Apparatus and method for processing an electronic document to derive a first electronic document with electronic-sign items and a second electronic document with wet-sign items

An apparatus, comprising:

• a network interface circuit connected to a network;
• a bus connected to the network interface circuit;
• a processor connected to the bus;
• and
• a memory connected to the bus, the memory storing instructions executed by the processor to:
• receive an electronic document from the network,
• derive individual pages within the electronic document,
• convert the individual pages into image processing segments,
• process the image processing segments with an optical character recognition tool to generate classification data including signature items and text strings,
• classify the electronic document based upon the classification data,
• programmatically, without user input, characterize each of the signature items as one of an electronic-sign signature item or a wet-sign signature item to form a collection of electronic-sign signature items and a collection of wet-sign signature items,
• programmatically, without user input, produce a first electronic document with pages from the electronic document that have the collection of electronic-sign signature items and a second electronic document with pages from the electronic document that have the collection of wet-sign signature items,
• augment the first electronic document with metadata characterizing locations of the electronic-sign signature items,
• supply the first electronic document to the network for delivery to a machine supporting an electronic signing service and
• send the second electronic document to the network for delivery to a client machine.