System and method for managing dynamic document references
View Patent ↗Document fragments are managed by the use of fragment objects. Fragment objects contain a reference to a portion of a source document. Referencing documents contain a reference to a fragment object which delivers the content of the fragment of the source document to the referencing document. The source document can be directly updated through updating the fragment of the source document contained in the referencing document via the use of the fragment object. Source document deletion is controlled by storing the references to the source document by fragment objects so that no fragment object has a reference to a nonexistent source document. A process for organizing document fragments within a document management system wherein source documents comprise duplicates of the document fragments includes replacing a duplicate fragment with a reference to a single fragment object the fragment object including a reference to a fragment of a source document and an object class method for deletion of the fragment object including instructions to remove the reference to the fragment object from the metadata of the source document to which the fragment object refers.
1. A method for generating a document, comprising:
(a) accessing a referencing document;
(b) invoking a fragment object referenced by the referencing document, the fragment object including a first set of data corresponding to a document fragment of a source document, the fragment object including a second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document;
(c) determining access credentials of a user;
(d) comparing the access credentials of the user with access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document;
(e) encrypting the document fragment of the source document when it is determined that the access credentials of the user fail to correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document;
(f) incorporating the document fragment into the referencing document when it is determined that the access credentials of the user correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document to generate a document; and
(g) incorporating the encrypted document fragment into the referencing document when it is determined that the access credentials of the user fail to correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document to generate a document.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the fragment object includes a third set of data corresponding to a transformation of the document fragment of the source document, further comprising:
(h) transforming the document fragment of the source document based on the third set of data when it is determined that the access credentials of the user correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document;
(i) encrypting the transformed document fragment of the source document when it is determined that the access credentials of the user fail to correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document;
(j) incorporating the transformed document fragment into the referencing document when it is determined that the access credentials of the user correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document to generate a document; and
(k) incorporating the encrypted transformed document fragment into the referencing document when it is determined that the access credentials of the user fail to correspond to access criteria data in the second set of data corresponding to access to the document fragment of the source document to generate a document.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the transformation of the document fragment of the source document further translates an original language of the document fragment of the source document into a language corresponding to a language of the referencing document, the original language of the document fragment of the source document being different from the language of the referencing document.
4. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the transformation of the document fragment of the source document further changes a font characteristic of the document fragment of the source document.
5. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the transformation of the document fragment of the source document further encrypts the document fragment of the source document.
6. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the transformation of the document fragment of the source document further decrypts the document fragment of the source document.