Image analysis – Image transformation or preprocessing – Image storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-25
2004-06-01
Choules, Jack (Department: 2192)
Image analysis
Image transformation or preprocessing
Image storage or retrieval
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744936
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to document management and more specifically relates to a system and method for indexing, imaging, storing, and retrieving images of paper-based documents while simultaneously facilitating management and retrieval of the original paper-based documents from which those images were created.
2. Background Art
While most modern computer systems can be used for business, education and entertainment purposes, the most widespread application for computers today is related to processing information. Word processing, page layout, database, spreadsheet, and desktop publishing applications are used to prepare and disseminate information throughout society. The increased availability of computer systems and computer networks such as the Internet have made vast repositories of information available to a huge segment of our population. Indeed, as it has been widely discussed in the popular media, modern computer systems have brought our world into the “information age.”
One of the promises of the information age ushered in by these omnipresent computer systems was the advent of a “paperless” society. Computers, in theory, would liberate the world from the flood of paper which currently impedes the flow and management of information. Computer-based systems with advanced information processing capabilities would supposedly allow the instantaneous electronic exchange of information from one location to another, without the necessity of “hard copy.” Indeed, many businesses have embraced computer systems with the stated goal of eliminating, or at least significantly reducing, the seemingly endless stream of paper that flows into and out of an office. Reducing the burdens of paper-based information has become a widespread goal. However, the simple truth is that today we have more paper-based information, document processing labor costs, document storage overhead, and hard-copy related dependencies in our society than ever before.
In fact, the dream of a paperless society remains a faint gleam in the tired eyes of today's information workers. Reams and reams of paper continue to pile up on desktops and fill filing cabinets to overflowing in offices all over the world. If anything, the increased number of computers have exacerbated the rapidly increasing flow of paper in our society. In making information systems available to the masses, computers have allowed more and more people to generate ever growing quantities of paper which, in order to be useful, must be read and processed by someone, somewhere.
It is estimated that businesses worldwide generate more than 2 trillion pages of documents annually. In addition, in spite of the rapid proliferation of computer systems and computer users, it is estimated that less than 25% of the information used in the world today is available in a computer-accessible format. The average office worker spends 10%-40% of their time looking for information, much of it paper-based. And for every $1 spent producing a paper document, $10 dollar is spent to process and store that document. The very paperwork that drives most businesses and organizations is slowly starting to choke the productivity out of some of them as these businesses are unable to effectively and efficiently manage paper-based information.
Recognizing this problem, attempts have been made to better manage and control the paperwork that flows into the information stream each and every day. Some of these previously implemented solutions are based around the notion of creating, storing, and accessing electronic images directly in a computer system, bypassing hard copy completely. This solution makes sense only when a company or organization achieves fairly tight control over the generation and use of documents and can, therefore, effectively reduce the paper flow in certain situations. However, much of the paper burden in a given organization is directly attributable to paper-based documents that are generated by external sources. This means that most businesses and organizations, regardless of their internal systems, still receive and process paper-based information.
One answer to the problems associated with management of the vast quantities of paper-based documents generated by businesses today is the continued growth and adoption of “out-sourced” filing operations. These outsourcing companies will periodically travel to a customer's facility and retrieve their paper-based documents for off-site storage. The paper is boxed and marked for future retrieval, if desired, then stored off-site in large, centrally-located warehousing facilities. The outsourcing company may provide additional services such as indexing and “on-demand” retrieval of certain documents, all on a “fee-for-service” basis. Unfortunately, even if a company adopts an outsourced model for storing their physical paper, this merely pushes the storage issue off to another physical location. In addition, the costs associated with retrieval of physical documents stored at an off-site facility can be very high. This is because the retrieval process is a labor-intensive manual process that involves people scouring through boxes of paper stored in massive warehouses. Finally, there is no simple, integrated methodology to track the paper throughout its life cycle since the outsourcing company can't quickly and easily retrieve a given document or page of a document. However, even with the high cost and relative inefficiencies associated with these labor intensive paper storage and management solutions, they are very prevalent in the industry today simply because they do offer a solution.
Other known solutions include document imaging systems which can scan paper-based documents and store/retrieve the resulting electronic images. Though many different document imaging systems have been commercialized since the late 1980s, none have gained widespread acceptance. Even though the quantifiable burdens of paper information storage, access and management are well known and uniformly decried, document imaging systems have not been broadly adopted as an alternative to the traditional filing cabinet. Document imaging systems today capture less than 1% of paper filing volumes. File cabinets continue to fill up, desktop stacks of paper continue to grow, and many business processes and desktops are still paper-bound. International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that in 1997, U.S. business spent $25-35 billion on filing, storing and retrieving paper. This number approaches $100 billion when the total life cycle paper management costs are calculated, according to IDC.
A key reason for continued preference of paper-based document management over electronic document imaging systems, in spite of the problems and costs associated with the use of paper, stems from a fundamental impediment to the wide-scale adoption of imaging technology in the workplace. Basically, the lack of an efficient, cost-effective, adaptable method for driving paper through the scan and index process continues to thwart the efforts of most organizations that try to adopt wide-reaching document imaging solutions. The lack of simple, office automation platforms for image capture and indexing remains a key barrier to broadened use of document imaging.
Document capture (scanning and indexing) sub-systems are usually the most costly, labor-intensive, time-consuming, and error prone component of a traditional document imaging solution. To be effective, a paper-to-digital conversion system must address, at a minimum, the following activities: document aggregation; document preparation for scanning; document batching; document scanning; scanning quality controls; pre-committal image caching; document indexing; database updates; and permanent image storage. Traditional document imaging systems build an input assembly line of process workers, hardware, software, and related network activities to accomplish these tasks. They require network caching and transmission of in-process images, indexing stations
Irons Steven W.
Wright Mark F.
Choules Jack
Imagetag, Inc.
Wright Mark F.
Wright Law Group PLLC
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