Virtual File Thumbnail System for Electronic Document Page Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic document management systems are inefficient in allowing users to easily access and manage specific pages within electronic documents, as they require cumbersome operations to extract and save individual pages, and cannot couple desired pages from multiple documents effectively.
Innovation Solution
The system generates a virtual file with attribute information representing the storage location, filename, and page number of an electronic document, allowing users to easily select and access specific pages without opening the original document, and enables coupling of multiple virtual files to create a new document.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a user extracts and saves a specific page as another file, then the user can quickly access that specific page without opening the original document, but the user must perform troublesome operations including opening the original file, deleting unnecessary pages, and saving the extracted page as another file
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a thumbnail image (a simplified copy) of each page in the electronic document. Instead of extracting and saving the actual page content as a separate file, the system generates a visual copy that represents the page's content. Users can select and access specific pages by viewing these thumbnail copies, which eliminates the need to open and manipulate the original document file while still providing quick access to desired pages.
2Loss of time
If thumbnail images are generated for all pages of an electronic document, then users can quickly confirm contents of each page, but users cannot extract and manage only specific pages desired by the user
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the electronic document into individual page representations through thumbnail images. Each page is visually separated and can be independently selected, viewed, and managed. This segmentation allows users to focus on specific pages of interest while maintaining the ability to quickly survey all pages through the thumbnail gallery, thus providing both rapid confirmation and selective extraction capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The thumbnail image serves as an intermediary between the user and the actual page content. Instead of directly manipulating the original document or generating full-page extracts, the system uses these visual intermediaries as a selection interface. Users interact with the thumbnail mediator to identify and select desired pages, which then triggers the actual extraction or access of those specific pages from the original document.
3Loss of time
If users extract specific pages from multiple electronic documents and couple them as another file, then users can omit time and labor for searching pages in respective documents, but the time and labor for generating a new electronic document by extracting and coupling pages is greater than extracting from a single document
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal thumbnail generation and management system that works across multiple electronic documents simultaneously. The same thumbnail creation, display, and selection mechanisms that work for single documents are applied universally to multiple documents. This allows users to generate thumbnails for pages from different source documents, select desired pages from any combination of sources, and couple them into a new document using the same interface and processes, thereby maintaining consistent efficiency regardless of the number of source documents.
Data Source
AI summary
There are provided a virtual file generating unit 1 for designating an optional page of an optional electronic document to generate a virtual file, an object generating unit 4 for generating an object for visualizing the virtual file, and a virtual file access unit 6 for giving access to a designated page of an electronic document designated by the virtual file selected via the object. By only execution of a simple operation for designating a specific page in the electronic document to give an instruction for generating the virtual file, the virtual file and the object are generated. By only selection of a desirable object, access to a desirable page of a desirable electronic document is automatically given without performing a work for opening a file of an original electronic document to search for a specific page.