U.S. patent application number 12/909333 was filed with the patent office on 2011-04-21 for document validation system and method.
This patent application is currently assigned to Decernis, LLC. Invention is credited to Kevin Kenny, Clive Raven, Andrew B. Waldo, Yong Zou.
Application Number | 20110093403 12/909333 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38218324 |
Filed Date | 2011-04-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110093403 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Waldo; Andrew B. ; et
al. |
April 21, 2011 |
Document Validation System and Method
Abstract
The present invention relates generally to the field of
self-validating documents in supply chain management, documentation
services and method for creating the same.
Inventors: |
Waldo; Andrew B.; (Bethesda,
MD) ; Zou; Yong; (Potomac, MD) ; Raven;
Clive; (Sittingbourne, GB) ; Kenny; Kevin;
(Brunswick, MD) |
Assignee: |
Decernis, LLC
Washington
DC
|
Family ID: |
38218324 |
Appl. No.: |
12/909333 |
Filed: |
October 21, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11614811 |
Dec 21, 2006 |
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12909333 |
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60752980 |
Dec 21, 2005 |
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60755897 |
Dec 30, 2005 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/318 ;
235/375 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 50/18 20130101;
G06Q 30/0185 20130101; G06F 40/226 20200101; G06Q 10/06 20130101;
G06Q 10/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/318 ;
235/375 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/00 20060101
G06Q010/00 |
Claims
1. A product validation system for a product or material for at
least one of validating product or material conformance with
certification requirements and determining whether the product or
material is subject to recall, restriction, alert, warning or
quarantine, comprising: a certification document including at least
one of a certification statement certifying compliance with at
least one of (i) a material or product property and a regulatory,
customer, supplier and a commercial requirement for said product or
material, and (ii) a statement identifying the produce or material
as subject to recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine, a
unique identifier for at least one of a shipment, container or item
of said product or material, the unique identifier being carried by
an identifier holder; wherein the unique identifier carried by the
identifier holder is accessible by at least one identifier
interrogator, and wherein the at least one identifier interrogator
is configured to receive validation and/or recall, restriction,
alert, warning or quarantine information associated with said
certification document from a dynamic source of validation
information in response to reading of the unique identifier from
the identifier holder.
2. The product validation system of claim 1, wherein the unique
identifier accompanies the product or material.
3. The product validation system of claim 2, wherein the unique
identifier is affixed to the at least one of the shipment,
container or item of the product or material.
4. The product validation system of claim 1, wherein the unique
identifier is maintained at a location remote from the at least one
of the shipment, container or item, and the dynamic source of
validation information is configured to return said validation
and/or recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine
information associated with said certification document from the
dynamic source of validation information in response to receipt of
the unique identifier from the remote location.
6. The product validation system of claim 2, wherein the identifier
holder may be interrogated by a non-contact identifier reading
device.
7. The product validation system of claim 6, wherein the
non-contact identifier holder is an RFID tag and the non-contact
identifier reading device is an RFID tag reader.
8. The product validation system of claim 6, wherein the
non-contact identifier holder is a machine-readable label and the
non-contact identifier reading device is an optical reader.
9. The product validation system of claim 6, wherein the
non-contact identifier holder is configured to, in response to
interrogation of the identifier holder, transmit the identifier to
the dynamic source of validation information and to receive the
retrieved validation and/or recall, restriction, alert, warning or
quarantine information.
10. The product validation system of claim 6, wherein the
non-contact identifier reading device is configured to transmit at
least location information of the non-contact identifier reading
device with the transmission of the identifier to the dynamic
source of validation information.
11. The product validation system of claim 6, wherein the retrieved
validation and/or recall, restriction or quarantine information
transmitted to the non-contact identifier reading device is
accessible at the reading device in a preferred language of the
reading device user.
12. The product validation system of claim 1, wherein said dynamic
source of validation information is located on at least one secure
web server.
13. The product validation system of claim 1, wherein said
certification document is one of a document containing
certification statements of the compliance or properties of the
product or material, a purchase order, an advance shipment notice,
a notice of product recall, restriction, quarantine, warning or
alert, a material safety data sheet, an import notification, a
customer notice, and a bill of lading.
14. A method for, during and after receipt of a shipment of a
product or material, at least one of validating product conformance
with certification requirements and determining whether the
shipment is subject to recall, restriction, alert, warning or
quarantine, comprising: providing a unique identifier for the
shipment of said product or material on or in an identifier holder
configured to accompany the product or material during the
shipment; interrogating the identifier holder with a non-contact
identifier reading device to retrieve the unique identifier;
transmitting the unique identifier to a dynamic source of
validation information; and retrieving at least one of validation
information and recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine
information associated with the unique identifier from the dynamic
source of validation information to the non-contact identifier
reading device.
15. The method for shipment validation of claim 14, wherein the
non-contact identifier holder is an RFID tag and the non-contact
identifier reading device is an RFID tag reader.
16. The method for shipment validation of claim 14, wherein the
non-contact identifier holder is a machine-readable label and the
non-contact identifier reading device is an optical reader.
17. The method for shipment validation of claim 14, wherein the
retrieved information transmitted to the non-contact identifier
reading device is accessible at the reading device in a preferred
language of the reading device user.
18. The method for shipment validation of claim 14, wherein the
certification document is one of a document containing
certification statements of the compliance or properties of the
product or material, a purchase order, an advance shipment notice,
a notice of product recall, restriction, quarantine, warning or
alert, a material safety data sheet, an import notification, a
customer notice, and a bill of lading.
19. The method for shipment validation of claim 14, further
comprising: storing unique identifiers obtained by interrogation of
at least one shipment identifier holder in a unique identifier
database; transmitting at least one of the unique identifiers
stored in the unique identifier database to the dynamic source of
validation information; and retrieving at least one of validation
information and recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine
information associated with the at least one of the unique
identifiers from the dynamic source of validation information to a
device associated with the unique identifier database.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of
self-validating documents in supply chain management, documentation
services, method and data processing system for creating the
same.
[0002] Millions of documents are passed in global commerce between
supplier and recipient containing control statements within
certification documents, such as for the safe use and handling of a
product or its compliance with applicable restrictions. Studies
have shown a high rate of error in such documents.
[0003] Global trade in products between a supplier and a customer
depends upon the control statements made in certification
documents, such as Material Safety Data Sheets and Safety Data
Sheets (MSDS or SDS), letters of certification or compliance
certifications, because such control statements define the
parameters of use of the product. For example, an MSDS for a
hazardous substance or formulation, has become the common means by
which the supplier communicates to the customer the controls
necessary for safe handling of the product as well as its
compliance with applicable restrictions whether in the U.S. at the
federal or state level, or the requirements of another country or
international convention.
[0004] With regard to other types of products, a letter of
certification or compliance certification document, from the
supplier of food and consumer products contains control statements
that communicate requirements applicable to the use of the product.
For instance, a certification document might accompany the
supplier's shipment of a food packaging material to stipulate that
the product could be used only with certain types of foodstuffs
under the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration or
similar governmental agencies of other countries. Such
certifications may relate to regulations, standards, religious
codes (e.g., keeping Kosher), scientific studies and the like.
Millions of such documents are generated and transmitted every year
in many different languages and countries for many different types
of products and uses.
[0005] In many cases such documents are a compilation of standard
control statements defining various parameters of use of the
product. It is common for such documents to be prepared and
generated using a document authoring system or enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system such as SAP from a phrase library that may
have different language variants.
[0006] However, although the recipient of a generated certification
document has the control statements for the product, he is not able
to obtain or validate the source document supporting a control
statement in an automatic way. Nor can the recipient automatically
determine whether a change relevant to a control statement in the
received certification document might have occurred from the time
of the document's creation.
[0007] Moreover, the recipient may wish to use the product in a
different market or area of the world, and is unable to relate the
control statements relevant in one jurisdiction to parameters of
use in other jurisdictions or areas. Independently of the
supplier's certifications the recipient may also simply wish to
review the control statements in a certification document to
determine whether information is missing or for which he requires
additional information by reviewing the source document of such a
statement. Finally, the recipient may wish to relate the general
information conveyed about the product in the received document to
information about a specific shipment of that product received from
the supplier where the shipment has, for example, a particular RFID
code. This last aspect is especially important where a product
recall or alert has occurred for specific shipments of a
product.
[0008] It is desirable, therefore, to provide a data processing
system to support the automatic validation of control statements
made about products flowing through the supply chain. Normally,
validation of a control statement is done as a manual task by the
recipient. Providing a data processing system for such information
will improve the safety of products in the supply chain, will
improve the transparency of global product requirements, will
reduce cost of product approval, and will reduce mistakes.
[0009] It is also desirable for the customer to validate the
control statements of the supplier whenever possible through an
automatic data processing system. Although the customer must
legally rely on the statements of the supplier, a prudent customer
may wish to independently validate such a certification by looking
up the reference to determine that it is current or to assure
himself or herself that important omissions have not been made.
[0010] The communication of control statements is not simply a
one-to-one relationship between a supplier and a customer, but
rather between a many-to-one relationship of multiple upstream
suppliers in a supply chain with the customer. The customer may
receive a certification document with control statements that
depend upon the specific claims of an upstream manufacturer of raw
materials used by the immediate supplier of the customer; however,
the upstream manufacturer may be unwilling to disclose important
source information to the immediate supplier without a
non-disclosure agreement, because of claims of confidentiality or
trade secrecy.
[0011] For example, a manufacturer of a plastic sells to a small
converter that produces formed cups to a yogurt food processor. The
small converter may provide certifications, but these depend on the
materials used in the conversion process. Often it is not the
certification statement itself that is confidential; rather it is
the source document supporting the statement that is confidential
(e.g., test results or toxicological study). Thus, the yogurt food
processor has a critical need to be assured of claims or compliance
certifications that include both the immediate supplier and the
upstream raw material suppliers. The need of the customer is to
validate control statements of the immediate supplier as well
as--to the extent permitted by the upstream supplier and under
terms agreed to by the customer--the control statements passed
through the supply chain from upstream manufacturers that concern
raw materials or other conditions important to the immediate
customer's use of the received product.
[0012] Many such certification documents transmitted by suppliers
to customers--important though they are--contain omissions or
errors. Indeed, according to a recent study of the completeness of
safety data sheets: "The deficiencies for the different headings
[that is, of the 16 sections of a standard format MSDS] vary
between twenty percent and forty percent". ECLIPS: "European
Classification and Labeling Inspections of Preparations, including
for Safety Data Sheets", Final Report 2004 published by the
European Enforcement Network, page 11. In consequence, the control
statements made in the safety data sheets reviewed in the study
have deficiencies that may include missing control statements,
out-of-date control statements, or other errors. Further, according
to the report, the error rates of regulatory statements in section
fifteen of the MSDS, where required regulatory certification
statements are made, averaged 35%. Ibid. Similar findings have
resulted from Canadian studies. Welsh M. S.; Lamesse M.; Karpinski
E. "The Verification of Hazardous Ingredients Disclosures in
Selected Material Safety Data Sheets." Applied Occupational and
Environmental Hygiene, Volume 15, Number 5, 1 May 2000, pp.
409-420(12). OSHA has performed studies of MSDS quality: [0013]
Based on the chemical ingredients identified, the accuracy in the
other four areas of concern was evaluated based on information
obtained from readily available reference sources. The evaluation
indicated that 37% of the MSDSs examined accurately identified
health effects data, 76% provided complete and correct first aid
procedures, 47% accurately identified proper personal protective
equipment, and 47% correctly noted all relevant occupational
exposure limits. Only 11% of the MSDSs were accurate in all four
information areas, but more (51%) were judged accurate, or
considered to include both accurate and partially accurate
information, than were judged inaccurate (10%). (Found at the world
wide web address osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/finalmsdsreport.html).
[0014] Given the importance of such certification documents and the
control statements that they contain to the safety of the
recipient, means to improve accuracy, as addressed in the present
invention should be established. A number of studies agree: Error
rates in supplier certification statements are high.
[0015] In the area of food safety, FDA has established processes
for review of hazards: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
(HACCP). Nevertheless frequent reports appear where a food
processor has purchased a material that contains a contaminant not
reviewed adequately.
[0016] The probability of error between supplier and customer
increases with the volume of certification documents and the number
of suppliers. In chemical-using industries, the number of raw
materials for a single manufacturer can be thousands or tens of
thousands and the number of suppliers in the hundreds or thousands.
The same holds true in the food-processing and food-related
industries. As a result there is an essential need to improve
methods of validation of supplier's statements and to monitor
important changes that may have occurred that relate to the
supplier's statements.
[0017] It is true that the supplier may have proprietary evidence
to support a certification and may not have revealed the full
composition of a formulation under restrictions on the disclosure
of confidential business information, in which case an independent
evaluation is limited. Nevertheless, the customer can perform many
checks based on the information presented by the supplier, and may
as a standard practice adopt a review and validation of a
supplier's certification statements.
[0018] Further, apart from any regulatory requirements, a number of
industries have established their own internal standards that must
be met in any procurement of raw materials by the company. For
example, Volvo has established: VOLVO Corporate Standard STD
1009,11 (Established 2/1998) CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES WHOSE USE WITHIN
THE VOLVO GROUP SHALL BE LIMITED (VOLVO'S GREY LIST).
[0019] Such ad hoc customer procurement standards that are in
addition to any mandatory governmental requirement and accepted
only in the face of market pressure have become widely accepted in
part because of the difficulties and high error rates in
certification documents being passed in the supply chain between
supplier and customer. In addition, these standards are subject to
change without notice. Such ad hoc standards increase the cost of
compliance and its complexity, and reflect the need for an improved
method of producing, distributing, and validating certification
documents in the supply chain.
[0020] A customer has several validation needs: [0021] Accuracy and
Currency. Has the supplier correctly cited a supporting reference
related to the safe handling of a product and is it current? [0022]
Access to Source Documents. Can the customer obtain the cited
reference? [0023] Access to Cited References. How can the customer
obtain a cited sub-reference within the cited document? [0024]
Completeness. Are there other related restrictions or references
that have been omitted or overlooked? [0025] Global Scope. Are
there similar restrictions in other countries or languages? [0026]
Customer's Use vs. Supplier's Scope. Are there other restrictions
that apply to the customer's use in another market, but which the
supplier has not directly addressed in the certification that are
nonetheless critical to the customer (e.g., the customer purchases
a product in the U.S., and receives a U.S. certification document
but intends to use it as a component or trans-ship it to another
country)? [0027] Change Management Regarding Supplier Statements.
After a period of time subsequent to the first receipt of the
certification how can the customer be informed if an important
amendment or modification has occurred related to a certification
for the product that the customer has purchased? Again, although
many regulations require the automated updating of MSDS or other
certifications in the event of a "significant" regulatory change,
many recipients seek to independently review supplier information.
[0028] Change Management with Regard to Customer's Uses. After a
period of time subsequent to the first receipt of the certification
how can the customer be informed of other related changes of
interest but not provided by the supplier that may affect the
customer's use of the product, for example, in a country to which
transshipment occurs? [0029] Upstream Supplier Certifications.
Access to upstream supplier certifications relating to the
immediate supplier's product or changes in these certifications
under authorized terms and conditions acceptable to the upstream
supplier.
[0030] Today, suppliers and customers seek to establish checks
within their business processes and to establish review systems
within their organizations, but it is prone to error and oversight
especially in light of the complexity of global markets. The reason
is straightforward: These review systems are separated from the
certification document itself. The present invention provides a
data processing system to support automatic validation and
addresses this need.
[0031] There are many ways in which suppliers generate such
certification documents either manually or by automated means
within a system. For example, enterprise resource planning systems
(ERP's) such as that of SAP (e.g., SAP EH&S) assist suppliers
in automatically generating MSDS.
[0032] The components of such systems often include: [0033] A
composition database containing products and detailed composition
and raw materials [0034] Properties tables or databases containing
associated values, classifications, and restrictions applicable to
substances and properties. Such property tables may also include
the automated calculations from business rules; [0035] Phrase
libraries--sometimes with translations of phrases--that contain
control statements to be included in generated documents; [0036]
Transaction control tables that include data that prevents or
alerts the potential shipment, purchase, import, export, or sale of
a product that may be forbidden; [0037] Document databases that
include the generated documents or other documents that may be
associated with a product, substance, or process; and, [0038]
Business rule tables with conclusions (Left Hand Side--LHS) actions
that depend on criteria (Right Hand Side--RHS parameters). For
example, if benzene is a component in a formulation greater than
0.1 percent used in the United States, then insert the phrase code
associated with the conclusion "carcinogenic" into the properties
table for this substance identifier.
[0039] There are a number of current limitations in such systems:
[0040] ERP and document authoring systems as SAP EH&S, do not
today include a dynamic component, such as a hyperlink, in phrase
libraries of control statements used in the creation of
certification documents, one that permits the recipient to validate
a control statement within a received document in an automatic
manner; [0041] ERP and document authoring systems do not provide
for validation of control statements through automatic means in
generated certification documents for products from within the
generated documents; [0042] Although it is common for a
manufacturer to hyperlink from a product listing on a web-site page
to a related MSDS or technical document associated with the
product, for example, it does not exist that the control statements
in the certification document hyperlink to the authoritative source
document for that statement or data element. [0043] Data processing
systems do not exist to pass certification documents containing
dynamic control statements with hyperlinks in business-to-business
exchange of such between computer systems in computer readable form
so that the control statements with hyperlinks can be extracted and
placed in a database for further use. [0044] As a result, such data
processing systems do not today allow the generation of
certification documents that permit automated third-party
validation and change management support services in association
with control statements made. [0045] Such data processing systems
do not use the loading and storage of certification documents with
control statements using hyperlinks. [0046] It is not possible to
obtain direct access to upstream manufacturer control statements or
certification documents as described through a central service and
no general practice or data processing system exists to provide
this information.
[0047] One of the most difficult tasks of regulatory managers
within supplier and customer organizations is keeping up with new
or modified regulations or standards. Such compliance tracking
tasks focus on the raw materials purchased, the substances
manufactured, the processes themselves, or the products sold or
distributed. The regulatory manager may use enterprise systems,
subscribe to publications, participate in trade organizations, or
search the web for information about change.
[0048] Equally difficult is the task of determining or obtaining
upstream raw material certifications for products obtained from the
immediate supplier.
[0049] It is desirable, therefore, to provide the capability for
such a regulatory manager to validate a dynamic control statement
within a certification document by a hyperlink to the source
document supporting the control statement. In addition, it is
desirable to provide the capability for the recipient of a
certification document to determine by clicking a hyperlink whether
amendments, new requirements, or modifications that pertain to a
control statement have occurred for a given period of time, for
example, since the time that the certification document was
generated.
[0050] It is desirable, therefore, to provide a system by which a
recipient's computer system can receive a certification document
with its control statement from an upstream supply chain actors in
such a manner that the recipient can store and re-use these control
statements in authoring a further certification document for a
product where the parameters of use are dependent on the control
statements of the upstream supplier. Further, the downstream
recipient does not have a system by which he can validate the
control statements of the upstream provider, if authorized.
[0051] There are many services where you can enroll to receive
updates of journals, regulations with customized scope defined by
the user. Such services include: [0052] Westclip on Westlaw [0053]
ECLIPSE on Lexis/Nexis [0054] U.S. Federal Register
[0055] However, the regulatory manager, researcher, or document
recipient is interested in changes that relate to the context of
the certification document and a particular control statement
within it, which at present means that the process of analyzing the
control statements within a certification document is separate from
and totally independent of the process of tracking changes. The
complexity and discontinuity of these two important
processes--receiving the certification document and determining
changes that relate to such a document's control
statements--increase the probability of accidental
non-compliance.
[0056] In addition to the data processing system for
self-validation of certification documents, it is desirable for the
researcher to obtain relevant documents from a searching or
indexing system that will return a compilation of documents that
includes not only direct references to the search term for a
material but also a synonym, identifier, translation, or reference
to a class or group containing the search term as a member. It is
also desirable if the document reference from such a search will
return the document opened at the relevant page with the applicable
direct reference, synonym, identifier, translation, or reference to
a class or group containing the search term as a member. Finally,
it is desirable if the researcher can obtain a subset of documents,
for example, only those that have changed where the returned
reference is to a document containing not only a direct reference,
but also a synonym, identifier, translation, or reference to a
class or group containing the search term as a member.
[0057] Publishers maintain large libraries of abstracts of
knowledge in various areas related to science and business, among
other fields. One example is the ILLUMINA.RTM. system published by
CSA and another is SCOPUS.RTM. by Reed-Elsevier. Although such
systems may contain links to the full-text documents associated
with an abstract, they do not include either the search
capabilities or validation system as described in this
invention.
[0058] Referring now to FIG. 12, an example prior art search from
Google.RTM. illustrates the need. In this instance, the researcher
has searched for a material, specifically, a chemical, which is
"crotonic acid". Google.RTM. returns two thousand five hundred and
twenty (2,520) document references. Entering a synonym,
"(E)-2-Butenoic acid" returns only twenty-two (22) document
references. A Dutch synonym, "Crotonzuur" returns no hits and the
message: "Try different keywords". This search illustrates both a
searching display and a searching index that does not return
document references that include a compilation of not only direct
references, but also synonyms or translations of a material term.
This is a common approach of existing search displays and indexing
methods, for example, Google.RTM., SCOPUS.RTM., ILLUMINA.RTM., and
others.
[0059] In searching for documents relevant to a material, the
research is often interested in documents that include a reference
to a class of which the search term is a member. For example, if
the user enters the term, "crotonic acid", he or she may be
interested in a document that refers to "Ungesattigte aliphatische
Mono- and Dicarbonsauren" because the meaning of this chemical
class with many members includes the specific substance, crotonic
acid. Similarly, if the user searches for "sodium chromate", the
user would be interested in documents that include a reference to
"hexavalent chromium compounds". Such indirect references to broad
classes including the direct search term are not returned by the
example searches above of Google.RTM..
[0060] The search term and interest in a reference to a broad group
may not necessarily be a chemical, but also a foodstuff, biologic,
or formulation. A comprehensive search for the term, "orange",
according to the present invention, should return a link to a
document including a reference to "citrus fruits, except lemon and
limes". Current search systems may return synonyms, (e.g., TOXNET)
and may include related identifiers and translations of substance
names, but do not include a systematic cross-referencing system for
such; nor do they include parent classes within the context of the
regulation or referenced document.
[0061] An identifier for a material is a particular type of
synonym. Many such identification systems are used by regulatory or
scientific organizations, where an alphanumeric code represents a
material. For example, the European Union uses EINECS numbers to
refer to existing chemicals. FDA has its own system, as do the
governments of Japan and Korea. Other systems, include color index
numbers, etc. It is desirable to provide a system and method that
spans any identifier returning documents that include a reference,
whether that reference is a synonym, translation, parent group or
class, or identifier in addition to any direct reference.
[0062] Web-based search engines do not include such features
whether in the simultaneous display of document links containing
references to synonyms, translations, identifiers, and parent
groups in addition to direct references or whether in methods used
to index documents to extract references to such terms.
[0063] Current systems, including those noted above, do not: [0064]
Search with the scope and methods described above or in this
invention; nor [0065] Return a document opened at the relevant page
with the term highlighted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0066] One embodiment of the present invention includes a system
for validating at least a portion of a certification document for
at least one material. The system includes a certification document
including at least one dynamic control statement relating to and
defining parameters of use for the at least one material, wherein
the certification document is accessible by at least one recipient,
and, wherein the dynamic control statement is validated by
retrieving validation information relating to the dynamic control
statement from a dynamic source of validation information.
[0067] Another embodiment of the present invention includes a
method for indexing documents in a data processing system, the
documents including a reference to at least one material,
comprising: inputting a document into the data processing system;
extracting at least one alphanumeric string from the document;
determining relevant alphanumeric strings from the extracted
alphanumeric strings by processing the extracted alphanumeric
strings utilizing at least one algorithm by comparing, in sequence
and in combination, the extracted alphanumeric strings with
material terms in at least a dictionary database of common material
terms; matching the relevant alphanumeric strings with materials
alphanumeric strings stored in the data processing system; and
storing the matched alphanumeric strings in respective matched
records in the data processing system.
[0068] Another embodiment of the present invention provides methods
for generating, distributing, validating, and searching documents
about products that include standardized phrases that are claims
made about the compliance of the product with guidelines,
standards, and laws or that are properties of the product supported
by a bibliographic reference to a literature reference.
[0069] Yet another embodiment of the invention provides for a
database of standard phrases (hyperlinked standard phrase database)
each with its own with unique identification code, a text phrase
that defines a specific claim or statement, optional translated
variants of the text phrase in a one-to-one relationship to the
unique identification code, and a hyperlink to a server that can
retrieve a document or translation supporting the specific claim
made by the standard phrase. In this manner, the Hyperlinked
Standard Phrase Database can be distributed and used by many
parties in the supply chain so that any document generated that
includes the phrase will have a standard meaning and any recipient
of the document can validate the statement through clicking on the
hyperlink.
[0070] Another embodiment of the invention provides for the
Hyperlinked Standard Phrase Library Database including a hyperlink
that will return an index, compilation or reference to all changes
in the source documents relating to the statement.
[0071] A further aspect of the method above is that it allows the
author of the document to use a standard enterprise resource
planning system (ERP), such as SAP, Oracle, or other document
authoring system to include standard phrases from the phrase
database as well as his or her own phrases in a flexible manner so
that the document can contain a combination of phrases that are
standard, other phrases from upstream suppliers of raw materials,
and phrases inserted by the document's author. The standard phrases
can be selected based on need by the document's author in a
completely free and flexible manner. What is new is that the
standard phrase will have a hyperlink to a document or function
retrieving the relevant text. In addition, the standardization of
the hyperlinks permits the recipient of a document in any form that
accepts hyperlinks to retrieve source documents associated with a
claim from a centralized service that can route and retrieve
hyperlinked source documents from any server wherever located.
[0072] A further aspect of the method above is that it allows for a
system of user authorization associated with standard phrases
contained in generated product documents. In this manner, an
upstream supplier can pass to his direct customer a statement with
a hyperlink to a secure server open only to authorized users. Let
us suppose that the statement is public but the source documents
supporting the claim are confidential. Thus, the customer can
include the statement in an authored document and distribute the
document to his downstream customers, but the control to open
access to the confidential supporting document is controlled by the
provider of the standard phrase.
[0073] Another embodiment of the present invention also relates to
a method for indexing documents including a description of at least
one material in a data processing system. The method includes
inputting a document into the data processing system; extracting at
least one alphanumeric string from the document; determining
relevant alphanumeric strings from the extracted alphanumeric
strings by processing the extracted alphanumeric strings utilizing
at least one algorithm by comparing, in sequence and in
combination, the extracted alphanumeric strings with material terms
in at least a dictionary database of common material terms;
matching the relevant alphanumeric strings with materials
alphanumeric strings stored in the data processing system; and
storing the matched alphanumeric strings in respective matched
records in the data processing system.
[0074] Another embodiment of the present invention provides methods
for searching document management systems and an improved means of
efficiently locating, searching, and categorizing documents stored
on Internet web-sites to enable identification and
cross-referencing of references to dangerous chemicals within
documents in any language.
[0075] One aspect of the present invention provides for
post-processing of identified documents to permit a document to be
opened at a relevant page with the term of interest highlighted,
and in the integration of found documents into a validation system
supporting certification documents transmitted between supplier and
recipient
[0076] Another aspect of the present invention provides a
validation that can be established from within the document itself
in an analogous manner to the checks that occur in giving a credit
card to a merchant in order to effect a purchase. A third-party
service supports the security of the transaction between merchant
and customer that reduces fraud and improves the efficient
functioning of markets--based on the credit card itself.
[0077] Another aspect of the present invention provides a review
system and related validation technologies based on the
certification document itself.
[0078] One aspect of the present invention provides for a system of
self-validating documents with independent validation support
services. Another aspect of the present invention provides a
self-validating certification documents passed between supplier and
recipient based on standard phrases to be included in such
documents together with validation hyperlinks that invoke a series
of services, including: a) the retrieval of a cited document opened
at a referenced page with a highlighted section associated with a
material, material class, topic, use, or legal citation; b) the
retrieval of summary reports of all requirements related to the
standard certification phrase; c) the retrieval of all amendments,
additions, and deletions of requirements related to the
certification phrase; d) the retrieval of related property data
records that may be automatically loaded into a document management
or enterprise resource planning system; and e) the retrieval of
transaction control alerts. One embodiment of the present invention
provides for the generation indexing, extraction, and formation of
documents containing validation links.
[0079] Another aspect of the present invention provides a system of
self-validating documents through which a downstream recipient of a
certification document can assure himself of upstream
certifications related to the submission of the immediate supplier
in a confidential manner acceptable to an upstream supplier.
Another aspect of the present invention provides self-validating
certification documents passed to the validation service by the
upstream supplier, including a standard phrase, a validation
hyperlink to the source document, and an authorization procedure.
If the downstream user accepts or meets the conditions of the
authorization procedure, a series of services are made available
that relate to the upstream certification in the context of the
immediate supplier's product or use, including: a) the retrieval of
a cited upstream supplier document opened at a referenced page with
a highlighted section associated with a material, material class,
topic, use, or legal citation; b) the retrieval of summary reports
of all requirements related to the standard certification phrase,
including the supplier's confidential certification statements; c)
the retrieval of all amendments, additions, and deletions of
requirements related to the certification phrase, including the
upstream supplier's confidential certifications; d) the retrieval
of related property data records that may be automatically loaded
into a document management or enterprise resource planning system,
including upstream supplier data; and e) the retrieval of
transaction control alerts, including transaction control alerts
that relate to the upstream supplier's certifications.
[0080] Another aspect of the present invention provides for the
generation indexing, extraction, and formation of documents
containing validation links.
[0081] Yet another aspect of the present invention provides that
the user to search for a standard synonym and return a highlighted
reference to a literal reference on the page of a document, which
provides the capability to link proper synonyms to literal names
found within the text of a document that may not be "acceptable",
as well as the ability to link in synonyms based on confidential
upstream supplier references;
[0082] Another aspect of the present invention provides linking not
only to sets of chemical substances but to any "material" that may
not be chemicals in the proper sense at all that may be biological
agents, products, or concepts (`sweeteners`), including but not
limited to confidential upstream supplier materials.
[0083] Another aspect of the present invention provides a system of
self-validating documents including direct submissions between a
supplier and a recipient as well as multiple party submissions
through a chain of supplier-user relationships.
[0084] An aspect of the invention provides for supporting the
validation system in its method to search and index documents in
order to extract references to materials, material classes, and
legal citations.
[0085] An aspect of the invention provides for supporting the
validation system through access to upstream supplier
certifications or certification documents through an authorization
system.
[0086] Additional objects and advantages of the present invention
will be apparent in the following detailed description read in
conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0087] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for validating
certification documents according to one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0088] FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a system for validating
certification documents according to one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0089] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment of
the system of the present invention.
[0090] FIG. 3 is a chart illustrating an example of a hyperlinked
standard phrase library of the system of one embodiment of the
present invention.
[0091] FIG. 4 is a diagram of a certification document including a
dynamic control statement according to one embodiment of the
present invention.
[0092] FIG. 5A is a block diagram of a data processing system
according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0093] FIGS. 5B and 5C are flowcharts of a method for indexing
documents in a data processing system according to one embodiment
of the present invention.
[0094] FIG. 6 is a diagram of a database produced by the method for
indexing documents of one embodiment of the present invention.
[0095] FIG. 7 is a diagram of a result of a search for a chemical
term according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0096] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an alphanumeric string in a
document to be indexed utilizing the method of one embodiment of
the present invention.
[0097] FIG. 9 is a chart illustrating a materials database of one
embodiment of the present invention; and
[0098] FIG. 10A is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment of
a data processing system described herein.
[0099] FIGS. 10B and 10C are flowcharts of an alternative
embodiment of a method for indexing documents in a data processing
system described herein.
[0100] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a materials database of one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0101] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing results of a search for a
materials term according to the prior art.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0102] "certification document"--As used in this invention, a
certification document comprises: A purchase order, advanced
shipment notice, shipping document, material safety data sheet,
compliance certification statement, customer procurement standard,
compliance statement, technical dossier, label, guideline,
legislation, regulation, and standard as well as any document,
submission, or compilation required for REACH (Registration,
Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals under any
related requirements).
[0103] "control statement"--As used in this invention, a control
statement is a phrase intended to be included in a document to
communicate the parameters of use of a material.
[0104] "authoring system"--As used in this invention, an authoring
system is a software application employed for one of the
preparation, generation, and distribution of a certification
document.
[0105] "dynamic control statement"--As used in this invention, a
dynamic control statement is a control statement that includes a
function that can be executed by the recipient to retrieve one of a
document, document reference, document link, compilation, summary,
data, and function to perform the same. An example of a function
that is included in a dynamic control statement is a hyperlink. An
illustration of such a dynamic control statement might be "This
product complies with EU Directive 2002/72/EC" found on the
worldwide web at
decernis.com/reference/document/2002.sub.--72_en.pdf.
[0106] "parameter of use"--As used in this invention, a parameter
of use is a restriction, limitation, approval, guideline, standard,
practice, recommendation, characteristic, behavior, measure, and
data for a material.
[0107] "recipient"--As used in this invention, a recipient is a
human being and a computer system.
[0108] "validation information"--As used in this invention,
validation information is a dynamic control statement, source
document, compilation, summary, alert, recall, and reference
supporting said dynamic control statement.
[0109] "data processing system"--As used in this invention, a data
processing system is a one or more programmable electronic devices
that can store, retrieve, and process data.
[0110] "logical function"--As used in this invention, a logical
function is a business rule, programmable computer routine that
performs a calculation with variables and returns a result. For
example, a business rule expressed descriptively is "if the
concentration of a component of a mixture is above 0.1% and that
component is a listed carcinogen, then insert the control statement
database key which is associated with the phrase `Carcinogenic`."
An example of a logical function expressed descriptively is "if the
web server receives a request from a dynamic control statement for
a variable associated with the retrieval of a document from the
server's document database, then a check should be performed of the
user's authorization in the authorization database".
[0111] "material"--As used in this invention, a material means a
chemical, formulation, biological product, any virus, therapeutic
serum, toxin, antitoxin, or analogous product, and finished
article. Examples of materials include but are not limited to
formaldehyde, perfume, compounds, Irganox, processed foods, and
serums. Examples of a finished article includes a toy.
[0112] "document"--As used in this invention, a document means a
computer file whether as a whole or deconstructed into component
parts for electronic transmission and communication.
[0113] "alphanumeric string"--As used in this invention, an
alphanumeric string means a sequence of computer codes representing
letters, numbers, and control characters, such as a line ending and
punctuation mark.
[0114] "algorithm"--As used in this invention, an algorithm is a
computer procedure that begins in an initial state and terminates
in a definite end state, applied here to process alphanumeric
strings to prepare for, compare, determine the relevance of, and
terminate indexing and searching related to a material term. For
example, an algorithm to prepare an individual alphanumeric string
for matching with a material term, is to strip all punctuation
codes, raise all letters to capital, and to store the result in
temporary memory. Another example of an algorithm is to compare any
given alphanumeric string after processing with a database of
material terms similarly processed and sorted in order of longest
terms first.
[0115] "sequence"--As used in this invention, a sequence is one or
more alphanumeric strings extracted from a document in a defined
order. For example, the order of extraction includes but is not
limited to the presentation of columns within a document and
processing in order within a column. Another example is that the
order of extraction of alphanumeric strings should follow the
natural order of the language, i.e., from left-to-right in
English.
[0116] "dictionary database"--As used in this invention, a
dictionary database is a collection or records stored
systematically in an electronic medium so that it may be
queried.
[0117] "common words"--As used in this invention, common words
means a dictionary of terms that are ignored as noise in
indexing.
[0118] "matching"--As used in this invention, matching is a
procedure that terminates in accepting or rejecting an alphanumeric
string extracted from a document to determine whether it is
identical to a term describing a material stored in a database.
[0119] An embodiment of the invention is a data processing system
that improves the capability of a recipient of a certification
document to validate dynamic control statements made in the
document to define the parameters of use of a product by including
within the document hyperlinks that retrieve the source document or
reference supporting the given dynamic control statement from a web
server (see FIG. 1). This embodiment has the effect of
communicating data about the parameters of use of a product to
improve product safety and compliance.
[0120] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 1A, a data processing system
using hyperlinked dynamic control statements in a certification
document is illustrated according to one embodiment of the present
invention. A certification document 152 is generated by an author
from a client computer 100 via a document authoring application 101
that resides on a document authoring server 151 for a product sent
to a recipient 153. Dynamic control statements for a product
retrieve, e.g., by hyperlink, an authoritative source document 102
and are included in an electronic certification document 104 for
electronic transmission to the recipient 153 via a network.
However, a recipient may also receive the electronic document via
computer readable medium, such as XML or other electronic document
exchange or by posting or sending a link to a secure web server,
discussed in more detail below, to the recipient 153. The recipient
153 validates a dynamic control statement, for example, by clicking
on a hyperlink in the electronic certification document 104 that
returns from a validation server 154 at least one of the following
sources of validation information: (a) a source document 107
supporting the dynamic control statement; (b) a list of change(s)
109 relevant to the dynamic control statement; (c) a compilation
108 of references related to the dynamic control statement, and (d)
alerts 110. The validation server 154 is preferably a dynamic
source of validation information, as the information is preferably
updated at least at predetermined intervals.
[0121] The request 113 is passed to the web-server 106, which may
be in a number of different forms, including but not limited to
HTTP, SOAP, remote object function calls, web services protocols,
and the like. The web-server 106 passes the request to the
application server 111 that returns a response to the request
114.
[0122] A hyperlinked standard phrase library 102 includes for each
dynamic control statement at least one of the following and
preferably including a hyperlink, hyperlink fragment, or other
variable that serves to invoke a function: a unique identification
code, a phrase identification code, a language code, a text string,
and a hyperlink or hyperlink fragment stored in a database. In a
preferred embodiment each dynamic control statement may have
translated variants associated with dynamic components, e.g.,
hyperlinks, that will return from a server the source document
supporting the statement. In another preferred embodiment the
hyperlink may be fully formed or a unique fragment associated with
the unique phrase code which when appended to a base URL address
where the server application has been loaded will return from a
server the source document supporting the statement.
[0123] A dynamic control statement with a hyperlink in the present
invention can be included in a certification document,
advantageously to providing the recipient 153 the capability to
validate it.
[0124] The hyperlinked standard phrase library 102 is preferably
integrated into a document authoring application 101, for example
an enterprise resource planning system, such as SAP R/3, SAP
EH&S, product life cycle management system, or material safety
data sheet generation system. The author of the document 100 to be
prepared for a material stored in the Product Composition Database
103 selects unique dynamic control statements with the hyperlinks
that represent parameters of use to be included in the
certification document for a given product. For example, a food
contact certification document for a particular grade of
polyethylene is being manufactured and an author selects the phrase
"Kunstoffverordnung Nr. 476/2003" (with its associated dynamic
component, e.g., hyperlink) to indicate the compliance of the
manufactured product with an applicable food contact regulation in
Austria. The author electronically places into a certification
document the phrase with its hyperlink to the authoritative
document so that the recipient can validate the dynamic control
statement independently.
[0125] The generated certification document 152 may be in any form
that accepts a hyperlink or logical function to retrieve validation
information for a dynamic control statement 104, including HTML,
RTF, Microsoft Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, or in a structured data
format such as XML but not limited thereto.
[0126] The document received by the recipient 153 includes dynamic
control statements with a hyperlink or logical function to retrieve
the source document accessible from a validation server 154. The
recipient of the certification document who wishes to examine the
authority for a particular dynamic control statement may request
113 the source document from the hyperlink through the validation
server. The web server 106 receives the request that is processed
by the validation application 111 to retrieve the requested data
from the database 112. The recipient is directed to the source
document 114 through the web server 106.
[0127] FIG. 3 illustrates one example of an embodiment of the
present invention for a Hyperlinked Standard Phrase Library of
dynamic control statements with hyperlinks, providing a more
detailed illustration of 102 in FIG. 1. In this example of a
preferred embodiment, a unique identification code 300 groups
dynamic control statements that have been translated into different
languages so that the document authoring application 101 can
produce a certification document 152 in FIG. 1 in any of the
languages available in the Hyperlinked Standard Phrase Library. The
Phrase Code 301 identifies the specific dynamic control statement
in the database. The Language Code 302 defines the language of the
text phrase, i.e., the dynamic control statement, 303. In addition,
the hyperlink or hyperlink fragment 304 references the source
document or documents supporting the specific dynamic control
statement in any available language. The address of the hyperlink
can refer to any one of the following to produce the results 107,
108, 109, or 110 for a dynamic control statement: A specific
document, compilation, or summary in the document database 112 of
FIG. 1, an index pointing to a document, compilation, or summary,
or an argument of a function that will retrieve or generate a
requested document, compilation, or summary.
[0128] Referring now to FIG. 2 a data processing system using
hyperlinked dynamic control statements in a certification document
252 is illustrated according to one embodiment of the present
invention in which the certification document 252 is transmitted in
computer readable form. In this embodiment of the present invention
the certification document 252 is produced in a computer readable
form, including XML or other electronic document exchange formats,
in such a manner that a dynamic control statement 204 can be
received by the recipient's enterprise system 253 via the receiving
computer 215. The dynamic control statement can then be extracted
and stored in the recipient's database 216.
[0129] Again referring to FIG. 2, in this embodiment of the present
invention the recipient can produce electronic reports from the
database 216 in the enterprise system 205 that include dynamic
control statements received in certification documents for a
product. The recipient using the enterprise system 253 can validate
such dynamic control statements by clicking on a hyperlink in any
such generated recipient electronic report will produce a request
213 that will return (214) from the validation server 254 at least
one of the following sources of validation information: (a) a
source document 207 supporting the dynamic control statement; (b)
changes 209 relevant to the dynamic control statement; (c) a
compilation 208 of references related to the dynamic control
statement, and (d) alerts 210. The validation server 154 is
preferably a dynamic source of validation information, as the
validation information is preferably updated at least at
predetermined intervals.
[0130] In a further embodiment of the present invention, the
recipient can implement a document authoring system as in FIG. 1
and load the received dynamic control statements with hyperlinks or
logical functions into the recipient's equivalent Hyperlinked
Standard Phrase Library as in 102 of FIG. 1, thus permitting the
reuse of dynamic control statements in a plurality of document
authoring systems for any dynamic control statement passed through
the supply chain. In an embodiment, the recipient's Hyperlinked
Standard Phrase Library includes at least one of the following with
hyperlinks: standard dynamic control statements, the recipient's
own dynamic control statements, and received dynamic control
statements. The recipient who has implemented a data processing
system of the present invention can generate certification
documents including dynamic control statements passed to the
recipient.
[0131] One embodiment of the present invention provides a
certification document with such hyperlinked dynamic control
statements can be passed to a recipient in a computer readable
medium so that the recipient can then include a received
hyperlinked dynamic control statement in authoring a further
certification document. In consequence, the embodiment provides a
data processing system to improve the means of passing information
in a supply chain to control the safe use and compliance of
products in a standard manner and in a manner that permits the
validation of a dynamic control statement included in a
certification document being transmitted in a supply chain.
[0132] The present invention provides an improved capability to
prepare and distribute hyperlinked standard phrase libraries that
are industry, subject-specific, or within a supply chain with
hyperlinks and optionally translation variants so that a
manufacturer may prepare a certification document in a flexible way
with any selection of applicable hyperlinked dynamic control
statements according to the conclusions of the expert author of the
certification document and thus to permit the recipient to evaluate
the stated parameters of use of the product by reviewing the source
document supporting each dynamic control statement made.
[0133] Further, one embodiment of the present invention improves
upon current practice by providing a method by which the author of
a certification document may add locally authored dynamic control
statements to the hyperlinked standard phrase library or to insert
in a certification document hyperlinked dynamic control statements
received from upstream suppliers of raw materials, which improves
the capability for upstream suppliers to communicate parameters of
safe and compliant use of materials through certification documents
that includes a data processing system that can be implemented by
both direct recipients of a certification document as well as
downstream recipients of a dynamic control statement associated
with the raw materials of a value-added produce to validate the
source documents or references associated with any given dynamic
control statement.
[0134] Through the availability of translated variants, documents
generated with a hyperlinked dynamic control statement may be in
any language. Such translated variants may be required where the
use of the document is in a country with more than one national
language, for example, Belgium, Canada, or Switzerland.
[0135] A further embodiment of the invention improves upon the
capability of the recipient of a certification document 152 to
determine changes in associated source documents relevant to an
included dynamic control statement 104 for a given period of time.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the recipient of a certification
document 152 can request 113 changes 109 relevant to a dynamic
control statement 104 in a certification document 152 for a given
period of time. In an embodiment the argument of the hyperlink of a
dynamic control statement can include a date in order to request
(113) changes (109 in FIGS. 1 and 3) relevant to the source
documents supporting a given dynamic control statement 104. For
example, the argument of a hyperlink may include the date of the
certification document's 152 generation in order that the recipient
can be informed of amendments to a regulation cited by the dynamic
control statement.
[0136] The invention provides a data processing system that
improves upon one of the most difficult tasks for a recipient of a
document in the supply chain, which is to determine whether
important amendments or modifications have come into force, or
further studies or standards, relevant to a specific claim made in
a dynamic control statement. At present, this task is
disadvantageously performed manually by the recipient. For example,
if the text of the dynamic control statement is, "This product
complies with EU directive 2002/72/EC for plastic materials in
contact with foodstuffs" then the hyperlink request 113 to the
validation server 106, 109 can return 114 references to all
successive amendments to this directive since the time of the
certification document's 152 generation. The invention thus
provides an improved capability to provide a data processing system
for standardized change management alerts for dynamic control
statement 104 claims made in certification documents 152 to support
the safe use of a product.
[0137] A further embodiment of the present invention is a data
processing system to provide for product recalls and product alerts
for specific shipments. In an embodiment of the present invention,
an RFID identification number is associated with the certification
document 152 or 252 or to one or more dynamic control statements
104 or 204 with hyperlinks or logical functions in order to return
from the validation server 254 a product recall, alert, or other
information applicable to a specific shipment.
[0138] The present invention improves the capability for a data
processing system to provide alerts regarding product recalls 110,
210 or other information as described above from a validation
server 106, 206 not only in relation to the product in general but
to a specific shipment of that product identified by RFID
identification code, such information regarding a product recall or
alert being automatically provided in response to a request 113,
213 either from a human being 153 or from a computer system 253,
which provides for the advanced shipment notice or other commercial
business-to-business interaction in electronic document exchange
format or in XML format to include a reference to a document
generated with the Hyperlinked Standard Phrase Library and to an
RFID identification of a specific shipment.
[0139] The described embodiments of the present invention improve
the capability of the recipient to review MSDS and similar
compliance certification documents, which otherwise must be carried
out manually. The data processing system of the present invention
further supports review of compliance and review of supplier
certifications for foodstuffs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals,
etc. The present invention is an improvement in that it is based on
the document itself and not on an adjunct manual review process. An
aspect of the present invention is to provide supply chain actors
with a validation service bureau where such actors may generate may
connect generate regular documents, regulatory compliance document
preparation with the source document validation management that the
invention provides.
[0140] A certification document or safety document is self
validating upon review by the recipient. Currently a recipient must
contact the supplier directly to validate documents.
[0141] Another embodiment of the present invention applicable to
certification documents is that the document opened by the
hyperlink or logical function of the invention may open a document,
may open a document at a cited page, or may open a document at a
cited page with a relevant section of the page or document
highlighted. In such a form, the hyperlink or logical function
contains an argument that includes the page(s) number of the cited
document and the sections of those pages to highlight with the
coordinates describing areas of the page to highlight. One example
is to specify coordinates of the highlighted page by defining one
or more rectangular areas of the page to highlight identified by
the x,y positions of the axes of the rectangle that can be
positioned on the space of a page. Other highlighted shapes or
coordinate systems may be provided for within this invention. What
is improved is the capability for the user of a certification
document to click on the hyperlink or invoke a logical function so
that the source document which will be returned from the validation
server opened at the relevant page associated with the statement in
the document with the highlighted relevant section of the page(s)
of the source document.
[0142] A further embodiment of present invention provides access to
a data processing system which is controlled by the level of
service agreed to in a service agreement. In this aspect of the
invention the hyperlink contains an additional argument which is an
authorization code to control users authorized to view or download
the source document referenced by the statement in the received
document, which improves the general capability for upstream supply
chain actors to provide documents containing statements referencing
confidential information to intermediate and downstream actors in
the supply chain. The downstream user can pass along the statement
with the hyperlink or logical function to customers who may rely on
this statement and be granted access based upon the privileges
granted by the owner of the information hyperlinked with the
statement, which improves the potential for a service bureau to
manage authorization privileges for statements included in a
Hyperlinked Standard Phrase Library. In this aspect of the
invention it is not necessary for the service bureau to maintain
the confidential documents themselves, only references to them with
the reviewed authorization privileges.
[0143] To provide an example of the type of certification document
depicted at 152, 252 FIG. 4 shows a certification document for a
Polyethylene product containing dynamic control statements that the
product meets required approvals for its use in several countries.
Each dynamic control statement contains a hyperlink of the type
defined in the invention that permits the customer to receive a
document that can perform one or more of the following: [0144]
hyperlink to the text of the applicable cited regulation,
optionally opened to the relevant page with a highlight of a
section of the page. [0145] hyperlink to a validation server that
will return all regulatory changes for the dynamic control
statement since the date of the document's generation for the
context of the letter for which the behavior of the returned format
or information can be customized; this includes the capability for
authorized users to obtain from a validation server the changes to
the certifications of an upstream supplier; [0146] hyperlink to a
validation server to return a summary report or compilation of
other relevant requirements or restrictions of interest to the
customer; This includes the capability for authorized users to
obtain from a validation server a summary report including the
certifications of an upstream supplier; [0147] hyperlink to a
validation server to return a transaction control alert, such as
"forbidden in transport by air"; [0148] hyperlink to a validation
server to return data in a structured format.
[0149] In the example, 400 illustrates a dynamic control statement
for the United States (401) while 402 illustrates a dynamic control
statement for Sweden. Dynamic control statement 400 hyperlinks to
document 403 with a preferred embodiment in which the section is
highlighted 405.
[0150] 400 illustrates a claim and instruction by the supplier for
the safe use of the product, i.e., a dynamic control statement,
that the product complies with 21 CFR 177.1520(a)(3) (2003). In the
simplest case, the user may be interested in an immediate review of
the relevant source regulation opened at the page with the relevant
page with the section highlighted that relates to FDA regulation of
"Olefin polymers" (as illustrated), a family of plastics that
subsumes the specific product, Polyethylene. To produce this
result, the supplier receives a Hyperlinked Standard Phrase Library
(FIG. 1, 102) that contains identifiers, a phrase code, phrase
texts in optionally different languages, and a validation
hyperlink, as illustrated in FIG. 3. In this example embodiment the
dynamic control statement is: [0151] "FDA, CFR, Title 21 (2003),
177.1520 (a)(3)(i)(c)(1),(b) and (c) 3. 1a. Olefin Polymers." The
validation hyperlink for that phrase code is: [0152]
//decernis.com/reference/navpdf2.jsp?timestamp=6.sub.--5.sub.--2003&profi-
le-1155&doc=2158789.pdf&pg=3&llx=156&lly=173&rux=196&ruy=183&lib=document
in which the validation hyperlink or logical function may contain
one or more components, such as: [0153] URL
[http://decernis.com/reference] [0154] Target function
[navpdf2.jsp] [0155] Timestamp [6.sub.--5.sub.--2003] [0156] Source
[0157] Identifier [0158] Profile [1155] [0159] Topic [0160]
Material [0161] Document [2158789.pdf, page 3, and the document
itself is to be retrieved] [0162] XY positions [lower left x
position (llx) at 156, lower left y position (lly) at 173, right
upper x (rux) position at 196, right upper y position (ruy) at 183]
[0163] In consequence, the validation hyperlink or logical function
can alternatively contain, for example, systematic information that
can be associated with certification phrases in the document.
[0164] In this manner, a database of hyperlinked dynamic control
statements as a component of the data processing system of the
present invention can be distributed to many different suppliers
permitting consistency and validation by recipients in the
communication of the parameters of use of a product, while allowing
for significant customization to meet the needs of a supplier. The
validation database can include dynamic control statements of an
upstream supplier that include a hyperlink to the source document
contained in a database available only to authorized users. In this
manner, the author of a document can assemble certification
statements in a standardized as well as customizable manner that
include both the immediate user's claims as well as upstream
supplier claims although the upstream supplier claims would only be
accessible to an authorized user. As a result certifications can be
passed from multiple parties upstream in the supply chain,
simplifying greatly the assessment task of an downstream user.
[0165] The supplier can use his or her document authoring
environment to embed the appropriate phrase codes within a defined
report template for a given product. The invention is providing a
component that can be used in ERP or document authoring
systems.
[0166] Once the document authoring step has been completed the
supplier distributes the certification document in at least two
ways: [0167] The recipient may be an end-user (153), e.g.,
procurement expert for a customer reviewing compliance for global
raw material acquisitions; [0168] The recipient may be another ERP
system (253) automatically connected in a business-to-business
network in which the transaction data and documents are passed from
the supplier's ERP directly into the recipient's ERP system.
[0169] The end-user can open the document in a number of different
formats (Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, HTML, etc.), and click on the
validation hyperlink within the document itself (401). The user may
invoke (or depending on the customization of the validation
hyperlink) a number of different services from the validation
hyperlink: [0170] The source document may be returned opened at the
relevant page, optionally with a relevant section highlighted (107,
207); [0171] The validation service may provide a report of all
amendments or modifications to the cited document since the date of
the document's generation relative to the timestamp of the
validation phrase code (109, 209); [0172] The validation service
may return a summary report of other regulations within the topical
context of the document as defined in a profile (108, 208); [0173]
The validation service may return alerts, news of proposals
relevant to the certification, or other transaction control
information (110, 210).
[0174] In addition, if the document above contained a statement,
such as "Raw materials used in processing comply with FDA
requirements, according to supplier certification", the source
document would be opened as above, but only to an authorized
user.
[0175] The supplier of the Polyethylene certification has cited a
2003 dated CFR in the above example. An obvious question for the
recipient is whether FDA has promulgated any changes to the
citation from the time that the document was created. Two related
issues arise: a) Was the supplier correct and current in citing the
FDA approval; and b) have any changes occurred since? One aspect of
the present invention provides validating documents for a quicker
and more effective answer to these questions.
[0176] Further, the customer may wish to trans-ship the received
polyethylene [as the example in this case] to another country not
included in the list of certifications. At this point, although the
supplier may not have, in some cases, disclosed all information
necessary for a conclusive answer by the customer, the customer may
wish to make an independent evaluation based upon the information
provided for a number of reasons. The customer's intended market or
use may be perceived as confidential information that the customer
may be unwilling to disclose to the supplier.
[0177] As a result a rich set of validation services is provided on
the basis of the system of validation of the invention, and these
services are available to both supplier and recipient, as well as
downstream in the supply chain.
[0178] Document Searching, Indexing, and Extraction of References
to Materials and Material Classes: An aspect of the invention
provides for supporting the validation system is its method to
search and index documents in order to extract references to
materials and material classes. The invention provides methods for:
[0179] Indexing, searching, and extracting direct references,
identifiers, synonyms and multi-lingual references to "materials"
from a document (e.g., 608, 703, 704); and [0180] Indexing,
searching, and extracting multi-lingual references to "material
classes" from a document (e.g., 609, 701, 702).
[0181] A material in the database has a common identification even
if it may be referenced by many other identifiers as used in
regulations or documents. Although prior art has defined any number
of different types of databases of substances, the present
invention is unique in several respects: [0182] The database has a
superset and unique concept of material that cuts across and
relates individual occurrences to it; [0183] The database structure
links together proper names, synonyms, translations, identifiers,
and literal names (i.e., alphanumeric sequences used in documents
that refer to a material but may be erroneous or have ancillary
alphanumeric characters associated with them), allowing a reference
in a document, which may be entirely erroneous or in a different
language, to be related back to both a proper synonym as well as to
a larger concept of material; and, [0184] The database structure
links all of these references together to the associated
documents.
[0185] A material class is a superset containing one or more
materials. An example of a class defined in many environmental,
safety, and health regulations is "Chrome VI" compounds, which
defines a particular membership of chromium compounds and includes
sodium chromate. In order for the user of a material to meet
applicable requirements, he or she must be aware not only of direct
references to the substance but also indirect references, which
apply through parent-child relationships. For example, sodium
chromate is a "child" of the "parent" class, "Chrome VI compounds".
In many cases, because the legal definition of the regulation's
scope--or more precisely, the document's definitional context--the
use in question may not be a scientific relationship but an
arbitrarily defined one. As noted above, an automaker may define a
set of materials that it has chosen not to purchase, as a matter of
policy. Or, a document may refer to a particular list of salts, but
not all salts of an acid.
[0186] Although prior art includes many uses of parent-child
relationships in databases and to parent-child relationships of
substances to groups, the present invention is unique in that:
[0187] Materials and material class references are related to their
occurrence within documents; [0188] Materials and material classes
are defined within the scope of a document or regulation; [0189]
Materials can themselves be supersets of substances; [0190]
Materials and material classes are structurally linked to
multi-lingual occurrences and to literal name occurrences.
[0191] One embodiment of the present invention is a method and data
processing system to cross-index references to chemicals and
materials in documents not only by a direct reference to a material
but also by one or more of the following: synonym, identifier,
translation, or material class of which the chemical is a
member.
[0192] An illustration from prior Art of the need for the
embodiment of the present invention to provide a method and data
processing system to cross-index references to chemicals and
materials in documents is illustrated in FIG. 12, which provides
the results from three searches from Google Scholar 1202, found on
the worldwide web at scholar.google.com/. The first example 1203 is
a search for the chemical, "crotonic acid" that returns two
thousand five hundred and twenty document references (2,520) 1204.
The second example is a search for a synonym of the chemical,
"(E)-2-Butenoic acid" 1205 that returns twenty document references
(22) 1206 that are not consistent with the references found in the
first search. The third example is a search for a translation of
the chemical, "Crotonzuur" 1207 that returns no search results from
the Google Scholar index or search engine 1208. Similar results
would occur for a chemical class of which crotonic acid is a
member, such as "Ungesattigte aliphatische Mono- and Dicarbonsauren
C3-C8" or " cidos". The approach to indexing chemical terms by
prior Art embodied by other suppliers provides similar
inconsistencies: for example, the search above would provide
similar inconsistent results but for a different document index
library if the same three searches were performed on the publicly
accessible demonstration of Illumina, found on the worldwide web at
csa.com/.
[0193] One embodiment of present invention provides all matching
available document references to the entered search term, synonyms
of the search term, identifiers of the search term, translations of
the search term or classes of which the chemical or material is a
member can be returned from a search for a chemical or material
term (see FIG. 7).
[0194] Referring now to FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C, an embodiment of the
present invention is illustrated, providing the steps to index
chemical entries in a document that includes a reference to at
least one material, so that the data processing system can permit a
search for a given chemical in order to return from a web server
not only a direct reference but also a compilation of references to
documents containing the chemical term including: (a) documents
containing a synonymous reference to the chemical term; (b)
documents containing a translated reference to the chemical term;
(c) documents containing a reference to an identifier associated
with the chemical term; (d) documents containing a reference to a
parent class of which the chemical term is a member.
[0195] Referring now to FIG. 5C, in a method 501 at a step 502, the
document is input, preferably in electronic format, such as HTML,
Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or in computer readable
form such as XML or other document exchange format and preferably
input into a document database 530. The software of the present
invention extracts all of the words or alphanumeric strings in the
document in a step 503 and tests that it is a word and not simply a
sequence of control codes or other information. In one embodiment
of the present invention, a found word is compared to a dictionary
of common words in order to suppress words that are not chemical
terms, which has the effect of decreasing the size of the database
and the speed of the indexing. Once the words are found in the
document, a record in the index database is stored. In a preferred
embodiment of the present invention the word is stored, including
the address of the document whether a filename or hyperlink, the
page on which the word is found, and the position of the word on
the page. One method for defining the position of the term on the
page is to define a rectangular area that encompasses the area of
the word on the page, and to store the coordinates of the rectangle
in the index record.
[0196] In a step 504 the relevance of the extracted words or
alphanumeric strings in the document as stored in the index is
determined by comparing, in sequence and in combination, the
extracted words or alphanumeric strings to a dictionary database of
material terms. The material terms dictionary database contains at
least one of the following: a unique material identification code,
a preferred name of the instance of the material, and a name used
for matching against a document term (Matchname). An extracted word
or alphanumeric string is compared to an index of Matchnames from
the database of material terms, such as by retrieving the extracted
word or alphanumeric string from a document index, discussed in
more detail below. If a match occurs in a step 505, an index record
is prepared for at least one of the following: (a) found chemical,
(b) document, (c) document address, (d) material code, after which
the record is stored in the materials index in a step 506. As a
result of this embodiment of the indexing system, a particular
chemical name is indexed against any entry in a plurality of
documents in the document database.
[0197] Referring to FIG. 5B the sub-step 504 is shown in greater
detail. After the alphanumeric strings have been extracted in the
step 503, the first alphanumeric string is extracted in a step 535.
In a step 536, the alphanumeric string is prepared for matching,
such as by converting lower case characters to upper case,
stripping punctuation, converting Greek letters to alphanumeric
equivalents or the like. In a step 537, the alphanumeric string is
compared with a dictionary database of material terms. In a step
538, if a match occurs, the method proceeds to the step 539 and the
matched term is added to a stored set of matching material terms,
after which the combined matching terms are combined in a step 541
and the method proceeds to the step 544 to test if there are more
strings in the document. If there are no more strings, the sub-step
504 ends and the method 501 proceeds to the step 505. If there are
more strings, the method returns to the step 535 to begin a new
determination of relevance.
[0198] If no match occurs in the step 538, the method tests, in a
step 540 if the stored material terms exist. If the stored material
term does exist, the method proceeds to a step 542 where a stored
matching material term is retrieved, which is accepted as a
material reference and the method writes an index record in a step
543 after which the method proceeds to the step 544 to test if
there are more strings in the document. If there are no more
strings, the sub-step 504 ends and the method 501 proceeds to the
step 505. If there are more strings, the method returns to the step
535 to begin a new determination of relevance. If no stored
material terms exist in the step 540, the method proceeds to the
step 544 to test if there are more strings in the document. If
there are no more strings, the sub-step 504 ends and the method 501
proceeds to the step 505. If there are more strings, the method
returns to the step 535 to begin a new determination of
relevance.
[0199] Referring now to FIG. 5A, the materials database or
dictionary database of common material terms is illustrated at 515
as including one or more of the following: (a) A unique material
identification code or key 516; (b) a proper chemical name 517; (c)
synonyms 518; (d) identifiers, e.g., an EU Reference Number, an
EINECS number, etc. 519; (e) translations of chemical names 520;
(f) members of parent classes, e.g., sodium chromate is a member of
the class hexavalent chromium compounds; and other material
attributes.
[0200] The document database is illustrated at 530 as including one
or more of the following: (a) A unique material identification code
or key 531, which is related to 516; (b) a document address or
filename using the Matchname of the material; (c) a page number for
the occurrence of the Matchname 533; and (d) the location on the
page of the term 534.
[0201] A master materials database is shown at 523 and defines the
relationship with a master "material" that encompasses one or more
entries in the materials database 515. A master material record has
one or more of the following elements: (a) a unique master
materials code or key 524; (b) a proper master name 525; (c) master
identifiers associated with the master material 526; (d) attributes
associated with the master material 527; (e) an identification that
this is a parent class.
[0202] After the method 501 is complete, a cross-index is generated
by retrieving a matched alphanumeric string from the step 505,
matching the retrieved alphanumeric string with a matching master
materials database key 524 and cross-indexing the matching records
in the document database 530, the materials database 515, and the
master materials database 523. In this embodiment of the present
invention, the resulting cross-index permits a particular
occurrence of a chemical term to be related not only to all indexed
documents in the document database 530 containing the term, but to
any synonym, translation, identifier or membership in a broad
chemical class in the materials database 515 or the master
materials database 523.
[0203] Referring now to FIG. 6, the results of the indexing of
chemical terms in documents is illustrated in an example of an
embodiment of the present invention. An example master material key
(516 in FIG. 5A) is illustrated at 601. If there is an associated
reference to a master material key (524 in FIG. 5A) that is a
parent class the key entry is represented in 602. For example 608,
in this instance the preferred name for the material entry is
(E)-2-butanoic acid 603, indicating here as the "head name" with a
material identifier code 304 (601). One instance of a material
linked to this index entry is the name, "crotonic acid" 604. This
entry is found in the file, 21cfr176.180.pdf (607). An attribute of
this entry is a citation, "21 CFR 176.180 Paper/paperboard (dry
food)".
[0204] In another instance 609, the material is a member of a
chemical class "Ungesattigte aliphatische Mono- and Dicarbonsauren
C3-C8", and this class is referenced in a document with the
citation "BfR Empf. 35 [XXXV.] Mischpolymerisate: Ethylen,
Propylen, Butylen, Vinylestern, ungesattigten aliphat." with the
filename, de.sub.--350deutsch.pdf. (E)-2-butanoic acid is a member
of the referenced class of chemicals.
[0205] FIG. 8 is an illustration of an example of a fragment from a
document, 21 CFR .sctn.178.2010, with a sequence of words at 810,
beginning "3.1 Mineral oil (CAS Reg. No. 8012-95-1): Not to exceed
40 percent by weight of the stabilizer formulation". In applying
the method 501 of the present invention for indexing chemical terms
to this portion of the document, the chemical term of interest in
this fragment is "Mineral oil", which is embedded in a sequence of
other alphanumeric characters and other non-alphanumeric
punctuation, bit streams, and control codes. The first term of this
sequence is extracted as indicated in steps 503 and 506. This
alphanumeric sequence, "3.1", does not match any term in the
materials database and is discarded.
[0206] One difficulty with existing indexing methods that is
addressed by the present invention is that a chemical term may span
many separated words 901 as illustrated in FIG. 9. Extracting only
the first word length term in sequence, i.e., "Mineral" would not
correctly represent the term in this example extract. One
advantageous aspect of this embodiment of the present invention is
that the comparative indexing method in the step of determining
relevance 506 heuristically evaluates a series of possibilities as
it processes the document by considering a plurality of terms in
sequence. In one embodiment of this method, the terms in the
material database 515 are taken in order of the longest
alphanumeric sequence first.
[0207] In an illustration of this approach, the indexing utility
extracts the word, "Mineral" in the step 503 and stores this term
temporarily until the indexing method 501 can conclude that the
best match has been found for the series, rejecting or accepting
terms as the processing continues. For instance, "Mineral" might
possibly be followed by "reinforced nylon resins", "Mineral oils
and hydrocarbons", "Mineral oil based greases", or the like as
shown at 901 although it does not in the document example 801. At
this step the indexing method 501 has found a chemical term with a
plurality of matches, and then seeks to narrow the possible matches
by taking the second term, "oil" 801 following the term, "Mineral".
"Mineral oil" in combination eliminates all other available terms
in this example, and the method determines that "Mineral oil" with
the internal identification material identification key (516 from
FIG. 5A) of "1476" (902 in FIG. 9) matches this series of words in
the document in the step 509. This match is then stored in the step
510.
[0208] The indexing method 501 then moves in sequence or
sequentially to consider the following term, "(CAS" and the
subsequent term "No". 803 that are discarded without matches. In a
preferred embodiment of this method, a database of common (i.e.
non-material) words may be additionally used to make the comparison
more efficient by eliminating any common word, such as "the",
"No.", "not", "to", "exceed". A common word in such a list would be
ignored by the indexing method 501. In consequence, if the database
of common words is used in the heuristic comparison step 508, the
words of the phrase "Not to exceed" would be discarded as "common
words" or "noise" without comparison to the material database.
[0209] In a further aspect of this embodiment of the present
invention, the CAS Registry Number, "8012-95-1" 803, is an example
of an identifier for the substance, "mineral oil" that can be
itself extracted from the document by the indexing method 501 of
the present invention and used in association with other material
identification keys that are themselves linked to other document
references.
[0210] In an embodiment of the indexing method 501, the words are
pre-processed to strip punctuation and capitalize teens so that the
comparison step can consider a number of equivalent chemical terms
more easily. Taking an example, such as "(+)
1,6-Di-(4-amidinophenoxy)-n-hexan", whether the chemical appears
with the use of parentheses or bracket characters does not matter,
because the indexing method would treat the punctuation as noise.
Similarly the embodiment would ignore case sensitivity, such as
initial capitalization in a document reference.
[0211] Additionally, certain alphanumeric sequences taken together
are considered as equivalent in the preferred embodiment of the
indexing method. For example "Alphamuurolen", "a-Muurolene", and
".alpha.-Muuolene" are equivalent, permitting the "Alpha", "a-",
and ".alpha.-" alphanumeric character sequences to be indexed as
companion terms. Such terms can be in any position within the word,
such as "2-Metossi-4-(2-propenil)fenil-.beta.-D-glucopiranoside"
which should be treated synonymously to
""2-Metossi-4-(2-propenil)fenil-beta-D-glucopiranoside". These
variants are assigned to the matching material key 516 or 531.
[0212] In the previous example, the indexing method 501 found the
term, "Mineral oil" in the text of the document and its associated
reference to the material identification key "1476" 902. Once this
identification has occurred, the material identification key 516 or
531 and thus the document reference may be related to all other
references associated with the master material key 524. The master
material key 524 may include direct references, synonyms,
translations, or chemical or material classes. As an example of a
material class, the material, "mineral oil" with its material
identification key can be considered a member of the class,
"cottonseed and other edible oils". Thus the master material
identification key 524 would include a reference to this class.
[0213] The indexing method 501 of this embodiment of the present
invention can be used to support a search for "mineral oil" that
will return a reference to any available document that uses the
term "cottonseed and other edible oils". In this example, the
benefit of this cross-indexing is that the user would be able to
rapidly determine that "mineral oil" is permitted as a surface
lubricant by FDA in the production of resinous and polymeric
coatings used in food contact uses under 21 CFR .sctn.175.300.
[0214] The method 501 for indexing and searching chemical terms has
significant, beneficial application that assist in improving the
safe and globally compliant use of product, for instance. The
method 501 of the present invention permits a cross-referencing of
documents by: (a) preferred chemical name, (b) identifier; (c)
translation; (d) synonym; and (e) membership in a parent class.
[0215] Referring now to FIG. 7, a data processing system is
illustrated as a preferred embodiment of the present invention that
returns in response to a search based on the index described above
for a particular material name, "crotonic acid", found references
to documents that include a reference to a synonym 703, one or more
references to parent classes 701, 702, or a translated name 703. In
this illustration of a preferred embodiment, the hyperlink to the
document opens at the page of the document on which the particular
reference is found.
[0216] Another aspect of this embodiment of the present invention
is that the indexing method can be applied to a subset, such as
those documents that have changed over a particular period of
time.
[0217] Referring now to FIG. 10, an embodiment of the present
invention is illustrated in which the body of documents selected
for search are "new" or "changed". The subset of documents subject
to indexing and search may be assembled by either manual or
automatic means. For example, manual research may have identified
amendments to a certain topical area of regulations over a period
of time, or a subsequent studies that have been published, or other
subsequent publications during the given period. Automatic means
may select a document subset as well.
[0218] In consequence, the present embodiment supports a search for
a chemical that is affected by a change, whether the document that
has changed refers directly to the chemical term, uses an
identifier, a translation, or refers to a chemical class
encompassing the term.
[0219] Referring now to FIG. 11, a search for the term "acetone"
1101 returns a reference to a Mercosaur Agreement defining a
positive list of substances permitted for use in plastics
manufactured in South American countries subject to the Mercosaur
Agreement. This document is a member of a subset of documents added
or changed during a given period of time. The benefit of the
present embodiment are that a researcher can more effectively keep
abreast of changes that affect his or her use of materials that are
referenced in newly published regulations or documents through the
present data processing system. At present, the researcher must
perform this task manually or through partially automated
searches.
[0220] Referring now to FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C, an embodiment of
the present invention is illustrated providing the steps to index
chemical entries in a new, subset, or changed document that
includes a reference to at least one material, so that the data
processing system can permit a search for a given chemical in order
to return from a web server not only a direct reference but also a
compilation of references to documents containing the chemical term
including: (a) documents containing a synonymous reference to the
chemical term; (b) documents containing a translated reference to
the chemical term; (c) documents containing a reference to an
identifier associated with the chemical term; (d) documents
containing a reference to a parent class of which the chemical term
is a member.
[0221] Referring now to FIG. 10C, in a method 1001 at a step 1002,
the document is input, preferably in electronic format, such as
HTML, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or in computer
readable form such as XML or other document exchange format and
preferably input into a document database 1030. The software of the
present invention extracts all of the words or alphanumeric strings
in the document in a step 1003 and tests that it is a word and not
simply a sequence of control codes or other information. In one
embodiment of the present invention, a found word is compared to a
dictionary of common words in order to suppress words that are not
chemical terms, which has the effect of decreasing the size of the
database and the speed of the indexing. Once the words are found in
the document, a record in the index database is stored. In a
preferred embodiment of the present invention the word is stored,
including the address of the document whether a filename or
hyperlink, the page on which the word is found, and the position of
the word on the page. One method for defining the position of the
term on the page is to define a rectangular area that encompasses
the area of the word on the page, and to store the coordinates of
the rectangle in the index record.
[0222] In a step 1004 the relevance of the extracted words or
alphanumeric strings in the document as stored in the index is
determined by comparing, in sequence and in combination, the
extracted words or alphanumeric strings to a dictionary database of
material terms. The material terms dictionary database contains at
least one of the following: a unique material identification code,
a preferred name of the instance of the material, and a name used
for matching against a document term (Matchname). An extracted word
or alphanumeric string is compared to an index of Matchnames from
the database of material terms, such as by retrieving the extracted
word or alphanumeric string from a document index, discussed in
more detail below. If a match occurs in a step 1005, an index
record is prepared for at least one of the following: (a) found
chemical, (b) document, (c) document address, (d) material code (in
this case for the subset of documents), after which the record is
stored in the materials index in a step 1006. As a result of this
embodiment of the indexing system, a particular chemical name is
indexed against any entry in a plurality of documents in the
document database.
[0223] Referring to FIG. 10B the sub-step 1004 is shown in greater
detail. After the alphanumeric strings have been extracted in the
step 1003, the first alphanumeric string from the document subset
is extracted in a step 1035. In a step 1036, the alphanumeric
string is prepared for matching, such as by converting lower case
characters to upper, stripping punctuation, converting Greek
letters to alphanumeric equivalents or the like. In a step 1037,
the alphanumeric string is compared with a dictionary database of
material terms. In a step 1038, if a match occurs, the method
proceeds to the step 1039 and the matched term is added to a stored
set of matching material terms, after which the combined matching
terms are combined in a step 1041 and the method proceeds to the
step 1044 to test if there are more strings in the document. If
there are no more strings, the sub-step 1004 ends and the method
1001 proceeds to the step 1005. If there are more strings, the
method returns to the step 1035 to begin a new determination of
relevance.
[0224] If no match occurs in the step 1038, the method tests, in a
step 1040, if the stored material terms exist. If the stored
material term does exist, the method proceeds to a step 1042 where
a stored matching material term is retrieved, which is accepted as
a material reference and the method writes an index record in a
step 1043 after which the method proceeds to the step 1044 to test
if there are more strings in the document. If there are no more
strings, the sub-step 1004 ends and the method 1001 proceeds to the
step 1005. If there are more strings, the method returns to the
step 1035 to begin a new determination of relevance. If no stored
material terms exist in the step 1040, the method proceeds to the
step 1044 to test if there are more strings in the document. If
there are no more strings, the sub-step 1004 ends and the method
1001 proceeds to the step 1005. If there are more strings, the
method returns to the step 1035 to begin a new determination of
relevance.
[0225] Referring now to FIG. 10A, the materials database or
dictionary database of common material terms according to one
embodiment of the present invention is illustrated at 1015 as
including one or more of the following: (a) A unique material
identification code or key 1016; (b) a proper chemical name 1017;
(c) synonyms 1018; (d) identifiers, e.g., an EU Reference Number,
an EINECS number, etc. 1019; (e) translations of chemical names
1020; (f) members of parent classes, e.g., sodium chromate is a
member of the class hexavalent chromium compounds; and other
material attributes.
[0226] The change document database is illustrated at 1030 as
including one or more of the following: (a) A unique material
identification code or key 1031, which is related to 1016; (b) a
document address or filename using the Matchname of the material;
(c) a page number for the occurrence of the Matchname 1033; and (d)
the location on the page of the term 1034.
[0227] A master materials database is shown at 1023 and defines the
relationship with a master "material" that encompasses one or more
entries in the materials database 1015. A master material record
has one or more of the following elements: (a) a unique master
materials code or key 1024; (b) a proper master name 1025; (c)
master identifiers associated with the master material 1026; (d)
attributes associated with the master material 1027; (e) an
identification that this is a parent class.
[0228] After the method 1001 is complete, a cross-index is
generated by retrieving a matched alphanumeric string from the step
1005, matching the retrieved alphanumeric string with a matching
master materials database key 1024 and cross-indexing the matching
records in the document database 1030, the materials database 1015,
and the master materials database 1023. In this illustration of the
present invention, the resulting cross-index permits a particular
occurrence of a chemical term to be related not only to all indexed
documents in the document database 1030 containing the term, but to
any synonym, translation, identifier or membership in a broad
chemical class in the materials database 1015 or the master
materials database 1023.
[0229] Embodiments of the present invention may also be practiced
by a computer readable medium storing executable software code
thereon for executing the indexing method and the system for
validating certification documents in accordance with the present
invention, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
Embodiments of the present invention may also be practiced by a
device, such as a personal computer or the like, having a
processor, wherein the processor is responsive to software
instructions; and software instructions adapted to enable the
processor to execute the indexing method and the system for
validating certification documents in accordance with the present
invention, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
[0230] Embodiments of the present invention produce an advantageous
technical effect by providing a data processing system that more
effectively communicates parameters of use of products in a supply
chain by utilizing dynamic control statements in certification
documents that may be validated by a recipient of the certification
document, thereby improving the safe and compliant use of the
products in the supply chain by the recipient. The present
invention thereby provides a further technical effect which lends
technical character to the embodied computer programs in the
control of an industrial process and in processing data that
represents parameters of use of physical entities through the
dynamic control statements. In consequence, the present invention
provides a solution to a difficult supply chain management problem
by the automatic validation of certification documents.
[0231] Embodiments of the present invention have been described in
terms of preferred embodiments and nonlimiting examples, however,
it will be appreciated that various modifications and improvements
may be made to the described embodiments and examples without
departing from the scope of the invention.
* * * * *
References