System for archiving electronic documents using messaging groupware

Abstract

The present invention discloses an architecture for document archival built on network-centric groupware such as Internet standards-based messaging. Archiving and retrieving and classifying documents into meaningful collections is accomplished in a manner similar to sending email to recipients, retrieving messages from folders, and classifying messages into folder hierarchies. In the simplest scenario, if saveme.com is the archiving server's name, then sending an email to abc@saveme.com will cause the contents of the email message to be archived in the abc mailbox. The archived documents may be automatically stored in jukeboxes of non-tamperable media such as Write Once Read Multiple (WORM) Compact Disks (CD), which provide high storage capacity, low cost compared to magnetic disks, random data access, and long-term stability. The present invention leverages existing messaging infrastructures, and the resulting environment is not intrusive, easier to administer, and easier to deploy than conventional dedicated document archival systems.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.