Image data bank system with selective conversion

Claim 1

A system for facilitating and controlling the input of data from source documents into a data bank comprising a computer including a microprocessor, addressable memory, a monitor and a program input means; scanner means for viewing a sequence of documents and producing an output of electrical signals representative of light and dark patterns thereon from which an image of the patterns can be reproduced on the monitor; a controller module for controlling the flow of signals to and from selected portions of the system including said scanner and said computer and for controlling the sequence of operation of the system, said controller module having at least one microprocessor and addressable memory; connector means for connecting said controller module to said scanner means and to said computer; first memory means for temporarily storing said electrical signals representative of said patterns; character recognition software means for converting signals representative of said patterns into code recognizable by said computer; second memory means for temporarily storing said code; means for selecting and identifying portions of the temporarily stored signals representing said patterns and retrieval means, including said controller module, for delivering signals representative of the selected portions in code form; first mass storage means for storing recognized pattern signals and said code; and second mass storage means for storing signals representative of said image in a form such that said signals are directly correlated with code counterparts to said signals in the first mass storage means for storing said code.

Claim 2

A system for facilitating and controlling the input of data from source documents into a data bank comprising a computer including a microprocessor, addressable memory, a monitor and a program input means; scanner means for viewing a sequence of documents and producing an output of electrical signals representative of light and dark patterns thereon from which an image of the patterns can be reproduced on the monitor; a controller module for controlling the flow of signals to and from selected portions of the system including said scanner and said computer and for controlling the sequence of operation of the system, said controller module having at least one microprocessor and addressable memory; connector means for connecting said controller module to said scanner means and to said computer; first memory means for temporarily storing said electrical signals representative of said patterns; character recognition software means for converting signals representative of said patterns into code recognizable by said computer; second memory means for temporarily storing said code; means for selecting and identifying portions of the temporarily stored signals representing said patterns and retrieval means, including said controller module, for delivering signals representative of the selected portions in code form; first mass storage means for storing recognized pattern signals and said code; and second mass storage means for storing signals representative of said image in a form such that said signals are directly correlated with code counterparts to said signals in the first mass storage means for storing said code.

Claim 16

A method for storing and selectively accessing code representative of image data comprising the steps of forming digital signals representative of an image on a document containing text recognizable and convertible into a machine-readable code, generating an image on a display from the digital signals, temporarily storing the digital signals in an arrangement in a first memory file, converting those signals representative of text into a machine-readable code, temporarily storing the code in a second memory file in an arrangement substantially identical to the arrangement in the first memory file such that each portion of the code is located in a region in the second memory file having an exact counterpart in the first memory file which contains the signals from which the portion of the code was derived, designating a portion of the displayed image for subsequent processing, locating the portion of the first memory file containing the signals from which the designated portion of the displayed image was produced, and locating in the second memory file the code representative of the designated portion on the basis of the location of the signals in the first memory file.

Claim 17

A method for storing and selectively accessing code representative of image data comprising the steps of forming digital signals representative of an image on a document containing text recognizable and convertible into a machine-readable code, generating an image on a display from the digital signals, temporarily storing the digital signals in an arrangement in a first memory file, converting those signals representative of text into a machine-readable code, temporarily storing the code in a second memory file in an arrangement substantially identical to the arrangement in the first memory file such that each portion of the code is located in a region in the second memory file having an exact counterpart in the first memory file which contains the signals from which the portion of the code was derived, designating a portion of the displayed image for subsequent processing, locating the portion of the first memory file containing the signals from which the designated portion of the displayed image was produced, and locating in the second memory file the code representative of the designated portion on the basis of the location of the signals in the first memory file.