System and method for generating quotations from a reference document on a touch sensitive display device

1. A method for generating quotations from a reference document in an inspection compliance system to ensure inspection compliance, the method comprising the steps of:

scanning a unique machine-readable tag deployed at a logical inspection point defined by an inspector;

capturing a media sample of the logical inspection point defined by the inspector which identifies a potential problem at the logical inspection point;

associating the media sample with a corresponding scan of the unique machine-readable tag;

providing a reference document;

capturing an image of a portion of the reference document;

editing the captured portion of the reference document;

generating a quotation comprising an image quotation and a bibliographical reference to a referenced section of the reference document which contains the image quotation in order to substantiate the potential problem identified in the media sample; and

providing the quotation, the unique machine-readable tag, and the media sample to the inspection compliance system to substantiate statements of problems found during an inspection.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein editing the captured portion of the reference document further comprises:

cropping the captured portion of the reference document.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein editing the captured portion of the reference document further comprises:

annotating the captured portion of the reference document.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein cropping the captured portion of the reference document further comprises:

displaying the captured portion of the reference document to be cropped;

receiving a first input from a user designating a first point in the captured portion of the reference document defining a corner of a crop rectangle;

receiving a second input from the user designating a second point in the captured portion of the reference document defining an opposite corner of the crop rectangle; and

cropping the captured portion of the reference document from the first point to the second point of the crop rectangle when the second input is released.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein if the user does not immediately release the second input, allowing the user to drag the second point to visually edit a shape and a size of the crop rectangle.

6. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein if the user drags the second point near an edge of a displayed portion and the reference document is larger than the displayed portion, then scrolling the displayed portion to show a larger portion of the reference document in a direction of the dragged point.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein annotating of the captured portion of the reference document further comprises:

displaying the captured portion of the reference document to be annotated;

receiving a first input from a user designating a first point in the captured portion of the reference document defining a corner of an annotation rectangle;

receiving a second input from the user designating a second point in the captured portion of the reference document defining an opposite corner of the annotation rectangle; and

annotating the captured portion of the reference document from the first point to the second point of the annotation rectangle when the second input is released.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:

displaying a shape corresponding to the annotation rectangle of the captured portion of the reference document before annotating the captured portion of the reference document.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein if the user does not immediately release the second input, allowing the user to drag the second point to visually show a shape and a size of the annotation rectangle.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein if the user drags the second point near an edge of a displayed portion and the reference document is larger than the displayed portion, then scrolling the displayed portion to show a larger portion of the reference document in a direction of the dragged point.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein when the user selects an undo action after a crop operation has been completed, the entire original captured portion of the reference document is displayed.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein when the user selects an undo action a second time after a crop operation has been completed, the original reference document is displayed again.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating a computer-readable link that refers back to the referenced portion of the reference document.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein if text selection is meaningful for the reference document, a user can perform a text quotation.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the text quotation is obtained by selecting a region of text.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the selected text may be edited by the user.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein after the user finalizes the text quotation, the edited text is saved along with a bibliographic reference to the referenced portion of the reference document.

18. A touch-sensitive hand-held system having a capability of generating quotations from a reference document for use in an inspection compliance system to ensure inspection compliance, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one or more memories, operatively coupled to the processor, and containing program code, which when executed causes the processor to execute a process comprising the steps of:

scanning a unique machine-readable tag deployed at a logical inspection point defined by an inspector;

capturing a media sample of the logical inspection point defined by the inspector which identifies a potential problem at the logical inspection point;

associating the media sample with a corresponding scan of the unique machine-readable tag;

providing a reference document;

displaying the reference document;

capturing an image of a portion of the displayed reference document;

editing the captured portion of the reference document;

generating a quotation comprising an image quotation and a bibliographical reference to a referenced portion of the reference document which contains the image quotation in order to substantiate the potential problem identified in the media sample; and

providing the quotation, the unique machine-readable tag, and the media sample to the inspection compliance system to substantiate statements of problems found during an inspection.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:

generating a computer-readable link that refers back to the referenced portion of the reference document.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein if text selection is meaningful for the reference document, a user can perform a text quotation by selecting and then editing a region of text.