Patent ID: 8520888

Claim:
A method of compiling information for unique identification of one document from among a plurality of documents, the method comprising steps of: receiving a representation of the one document; extracting minutiae data from the representation of the document, in accordance with defined identification criteria, sufficient to uniquely identify a hardcopy of the document; collecting metadata regarding the representation of the document; and storing the extracted minutiae data in association with the collected metadata, in a searchable database of data regarding the plurality of documents, wherein: the extracted minutiae data comprise a plurality of features associated with text on the one document, the extracted minutiae data are not associated with human fingerprinting or a barcode and the extracted minutiae data were not added to the document specifically for the purpose of document identification, the minutiae data are selected from: word count per page or per the entire document, tab spacing, indentation lengths, margin lengths, paragraph numbers, header, location, footer location, line numbers, line spacing, character spacing, font spacing, number of characters, textual color properties, text strings, text characters, white space total area data, specific text, specific phrases and specific numbers.