System for converting data to a markup language

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a document and an associated document type definition;

generating a mapping file from the document, comprising one or more nodes, each node representative of a possible mapping of an element of the document type definition to a portion of the document;

generating one or more candidate paths from the mapping file, with each candidate path representing a possible path from one node in the mapping file to another node in the mapping file;

determining a score for each of the one or more candidate paths;

selecting one of the candidate paths based on the one or more scores; and

converting the one of the candidate paths into a language described by the document type definition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the document is received after the document type definition.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the document type definition comprises a Standard Generalized Markup Language and/or an Extensible Markup Language document type definition.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining a score for each one or more candidate paths comprises:

determining a score based on compliance with the document type definition without inferring additional tags for each of the one or more candidate paths.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining a score for each one or more candidate paths comprises:

determining a score based on the document type definition with inferring tags for each of the one or more candidate paths.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining a score for each one or more candidate paths comprises:

determining a score based on a recursive examination of each path for a predetermined extent from each node in the tree structure of the mapping file for each of the one or more candidate paths.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining one or more scores comprises determining two or more scores for each one of the one or more candidate paths and defining the highest of the two or more scores as the determined scored for the one of the one or more candidate paths.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the document comprises a plurality of segments; and

wherein the actions of generating one or more candidate, determining a score, selecting one of the candidate paths, and converting the one of the candidate paths are performed for each of the plurality of segments.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a document and an associated document type definition;

generating a mapping file from the document and the document type definition, with the mapping file comprising one or more nodes, each node representative of a possible mapping of an element of the document type definition to a portion of the document; and

wherein the disambiguating comprises:

generating all of the permutations of the candidate paths from the mapping file, with each candidate path representing a possible path from one node in the mapping file to another node in the mapping file;

determining a score for each one or more candidate paths;

selecting one of the candidate paths based on the one or more scores; and

converting the one of the candidate paths into a language described by the document type definition.

10. A computer-readable magnetic, electronic, or optical medium comprising computer-executable instructions for:

causing a computer to read a document and an associated document type definition;

causing a computer to generate a mapping file based on the document and the document type definition, with the mapping file comprising one or more nodes, each node representative of a possible mapping of an element of the document type definition to a portion of the document;

causing a computer to generate one or more candidate paths from the mapping file, with each candidate path representing a possible path from one node in the mapping file to another node in the mapping file;

causing a computer to determine one or more scores from the one or more candidate paths;

causing a computer to select one of the candidate paths based on the one or more scores; and

causing a computer to convert the one of the candidate paths into a language described by the document type definition.

11. A system comprising:

A processor configured for receiving a document and an associated document type definition;

A processor configured for generating a mapping file based on the document and the document type definition, with the mapping file comprising one or more nodes, each node representative of a possible mapping of an element of the document type definition to a portion of the document;

A processor configured for determining one or more scores for one or more candidate paths, with each candidate path representing a possible path from one node in the mapping file to another node in the mapping file; and

A processor configured for selecting one of the candidate paths based on the one or more scores; and

a processor configured for converting the one of the candidate paths into a language described by the document type definition.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor configured for receiving, the processor configured for generating, the processor configured for determining, and the processor configured for selecting exist as respective software modules in a memory coupled to one or more computer processors or within various parts of a mainframe computer or within a server or within a personal computer.

13. A computer-implemented method of disambiguating electronic documents, comprising:

receiving a first document for disambiguation, the document having first and second portions, each portion being ambiguated;

disambiguating the first portion of the document and not the second portion of the document; and

outputting a second document comprising the disambiguated first portion of the document and the second portion of the first document;

wherein the disambiguating the first portion of the document comprises:

generating a mapping file from the first document, comprising one or more nodes, each node representative of a possible mapping of an element of an associated document type definition to a portion of the first document;

generating one or more candidate paths from the mapping file, with each candidate path representing a possible path from one node in the mapping file to another node in the mapping file;

determining a score for each of the one or more candidate paths;

selecting one of the candidate paths based on the one or more scores; and

converting the one of the candidate paths into a language described by the document type definition.