Information storage and retrieval system for storing and retrieving the visual form of information from an application in a database

A computer system for accessing a database in which visual form of data from applications executed on one or more computers are stored as vector images, comprising:

• means for searching the database to identify one or more vector images;
• means for sorting the identified vector images according to tags associated with the identified vector images;
• and
• means for permitting a user to select one or more of the identified vector images;
• and
• means for displaying the selected vector images.

A computer implemented process for sending a selected portion of visual form of data from a first application to a second application, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an indication of a selected area of the visual form of the data;
• receiving an indication of the second application;
• determining keystrokes in the second application for pasting data into the second application;
• determining data representing the selected area of the visual form of the data;
• transferring the determined data to a memory area from which the second application may paste data;
• and
• sending the determined keystrokes to the second application.

A computer implemented process for converting a visual form of text data into character delimited text data for insertion into tabular structure, comprising:

• receiving an indication of a selected area of the visual form of the data;
• initializing data representing presence of text within the selected area along a horizontal extent for all rows of text;
• modifying the initialized data to indicate the presence of text within the selected area along the horizontal extent for all rows of text;
• for each row of text, generating character delimited data according to the text in the row and the column boundaries identified in the row.

A computer-implemented process for searching for text in a vector image including commands specifying text and horizontal and vertical coordinates for placement of the text, comprising:

• sorting the commands in the vector image according to the vertical coordinates;
• ordering the sorted commands in the vector image according to the horizontal coordinates;
• and
• generating a list structure representing an ordering of the text from the ordered commands.

A service layer for controlling access to a database, comprising:

• means, operative in response to a request to store data in the database, for:
• encoding the data,
• performing an error checking calculation on the data, and
• storing the encoded data and a result of the error checking calculation in the database;
• and
• means, operative in response to a request to read data from the database, for:
• decoding the read data,
• performing an error checking calculation on the read data,
• comparing a result of the error checking calculation of the read data with the stored result of the error checking calculation performed on the stored data and identifying any discrepancy, and
• providing the decoded read data and an indication of any discrepancy identified between the stored and read data.

A computer system for storing a visual form of data from a plurality of different applications executed on a plurality of computers into a database accessible to a plurality of computers, comprising:

• a database for storing the visual form of data with corresponding tags identifying the visual form of the data;
• a processor on each of the plurality of computers executing the applications having a first input for receiving the visual form of the data from one of the plurality of different applications and a second input for receiving the tags corresponding to the visual form of the data and an output for directing the visual form of the data as a vector image and the corresponding tags into the database;
• and
• a first application on one of the plurality of computers for accessing the tags and the visual form of the data from the database in response to queries on the database.

A computer-implemented process for creating compound documents from the visual form of data from applications executed on a computer stored in a database, comprising:

• capturing the visual form of information from the applications into a database, by
• receiving the visual form of the data from the application;
• receiving tags corresponding to the visual form of the data;
• and
• storing the visual form of the data as a vector image and the tags into the database;
• retrieving from the database the visual form of information from the applications;
• creating a compound document from the visual form of information retrieved from the database;
• and
• capturing the visual form of the compound document into the database, by
• receiving the visual form of the compound document from the application;
• receiving tags corresponding to the visual form of the compound document;
• and
• storing the visual form of the compound document as a vector image and the tags into the database.