A computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content, a computer implemented method and a computer program for such documents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content, e.g. desktop publishing documents, presentation documents, spreadsheet documents and form documents, comprising at least a portable document and a document description specification both unambiguously describing the graphically formatted content viewable on a computer, and to a computer implemented method for such documents. The portable document containing information necessary for unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on any computer, the document description specification containing information necessary for, using a task specific computer program, unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on a computer. The portable document further contains embedded information for allowing the document description specification to be unambiguously extracted from the portable document so that the graphically formatted document can be viewed on an ordinary computer with a portable document viewer, and the document description specification can be viewed and edited on an ordinary computer using said task specific computer program.

Description

[0001] Title:

[0002] A COMPUTER FILE FORMAT FOR DOCUMENTS WITH A GRAPHICALLY FORMATTED CONTENT, A COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR SUCH DOCUMENTS

[0003] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0004] The present invention relates to a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content having the features of the first part of claim 1, to a computer implemented method for such documents having the features of the first part claim 10 and to a computer program for such documents having the features of the first part of claim 19.

[0005] BACKGROUND

[0006] When typesetting e.g. a text document, there is a need for a specific computer program, or in short a program to handle the text and the formatting of it. Several different concepts for this task exist, where the major groups are:

[0007] - formats developed with the ease for a computer to read and manipulate in mind,

[0008] - formats developed with the ease for a human to read and manipulate in mind, and

[0009] - hybrids between the two.

[0010] Here is an equation example of the difference between an easy-for-a-computer-to-read format (MathML), an easy-for-a-human-to-read format, and a hybrid format (LaTeX) To show the difference, the implementations associated with the three different formats is studied using this simple equation:

[0011] A format that would be easy for a human to read and manipulate could look like this:

[0012] ! eq y=l / ( l+xA2 )

[0013] The only thing to remember is the control sequence ! eq for an equation. The rest is just like humans write equations. Such a format is not found during the background search performed.

[0014] Another equation code example is written in the typesetting language LaTeX.

[0015] $ $ y=\ f rac { 1 } { l+xA2 } $ $

[0016] Here, the format is fairly easy to read and manipulate, but includes a lot of language specific control sequences and delimiters. Finally, an equation code example written in the easy-for-a-computers-to-read format MathML.

[0017]

[0018] y

[0019] =

[0020] <mf rac>

[0021]

[0022] l

[0023]

[0024]

[0025] l

[0026] +

[0027]

[0028] x

[0029] 2

[0030]

[0031]

[0032] < / mf rac>

[0033]

[0034]

[0035] It is quite clear that MathML is not meant for humans to read or manipulate. LaTeX is far more easy to use, but still somewhat challenging. An easy-for-a-human-to-read format is advantageous simply because it has the least number of specific control characters.

[0036] Here follows a more general description of existing typesetting concepts, tools and intermediate formats and their drawbacks:

[0037] TYPESETTING CONCEPTS

[0038] WORD PROCESSOR PROGRAMS

[0039] Word processor programs like Microsoft Word, Open Office etcetera, require proprietary programs to write and view the documents. The document formats ( doc, docx or odf) are made for easy computer reading and manipulation. The formats are therefore very difficult for humans to read and manipulate. One specific thing about formats for easy computer reading, like e.g. the xml format, is that every formatting has start and stop tags. A heading definition can look like this:

[0040] <text : h text : style-name="H2 " text : outline-level=" 2 " > HEADING TEXT

[0041] < / text : h>

[0042] For humans, this is very unpractical. Another thing is that the natural way is to use start tags only. Humans will likely not be able to write start and stop tags without making a lot of errors that may or may not result in understandable errors. Therefore, even though the document formats are standardised, it is not realistic for humans to create or manipulate such documents.

[0043] WEB FORMATS

[0044] Web formats like html and css suffer from the same readability problems as above even though they can be viewed without any proprietary programs. Any web browser will do. A heading definition typically looks like this: <H2>HEADING TEXT< / H2>

[0045] LIGHTWEIGHT MARKUP LANGUAGES

[0046] Markdown (MD) is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plaintext editor, a markup language that is intended to be easy to read in its source code form. A heading definition typically looks like: ## HEADING TEXT

[0047] AsciiDoc is another markup language advanced enough to write even books. These easy-to- write markup languages require specific software for viewing and printing. Therefore, such formats cannot be used to spread information as most people will not be able to view them. Another problem is that figures and other linked material are individual files, making it even harder for a normal person to handle. MD also suffers from lacking an unambiguous formatting.

[0048] LATEX

[0049] LaTeX is a document preparation system used for the communication and publication of scientific documents LaTeX is hybrid; relatively easy to write the text preparation file for, but still easy for a computer to read, with start and stop brackets and so on. LaTeX is de-facto standard for scientific document equations. A heading definition typically looks like: \ subsection { HEADING TEXT } As all definitions start and stop with matching pairs of curly brackets, it is very easy to make mistakes. Especially as there are two phases in the documentation process; namely preparing the LaTeX code and compiling it to a viewable document. Missing a bracket, and writing a lot before compilation, makes an error rather difficult to solve.

[0050] PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT

[0051] Portable Document Format (PDF) is a standard format for distribution of documents. It is possible to read on all common computers, but it is not possible to change (more than small changes).

[0052] Thus, all so far known computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content suffer from disadvantages.

[0053] A problem of new, upcoming software’s, are that if they don’t reach a critical market penetration, they tend to be discontinued. After a while, it is impossible even to read the content of documents associated with such programs. This problem is a risk for both the user, but also for the company trying to reach critical market shares. Customers will be scared to buy something that is not even possible to read after a while.

[0054] US 2018336195-Al (DI), discloses a system for cusomizing printable information. Pdf metadata is used to store printer settings. Metadata is extracted from a pdf file and then used to build a modified print job including alternate instructions based on printer condi tins corresponding to the metadata. The metadata can be altered even during printing, and stored in the pdf. The pdf view will be the same in any viewer regardless of any printer settings.

[0055] SUMMARY

[0056] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content through which one or more of the above- mentioned problems can be solved and through which one or more of the shortcomings can be overcome.

[0057] Particularly it is an object to provide a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content through which a fully editable text input is preserved and yet possible to view on any common computer. It is also an object to provide a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content where the text input is easy to write for humans.

[0058] Furthermore, it is an object to provide a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content where there is a software for easy editing of the document.

[0059] Particularly it is an object to provide a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content where there is a software for generating a portable document where all the text input, font information, format template and figures are embedded into the portable document. With a standardised portable document format there is no risk of maintaining readable documents.

[0060] Therefore, a computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content as initially referred to is provided which has the characterizing features of claim 1.

[0061] It is therefore also an object of the present invention to provide a computer implemented method for computer file format with a graphically formatted content, such as e g. desktop publishing documents, presentation documents, spreadsheet documents and form documents and a computer program respectively, as initially referred to, through which one or more of the above-mentioned problems can be solved and through which one or more of the shortcomings can be overcome.

[0062] Particularly it is an object to provide a method that can be run as a batch program for documentation automation.

[0063] A computer implemented method for such documents having the features of the characterizing part claim 10 and a computer program for such documents having the features of the characterizing part of claim 19 respectively are therefore also provided.

[0064] Advantageous embodiments are given by the respective appended dependent claims.

[0065] It will be appreciated that features of the invention are susceptible to being combined in any combination without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0066] The invention will in the following be further described, in a non-limiting manner, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0067] Fig. 1. is a schematic block diagram illustrating components of a computer or server,

[0068] Fig. 2. is a schematic flow diagram illustrating method steps of opening, editing and saving document description specification parts embedded in a portable document according to one embodiment of the present invention,

[0069] Fig. 3. is a schematic flow diagram illustrating method steps of opening document description specification parts, editing them and saving them embedded in a portable document according to another embodiment of the present invention,

[0070] Fig. 4. is a schematic flow diagram illustrating method steps of opening and editing document description specification parts embedded in a portable document, and saving the document description specification parts according to still an embodiment of the present invention, and

[0071] Fig. 5. is a schematic flow diagram illustrating method steps of converting document description specification parts, and saving them embedded in a portable document in a batch program according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

[0072] DEFINITIONS

[0073] - A computer document or document is a resource for recording data on a computer storage device, primarily identified by its filename. Documents can be shared with and transferred between computers and mobile devices via removable media, networks, or the internet.

[0074] - A computer storage device or storage device is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data.

[0075] - A cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which data, said to be on "the cloud", is stored remotely in logical pools and is accessible to users over a network, typically the Internet. The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations). By definition, this is also considered to be a computer storage device or storage device.

[0076] - A graphically formatted document is a document that is graphically formatted so that it has a specific appearance when viewed or printed. Examples of graphically formatted documents are:

[0077] - Word processing documents - Desktop publishing documents

[0078] - Articles

[0079] - Books

[0080] - E-books

[0081] - Presentations

[0082] - Forms

[0083] - Spreadsheets

[0084] - A plain text document is on the other hand not graphically formatted, and hence not a graphically formatted document.

[0085] - A page description document is a document that encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, vector graphics, raster images and other information needed to display it.

[0086] - A portable document is a page description document that can inherently be viewed independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems, meaning that such a viewer is in included in the computer platform. An example of a portable document is Portable Document Format (PDF), standardised as ISO 32000.

[0087] - Portable documents can be editable either as fillable forms or by the use of special programs to alter or add text and graphics to the document. These changes are, however limited to small changes to specific pages of the document. The page structure is fixed and cannot be changed (other than moving or deleting full pages).

[0088] - A portable document viewer is a computer program that can be used to view and to print a portable document.

[0089] - A document description specification is a file or set of files that unambiguously and fully editable describes the full content of the appearance on screen and in print of a document. Examples of document description specifications are:

[0090] - OpenDocument, standardised as ISO 26300.

[0091] - Office Open XML, standardised as ISO 29500.

[0092] - LaTeX

[0093] - Pages (Apple's desktop publishing file format)

[0094] - A document description specification format or syntax is the form in which the document description specification is written. Here follows three different types of document description specification formats:

[0095] - Easy-for-a-human-to-read formats or formats developed with the ease for a human to read and manipulate in mind, characterised by an effort to keep the formatting descriptions minimalistic as exemplified in the preamble of this application, and to contain only start tags (also this exemplified in the preamble).

[0096] - Easy-for-a-computer-to-read formats or formats developed with the ease for a computer to read and manipulate in mind. Examples in the preamble show that such formats sacrifice the ease for humans to read and manipulate such documents

[0097] - Hybrid formats where the aim is to have an ease for a computer to read, without sacrificing the ease for a human to read and manipulate in mind One example of such a format is LaTeX.

[0098] - A computer program or program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute.

[0099] - A computer is a hardware that at least includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the case, central processing unit (CPU), computer memory and storage device. Examples are:

[0100] - A Personal computer (PC) is a computer designed for individual use.

[0101] - A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook for short, is a small, portable personal computer.

[0102] - A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package.

[0103] - A smartphone (often simply called a phone) is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities.

[0104] - A web server is computer software and underlying computer hardware that accepts requests via a network protocol and executes the request. It can therefore be seen as a computer, with the difference that e.g. documents needs to be uploaded or accessable via the cloud to the server before they can be opened by the specific program and after finishing be downloaded from the server to a local storage device or the cloud .

[0105] - A web application is a computer program that is accessed using a web browser. It can run on the computer or on the web server.

[0106] - A computing platform, digital platform, or software platform is an environment in which software is executed. It may be the hardware or the operating system (OS), a web browser or web server and associated application programming interfaces, or other underlying software, as long as the program code is executed using the services provided by the platform. Important computing platforms are, but not limited to, as per 2024: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Apple iOS, Google Android and Chrome OS. - A specific type of computer program is a batch program that can be invoked from a command-line interface or an application programming interface so that the task of executing the specific program with its specific input files, such as e.g. a document description specification, and modifiers, such as e.g. output file name, output file format etcetera.

[0107] - A command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interacting with a computer program by inputting lines of text called command-lines.

[0108] - An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs or components to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an API specification. A computer system that meets this standard is said to implement or expose an API. The term API may refer either to the specification or to the implementation.

[0109] - A computer memory stores information, such as data and programs, for immediate use in the computer. The term memory is often synonymous with the term main memory. Main memory operates at a high speed. The computer memory will lose all its information when the computer is turned off, in contrast to the storage device that will keep the information.

[0110] - A central processing unit (CPU) - also called a central processor or main processor - interprets, processes and executes instructions from the software programs running on a computing platform.

[0111] - Rendering is a process that turns e.g. a document description specification into the intended graphical representation suitable for viewing and printing.

[0112] - A text processing program is a computer program that provides word or text processing functions, such as graphical formatting, font selection, page layout, pagination etcetera.

[0113] - The text processing program is synonymous to DeskTop Publishing (DTP), which is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic-quality text comparable to traditional typography and printing.

[0114] - Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself As an example: A text string of a portable document could have a metadata associated with it saying that this specific string is a level 2 heading. - A comment is programmatically an explanation or annotation in a source code, a portable document, or a document description specification. Comments are sometimes also processed in various ways to generate documents. A comment can also be used to store data.

[0115] - Embed means that a piece of information is stored, embedded, in another piece of information. The embedded information can be in the form of e.g. metadata or comments. The embedded information can be in any form, but such that the embedded information can unambiguously be extracted.

[0116] - Extractable means capable of being extracted. In terms of embedded information, extractable means that embedded information can unambiguously be extracted.

[0117] - A Difference is a general term for all the differences registered when comparing two text strings. Consider two text strings, A and B respectively: When comparing these two strings, there will occur circumstances when characters need to added at certain positions, when characters need to be changed at certain positions and when characters need to be deleted at certain positions for A to become B. These added, changed, and deleted characters at their certain positions are stored, and defined as a general difference, D = B - A.

[0118] - An addition is a general term for regenerating B from A by adding the difference, i.e. by adding characters at certain positions, changing characters at certain positions and deleting characters at certain positions. By doing that, A will become B, B = A + D. This is a common procedure in programming. The addition is sometimes called patching, or to apply a patch.

[0119] - An archive file is in computing a method for collecting many files into one archive file for distribution, backup or other purposes. The most common example of an archive file is a tar file.

[0120] - Extraction means, for an archive, that archived information can unambiguously be restored to its original state.

[0121] - A compressed file or folder is an archive file format that supports lossless data compression. A compressed file or folder may contain one or more files or directories that may have been compressed. The most common examples of compressed folders are zip files. As a compression can be made on a file, it can also be made on an archive, which means that archives also can be compressed.

[0122] - A decompression is needed when a compressed file is to be read and / or restored to its original state. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0123] Fig. 1 shows a computer or server system 100 comprising a central processing unit (CPU) 110, where computer programs can be executed. The computer or server system 100, furthermore, comprises at least one of each of a computer memory 120 and a storage device 130, where the computer program is read from the storage device 130 to the computer memory 120 as well as the document to be viewed, printed or modified. Now, with the computer program and the document in the computer memory 120, the execution of the program can be done. The computer or server system 100 also has interfaces 140 for other internal and / or external devices. A resulting graphical representation of the document can be viewed on a computer display 160. External devices 170 are typically keyboard, mouse, touchpad etcetera, but can be all kinds of external devices 170 that can communicate with a computer, such as e.g. printers. In order to be able to connect to the network 180, the computer or server system 100 is equipped with a network adapter 150.

[0124] Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the method steps involved in using a computer file format, comprising at least a portable document (PD) and a document description specification (DDS) wherein the portable document and the document description specification both unambiguously describe the graphically formatted content, said graphically formatted content being viewable on a computer, wherein the portable document contains information necessary for unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on a computer whereas the document description specification contains information necessary for, using a task specific computer program, unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document, and wherein the portable document further contains embedded information for allowing the document description specification to be unambiguously extracted from the portable document so that the graphically formatted document can be viewed on an ordinary computer with a portable document viewer, and that the document description specification can be viewed and edited on an ordinary computer using said task specific computer program. The document description specification can be e.g. a text processing document format for desktop publishing according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart shows a typical flow from opening of a document until the document is edited, saved and the program can be closed.

[0125] First, a computer file with the computer file format, as described in the previous paragraph, is read, 210, from the storage device 130, triggered by a user action, open 205, and stored in the computer memory 120. The document stored in the computer memory now contains a document description specification embedded in a portable document.

[0126] Then the document description specification is extracted, 220, from the portable document. This is possible as the portable document has the possibility to have embedded data into it as will be clearly seen in step 270 later on. In the subsequent step, the document description specification, which contains all text, figures and templates for a full description of how the document shall appear on screen and in print is extracted, 220, from the portable document into the computer memory 120.

[0127] The document description specification is in method step 230 rendered so that it can be viewed and printed.

[0128] Triggered by a user editing the document 235, the document description specification is edited, 240, by the use of a specific computer program. Here, edit means that everything describing the appearance on screen or in print can be changed, meaning all text, figures and templates. While the document description specification is being edited, the result is rendered, 230, so that the user can see the result continuously.

[0129] The document description specification that is edited, and now also rendered to appear on screen or to be printed, can now be saved, 250, triggered by a save command 245, as a portable document in the computer memory 120. In step 250 it is the rendered information that is converted to a portable document and stored in the computer memory 120.

[0130] In the next method step, all document description specification parts are embedded, 260, in the portable document and saved, 270, to the storage device 130 so that the full document description specification as well as the portable document are bundled together. This means that this bundle can be viewed and printed by anyone by the use of an evaluation means, such as e g. a computer, as defined in the definitions section.

[0131] By the use of a specific computer program, the document description specification can be fully edited, and hence is being distributable to all possible computing platforms as a portable document, and is editable in its distributable portable document form by extracting the embedded document description specification. In a second embodiment, a variant of the first embodiment, the document description specification is made with an easy-for-a-human-to-read format. In this second embodiment, also the problem of having a format that is easily readable for humans is solved.

[0132] In a third embodiment, according to Fig. 3, the method starts with that a document description specification is read, 225, from the storage device 130, triggered by open 205, and stored in the computer memory 120.

[0133] The document stored in the computer memory 120 now contains a document description specification. From this point, the method steps 230, 235, 240, 245, 250, 260 and 270 are the same as for the first embodiment.

[0134] In a fourth embodiment, according to Fig. 4, the method starts as in the first embodiment with steps 205, 210, 220, 230, 235 and 240 as described above.

[0135] After the document is rendered, 230, it can be viewed and printed. But that path stops here, as the only parts that are going to be saved here are the document description specification parts that after the editing 240, triggered by the edit 235, are stored in the computer memory 120.

[0136] Triggered by a save command, 245, the document description specification parts are saved 275 to the storage device 130. The specific parts of the document description specification can be saved as either individual files to the storage device 130, or bundled together as an archive or compressed archive and then be stored to the storage device 130.

[0137] In a fifth embodiment, the first part of embodiment 3 is used in combination with the last part of embodiment 4. This embodiment contains steps 205, 225, 230, 235, 240, 245 and 275. The corresponding method step descriptions are described above.

[0138] In a sixth embodiment, according to Fig. 5, a document description specification can be converted to a portable document with embedded document description specification by the use of a batch program. Such a conversion contains the following method steps:

[0139] - The batch program is invoked, 215, and the document description specification is loaded, 225, into computer memory 120. - Thereafter, the rendering, 230, portable document generation, 250, document description specification embedding, 260, and finally document save, 270, to the storage device 130 are run.

[0140] This embodiment has the advantage that a document description specification can be converted to a portable document with embedded document description specification without opening any program, pressing any buttons or viewing any rendered output. Such a batch program can even be invoked from other programs, so that document generation automation can be done. It is even possible that other programs generate the document description specification for a fully automated documentation flow. The resulting portable document is still editable, as described above, for the receiver of it.

[0141] Through the embodiments described above, it has been made clear that it is possible to solve the problems initially referred to with the method steps indicated for particularly a text processing document format for desktop publishing. Analogously, the same benefits will be achieved for presentations as well. Presentations in this proposed embodiment have a document description specification embedded in a portable document mutatis mutandis. All method steps and benefits are valid for such embodiments also.

[0142] Generalising further, it is obvious that all types of graphically formatted documents benefit from having a document description specification embedded in a portable document. Here is a list of some graphically formatted document types:

[0143] - Text documents

[0144] - Articles

[0145] - Books

[0146] - E-books

[0147] - Presentations

[0148] - Forms

[0149] - Spreadsheets

[0150] Therefore, it is proposed the general format of having a document description specification embedded in a portable document for any type of document having viewable properties, as the ones, but not limited to, listed above.

[0151] In another embodiment, all the preceding embodiments can be altered in such a way that the computer program associated with the method steps is run on a web server. This is done by adding a method step of uploading the document to the web server or making the document accessable via the cloud before the already documented method steps take place , and after that adding another method step of downloading the resulting document from the web server or to make the document available to the cloud . By doing so, no specific program is needed even to modify the content of a portable document with embedded document description specification.

[0152] Embodiment two, where the document description specification is made with an easy-for-a- human-to-read format is of course valid as an addition also to embodiments three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

[0153] The embedding of the information needed in order to extract the document description specification can be made in several ways, where two different ways will be exemplified here:

[0154] - The simplest way of embedding a document description specification in an extractable way is to embed it in its whole into the portable document. This embedding can be made by adding metadata or comments to the portable document. The document description specification can consist of several files that can be embedded one by one or all files can be bundled together in an archive or compressed folder. As the document description specification is added in its whole, it is very easy to extract it by just reading the added metadata or comments. The document description specification is then after reading, decompression and extraction if it is an archive or compressed folder or both fully restored.

[0155] - Another way is to use the information already stored in the portable document, and to embed only the difference between the information in the document description specification and the portable document. This difference is then possible to add to the information of the portable document in order to restore the document description specification. As an example for a second level heading, that could be stored as this in the document description specification: “## Heading Text”, and the information in the portable document might be just “Heading Text”. Then, the difference to be stored is the information that the portable document string should be prepended by, namely “## ”. Such information can be stored as patch data as “a 0l## which means that a = addition of characters, 0 = at position zero, with the characters ’. Similar patterns can mutatis mutandis be used for deletions, d, and changes, c. By doing this, the total embedded file will be smaller, but the computer effort in calculating the difference, embed it and add it will be significantly larger. The difference information can of course be archived and / or compressed and when reading, decompressed and / or extracted. The two methods can be mixed so that portions of the document description specification might be embedded in its whole and portions might be embedded as a difference to the information already in the portable document.

[0156] All the preceding embodiment method steps are run in a program on a computing platform on a computer or server.

[0157] It is also possible to save the rendered output of a document description specification to a portable document without embedding the document description specification. One reason for that can be if the document description specification is sensitive or other reasons. This is true also for the batch program embodiment.

[0158] According to the present invention, and as should be clear from the above, advantages with the proposed computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content are that:

[0159] - it is distributable as a portable document, where portable document means any format for a full page description viewable without proprietary software, and that

[0160] - the content is editable in its distributable portable document form by the use of embedding of the document description specification.

[0161] It is also an advantage of the present invention that the document description specification can be made easily readable for humans.

[0162] Finally, as the portable document follows standards for portable documents, the document will always be possible to view regardless of availability over time for specific editing computer programs.

[0163] Thus, accordng the invention a document descrition specification unambiguously specifying the appearnace of the document is stored. The embedded document description specification is the full content of the document including its formatting to be viewed on screen, in a portable document or printed. The document description specification is thus not metadata according to the definition of metadata. However, if embedded in a pdf, the document description specification is embedded using the metadata capabilities of a pdf. It should be clear that the invention is not limited to the specifically illustrated embodiments, but that it can be varied in a number of ways within the scope of the appended claims.

[0164] This patent application is written in the text processing program claimed in this application.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A computer file format for documents with a graphically formatted content, such as e.g. desktop publishing documents, presentation documents, spreadsheet documents and form documents, for storage on e.g. a storage device and / or a computer memory comprising at least a portable document and a document description specification, the portable document and the document description specification both unambiguously describing the graphically formatted content, said graphically formatted content being viewable on a computer, wherein the portable document contains information necessary for unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on an ordinary computer with a portable document viewer whereas the document description specification contains information necessary for, using a task specific computer program, unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on a computer, characterised in that the portable document further contains embedded information for allowing the document description specification to be unambiguously extracted from the portable document so that the document description specification can be viewed and edited on an ordinary , or any computer using said task specific computer program.

2. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to claim 1, characterised in that the embedded information is embedded as additional information, e.g. as metadata or comments, said additional information comprising a difference between the information in the document description specification and the information in the portable document, and in that, through addition of said difference to the information necessary for unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on a computer contained in the portable document, the document description specification can be extracted from the portable document.

3. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to claim 1, characterised in that the document description specification is embedded in its whole in the portable document, and in that it can be extracted as a whole from the portable document.

4. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a text processing document for desktop publishing.

5. A cumputer file format for graphically formatted documents according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a presentation document.

6. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a spreadsheet document.

7. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a form document.

8. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to any of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the document description specification format is in an easy-for-a-human-to-read format.

9. A computer file format for graphically formatted documents according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the portable document format is a pdf document.

10. A computer implemented method for a computer file format with a graphically formatted content, such as e.g. desktop publishing documents, presentation documents, spreadsheet documents and form documents, comprising at least the steps of:- reading (210) a document containing a document description specification from a storage device (130), e.g. when triggered by an open file event (205) ,- storing the document containing a document description specification in a computer memory (120),- rendering (230) the document containing a document description specification so that it can be viewed and printed, whereas if the document is edited (140):- storing an edited document description specification in the computer memory (120),- re-rendering the edited document,- saving (250) the rendered / the re-rendered document to the computer memory (120) in the form of a portable document, and- saving (270) the document saved to the computer memory (120) to the storage device (130), characterised in that the portable document contains information necessary for unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on an ordinary, or any computer with a portable document viewer and that it further contains embedded information for allowing the document description specification to be unambiguously extracted from the portable document, and in that for viewing and editing the document description specification the method comprises the steps of:- extracting the document description specification from the portable document;- viewing and / or editing the document description specification, where both steps are using a task specific computer program executing on any ordinary, or any computer having said task specific computer program installed .

11. A method according to claim 10, characterised in that the method comprises the step of:- embedding (260) a difference between the information in the document description specification and the information in the portable document as additional information, e.g. as metadata or comments in the portable document.

12. A method according to claim 10, characterised in that the document description specification is embedded in its whole in the portable document, and in that it can be extracted as a whole from the portable document.

13. A method according to any one of claims 10-12, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a text processing document for desktop publishing.

14. A method according to any one of claims 10-12, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a presentation document.

15. A method according to any one of claims 10-12, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a spreadsheet document.

16. A method according to any one of claims 10-12, characterised in that the graphically formatted document is a form document.

17. A method according to any one of claims 10-16, characterised in that the document description specification format is in an easy-for-a-human-to-read format.

18. A method according to any one of claims 10-17, characterised in that the portable document format is a pdf document.

19. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of, for a computer file format with a graphically formatted content, such as e.g. a desktop publishing document, a presentation documents, a spreadsheet document or a form document:- reading (210) the document containing a document description specification from a storage device (130), e g when triggered by an open file event (205) ,- storing the document containing a document description specification in a computer memory (120),- rendering (230) the document containing a document description specification so that it can be viewed and printed, whereas if the document is edited (140):- storing an edited document description specification in the computer memory (120),- re-rendering the edited document, - saving (250) the rendered / the re-rendered document to the computer memory (120) in the form of a portable document, and- saving (270) the document saved to the computer memory (120) to the storage device (130), c h a r a c t e r i s e d i n t h a t the portable document contains information necessary for unambiguously viewing the content of the graphically formatted document on an ordinary, or any computer with a portable document viewer and that it further contains embedded information for allowing the document description specification to be unambiguously extracted from the portable document, and in that the computer program, for viewing and editing the document description specification, causes the computer to carry out the steps of:- extracting the document description specification from the portable document;- viewing and / or editing the document description specification, where both steps are using a task specific computer program executing on any ordinary, or any computer having said task specific computer program installed.

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