner, 
should a fire, earthquake, flood, or other disaster befall the facility 
which has been utilized to store an invention disclosure document, a copy 
of that document may be retrieved from a designated disaster recovery 
site. 
Next, block 86 depicts the printing of a hard copy of the invention 
disclosure document for use in paper files and the automatic creation of a 
status file to be associated with the uniquely identified invention 
disclosure document. This status file may be utilized to provide a method 
for determining the status of an invention disclosure document at any 
given time. For example, the status file will typically contain the date 
upon which an invention disclosure document was distributed for 
evaluation, the dates each evaluator returned a response and any dates 
which must be met to preserve patentability. 
Thereafter, block 88 illustrates the automatic transmission of an 
acknowledgement letter. Acknowledgement letters are typically sent to the 
inventors of each invention disclosure document and their management 
indicating that the document has been received at the evaluation facility 
and that the document has been distributed for evaluation. Thereafter, 
this process terminates, as illustrated in block 90. 
Referring now to FIG. 4, there is depicted a high level flow chart which 
illustrates the evaluation and corroboration of an electronic invention 
disclosure document in accordance with the method and apparatus of the 
present invention. As above, the process illustrated in FIG. 4 begins at 
block 92 and thereafter passes to block 94. Block 94 depicts a 
determination of whether or not an invention disclosure document 
evaluation request has been received by an evaluator. If not, the process 
merely iterates until such time as a request for an evaluation of an 
invention disclosure document is received. 
After receiving a request for an invention disclosure document evaluation, 
block 96 illustrates the obtaining of a copy of the invention disclosure 
document and the displaying of the disclosure document to the evaluator 
and/or the printing of a hard copy thereof. Those skilled in the art will 
appreciate that this may be accomplished utilizing any suitable word 
processing or text display technique, such as Xedit or browse capability 
of IBM Operating System CMS. After displaying the disclosure document to 
the evaluator, block 98 illustrates the prompting of the evaluator for a 
vote with regard to the proposed status of the invention disclosure 
document. In the depicted embodiment of the present invention an evaluator 
may vote to initiate a search of the technology disclosed within the 
invention disclosure document to investigate possible patentability. The 
evaluator may also vote to publish the document, close the file, abstain 
from a vote with regard to a particular invention disclosure document. 
Next, block 100 depicts the prompting of the evaluator for a "Read and 
Understood" statement. This is accomplished, in the depicted embodiment of 
the present invention, by presenting a computer screen to the evaluator 
which asks whether the evaluator has read and understood the entire 
invention disclosure. This prompt requires the evaluator to enter an 
indication of "yes" or "no" in response to this statement. 
Additionally, block 102 illustrates a determination of whether or not the 
evaluator wishes to enter a comment with regard to an invention disclosure 
document, in addition to a simple vote and/or corroboration. If so, block 
104 depicts the prompting of the evaluator to enter his comments. These 
comments may be utilized by the Chairman of an Evaluation Committee for a 
determination of how strongly the evaluator feels with regard to his or 
her vote, or as part of an agenda to be distributed prior to a scheduled 
meeting to discuss one or more invention disclosure documents. 
Thereafter, block 106 illustrates the transmission of the evaluator's 
response and comments to the evaluation facility for utilization by the 
Chairman of the Evaluation Committee. At this point, the process 
terminates, as illustrated in block 108. 
With reference now to FIG. 5, there is depicted a pictorial representation 
of a computer screen which may be utilized to prompt a computer user to 
evaluate and corroborate an electronic invention disclosure document in 
accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention. As is 
illustrated, computer screen 110 depicts an INVENTION DISCLOSURE 
EVALUATION REPORT screen which may be generated for utilization with the 
method and apparatus of the present invention. At line 112 therein a 
disclosure number, that is, the unique identification assigned to this 
disclosure at the evaluation facility, may be entered along with the date 
and time. Of course, this information may be automatically entered by the 
system, if so desired. 
Line 114 of computer screen 110 illustrates the evaluation vote of the 
evaluator and requires the evaluator to enter an indication of his or her 
vote with regard to a particular disclosure. As illustrated, the evaluator 
may vote to initiate a search to determine possible patentability of the 
invention disclosure, may indicate that the invention disclosure should be 
published or closed, may indicate that he or she does not know what status 
should be assigned the invention disclosure, or may abstain from the vote. 
Next, line 116 of computer screen 110 depicts an important statement to be 
utilized with regard to the automatic corroboration of an invention 
disclosure document in accordance with the method and apparatus of the 
present invention. Line 116 requires the evaluator to indicate that he or 
she has "Read and Understood" the entire invention disclosure, by entering 
an "X" in the appropriate space. Next, line 118 of computer screen 110 
permits the evaluator to make an entry indicating whether or not he or she 
believes that further discussion is necessary with regard to this 
invention disclosure. 
Line 120 of computer screen 110 permits the evaluator to enter an 
indication of his or her level of expertise with regard to the technical 
or functional area of the invention disclosure under consideration. Of 
course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that it is a simple 
matter to utilize this indication of expertise as a weighting factor in a 
voting process involving one or more evaluators with regard to a 
particular invention disclosure evaluation. 
Finally, line 122 of computer screen 110 permits the evaluator to enter 
narrative comments with regard to a particular invention disclosure. These 
comments may be utilized by the Chairman of the Evaluation Committee to 
determine the strength of the evaluator's opinion or for utilization in 
preparing an agenda for a subsequent meeting, in the event the disposition 
of a particular disclosure is not clearly determined by the automatic 
evaluation process. 
Referring to FIG. 6, there is depicted a high level flow chart which 
illustrates the storing of an evaluation and corroboration of an 
electronic invention disclosure document in accordance with the method and 
apparatus of the present invention. As 1 above, this process begins at 
block 130 and thereafter passes to block 132 which illustrates a 
determination of whether or not an evaluation of a particular invention 
disclosure document has been received. If not, the process merely iterates 
until such time as an evaluation is received. 
After receiving an evaluation for an invention disclosure document, block 
134 depicts the storing of that evaluation. The evaluation of a particular 
invention disclosure document may be stored at the evaluation facility, at 
the terminal of the Chairman of the Evaluation Committee, and/or at the 
disaster recovery site which has been utilized to store the backup copy of 
the invention disclosure document in question. 
Next, block 136 illustrates a determination of whether or not a positive 
"Read and Understood" statement has been received in response to the 
prompting of the evaluator, which was depicted in block 98 of FIG. 4. In 
the event a positive "Read and Understood" statement is not received, the 
process directly passes to block 140. However, in the event a positive 
"Read and Understood" statement has been received from the evaluator in 
response to the prompting referred to above, block 138 illustrates the 
storing of this corroboration of the invention disclosure document. As 
above, this corroboration statement may be stored with the invention 
disclosure document at the evaluation facility, at the terminal of the 
Chairman of the Evaluation Committee, and/or at the disaster recovery site 
referred to above. 
Next, after storing a positive corroboration statement which has been 
received, or in the event no positive corroboration statement has been 
received, block 140 illustrates the updating of the status file which was 
created as illustrated in block 82 of FIG. 3. As discussed above, this 
status file contains information regarding the status of a particular 
invention disclosure document and should thus be updated when an 
evaluation of the invention disclosure document has been received. 
Finally, block 142 illustrates the transmitting of the evaluation results 
to the Chairman of the Evaluation Committee. This process permits the 
Chairman of an Evaluation Committee to make a final determination with 
regard to the status of a particular invention disclosure document, if the 
voting process has resulted in a clear cut indication of such status, or 
to schedule a meeting for discussion of a particular invention disclosure 
document, if the electronic voting process indicates a dichotomy among the 
members of the Evaluation Committee. Thereafter, as illustrated in block 
144, the process terminates. 
With reference now to FIG. 7, there is depicted a high level flow chart 
which illustrates the automatic report generation and automatic initiation 
of additional procedures in response to stored evaluations of an invention 
disclosure document, in accordance with the method and apparatus of the 
present invention. As above, the process illustrated in FIG. 7 begins at 
block 150 and thereafter passes to block 152. Block 152 depicts a 
determination of whether or not evaluator votes have been received with 
regard to a particular invention disclosure document. If not, the process 
merely iterates until such time as one or more evaluator votes have been 
received. Of course, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a 
prompting message may be utilized to induce an evaluator to submit a vote 
for a particular invention disclosure document in the event the evaluator 
has not done so within a preselected period of time. 
After evaluator votes for an invention disclosure document have been 
received, as determined in block 152, then block 154 illustrates the 
displaying of the tally of votes for the Chairman of the Evaluation 
Committee. This tally may take the form of any suitable visual summary so 
that the Chairman may determine whether or not the Evaluation Committee 
has rendered a result which automatically disposes of a particular 
invention disclosure document, or whether further action, such as a 
meeting is required. 
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a simple rule may be 
established regarding the number of votes by evaluators with regard to a 
particular invention disclosure document which are required to sustain a 
particular status for that document. That is, if a majority of evaluators 
vote for a particular resolution with regard to a specific invention 
disclosure document that resolution will be automatically implemented in 
accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention. 
However, it should also be noted that a weighting scheme for evaluator 
votes may also be utilized by incorporating the knowledge level of each 
evaluator, as discussed above. Further, it is anticipated that the 
Chairman of an Evaluation Committee may override or countermand the 
decision of the group of evaluators which might otherwise automatically 
initiate a selected procedure. 
Thereafter, block 156 illustrates a determination of whether or not a 
meeting of the evaluators is required or desired in order to ascertain the 
proper status for a particular invention disclosure document. In the event 
a meeting of the evaluators is required or desired, then block 158 
illustrates the prompting of the Chairman of the Evaluation Committee for 
a group of meeting parameters. Those skilled in the art will appreciate 
that by the term "meeting parameters" what is meant is a desired duration 
time for a meeting, a desired date range for a meeting and a desired list 
of attendees for that meeting. 
Next, block 160 illustrates the occurrence of a meeting of the evaluators 
for discussions with regard to a particular invention disclosure document, 
in the event such a meeting is required or desired. Block 162 then 
indicates a determination of whether or not the status for a particular 
invention disclosure document has been determined at such a meeting and if 
not, the process merely iterates until such time as a status determination 
has been made. In the event a status determination with regard to a 
particular invention disclosure document does occur at a meeting then the 
process returns to block 164. 
Referring again to block 156, if the evaluations of the evaluators 
concerned indicate that no meeting is required or desired, or, in the 
alternative, after the status of a particular invention disclosure 
document has been determined at a meeting, as indicated at block 162, the 
process passes to block 164. 
Block 164 indicates a determination of whether or not the evaluations of 
the group of evaluators for a particular invention disclosure document 
have recommended that a search be conducted to determine the likelihood of 
patent protection for a particular invention disclosure. If so, the 
process passes to block 166. Block 166 illustrates the automated 
transmittal of a status letter to appropriate parties within the 
organization. In the depicted embodiment of the present invention, a 
status letter is automatically generated and transmitted to the author of 
the invention disclosure document as well as all co-inventors, appropriate 
management individuals for each co-inventor and all other personnel who 
have indicated a desire to maintain current knowledge on the status of a 
particular invention disclosure document. 
Thereafter, block 168 depicts an important feature of the present invention 
which depicts the automatic generation of a search request. As discussed 
above, each invention disclosure document includes a functional area code 
which identifies the technical and/or functional area of the material 
contained therein. This code may be utilized, in conjunction with the 
search request generation illustrated within block 168, to automatically 
generate a search request which may include key words, phrases, or 
ancillary references which are determined by reference to the invention 
disclosure document. Thereafter, block 170 illustrates the automatic 
transmission of the search request to a proper search facility, which is 
determined in accordance with the functional area codes discussed above. 
Referring again to block 164, in the event the evaluations of the 
evaluators for the particular invention disclosure document in question do 
not recommend that a search be conducted, block 172 illustrates a 
determination of whether or not publication of the invention disclosure 
document is recommended. 
If, as determined in block 172, the evaluators of a particular invention 
disclosure document recommend that the invention disclosed therein be 
published the process passes to block 174, which illustrates the automated 
transmittal of a status letter in a manner described above with respect to 
block 166. 
Thereafter, block 176 illustrates another important feature of the present 
invention. Block 176 depicts the reformatting of the invention disclosure 
document into a publication format. This, as those skilled in the art will 
appreciate, involves the removal of internal administrative data from the 
invention disclosure document and the alteration of the format to render 
the invention disclosure document into a format suitable for publication 
in a technical disclosure bulletin or other similar publication. Next, 
block 178 illustrates the transmitting of the reformatted document to the 
author of the invention disclosure document for additional revisions 
necessary to place this document in condition for publication. 
Referring again to block 172, in the illustrated embodiment of the present 
invention, if a selected invention disclosure document is not recommended 
for a search or a publication the process passes to block 180 which 
illustrates the automatic closing of the file containing the invention 
disclosure document. Next, block 182 illustrates the automatic 
transmission of a status letter as described above. 
Next, after a transmission of a search request, a transmission of the 
reformatted document or the transmission of a status letter to the author, 
as discussed above, the process passes to block 184. Block 184 illustrates 
the transmitting of a message including both the results of the evaluation 
and the status of the selected invention disclosure document to the 
evaluation facility, for utilization in updating the status file and 
maintaining a current list of the status of each invention disclosure 
document within the data processing system. Thereafter, the process 
terminates, as illustrated in block 186. 
Upon reference to the foregoing those skilled in the art will appreciate 
that the Applicants in the present application have provided a method and 
apparatus whereby a plurality of documents, such as invention disclosure 
documents, may be automatically directed to a plurality of evaluators for 
evaluation as to the eventual status of those documents and wherein the 
content of the evaluations thus solicited may be utilized to automatically 
initiate one or more additional procedures within the data processing 
system. In this manner, the process of administratively handling invention 
disclosure documents, or any other document which is evaluated within a 
data processing system, may be greatly enhanced and accelerated without 
the necessity of additional human intervention. 
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with 
reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those 
skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made 
therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.