MARKZWARE US PATENT # 5,963,641
Device and method for examining, verifying, correcting and approving electronic documents prior to printing, transmission or recording

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a software implemented device and method for examining, verifying, correcting and approving electronically-recorded documents, prior to their final output, whether printing, transmission or recording. The disclosed device and method permits the user to assure that the diverse elements of the composite file, such as text, fonts, graphic formats, layout instructions and the like, which may exist in one or more electronic files, will be accessible by, and compatible with the output device.

The present embodiment is able to assemble all elements of an electronic file, group of files or an electronic document into one location, whether physical or logical. The present embodiment also allows the above-described analysis on a multiplicity of file types, without need to use the specific file-creation applications used to create the files.

This is accomplished by identifying the internal characteristics of the elements of files generated by a multiplicity of file or document creation computer applications and providing a computer software implemented device to decode the information for analysis or presentation. The importance of the present invention lies in its ability to find inconsistencies, incompatibilities, corrupted data and errors not visible to the human checker, to report them or automatically repair them, and, in so doing, to save significant amounts of wasted time and resources in the intermediate or final printing, transmission or recording phase.

The present invention allows the user to set custom sets of preferences, establishing unique criteria for the analysis. A further implementation allows the software-implemented device to learn from experience and suggest changes or make changes automatically based on user preferences.