Ensured workflow system and method for editing a consolidated file
Contents
1. Step 44 comprises preflighting the edited docu ment Ina preferred embodiment this step may be performed each time an edit step is performed Step 45 comprises reviewing the results of the preflighting step This step may be performed any time as desired by the user Step 46 comprises storing an identification of the native application format document Although shown herein with respect to a preferred embodi ment comprising all of steps 40 46 versions of the method may be performed with less than all the steps For example some embodiments may merely comprise steps 40 and 41 other embodiments may comprise all the steps except step 41 What is important is that the method allow the user to ensure that a document created by the method of the invention meets the qualifications desired by the user If the user needs to know the responsibility for each edit made to the document then the method may comprise only steps 40 and 41 If the user just needs to make sure that the document has been preflighted with a correct preflight profile than method steps 40 42 43 and 44 may be most critical Other myriad com binations may also be provided Similarly an ensured work flow system of the present invention may comprise computer means for performing each of steps 40 46 or only some of the steps as noted above including a system comprising means for performing all of the functions in which some or all of the functions are optional at the user2. The system may further comprise means for storing infor mation in association with the consolidated document iden tifying oneor more native application format documents from which the consolidated document was created In a preferred embodiment the system comprises all ofthe above means It should be noted that even where the system comprises such means in one embodiment the user may have the option of not using the means for storing native application informa tion means for storing preflight information means for pre flighting or a combination thereof with respect to any given document In other embodiments the user may be required to use one or more of such means with respect to each document The system may not necessarily include all of the above means In one embodiment the system comprises means for storing preflight information in association with the consoli dated document the system comprising means for storing preflight information identifying a preflight profile and parameters thereof to be used for preflighting the document means for conducting a preflighting operation on the edited document in accordance with the preflight profile and means for storing one or more results of the preflighting operation in association with the consolidated document A preferred embodiment may have one or more of the following attributes The consolidated document may com prise a portable document format PDF file The system may comprise
3. a plug in application for use with a host application that enables viewing and creation of PDF files and that has an application program interface API for integrating the func tionality ofthe plug in application The system may comprise means for detecting edits that were not made by the system The system may comprise means for displaying the listing of one or more edits made during the session in an edit log The 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 system may comprise means for displaying a history of edit ing sessions for the edited file and means for comparing a first document version saved after a first session with a second document version saved after a second session The system may comprise means for saving a snapshot of a previous document version saved after a selected editing session The system may comprise means for reviewing an identifier ofthe preflight profile associated with the document reviewing whether the preflight profile associated with the document matches a database preflight profile reviewing whether the document has been preflighted with the preflight profile and reviewing whether the preflight report contains any errors Another aspect of the invention is a method for verifying responsibility for edits made to a consolidated document in one or more editing sessions in which one or more users edit and save successive versions of the consolidated document using an ensured workflow softwa
4. add comment text to be saved Buttons 24fand 24g allow the user to cancel entry of the information or OK entry of the information respec tively It should be recognized that dialog windows can have more than two choices and that interactive windows may contain any one or more of the data field types shown in FIG 2B as well as additional types of data fields not shown The exemplary window types are merely shown for further refer ence to window types generally later herein C Basic Ensured Workflow Methodology Referring now to FIG 3 there is shown a diagram similar to the diagram shown in FIG 1 representing the exemplary electronic publishing workflow edit chain having four stages A D as modified per the present invention It should be understood however that the present invention is not limited for use in edit chains with any particular number of stages and that the edit chan may have less than or more than four stages In Stage A after the user has created PDF1 the ensured workflow system may be invoked to create PDF2 suchas by using the toolbar the menu or shortcut keys or any US 7 783 972 B2 9 method of initiating a software step known in the art When the user initiates the ensured workflow system for a document that has changes in the document since its last save pop up dialog window 20 as shown in FIG 2A may be displayed This dialog window advises that the document has been changed and that it needs to be sa
5. and Save The ensured workflow system of this invention may be compatible with digital signature software such as ADOBE DIGITAL SIGNATURES which can be used when rigid security and authentication are desired Before executing a Sign and Save command for such digital signatures how ever the ensured workflow system may require the user to first preflight and save the document Thus the ensured work flow system may intercept Sign and Save commands for ensured workflow documents that have been edited since the last preflight and save step and display a dialog pop up win dow advising the user to save the document using the ensured workflow system first If the operator chooses to proceed with the Sign and Save anyway the ensured workflow edit log will reflect that an unsecured session was conducted When the operator selects Save As on the menu of the host application for an ensured document the user may be prompted with a dialog pop up window advising that the Save As function will create an unensured copy of the document and requiring the user to select whether to continue to save the unensured copy or cancel the request If the user chooses to save the unensured copy the ensured workflow system removes all ensured workflow data from the document and makes sure the document is saved in a cleaned up configura tion The exemplary system is described in terms of a combina tion of a host plug in computer
6. application software imple mentation This software may be embodied in a carrier such as an integrated circuit memory card magnetic or optical disk or an optical audio frequency or radio frequency carrier wave Furthermore the above program has been described with respect to specific preferred embodiments having vari ous pop up windows warnings and dialogs Programs within the scope of this invention however may have any type of user interface and user command structure known in the art and may have less than or more than all the specific functions described herein Moreover although described herein with respect to an exemplary embodiment in which the various information relating to the document is stored directly as part of the consolidated file the term in association with as used 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 herein refers not only to storing such information in the con solidated file but also to other means of associating such information with the file such as in a separate file that is linked to the consolidated file Although storage directly in the file has certain advantages in the exemplary embodiment any method of storing information in association with a con solidated file as may be known in the art is contemplated as being within the scope of this invention In summary an exemplary method in accordance with the invention may comprise the steps shown in FIG 4 These steps are
7. be interfaced remotely by the plug in application such as where the host application resides on a network server Similarly the plug in application may interface with a stand alone host application being executed as a background process as is known in the art In an exemplary ensured workflow system each user who handles the document has access to and uses a version of the host application having the plug in of the present invention for editing and saving that document The host application and plug in application together pro vide a cooperative functionality for enabling a method of interactively managing and operating an ensured workflow system In the exemplary embodiment the host application is a consolidated file viewer that may include limited editing functionality The plug in application may provide further editing features in addition to ensured workflow functional ity in accordance with the present invention The host application referred to in the exemplary embodi ment comprises ADOBE ACROBAT which enables view ing and creation of PDF formatted files Those skilled in the art will recognize however that the system and associated methods of the present invention while described in conjunc tion with PDF documents are equally applicable to other known consolidated document formats It should also be understood that other host applications exist and that the present invention is not limited to any particular host appl
8. etc Although the terms preflight or preflighting may have a particularized connotation in the graphic arts field the use of these terms herein relates to any valida tion or verification step of the document against any set of rules for governing the document and does not imply a limitation only to traditional preflighting specific to graphic arts applications Proof An output of a document prior to full scale publish ing to verify the desired format appearance layout and the like Snapshot A view of a consolidated file at some previous point in the workflow at amoment when the file had been saved Stage A session or series of sessions ending in a preflight ing and saving step such as the handling of the consoli dated file by one department or organization Stamp A tag applied to a document or file at the time of saving that provides identifying information i e the date and time the operator etc I System Overview The present invention provides an ensured workflow sys tem for improving consistency and accountability in the edit ing of electronic publishing documents The ensured work flow system may be in the form of a plug in application for use with a host application a stand alone application or a library program such as a Dynamic Link Library DLL fan 0 ha 5 25 30 45 55 60 65 6 usable by other programs to enable files created by that pro gram to interface wi
9. identifying information comprising one or more of file name file type relative path absolute path creation date modification date and checksum data means for storing preflight information within the consolidated document the preflight information iden tifying a preflight profile and parameters thereof to be used for preflighting the document means for preflighting the edited document in accordance with the preflight profile and means for storing an edit log within the consolidated docu ment the edit log comprising edit information corre sponding to a history of edits made to the document in each editing session of the edit chain the edit informa tion comprising a listing of one or more edits made during the session user information relating to the user who conducted the edit comment data optionally entered by the user relating to the session and one or more preflight results if preflighting has been per formed 2 The product of claim 1 further comprising means for allowing the one or more users to optionally not store the native application information using the corresponding 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 65 18 means optionally not store the preflight information using the corresponding means optionally not preflight the edited document or a combination thereof 3 The product of claim 1 comprising means for preflight ing and saving the document with a single user command 4 The product
10. may also make a series of edits and subsequent preflights creating one or more intermediate documents PDF 4a b c The service provider may make edits for example to correct problems identified by preflight reports add printability marks make last minute corrections and the like The final document created by the service provider PDF5 then passes to Stage D where it is handled by the printer or electronic publisher Stage D comprises the actual printing step which may first include a preflighting step to verify that the file conforms to the printing requirements before creation of the final published document PD such as a physically printed document or electronically published documents such as a document posted to an Internet website or incorporated into a CD ROM It should be noted that Stages B and C are optional and that in somecases a document originator may merely give the native application filed NAF1 to the printer who creates the PDF preflights it and prints it Because there is no way to tell if a document has been preflighted at all or preflighted using the correct profile even if the document originator has properly preflighted the document the service provider and printer typically duplicate the effort As can be appreciated propagation of the component and consolidated files through the edit chain of the electronic workflow system necessarily demands that changes be made by a variety of operators interact
11. not in any particular order as the steps may be performed in any order depending on the particular needs of the consolidated document being created and modified Thus in the embodiment shown in FIG 4 the ensured workflow method comprises storing in association with the consoli dated document information that indicates the document was edited using the ensured workflow system as shown in step 40 As defined here broadly the ensured workflow system may comprise any version of the computer program means of this invention such as a version 1 0 2 0 and the like as such nomenclature is well known in the software industry As noted above the term storing as used herein refers to any type of storage in association with the consolidated docu ment with a preferred embodiment comprising storing the information as part of the consolidated document The method further comprises storing edit information regarding any changes made to the document as shown in step 41 In an exemplary method this step may be repeated each time an edit is made to the document The method further comprises storing a preflight profile as shown in step 42 Step 43 comprises ensuring the stored preflight profile matches a predetermined preflight profile in a database to make certain that the user is using the correct preflight profile and to let an end user be sure that all previous preflighting steps were performed against the correct pre flight profile
12. that can be used for generating a preflight report The user may make edits in response to the preflight or may make edits for any reason whatsoever Data correspond US 7 783 972 B2 11 ing to each change made in the document the edit log or each preflighting step conducted is saved at the end of the file as part of the ensured workflow data so that the exact changes made during each session and the user or department who made the change can be pinpointed The edits are listed in the edit log in human readable natural language such as Font has been changed or Color has been changed to RGB A preferred mode of saving documents after edits have been made to the document is to perform a combination preflight and save operation Although the user may have the option of saving without preflighting if the user chooses to save without preflighting the software may display an pop up dialog window reminding the user that the document is an ensured document and asking the user to choose whether a save or preflight and save operation is desired If the user chooses to preflight and save an interactive pop up window may appear showing the preflight profile to be used and allowing the user the opportunity to enter a session comment If no preflight profile has been associated with the document by the user the interactive pop up window may require the user to choose a profile before the preflight and save step can
13. the original document and display the page where the change occurred On the displayed page all edits that were done in the current session may be highlighted with edits belonging to the specific item the user selected being highlighted in a different more prominent preferably transparent color This way the user has informa tion about what changed in a session and information about where a particular edit was made Ifthe edit was performed on multiple pages for example using an action list or a global change the hyperlink may link back to the page where the first instance of the change occurred When the user changes pages the edits on those pages may be highlighted as well The software may also allow the user to display the history of all sessions in the ensured document Such a display may include a window listing the type of session such as origi nal to designate the session that created the initial document or the name of the application or plug in used to create sub sequent versions the user who worked on the document in each session and the ending date and time of the session If the operator selects any of the sessions shown on the list a session info dialog box may be provided showing all available details for the selected session such as the operator associ ated with the session session comments and the like This session info dialog box may be read only and may comprise two tab pages The second tab page may b
14. 416 A 2 2000 Kanerva et al 715 208 33 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets r Document Info Creation Data 8 September 2000 Modification Data 21 September 2000 Type Word Document Ensured Preflight Profile r Enfocus Ensured Workflow Parameters NEED MEJORES 28 Krypton Profile 1 24e NE Browse Session Comment i This is a session comment 29 24 F Cancel OK Wr US 7 783 972 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 7 003 723 B1 2 2006 Kremer et al 715 517 2002 0022984 Al 2 2002 Daniel et al 705 8 6 407 820 B1 6 2002 Hansen etal 358 1 12 2002 0120648 Al 8 2002 Balletal 707 511 6 608 697 B1 8 2003 Schorretal 358 1 15 6 674 540 B1 1 2004 Wiechers et al 358 1 15 cited by examiner U S Patent Aug 24 2010 Sheet 1 of 5 US 7 783 972 B2 pew re rr er re re ee eee a awe eae PDF2a b c A id A me A EEE SE EE FIG 1 PRIOR ART U S Patent Aug 24 2010 Sheet 2 of 5 US 7 783 972 B2 The document has been changed It needs to be saved before the Enfocus Ensured Workflow can be started FIG 2A iu 26 7 Original Document s rM MP gU ERU Add 24c 27 Document Info Crea
15. RAWING The invention is best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings FIG 1 is a diagram of a typical electronic workflow edit chain known in the art FIG 2A depicts an exemplary pop up dialog display win dow of the type used in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention FIG 2B depicts an exemplary pop up interactive display window of the type used in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention FIG 3 is a diagram of an ensured workflow edit chain in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention FIG 4 is a schematic flowchart depicting an exemplary method functions of exemplary software means of the inven tion and FIG 5 is another schematic flowchart depicting additional exemplary method steps functions of exemplary software means of the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the drawings the same reference numerals are used for designating the same elements throughout the several figures US 7 783 972 B2 5 The following glossary is provided as a reference of com mon terms known in the art The definitions listed below are provided to facilitate the disclosure of an exemplary embodi ment of the invention The definitions are provided as general concepts rather than precise definitions and thus should not be interpreted as limitations on the invention The terminol ogy includes words noted below as well as deriva
16. US007783972B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 783 972 B2 Camps et al 45 Date of Patent Aug 24 2010 54 ENSURED WORKFLOW SYSTEM AND 6 052 198 A 4 2000 Neuhard etal 358 1 15 METHOD FOR EDITING A CONSOLIDATED 6 078 690 A 6 2000 Yamada et al 382 233 FILE 6 182 080 B1 1 2001 Clements 707 102 6 297 891 BI 10 2001 Kara eee 358 405 75 Inventors Peter Camps Drongen BE David van Continued Driessche Gentbrugge BE t OTHER PUBLICATIONS 73 Assignee Enfocus NV Ghent BE Person Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 97 Publisher Que Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this PP 1 4 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 SUA M P d Sane E B 2000 8 pp pecification Documents Jan gt pp U S C 154 b by 1517 days JDF Specification Draft Spiral 5 0 by CIP4 Organization 451 pp Markzware FlightCheck Classic User Manual 2001 78 pp 21 Appl No 10 041 525 Enfocus PitStop Professional User Guide 2000 168 pp 22 Filed Jan 8 2002 Primary Examiner Stephen S Hong Assistant Examiner Wilson Tsui 65 Prior Publication Data 74 Attorney Agent or Firm RatnerPrestia US 2002 0116399 Al Aug 22 2002 57 ABSTRACT Related U S Application Data Ys AK An ensured workflow system for editing a consolidated file 60 Provisional application No 60 260 230 filed on Jan such as a portable document formatte
17. and MDS algorithms which are also well known in the art The MD2 algorithm is described in RFC 1319 The MD2 Message Digest Algorithm Burton Kaliski April 1992 and the MDS algorithm is described in RFC 1321 The MD5 Message Digest Algorithm Ronald Rivest April 1992 The invention is not limited to use of any particular message digest algorithm however or even a checksum algorithm and thus may comprise any algorithm known in the art for verifying if a document has been changed Thus whenever the ensured workflow system is invoked for a file previously ensured by the system a com parison of the checksum of the file being opened to the stored checksum in the ensured workflow data is performed If the checksums do not match the user is notified such as with an informational window letting the user know that the changes made in the unensured session will not be logged The win dow may be an interactive window that allows the user to add comment data such as for example to describe the changes that occurred in the unensured session Thus the ensured workflow system enables an operator to intercept and log all modifications to an ensured PDF docu ment Changes may also be intercepted using a standard notification mechanism of the host application To maxi mize the number of unensured changes detected however and to increase the quality and detail of the edit log other products in the workflow may provide information th
18. at is detected by the ensured workflow software For example an editing plug in may send a message with a meaningful description to the ensured workflow system each time a change is performed by an operator using the editing plug in Similarly stand alone applications may adhere to the sav ing guidelines used by the ensured plug in application and include a human readable description of any changes made The ensured workflow marker is recognized at any step in the ensured workflow system as indicating that the PDF docu ment should be processed by to the ensured workflow system PDF files without the marker will be treated normally by the host application without initiation of the ensured workflow system The ensured workflow system may also provide the user an option to generate a unensured copy of the file that does not contain the ensured workflow data Returning now to FIG 3 after saving PDF2 the first user or another user may perform any number of edits thus creat ing successive document versions PDF3a b c each time the document is saved For example as soon as PDF2 is created with a chosen preflight profile the program may display a pop up dialog window asking if the user wants to perform a preflighting step now or wait until later providing corresponding buttons for the user to select his choice The file saved after preflighting file PDF2 PDF3a contains ensured workflow data corresponding to that preflighting step
19. ates in general to a method of editing an electronic data file More particularly this inven tion provides a computer application for providing an ensured workflow with respect to the editing of a consolidated file such as a PDF file BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION With the proliferation of electronic file processing and digital graphic art design the publishing industry has migrated away from traditional mechanical layout pressing systems toward electronic based publishing pressing work flow systems Prior to the use of electronic publishing work flows publishers printers were responsible for integrating content components i e images text etc into a consoli dated document for printing Thus the scanning of images color reproduction layout and associated formatting were performed by the traditional printer or pre press house As electronic publishing workflow systems have become increasingly commonplace in order to work with contempo rary electronic content creators and graphic artists printing and publishing entities have lost the ability to standardize the preparation and editing of content components necessary for controlling the production layout process Presently electronic publishing workflows are subject to inconsistent content component standards and corresponding consolidated electronic file translations For example com ponent files such as image and text files are produced by a variety of applications These c
20. be completed When the user chooses a preflight profile the name of that profile and the corresponding parameters of the profile are saved in the consolidated file During the preflight step feedback may be provided to the operator via a standard progress bar of the host application or through a separate progress dialog Each preflight step also preferably comprises comparing the preflight profile stored with the document against any similarly named preflight profiles stored on the user s computer and verifies that the parameters of the pre flight profiles are the same This step prevents miscommuni cation among different users who although using a preflight profile by the same name may actually be using a different set of rules for preflighting At the end of Stage B the PDF document PDF4 is then provided to the service provider in Stage C for preparation for printing It should be noted that although the document pro vided to the service provider in Stage C is designated herein as PDF4 this document may be identical to the last created version of the group consisting of files PDF2 and PDF3a b c depending on if any changes were made to the document The service provider may make subsequent edits and or pre flights creating new document versions PDF5a b c each time the an editing session is concluded Or because a docu ment created using the ensured workflow method of this invention is preferably preflighted each time i
21. cate the preflighting step at each stop in the edit chain SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One aspect of the invention is an ensured workflow system for editing a consolidated document in one or more editing sessions in which one or more users edit and save successive versions of the consolidated document At a minimum one embodiment ofthe system comprises means for storing infor mation in association with the consolidated document indi cating that the document was edited using the ensured work flow system and means for storing edit information in association with the consolidated document relating to each editing session The edit information comprises a listing of one or more edits made during the session user information relating to the user who conducted the edit comment data entered by the user relating to the session and preflight results if any The system may further comprise means for storing and verifying a preflight profile in association with the consolidated document to be used for preflighting the docu ment and means for preflighting the edited document in accordance with the preflight profile In such case the means for storing the edit information may further comprise means for storing one or more preflight results related to any pre flight step that was performed In another embodiment the system may comprise only a system for ensuring that a con solidated document has been preflighted with a correct pre flight profile
22. cument file 21 The product of claim 1 wherein the product comprises a stand alone application 22 The product of claim 1 wherein the product comprises a library file 23 The product of claim 1 further comprising means for verifying parameters of a preflight profile stored in a user s US 7 783 972 B2 19 memory device with the parameters of the preflight profile stored in association with the consolidated document 24 The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising means for visually indicating a status of the con solidated document 25 The computer program product of claim 24 wherein the status of the consolidated document comprises a status in which the document has been successfully preflighted with out errors 26 The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the status further comprises the preflight profile stored within the document matching a corresponding preflight profile in a profile database 27 The computer program product of claim 24 wherein the means for visually indicating the status comprises a col ored indicator wherein a first color indicates a first status and a second color indicates a second status 28 A computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium the product comprising a plug in application for use with a host application for editing a PDF file in one or more editing sessions of an edit chain in which one or more users edit and save successive versio
23. d PDF file which may 8 2001 be in the form of a plug in application that communicates with a host application through an application program inter 51 Int CI vo dani face The system comprises means for storing identifying pd H s OD information in association with the consolidated document 01 indicating that the document was edited using the system and 52 USC anne 715 255 715 230 715 232 means for storing edit information relating to each editing 715 233 715 229 session The edit information includes at least a listing of one 58 Field of Classification Search 71 5 522 or more edits made during the session user information relat 715 527 515 511 209 230 232 233 229 ing to the user who conducted the edit and any comments See application file for complete search history entered by the user relating to the session The system may 56 References Cited also comprise means for storing native application informa tion identifying one or more native application format docu U S PATENT DOCUMENTS ments from which the consolidated document was created 5 889 932 A 3 1999 Adegeest et al edm means for storing a preflight profile to be used for 5963641 A 10 1999 Crandall et al preflighting the document and means for preflighting the 5978475 A 11 1999 Schneier etal 713 177 Cited document in accordance with the preflight profile 5 999 945 A 12 1999 Lahey etal 707 200 6 026
24. documents are created and then combined into a single PDF1 the operator may opti mally identify only the two QUARK files as the original documents The operator does not need to choose the image files that comprise the first QUARK document because if one of the images changes the QUARK application will ask the user to update the links The operator may also select the appropriate preflight pro file in data field 28 and provide an optional session comment in data field 29 The preflight profile can be chosen from a database in memory such as a database associated with a preflighting plug in such as ENFOCUS PITSTOP If a preflight profile is chosen it is stored in the ensured document for later use in the workflow When the user selects button 22d PDF1 is then saved as PDF2 comprising the contents of PDF1 along with additional ensured workflow data The ensured workflow data comprises data typically added to the document file such as data added to the end of the file com prising information identifying the original document as entered in field 27 the set of rules corresponding to the preflight profile identified in field 28 the session comment added in field 29 a time date stamp indicating when the file was saved and a user identification stamp that identifies the user who performed the save The ensured workflow data typically includes a marker so that the ensured workflow system can recognize a file con taining ensured work
25. e a read only ver sion of the user identification dialog whereas the first page may contain a the start and end date amp time of the session b the session comment c the software product used i e ENSURE PLUG IN 1 0 PITSTOP Server 2 34 d the 0 jak 5 20 30 40 45 50 55 65 14 product environment i e ACROBAT 4 05c ADOBE PDF Library 4 0 e the session profile and f the document state at the end of the session i e unensured tampered ensured without preflight ensured with preflight with errors ensured with preflight without errors The document history display window may also contain an option for the user to compare the state of the document at the end of a selected session with another point in the workflow The user may be able to select whether he wants to see the comparison provided using the edit log or visually side by side If the user selects to have a visual comparison a second dialog box showing the list of sessions identical to the list as in the original document history display may be provided allowing the user to select a second session to compare with the session selected in the document history window Once a proper second session has been selected snapshots belonging to both versions may be opened as temporary files and com pared using the standard document comparison functionality of the host application The document created that compares the two se
26. er is presented with a standard save as screen display known in the art directing the user to select the file name and location for saving the snapshot which is saved as an unensured docu ment The software may also allow the user to display a user identification interactive pop up window This screen display may list information about the operator to be logged as the user for the current session Such information may include a window showing the name department and contact informa tion such as telephone number or e mail address for the user that is modifiable by the user The information may also include non modifiable information such as registration information regarding to whom name company and regis tration key the software is registered and system information as known to the operating system if available or applicable such as the username network name and or ethernet or MAC address This user identification is stored persistently across sessions and it defaults to the registration information where no information is available The software may also allow the user to verify the original document NAF1 If this function is selected the program may display a list of the original document filenames as stored in the ensured workflow data when the ensured workflow US 7 783 972 B2 15 process was started along with a status identical missing or different of each document The program may automatically locate the
27. flow data as being an ensured document For example the data is stored following a one or more specialized keys recognized by the plug in of the present invention and ignored by other applications Such a key may include for example a prefix The use of such prefixes is well known in the art as is the practice of reserving with the developer ofa host application one or more prefixes to be used for saving data in the consolidated file for use by only certain plug in applications Specifically for an embodiment of the present invention developed by the assignee the prefix FICL has been reserved for use in ADOBE ACROBAT 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 PDF files and any information stored for use by the plug in of the present invention is stored under a top level key named FICL Enfocus The present invention is not limited how ever to the use of any particular marker prefix or keys The ensured workflow data may also include means for determining if the document has been modified outside ofthe ensured workflow process Such means may comprise for example a checksum of the file such as a message digest algorithm A typical such algorithm is known as an MD4 checksum known in the art and described for example in Internet Request for Comments RFC 1320 The MD4 Message Digest Algorithm Ronald Rivest April 1992 Other message digest algorithms may also be used such as for example the MD2
28. i cation The ensured workflow system of the exemplary embodiment may employ additional plug in applications for providing additional functionality such as preflight libraries and similar applications for example as employed by PIT STOP PROFESSIONAL of Enfocus Software of Gent Belgium B User Interface The exemplary ensured workflow system integrates the additional functionality of the plug in application to the menus and toolbars of the host application For example the ensured workflow system may provide an extra tool button on the command bar the bar which is by default displayed at the top of the screen of host application may provide an Ensured Workflow menu on the host application menu bar and may provide a preference menu in a standard location for preferences on the host application In the exemplary embodiment the tool button may have a differently colored and or shaped icon depending on the document that is currently active to give feedback on the current state of the document in the ensured workflow system Such document states may include for example unensured ensured status green and ensured status red Ensured status green may mean that the active document is an ensured document that the document has been successfully preflighted without errors and that the preflighting profile matches a profile in the profile database if applicable Ensured status red may mean that the active doc
29. ile name file type relative path absolute path creation date modification date and checksum data and d storing a preflight profile within the consolidated docu ment to be used for preflighting the document e preflighting the edited document in accordance with the preflight profile and storing one or more preflight results related to the preflighting step as edit information in the edit log
30. ility for edits made to a consolidated document in one or more editing sessions of an edit chain in which one or more users edit and save successive versions of the consolidated document using an ensured workflow software program embodied on a computer readable medium the consolidated document comprising at least one component file converted from a native application format into and stored in a non native application format different from the native application format the non native application format comprising a for mat accepted by an output processing system the method comprising the steps of a storing a marker within the consolidated document indicating the at the document was edited using the ensured workflow software package b storing an edit log within the consolidated document the edit log comprising edit information corresponding to a history of edits made to the document in each editing session of the edit chain the edit information compris ing a listing of one or more edits made during the session user information relating to the user who con ducted the edit any comments entered by the user relat ing to the session and one or more preflight results if preflighting has been performed c storing identifying information within the consolidated document sufficient to identify the at least one compo nent file that was converted into the consolidated docu ment the identifying information comprising one or more of f
31. ively or automatically with out user intervention in the workflow Thus to increase the effectiveness of correction tools in any stage of a PDF work flow it is desirable to address two issues document consis tency and editing responsibility While it is most efficient to make corrections immediately as they are identified late stage editing in PDF creates an inconsistency between the final document and the native application document Further more the native application document may be modified with out the modifications being transferred to the final document Job reruns may require duplication of approved corrections and result in added risk With a digital workflow lacking the signed proofs of a non digital workflow there is no easy way to preserve the job at various approval stages making it difficult to pinpoint the origin of an error or modification after the fact Thus it is desirable to provide a system that can identify when where and by whom changes in a document have been made US 7 783 972 B2 3 Accordingly there is a need for a PDF editing and work flow management system in which efficiency is increased by encouraging preflighting at an early stage inthe workflow and by securing a specific file at a known point in the workflow to eliminate unidentified tampering Furthermore it is desirable to provide a system that can ensure that a document complies with a specific preflight profile without the need to dupli
32. ment b the active document has not been pre flighted with the preflight profile c the active document has been preflighted with the ensured preflight profile and the preflight report contains errors or d the active document has been preflighted with the ensured preflight profile without errors In the case where the document has not been pre flighted the window may include a button for the user to choose to preflight and save now and in the cases where the document has been preflighted the window may include a button for the user to choose to show the report The software may also allow the user to access the edit log for the document which provides a consolidated report of all the edits performed The edit log may comprise a new PDF document opened by the host application containing a chro nological listing of the sessions for the document and the edits performed in each session The report may contain a session header for each session listing the relevant session informa tion user information session comment if any and status of the document whether preflighted correctly edited etc All edits performed in the session may also be listed under the session header The edit description may include a user friendly description of the edit that was performed and cita tion to the page or pages in the document where the edit was performed In front of each edit may be a hyperlink that when selected by the user may link back to
33. ns of the PDF file the PDF file comprising at least one component file converted from a native application non PDF format into and stored in PDF format the product comprising means for storing a marker within the PDF file indicating that the PDF file was edited using the ensured workflow system means for optionally storing information within the PDF file identifying the at least one component file converted from the native application non PDF format into the PDF format the identifying information comprising one or more of file name file type relative path absolute path creation date modification date and checksum data and means for optionally storing a preflight profile within the PDF file to be used for preflighting the document means for optionally preflighting the edited PDF file in accordance with the preflight profile means for storing an edit log within the PDF the edit log comprising edit information corresponding to a history of edits made to the document in each editing session of the edit chain the edit information comprising an edit log listing of one or more edits made during the session user information relating to the user who conducted the edit comment data optionally entered by the user relat ing to the session and one or more preflight results if preflighting has been performed means for displaying the history of edits for the edited PDF file including means for comparing a first document versi
34. nts of the claims and without departing from the spirit of the invention For example although the system and method of this invention are particu larly useful in the graphic arts field the invention is applicable to other fields as well as the invention is not limited to any particular field or fields Also although systems and methods are described herein directed to both tracking edit informa tion and preflighting information systems and or methods directed to only one of the two functions may also be pro vided What is claimed is 1 A computer program product tangibly stored on a com puter readable medium for editing a consolidated document in one or more editing sessions of an edit chain in which one or more users edit and save successive versions of the con solidated document the consolidated document comprising at least one component file converted from a native applica tion format into and stored in a non native application format different from the native application format the non native application format comprising a format accepted by an output processing system the product comprising means for storing a marker within the consolidated docu ment the marker indicating that the document was edited using an ensured workflow system means for storing identifying information within the con solidated document sufficient to identify the at least one component file that was converted into the consolidated document the
35. of claim 1 wherein the consolidated docu ment comprises a portable document format PDF file 5 The product of claim 4 wherein the product comprises a plug in application for use with a host application that enables viewing and creation of PDF files and that has an application program interface API for integrating the func tionality of the plug in application 6 The product of claim 5 wherein the identifying infor mation indicating that the document was edited using the product comprises a key comprising a prefix approved by a developer of the host application 7 The product of claim 1 wherein the product further comprises means for detecting edits which were not made by the product 8 The product of claim 7 wherein the means for detecting edits not made by the product comprises a checksum 9 The product of claim 8 wherein the checksum comprises a message digest algorithm selected from a group consisting of MD2 MD4 and MDS 10 The product of claim 1 further comprising means to display the listing of one or more edits made during the session in an edit log 11 The product of claim 10 further comprising means for displaying a portion of the edited file in response to the user to selecting a corresponding entry in the edit log 12 The product of claim 1 further comprising means for displaying a history of editing sessions for the edited file 13 The product of claim 12 further comprising means for comparing one document ver
36. omponent files are then inte grated into a page format or consolidated file such as a PDF TIFF XML and or POSTSCRIPT formatted file The con solidated file converts component files 1 e raster and or vector based into a single format for acceptance by an output processing system In order to provide an acceptable consoli dated file attributes such as font handling color handling resolution target output device and compression must be determined in advance and may be different for the consoli dated file than for the component files Moreover in order to edit the consolidated file components it is often necessary to recreate the original file components and or change the con solidated file type By way of example as shown in FIG 1 a diagram repre senting a generic electronic publishing workflow edit chain is shown having four stages A D Typical workflow edit chains may be simpler or more complex however than what is shown and described herein The workflow or edit chain of FIG 1 begins in Stage A which is the document creation level where a document originator creates the original docu ment in a native application such as MICROSOFT WORD QUARK XPRES or ADOBE INDESIGN This original document is referred to herein as the Native Application File NAF1 The document originator then cre ates a first PDF document PDF1 from NAF1 such as jai 5 20 40 45 55 2 through a direct expor
37. on saved after a first session with a second docu ment version saved after a second session and means for saving a snapshot of a previous document ver sion saved after a selected editing session and means for reviewing the preflight profile stored within the PDF file reviewing whether the preflight profile stored within the PDF file matches a database preflight profile 5 an 0 5 20 25 40 45 50 55 20 having an identical name reviewing whether the PDF file has been preflighted with the preflight profile stored within the PDF file and reviewing whether the preflight results indicate any errors in the PDF file 29 The computer program product of claim 28 further comprising means for visually indicating a status of the con solidated document 30 The computer program product of claim 29 wherein the status of the consolidated document comprises a status in which the document has been successfully preflighted with out errors 31 The computer program product of claim 30 wherein the status further comprises the preflight profile stored within the document matching a corresponding preflight profile in a profile database 32 The computer program product of claim 29 wherein the means for visually indicating the status comprises a col ored indicator wherein a first color indicates a first status and a second color indicates a second status 33 A computer implemented method for verifying respon sib
38. original files based on the absolute and relative paths that were stored when the original document was added to the list For example if the program cannot locate the file using the absolute path the program may check the relative paths such as if the original file was the same folder as the PDF document checking the folder in which the PDF docu ment is now located The user can browse to select the original document if the file is not found automatically for example if the path of the original file has been changed The program compares information about the selected document with the information about the original document as stored in the ensured document to make the status deter mination A file with the same filename and type with a different checksum from the original document will be con sidered different The checksums need to match for the docu ments to be considered identical Separate checksums are stored for the data and resource forks for computer platform compatibility Thus for example if a certain fork is not rel evant for the document type e g a resource fork for a PDF document the files may be considered identical even though the non relevant fork may be different When the operator chooses the regular Save menu item of the host application 7 the operator is warned via the screen display of FIG 13B that this is not the preferred option for ensured documents the preferred option is performing a Preflight
39. r an error provide a description of the problem and may include one or more hyperlinks Such hyperlinks when selected may take the user to the object that is source of the error in the version of the document having been preflighted to generate the report The software may also allow the user to show the document status such as via display of a document status window The document status window may display data fields showing the preflight profile information such as the profile name the author and date preflight status information and document status information Ifno preflight profile has been designated US 7 783 972 B2 13 for the document the data fields are left blank Exemplary preflight status information may indicate for example that a no ensured preflight profile is attached to the document b the ensured preflight profile cannot be verified because the profile database is not accessible from the operator s com puter c the ensured preflight profile matches a profile in the profile database d the ensured preflight profile matches a profile in the profile database but a different profile with the same name exists in the database or e the ensured preflight profile matches none of the profiles in the profile database Exemplary document status information may indicate for example that a the active document cannot be preflighted because there is no ensured preflight profile associated with the docu
40. re program The method comprises the steps of a storing information in association with the consolidated document indicating that the document was edited using the ensured workflow software package b storing edit information in association with the consolidated document relating to each editing session the edit informa tion comprising a listing of one or more edits made during the session user information relating to the user who conducted the edit and comment data entered by the user relating to the session The method may further comprise c identifying a preflight profile in association with the consolidated docu ment to be used for preflighting the document and d pre flighting the edited document in accordance with the preflight profile wherein storing the edit information in step b further comprises one or more preflight results related to the pre flighting step The method may also further comprise e storing information in association with the consolidated document identifying one or more native application format documents from which the consolidated document was cre ated Another aspect of the invention comprises a computer readable carrier including computer program instructions that cause a computer to implement the method described above Both the foregoing general description of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary but are not restrictive of the invention BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE D
41. referably editable at all times by the host applica tion and also by other available plug in applications Where the system comprises a library application the file is prefer ably editable at all times by the system hosting the library application and by any other form of the system such as a stand alone or plug in application All information concern ing the ensured workflow is preferably contained in the PDF document itself without additional supporting files and with out a substantial increase in the size of the PDF file II Description of an Exemplary Embodiment An exemplary method in accordance with the present invention will now be more specifically described for dem onstrating the functionality of the ensured workflow system US 7 783 972 B2 7 A Plug In Application Although not limited to a plug in application the exem plary embodiment is described herein with respect to a plug in application For such an application the host application typically has an application program interface API for inte grating the functionality of the plug in application A plug in application enable users familiar with a specific host applica tion the ability to enhance the functionality of the host appli cation without the need to become familiar with a completely new application The plug in application and host application need not reside in a common memory For example the application program interface of the host application may
42. ring the session the user may want to edit the comment after every edit of the document If the user changes the preflight profile a dialog window may be generated confirm ing the change and requiring the user to select whether to perform a preflight now or later If the user chooses to remove the preflight profile so that no preflight profile is associated with the document a pop up dialog window may be provided reminding the user of the benefits of using the preflight profile and asking the user either to OK or cancel the decision to remove the profile The software may also allow the user to show a preflight report at any time during the session If the user requests a preflight report when there have been edits since the last preflight report a pop up dialog window may be displayed informing the user that a preflighting step needs to be per formed and asking the user to OK or cancel performing a preflight and save operation If no edits have been performed since the last preflighting step the preflight report is gener ated from the stored ensured workflow data The preflight report may have a format similar to those known in the art such as provided by ENFOCUS PITSTOP PROFESSIONAL the user s manual for which is hereby incorporated by reference Such a preflight report may pro vide a listing for each problem encountered during preflight ing if any Each listing may indicate the severity of the problem encountered a caution o
43. s discretion The exemplary method system may further comprise addi tional steps computer means As shown in FIG 5 an exem plary system may further comprise means 50 for displaying an edit history means 51 for comparing one edit version of a consolidated document with another edit version including a visual comparison of the documents side by side such as on US 7 783 972 B2 17 a corresponding computer screen means 52 for displaying an edit log and means 53 for displaying a portion of the file that has been edited The system may further comprise means 54 for saving a snapshot of one or more document versions as is at the end of or during a desired time in an editing session and means 55 for reviewing a structured preflight report compris ing an organized presentation of the preflight results As with the functions shown in FIG 4 one embodiment may com prise means for performing all of the above functions while other embodiments may comprise less than all of the means Exemplary methods may also include all of the steps 50 55 in any order or less than all of the steps The computer means may comprise any computer hardware or software means known in the art Although illustrated and described above with reference to certain specific embodiments the present invention is never theless not intended to be limited to the details shown Rather various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivale
44. sion saved after one session with an other document version saved after an other session 14 The product of claim 13 further comprising means for visually comparing the one version of the document side by side with the other version of the document 15 The product of claim 12 further comprising means for comparing the one version of the document with the other version of the document using an edit log listing all the edits made between the one version and the other version 16 The product of claim 15 further comprising means for displaying a portion of the edited file in response to the user to selecting a corresponding entry in the edit log 17 The product of claim 1 further comprising means for saving a snapshot of a previous document version saved after a selected editing session 18 The product of claim 1 further comprising means for reviewing an identifier of the preflight profile stored within the document reviewing whether the preflight profile stored within the document matches a database preflight profile reviewing whether the document has been preflighted with the preflight profile stored within the document and review ing whether the preflight results indicate any errors in the document 19 The product of claim 18 further comprising means for reviewing a preflight report 20 The product of claim 1 wherein each means for storing information is adapted to store the corresponding information as part of the consolidated do
45. ssions may be saved by the user if desired Ifthe user chooses to see the comparison between sessions using the edit log the user first selects the second session to be compared to the first session using a second dialog box listing the sessions and then a window listing the edit log is pro vided The edit log window displays a list of all changes that have been stored in the edit log between the first snapshot and the last snapshot only for the current page If an item in the edit log window is selected transparent overlays are gener ated over the areas on the page in the document where these edits caused a change to the page The software may allow the user to toggle between the first and last snapshot by using a toggle button allowing the user to quickly see the changes between the selected sessions The edit log navigator may display only the changes for the current page in the active document so that if the operator goes to another page in the host application the edit log navigator adjusts the list of edits to match the new page If an item was selected and the operator switches to another page that item may be automatically selected again if it is available in the list of edits for that page If it is not available no other item is automatically selected for viewing The document history display window may also comprise an option to save a snapshot for the end of any of the listed sessions If the user selects this option the us
46. t from the native application through a host application or by printing to a distiller At Stage B the document originator may apply a preflight profile received from a service provider such as a printing service bureau and may initiate an edit session for the pur pose of preflighting PDF1 Preflighting as is known in the art is an output system compliance analysis step that compares the document to a set of rules such as formatting rules printability rules and the like relating to the specific output device used for creating the document in its final physical or electronic form for example PDF1 may optionally be edited creating one or more intermediate files PDF2a b c that may be individually saved and preflighted resulting in a document PDF3 that is sent to the service provider Although preflighting by document originators is a growing practice this step is not always performed Even when pre flighting is done early in the edit chain the service provider and or printer cannot currently ensure that the preflight was in fact performed or that the correct preflight profile was used The service provider such as a pre press house then receives document PDF3 which may or may not be pre flighted from document originator in Stage C The service provider may perform a preflight step which may bean initial preflight step or a verification that the preflight step per formed by the document originator The service provider
47. t is saved the service provider may be able to merely ascertain that the correct preflight profile was used and that the document has not been modified since the last successful preflight The document leaving Stage C is designated PDF6 but if no changes in the document have been made the document may be identical to the last created document of the group consist ing of files PDF2 PDF3a b c and PDF4 In Stage D PDF 6 is then printed by the printer or electronic publisher who may comprise the same entity as the service provider or who may be an unrelated service provider Prior to printing the printer may review the document to verify that the correct preflight profile was used Looping arrow 30 between Stage D and Stage A in FIG 3 is indicates that the document as printed PDF6 can be returned to the document originator for checking against the native file application NAFI The user can then update NAF1 manually using the edit log of the changes as provided by the software of this invention The check against the NAF1 will allow the docu ment originator not only to determine what changes were made and by whom but also to determine if the NAF1 file has 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 changed since the creation of the original PDF1 document If so it may be necessary to edit and reprint the PDF file accord ingly As described above at the end of each session in the ensured workflow system
48. th the ensured workflow system In an exemplary embodiment the computer platform may be any type of platform known in the art including but not limited to a personal computer such as a desktop laptop or portable device having access to a memory for storing opera tional data of the ensured workflow system such as the desired preflight profile parameters described herein A graphical user interface such as supported by MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 may be used for generating standardized screens and or templates to interactively manage and or operate the ensured workflow system of the present invention The invention is not limited to any specific type of graphical user interface however nor even limited to a graphical inter face Furthermore the invention is not limited to use with any particular computer operating system The ensured workflow system of the present invention functions to ensure the edit chain of FIG 1 From the creation of a consolidated document such as a PDF docu ment in Stage A until the final output in Stage D the active version of the document can be retrieved and compared to previous versions of the document and or component files to determine where an error or specific correction or alteration was introduced The ensured workflow system provides an edit log and compared versions between the first and last PDF in the ensured workflow to enable the document origi nator to accurately update his na
49. the PDF document receives a stamp identifying the operator and or workstation for each session The combination of these stamps and the edit log described previously makes it possible to pinpoint responsi bility for any changes made in the edit chain to having occurred during a specific session conducted by a specific individual or entity To facilitate this process the system of this invention may also enable a visual comparison of the page content between any two snapshots of the PDF file created when the file was saved The user may also create a copy of the PDF file in the same condition that it was saved in any previous snapshot This makes it possible to undo one or more complete sessions at a time Each line item in the edit log may also be hyperlinked to the corresponding region on a PDF document where the change was made These operations are described in more detail below D Additional Operations The software may allow the user to edit the ensured work flow attributes at any time during the session such as via an interactive pop up window For example the user may change the preflight profile or may change or add a session comment associated with the session The interactive pop up window may show the existing profile and any existing com ment A comment may be added by the user at any time during each session Thus for example if the user wants to make sure that he provides a comment for each change as it is made du
50. tion Data 8 September 2000 Modification Data 21 September 2000 Type Word Document Enfocus Ensured Workflow Parameters Ensured Preflight Profile 28 Krypton Profile 1 Session Comment This is a session comment U S Patent Aug 24 2010 Sheet 3 of 5 US 7 783 972 B2 FIG 3 U S Patent Aug 24 2010 Sheet 4 of 5 US 7 783 972 B2 n STORE INFORMATION INDICATING DOCUMENT EDITED USING ENSURED WORKFLOW SYSTEM Y 41 STORE EDIT INFORMATION 42 y STORE PREFLIGHT PROFILE 43 ENSURE STORED PREFLIGHT PROFILE MATCHES PREDETERMINED PREFLIGHT PROFILE 44 Y PREFLIGHT THE EDITED DOCUMENT V 45 REVIEW PREFLIGHT RESULTS 46 STORE IDENTIFICATION OF NATIVE APPLICATION FORMAT DOCUMENT FIG 4 U S Patent 50 91 52 53 54 55 Aug 24 2010 Sheet 5 of 5 DISPLAY EDIT HISTORY COMPARE ONE EDIT VERSION TO ANOTHER V DISPLAY EDIT LOG y DISPLAY EDITED PORTION OF FILE STORE SNAPSHOT OF DOCUMENT VERSION Y VIEW PREFLIGHT REPORT FIG 5 US 7 783 972 B2 US 7 783 972 B2 1 ENSURED WORKFLOW SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EDITING A CONSOLIDATED FILE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U S Provisional Application No 60 260 230 filed Jan 8 2001 the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention rel
51. tive application file Generally the ensured workflow system of the exemplary embodiment provides a means for viewing the PDF document at any given point along the edit chain where the file has been saved in order to determine where an error was introduced By preflighting and saving a document the edit chain of FIG 1 can be validated at every stage resulting in an ensured workflow As such the ensured workflow system of the present invention provides a way to identify if a file has been modified since it was last preflighted in order to detect errors or inconsistencies from one edit to the next Also the ensured workflow system preferably provides means for storing a preflight profile associated with the document and means for verifying that a similarly named preflight profile on the user s computer has identical parameters to the stored profile Once a file has entered the ensured workflow system of the present invention further actions on the file may follow the ensured guidelines of the application by default The user interface of the exemplary computer platform enables a user to initiate the ensured workflow system at any time even in the middle of a workflow that has not previously been ensured In the exemplary embodiment changes made to a file outside the ensured workflow system are detected Changes made to a file subject to the ensured process are logged Where the system comprises a plug in application the file is p
52. tives thereof and words of similar import The terms are generally defined as follows Component File A distinct element such as a graphic or text object to be incorporated into a document for pub lishing by a workflow system Consolidated File A file for storing component files in a common format that is accepted by an output processing system such as but not limited to a PDF file a POST SCRIPT file a tagged interface format file TIFF file or an extensible markup language XML file Distiller Application that interprets POSTSCRIPT data and builds a PDF file Editing Session An operation beginning with accessing or opening a document or file and ending when the file is saved Host Application An application having an Application Program Interface API for communication with a Plug In Application e g ADOBE ACROBAT Native Document An original document in a format prior to conversion to a consolidated file eg a MICROSOFT WORD document PDF file Portable Document Format file a type of con solidated file Plug In Application An application communicating witha host application through an Application Program Inter face API Preflighting The process of verifying that a document has the necessary elements and formats to perform as desired in the workflow so that problems can be identi fied prior to a final publication step i e printing posting on a website incorporating it into a CD Rom
53. ude starting the ensured workflow editing the ensured workflow attributes preflighting and saving showing the document status showing a preflight report showing the document history showing the user identification and veri fying the original document The menu may be designed to make visible and or selectable only menu items relevant to the document status For example a menu item enabling the user to start the ensured workflow may be displayed if the active documentis not an ensured document whereas a menu item enabling the user to edit the ensured workflow attributes may be displayed if the document is an ensured document Referring now to FIGS 2A and 2B there are shown exem plary pop up window screen displays of the type that may be used in conjunction with the present invention Pop up win dow 20 shown in FIG 2A is a dialog window that displays information 22 and requires a response from the user in the form of choosing buttons 24a or 246 in response to the infor mation Pop up window 26 shown in FIG 2B is an interac tive window that provides an add remove data field 27 where the user can add or remove one or more items in this case original document files using corresponding buttons 24c or 24d a browse data field 28 where the user can look for one or more items on a preselected list in this case a list of preflight profile files by choosing corresponding button 24e and a comment data field 29 where the user can
54. ument is an ensured document but there is some problem preventing it from being considered as status green Although the set of 0 un 5 20 40 45 50 55 65 8 tool button colors may be any set of colors in a preferred embodiment the color of the tool button for status red may be red for status green it may be green and for the unen sured states it may be a color that blends with the remaining buttons on the toolbar so that a user not using the ensured workflow system for that document is not distracted The action executed when the operator actuates the tool button differs for each of these button states For example for a document in the unensured state activating the ensured workflow tool button may bring up a start ensured work flow window In the status green or status red states activating the tool button may bring up a window showing the document status The Ensured Workflow Menu may be used for initiating and managing an ensured workflow Although depicted and described herein with respect to a graphical user interface GUI supporting mouse click selection of menu choices those skilled in the art will recognize that the menu may be executed manually i e in a non GUI environment by a keyboard device through shortcut keys and hot keys Each menu item may relate to a specific function that may be performed by the present invention Such functions may incl
55. ved before the ensured workflow can be started and provides the user with the choice of selecting buttons 24 to cancel invocation of the process or 25 to save the document The save step is desirable to fix a starting point to which the ensured workflow can track all future changes In pop up dialog window 20 the default button 25 Save may be optimized so that the user may proceed with the save merely by hitting the enter key If the operator chooses button 25 Cancel the document is not saved and the ensured workflow system is not initiated When the user initiates the ensured workflow system for a properly saved document interactive pop up window 26 may be displayed Window 26 provides the user with three data fields 27 28 and 29 for optional entry of data In field 27 the user may select one or more original documents If the user chooses an original document various parameters to identify the document are stored in the ensured PDF document to later identify the original document The original documents may include the native application file document or docu ments such as NAF1 from which PDF1 document was gen erated and the most important ones on which these docu ments depend For example a user may start with a first QUARK document having a layout based on a mix of text files and image files and a second QUARK document based on a placed encapsulated POSTSCRIPT EPS file If two PDFs based on those QUARK
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