Abstract:
The informational object authoring and distribution system functions to provide Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets via the use of a centralized repository of uniquely identified, immutable Material Safety Data Sheets. This system automates the authoring, maintenance and distribution of the Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets by using an Internet-based paradigm and a centralized repository of uniquely-identified, immutable data elements. The informational object authoring and distribution system provides a set of software modules that the manufacturers can use to author, maintain and distribute Material Safety Data Sheets and their customers, as members of the system of Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets, can use to retrieve, maintain and distribute the Material Safety Data Sheets. The system&#39;s interconnectivity allows for the use of an Internet-based paradigm for the purchase and sale among members of the system of Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets as commodities, and for reducing the burden costs among members of compliance with government regulations. In addition, the informational object authoring and distribution system can provide value-added services by providing advertising of services and products facilitating the interconnection of the manufacturers and manufacturer&#39;s customers with other members of the system of Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets who are vendors, and who provide services and products related to the information and instructions contained in Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to automated document authoring and distribution systems and to a system that enables subscribers to efficiently author, maintain and distribute informational objects that contain immutable content, such as Material Safety Data Sheets that are used in the chemical manufacturing industry. 
     Problem 
     It is a problem in the field of information distribution to author, maintain and distribute informational objects that contain immutable data. An example of an informational object is the chemical manufacturing industry&#39;s Material Safety Data Sheet that is generated in compliance with appropriate government regulations. Presently this process is paper-based and entails a significant cost, in the case of Material Safety Data Sheets, for both manufacturers of chemicals as well as distributors/users of chemicals. 
     A Material Safety Data Sheet consists of a collection of information that relates to a specific chemical product. The information typically identifies the manufacturer of the chemical, its commercial name and other identification information, various physical and health characteristics, instructions related to worker health and safety in the storage, transportation, handling and disposal of the chemical, and instructions and medical information related to an emergency response in the case of a chemical release or injury. The format and content of the Material Safety Data Sheets are mandated in a general and inconsistent manner by various regulatory agencies. The Material Safety Data Sheets must be issued and updated by each chemical manufacturer for each chemical that they manufacture. 
     These documents are presently distributed in a paper-based format (including scanned images) and require extensive resources to maintain. In addition, there is significant redundancy of effort, since each manufacturer must generate and maintain Material Safety Data Sheets for each product that they manufacture, even though the equivalent or identical product may be manufactured by another chemical manufacturer. The chemical manufacturers are obligated under regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to distribute paper-based Material Safety Data Sheets free of charge to all of their customers, who must receive the Material Safety Data Sheets for each chemical purchased and must make the corresponding Material Safety Data Sheets available to their workers free of charge. Furthermore, the manufacturers must author, maintain and distribute the paper-based Material Safety Data Sheets at their own burden costs while their customers must receive and maintain the same Material Safety Data Sheets at their own burden costs. The burden costs involved in executing this process is significant, both to the manufacturers and their customers. There is presently no central registry of Material Safety Data Sheets, even though there are in excess of 1,000,000 chemicals for which a corresponding Material Safety Data Sheet is required. 
     Thus, the need to automate the authoring of informational objects, the rendering of such informational objects into an immutable form, and the distribution of the immutable content informational objects in compliance with certain defined criteria represents a problem. The chemical manufacturing industry is illustrative of the nature of this problem and the example of Material Safety Data Sheets is used for the purpose of illustrating the operation of the present informational object authoring and distribution system and is not intended to limit the scope of the described system. 
     Solution 
     The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present informational object authoring and distribution system functions to provide Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets via the use of a centralized repository of uniquely identified, immutable Material Safety Data Sheets. This system automates the authoring, maintenance and distribution of the Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets by using an Internet-based paradigm and a centralized repository of uniquely-identified, immutable data elements. The informational object authoring and distribution system provides a set of software modules that the manufacturers can use to author, maintain and distribute Material Safety Data Sheets and their customers can use to retrieve, maintain and distribute the Material Safety Data Sheets. The system&#39;s interconnectivity allows for the use of an Internet-based paradigm for the purchase and sale among members of the system of Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets as commodities, and for reducing the burden costs among members of compliance with government regulations. In addition, the informational object authoring and distribution system can provide value-added services by provides advertising of services and products facilitating the interconnection of the manufacturers and manufacturer&#39;s customers with other members who are vendors, and who provide services and products related to the information and instructions contained in Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets. 
     The system uses an object-oriented framework for communication of the Material Safety Data Sheets among the manufacturers, manufacturer&#39;s customers and workers. The Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheets are not document files or database files, but instead are objects that contain sequences of instructions and information on which the instructions operate. A particular Value-Added Material Safety Data Sheet contains pointers that identify a plurality of immutable “building blocks” of information that, when collected, comprise the Material Safety Data Sheet. Each building block is comprised of a data element and a unique identifier that exclusively identifies that data element. 
     Since the data elements are fixed, they do not require updating and a new version of a Material Safety Data Sheet for a particular chemical simply includes a unique identifier that points to a replacement data element, while the original data element is maintained in the central database. Thus, a data element is not expunged from the database but is simply supplanted by a later version of the data element. Thus, for each venue, the contents of the Material Safety Data Sheet remain immutable, even though the format can vary. In addition, the creation of a new Material Safety Data Sheet can utilize existing data elements from the central database if the content of the associated portion of the Material Safety Data Sheet is identical to this data element. Thus, authoring new Material Safety Data Sheets can benefit from a repository of standardized data elements, with only the unique segments of the new Material Safety Data Sheet requiring the creation of a new data element. Translations of the data elements into other languages is simplified since the system mandates the use of standardized phrases and other associated data in the creation of the various data elements. In addition, the data elements can be transported on a read only basis from a Material Safety Data Sheet to another database by simply filtering the data retrieved by the Material Safety Data Sheet object. In this manner the integrity of the informational object authoring and distribution system is maintained but the data contained therein is available to manufacturers and other members of the system for related purposes. 
     As the Material Safety Data Sheets are authored, maintained and distributed, the relevant data regarding these processes and the entities participating in these processes are available, with appropriate authorization of the parties, to use in identifying products and services that can be beneficial to these entities participating in these processes. In particular, the context of the Material Safety Data Sheet authoring, maintenance or distribution can be used to identify products and services that are pertinent to the chemical identified in the Material Safety Data Sheet in terms of context sensitive, real-time advertising access to members who access the Material Safety Data Sheets. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIGS. 1A-1B illustrate in block diagram form the overall architecture of the present informational object authoring and distribution system and an environment in which it is operational; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a typical informational object and its contents that can be authored, distributed and maintained by the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the member enrollment process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the data element creation process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 5 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the informational object creation process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates in flow diagram form the.operation of the informational object registration process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 7 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the data element permissions definition process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 8 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the informational object access permissions definition process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 9 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the member access process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 10 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the advertisement authoring process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 11 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the advertisement registration process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; 
     FIG. 12 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the advertising access record process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system; and 
     FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate in flow diagram form the operation of the registered advertisement retrieval process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     For the purpose of this description, the following terms are defined: 
     Member comprises an entity, either a business or an individual, who is authorized to access and utilize the capabilities of the present informational object authoring and distribution system. 
     Terminal Device comprises a personal computer, hand held computing device, cellular communication device, wireless computer device, or other data interface device. Typically, the terminal device used is a full function communication device of the type that includes: WAP enabled cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, Palm Pilots, personal computers, and the like, or some other specialized communication device. 
     Data Element comprises a set of data that is uniquely identified and stored in immutable form for use by the present informational object authoring and distribution system. 
     Informational Object comprises a set of information that is uniquely identified and stored in immutable form for use by the present informational object authoring and distribution system. The set of information contained in an informational object comprises a plurality of individual data elements, each of which is also immutable in content. 
     Material Safety Data Sheet comprises the collection of hazard communication information required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that is designed to insure that all chemical products produced or imported are evaluated for hazardousness, and that information concerning their hazardousness is transmitted to workers. Because the uses of Material Safety Data Sheets have been expanded upon by domestic and international government agencies other than OSHA, Material Safety Data Sheets are additionally authored to include information relevant to government agencies concerned with environmental, transportation, waste management, community right-to-know and emergency planning issues. 
     Terminal Equipment and Communications Environment 
     FIGS. 1A &amp; 1B illustrate in block diagram form the overall architecture of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  and a typical environment in which it is operational. The members are typically equipped with one or more of a personal computer T 1 , T 2 , hand held computing device (not shown), cellular communication device T 3 , wireless computer device T 4 , or other data interface device, collectively termed “terminal equipment” herein. The data communication connection between the member&#39;s terminal equipment T 1  and the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10  can be via the Internet  103 , using the well known personal computer modem and Internet browser technology available at the member&#39;s terminal equipment T 1 . The member&#39;s terminal equipment is generally served by the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) which consists of a plurality of Local Exchange Systems  101 ,  102  interconnected via an Inter-Exchange Carrier Network  100 . The physical connection that supports this data communication connection is typically effected from member&#39;s terminal equipment T 1  through the Local Exchange System  102  of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a data communication medium (such as the Internet), termed IP Network  103  herein, to an Internet Service Provider  112  which is also connected thereto. The Internet  103  is also connected to a Local Exchange System  101  via Internet Service Provider  111  that serves the gateway  122  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . Alternatively, the member&#39;s terminal equipment, in the case of cellular communication device T 3 , or wireless computer device T 4 , is connected via the Mobile Telecommunications Switching Office (MTSO)  104  to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). 
     The informational object authoring and distribution system  10  is connected to at least one data communication medium  103  (such as the Internet) to thereby enable members to obtain data communication connections with the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 , as described in more detail below. 
     In addition, other computer systems, such as Advertiser WEB Site Server  130  can be served by the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . The advertiser WEB site server system typically comprises a firewall gateway  132 , a server  131 , terminal device(s)  133  and a mass storage device represented here as an advertising database  134 . Such a system can be used to create advertisement materials for use in conjunction with the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  and to be provided to members who are linked to the advertiser WEB site system by the operation of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  as described below. 
     The resources illustrated herein are selected for the purpose of illustrating the concept of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  and are not intended to limit the applicability of this concept to other network implementations or system configurations. 
     Architecture of the Informational Object Authoring and Distribution System 
     Informational object authoring and distribution system  10  consists of a server  121  which is connected to the Internet  103  via a gateway  122  that comprises the firewall which protects the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  from unauthorized access and also implements the functionality to communicate with Internet Service Provider  111 . The informational object authoring and distribution system  10  includes a plurality of databases, as described below. These databases include, but are not limited to: member database  123 , registered data element database  124 , registered informational object database  125 , registered advertisement database  126 , tracking/billing database  127 , advertising association database  128 , and software database  129 . The databases noted herein are delimited by function for the purpose of simplifying the description of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 , but these databases can be implemented in a single physical database or a lesser or greater number of databases than is shown herein. Such selections are simply a matter of engineering choice and do not relate to the concepts disclosed herein. Similarly, a single server  121  is illustrated herein, executing a plurality of software modules: authentication server  141 , tracking/billing server  142 , authoring server  143 , member accessing server  144 , advertising server  145 , but multiple servers can be used to perform this task. Thus, the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  disclosed herein represents one of many possible implementations to provide the described functionality to the designated recipients. 
     Informational Object and Data Elements 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a typical informational object and its contents that can be authored, distributed and maintained by the present informational object authoring and distribution system. In particular, the informational object  200  comprises a unique identifier  201  that designates the informational object  200 , as well as a plurality of data elements  211 - 216 , each of which itself is identified by a corresponding unique identifier  221 - 226 . The informational object  200  can also contain other data  202 , such as formatting data, permissions data, and the like as described herein. The data elements  211 - 216  that are associated with a particular informational object  200  are typically stored in a separate file system from the informational object  200 , and are linked via the use of pointers, which comprise the data element unique identifiers  221 - 226 . 
     Operation of the Informational Object Authoring and Distribution System 
     FIGS. 3-13 illustrate in flow diagram form the operation of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . The architecture of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  described herein represents a typical implementation of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  and its operating environment and is not intended to limit the scope of the underlying concept as defined in the enclosed claims. 
     Member Enrollment Process 
     FIG. 3 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the member enrollment process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . At step  301 , the prospective member, located at terminal device T 1 , initiates the enrollment process by activating their terminal device T 1  to establish a communication connection to the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . Once connected thereto as described above, the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  generates a uniquely numbered enrollment and agreement form (not shown) at step  302  and transmits this form at step  303  to the prospective member at terminal device T 1  via the communication connection to thereby enable the prospective member to become a subscriber to the services provided by the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . The use of the uniquely numbered enrollment and agreement form enables the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  to present specific terms and conditions of membership to the prospective member and to also track the prospective members who access the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  for enrollment purposes. This simplifies the member management process because each prospective member who accesses the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  for enrollment purposes is uniquely defined by this identifier and the remaining member information is used for billing and identification purposes. Therefore, a corporation having a plurality of sites can register each site individually without confusion, since the corporate name is not the member delimiter, the unique identification assigned to the enrollment and agreement form is. 
     At step  304 , the prospective member provides the requested information by completing the data entry fields of the enrollment and agreement form and transmitting the completed form to the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . At step  305 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  generates a unique enrollment number to identify and distinguish this prospective member from all other members, including members with duplicative or identical names, and checks at step  306  whether the enrollment and agreement form has been properly completed. If not, the processing branches to step  307  where an appropriate error message is returned to the prospective member indicating the improper form completion and noting that any enrollment fees will be returned if the enrollment process is terminated at this juncture, since enrollment has not been effected. If the enrollment form is correctly completed, processing advances to step  308  where, using the processes illustrated in FIG. 4, the prospective member&#39;s name and unique enrollment number are entered into the membership database  123 . Again, a corporation having a plurality of sites can register each site individually without confusion since the unique identifier assigned to the enrollment and agreement form is the delimiter. 
     If the processes illustrated in FIG. 4 reject the prospective member&#39;s name, processing returns to step  307  where an appropriate error message is returned to the prospective member indicating the violation of a quality standard and noting that any enrollment fees will be returned if the enrollment process is terminated at this juncture, since enrollment has not been effected. If the prospective member&#39;s name is acceptable, at step  309  the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  approves the enrollment and agreement form and assigns a user name and password to this new member to enable future access of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . At step  310 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  deposits all of the enrollment data that was entered by the member on the enrollment and agreement form, and makes an initial entry of good standing, into the membership database  123 . An invoice is generated for the tracking/billing database  127  to debit the member for the enrollment fee. Failure of a member to timely pay for invoices, debits, usage fees, membership dues and other charges associated with membership in the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  results in the striking of the entry of good standing in the membership database  123 . 
     At step  311 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  transmits a notification of good standing to the member of a successful enrollment and delivers the user name and password, generated at step  309 , to the member. In addition, the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  downloads the software modules from the software database  129  to the member terminal device T 1  that are necessary to enable the member to perform the tasks for which they have subscribed. As described below, there are a number of software modules, including but not limited to: member client software, authoring client software, advertiser client software. Each of these modules corresponds to a basic function for which the member is enabled. The enrollment process then exits at step  312 . 
     Data Element Creation Process 
     FIG. 4 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the data element creation process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . The members who are authorized to create data elements are the manufacturers who produce the products for which the informational objects are required. Thus, in the example of a Material Safety Data Sheet, the chemical manufacturer is obligated via regulatory measures to produce a Material Safety Data Sheet for each chemical manufactured. It is inappropriate to authorize others to engage in this process, since the creation of bogus data elements would corrupt the system. Therefore, when a member accesses the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  at step  502 , the member&#39;s identity is checked at step  503  by the authentication server  141  against an authorized member database  123  to ensure that this member has the good standing and permissions to create an additional data element at step  512  by accessing the process illustrated in FIG.  4 . Prospective members at step  308  may also access the process illustrated in FIG. 4 for the limited purpose of creating a member name as a pre-defined data element. 
     At step  402 , a member, in the process of creating a data element at step  512 , uses the authoring client software module executing on the terminal device T 1  to identify and choose the category of data element and submits the proposed content for this data element. At step  402 , a prospective member, in the process of creating a member&#39;s name as a pre-defined data element at step  308 , is permitted by the authentication server  141  only to identify and chose a specific category for that of a member name. In either case, the category information indicates which of the various data entry fields shown in FIG. 2 is selected for placement of this particular draft data element. There are typically differences among these data entry fields and the review and certification process executed by the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  relates the proposed draft data element to all other data elements of this category stored in the system database. 
     Therefore, at step  403 , the authoring server  143  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  reviews the draft data element to determine whether the language contained therein is in approved format and content, using a content parsing review process to compare the language of the draft data element with a dictionary of approved terms. In addition, where the selected category accepts image data, the image data is reviewed for content and coding where appropriate. The format is similarly checked to ensure that adequate and thorough information is provided. If the content check discerns any flaws in the draft data element, at step  406  a message is returned to the member rejecting the draft data element, with appropriate notation relating to the reason for rejection. At step  404 , if the draft data element is approved, the content is reviewed to determine whether the data element content corresponds to a member name. If so, processing branches to step  410  where the member name data element creation process subroutine is activated. This subroutine creates a standard immutable data element that comprises the member name for use in creating one or more informational objects, since the member&#39;s name appears on each informational object that the author creates. At step  411 , the prospective member enters the unique enrollment number assigned at step  305 , and at step  412  the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  assigns the unique enrollment number as an identifier to the prospective member&#39;s name data element. At step  413 , the prospective member&#39;s name and registered data element identifier are permanently added to the membership database  123 , the subroutine ends and processing exits at Step  414 . 
     At step  404 , if the draft data element is not a member name, processing advances to step  405  where the draft data element is compared by the authoring server  143  with all previously registered data elements of this category to ensure that the draft data element is not duplicative of a prior data element. If duplication is determined, at step  406  a message is returned to the member rejecting the draft data element, with appropriate notation relating to the reason for rejection. Otherwise, at step  407  the authoring server  143  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  generates a unique registered data element identifier and assigns this to the draft data element and at step  408 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  translates the data element into other languages and appends a language identifier to each translation of the data element. Processing then advances to step  409  where this newly created data element is permanently added to the registered data element database  124 , along with its corresponding unique identifier. This process then exits at step  414 . 
     Informational Object Creation Process 
     FIG. 5 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the informational object creation process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . The members who are authorized to create informational objects are the manufacturers who produce the products for which the informational objects are required. Thus, in the example of a Material Safety Data Sheet, the chemical manufacturer is obligated via regulatory measures to produce a Material Safety Data Sheet for each chemical manufactured. It is inappropriate to authorize others to engage in this process, since the creation of bogus informational objects would corrupt the system. Therefore, when a member accesses the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  at step  501  and executes the authoring system login process at step  502 , the member&#39;s identity is checked by the authentication server  141  against an authorized membership database  123  at step  503  to ensure that this member is a member in good standing and has the authoring permissions to access the process illustrated in FIG.  5 . If not, at step  504 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  logs out. 
     If the member is in good standing, the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  certifies the member as an “author” for this process and advances to step  505  where the authoring client software module executing on the member&#39;s terminal device T 1  is checked to identify the version of the software so that the authoring session executing of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  can be compatible with the member&#39;s software. At step  506  the member initiates the authoring process for an informational object by creating an unregistered or draft informational object. At step  507 , the authoring server  143  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  inserts various basic information into the unregistered informational object, such as a name freelanced by the member and an identifier of the software version used to create the informational object. The member at step  508  identifies the various formats available for use with this informational object, so various members who retrieve the informational object receive it formatted for their use, which formats are referred to as Document Versions. Thus, for the case of a Material Safety Data Sheet, there can be a Worker Version, an Industrial Hygienist Version, a Medical Professional Version, and the like. At step  509 , the member must select their name by selecting a data element from the membership database  123  that corresponds to a previously stored data element whose content is the member&#39;s name. The authoring server  143  at step  510  enables the member to set permissions for access to the informational object as well as for ancillary services associated with the informational object. At step  511 , these data elements selected in steps  509 - 510  are written into the informational object, at step  512  the member may create additional data elements using the process of FIG. 4, and at steps  513 - 514 , the member must use previously created data elements found in the Registered Data Element Database  124  for insertion into the informational object. 
     At step  515 , the tracking/billing server  142  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  calculates any fees that are due and enters this information into the tracking/billing database  127 . The member determines at step  516  whether all of the necessary data elements have been inserted into the informational object. If not, processing returns to step  512  for such insertion. If all the necessary data elements have been provided, processing advances to step  517  where the member sets the permissions for this unregistered informational object and then transmits the unregistered informational object at step  518  for registration so this unregistered informational object can be processed to become a registered informational object, and the process exits at step  519 . 
     Informational Object Registration Process 
     FIG. 6 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the informational object registration process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . At step  601 , the unregistered informational object created using the process described with respect to FIG. 5, is submitted to the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  for registration. At step  602 , the authoring server  143  checks the unregistered informational object for proper content, format and permissions. If the content and format are proper, at step  603  the authoring server  143  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  generates a unique informational object identification and substitutes this for the filename created by the member. At step  604 , the authoring server  143  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  date and time stamps the informational object to complete the registration process and stores the registered informational object in immutable form in the informational object database  125  at step  605 . At step  606 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  updates the tracking/billing database  127  to debit the member&#39;s account for the cost of registering this informational object. This process exits at step  607 . 
     Data Element Permissions Definition Process 
     FIG. 7 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the data element permissions definition process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . In the above-noted description of the informational object creation process of FIG. 5, the member can set permissions for the use of the data elements in the registered informational object. The process illustrated in FIG. 7 details the permissions creation process. In particular, at step  701  the member selects at least one of a plurality of permissions for an identified data element in the unregistered informational object. At step  702 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  determines whether the member has indicated that this data element shall be hyper-linked to a predefined WEB site. If so, the WEB site URL is entered by the member at step  703  and processing advances to step  706  as described below. 
     If the member does not link the selected data element to a WEB site, then at step  704  it is determined whether the data element is to be hyper-linked to an e-mail address. If so, at step  705  the member enters the e-mail address data and processing advances to step  706 . If no hyper-linking is to be set, then processing also advances to step  706 . At step  706 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  determines whether the data element is viewable according to a specific document version of the data element as defined by the member in step  508 . If so, at step  708  the member identifies in which of the defined document versions the data element will be viewable and processing exits at step  709 . If no election is made by the member at step  707 , then processing advances to step  708  where the default is set that the data element is viewable in all document versions and processing exits at step  709 . 
     Informational Object Permissions Definition Process 
     FIG. 8 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the informational object access permissions definition process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . At step  801 , the member initiates the process to set access permissions for a selected informational object . At step  802 , the member identifies whether any access is permitted. If no other members are permitted to access this informational object, then processing advances to step  805  where the informational object is noted as being unavailable to any other members and processing exits at step  808 . If the member notes that some form of access is permitted, at step  803  the member can identify whether a limited set of members drawn only from the Membership Database  123  can access the informational object. If so, processing advances to step  806  where the member identifies, using only the Membership Database  123 , the selected other members who are authorized to access this informational object and the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  sets the informational object with this list of authorized accessing members. Processing then exits at step  808 . If the member does not limit the access to this informational object, then at step  804  the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  registers at steps  601 - 607  the informational object with an indicia that all members can access this informational object and processing exits at step  808 . 
     Member Access Process 
     FIG. 9 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the member access process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . When a member accesses the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  at step  901  and executes the member access system login process at step  902 , the member&#39;s identity is checked against an authorized member database  123  by the authentication server  141  at step  903  to ensure that this member is a member in good standing and has the permissions to access the process illustrated in FIG.  9 . If not, at step  904 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  logs out. 
     If the member is in good standing, the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  advances to step  905  where the member server  144  provides the member with access to the informational object database  125  using the predefined set of permissions for both the member and the informational objects. At step  906 , the member selects one of the informational objects for retrieval and the document version of the informational object at step  907 . The informational object authoring and distribution system  10  retrieves the selected informational object at step  908  and conforms the software version executing on the member&#39;s terminal device T 1  with that defined as pertinent to the selected informational object at step  909 . At step  910 , the member accessing server  144  reviews the advertising permissions associated with the retrieved informational object and retrieves these advertisements for presentation to the member along with the selected informational object at step  911 . At step  912 , the member access software records the member&#39;s access to informational objects and updates the member&#39;s entries in the tracking/billing database  127  to debit the member for this informational object retrieval at step  913 . At step  914 , the tracking/billing server  142  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  stores data in the tracking/billing database  127  indicative of the member who authored this informational object and credits that authoring member with an amount indicative of their share of the revenue obtained by this informational object retrieval. At step  915 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  determines whether the member wishes to view another document version of this informational object and, if so, returns to step  907  as described above. If not, processing advances to step  916  where the member terminates this informational object access session and the advertising data objects are expunged at step  917  and processing completes at step  918 . 
     Advertisement Authoring Process 
     FIG. 10 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the advertisement authoring process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . When a member accesses the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  at step  1001  and executes the login process at step  1002 , the member&#39;s identity is checked by the authentication server  144  against an authorized member database  123  at step  1003  to ensure that this member is a member in good standing and has the permissions to access the advertising authoring process illustrated in FIG.  10 . If not, at step  1004 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  logs out. 
     If the member is in good standing, the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  advances to step  1005  where the advertising server  145  (or alternatively the authoring server  143 ) of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  reconciles this member&#39;s software version with that presently executing on the informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . At step  1006  the member initiates the authoring process for an advertisement by creating an unregistered or draft advertising data object. At step  1007 , the advertising server  145  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  inserts into the unregistered advertising data object a file name created by the member and a software version used to create the advertising data object. The member at step  1008  must select their name by selecting a data element from the membership database  123  that corresponds to a previously stored data element whose content is the member&#39;s name. The advertising server  145  at step  1009  enables the member to create the advertising message and insert this into the unregistered advertising data object. At step  1010 , the member searches the data element database  124  to identify various data elements that would be relevant to the unregistered advertising data object and inserts data that identify these data elements into the advertising data object at step  1011 . At step  1012 , the member determines whether the advertising data object is complete. If not, processing returns to step  1009  and if so, processing advances to step  1013  where the advertising member sets the permissions for this advertising data object. See steps  1305 ,  1306  and  1307  where permissions set by the member determine whether there is retrieval of the advertising data object at step  1310  or deletion of the advertising association record at step  1312 . At step  1014  the member submits the unregistered advertising data object to the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  for registration and the advertising authoring process exits at step  1015 . 
     Advertisement Registration Process 
     FIG. 11 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the advertisement registration process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . The unregistered advertising data object created via the process defined in FIG. 10 is processed for registration using the process of FIG.  11 . In particular, at step  1101 , the unregistered advertising data object is submitted to the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  for registration and at step  1102  the advertising server  145  checks the unregistered advertising data object for proper content, format and permissions. If the content and format are proper, at step  1103  the advertising server  145  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  generates a unique advertising data object identification and substitutes this for the filename created by the member. At step  1104 , the advertising server  145  of the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  date and time stamps the advertising data object. At step  1105 , the advertising server  145  stores the unique advertising data object identification inserted at step  1103 , the date and time stamp inserted at step  1104 , the search criteria inserted at step  1011 , the advertising message inserted at step  1009 , and the permissions inserted at step  1013  in an immutable form in the registered advertisement database  126 . At step  1106  the advertising server  145  produces a record of the advertising data object in the advertising association database  128 . At step  1107 , the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  updates the tracking/billing database  127  to debit the member&#39;s account for the cost of registering this advertising data object. This process exits at step  1108  to return to the process defined in FIG.  10 . 
     Advertising Access Record Process 
     FIG. 12 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the advertising access record process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system. This process is initiated at step  1201  from the step  1106  noted above. At step  1202 , the advertising server  145  executes a search of the Registered Informational Object database  125  using the search criteria entered at step  1011  for the Advertising Data Object registered at step  1105 . At step  1203 , the Registered Informational Objects matching the search criteria entered at step  1011  are organized and listed by their unique identifiers. At step  1204 , each of the matching unique identifiers of step  1203  is associated with the unique serial identifier of the Advertising data object registered at step  1105 . At step  1205  the associated information of step  1204  is recorded in the Advertising Association database  128  for speeding up the processing at steps  1303 ,  1304 , 1305 , 1306  and  1307  pending termination of the effect of the Registered Advertising Data Object as determined by the permissions entered at step  1013 . Upon completing step  1205 , or in the event no Registered Informational Object matches the criteria of Registered Advertising Data Object in step  1202 , then step  1106  is deemed to be completed and there is a return from step  1206  to step  1107 . 
     Registered Advertisement Retrieval Process 
     FIG. 13 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the registered advertisement retrieval process of the present informational object authoring and distribution system  10 . When a member retrieves an informational object, registered advertising data objects may be retrieved at step  910  as described above. This retrieval process is initiated at step  1301  and at step  1302  the member&#39;s client software transmits data to the informational object authoring and distribution system  10  to identify the selected informational object, the format of the informational object to be retrieved, and the advertising client software. The advertising server at step  1303  determines whether there is a unique informational object identifier in the advertising association database  128  that matches the informational object selected by the member. If not, processing exits at step  1315 . 
     If the advertising server  145  detects a match between an informational object selected by the member and a record in the advertising association database  128 , then at step  1304  the software compatibility between the advertising client executing on the member&#39;s terminal device and that defined for the identified advertisement is checked and if an incompatibility is detected, at step  1312  the advertising server  145  deletes the record of the advertising association and notifies the advertiser at step  1313  of the record deletion. At step  1314  the advertising server  145  determines whether other matches have occurred and if not processing exits at step  1315 . If another match occurs processing returns to step  1304 . If there is a compatibility of software determined at step  1304 , the advertising server at steps  1305 - 1307  determines whether the advertisement has expired according to the permissions entered at step  1013 . If not, processing advances to step  1308  where the advertiser is identified and their standing is determined. If the advertiser is not in good standing or the advertisement has expired, processing advances to step  1312  as noted above. Otherwise, processing advances to step  1309  where the identified advertising data object is located in the advertising database  126  and retrieved at step  1310  for presentation to the member at step  911 . At step  1311  the advertising server  145  updates the tracking/billing database  127  to note the fee due for the use of the advertisement. Processing then proceeds to step  1314  as described above. 
     Summary 
     The informational object authoring and distribution system automates the authoring, maintenance and distribution of informational objects and the associated data elements. In addition, the informational object authoring and distribution system can provide value-added services by facilitating the interconnection of the product manufacturers and their members with other vendors who provide related services.