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Computer-based document management system    

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United States Patent6237011   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/6237011.html
Inventor(s)Ferguson; David R. (Fremont, CA); Hong; An N. (Mountain View, CA); Suleman; Dani (Fremont, CA); Whittemore; Gregory L. (San Jose, CA); Borges; Roland (Redmond, WA)
AbstractA computer-based electronic document and/or paper-based document management application program. The program provides an efficient way to automatically import, index, categorize, store, search, retrieve, manipulate and archive electronic documents. The program is also capable of managing documents regardless of document type or document format.
   














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Inventor     Ferguson; David R. (Fremont, CA); Hong; An N. (Mountain View, CA); Suleman; Dani (Fremont, CA); Whittemore; Gregory L. (San Jose, CA); Borges; Roland (Redmond, WA)
Owner/Assignee     Caere Corporation (Los Gatos, CA)
Patent assignment
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Publication Date     May 22, 2001
Application Number     08/947,029
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     October 8, 1997
US Classification     715/515 715/500 715/526
Int'l Classification     G06S 015/00
Examiner     Feild; Joseph H.
Assistant Examiner     Kindred; Alford W.
Attorney/Law Firm     Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis, L.L.P.
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Priority Data    
USPTO Field of Search     707/515 707/516 707/517 707/515 707/516 707/517 707/515 707/516 707/517 707/526 707/515 707/516 707/517 345/115 345/121 345/127 345/333 345/334 345/335 345/336 345/337 345/338 345/339 345/340 345/341 345/342
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6026416
Kanerva
715/515
Feb,2000

[0 after 0 votes]
5832496
Anand

Nov,1998

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5715441
Atkinson
707/1
Feb,1998

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5640579
Koppolu

Jun,1997

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5537526
Anderson
715/515
Jul,1996

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5499108
Cotte
358/400
Mar,1996

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5060135
Levine
715/769
Oct,1991

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5369508
Lech
358/462
Dec,1969

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What is claimed is:

1. In a computer-based document management system, a method for maintaining a collection of electronic documents comprising the steps of:

creating a clipped document data structure and an associated storage file;

generating a link between the clipped document data structure and each of a plurality of electronic component documents stored in memory, wherein each of the plurality of electronic component documents have an associated storage file;

storing a link between the clipped document data structure and each of the storage files associated with the plurality of electronic component documents in the storage file associated with the compound document data structure; and

maintaining a sequential order in which each of the plurality of electronic component documents are linked to the clipped document data structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating a link between the compound document data structure and each of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the step of:

generating a link between the compound document data structure and each of the plurality of electronic component documents regardless of document type or document format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of generating a link between the compound document data structure and each of the plurality of electronic component documents regardless of document type or document format comprises the step of:

linking the compound document data structure with a STG file for each of the plurality of electronic component documents.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

manipulating the compound document data structure as a single collection of electronic documents.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of manipulating the compound document data structure as a single collection of electronic documents comprises the step of:

electronically transmitting a copy of each of the plurality of electronic component documents to an electronic address such that the plurality of electronic component documents appear at the electronic address as a single collection of electronic documents.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

manipulating the compound document data structure as a collection of individual electronic documents.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of manipulating the compound document data structure comprises the step of:

accessing each of the plurality of electronic component documents individually.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of manipulating the compound document data structure comprises the step of:

electronically searching each electronic component document individually for a document attribute.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the document attribute is a key word or phrase.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the document attribute is a document author.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the document attribute is a document title.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of manipulating the compound document data structure comprises the step of:

electronically indexing each electronic component document individually.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of manipulating the compound document data structure comprises the step of:

electronically categorizing each electronic component document individually.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein an electronic document management program which executes the steps of:

generating a clipped document data structure and an associated storage file;

linking each of a plurality of electronic component documents, stored in memory, to the clipped document data structure, regardless of document type and document format, wherein each of the plurality of electronic component documents have an associated storage file;

storing a link between the clipped document data structure and each of the storage files associated with the plurality of electronic component documents in the storage file associated with the compound document data structure;

maintaining the sequential order in which each of the plurality of component documents were linked to the clipped document data structure; and

displaying a computer generated representation of the clipped document data structure.

15. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said executable step of displaying a computer generated representation of the compound document data structure comprises the executable steps of:

displaying a representation of each of the plurality of electronic component documents; and

simultaneously displaying a selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents.

16. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 15, wherein said program further comprises the executable step of:

advancing forward or advancing backward through the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents.

17. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 15, wherein the representation of each of the plurality of electronic component documents is thumbnail.

18. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 15, wherein the representation of each of the plurality of electronic component documents is an icon.

19. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said program further comprises the executable steps of:

selecting the computer generated representation of the compound document data structure; and

manipulating the compound document data structure, including the plurality of electronic component documents, as a single collection of electronic documents.

20. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 19, wherein said executable step of manipulating the compound document data structure, including the plurality of electronic component documents, as a single collection of electronic documents comprises the executable step of:

e-mailing the compound document data structure to an e-mail address, wherein the plurality of electronic component documents appears at the e-mail address as a single collection of electronic documents.

21. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said program further comprises the executable steps of:

selecting the computer generated representation of the compound document data structure; and

manipulating a selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents.

22. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 21, wherein said executable step of manipulating the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the executable step of:

accessing the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents individually.

23. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 21, wherein said executable step of manipulating the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the executable step of:

electronically searching the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents individually for a document attribute.

24. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 23, wherein the document attribute is a key word or phrase.

25. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 23, wherein the document attribute is a document author.

26. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 23, wherein the document attribute is a document title.

27. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 21, wherein said executable step of manipulating the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the executable step of:

electronically indexing the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents individually.

28. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 21, wherein said executable step of manipulating the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the executable step of:

electronically categorizing the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents individually.

29. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 21, wherein said executable step of manipulating the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the executable step of:

deleting the selected one of the plurality of electronic documents from the compound document data structure.

30. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 21, wherein said executable step of manipulating the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents comprises the executable step of:

editing the selected one of the plurality of electronic component documents.

31. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said executable step of generating the compound document data structure comprises the executable steps of:

dragging a display representation of a first electronic document; and

dropping the display representation of the first electronic document onto a display representation of a second document.

32. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 31, wherein said executable step of displaying a computer generated representation of the compound document data structure comprises the executable step of:

replacing the display representation of the second electronic document with the computer generated representation of the compound document data structure.

33. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said executable step of generating the compound document data structure comprises the executable steps of:

dragging a display representation of an electronic document; and

dropping the display representation of the electronic document onto a display representation of an existing compound document data structure.

34. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said executable step of generating the compound document data structure comprises the executable steps of:

dragging a display representation of an existing compound document data structure; and

dropping the display representation of the existing compound document data structure onto a display representation of an electronic document.

35. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein said executable step of generating the compound document data structure comprises the executable steps of:

dragging a display representation of a first existing compound document data structure; and

dropping the display representation of the first existing compound document data structure onto a display representation of a second existing compound document data structure.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage file associated with the compound document data structure contains only a file name of the compound document data structure and the links to each of the storage files associated with the plurality of electronic component documents.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein each of the storage files associated with the plurality of electronic component documents includes a file name field, a memory location field, a bit map representation field and a text field.

38. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein the storage file associated with the compound document data structure contains only a file name of the compound document data structure and the links to each of the storage files associated with the plurality of electronic component documents.

39. The computer-readable storage medium in accordance with claim 38, wherein each of the storage files associated with the plurality of electronic component documents includes a file name field, a memory location field, a bit map representation field and a text field.
 Description Submit all comments and votes
 


BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to computer-based document management systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-based document management system that has the capability of importing, organizing, browsing, searching and viewing paper-based documents and electronic documents of any type or format.

In today's business environment, most businesses, from small businesses to large corporate entities, organize and maintain a tremendous amount of information, particularly information in the form of paper-based documents and electronic documents. The task of organizing and maintaining such a large number of documents, as well as document types, can, and typically is, a time consuming and costly matter.

In response, the computer industry, particularly the computer software industry, offers a number of computer application programs designed to help mitigate this problem. Some of these computer application programs work in conjunction with optical scanners to automatically import paper-based documents into the host computer. Other application programs are directed more specifically at providing electronic file management services for existing electronic documents. Some of the more advanced computer application programs attempt to integrate a number of different capabilities into a single application program. Among the capabilities that some of the more advanced programs provide are automated document importing, storage, manipulation, retrieval, indexing, archiving, exporting and document annotation. Included among these more advanced application programs are PageKeeper by Caere Inc., PaperPort by Visioneer, and PAGIS by Xerox.

Despite the many features already offered by the various software products currently on the market, there is still a tremendous need to provide a more efficient product. This is especially true regarding the way in which these existing computer application programs combine and manipulate collections of related electronic documents, wherein each electronic document may exhibit a different file type or file format. For example, a user may wish to maintain a group of related documents, such as a number of documents pertaining to a particular business meeting. The various documents may include such items as spreadsheets, notes, minutes, letters, and miscellaneous graphical presentations, wherein each document may have been created by a different person using any one of a number of different software tools. In addition, the user may wish to compile this group of documents and send it to each of the meeting attendees. Depending on the number of documents being compiled, this task could prove to be quite formidable and extremely time consuming even with the programs currently available. Therefore, the ability to quickly and efficiently group documents of any type and/or format, and, if desired, distribute them without sacrificing the individuality of each document, would be desirable.

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to a method for managing documents in a computer-based system. The present invention provides a number of improvements over prior methods, particularly, the way in which the present invention allows a user to combine, view, and manipulate a collection of documents.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a way to combine any number of electronic documents into a stack of documents.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a way to view and/or manipulate a stack of documents as a single collection of documents.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a way to view and/or manipulate a stack of electronic documents as a single collection of documents without relinquishing the individuality of those documents, such that each document can be individually accessed.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the foregoing and other objects are achieved by a method for maintaining a collection of electronic documents. The method includes steps for creating a compound document data structure; generating a link between the compound document data structure and each of a plurality of electronic component documents stored in memory; and maintaining a sequential order in which each of the plurality of electronic component documents are linked to the compound document data structure.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing and other objects are achieved by a method, similar to the one described above, wherein the method further includes the step of displaying a computer generated representation of the compound document data structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a diagram of a general purpose computer which could be used to implement the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating some of the features and utilities employed by the present invention;

FIG. 2A is an exemplary representation of an STG file associated with a document;

FIG. 2B is an exemplary representation of an STG file associated with a clipped document;

FIG. 3 depicts the hierarchical organization of an exemplary document collection in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a screen display of the user interface associated with the change notification utility;

FIG. 5 is a screen display of a first scanner preferences user interface;

FIG. 6 is a screen display of a second scanner preferences user interface;

FIG. 7 is a screen display of a third scanner preferences user interface;

FIG. 8 is a screen display of a fourth scanner preferences user interface;

FIG. 9 is a screen display of the scanner control interface;

FIG. 10 is a screen display of a first Browser utility user interface;

FIG. 11 is a screen display of a second Browser utility user interface;

FIG. 12 is a screen display of the second Browser utility user interface with a customizable application toolbar;

FIG. 13 is a screen display of a third Browser utility user interface containing icons representing transitional documents;

FIG. 14 illustrates the user interface for conducting a basic document search;

FIG. 15 illustrates the user interface for conducting an advanced document search;

FIG. 16 is a screen display of the document viewing utility user interface;

FIGS. 17A-D illustrate a drag and drop operation in conjunction with the creation of a clipped document;

FIG. 18 is a screen display of the file helper user interface;

FIG. 19 is a screen display of a secondary file helper utility user interface;

FIG. 20 is a screen display of the directory monitor user interface;

FIG. 21 is a screen display of the task manager user interface; and

FIG. 22 is a screen display of the system task bar illustrating the task manager icon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention involves a system and/or method for managing electronic documents in a general purpose computer, such as the general purpose computer 100 illustrated in FIG. 1A. The present invention further includes a system and/or method for importing electronic documents and electronic representations of paper-based documents from any number of different sources. For example, the present invention is capable of importing electronic representations of paper-based documents from a scanner 105, word processing documents from an internal memory such as a RAM (not shown) or an external memory 115 (e.g., a hard drive), e-mail from an internet connection 120, or a document containing graphical image data from a server 125 supporting a local-area network, to which the general purpose computer 100 is connected. Once a document has been imported, the present invention employs a system and/or method for automatically categorizing, indexing, browsing, viewing and otherwise manipulating the document, along with each of the other documents contained in what is herein referred to as the document collection. As one skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the present invention can be implemented in software, using standard programming methods and techniques which are well known in the art.

The present invention employs a number of core features 150 as well as a number of document management utilities as illustrated in FIG. 1B. The core features 150 refer to certain attributes or characteristics that the present invention employs and/or executes in the background to support the various document management utilities. For the purpose of simplicity, the following description of the present invention is divided into the various core features 150 and document management utilities. The order in which each invention feature and/or utility is presented herein below is not intended to limit the present invention in any way. Rather, the scope of the invention is given by the appended claims.

Data Storage (STG) Files

The first core feature 150 of the present invention is a unique data storage (STG) structure referred to herein as an STG file. The present invention maintains an STG file for each document in the document collection. A new STG file is created for each new document, and an existing STG file may be updated if the corresponding document is modified.

Each STG file contains a number of standardized data fields. This provides a way to maintain various attribute data and other information for a given document in a common, standardized format regardless of the document's type (e.g., text document versus image document) or the document's format (e.g., JPEG versus HTML). In a preferred embodiment, all STG files are stored in a common disk directory.

FIG. 2A represents an exemplary STG file 200 along with some of the data fields that may be contained therein. For example, STG file 200 may include a data field 205 which contains a file name, e.g., "001.STG", to identify the corresponding STG file 200. The STG file 200 may also include a data field 210 and a data field 215 which reflects the memory location of the corresponding document and a bit map defining a representative thumbnail respectively. The STG file 200 may also contain a data field 220 which reflects the raw text associated with the corresponding document. The raw text data is primarily used for indexing purposes. Indexing is described in greater detail below. In addition, the STG file 200 is likely to contain a number of other data fields (not shown) for such attributes as document author, publishing date, word count, annotations, and/or key words if the document belongs to a particular category. Categories and categorization of documents are also explained in detail below. If the document corresponding to the STG file is an image document, data fields may be included for such attributes as image type (e.g., color, black and white, or gray scale), image dimension, and/or image meta-text with text positioning information.

An STG file also exists for each clipped document stored by general purpose computer 100. A clipped document is a special type of compound document data structure. Typically, a clipped document incorporates a number of related or component documents in a particular document order similar to attaching a number of physical documents together with a paper clip. When a clipped document is created, an STG file is generated. Unlike STG files associated with individual documents, an STG file associated with a clipped document includes a data field having its own file name, e.g., "002.STG" and a number of additional data fields which contain the identity of the STG files corresponding to the component documents. FIG. 2B shows an exemplary STG file 250 that is associated with a clipped document. As illustrated, STG file 250 links the clipped document with four component documents, wherein the STG files that correspond with the four component documents are identified by their file names as follows: 100.STG, 101.STG, 211.STG and 084.STG. Clipped documents are described in greater detail below.

Aside from creating an STG file for each new document and each new clipped document, an existing STG file may be updated if the corresponding document or clipped document is edited or modified in some way. For example, if a user modifies an existing word processing document, upon saving the modified version of the document, the corresponding STG file is updated, if necessary, particularly the text data field 120.

Organization of the Document Collection

In a preferred embodiment, the document collection is organized into a hierarchy of files, clipped documents, and electronic folders, wherein electronic folders may, in turn, contain additional files, clipped documents and nested folders. The data that defines how the hierarchy of files, clipped documents and electronic folders are organized with respect to each other is maintained in a compound data structure referred to herein as the document collection organization (DCO) file.

The DCO file is the second core feature described herein, and it contains, in essence, all of the information necessary to resurrect or reconstruct the document collection hierarchy, which takes on the appearance of an organizational "tree" 300, as illustrated in FIG. 3. For example, the DCO file contains the information necessary to establish that folder F.sub.1 contains two nested folders F.sub.2 and F.sub.3. In addition, this exemplary DCO file contains the information necessary to establish that there are a number of documents D.sub.1, D.sub.2, D.sub.3 and D.sub.4 directly associated with folder F.sub.1 ; that there are two documents D.sub.3 and D.sub.4 directly associated with folder F.sub.2 ; that there are two documents D.sub.5 and D.sub.6, as well as a nested folder F.sub.4 associated with folder F.sub.3 ; and that folder F.sub.4 contains a document D.sub.4 and a clipped document S.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, each user, in a multiple-user environment, has the ability to create a user profile for a local terminal or workstation. The user profile, in essence, defines a "local" version of the primary document collection and the document collection hierarchy, which are, in turn, defined by the various STG files and the DCO file respectively, as described above. The user profile may define the local document collection such that it includes all of, or a portion of, the documents in the primary document collection. The user profile may also define the local document collection such that it reflects a different document collection hierarchy than the one defined by the DCO file for the primary document collection.

This is accomplished, in part, by maintaining a local STG file for each document in the local document collection. In addition, a local version of the DCO file is maintained, which defines the hierarchy of the documents in the local document collection. Although a user can, of course, alter the content of an existing document in the primary document collection by manipulating the document locally, and hence, the content of the STG file associated with that document, the user profile cannot alter the document collection hierarchy defined by the DCO file for the primary document collection.

Visual Document Storage

The present invention also employs a virtual document storage scheme. Virtual document storage is the third core feature described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates the concept of this virtual document storage feature. It will be recognized that document D.sub.4 appears in several folders within the organizational hierarchy 300. First, it is associated with folder F.sub.1. Next, it is associated with folder F.sub.2. Finally, it is associated with folder F.sub.4. However, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, this does not mean that three copies of document D.sub.4 are stored in the DCO file. On the contrary, the content of document D.sub.4, as with each and every document in the document collection, is stored in its entirety in but one memory location, and the DCO file links folders F.sub.1, F.sub.2 and F.sub.4 to the one copy of document D.sub.4 by providing a pointer from each folder F.sub.1, F.sub.2 and F.sub.4 to the STG file 310 associated with the document D.sub.4.

The virtual document storage feature saves memory space, it simplifies the task of updating files, and it guarantees document integrity by maintaining but one version of a given document, as one skilled in the art will readily understand. For example, if a user modifies an existing document, such as document D.sub.4, the modifications are reflected in the affected data fields in the corresponding STG file 310. Consequently, these modifications are reflected whenever the user, at a later time, accesses the document D.sub.4 through folder F.sub.1, F.sub.2 or F.sub.4.

Indexing and Retrieving

In addition to the core features 150 described above, the present invention employs a number of document management utilities. The first of these utilities is the indexing and retrieving utility 157, the focus of which is an index and retrieval engine. The index and retrieval engine, among other things, maintains an indexing database comprising an index or list of each document in the document collection and a cross-reference between each document in the document collection and various key terms and/or document attributes that are stored for each document in the corresponding STG file. The indexing database, in turn, is primarily used to support the document search function, which is described in greater detail below. Briefly, however, the present invention employs a search engine which has the ability to compare the information in the indexing database with one or more user-supplied search terms or attributes. Documents whose indexing information match the user-supplied search terms or attributes are then identified and/or retrieved.

The index and retrieval engine also continuously updates the indexing database. For example, when a new document becomes part of the document collection, an STG file is created for that document, as explained above. In a preferred embodiment, the index and retrieval engine also creates a new entry in the indexing database for the new document, cross-referenced with key terms and other attributes extracted from the new document's STG file.

In addition, the index and retrieval engine continuously monitors the contents of existing STG files. If a document is modified, and if the modification is reflected in the corresponding STG file, the index and retrieval engine updates the indexing database accordingly.

Another related utility is the Universal Resource Locator (URL) indexing module. Essentially, a URL is a World Wide Web site that furnishes information regarding the location and, in some cases, the content of particular Web sites and/or Web documents. The URL indexing module provides the ability to index this information so that a user can more effectively access a Web site or retrieve a particular web document as if it were any other document stored in the document collection.

In the present invention, there are three exemplary embodiments for implementing the URL indexing module. The first exemplary embodiment involves auto-indexing "bookmarks". A bookmark is an entry in a list of commonly used web sites. In accordance with this embodiment, an STG file is created for each bookmark. The second exemplary embodiment involves physically copying a URL into memory, and indexing information relating to that URL. In this embodiment, an STG file is created for the URL. The third exemplary embodiment involves viewing a particular document located at or identified by a particular URL. Again, information relating to this document may be indexed as with any document in the document collection. Moreover, an STG file is created for the document, and the document can be imported through the Browser utility, which is described below.

Categories and Categorization of Documents

The present invention also employs a categorization utility 159 that provides different levels of automated assistance in organizing the document collection. A category is a logical grouping of documents that share some common attribute or attributes, sometimes referred to as category criteria. For example, a category may consist of a number of documents that share a common author, a number of documents that contain at least a predefined number of words, a number of documents that contain certain key words, or a number of documents that share a common concept. A more specific example might be a category called "company press releases" or a category called "all e-mails I've sent out". Categories can also be defined hierarchically. In other words, a category may have a subcategory. For example, "all e-mails I've sent out to my group" might be a subcategory of "all e-mails I've sent out".

The categorization utility 159 implements a category by associating a corresponding set of category criteria with a folder in the document collection hierarchy; however, it will be recognized that not every folder in the document collection hierarchy is associated with a category. For example, in FIG. 3, folder F.sub.2 is associated with a category as indicated by the symbol "*". However, folders F.sub.1, F.sub.3 and F.sub.4 are not associated with a category.

Folders that are associated with a category are, in general, referred to herein as "smart" folders. They are referred to as smart folders because the categorization utility 159 continuously searches through the STG file directory, or a portion thereof, for documents that match the category criteria associated with each smart folder. If a match is identified, the categorization utility 159 generates a link between the smart folder and the matching document, through the matching document's STG file, thus creating the appearance that smart folders automatically collect matching documents without user interaction.

As stated, the categorization utility 159 may only search a portion of the STG directory for documents that match the category criteria of a given smart folder. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the categorization utility 159 limits its search of the STG directory to only those STG files associated with documents that are linked to the smart folder's parent folder. For example, in FIG. 3, F is a smart folder. In accordance with this exemplary embodiment, the categorization utility 159 searches the STG files associated with F.sub.1, wherein F.sub.1 is the parent folder of F.sub.2. Accordingly, the categorization utility 159 only searches through the STG files associated with the documents D.sub.1, D.sub.2, D.sub.3 and D.sub.4. At present, only the documents D.sub.3 and D.sub.4 match the category criteria associated with the smart folder F.sub.2.

Generating a link between a document and a smart folder may occur after an STG file is created for a new document, or it may occur after an existing STG file has been updated due to the modification of its corresponding document, wherein the modification caused the document to meet the category criteria of the smart folder. Similarly, if a document is modified such that the modification causes the document to no longer meet the category criteria of a particular smart folder, the link between that document's STG file and the smart folder may be eliminated.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the categorization utility 159 categorizes documents under various smart folders using one of three possible categorization methods: auto categorization; semi-automatic categorization; or manual categorization.

With manual categorization, a document, through its corresponding STG file, is linked with a particular category, hence a particular folder, when a user physically "drags and drops" a display screen representation of the document onto a display screen representation of the folder. As the categorization utility 159 did not previously nor automatically categorize the document with this folder, the folder is either not a smart folder or it is an inactive smart folder, or the folder is an active smart folder, but the