Document assembly system
View Patent ↗A document assembly or document automation system includes an assembler for generating an instance document on the basis of a source document and one or more logic source documents referenced by the source document. The source document and logic source documents are XML documents including at least one XML processing instruction. The source document and logic source documents are valid with respect to XML schema. The system generates an instance document in HTML, PDF or RTF format by resolving variables in the source document and/or logic sources using one or more data sources. This may involve performing one or more interview rounds with a user of the system, access to a database, and/or evaluation of a function defined in one of the documents. The system includes an editor for creating and maintaining source documents and logic source documents whilst maintaining their validity with respect to the appropriate XML schema.
1. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed cause a machine to perform a set of operations comprising:
generating at least one instance document from at least one XML source document for a document assembly system; and
determining content at locations of said at least one instance document based on document assembly instructions associated with corresponding locations within said at least one XML source document;
wherein:
(i) said at least one XML source document was created by associating said document assembly instructions with at least one initial XML document;
(ii) said at least one initial XML document is valid with respect to a predetermined DTD or schema that does not include said document assembly instructions;
(iii) said at least one XML source document is valid with respect to the same predetermined DTD or schema as said at least one initial XML document; and
(iv) at least one of said document assembly instructions is associated with one or more corresponding portions of said at least one XML source document, and defines one or more conditions that determine whether the one or more corresponding portions of said at least one XML source document will be included in said at least one instance document.
2. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of said document assembly instructions includes one or more references to one or more other document assembly instructions.
3. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one XML source document includes one or more references to document assembly instructions external to said at least one XML source document.
4. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 3 , wherein at least one of said one or more references to document assembly instructions includes information that allows one or more of said document assembly instructions to be retrieved from a database.
5. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one XML source document includes said document assembly instructions.
6. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one XML source document includes XML Processing Instructions that include or reference said document assembly instructions.
7. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein one or more of said document assembly instructions determine one or more queries, conditions, and/or reusable content for use in determining said content of said at least one instance document.
8. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said one or more queries, conditions, and/or reusable content include interview data defining one or more questions for a user, and constraining responses to said questions.
9. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 8 , wherein said XML source document includes an assembly instruction for including in said at least one instance document response text provided by said user.
10. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 7 , wherein a condition depends upon one or more other conditions.
11. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said conditions are related by Boolean operators.
12. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one XML source document includes one or more references to one or more queries, conditions, and/or reusable content for use in determining said content of said at least one instance document.
13. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the referenced queries, conditions, and/or reusable content are external to said at least one XML source document.
14. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 13 , wherein at least one of said queries, conditions, and/or reusable content is stored in a database, and at least one of said one or more references includes information that allows the at least one of said queries, conditions, and/or reusable content to be retrieved from a database.
15. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 13 , wherein said at least one XML source document includes one or more references to one or more documents defining said one or more queries, conditions, and/or reusable content.
16. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15 , wherein said one or more references to said one or more documents are in the form of universal resource indicators.
17. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15 , wherein said one or more documents are XML documents.
18. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 17 , wherein said one or more XML documents are valid with respect to a DTD or schema.
19. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the set of operations comprises editing said one or more XML documents defining said one or more queries, conditions, and/or reusable content whilst maintaining the validity of said XML documents with respect to said DTD or schema.
20. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 17 , wherein said XML source document includes an assembly instruction for including in said at least one instance document text defined in a referenced XML document.
21. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15 , wherein said document assembly instructions include party instructions referring to attributes of a party defined in one or more of said documents.
22. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 21 , wherein said party attributes include one or more of gender and number.
23. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 21 , wherein said document assembly instructions include party mapping data mapping one or more parties defined in said document assembly instructions to respective parties of said at least one XML source document.
24. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 23 , wherein a reference to an XML document includes party mapping information for mapping a first party used in the referenced document to a second party used in the referring document.
25. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of said one or more corresponding portions of said at least one XML source document includes one or more XML nodes in said XML source document, and a corresponding condition determines whether said one or more XML nodes will be included in said at least one instance document.
26. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said document assembly instructions include application data that can be parsed as XML.
27. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said XML source document includes an assembly instruction for including an element multiple times in said at least one instance document.
28. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 27 , wherein content of said element is correspondingly modified for each of said times.
29. The computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one instance document is an XML document which is valid with respect to the same predetermined DTD or schema as said at least one XML source document.