CA2215453A1 - Method for processing and accessing data objects, particularly documents, and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

A method including a step (II) of gathering collected data objects (D) into groups of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM) associated with respective geographical areas (P1, P2, PM), a step (III) of classifying each object according to several categories of objects (DB1, DR1, DN1), a first step (IV) of classifying the objects in at least one of the object categories (DB1) according to an index common to all the object groups (DP1, DP2, DPM), and a second step (V) of classifying a part of the collected objects forming a particular group of objects (CR1, CR2, CRM) according to a second so-called hierarchical classification scheme (PH) common to all the object groups (DP1, DP2, DPM). The method further includes a step of navigating through selected geographical areas via either of the first and second classification schemes (PT, PH). The method is useful for distributing and accessing documents on medical and pharmaceutical regulations.

Description

CA 0221 ~ 4 ~ 3 1997-08-1 EMOr ~

"Process for processing and accessing objects information, including documents, and system for its implementation "

DESC RI ~ TI ON
The present invention relates to a method of processing and access to information objects, including documents It also targets a system for the implementation of this process The considerable increase in trade in ~ orma-ion in all areas of ac + ivity human, especially in the -c ~ ncmique field, has been made possible by the development of processes and processing and communication systems information We can cite the development lS databases that can be easily accessible online through networks , elecommunication Another mode of consultation, we databases, offline, which currently knows a consldrable development, consists in using permanent information supports, notably CD-ROM (Compac.-Disc Read-Only-Memory) or CD-I discs (Compact- ~ isc nterac ~ -), aui son '_onsul.és par ut readers of appropriate readers associated with microcomputers This mode of consultation meets a growing success due to storage capacities CD-ROM discs and the possibility of process and store locally _-s ir ~~ crmations viewed CD-ROM discs produced and distributed by database operator or manager generally include, in addition to the searchable data, consultative software modules,.
microcomputer to which the CD-ROM drive is connected has resident search and treatment Objects currently stored on discs CD-ROM has a great diversity, since in multimedia appl_cations, these ooje ~ s ~ cluent 'CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~
- ~ U7l '~ A ~ FI ~~

not only computer data, objects graphics, sound elements or even video or animation sequences consulta ~ ion associated with CD-ROM drives of8rent currently very extensive possibilities of research, access to ~ information, processing and display of this information A user can thus navigate from one information object to another, at according to his objectives and his progress within of a structured object base If the very large storage capacity of a support of ~ ype C ~ -ROM allows to easily store a large number of pages of document, however, it becomes difficult, even for a informed user, to access in a reasonable time a sought-after information object, when the database contains several thousand documents By obje is meant. in ~ orma-ion, u- set of codes e ~ of signs constituting a coherent .out represents data, information from all nature, tex.e, graphic, image, sound By document is meant a data set or of information relating to a subject or a particular theme, organized in pages Methods are already known for treating and access information objects, no ~ amment of documents, including - in at least one central sit - stages for collecting objects previously developed and entered, - steps to classify objects as well collected, and - at least one step to generate a database st ~ uc.urée containing the objers thus classified, - at least one production site, - steps to register on supports information officers the structured base thus generated, CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~

MODIFIED SHEET

- and in several local consultation sites, - steps to access one or more objects sought in the database structured, these access steps comprising steps to find objects and steps to read these objects on a permanent medium of information.
We can cite on this subject treatment methods and access to information contained in encyclopedias or dictionaries, which highlight works a massive advance knowledge of information, url classification of ccs inCormations ~ for example by order alphabetically or thematically, an inscription of this information processed and classified on C ~ - ~ OM discs, the distribution of these discs and their pa_ user consultation on stat ons equipped with appropriate reading means. We can ~
Also here is the case of consul processes.
patent databases on CD ~ OM disc.
However, Lne s-mp e adap.a ~ ion of these known processes, for the ~ rcilement and the provision complex informa_i_r.s, such as in_ormation relating to regulations which must be constantly updated and present several levels of complexity, is difficult to imagine.
It would lead to processes which would ultimately be in a difficult way and would involve management cumbersome, especially for updating, when would be .rai ~ er a large number of objects such as regulatory documents international medicines. Processing such documents, collected from a very large number of sources, subject to frequent updates and having a geographic dimension, ~ emporelle and thematic, would thus prove to be expensive and accessible difficult with current methods.

CA 022lj4j3 l997-08-l E ~ OOIFl ~, ~

The object of the invention is to remedy these disadvantages by proposing a treatment method and access to information objects, which allows, apart, an easy update of the documentary base intended to be written on permanent supports information, and on the other hand, easy access to objects sought within the base.
According to the invention, the method for treating and access information projects, including documents, including:
- at least one central site :, - steps to collect objects, - steps to classify objects as well collected, and - steps to generate a structured base containing the classified objects, is characterized in that each step of classification includes:
- a grouping of collected objects, into Objective groups associated respectively with ~ geogical ones ~ given aphics, - ur.e classi ~~ ication of each object in several types of objects, - a first classification, in each group of objects, objects belonging to at least one types of objects, according to a table of contents with a set of themes and common to all object groups, this table of materials being associated with a foreground of thematic classification, - a second classification, in each group of objects, of part of the objects collected constituting a particular group of objects, according to a second hierarchical classification plan common to all groups of objects, and in this cu'il further includes, within the site central, a ~ ape to select within each CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~

~ EUILLE MC ~ DIFIEE

object collected with key elements, these key elements being grouped in the seln of a thesaurus, and in that the access steps include ~ selection apes according to at least one criterion included ~ a criterion of 5 selection by key element.
The technical effects obtained with the process according to information including the relevance of texts with regard to the area treated, the freshness and the completeness of the information, whether regulatory or pre-regulatory information texts, and It is easy to find a document from the base.
~ ec the process ~ die according to inv_ntiorl, it becomes possible to adapt to the behavior of many of users, at the different frequencies of their needs and to varying degrees in the field.
According to a preferred form of implementation of the process according to '' -nvention, this includes in Gutre, - in at least one production si.e, - steps to reproduce on supports permanent information base Sl- 'c_urée as well generated, - and in several local c_nsultation sites, - steps to access one or more objects within the structured database, these access steps including steps to search for objects on a permanent information support, characterized in that each step to reach an object further includes a step to select at least one geographic area sul- Jie of a é ~ ape for navigate within the selected geographic areas, this navigation step can browse one any of the first and second filing plans.
The process according to the invention is ~ preferably ~ put implemented for the treatment and access to documents, and the documents collected are classified by type in basic documents, reference documents and notes.

CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~
- '. ~ i .., 1. ~ / l ~) DlFl ~ E

According to another aspect of the invention, it is proposed a system to process and access objects, for implementing the method according to the invention, comprising - at least one central site, - means to collect objects, - means to classify objects as well collected, and - movens to generate a structured base containing the objects thus classified, - in ah molns UIL production site, - means to reproduce on supports permanent in ~ ormation the ba = get structured airsl generated, - and in several local consultatlon sites, - mcyens to access one or more objects within the struc ~ urea base, these means of access comprising means for search for objects on a permanent support of irrorma.ion, characterized in that the classification means understand - means for grouping the collected objects, into groups of objects associated respectively with given geographic areas, - means for classi ~ ier each object in several types of objects, - means to carry out, in each group of objects, a first classification of objects belonging to at least one of the types of objects, according to a table of contents with a set of themes and common to all groups of objects, this table of contents being associated ~ e to a first classification plan called thematic, - means to carry out, in each group of objects, a second classification of part of the objects collected cons, ituting a particular group of objects, CA 0221 ~ 4 ~ 3 1997-08-1 ~ J ~ L ~ E ~ IFIE ~

according to a second hierarchical classification plan common to all groups of objects, - means to select within each object collected key items and - means to group these within a thesaurus key points In an advantageous embodiment of a system according to the invention, the means to access an object include a means of selecting on minus a geographic area and means to navigate within the selected geographic areas, these means of navigation ~ ion a.encés to browse one any of the first and second classification plans Other pa ~ = features and advantages of the invention will appear again in the description ~ ion below Aux drawings an ~ exés given as examples not iimitati ~ s - ia figure 1 is a block diagram of the steps of .rai.emen ~ of the process according to the invention, from a collection of documents to the edition permanent information support; and - Figure ~ es ~ a synop ~ ic diagram of the steps access to documents, in the process according to the invention We will now describe a prér ~ rée form of stake implementation of a processing and access method ccnforms to 'inven.on, together with an example of realization of a treatment and access system for the implementation of this process, with reference to Figures 1 and 2 above In the practical example of implementing the trai ~ ing process and access according to the invention, which will be described in the following, it involves putting ~ re provision of users a focused documentation database on the regulations on the registration of drugs, base which is consulted on a micro-computer equipped with CD- disc reading means CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~

ROM. In this example, the objects collected, sorted, classified and searched are documents made up of texts, tables, possibly grapnisms.
We will first describe the steps development of the documentary base, in reference to the ~ igure 1. A first step T of the process according to the invention is to collect ~ r at a site central SC of documents D written in particular by experts R1, R ~, .., RN or communicated by authorized institutions and bodies. These dccume.nts co, '_ CO sides are entered and rorma, _s s ~ l_n un ~~ ormat co ~ mun. uA second step ~ ape II consists in carrying out a RG grouping of the various documents collected in several groups of documents DP1, D ~, .., DPM by geographic area that, in this case by country ~ 1, P2,. . .
PM and / or by regional area such as the Union European. The next step II_ can be a step of classification of documents from each country ~ 1, P2,. .PM
in several types of documents. . ' ~ .re example, we 20 may provide the following ~ ypes: es dccumen ~ s de base DB1, reference documents DR1, e. DN1 notes.
In addition, this classifica_ cn in types could ~ ort well being e ~~ ectée before the grouping by country.
In a fourth stage IV, the basic documents DB1 are classified according to a table of contents TM which is common to all countries. The crushing plan corresponding ~ T is pre ~ erence a tree of themes with a high number of levels, by example twelve.
The method according to the invention also provides for a stage V of classification of documents constituting a regulatory corpus CR1, CR2, .., CRM (represented in hatched mode), this classification being ~ ~ e ~ carried out according to a hierarchical plan ~ H common to all countries DI, ~ 2,. . .
PM. This hierarchical plan PH has several levels, CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~
~ Ul ~ LE ~ lO ~) lFtEE
_ g _ and can also be structured in the form of a tree.
Each document can have one or more keywords MC characterizing a subject treated e ~ intended multi-criteria searches. These keywords as well as key phrases are grouped with their alias of search in a TH thesaurus. We also have within the documents of the tags LHi, LHj, LHk corresponding to hypertext links allowing a navigation between different documents in the database G cumen.-ire, according to a technique now well known and widely, widespread.
At the end of the above-mentioned processing steps I-VI, we thus have a documented database ~ structured BD
by country P1, ~ 2, .., ~ M to which a plan is associated Table of contents PT, a hierarchical plan PH and a thesaurus TH.
It should be noted that the processing steps aforementioned IV ~ can be performed in order chronolosiaue different from the one who has just been described. Thus, documents can be assigned to keywords and tags for hype.t_x.e links before to be grouped by country. It is the same for their classification by type which can also be carried out before grouping by country.
At the end of the I-VI treatment steps, in a editing step VII carried out on a production site S ~, the 3D document base and a generator dedicated LD applications are registered according to a known reproduction process ED on supports CD training permanent, such as CD-ROM or any other equivalent support These supports are then di ~ fllsés to users.
We will now describe the different steps.
of access made on a local SL site during a use of a BD documentary base developed with the process according to lnven ~ ion, in re erence a 12 igure 2.

CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~

lF ~ 5 - 10 -, After inserting a CD including the base BD documentary concerned in an LC reader of a workstation 1 normally provided with software resident operating system, and start-up of this software, LD application generator and software resident operating systems cooperate to operate the document database. User has pre-erence a widespread window presentation on mic ~ o-computers. In a first renaissance, he is generally invited (S ~) to select one or many countries. 'e..e selecticn has for eL, -and distinguish 1G dalls database BD databases groups of D ~ k documents corresponding to the selected country (ies).
~ for research (RD) of a document, at least two sound tracks. p ~ opposed to the user.
A first way (A) consists in performing a research (A1) of basic documents in consultation (A2) the table of contents TM. This has ~ technical ~ effect to navigate dynamically and graphically in the tree until the user identifies the theme (s) that interest him. When he has selected (A_; a .heme, the method according to the invention indicates the number of corresponding DC documents. at this theme, provides access (A4) to these documents and provides a summary for each of said documents that user can consult (A5) to request the display of one or more per ~ inents documents.
A second path (B) offered to the user consists of a multi-criteria selection of a document any of the BD document base. In first step (B1), the user selected ~ a combination of search criteria (B2) which can be in particular:
- the type (s) of documents, - the word (s) to appear in the document, - the key (s) attached to the document.

CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~

The method according to the invention then performs a multi-criteria search (B3) which leads to a result of the request (B4) generally in the form of a number of documents identified as satisfying ~
combination of criteria chosen. This result allows the user to determine if the search has been satisfactory ~ (B5), in which case it can ~ el-perform consultation (B6) of the identified document (s). In the opposite case, the user can be brought either to refine research (B7), soi ~ à = expanded ~ this research (B ~).
~ for multi c_tera research, we can also provide a logical combination of words leading to a "full text" search. A display of lists presenting the user with possible choices (full text index, ndex of keywords) Cacilite the expression of the search request.
~ ar elsewhere, when a document viewed by user has hyperlink tags L ~ -, L ~ lJ, L; -. ~, Materialized by a graphic ar.iLice for example cde la couieur e ~ iou bold, this one can navigate between di ~ ~ r-nts documents of the base at the option of the hypertext links connecting these documents and represent a logical association between them. These hyper ~ exte links result from a cross analysis done by the editors of the documents, and may be of three natures:
- - reference links which allow access directly to a text cited in a source document, - structural links that unite dif ~ erent parts of the same regulatory text having been cut out for better readability, and - comment links, allowing in particular a access to personal notes that the user can attach to certain documents.
We can also provide hypertext links o ~ rant immediate access to a de ~ inition of a CA 022l ~ 4 ~ 3 l997-08-l ~

F ~ UlLL ~, '' ll (~ UIFl ~

expression, or to a meaning of an acronym via a direct call to a glossary integrated into the database documentary.
Another search mode offered by the process according to the invention consists in e, ~ make a navigation interactive in the hierarchical classification plan ~ H
of the regulatory corpus CR1, CR2, .., CRM of one or several countries selected Pl, P2, .., PM, to select a document and display it for to consult.
The process of treatment and access according to the, nv-ention of-re to the base manager documentary great flexibility in updating from this base. Indeed, as and when new documents are received from drafting experts, these documents can be processed. continuous mode and join the geog_apn c groups to which they match. The new documents then came replace documents that are now obsolete or out of date, sorted out and joining the levels ~ appropriate thematics within the tree structure. Of new disc editions constantly updated are produced and disseminated periodically.
Of course ~, the invention is not limited to examples which have just been described and many adjustments can be made to these examples without depart from the scope of the invention. So the numbers of geographic areas, document types and themes from the table of contents can be chosen in according to user needs and evolution steps. Permanent information carriers can be CD-RCM discs as just described but equal to ~ CD-I (Compact Disc) discs Interactive) or any other permanent medium information, rewritable or not.

Claims (6)

- 13 - 1. Method for processing and accessing objects information (D), including documents, including:
- at least one central site (SC), - steps (I) to collect objects, - steps to classify objects as well collected, and - steps to generate a structured database (BD) containing the objects thus classified, characterized in that each classification step includes:
- a grouping (II) of the objects collected, in associated object groups (DP1, DP2, DPM) respectively to given geographic areas (P1, P2, PM), - a classification (III) of each object in several types of objects (DB1, DR1, DN1), - a first classification (IV), in each group of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), objects belonging to one at least object types (DB1), according to a table of subjects (TM) comprising a set of themes and common to all object groups (DP1, DP2, DPM), this table of contents (TM) being associated with a first thematic classification plan (PT), - a second classification (V), in each group of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), part of the objects collected constituting a particular group of objects (CR1, CR2, CRM), according to a second classification plan called hierarchical (PH) common to all groups of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), and in that it further includes, within the site central (SC), a step (VI) to select within of each object collected from the key elements (MC), these key elements being grouped within a thesaurus (TH), and in that the access steps include selection steps according to at least one criterion (B2) including a selection criterion by key element. 2. Method according to claim 1, comprising in outraged - at least one production site (SP), - steps to reproduce on supports information centers (CD) the structured database (BD) thus generated, - and in several local consultation sites (SL), - steps to access one or more objects (DC) within the structured base (BD), these steps with steps to find objects on a permanent information medium (CD), characterized in that each step to access a object further includes a step (SP) for select at least one geographic area (Pk) followed a step to navigate within the zones selected geographic areas (Pk), this stage of navigation can browse any of the first and second classification plans (PT, PH). 3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, for processing and accessing documents, characterized in that the documents collected are classified by type in basic documents (DB1), reference documents (DR1) and notes (DN1). 4. System for processing and accessing objects (D), for implementing the method according to one of Claims 1 to 3, comprising:
- at least one central site (SC), - means for collecting objects (D), - means for classifying the objects thus collected, and - means to generate a structured base (BD) containing the objects thus classified, - at least one production site (SP), - means (ED) for reproducing on supports information centers (CD) structured base as well generated (BD), - and in several local consultation sites (SL), - means (1, LC) to access one or more objects (DC) within the structured base (BD), these means of access comprising means for searching objects on a permanent information medium (CD), characterized in that the classification means include:
- means for grouping the collected objects (D), in groups of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM) associated respectively to given geographic areas (P1, P2, PM), - means to classify each object into several types of objects (DB1, DR1, DN1), - means to achieve, in each group of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), a first classification of objects belonging to at least one of the types of objects, according to a table of contents (TM) comprising a set of themes and common to all groups of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), this table of contents (TM) being associated to a first thematic classification plan (PT), - means to achieve, in each group of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), a second classification of part of the collected objects constituting a particular group of objects (CR1), according to a second classification plan known as hierarchical (PH) common to all groups of objects (DP1, DP2, DPM), - means to select within each object collected key elements (MC) and - means for grouping within a thesaurus (TH) these key elements. 5. System according to claim 4, characterized in what the means to access an object include in other ways to select an object according to au minus one criterion (B2) including a selection criterion by key element. 6. System according to one of claims 4 or 5, characterized in that the means for accessing a object further include means for selecting at least one geographic area (Pk) and means for navigate within the selected geographic areas (Pk), these navigation means being arranged for browse any of the foreground and background classification (PT, PH).