FR2860618A1 - Digital information unit e.g. electronic mail, processing method for enterprise, involves numbering data blocks in ascending order, allocating XML markup to each block, and obtaining processed information unit in XML format - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves successively extracting data blocks in their order of appearance from a binary representation of a collected information unit (E1), and numbering the blocks in ascending order. An XML markup is allocated to each block. The markups of the blocks are determined from a pre-defined block look-up table supplying an XML markup based on number of blocks. The processed unit is obtained in an XML format. Independent claims are also included for the following: (a) a system for processing collected digital information units for broadcasting data (b) a computer program to be installed in a computer device for processing collected digital information units for broadcasting data.

Description

METHOD FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION ELEMENTS

  DIGITAL COLLECTIONS, SYSTEM AND PROGRAM FOR IMPLEMENTATION

IN THE PROCESS

  The present invention relates to the field of the processing of digital information elements collected, to then perform the dissemination of data determined from these information elements.

  A major concern of many companies is to be able to efficiently and automatically use the information they have. This information is generally available in heterogeneous forms. Indeed, this information can be part of databases, or be available on a website, or on Intranet or Extranet. They can also be included in documents in various formats, such as electronic messages (email, SMS), PDF documents, Word, Quark, etc. The dissemination of this information generally requires prior treatment of these various elements. The processing may include operations relating to a content extraction, a homogenization of the presentation of the different contents regardless of their source and finally to the determination of the content of information data to be sent. These data are then disseminated, according to defined dissemination rules, to designated persons, who will operate them. These people may be for example employees of the company from which the information emanates, or subscribers of a service based on information provided by this company.

  There are solutions allowing the automated processing of information elements of various nature and origin collected from the different possible sources.

  Some of these solutions, when they receive a new piece of digital information, determine its format and then transform it into an associated piece of information in a streamlined format. They then elaborate the content of one or more information data, which are delivered to one or more recipients under specified frequency, format, and delivery conditions.

  The streamlined format may for example be of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) type.

  According to these solutions, when a document is received, the type of document (for example, Quark trademark of Quark, Inc.) is recognized from a predefined list of types (eg, Quark, PDF, and Word branded company). Microsoft Corporation). Then for each piece of information in the document associated with a set of tags specific to the type of the document and defining the formatting of this part, a transformation into XML is performed. This XML transformation is performed by assigning to the part of information considered a set of XML tags defining a corresponding formatting of the information part. The set of XML tags is determined using a predefined style map table, providing for each tag of the type of the document received, in this case for each tag of Quark, a corresponding XML tag.

  For example, consider a document with a paragraph of the form: <Q-TITLE> <Times Roman Italic> <Times Roman Bold> "XXXXXXX" <Q / TITLE> </ Times Roman Italic> </ Times Roman Bold>, with the presence of the <Q-TITRE> tag set around the information part including the text "XXXXXXX" and the two associated "italic" and "bold" style sheets, meaning that the text is italicized and fat. This set of tags means that the information part as it appears in the Q type document has the characteristics of a title as defined for a document of type Q, Q being part of the predefined type list (for example for example, these characteristics are: writing in upper case, boxed, centered on the sheet).

  The style mapping table for example associates with a set of <Q-TITER> tags, of type Q, a set of <title> XML tags, meaning that in the XML document, the associated information part will be a title, and will for example be bold, capitalized and underlined.

  This predefined style lookup table can be fixed, or conversely, be customized based on the choices of the entity using the solution.

  These solutions require beforehand, for each type of piece of information processed, to establish a style mapping table.

  On the other hand, for a given type of information element (here Quark), the list must allow XML matching for all existing tags used in Quark-type documents.

  These solutions therefore require a lot of configuration work to take into account each new format.

  The existing solutions have the disadvantage of not being able to satisfactorily deal with, or even reject, the collected pieces of information whose contents do not appear in the form of a succession of pieces of information, each associated with a game. type-specific tags defining the formatting of the piece of information considered, with each set of tags known in the associated style mapping table, which can occur in several cases.

  A first case corresponds to the presence of errors, either in the set of tags contained in the information element that is being processed, or in the style mapping table.

  A second case corresponds to a non-exhaustive list of correspondence tables, resulting in the fact that a tag of a received information element is not assigned any XML tag. This case can occur especially when new versions of information element types are put into service.

  A third case corresponds to the presence of pieces of information not associated with tags by defining the formatting. However, this case is encountered more and more frequently, the authors of the pieces of information collected being content to provide information in a raw form.

  The invention aims at an information processing solution which is less affected than the solutions of the prior art, by the limitations mentioned above.

  Thus according to a first aspect, the invention proposes a method of processing digital information elements collected, for the dissemination of data determined from these information elements, comprising the following steps: - successively extracting a binary representation of a collected piece of information, blocks of data, in their order of appearance in said binary representation; these numbers are increasingly numbered; assigning XML markup to each block, the XML markup of at least one block being determined from a predefined block mapping table providing XML markup according to at least the number of said block; - the piece of information processed in XML format is obtained.

  The method according to the invention thus makes it possible to transform into XML a received information element whose content does not necessarily appear in a form delimited by tags specific to the type of document in order to define the formatting. parts of the document, each set of tags being listed in an associated style mapping table.

  Such a method is much less sensitive to the problems created, by erroneous tags, absent or unknown in the solutions of the prior art.

  Moreover, the solutions of the prior art previously perform a step of identifying the type of a new piece of information collected. This identification is usually based on the extension, such as ".doc" or ".pdf", associated with the piece of information collected, and it is not possible to match tags of the type of the item being collected with XML tags. Once the type has been identified, when the extension is missing or erroneous, the type can not be determined and the information element can not be processed.

  Advantageously, the method according to the invention comprises an identification step. This identification step comprises searching, in the binary representation of the information element, for a binary sequence among a set of pre-established binary sequences respectively associated with the types appearing in a list of pre-established types, which are the types of information elements processed according to the method of the invention.

  Such identification makes it possible to recognize the type of an information element, even with a missing or erroneous extension.

  According to a second aspect, the invention proposes a method for providing information data to a plurality of recipients, based on digital information elements collected, and according to which: a processed information element is transformed into a format XML in at least one piece of data to be broadcast according to broadcast rules defining at least one output format, a broadcast medium, broadcast content extracted from the piece of information processed in XML format and at least one associated recipient; and broadcasting the data to be broadcast according to said broadcasting rules.

  According to a third aspect, the invention proposes a system for processing digital information elements collected for the dissemination of data determined from these information elements, comprising means for implementing a method according to the first aspect of FIG. the invention.

  According to a fourth aspect, the invention proposes a system for providing information data to a plurality of recipients, based on collected digital information elements, comprising means for implementing a method according to the second aspect of the invention. 'invention.

  According to a fifth aspect, the invention proposes a computer program to be installed in a computing device for the processing of digital information elements collected for the dissemination of data determined from these information elements, comprising instructions for implement a method according to the first aspect of the invention.

  According to a sixth aspect, the invention provides a computer program to be installed in a computing device for providing information data to a plurality of recipients, from collected digital information elements, including instructions for setting a method according to the second aspect of the invention.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following description of nonlimiting exemplary embodiments with reference to the single figure representing a platform for providing information elements implementing a method according to the invention. .

  The single figure represents a platform 1 for providing information items to respective designated recipients.

  On the platform 1 are collected digital information elements El from several sources SI, S2, ..., SN. Elements El may have been made available by the respective sources of the platform 1, which then has means to recover them. Other elements El can also be sent to the platform 1 by these sources.

  These sources are associated with platform 1 user clients. For example, some of the sources may be companies, others may be separate departments of the same company using the platform 1.

  Thus, for example, one of the user entities of the information element supply service rendered by the platform 1 is an enterprise E. At this enterprise E, the sources S1, S2 and S3, which are respective departments of the enterprise E are associated, in the case shown in the single figure.

  The information elements collected E1 that can be processed by the platform 1 can be of various types. These may be electronic messages of various formats, for example email or SMS ("Short Message Service") of Word files, Excel (trademark of Microsoft Corporation), Quark or others, extracts from databases etc. . Depending on the platform configurations, the source of the information elements can be found from the information element itself, which makes it possible to perform a differentiated treatment of the elements E1, or can not be found. In the latter case, the treatment of elements El will be independent of its source.

  The set of information types Ti managed by the platform 1 is identified by a list of pre-established types Li. Each type Ti of the list LI is associated with a unique binary sequence identifying the type.

  The platform 1 comprises a reception module 3 which collects the information elements El intended for the platform 1, and associates them respectively their binary representation.

  An identification module 4 searches in the binary representation of a new piece of information collected El, the presence or not, of one of the binary sequences associated with types Ti in the list Li.

  In the case where none of these sequences is detected, the new element El is identified as not corresponding to a type of the list LI and is not treated or is treated as an element of information consisting only of blocks of nature text or image, as described below.

  If a sequence is detected, the type of the new element E; is the Tk type associated with this detected binary sequence.

  Once the element type has been identified, a transformation module 5 extracts from the binary representation of the information element El, different blocks of background data, in their order of appearance.

  The blocks of background data are extracted from the information element, and the nature of each block is defined for example, as follows: a set of successive binary data framed by a set of style tags defining the implementation form of the binary data set, and such that the set of tags is in an LS style lookup table, which for the type Ti of the information element under consideration provides the correspondence between the standard tags of Ti and XML tags, is a block, so-called tagged; a set of successive binary data corresponding to alphanumeric data is a block, called a text block (the correspondence is established, from a dictionary of alphanumeric data including the conversion into a binary representation of these data); a set of successive binary data corresponding to non-alphanumeric data is a block, referred to as an image block.

  Then the transformation module 5 numbers increasing from 1, each block, taken in the order of appearance of the blocks in the information element.

  The platform 1 also has a block mapping table Lb, which defines an XML tag according to a block number. This XML tag represents an element of the standard Document Type Description (DTD), and thus assigns the block a position in the XML document structure of the selected document.

  In one embodiment, this block correspondence table Lb can provide an XML tag according to the block number and other parameters such as the nature of the block (text, image), the nature of the previous block, and so on. The block correspondence table Lb can be unique, or on the contrary vary according to the choices of the companies using the platform 1. In the latter case, there can be as many tables as there are different choices and the correspondence table selected for an information element El will be determined according to the source of this information element, or the group to which this source belongs (in the case of an enterprise with several sources).

  The transformation module 5 assigns one set of XML tags to each extracted background data block. This XML markup is performed from the Ls style correspondence table for a tagged block, from the block correspondence table Lb for a block of text or image nature.

  The XML document E2 thus obtained is then recorded in a base 6 for recording the standardized messages.

  Moreover, when a new type of information elements Ti + 1 is added to the list LI, a learning phase is performed on a plurality of information elements of this new type, in order to determine the sequence binary minimum size contained in all these pieces of information. This sequence is then compared with those already in the list Li. If it is not similar to any of these, the newly determined sequence is the sequence associated with the type Tj + 1 in the LI list and thus allows its identification.

  Otherwise, the process of determining a minimum and unique sequence is repeated for the new Ti + 1, and for the type associated with the similar sequence in the Li list.

  Each user entity of the platform 1 has previously defined the use to be made of the information contained in the XML documents concerning it. The associated usage rules are stored in a subscription base 8 of the platform 1.

  These rules define according to the source, or the group of sources belonging to the same company, possibly according to the type of the collected information element E1 from which an XML document E2 is derived, and according to other criteria ( arrival time, size of the piece of information collected, etc.), content of a data to be broadcast E3, defined by selected XML tags. The content of a data item to be broadcast E3 will consist of some of the blocks associated with these chosen XML tags of the XML document E2.

  The usage rules also define one or more broadcast formats and one or more broadcast media on which the data E3 thus defined will be transmitted, as well as one or more recipients.

  A module for constituting the data to be broadcast 7 thus generates, from an XML document E2 resulting from a collected element E1, the data or data to be broadcast E3, with a content and a respective format that comply with the broadcasting rules applying. .

  The data to be broadcast thus constituted E3 are then transmitted by a transmission module 9 to the respective recipients defined, possibly applying additional broadcast rules, for example relating to a sending time, etc. Thus, for example, an information element E1 originating from an incident processing center of an enterprise may give rise to: a structured XML document E2 in the form of title / sub-title / body of text stored in the base 6; - the immediate sending of an SMS E31 to a management team of the company, including the title; sending an E32 e-mail containing the title and subtitle to a range of designated persons; - sending to the site manager an E33 HTML document including the title, the subtitle and the body of text, for implementation on the Intranet during a future update.

  It will be noted that the same XML document E2 may give rise, depending on the rules defined by the entity concerned, to several types of data to be broadcast (E31, ..., E3p), associated with p content-defined distribution profiles. , broadcast media and recipients (and possibly other dissemination methods) respective.

  It will be noted that the module for constituting the data to be broadcast 7 may also constitute data to be automatically broadcast to recipients following the reception of an information element (PUSH mode), but may also send data to be broadcast in response to a request (PULL mode) concerning the sending of such data.

  For example, a sales representative wishing to know the quantity of a product in stock per site of storage in real time can send the serial number of the product by SMS, either to the information system of his company, or to platform 1, following the configuration of the respective systems. This will trigger the collection at platform level 1 of a corresponding El information element per site (obtained by request from the platform, or by sending by each site according to the configuration chosen).

  If the distribution rules allow, the commercial will then receive by one or more SMS, for example, the requested data.

  Thus, a platform according to the invention allows a reliable automated processing of information from various sources and available in various formats, a company, minimizing the risk of non-processing of information items collected due to tasks of preconfiguration incomplete or due to receipt of raw, untagged information.

  It also makes it easy to take into account new types of information elements collected, as well as new dissemination rules for providing a new format or medium for dissemination.

Claims (16)

  A method of processing collected digital information elements (E1), for broadcasting data determined from these information elements, comprising the following steps - successively extracting a bit representation of a data element collected information, blocks of data, in their order of appearance in said binary representation; these numbers are increasingly numbered; assigning XML markup to each block, the XML markup of at least one block being determined from a predefined block correspondence table (Lb) providing XML markup as a function of at least the number of said block; the processed information element is obtained in XML (E2) format.   2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the type (Ti) of each piece of information collected from a list (LI) of pre-established types is identified beforehand.   3. Method according to claim 2 characterized in that the block correspondence table (Lb) provides the XML markup in addition to at least the type (Ti) of the piece of information collected.   4. Method according to claim 2 or claim 3, characterized in that when a data block comprises a set of tags defining a style of the block associated with the type (Ti) of the piece of information collected from which said block is extracted, and a predefined style map table (Le) provides XML markup based on at least the set of tags, said XML markup is assigned to said data block.   5. Method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the identification step comprises searching, in the binary representation of the information element (El), a binary sequence among a set of pre-established binary sequences respectively associated with the types (Ti) of the list (L) of pre-established types.   6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the introduction of a new type (T; +1) of information elements in the preset type list (LI) comprises a learning step performed on a plurality of new type information elements, for defining a bit sequence from the binary representations of said plurality of new type information elements, and said bit sequence is part of each of said binary representations and uniquely identifies the new type in the pre-established type list enriched with the new type.   7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an extracted data block is a data block comprising a set of tags defining the formatting of the block, or a block of text data, or a block of data. block of image data.   8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the XML markup assigned to the text and image data blocks is determined from the block correspondence table (Lb).   9. The method of claim 8 characterized in that the XML markup provided by the block correspondence table is further function of at least the nature of the data block.   Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the block correspondence table (Lb) further depends on the provider (Si) of the information element or a group (E) to which belongs said provider.   11. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a step of archiving information elements processed in XML (E2) format.   A method for providing information data to a plurality of recipients from collected digital information elements comprising a method of processing according to any one of   preceding claims and according to which:   transforming an information element processed in XML (E2) format into at least one piece of data to be broadcast (E3) according to broadcast rules defining at least one output format, a broadcast medium, an extracted broadcast content the piece of information processed in XML format and at least one associated recipient; and broadcasting the data to be broadcast according to said broadcasting rules.   13. System for processing collected digital information elements (E1), for the dissemination of data (E3) determined from these information elements, comprising means for implementing the steps of a method according to any of claims 1 to 11.   A system for providing information data to a plurality of recipients from collected digital information elements comprising: - a processing system according to claim 13; means for transforming an item of information processed in XML (E2) format into at least one piece of data to be broadcast (E3) according to broadcast rules defining at least one output format, a broadcast medium, a broadcast content extracted from the information element processed in XML format and at least one associated recipient; and means for broadcasting the data to be broadcast according to said broadcasting rules.   15. Computer program to be installed in a computing device for the processing of collected digital information elements (El), for the dissemination of data (E3) determined from these information elements, including instructions for setting a method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.   Computer program for installation in a computing device for providing information data to a plurality of recipients from collected digital information elements including instructions for implementing a method according to claim 12 .