Bill distribution or payment

Method, storage medium and system for electronically viewing multi-page document while preserving appearance of printed pages

6938051

Abstract

An electronic Yellow Pages viewer shows the pages of a Yellow Pages directory as they appear in the bound version. The print queue used to print the bound version is intercepted, and each page is rasterized into a JPEG file or otherwise converted into an image file. The page/header/advertisement data are parsed to create an index which associates each Yellow Pages heading with the first page on which that heading appears. The viewer runs as a Java applet inside a World Wide Web browser and allows a user to access a page by typing the name of a heading, selecting the heading from a tree view or typing a page number. A Yellow Pages advertiser receives an electronic bill with an electronic tear sheet showing the page on which the advertisement appears. The bill can also include one or more of the reverse page, the opposite page, or other pages in the same heading. The advertisement can be selectively highlighted.


Claims

1. A method of providing a document in electronic form, the document having a plurality of pages, the method comprising:

(a) providing a print queue of printing data for producing the document in a printed format;

(b) converting the printing data in the print queue into a plurality of viewable files by capturing the printing data from the print queue and not by producing or scanning hard copies of the print data, each viewable file representing one of the pages of the document and preserving the printed format;

(c) providing page-heading data representing an organization of the document;

(d) parsing the page-heading data to produce an index;

(e) providing software to view the viewable files and to search through the viewable files in accordance with the index; and

(f) providing the plurality of viewable files, the index and the software in persistent storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the printing data in the print queue comprise data to be rasterized to produce the document;

step (b) comprises rasterizing the data to be rasterized; and

the viewable files are bitmap files.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data to be rasterized comprise PostScript data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein step (b) comprises applying compression to the bitmap files.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the compression is a lossy compression.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the document is organized under a plurality of headings; and

the index associates each heading with a page on which the beading appears.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the index associates each heading with a first page on which the heading appears.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the software comprises software to receive a typed name of a heading and to retrieve the page associated with that heading in the index.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the software is adapted to show a list of headings and to retrieve a page associated with a heading based on a selection of the heading from the list.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the software is written in a device-independent language.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the device-independent language is Java.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the software is written to run within a World Wide Web browser.

13. A system for allowing a user to access a document in electronic form, the document having a plurality of pages, the system comprising:

(a) a persistent electronic storage medium having written thereon:

(i) a plurality of viewable files, each viewable file generated from data stored in a print queue, said each viewable file representing one of the pages of the document and preserving a printed format of said one of the pages;

(ii) an index representing an organization of the document; and

(iii) software to view the viewable files and to search through the viewable files in accordance with the index;

(b) a computer for accessing the medium, running the software and allowing the user to interact with the software; and

(c) a capturing device, comprising a capturer and electronic directory host, adapted to receive electronic data from a print queue and dispatch it to the persistent electronic storage medium as a viewable file.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the viewable files are bitmap files.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the bitmap files have a compression applied thereto.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the compression is a lossy compression.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the document is organized under a plurality of headings; and

the index associates each heading with a page on which the heading appears.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the index associates each heading with a first page on which the heading appears.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the software comprises software to receive a typed name of a heading and to retrieve the page associated with that heading in the index.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the software comprises software to show a list of headings, to receive a selection of a heading from the list and to retrieve the page associated with that heading in the index.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the software is written in a device-independent language.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the device-independent language is Java.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the computer has a World Wide Web browser installed thereon; and

the software is written to run within the World Wide Web browser.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the medium is installed on a server of a network; and

the computer is connected to the network to access the medium on the server.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the network is a local area network.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the network is a virtual private network.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the network is the Internet.

28. A method of providing a page of a document in electronic form, the document having a plurality of pages with one or more items on each page, the page having a selected item thereon, the method comprising:

(a) providing page-heading data representing an organization of the document;

(b) parsing the page-heading data to determine a page on which the selected item is located and a position of the selected item on the page and to output highlighting information representing the position;

(c) providing a print queue of printing data for producing the document in a printed format;

(d) converting the printing data in the print queue into a viewable file representing the page in said printed format by capturing the printing data from the print queue and not by producing or scanning hard copies of the page to generate the viewable file;

(e) providing software to view the viewable file and to highlight the position of the selected item on the page; and

(f) storing the viewable file, the highlighting information and the software on persistent storage.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

(a) determining a reverse-side page corresponding to the page determined in step (b);

(b) converting the print queue into a reverse-side viewable file representing the reverse-side page; and

(c) providing the reverse-side viewable file on the persistent storage; and

wherein the software comprises software for selectively viewing either the viewable file or the reverse-side viewable file.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the software comprises software for selectively viewing the viewable file either with or without the selected item highlighted.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the software comprises software for viewing material which is associated with the selected item which does not include any text or graphics contained in the document.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the additional material comprises a bill associated with the selected item.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the additional material comprises a link to view the viewable file.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the link permits selection of the viewable file with or without highlighting for the selected item.

35. The method of claim 28, wherein:

the printing data in the print queue comprise data to be rasterized to produce the document;

step (d) comprises rasterizing the data to be rasterized; and

the viewable file is a bitmap file.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the data to be rasterized comprise PostScript data.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein step (d) comprises applying compression to the bitmap file.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the compression is a lossy compression.

39. The method of claim 28, wherein the software is written in a device-independent language.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the device-independent language is Java.

41. The method of claim 28, wherein the software is written to run without a World Wide Web browser.

42. A system for allowing a user to access a page of a document in electronic form, the document having a plurality of pages with one or more items on each page, the page having a selected item thereon, the system comprising:

(a) a persistent electronic storage medium storing, in computer-readable form:

(i) highlighted information representing a position of the selected item on the page;

(ii) a viewable file generated from data stored in a print queue, the viewable file representing the page and preserving a printed format of the page; and

(iii) software to view the viewable file and to highlight the position of the selected item on the page;

(b) a computer for accessing the medium, running the software and allowing the user to interact with the software; and

(c) a capturing device, comprising a capturer and electronic directory host, adapted to receive electronic data stored in a print queue and dispatch it to the persistent electronic storage medium as a viewable file.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein:

the medium further has stored thereon a reverse-side viewable file representing a reverse-side page corresponding to the page; and

the software comprises software for selectively viewing either the viewable file or the reverse-side viewable file.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein the software comprises software for viewing the viewable file either with or without the selected item highlighted.

45. The system of claim 42, wherein the software comprises software for viewing material which is associated with the selected item which does not include any text or graphics contained in the document.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the additional material comprises a bill associated with the selected item.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the additional material comprises a link to view the viewable file.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the link permits selection of the viewable file with or without highlighting for the selected item.

49. The system of claim 42, wherein the viewable file is a bitmap file.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the bitmap file has compression applied thereto.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the compression is a lossy compression.

52. The system of claim 42, wherein the software is written in a device-independent language.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the device-independent language is Java.

54. The system of claim 42, wherein:

the computer has a World Wide Web browser installed thereon; and

the software is written to run within the World Wide Web browser.

55. The system of claim 42, wherein:

the medium is installed on a server of a network; and

the computer is connected to the network to access the medium on the server.

56. The system of claim 55, wherein the network is a local area network.

57. The system of claim 55, wherein the network is a virtual private network.

58. The system of claim 55, wherein the network is the Internet.


Description

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