Enhanced human computer user interface system for searching and browsing documents
View Patent ↗A system and method for presenting document records to a user through a display interface, comprising means for processing data of the first type through a first applet and data of the second type through a second applet and separately extracting data of the two different types using the separate applets. The user interface provides means for selecting a data file from a plurality of data files, displaying the merged and formatted processed first and second data, and managing a plurality of data files with the host application. Each record on the list may be individually selected, comprising providing at least two distinct categorization inputs from the user, providing an indicia in the record list to indicate a respective record classification, and providing means for selectively processing the records according to a respective classification thereof. The data file employs a standard image format file with an embedded index pointer to segregate two data types. A first data type, preferably an image, is referenced by the index pointer and is located near the terminus of the file. A second data type, for example text, appears immediately after the file header which includes the index pointer, and preferably terminates with an end of file marker. Thus, the single file may be read by both a standard image file reader, and a standard text reader, without parsing or segregation. The two data types are preferably text and image data, and the data file is preferably a tagged image format file (TIFF) file with Group-4 image compression.
1. An article of manufacture including a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations for processing a data file having two different data types, the operations comprising:
analyzing the contents of the data file for data of a first data type and a second data type;
processing the data file with a first applet, adapted to read data of the first data type, to extract data of the first data type; and
processing the data file with a second applet, adapted to read data of the second data type, to extract data of the second data type, wherein the second applet reads data from the data file after a header of the data file until an end of file marker is encountered in the data file;
wherein the data file includes an index portion in the header pointing to the first data type, and the second data type resides between the header and the first data type, having the end of file marker at a terminus thereof.
2. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , wherein the first applet is configured to skip past the end of file marker based on the index portion, therein circumventing processing of the second data type.
3. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
browsing the data file.
4. The article of manufacture of claim 3 , wherein the operation of browsing the data file comprises:
invoking the first and second applets.
5. The article of manufacture of claim 3 , wherein the operation of browsing the data file further comprises:
displaying a list of data files.
6. The article of manufacture of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:
receiving user input to select the data file from the displayed list.
7. The article of manufacture of claim 6 , wherein the operation of receiving user input further comprises:
receiving user input to sort the displayed list.
8. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , wherein the first data type is a graphics type and the second data type is a text data type.
9. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , wherein the header and first data type are compatible with Group 4 Tagged Image Format File specifications.
10. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
managing a plurality of data files with a host application, the host application supporting app let execution, the plurality of data files including the data file.
11. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
selecting the data file from a plurality of data files.
12. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
merging and formatting the extracted data of the first and second data types.
13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
displaying the merged and formatted extracted data of the first and second data types using a window-based environment Windows Visual Basic (VBX) control.
14. The article of manufacture of claim 13 , wherein the at least one VBX control includes an Accusoft ImageGEAR product control produced by Accusoft, wherein the first data type is a graphics data type, and wherein the operation of displaying the merged and formatted extracted data comprises:
displaying the graphics data type using the Accusoft ImageGEAR product control.
15. The article of manufacture of claim 13 , wherein the at least one VBX control includes a BennetTec AllText product control produced by BennetTec, wherein the second data type is a text data type, and wherein the operation of displaying the merged and formatted extracted data comprises:
displaying the text data type using the BennetTec AllText product control.
16. A system for processing a data file having two different data types, the system comprising:
means for analyzing the contents of the data file for data of a first data type and a second data type;
means for processing the data file with a first applet, adapted to read data of the first data type, to extract data of the first data type; and
means for processing the data file with a second applet, adapted to read data of the second data type, to extract data of the second data type, wherein the second applet reads data from the data file after a header of the data file until an end of file marker is encountered in the data file;
wherein the data file includes an index portion in the header pointing to the first data type, and the second data type resides between the header and the first data type, having the end of file marker at a terminus thereof.