Methods and apparatus for secure content routing
View Patent ↗Systems and methods are described which provide handling and secure routing of an article of content in accordance with a code or instruction set identifier embedded in or associated with the article of content. In one aspect, the invention provides a content handling system that comprises a digital data store containing a plurality of instruction sets, each defining a content handling workflow. The system further includes a content handling engine in communication with the store, wherein the content handling engine identifies a code associated with an article of content and executes workflow processing in accordance with an instruction set associated with the code. In various embodiments, an article of content comprises digitally encoded information (e.g., containing one or more of text, image, audio, video, data, and PACS data) and/or information otherwise convertible to digital format (e.g., printed matter, images, film, and audio recordings).
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a content handling engine, an instruction set, wherein the instruction set identifies: i) one or more destinations, ii) a file format for each of the one or more destinations, and iii) a security status for each of the one or more destinations designating whether or not the article of content is to be transmitted securely to the corresponding destination;
storing, in a database, the instruction set;
determining, by the content handling engine, a code that uniquely references the instruction set;
providing, by the content handling engine, an embeddable form of the code, wherein the embedded code is configured to be embedded into one or more articles of content;
receiving, by the content handling engine, an article of content, wherein the code is embedded into the article of content;
identifying, by the processor, the code embedded into the article of content;
after identifying the code embedded into the article of content, identifying, by the content handling engine, the instruction set from the code;
executing, by the content handling engine, the instruction set on the article of content to transform the article of content into the identified format for each of the one or more destinations and with the identified security for each of the one or more destinations,
wherein the executing further comprises:
placing the article of content into a first file,
encrypting the first file using a private key of a sender to create a first encrypted article of content, and
placing the first encrypted article of content into a second file, and encrypting the second file using one or more public keys associated with the one or more destinations; and
distributing electronically to each of the one or more destinations a corresponding transformed article of content.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying, executing and distributing occur automatically after digitalization of the article of content.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the instruction set from the code comprises:
identifying a native code.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the instruction set from the code comprises:
identifying a foreign code; and
translating the foreign code to a native code.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the instruction set from the code comprises:
parsing meta-data of the article of content to identify the code.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying instruction set from the code comprises:
locating the code in a field of the article of content.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the instruction set from the code comprises:
identifying the code using at least one of optical-character recognition, voice recognition, bar code recognition, and voice-to-text recognition.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the instruction set from the code comprises:
accessing a memory storing sets of instructions; and
matching the code with a set of instructions.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the article of content is at least one of: a PDF document, word processing document, electronic mail message, analog audio file, digital audio file, analog video file, digital video file, paper, and an x-ray.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more destinations comprises at least one of: an e-mail address, a telefax number, a printer address, a local file system folder, a network file system folder, and a document repository.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing a format of the article of content to the identified format for each of the one or more destinations prior to the executing step.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the format for each of the one or more destinations comprises one or more members selected from the group consisting of a PDF file, word processing file, electronic mail message, analog audio file, digital audio file, analog video file, digital video file, paper, image file, picture file, text file, and an x-ray.
13. A system comprising:
a database configured to store instruction sets;
a content handling engine, wherein the content handling engine comprises a processor configured to handling and routing of an article of content, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
receive an instruction set, wherein the instruction set identifies: i) one or more destinations, ii) a file format for each of the one or more destinations, and iii) a security status for each of the one or more destinations designating whether or not the article of content is to be transmitted securely to the corresponding destination;
store, in the database, the instruction set;
determine a code that uniquely references the instruction set;
provide an embeddable form of the code, wherein the embedded code is configured to be embedded into one or more articles of content;
receive an article of content, wherein the code is embedded into the article of content;
identifying, by the processor, the code embedded into the article of content;
after identifying the code embedded into the article of content, identify the set of instructions from the code;
execute the instruction set on the article of content to transform the article of content into the identified format and according to the identified security for each of the one or more destinations, wherein the executing further comprises:
placing the article of content into a first file,
encrypting the first file using a private key of a sender to create a first encrypted article of content,
placing the first encrypted article of content into a second file, and
encrypting the second file using one or more public keys associated with the one or more destinations; and
distribute electronically to each of the one or more destinations a corresponding transformed article of content.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the article of content is at least one member selected from the group consisting of: a PDF document, word processing document, electronic mail message, analog audio file, digital audio file, analog video file, digital video file, paper, and an x-ray.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the one or more destinations comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of: an e-mail address, a telefax number, a printer address, a local file system folder, a network file system folder, and a document repository.
16. The system of claim 13 , further wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
compare a format of the article of content to the identified format for each of the one or more destinations prior to the executing step.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the format for each of the one or more destinations comprises one or more members selected from the group consisting of a PDF file, word processing file, electronic mail message, analog audio file, digital audio file, analog video file, digital video file, paper, image file, picture file, text file, and an x-ray.