WO2001004772A2

WO2001004772A2 - A method of and apparatus for generating documents

Info

Publication number: WO2001004772A2
Application number: PCT/GB2000/002672
Authority: WO
Inventors: John North Mawhood; Philip Edgar Vasey
Original assignee: Business Integrity Limited
Priority date: 1999-07-12
Filing date: 2000-07-12
Publication date: 2001-01-18
Also published as: GB9916318D0; GB2355817A; AU6167100A; WO2001004772A3

Abstract

A method of using one or more data processing means to generate a customised document (such as a customised contract) from a standard document (such as a word processing document) containing one or more items of known information (such as alternative standard clauses) and one or more logical rules for determining, on the basis of further information to be supplied or captured (such as specific requirements for the customised contract), the use made of one or more of said items of known information when generating said customised document according to Figure (4b).

Description

A METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING

DOCUMENTS

Field

The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for

generating documents. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present

invention relates to a method of and apparatus for generating customised

documents from standard documents. More particularly, but not exclusively,

the invention relates to a method of and apparatus for generating customised

documents from a knowledge-base using further information captured from

one or more further sources of information.

Background

Many businesses or organisations produce large quantities of

documents on a regular basis. Often, these documents are lengthy and require

considerable skill or expertise to create. In many cases, it is desirable to

produce new documents using pre-prepared standard documents as a basis.

For example, legal documents are commonly created from precedents or

standard form documents by simply inserting new information where

appropriate or by adapting existing information. In some cases, by using

standard documents originally created by an expert, it is possible to create

customised documents without need of an expert. Many benefits come with the removal of the need for experts to

produce new documents from scratch. Methods of generating customised

documents from standard documents are generally more efficient in terms of

time, cost, and quality of result. Furthermore, standardisation of documents is

desirable, both in itself and to simplify further dealing with documents once

generated. However, methods of generating customised documents from

standard documents have their own difficulties. There is the need to create and

maintain the standard documents. There is also the need to provide training

and guidance for non-experts using those standard documents to produce

customised documents. Often, the skills required to create or maintain the

standard documents are different to the skills required to create or maintain

guidance or training materials. Furthermore, with the use of information

technology to automate or partially automate document generation there is the

need for further skill in developing and maintaining the information

technology solutions to document generation problems. Furthermore, where

customised documents are created from standard documents and the means

exists to modify the customised document before it becomes "final" (for

example, suitable for publication or signature on behalf of contracting

parties), there is a risk of a document being produced that contains unintended

or unauthorised modifications.

Many methods of automating or partially automating document

generation are known. A simple method is to use word processing software on a computer. For example, a standard form document contained in a word

processing file may be customised by typing in additional information,

deleting existing information, and/or cutting and pasting existing information.

Also, word processing software packages often contain facilities for

generating standard templates such as fax cover sheets, letters, or proposals.

Specific templates may be created for particular use. Furthermore, word

processing software often includes facilities for generating standard text or

formatting within documents using a macro programming language as well as

facilities for inserting information captured from external databases into a

document.

One problem with using word processing software to generate

customised documents from standard documents is that it is hard to ensure

that customised documents are produced accurately and consistently. Such

methods of document generation require final verification of the document

because the mode of information input is largely unrestricted and errors or

omissions can easily occur. Furthermore, because word processing software

packages are not specialised to the requirements of automated document

generation, some desirable features are not provided, for example, user

guidance on how to customise the standard documents.

More sophisticated methods of automated document generation are

known. Commonly, a computer program, constituting an expert system, is

developed and generates a customised document by asking an end-user a series of guided questions in accordance with a predefined set of rules. An

example of such a system is MasterDraft 3.0 from First Draft Legal System,

Inc. details of which are available from the following web-site -

http://www.masterdraft.com/. One problem with automated document

generation systems in general is that the knowledge-based expertise is

generally hidden from the user and may become out of date fairly quickly.

Therefore, users are reliant on the developer of the computer program for

regular updates of the knowledge-based components of the system. Users are

also reliant on the developer for quality assurance of the documents generated.

Another problem inherent in known methods of automated document

generation is that at the point when a document is to be generated, the

information required to generate a customised document often comes from

more than one person or source of information. Furthermore, required

information may not be available at once, but may need to be provided over a

period of time. An expert who prepares a document is normally able to obtain

all the required information, by reason of being in communication with the

people who can provide that information. This is often achieved by

questioning which is dependent on the expert's skill in determining the precise

information required.

One particular activity in which large quantities of documents are

generated is the activity of contract tendering. Briefly, a buyer who wishes to

select a suitable supplier from whom to purchase goods or services specifies its requirements in a document called an invitation to tender which is

distributed or advertised to selected suppliers. Suppliers who wish to be

considered by the buyer respond by submitting tender documents to the buyer

which reviews and compares the tenders received and selects one or more

winning suppliers. Often, reports are created comparing the various tenders

received to assist in the selection process, and the buyer may also introduce a

process of more or less formal nature that requires each tender to be scored

and then a cross-correlation of scores for all tenders must be prepared.

Contracts are then created on the basis of the requirements set out by the

buyer and the responses of the winning supplier or suppliers. The winning

and losing suppliers are then notified of the outcome of their tenders. It can

be seen that the tendering process involves creation of substantial

documentation. Conventional methods of carrying out the tendering process

are generally manual, time-consuming, error-prone and involve substantial

effort from personnel.

It is known to use one or more computer systems to produce

documents in a distributed fashion. For example, a number of authors may

work on a single document produced using word processing software on a single computer. Alternatively, the document may be distributed via

removable storage means or over a communications network to one or more

computers running compatible word processing software. As mentioned

above, such methods of document generation require verification of all of the

document before it can be treated as "final" because the mode of information

input is largely unrestricted and errors or omissions can easily occur.

It is known to restrict or control the input of information into

documents. For example, many word processing software packages have the

facility to lock portions of text whilst leaving other portions unlocked for

amendment of information. Also, many word processing software packages

have the facility to include fields which may be completed by the author in a

partially restricted way, for example with text only or numeric information

only. Another example of computer programs which can control or restrict

the input of information is browser applications for browsing documents of

the Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) format or Extended Mark-up

Language (XML). HTML is the document format used in the World Wide

Web (WWW), which forms part of the global communications network for

computers known as the Internet. HTML forms, or Web pages, are generally

transmitted over the Internet using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). HTML is a

format that allows portions of a document containing text or graphics to be

locked and uneditable to an end-user browsing the document, whilst providing various means for inputting information such as push buttons, free-form text

entry boxes, tick boxes, pull-down menu list boxes, radio buttons, and other

graphical user interface (GUI) means for inputting information in a controlled

manner. Such HTML documents are often called HTML forms. XML is a

more recent format which may be used in the WWW in future.

It is also known to capture information using browser applications.

For example, many Internet transactions are executed by a first party, using a

computer connected to the Internet, sending a standard HTML form to a

second party, also using a computer connected to the Internet, who enters

information as specified in the HTML form using a browser application.

When finished, the second party returns the entered information to the first

party, often by means of a "Submit" push button which uses an embedded

Internet address automatically to transmit the information back to the first

party over the Internet. The first party then performs some task in response to

the captured information. For example, the HTML form may be the front end

page of a search engine, the captured information may be search criteria, and

the task performed by the first party may be to transmit to the second party the

results of performing an Internet search using the search criteria.

Summary of Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a

method of using one or more data processing means to generate a customised

document (such as a customised contract) from a standard document (such as a word processing document) containing one or more items of known

information (such as alternative standard clauses) and one or more logical

rules for determining, on the basis of further information to be supplied or

captured (such as specific requirements for the customised contract), the use

made of one or more of said items of known information when generating

said customised document.

Preferably, the method comprises the steps of using one or more data

processing means to i) generate one or more information-capturing documents

(such as Web forms) for capturing at least part of said further information,

said information-capturing documents being generated on the basis of said

standard document; ii) capture at least part of said further information using

said information-capturing documents; and iii) generate said customised

document on the basis of said captured further information and said standard

document.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided

a method of using one or more data processing means to generate a

customised document from a standard document stored in the form of data on

data storage means, said standard document comprising:

i) data representing one or more units of known information for

possible inclusion in said customised document;

ii) data representing one or more logical rule units, each of which

determine, on the basis of information not contained in said standard document ('further information'), the use made of one

or more of said known information units when generating said

customised document ('determined known information units');

and

iii) data representing said further information,

said standard document data being in a first document presentation format in

which each of said logical rule units and said determined known information

units are associated with each other when said standard document is presented

to a user,

said method comprising the steps of:

a) processing said standard document data to generate data

representing one or more documents for capturing at least part

of said further information ('information-capturing

documents'), said information-capturing document comprising

means for inputting information by a user and said

information-capturing document data being in a second

document presentation format different to said first document

presentation format;

b) processing said information-capturing document data to

generate said one or more information-capturing documents for

presentation, in said second document presentation format, to

one or more users and to capture, using said means for inputting information, data representing at least part of said

further information from said one or more users; and

c) processing said standard document data and said captured

further information data to generate said customised document.

Preferably, said standard document further comprises data

representing one or more user guidance units relating to one or more of said

known information units and logical rule units ('related units'), and said first

document presentation format is such that each of said user guidance units and

said related units are associated with each other when said standard document

file is presented to a user.

One advantage of the present invention is that by including in the

standard document all the known units, all the logical rule units and all the

user guidance units, if any, in a manner where related units are associated with

each other when presented to a user, it is possible to verify completely the

standard document. For example, if the standard document is to be used for

generating legal contracts, the known information units may each contain a

single clause for possible inclusion in the customised document. All possible

clauses will be contained and viewable in the standard document.

Furthermore, all the logical rules and user guidance will be contained,

viewable and associated with their corresponding clauses in the standard

document. Thus, the accuracy of all the clauses, their logical rules and the user guidance may easily be verified by suitably skilled personnel, for

example by knowledge experts, and training / guidance experts, by simply

viewing the standard document.

Also preferably, said units of said standard document are presented to

a user, in said first document presentation format, as a two-dimensional table

with one or more rows and three columns: a first of said columns comprising

only said known information units, a second of said columns comprising only

said logical rule units, and the third of said columns comprising only said user

guidance units, if any.

Also preferably, the standard document comprises a further column of

labelling units uniquely identifying each row of said table which permits

addition of labelling units uniquely identifying added rows at interstices such

that rows may be retraced even if reordered.

A further or alternate advantage of the present invention is that the

tabular format used for the standard document is clear and the different types

of unit contained in it are easily identified. Further, by separating known

information units, logical rule units and user guidance units, into different

columns in the standard document the different types of units may easily be

edited independently of each other. Thus, units of a different type may be

independently created and maintained by people with different skills, for

example - knowledge experts, and training / guidance experts respectively. Also preferably, steps a) and c) are performed using first data

processing means, and step b) comprises the sub-steps of:

i) transmitting data representing one or more of said information-

capturing documents from said first data processing means to

one or more further data processing means using

communications means,

ii) processing said transmitted data using said one or more further

data processing means to generate said one or more

information-capturing documents for presentation, in said

second document presentation format, to one or more users and

to capture, using said means for inputting information, data

representing at least part of said further information from said

one or more users; and

iii) transmitting said captured further information data from said

one or more further data processing means to said first data

processing means using communication means.

A further or alternate advantage of the present invention is that by

transmitting data representing one or more information-capturing documents,

capturing the further information using one or more further data processing

means and transmitting the captured further information data to first data

processing means for generating the customised document, it is possible to capture the further information from more than one source and over a period

of time.

Also preferably, said standard document further comprises data

representing instructions for performing, using data processing means, at least

part of steps a), b), and c) and said information-capturing documents

generated using said further data processing means comprise data representing

instructions for performing, using data processing means, sub-step b) iii).

A further or alternate advantage of the present invention is that by

including in the standard document instructions for automatically performing

at least part of steps a), b), and c) and by including in the information-

capturing documents data representing instructions for automatically

performing sub-step b) iii), it is also possible to arrange the process of

capturing the further information, from one or more sources of information

over a period of time, and generating the customised document in a

predetermined and automated, or partially automated, fashion.

Also preferably, one or more of said information-capturing documents

generated further comprise data representing one or more of said units of said

standard document and, in said second document presentation format, each of

said means for inputting particular further information and said units

comprising data representing said particular further information are associated

with each other when said information-capturing documents are presented to a

user. Further, in said second document presentation format, each of said logical rule units, if any, and said determined known information units, if any,

are associated with each other when said information-capturing documents are

presented to a user. Further, in said second document presentation format,

each of said user guidance units, if any, and said related units, if any, are

associated with each other when said information-capturing documents are

presented to a user.

Also preferably, in second document presentation format, said units

and said means for inputting information are presented to a user as a two-

dimensional table comprising one or more rows and one to four columns, with

known information units, if any, logical rule units, if any, and user guidance

units, if any, contained in separate columns and said means for inputting

information contained in one of said separate columns or in a further column.

A further or alternate advantage of the present invention is that by

including some or all of the units of the standard document in the information-

capturing documents, and by presenting those units in said second document

presentation format, there is continuity of representation between the standard

document and the information-capturing documents. Thus, those inputting

information into the information-capturing documents may be provided with

user guidance as well as the context of the document or document part for

which they are required to supply information (i.e. the known information

units) just at the time that they are required to input the information. For

example, in the case of legal contract generation, the information-capturing document may show questions for capturing the further information alongside

the relevant clause of the contract and user guidance on how to answer those

questions and/or on the meaning or relevance of the clause.

Also preferably, one or more of said known information units in said

standard document comprise formatted text and those known information

units included in said information-capturing documents and said generated

customised document comprises identical text formatted at least partially

identically.

Also preferably, further information data, captured using a particular

information-capturing document, is uniquely associated with the particular

standard document, or particular version of a standard document, from which

said particular information-capturing document was generated, and is not used

to generate a customised document in combination with data representing a

different standard document or a different version of the particular standard

document.

Also preferably, said information-capturing document data comprises

data for controlling, restricting or validating, according to predetermined

rules, the information captured from a user using one or more of said means

for inputting information presented in one or more of said information-

capturing documents. Further, said units comprised in said information-

capturing documents and said generated customised document are uneditable

by a user. It is a further or alternate advantage of the present invention that by:

i) including in the information-capturing documents means for

capturing information in a controlled, restricted or validated way, and/or by

ii) said units comprised in said information-capturing documents and

said generated customised document being uneditable by a user, and/or by

iii) verifying that further information, captured using a particular

information-capturing document, is uniquely associated with the particular

standard document, or particular version of a standard document, from which

said particular information-capturing document was generated, and is not used

to generate a customised document in combination with data representing a

different standard document or a different version of the particular standard

document,

the quality and accuracy of the information captured and of the customised

document generated using the information is assured. All the instructions and

means required to capture the further information as accurately as possible,

including means for controlling, restricting or validating user input as well as

user guidance, are contained in the standard document. Furthermore, the

customised document is only generated from a standard document and

captured further information if the further information was captured using an

information-capturing document generated from the standard document. Thus,

if the standard document is error-free, then the customised document will be

generated accurately using the further information. The only possibility of error, which error will nonetheless not be such as to prevent the generation of

a customised document, is human error when inputting the further information

required, for example typographical errors.

Also preferably, said standard document data is in a standard word-

processing format, said information-capturing document data is in a standard

browsing format and data representing said generated customised document is

in a standard browsing format, a standard printing format or a standard word-

processing format.

A further or alternate advantage of the present invention is that by

creating the standard document in a standard format suitable for word

processing, there is provided a standard and well-known user interface for

creating and maintaining the standard document. Further, by generating

information-capturing documents in a format suitable for browsing using

browsing applications, there is provided a standard and well-known interface

for capturing the further information required to generate the customised

document. Further, by generating said customised document in a standard

browsing format, a standard printing format or a standard word-processing

format, customised documents may be viewed or printed using existing

information technology hardware and software. Thus, there is a reduced

danger of technology lock-in since non-standard software, hardware and

specialised user training are not required. Further, the information-capturing

documents and customised documents are in a format easily distributed between individuals and organisations using communications means such as

intranets or the Internet.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a

method of generating a customised document using one or more data

processing means comprising the steps of:

a) creating a standard document, said standard document

comprising:

i) known information for possible inclusion in said

customised document,

ii) instructions for capturing further information, and

iii) instructions for generating said customised document

using said known information and said further

information,

b) on the basis of said instructions for capturing further

information, generating one or more information-capturing

documents,

c) capturing said further information using said one or more

information-capturing documents, and

d) on the basis of said instructions for generating said customised

document, generating said customised document using said

known information and said captured further information. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided

a method of using one or more data processing means to carry out at least part

of a tendering process, said method comprising the steps of:

a) presenting a first user with one or more information-capturing

documents;

b) capturing information from said first user using said one or

more information-capturing documents;

c) generating a second information-capturing document for

capturing information required to generate a tender on the basis of said

information captured from said first user;

d) presenting a second user with said second information-

capturing document;

e) capturing said information required to generate a tender

document from said second user using said second information-capturing

document;

f) generating a first tender document on the basis of said

information captured from said second user.

Preferably, the method comprises the further step, performed after step

c) and before step d), of generating a notification document for notifying the

second user of an invitation to tender, said notification document being

generated on the basis of the information captured from the first user and comprising data representing the location of the second information-capturing

document.

Also preferably, the method comprises the following further step,

which is performed after step f):

g) generating a contract document on the basis of said

information captured from said second user.

Also preferably, the method comprises the following further steps

performed after step b):

cc) generating a third information-capturing document for

capturing information required to generate a tender on the basis of said

information captured from said first user;

dd) presenting a third user with said third information-capturing

document;

ee) capturing said information required to generate a tender from

said third user using said third information-capturing document;

ff) generating a second tender document on the basis of said

information captured from said third user;

said method further comprising the following step performed after

steps f) and ff):

gg) generating a first report document on the basis of said first and

second tender documents or on the basis of information captured from said

first, second or third users. Also preferably, the first report document provides scores comparing

the information captured from the second and third users or the overall tenders

of the second and third users. Also preferably, a second report document is

generated comprising information on the stage in the tendering process

reached by the second or third users.

Advantages of the present invention in the field of contract tendering

include the speed at which the documents for use in the tendering process may

be generated, the removal of substantial effort on the part of personnel in

administering the tendering process, the reduction or removal of the risks of

errors occurring in the documentation, the facilitation of comprehensive or

otherwise unfeasibly burdensome scoring processes for the tenders including

the automated generation of a scoring report for some or all tenders, and the

facilitation of automatic progress reporting on the stages reached in the

tendering process, thereby assisting further in the administration of the

process.

Preferably, if generated, any of the one or more information-capturing

documents, the second information-capturing document, and the third

information-capturing document, is or are generated using the method of

generating information-capturing documents according to any of the first,

second and third aspects of the present invention. Also preferably, if

generated, any of the first and second tender documents, the notification document, the first and second report documents, and the contract document,

is or are generated using the method of any of the first, second and third

aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, further advantages of the

present invention in the field of contract tendering are as described above in

respect of the second aspect of the present invention.

Figure 6a to 6e (5 pages) show a first example of an information-

capturing document generated according to the present invention;

Figure 7a to 7f (6 pages) show a second example of an information-

capturing document generated according to the present invention;

Figure 8a to 8e (5 pages) show an example of a customised document

generated according to the present invention;

Figure 9 shows the process of translating a standard document using

the arrangement of data processing means and communication means of

Figure 2;

Figure 10 shows the process of generating a customised document

using the arrangement of data processing means and communication means of

Figure 2 according to a first mode of use of the present invention;

Figure 1 1 shows the process of generating a customised document

using the arrangement of data processing means and communication means of

Figure 2 according to a second mode of use of the present invention;

Figure 12 shows the process of generating a customised document

using the arrangement of data processing means and communication means of

Figure 2 according to a third mode of use of the present invention; and

Figure 13 shows the process of generating a customised document

using the arrangement of data processing means and communication means of

Figure 2 according to a fourth mode of use of the present invention. Further aspects of the present invention are set out in the

accompanying claims.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way

of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure la shows a possible arrangement of data processing means and

communication means for implementing the present invention;

Figure lb shows an alternative possible arrangement of data

processing means and communication means for implementing the present

invention;

Figure 2 shows a further alternative possible arrangement of data

processing means and communication means for implementing the present

invention;

Figure 3 shows the functional components of a translator program

according to the present invention;

Figure 4a shows the client server architecture used to implement a

document generation program according to the present invention;

Figure 4b is a flow diagram showing the process followed by a

document generation program according to the present invention;

Figures 5a to 51 (12 pages) show an example of a standard document

created according to the present invention; Figure 14 shows a first information-capturing document generated in a

particular implementation of the present invention in the field of contract

tendering;

Figure 15 shows the information-capturing document of Figure 14

with data entered;

Figure 16a to 16c shows a second information-capturing document

generated in a particular implementation of the present invention in the field

of contract tendering;

Figure 17a to 17c shows the information-capturing document of

Figure 16a to 16c with data entered;

Figure 18a to 18c shows a customised document generated according

to a particular implementation of the present invention in the field of contract

tendering with data entered;

Figure 19 shows a third information-capturing document according to

the particular implementation of the present invention in the field of contract

tendering with data entered;

Figure 20 shows the information-capturing document of Figure 19

with data entered;

Figure 21 shows an e-mail generated according to the particular

implementation of the present invention in the field of contract tendering; Figure 22a to 22b shows a fourth information-capturing document

generated according to the particular implementation of the present invention

in the field of contract tendering;

Figure 23a to 23b shows the information-capturing document of

Figure 22a to 22b with data entered;

Figure 24a to 24b shows a second customised document generated

according to the particular implementation with data entered;

Figure 25a to 25e shows a fourth customised document generated

according to the particular implementation generated according to the

particular implementation of the present invention in the field of contract

tendering.

Detailed Description of Embodiments of the Present Invention

The present invention is implemented using one or more data

processing means. Where more than one data processing means are used, they

are connected together using communication means. Client/server architecture

is used. One of the data processing means functions as a server and the other

data processing means function as clients. If the present invention is

implemented using one data processing means, the single data processing

means functions as both server and client. Figures la, lb and 2 show typical

arrangements of data processing means and communication means for

implementing the present invention.

Figure la shows a server computer 10 connected to two local client

computers 30 and 32 by means of a local area network (LAN) 20. Each

computer 10, 30 and 32 runs an operating system program such as Microsoft

NT and network programs such as Novell Netware . The server computer

10 also runs a Web server application such as Microsoft Internet Information

Server . Each of the local computers 30 and 32 also run a browsing

application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer . Server computer 10 and

local computers 30 and 32 communicate with each other using Transmission

Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and HTTP. Together, server

computer 10, local computers 30 and 32, and LAN 20 form an intranet.

Figure lb shows server computer 10 connected to four client

computers 31, 33, 35 and 37, which may be local or remote, by means of connections to the Internet 22. Each computer 10, 31, 33, 35 and 37 runs an

operating system program such as Microsoft NT and network programs

such as Novell Netware™. The server computer 10 also runs a Web server

application such as Microsoft Internet Information Server and is arranged to

accept and respond to client requests from the Internet 22. Each of the

computers 31, 33, 35 and 37 also run a browsing application such as

Microsoft Internet Explorer . Server computer 10 and computers 31, 33, 35

and 37 communicate with each other using Transmission Control

Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and HTTP.

Figure 2 shows a server computer 10 connected to two local client

computers 30 and 32 using a LAN 20 and also connected to two remote client

computers 34 and 36 through the Internet 22. Each computer 10, 30 and 32

runs an operating system program such as Microsoft NT and network

programs such as Novell Netware . Server computer 10 also runs a Web

serving application such as Microsoft Internet Information Server . Each of

client computers 30, 32, 34 and 36 also run a browsing application such as

Microsoft Internet Explorer . Proxy servers and firewalls (not shown) may

be used to protect the intranet from unauthorised access from computers

connected to the Internet 22. Server computer 10, local computers 30 and 32

and remote computer 34 and 36 communicate with each other using TCP/IP

and HTTP. Henceforth in this document, the arrangement of computer systems

and communication means as described above with reference to Figure 2,

being the most general of the arrangements described above, will be used to

describe embodiments of the present invention.

One or more of the computer systems 10, 30, 32, 34 and 36 runs a

word processing application such as Microsoft Word . Microsoft Word is

used to create and maintain standard documents and may be used to view the

customised documents generated. As will be described below in greater

detail, the standard document consists of known information, and logical rules

for determining, on the basis of further information to be captured, how to use

items of known information when generating the customised document. The

standard document may also contain user guidance. Standard documents must

conform to a standard structure described below in greater detail.

Furthermore, one or more of computer systems 10, 30, 32, 34 and 36

runs a translator program, described in detail below, for converting document

files in the Microsoft Word format into a format suitable for processing by

a document generation program.

Further, server computer 10 also runs the document generation

program, mentioned above and described in greater detail below, which is

used to generate information-capturing documents, capture at least part of the

further information and generate the customised document. Description of Translator Program

Next, the functioning of the translator program will be described in

detail. The main function of the translator program is to convert standard

documents in Microsoft Word format into a format suitable for processing

by the document generation program. This format is either Prolog source

code stored in an ASCII (American Standard Code for Information

Interchange) file format or a compiled object file of the Prolog source code.

Prolog is a standard programming language whose syntax is defined by the

International Standards Organisation (ISO). Prolog is a language useful for

developing rule-based applications or systems.

The functioning of the translator program will now be described with

reference to Figure 3. A standard document 40, created and maintained using

Microsoft Word , must conform to a standard structure described in detail

below. Using a representation of this structure, translator program 90 is able

to create an Prolog source code image of the information contained in

standard document 40.

Translator program 90 comprises three main components a parsing

component 92; a verifying component 94; and a code generating component

96. Parsing component 92 uses the object linking and embedding (OLE)

capabilities of Microsoft Word to interrogate a standard document 40

supplied to it. In doing this, parsing component 92 acts as a master process

and invokes Microsoft Word as a slave process. Parsing component 92 uses a representation of the standard structure of all standard documents to

extract the various parts of the standard document 40. The data resulting from

this process is then sent to the verifying component 94.

The verifying component 94 recognises common items in the data

supplied by the parsing component, such as repeated variable names

representing items of further information to be captured, and associates them

together. Verifying component 94 also checks for errors and inconsistencies

in the parsed data. Errors might arise, for example, if there are inconsistencies

in the logical rules of the standard document, or mismatched use of variables.

Each error is identified and logged to a reporting file. If there are no errors

detected by verifying component 94, the result is passed to the code

generating component 96.

The code generating component 96 takes the parsed and verified data

obtained by interrogating the standard document and generates, according to

the known syntax, a Prolog source code program file 41, suitable for

processing by the document generation program. The Prolog source code of

document 41 is thus an image of the information contained in the standard

document 40 which has merely been translated into a format suitable for

execution.

Whilst performing its main function of generating an image, the

translator program also stores versions of each of the known information units

of the standard document 40 (for example, formatted text for possible inclusion in the customised document) in Rich Text Format (which is given

the file extension RTF) within source code program 42. These RTF versions

are used later by the document generation program when generating the

customised document in RTF format. The translator program achieves this by

interrogating the standard document 40 using the OLE capabilities of

Microsoft Word , in particular the capability to obtain RTF translations of

portions of a document in Microsoft Word format.

Description of Document Generation Program

Next, the functioning of the document generation program will be

described. The purpose of the document generation program is to generate

information-capturing documents, capture at least part of the further

information and generate customised documents on the instructions of a user.

To do this the user must specify a standard document which has been

translated using the translator program described above. The document

generation program is run as a server program and is instructed to perform

tasks by users of client browser applications, such as the browser application

Microsoft Internet Explorer .

Figure 4a shows the client/server architecture used to implement the

document generation program. Document generation program 108 is

composed of a Prolog server program 104, described below, with a Common

Gateway Interface (CGI) script 106 providing the interface between a Web

server program 102, such as Microsoft Internet Information Server , and the Prolog server program 104. Client computer 100 runs a browsing application,

such as Microsoft Internet Explorer , and is connected to server computer 10

through communication means. A user of client computer 100 instructs

document generation program 108 to perform a task by passing a uniform

resource locator (URL) request to the Web server program 102 of server

computer 10 at step 110.

The URL request may be made by the user of client computer 100

typing a request in to the address field of the browser application or clicking

on a button in a Web page displayed by the browser application which has

been set up automatically to perform the URL request. The URL request will

generally contain the network address of server computer 10, followed by the

directory and file name of the CGI script 106 and then various instructions

and/or data in the form of a query string to be passed to Prolog server program

104 for execution. The Web server application 102 receives the URL request

from client computer 100 and passes the instructions and/or data to the Prolog

server program 104 at step 112 through the CGI script interface 106.

With reference to Figure 4a, is to be understood that client computer

100 may be a computer with direct access to server computer 10 via an

intranet or the Internet, as described above with reference to computers 30, 31,

32, 33, 35 and 37 of Figures la and lb, or it may be a computer with no

direct access to server computer 10, as described above with reference to

computers 34 and 36 of Figure 2. In the latter case, to enable a remote computer 100 to pass a URL request to server computer 10, the URL request

is sent in the form of an e-mail to a predetermined e-mail address of a router

computer (not shown) directly connected to server computer 10 which

demultiplexes the e-mail and automatically forwards the encapsulated URL

request to server computer 10 for processing. The router computer acts as a

proxy client to server computer 10 and a proxy server to client computer 100.

From the point of view of client computer 100 and server computer 10 the

client/server request-response transaction remains essentially the same in both

cases. The router computer runs an operating system, such as Unix , and a

router program arranged to demultiplex e-mails and forward encapsulated

URL requests as described above.

Alternatively, where client computer 100 has direct access to server

computer 10, but the information-capturing document is forwarded from

client computer 100 to a further client computer (not shown) which does not

have direct access to server computer 10, the URL request from the further

client computer is sent in the form of an e-mail to a predetermined e-mail

address of a router computer (not shown) directly connected to server

computer 10. The router computer demultiplexes the e-mail received to

extract the URL request and the e-mail address of client computer 100 (which

is contained in the e-mail from the further computer) and automatically

forwards to client computer 100 an e-mail informing the user of receipt of the

response. The e-mail sent to client computer 100 further contains HTML code, activated by a push button for example, for automatically passing the

URL request to server computer 10 for processing. When this URL request is

passed to server computer 10, client computer 100 becomes the requesting

client and server computer 10 will send its response to client computer 100

rather than the further computer. From the point of view of server computer

10 the client/server request-response transaction remains essentially the same

as if the further information was captured using client computer 100. The

router computer runs an operating system, such as Unix , and a router

program arranged to demultiplex received e-mails, extract URL requests and

forward to client computer 100 e-mails containing HTML code for passing the

URL requests to server computer 10 as described above.

The Prolog server program 104 is implemented using Logic

Programming Associates' ProWeb Server . The ProWeb Server is a

program for developing and implementing Prolog applications which is

capable of generating HTML and JavaScript . A detailed description of the

ProWeb Server program is found in the ProWeb User's Manual available

from Logic Programming Associates Ltd., Studio 4, RVPB Trinity Road,

London SW18 3SX, UK incorporated herein by reference.

The ProWeb Server program is used to compile or execute the

Prolog source code program 42, generated by the translator program, using the

instructions and/or data passed from the user of client computer 100. The CGI script 106 may be regarded as a wrapper encapsulating Prolog server program

104.

Prolog server program 104 executes the specified Prolog source code

program 42 on the basis of the user instructions and/or data contained in the

URL request, and generates one or more Web pages in the form of HTML

code and JavaScript in response. ProWeb Server uses incremental

compilation techniques to compile relevant sections of the Prolog source code

for execution as required.

Depending on the user's instruction and/or data, and any instructions

contained in the Prolog source code program 42, the response generated by

Prolog server program 104 will either be one or more Web pages constituting

information-capturing documents or a Web page constituting a generated

customised document. Also, depending on the user's instruction and/or data,

and any instructions contained in the Prolog source code program 42, the Web

page or pages generated by server program 106 will be sent to client computer

100 or to one or more further computers, connected to server computer 10 by

communication means.

Where a computer, to which a Web page is to be sent, has direct access

to server computer 10, the response is sent as a Web page to the IP address of

the specified computer. Where, however, the computer has no direct access,

the Web page response generated by server 10 is encapsulated in an e-mail

and sent out to a specified e-mail address corresponding to the remote computer. Where no network or e-mail address is specified for a further

computer, the Web page will be sent to the address of the client computer

which initiated the client/server request-response transaction.

It will be described in detail below how document generation program

108 may generate responses, such as information-capturing documents, for

distributing to and capturing further information from one or more further

computers. However, for the purpose of describing the operation of document

generation program 108 with reference to Figures 4a and 4b, it will presently

be assumed that only one client computer, namely client computer 100, is

involved in the client/server request-response transaction.

To generate a new customised document, the user of client computer

100 instructs document generation program 108 by passing a URL request

specifying a Prolog source code file 42 corresponding to a particular standard

document. Document generation program 108 initiates a session with the user

of client computer 100. In generating a response to the user request, document

generation program 108 accesses and incrementally compiles the Prolog

source code file 42. Using the URL instructions and the Prolog source code

program 42, document generation program 108 generates a Web form

information-capturing document which is passed to the Web server

application 102 via the CGI script interface 106 at step 114. At step 116, the

server computer 10 sends the Web form information-capturing document to

client computer 100. The Web form information-capturing documents generated by

document generation program 108 use the standard data-entry features of

HTML described above to capture information from end-users browsing the

Web form. When parts of the standard document included in an information-

capturing document contain variables or other data representing further

information to be captured, then the information-capturing document

generated automatically includes appropriate data-entry items for inputting the

required information corresponding to the variables, according to any

specifications contained in the standard document, or, in default, according to

the context of the variable in the standard document. JavaScript is

embedded in the information-capturing documents to control, restrict or

validate the information captured from a user. For example, JavaScript code

may be used to check whether the information entered by a user fulfils

specified criteria set out in the standard document and described in greater

detail below. If the criteria are not fulfilled, error messages may be displayed

and the user will be prevented from sending the invalid further information

back to server computer 10.

Furthermore, standard "submit" features of HTML are used to

generate code for automatically sending the captured information back to

server computer 10 which is activated by a push button in the Web form

information-capturing document (e.g. a "Submit" button). In the case of an

embodiment of the present invention in which all client computers have direct access to server computer 10, as described above with reference to Figures la

and lb, the "Submit" button is arranged to pass a URL request to server

computer 10 with the captured information and any other user instructions in

the form of a query string.

In the case of an embodiment of the present invention in which some

client computers may have direct access to server computer 10, but some may

not, as described with reference to Figure 2, the "Submit" button is arranged

to encapsulate a URL request within an e-mail and send the e-mail to the

router computer described above. In the latter case, the "Submit" button may

alternatively be arranged to determine whether client computer 100 is has

direct access to server computer 10 or not and then select whether to send the

captured information and any other user instructions to server computer 10 in

the form of a direct URL request or a URL request embedded in an e-mail

accordingly.

Furthermore, standard "mail to" features of HTML may be used to

generate code for forwarding the information-capturing document to a further

computer for capturing further information from a further user. The code

would be activated by a push button in the Web form information-capturing

document (e.g. a "Mail To" button). It is optional to include a "Mail To"

button and corresponding code in the information-capturing document. The

option is specified in the instructions contained in the standard document. The

information-capturing document is forwarded as an attachment to an e-mail sent to the e-mail address of the further user. The code may have a specified

e-mail address (if one is specified in the standard document) or may query the

user of client computer 100 for a forwarding e-mail address for the further

user. The information-capturing document forwarded to the further computer

will be identical to the information-capturing document first sent to client

computer 100. Thus, it will contain push buttons for submitting captured

information to server computer 10 and for forwarding the information-

capturing document to a further computer as described above.

Once the response has been sent to client computer 100, the

client/server request-response transaction is complete. However, the

client/server session is not necessarily complete. A session is complete when

one or more client/server transactions are completed which together result in

the generation of a final customised document delivered to the client computer

100 or some other specified computer or printing device. In between

transactions, document generation program 108 caches the state of the session

to data storage means such as the hard disk of server computer 10. A unique

session identifier is used to identify transaction requests received with

previously cached sessions.

Further, document generation program 108 generates and maintains a

historical database of all client/server request-response transactions using

Microsoft Access . One use of the historical data is for exporting to an

external document management system which may record details of all the stages in generating each particular customised document including

amendment and version details. Another use of the historical data is to

provide the ability for an end-user to return to an earlier stage in the

generation of a customised document and restart the process from that point.

On receiving the Web form information-capturing document, the user

of client computer 100 may enter some or all of the further information using

data-entry items provided and send the information to document generation

program 108 by clicking on the "Submit" button. If the captured data is

sufficient for document generation program 108 to generate a customised

document on the basis of the Prolog source code file 42 corresponding to the

standard document, and if the standard document contains no other

instructions for document generation program 108 to perform, then the

customised document will be generated and a Web page, containing the

customised document in HTML format and/or links for downloading the

customised document in other formats, will be sent to client computer 100.

The session with the user will then be complete. However, it is not necessary

for the user to input all of the required data at once. If the captured data is not

sufficient for document generation program 108 to generate a customised

document (i.e. not all the further information required to generate the

customised document has been captured), then a further Web form

information-capturing document for capturing the further information required will be generated. The process of capturing the further information required

will then continue as above.

As described below in greater detail, the standard document may

specify whether items of further information to be captured, for example

variables, are required before a customised document can be generated. By

default, items of further information are not required and the document

generation program will generate a customised document on the basis of the

standard document and partial further information, or even no further

information, as best it can. For example, where further information

representing a text or numeric variable is not required and has not been

captured, the document generation program will leave blanks in the generated

customised document at corresponding positions. Where, however, items of

further information are specified in the standard document as being required,

then no customised document will be generated until the further information

has been captured by further information-capturing documents.

Prior to generating a customised document, document generation

program 108 checks that the further information was captured using one or

more information-capturing documents generated from Prolog source code

program 42 and not from some other Prolog source code program. This is

achieved by assigning unique identifiers to all Prolog source code programs

and including the unique identifier of a particular Prolog source code program

in all information-capturing documents generated from it. If the further information was captured using one or more information-capturing documents

generated from some other Prolog source code program then no customised

document will be generated. This is to prevent customised documents being

generated from different standard documents or from different versions of a

standard document, parts of which may be incompatible or out of date.

As mentioned above, the customised document generated by the

document generation program may be sent to client computer 100 in HTML

format. Additionally, or alternatively, a Web page containing links for

downloading the customised document may be sent. Such a Web page

contains embedded HTML code for sending a request to server computer 10,

either as a URL request or an e-mail encapsulated URL request, to send the

generated customised document back to client computer 100 in formats other

than HTML. Other formats maybe Microsoft Word (which is designated

by the file extension DOC), RTF or Adobe Acrobat format (which is

designated by the file extension PDF). PDF format is preferred for the

customised document because it provides a format that may be viewed and

printed using any computer and printer system for which versions of the

Adobe Acrobat Reader are available and installed. Further, it renders a

printed document which is page for page identical with the viewed document

which can also be completely locked and therefore unalterable by an end-user.

The document files in formats other than HTML are sent using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME)

headers to indicate the format of the document file to the browser application.

Figure 4b is a flow diagram showing the process followed by

document generation program 108 where server computer 10 interacts with

client computer 100 in a session as described above. At step 200 server

computer 10 waits for an instruction from client computer 100 to generate a

new customised document. On receiving such an instruction, server computer

10 generates, at step 210, a first information-capturing document and sends it

to client computer 100. An end-user of client computer 100 enters

information and sends it to server computer 10 using the information-

capturing document. At step 220 server computer waits for a response from

client computer 100. When a response has been received, server 10

determines, at step 230, whether there are any further instructions to generate

further information-capturing documents. These further instructions may be

contained in the standard document as described in greater detail below, or in

the response sent by client computer 100. If there are such instructions, server

computer 10 proceeds to generate a further information-capturing document

and sends it to client computer 100 at step 210. If not, server computer 10

proceeds to step 240 where it determines whether all the information required

to generate the customised document (as specified in the standard document)

has been received from client computer 100. If not, server computer 10

proceeds to generate a further information-capturing document at step 210 for capturing the further required information and sends it to client computer 100.

If all the required further information has been received, the process continues

to step 250 where server computer 10 generates the customised document and

sends a Web Page to client computer 100.

Description of Standard Documents

Next, the structure and contents of an example standard document and

two example information-capturing documents will be described in detail.

Figure 5 (spanning 12 pages) shows an example of a standard document for

use in generating customised insurance policy documents. The standard

document was created using the Microsoft Word word processing software

package. The features and capabilities of Microsoft Word are described in

documents available at Microsoft's website (http://www.microsoft.com

/office/word/) incorporated herein by reference. The standard document is an

ordinary Microsoft Word document file which conforms to a predetermined

standard structure.

The standard document consists of a plurality of sections and sub¬

sections, the start of which are indicated by section or sub-section headings

respectively which are formatted in a heading style. The main part of the

standard document consists of a two-dimensional table 300 with three

columns and a plurality of rows delimited by a pair of textual items

"DOC_TABLE" 302 (followed by a document name such as "ABC Policy

Document 2") and "END DOC" 304. This table is used to contain the known information for possible inclusion in a customised document, the logical rules

for determining the use made of the known information, any user guidance or

references to user guidance, and variables representing further information to

be captured.

The first column of the table contains known information for possible

inclusion in the customised document, for example formatted text. The text

may also include variables which are denoted by having double square

brackets surrounding them, for example "[[The Insured]]" 306. The insertion

of variables in certain positions in the standard document is used to create

data-entry items for capturing information in corresponding positions in the

information-capturing documents. Variables are used to indicate that further

information may be captured to generate the customised document using the

standard document. Variables may be inserted in either the first or second

columns of the standard document (see below). When inserted in the first

column, they indicate that the information captured will be used in

substitution for the variable name if the known information unit is selected for

inclusion in the customised document.

The second column of the table contains logical rules or expressions

for determining how to use the known information of the first column. This

will normally depend on further information to be captured before generating

the customised document. Variables may be inserted in the second column to

indicate that further information may be captured to determine whether one or more corresponding known information units are to be selected for inclusion

in the customised document. For example "Buildings" 308, which in this

example is a Boolean variable (i.e. either true or false) represents whether or

not buildings are included in the sums insured according to the insurance

policy document. The further information may also be information

represented by a variable already referred to in the first column of the table.

Variables inserted in the second column do not need to be denoted by having

double square brackets surrounding them.

Logical rules or expressions may be constructed from one or more

variables, using Prolog statements containing logical and mathematical

operators (such as AND, OR, IF, THEN, ELSE, NOT, +, -, x, ÷, =, ∑ etc.),

text and numbers. Valid logical rules are Boolean. For example, "Buildings

OR Machinery OR Stock" 310 is true if at least one of the Boolean variables

"Buildings", "Machinery" and "Stock" is true. The state of the expression

(i.e. true or false) is used to determine whether or not to include, in the

customised document, the information contained in one or more rows of the

first column. For example, the state of the logical expression "Buildings OR

Machinery OR Stock" which is next to the section headed "Sums Insured"

312 is used to determine whether or not the entire section headed "Sums

Insured" (spanning two pages) is to be included in the customised document.

The further logical expressions within the section (i.e. "^ΛBuildings" 314;

"^ΛMachinery" 316; "^ΛStock AND Stock Level>=250000" 318; and "Stock AND Stock Level<250000" 320) are used for further determining whether or

not to include the sub-sections (i.e. "Buildings" 324; "Machinery" 326;

"Stock (Expensive)" 328; and "Stock (Inexpensive)" 330 respectively).

When a variable occurs only once in the standard document at a

particular point, data-entry items for capturing the further information

represented by the variable are generated at a corresponding point in the

information-capturing documents. Where, however, a variable occurs at more

than one point in the standard document, and therefore there may be more

than one corresponding point in any information-capturing document, the

caret symbol "^Λ" is used to indicate at which corresponding point in the

information-capturing documents input means are to be generated to capture

the further information.

The third column of the table contains user guidance relating to the

information contained in the first column, the logical rules of the second

column and/or how to input the further information required. For example, the

user guidance "This section will only be included if at least ONE sum-insured

is chosen" 322 describes how the logical expression "Buildings OR

Machinery OR Stock" 310 determines whether or not to include the section

"Sums Insured" 312 in the customised document. The third column may also

contain text references to other user guidance such as book or journal

references or embedded HTML code or JavaScript containing, for example,

links to other Web pages. The rows of the table are arranged so that the user guidance column of

one row relates to the information contained in the first column and/or the

logical rules of the second column in the same row. Similarly, the logical rule

or expression of one row is used to determine whether or not to include, in the

customised document, the information contained in the first column of the

same row. Further, where the user guidance or logical rule are located on a

row where the first column contains a section heading or sub-section heading

(denoted by the use of RTF heading levels in the known information units in

the first column), the user guidance or logical rule relates to the whole of the

section or subsection respectively (that is, for all the rows below in the table

until the row that contains an RTF heading at an equal or higher level).

Microsoft Word^τ currently does not allow tables to be embedded in

tables. Therefore, it is not possible directly to include a table in the known

information contained in a the first column of the main table in the standard

document. However, pointers to further tables may be used in the known

information to get around this problem. The pointers are denoted by a table

name surrounded by quotation marks with a hash symbol in front and further

surrounding double square brackets, for example "[[# "ABC Address Table

2"]]" 332. Pointers points to further tables in the standard document which are

delimited by a pair of textual items "DOC_" 334 (followed by the table name)

and "END DOC" 336. For example, the table pointed to by the above

example is delimited by the pair of textual items "DOC " ABC Address Table 2" " and "END_DOC". In this way, tables may be incorporated in the known

information in the standard document, and thus in the generated customised

document.

Standard documents may be created in a modular fashion by using, at

the start of a standard document file, the "INCLUDE" command followed by

the file name of a further document file, also in Microsoft Word format, to

be incorporated. The contents of this further file may be a main table in three

column form as above, part of a main table (i.e. a number of rows of a three

column table), or objects such as picture files and OLE objects. The contents

of further files may be inserted in a standard document file at a particular

point by use of a pointer as described above. In this way, standard documents

may be created from one or more standard modules. Furthermore, modules

may themselves be created from one or more further modules. Modules may

be nested in this way to any degree.

The standard document of Figure 5 also contains a further table,

labelled "Question Table" 340, specifying further characteristics of the

variables used in the main table. This table may be used define, for specified

variables, the type of data-entry items used, the format of values they may

hold, restrictions or rules for validity concerning the input of information to

be held by variables (for example value ranges, or lists of selectable values),

and default values. For example, the variables may be defined to hold text,

numbers, currencies, dates or Boolean values. The data-entry items may be specified as a text input line or box, a radio button, a number input line, a

currency input line, a date input line, a time input line, a pop up menu with

one or more options, a tick box, a scrollable menu list, and other such GUI

data-entry items. Various dimensions (i.e. various amounts of space) may be

specified for inputting the information.

The Question table may also specify control information to determine

whether to allow input of information for a particular variable in a particular

information-capturing document. For example, it may be specified that a

data-entry item will only be provided in the first (or the first n) information-

capturing documents generated, in which case end-users receiving the second

(or (n+l)'th) information-capturing document or further information-

capturing documents will not be provided with a data-entry item for inputting

information for that variable. Alternatively, passwords may be specified

without which input of information for a particular information-capturing

document may not be carried out. In this way, the input of further information

may be restricted to only some of the users receiving some of the information-

capturing documents.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, some further information may be

required to be captured before a customised document can be generated. The

Question table may specify those variables, which represent the required

further information, as being required variables. The document generation

server program will not generate a customised document until information has been captured for those variables. However, to promote generation of

customised documents where not all the further information has been

captured, the default status of a variable is that it is not required - i.e. it will be

possible to generate a customised document even if the information

represented by that variable has not been captured.

As well as the main table and optional further tables described above,

the standard document may also include instructions specifying the contents

and appearance of one or more different versions of information-capturing

documents to be generated, and instructions for distributing the information-

capturing documents to one or more users for capturing the further

information required according to a predetermined work flow.

The instructions for controlling the distribution of information-

capturing documents specify the version of the information-capturing

document to be sent and an order for sending those documents in sequence.

The sending instructions are delimited by a pair of main process instructions

"SUB mainO" 350 and "END SUB" 352. For example, the information-

capturing document named "Client Data Form 1" may be sent by the

instruction "SEND_PAGE "Client Data Form 1" " 354. A network or e-mail

address for sending the information-capturing documents may be specified in

these instructions. If not, the information-capturing documents will be sent to

the client computer that initiated a session as described above. Alternatively,

the instructions may specify that two or more different versions of information-capturing documents are sent to two or more different specified

network or e-mail addresses in parallel. In this case, the different versions of

the information-capturing documents must be specified so as to capture

mutually exclusive further information so as to prevent data conflict. The

instructions are written in a programming language such as Visual Basic

Script .

The different versions of information-capturing documents are

themselves defined by sections of HTML code and/or JavaScript . The

HTML code and/or JavaScript serves to define the contents of the

information-capturing documents as well as their appearance. Standard

HTML code for controlling common aspects of all the information-capturing

documents such as titles, headers, colour schemes, graphic images, and tables

may be specified in general page holder sections. The "PAGE Header" 360

and "PAGE Footer" 362 instructions may be used to demarcate these general

page holder sections.

Further sections of HTML code and/or JavaScript are used to define

the contents and appearance of particular information-capturing documents

and are demarcated by an instruction of the form "PAGE" followed by the

name given to the particular information-capturing document. For example,

the contents and appearance of the information-capturing document named

"Client Data Form 1 " are defined in a section of HTML code demarcated by

the instruction "PAGE "Client Data Form 1" " 364. The HTML code and/or JavaScript™ may be used to specify which, if any, of the plurality of units of

the standard document are to be included in the information-capturing

document.

It is also possible to omit from a standard document instructions for

generating different versions of the information-capturing documents, and/or

instructions for distributing the documents according to a work flow. Where

any of such instructions are omitted, a default set of instructions is used by

document generation program 108. For example, where a standard document

consists solely of the main three column table as described above, an

information-capturing document comprising the first (known information) and

third (user guidance) columns and all the rows of the main table plus

appropriate data-entry items will be generated using default dimensions and

GUI data-entry items, and sent to the client computer which initiated the

session, using default HTML page holders.

Description of Information-Capturing Documents

Next, the structure and contents of two example information-

capturing documents according to the present invention will be described in

detail. Figures 6 (spanning 5 pages) and 7 (spanning 6 pages) show examples

of two versions of information-capturing documents for use in generating

customised insurance policy documents generated in accordance with the

information contained in the example standard document of Figure 5. Figure

6 shows the information-capturing document generated from the section of HTML code in the standard document of Figure 5 following the instruction

"PAGE "Client Data Form 1" ". Similarly, Figure 7 shows the information-

capturing document generated from the section of HTML code in the standard

document of Figure 5 following the instruction "PAGE "Client Data Form

2" ".

Figure 6 shows an information-capturing document comprising a

"Submit" button 400 and a table with three columns 402. The first column,

headed "Clause Text" 404, contains all the known information units of the

standard document of Figure 5 arranged in rows as in the table in the standard

document. The second column 406, headed "Question", contains the names

of the variables representing the further information to be captured for each

respective row, section or subsection, and the third column 408, headed

"Value" contains the respective data-entry items for inputting the further

information. For example, on the first page of Figure 6, the cell 410 of the

first column and fifth row contains the text "Herein "The Insured" is defined

to be "[[The Insured]]'' ". Correspondingly, the cells of the second and third

columns of the same row contain the variable name "The Insured" 412 and a

text box 414 for inputting the further information.

Figure 7 also shows an information-capturing document with a

"Submit" button 500 and a table with three columns. The first column 502,

headed "Logic", contains the logical rule units of the standard document and

the third column 506, headed "Guidance", contains the user guidance units. The second column 504, headed "Clause Input", contains all the known

information units of the standard document together with data-entry items for

inputting the further information. For example, on the third page of Figure 7,

the cell 510 of the second column and seventh row contains the subsection

heading "Earthquake (Europe / Asia)". Data-entry items for inputting the

further information in the form of two tick boxes 514 and 516 and a pull¬

down list box 512 are provided. These correspond to the variables contained

in the logical rule of the first column "Earthquake AND Buildings AND

Region = Europe OR Region = Asia", i.e. the variables "Region" 512,

"Earthquake" 514 and "Buildings" 516. Because the variables "Buildings"

and "Region" occur at other points in the information-capturing document, the

tick box and pull down list generated for them are generated at other points in

the information-capturing document and are not repeated at cell 510.

Description of Customised Documents

Next, an example of a customised insurance policy document

generated using the standard document of Figure 5 and the information-

capturing documents of Figures 6 and 7 will be described. Figure 8 (spanning

5 pages) shows the customised document which has been generated in HTML

format. Unlike the standard document or information-capturing documents,

the customised document does not contain the tabular representation of known

information, logical rules, user guidance, and/or data-entry items for inputting

information. Instead, the customised document contains those units of known information selected according to the logical rules on the basis of captured

further information completed with further captured information. Both the

text and the formatting of the known information units and captured

information are represented in the customised document.

Modes of Use

Next, modes of using the translator program and document generation

program 108 of the present invention will be described with reference to

Figures 9 to 13. Figures 9 to 13 show the flow of programs, documents and

information in the arrangement of computer systems and communication

means as described above with reference to Figure 2.

Figure 9 shows how a standard document in Microsoft Word format

40 may be supplied by a user to client computer 30. The process of translating

standard document 40 into Prolog source code program 42 is carried out using

either client computer 30 or server computer 10. In the former case, the Prolog

source code program 42 is then sent to server computer 10. In the latter case,

the standard document 40 is first sent to server computer 10. Prolog source

code program 42 is stored in data storage means of server computer 10. The

standard document 40 may have been created or maintained using client

computer 30. Alternatively, it may have been created or maintained using

another computer and then supplied to client computer 30.

Figure 10 shows how document generation program 108 and Prolog

source code program 42 are used, by a user of client computer 30, to generate a customised document according to a first mode of use of the present

invention. In this first mode, no distribution instructions have been included in

the standard document nor have any instructions been included for generating

different versions of information-capturing documents. The default response

of document generation program 108 running on server computer 10 to a user

request is to generate an information-capturing document for capturing the

further information and to send it to the client computer that made the request.

A user of client computer 30 initiates a session with document

generation program 108 of server computer 10 at step 50 by passing a URL

request to server computer 10 specifying the file name of Prolog source code

program 42. In response to this URL request, and on the basis of Prolog

source code program 42, document generation program 108 generates an

information-capturing document 44 which is sent from server computer 10 to

client computer 30 at step 52. The user of client computer 30 may then enter

some or all of the further information into information-capturing document 44

using a browser application. The user of client computer 30 then clicks on a

"Submit" button in the information-capturing document and the captured

further information is sent to server computer 10 at step 54. If all of the

further information specified as being required further information has been

sent, document generation program 108 will generate the customised

document 48 and send a Web page to client computer 30 at step 56. If further

information is required, document generation program 108 will generate a further information-capturing document for capturing the further required

information and send it to client computer 30. Thus, the process of steps 52

and 54 may be repeated until document generation program 108 has captured

all the required information it needs to generate customised document 48.

Figure 11 shows how document generation program 108 and the

Prolog source code program 42 are used, by a user of client computer 30, to

generate a customised document according to a second mode of use of the

present invention. In this second mode, instructions have been included in the

standard document for sending two information-capturing documents to a

client computer in sequence in response to a client request, a first information-

capturing document for capturing information from the user of the requesting

client computer, and a second information-capturing document for capturing

information from a second user of an unspecified further computer.

Instructions may also have been included defining the contents and

appearance of the two information-capturing documents.

A user of client computer 30 initiates a session with document

generation program 108 of server computer 10 at step 60 by passing a URL

request to server computer 10 specifying the file name of Prolog source code

program 42. In response to this URL request, and on the basis of Prolog

source code program 42, document generation program 108 generates the first

information-capturing document 44 which is sent from server computer 10 to

client computer 30 at step 61. The user of client computer 30 may then enter some or all of the further information into information-capturing document 44

using a browser application. The user of client computer 30 then clicks on a

"Submit" button in the information-capturing document and the captured

further information is sent to server computer 10 at step 62. Document

generation program 108 will then generate the second information-capturing

document 45 and send it to client computer 30 at step 63.

The user of client computer 30, knowing the e-mail address of the

second user - i.e. the user of the unspecified further computer - who may

provide further information, then clicks on a "Mail To" button in the second

information-capturing document 45 to send, at step 64, the second

information-capturing document 45 to the unspecified further computer as an

e-mail attachment, for example, to computer 34. The user of client computer

30 is prompted for the e-mail address of the second user. Once having

received information-capturing document 45, the second user then enters

some or all further information using a browser application. The second user

then clicks on a "Submit" button in information-capturing document 45 and

the captured further information is sent to server computer 10 at step 65.

If all of the further information specified as being required further

information has been sent, document generation program 108 will generate

customised document 48 and send a Web page to client computer 30 at step

66. If further information is required, document generation program 108 will

generate a further information-capturing document for capturing the further required information and send it to client computer 30. Thus, the process of

one or more of steps 61 to 65 may be repeated until document generation

program 108 has captured all the required information it needs to generate the

customised document 48.

Figure 12 shows how document generation program 108 and the

Prolog source code program 42 are used, by a user of client computer 30, to

generate a customised document according to a third mode of use of the

present invention. In this third mode, instructions have been included in the

standard document for sending three information-capturing documents to a

client computer in response to a client request, a first information-capturing

document for capturing information from the user of the requesting client

computer, and second and third information-capturing documents for

capturing information from the users of two further computers. Instructions

have also been included defining the contents of the second and third

information-capturing documents such that they each capture mutually

exclusive further information. Instructions may also have been included

defining the appearance of the three information-capturing documents.

A user of client computer 30 initiates a session with document

generation program 108 of server computer 10 at step 70 by passing a URL

request to server computer 10 specifying the file name of Prolog source code

program 42. In response to this URL request, and on the basis of Prolog

source code program 42, document generation program 108 generates the first information-capturing document 44 which is sent from server computer 10 to

client computer 30 at step 71. The user of client computer 30 my then enter

some or all of the further information into information-capturing document 44

using the browser application. The user of client computer 30 then clicks on a

"Submit" button in the information-capturing document and the information is

sent to server computer 10 at step 72.

Document generation program 108 then generates the second and third

information-capturing documents 45 and 46 for capturing further information

and sends them to client computer 30 at step 73. The user of client computer

30 then clicks on a "Mail To" button in each of the two information-capturing

documents, to send them to computers 36 and 32 as e-mail attachments at

steps 74 and 75 respectively. The user of client computer 30 may or may not

be required to specify the e-mail or network addresses of computers 36 and 32

depending on whether or not they have already been specified in the

instructions contained in the standard document. Once having received

information-capturing documents 45 and 46, the users of computers 32 and 36

may then enter some or all of the further information using browser

applications. The users of computers 32 and 36 then click on "Submit"

buttons in information-capturing documents 45 and 46 and the captured

further information is sent to server computer 10 at steps 76 and 77

respectively. This process of capturing information from the users of

computers 32 and 36 takes place in parallel. Document generation program 108 waits until it has received captured information from both computers 32

and 36 before generating a response to send to client computer 30. If all of the

required information has been received, document generation program 108

generates customised document 48 and sends a Web page to client computer

30 at step 78. If further information is required, document generation

program 108 generates a further information-capturing document for

capturing the further required information and sends it to client computer 30.

Thus, the process of capturing required information may be repeated until

document generation program 108 has captured all the required information it

needs to generate the customised document 48.

Figure 13 shows how document generation program 108 and the

Prolog source code program 42 are used, by a user of client computer 30, to

generate a customised document according to a fourth mode of use of the

present invention. In this fourth mode, instructions have been included in the

standard document for sending, in response to a client request, three

information-capturing documents to three computers, the network or e-mail

addresses of which have been specified, for capturing information from the

users of those computers. Instructions have also been included for defining the

contents of the three information-capturing documents such that they each

capture mutually exclusive further information. Instructions may also have

been included defining the appearance of the three information-capturing

documents. A user of client computer 32 initiates a session with document

generation program 108 of server computer 10 at step 80 by passing a URL

request to server computer 10 specifying the file name of Prolog source code

program 42. In response to this URL request, and on the basis of Prolog

source code program 42, document generation program 108 generates the

three information-capturing documents 44, 45 and 46 which are sent from

server computer 10 to computers 30, 34 and 36 at steps 81, 82 and 83

respectively. The user of client computer 32 is not required to specify the

network or e-mail addresses of computers 30, 34 and 36 because they have

already been specified in the instructions contained in the standard document.

Once having received information-capturing documents 44, 45 and 46,

the users of computers 30, 34 and 36 may then enter some or all of the further

information using browser applications. The users of computers 30, 34 and

36 then click on "Submit" buttons in information-capturing documents 44, 45

and 46 and the captured further information is sent to server computer 10 at

steps 84, 85 and 86 respectively. This process of capturing information from

the users of computers 30, 34 and 36 takes place in parallel. Document

generation program 108 waits until it has received captured further

information from all three computers 30, 34 and 36 before generating a

response to send to client computer 32. If all of the required further

information has been received, document generation program 108 will

generate customised document 48 and send a Web page to client computer 32 at step 87. If further information is required, document generation program

108 will generate a further information-capturing document for capturing the

further required information and send it to client computer 32. Thus, the

process of capturing required information may be repeated until document

generation program 108 has captured all the required information it needs to

generate the customised document 48.

It will be apparent to the ordinarily skilled person that further

embodiments of the present invention are possible.

In one further embodiment, the translator program is used as described

above to generate Prolog source code documents from standard documents,

and document generation program 108 is used to generate customised

documents from standard documents and further information as described

above. However, document generation program 108 is not used to generate

information-capturing documents for capturing the further information.

Instead, further information for generating a customised document is supplied

to the server computer running document generation program 108 by sending

URL requests to the server computer (or URL requests embedded in an e-mail

sent to a router connected to the server computer as described above). The

URL requests may be generated manually or by a further computer program

arranged for that purpose.

In a further embodiment of the present invention the two-dimensional

table of the first document presentation format comprises one or more rows and three main columns: a first of said columns comprising only said known

information units, a second of said columns comprising only said logical rule

units, and the third of said columns comprising only said user guidance units,

if any, as described above. However, each main column may comprise one or

more sub-columns containing alternate known information units, logical rule

units or user guidance units, if any, as appropriate; said sub-columns being

arranged with corresponding alternate cells side by side. For example, in a

standard document for generating customised contracts, there may be two or

more known information sub-columns, each containing equivalent clauses for

possible inclusion the customised document, but in two or more different

languages. In another example, there may be two or more user guidance sub-

columns, each containing user guidance intended for two or more different

types of end-user - i.e. for end-users of different levels of skill or knowledge

or one for clients and one for employees. Which sub-columns are used when

generating the information-capturing documents and when generating the

customised document may be determined by program instructions contained

in the standard document and/or by user selection. Data specifying which

sub-columns to use may be sent with the URL request initiating a session, or

captured using information-capturing documents as described above.

Alternatively, all sub-columns may be used when generating information-

capturing documents and customised documents. Thus, in the case of the

second example given above, an end-user browsing an information-capturing document may be presented with two or more columns of different user

guidance. Also, in the case of the first example given above, two or more

customised documents may be generated in different languages.

In a further alternate embodiment of the present invention, the two-

dimensional table of the first document presentation format is dispensed with.

Instead, logic rules and user guidance items are embedded within paragraphs

or sections of ordinarily formatted text. These items are denoted by

surrounding square brackets, i.e. '[[ .... ]]' and determine the use made of /

relate to the paragraph or section in which they are embedded according to

their formatting. If the embedded items are of normal paragraph formatting,

they determine the use made of / relate to the paragraph in which they are

embedded. If the embedded items are of heading formatting of a certain level,

they determine the use made of / relate to the section headed by that heading

level in which they are embedded - i.e. they determine the use made of/ relate

to the following part of the document until a second heading of the same or

higher level is encountered.

The type of item embedded (i.e. logical rule or user guidance) is

denoted by a leading character within the double square brackets - '!'

indicates a logical rule will follow and '%' indicates that user guidance will

follow. For example, '[[! STOCK LEVEL >= 250000 ]]', and '[[% This

section is compulsory. ]]'. Variables are embedded with double square

brackets in the same way, but without a leading character, for example '[[ THE INSURED ]]'. In addition, '=' indicates that a calculation will follow,

for example '[[= FINISH DATE - START DATE + 1]]'. As with

embodiments described above, the logical rules may be composed of full

Prolog logic statements.

In a further alternate embodiment of the present invention, the known

information units of the two-dimensional table of the first document

presentation format may further include embedded items, as described above

in the preceding alternate embodiment, such as logical rules. Furthermore,

items may be embedded in the known information units where one or more of

the main columns (i.e. known information units, logical rule units and user

guidance units) comprises sub-columns containing alternate units.

Furthermore it will be apparent that a variety of further first and

second document presentation formats (i.e. standard document formats and

information-capturing document formats) may be used to implement the

present invention and customised documents may be generated in various

formats.

It will be apparent that various word processing applications may be

used in place of Microsoft Word , various browsing applications may be

used in place of Microsoft Internet Explorer , various browsing formats may

be used in place of HTML (such as XML) and various operating systems,

network programs and Web sever programs may be used in place of Microsoft NT , Novell Netware , and Microsoft Internet Information Server

respectively.

Furthermore, various programming languages or interpretable/

executable formats may be used for the translations of standard documents in

place of Prolog, and various server programs may be used to process the

translated programs in place of the ProWeb Server accordingly.

In a first variant of the embodiments described above, the translator

program and Microsoft Word is run on one of the client computers 30, 32,

34 and 36. For example, client computer 30 runs the translator program and

Microsoft Word . In this case, a creator or maintainer of a standard

document would first translate the Microsoft Word document file using the

translator program on client computer 30 before sending the translated

document file to server computer 10 for processing by document generation

program 108. In a second variant, server computer 10 runs the translator

program and Microsoft Word as well as document generation program

108. In this case, a creator or maintainer of a standard document using, for

example, Microsoft Word™ on client computer 30, first sends the Microsoft

Word^τ document file to server computer 10 where it is then translated using

the translator program. In a third variant, the translator program forms part of

document generation program 108. In this case, a creator or maintainer of a

standard document using, for example, Microsoft Word on client computer 30, first sends the Microsoft Word document file to server computer 10

where it is then translated using the translator component of document

generation program 108.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that one data processing means or

various arrangements of two or more data processing means, connected by

various communication means, may be used to implement the present

invention. The arrangements of data processing means and communication

means described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are

merely illustrative.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that various other modes of using

the present invention are possible. The modes of use described with reference

to Figures 10, 11, 12 and 13 are merely illustrative of possible modes of use.

Description of a Particular Implementation of

the Invention in the Field of Contract Tendering

Contract tendering is widely used by parties wishing to select between

a number of potential candidates who offer similar services or products. For

example, a first party, hereafter called the Buyer, creates a document

specifying its requirements and distributes this document, hereafter described

as an Invitation To Tender (ITT), to a number of potential candidates,

hereafter described as Suppliers. The ITT sets out a number of points which

require a response from each of the Suppliers. Each of the Suppliers who

wishes to tender for the contract provides responses to these points according

to the type of service or product it can provide. The document which sets out

a Suppliers' response to the ITT is called a Tender. Each Supplier who

responds to the ITT sends its Tender to the Buyer, usually by a particular date

which is the deadline for receiving tenders. Once the deadline has passed, the

Buyer considers all the Tenders it has received from the Suppliers and selects

one or possibly more of them to provide the service or product required. The

selection process is largely based on the information provided in the Tenders.

However, other information about the Suppliers not provided by the Suppliers

themselves may also influence the Buyers selection. For each winning

Supplier a contract is normally drawn up reflecting the information provided

in the Tender, and is executed by the Buyer and Supplier to form a contract for the provision of the services or product as required. The tendering process

is then complete.

The present invention is particularly suitable for use in the tendering

process and provides a means of automating, or partially automating, some or

all of the stages involved as well as facilitating otherwise unfeasibly

burdensome tasks to assist the administration of the process. This particular

implementation of the present invention will now be described with reference

to figures 14 to 25. By way of a brief overview, the present invention may be

used by the Buyer to generate an ITT, to advertise or distribute the ITT to one

or more Suppliers, to capture responses from those Suppliers, to generate a

Tender for each responding Supplier, to generate report documents comparing

the Suppliers' Tenders or information provided by Suppliers, to generate

report documents setting out the stages reached in the tendering process, to

generate contract documents between the Buyer and a selected Supplier or

Suppliers, and to notify the Suppliers who responded of the outcome of their

Tenders including, for the winning or shortlisted Suppliers, sending the

contracts for execution, and receiving back the executed contracts.

It will be understood that the processes of generating standard

documents, information-capturing documents and customised documents, as

described above in the general description of the present invention, are used in

this particular implementation for generating the various documents or

notifications listed above. Client/server architecture over an intranet or the Internet is used as described above. Furthermore, the advantages inherent in

the present invention as described above are also advantages inherent in this

particular implementation, in particular, the advantages of controlling,

restricting, and/or validating data input, data presentation, including the

provision of user guidance at the time of data entry, data capture from one or

more sources or users in series or in parallel, and standardisation of user

interfaces - i.e., the use of standard word processing, e-mail and web browser

application.

Figures 14-18 show the steps taken by the Buyer to generate the ITT.

A representative of the Buyer, hereafter called the User accesses the server

system of the present invention from a client browser system. On selecting an

option to generate a new ITT, the User is presented with an information-

capturing Web page such as shown in figure 14. Table 600 is automatically

generated by the server system and shows a reference number assigned to the

new ITT, in this case 100000009, and a key-code which may be used for

security purposes and which will be described in greater detail below. Table

602 is initially blank and provides data entry fields - 604, 606 and 608 - for

the User to enter the title, description and number of response fields

respectively for the new ITT to be generated. Push button 610 is provided for

the User to click when he or she has finished entering data into the data entry

items 604, 606 and 608. Figure 15 shows the same Web page as Figure 14 after the User has

entered the general information required concerning the new ITT. For

example, the ITT is given the title "The Dandy ISA" and is a project to

develop an Internet-based product which allows individuals to create and

maintain their own personal ISA accounts. In particular, the user has entered

"7" as the number of response fields required in the ITT. When the User has

finished he or she clicks on the "Submit" push button 610 and the data entered

is sent to the server system as described in detail above. In response, the

server system generates a further information-capturing Web page as shown in

Figure 16 which comprises 16a, 16b and 16c. Tables 600 and 602, containing

the reference information and general information for the new ITT, are

presented as before, save that table 602 no longer provides data entry items

but merely the data previously entered by the User in an uneditable form. The

Web page further presents seven input fields for entering response

information. The number of tables 612 generated corresponds to the number

of response fields specified by the User in the previous Web page. Each table

612 contains data entry items 614, 616, 618 and 620 which are, respectively,

for entering field reference information, a field title, a field description and the

type or style of data entry item to be used by the one or more suppliers when

responding.

Figure 17, comprising 17a, 17b and 17c, shows the same Web page as

Figure 16 after the User has entered specific information concerning the response fields. For example, Field # 1, the User has entered "DANDY-01"

as the field reference and "Proposer Name" as the title of the field, and

"Please enter the name of the person responsible for this Tender" as the field

description. Furthermore, the data-entry style has been selected to be an edit

line. For other fields, different information has been provided. The

information entered by the User is used to generate the ITT and, in particular,

the title, description and style information entered, will determine the question

name, user guidance and type of data entry item provided in the ITT.

Although not shown in Figures 16 and 17, the Web pages can be used

to capture further information such as whether responses to particular fields

are optional or mandatory, logical rules for controlling, restricting or

validating data input using the specified data entry item corresponding to a

particular field and logical rules linking the data input to a particular field to

the mandatory or optional nature of one or more other fields and/or to logical

rules for controlling, restricting or validating the data entered to one or more

other particular fields, such as have been described above in detail.

Furthermore, certain fields may be selected for special treatment when it

comes to generating a report document comparing the tenders of a number of

Suppliers. Also, points or weightings may be accorded to various responses

to various fields for use in scoring the information provided or the overall

Tenders when generating the same report. Furthermore, although not shown in Figures 14 to 17, new ITTs may

be generated on the basis of pre-existing templates containing standard

response fields. For example, the ITT may be for a project which comes up

for tender periodically and requires responses from tenderers to standard

queries. A template information-capturing document may be generated

specifying standard response fields and may be repeatedly used as the basis

for creating a new ITT by adding new response fields or amending or deleting

standard response fields as required.

When the User has finished entering the specific information

concerning each of the fields, he or she clicks on push button 622 and the

information entered is sent to the server system as described above. At this

point, a customised document is generated which is the specification of the

ITT. This document is generated in Microsoft Word (TM) RTF format and

may be stored electronically, forwarded electronically and printed. The

specification document is shown at Figure 18 comprising 18a, 18b and 18c.

In response to the submission of the required information for

generating the ITT, the server system also generates an information-capturing

Web page such as shown in Figure 23 and described in greater detail below.

This information capturing Web page constitutes the ITT as presented to the

Suppliers and allows them to provide their responses electronically. This

information-capturing Web page, or a hyperlink URL linking to it, may be

posted on a website accessible to the Supplier or Suppliers together with further information concerning the project for tender if required.

Alternatively, conventional media, such as printed publications, may be used

to advertise the ITT together with the URL of the information-capturing Web

page.

Alternatively, the Buyer may send the ITT directly to selected

Suppliers by means of a conventional letter or e-mail. However, before the

ITT may be sent to the Suppliers, the Buyer must provide the system with

details of the Suppliers. On selecting an option to provide Supplier details, the

User is presented with an information-capturing Web page such as shown in

Figure 19. This Web page provides three data entry items, 630, 632 and 634,

for input of the Supplier's company name, address and a contact name

respectively. Once this information has been input by the User, he or she may

click on push button 636 to submit the data to the server system. Figure 20

shows the same Web page after the User has entered the details of a particular

supplier, namely ACME SOFTWARE PLC. The process of entering Supplier

details may be repeated any number of times to provide details for any

number of Suppliers. Also, further information may be entered by the User

during the process, such as the e-mail address of Supplier contact person and

other information which may be relevant to the Supplier. In particular, points

or weighting information for assessing the Supplier's Tender based upon past

experience or references from third parties may be entered. The User may then select an option to generate a conventional printed

letter or an e-mail for each of the Suppliers. For example, an e-mail may be

generated for ACME SOFTWARE PLC as shown in Figure 21. The e-mail

consists of a standard letter inviting the Supplier to tender for a project.

Details of the project are provided in Table 640, including the project title,

description, a reference unique to the Supplier and ITT project and a key code

similarly unique to the Supplier and the ITT project and further described in

detail below. The e-mail also contains the URL 642 corresponding to the

information-capturing Web page generated for that particular Supplier. URL

642 is embedded in the e-mail as a hyperlink which the Supplier may simply

click on to access the ITT information-capturing Web page.

When a Supplier accesses the information-capturing Web page, using

a client browser application as described above, the server system generates a

copy of the original information-capturing document for that particular

Supplier, referenced by an identifier unique to the Supplier and reference

number of the ITT itself. Thus, ITTs and responses thereto from Suppliers are

uniquely identified for each Supplier and for each ITT. The Supplier-specific

ITT and responses received by the server system are stored in the historical

database of the server system.

Figure 22, comprising 22a and 22b, shows the ITT information-

capturing Web page generated for ACME SOFTWARE PLC. The Supplier

may access the Web page using a conventional client browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, just as the Buyer would do. The information-

capturing Web page sets out the general details concerning the ITT project, as

well as the particular responses required of the supplier as specified by the

Buyer. For example, at 650 the general details of the ITT project are set out,

and at 652, 654 and 656 the title, description and a data entry item

corresponding to field #1 are set out. A representative of the Supplier may

enter information into the information-capturing Web page using the data

entry boxes provided. For example, box 656 is a free form text entry box.

Other data entry items may control, restrict or validate data entered by the

Supplier in accordance with the type of data entry item or in accordance with

logical rules entered by the Buyer at the stage of specifying the ITT as

described above. Such means of controlling, restricting or validating the data

input may be implemented using, as described above, Java (TM) or Java

Script (TM) which would not be visible to the Supplier.

Figure 23, comprising 23a and 23b, shows the information-capturing

Web page after a representative of the Supplier has entered the required

information. When complete, the representative of the Supplier may click on

push button 658 to submit the information to the server system. In response,

the server system generates a Tender document for the particular Supplier and

ITT project. This document may be generated in Microsoft Word (TM) RTF

format and an example of such a document is shown at Figure 24, comprising

24a and 24b. This document may be stored electronically, forwarded electronically and printed. The Tender document sets out the general details

of the ITT project as well as the particular requests and responses provided by

the Supplier. The Supplier's input data and, optionally, the Tender document

is stored at the server system and also may be sent to the Supplier, to provide

a record by, e-mail attachment.

As Suppliers access the server system and input their responses, a

report or notification by e-mail may be sent at predetermined points by the

server system to the User, or another specified representative of the Buyer,

informing him or her of particular events or the stage in the tendering process

which the Supplier has reached - for example, first successful access by

Supplier; ITT partially completed; all mandatory fields completed; all fields

completed; Tender made final and released to the Buyer, draft contract

generated and sent to Supplier for evaluation, and accepted contract received

from Supplier. Thus, the Buyer may track the progress of the tendering

process for each Supplier. Alternatively, an option may be selected to generate

a report on the progress of a number of Suppliers' Tenders at a point in time

or automatically on the occurrence of predetermined events. This report

would specify particular events that have occurred in the tendering process

and the stage reached by each of a set of Suppliers who may include all the

Suppliers sent the ITT directly and all those who have responded to the ITT

by accessing the server system, or a selected subset of these. For example, if

public or other competitive tendering rules apply to the tender, time limits are set for the receipt of tenders. If the time limit had passed without receipt of

any responses, a report could automatically be generated on the occurrence of

this event which would notify the User, or another specified representative of

the Buyer, of the failure of the process and would prompt the Buyer to re-

advertise or re-notify the ITT.

Once the deadline for response has passed and at least Tender

received, or once all the Tenders have been received, the Buyer may select an

option to generate a report on the basis of the information provided by the

Suppliers. Alternatively, the report may be generated automatically on the

expiry of the time limit, and sent to the User, or another specified

representative of the Buyer. An example of such a report is shown at Figure

25, comprising 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d and 25e. In short, the report sets out the

general ITT project information as well as the particular requirements and

responses of the various suppliers side by side. For example, the ITT project

details are set out in table 664, the requirements for response field #1 are set

out in table 666 and the responses of the various Suppliers to response field #1

are set out in table 668. Furthermore, document provides a table 660 for the

Buyer to substitute a more meaningful and possibly shorter code for

identifying the particular suppliers. Also, the document provides a tick box

662 for the Buyer to select the option of having spaces added after each field

for adding comments or further queries, for the purpose of one or more

persons reviewing many Tenders. If information is entered into either of Table 660 or 662, and the "Reset" push button 674 is clicked on, then the

Server regenerates the document in the format required. Input box 670 is

provided for the Buyer to select a winning Supplier or two or more shortlisted

Suppliers for whom to generate contracts for agreement. On clicking on the

"Submit" push button 672, a standard contract is generated as described

above, on the basis of the information provided by that particular Supplier and

further information pre-stored by the Buyer, for example in a standard

document as described above. Furthermore, in a variant of the present

embodiment, notification documents, such as e-mails or conventional letters,

may be generated for winning or losing Suppliers or both, notifying them of

the outcome of their Tenders. Generated contracts may be sent to the winning

Supplier or Suppliers by way of email attachment or as an enclosure in a

conventional letter. E-mail notification documents may be sent to the

Suppliers automatically.

Reports more complex than a simple side-by-side comparison of

Supplier responses may be generated by the server system. For example,

Suppliers' Tenders may be scored according to their responses and according

to any points or weighting assigned to various possible responses and/or

according to other information such as past expereince or references from

third parties. Furthermore, Suppliers may be characterised as having met

certain requirements or, as not having met those requirements. Furthermore, other means of presenting the numerical information provided by the

Suppliers may be used such as line or bar graphs, pie charts and other

graphical representations. Alternatively, the winning Supplier or Suppliers

may be selected wholly automatically on the basis of the scoring system, and

presented to the User.

Because the information provided by the Buyer and by Suppliers in

the tendering process may be confidential, and particularly because the

Supplier may want to consider the responses to the ITT over time and may not

wish the Buyer to have access to these partial responses until the whole

Tender is complete, a security system is built into the process. The key codes

set out in table 600 is used by representatives of the Buyer to access the ITT

specification documents whilst they are being generated and to access the

responses or reports on the responses of the Suppliers when they have been

received. A further key-code as set out in table 640 is provided for each

supplier to the ITT. This may be used by the Supplier when accessing the

server system to release another two key-codes - one for allowing access to

the server system for inputting some, or all of the information required in the

ITT, the other for releasing the Tender, once all the required information has

been input, to the Buyer. This approach provides a secure system in which

the Supplier may submit partial responses to the server system without

providing any information to the Buyer until the Tender is complete. For further security, known methods of providing secure

communications between client and server systems may be used, such as

virtual private data network technology. Furthermore, data passing between

the client and server systems may be encrypted using known methods.

Furthermore, it will be appreciated that submission of a Tender may

have a legally binding effect on the Supplier, and that acceptance of a contract

by the Supplier will need to evidenced in a non-repudiatable manner.

Accordingly, it may be necessary for evidential purposes for a representative

of the Supplier to sign a printed paper copy of the Tender and subsequent

contract and physically mail it to the Buyer. Alternatively, known techniques

of digitally signing electronic documents may be used to provide a

mechanism where the supplier digitally signs the Tender, or contract, upon

releasing or sending it to the Buyer.

It will be appreciated that the particular implementation relating to

contract tendering described above may be implemented using the general

system of generating customised documents of the present invention. Further,

for better understanding, it may be noted that the particular implementation

requires that the server system has the ability to make copies of generated

information-capturing documents and generate new documents based on the

information contained in and/or captured when generating previous

customised documents. Thus, the Buyer need only specify one ITT and the

required number of copies are generated for each Supplier accessing the server system. Also, the report on Tenders received is generated on the basis of

information captured using a number of information-capturing documents

and, possibly, the documents containing the Supplier details. Furthermore,

the ITT, and the contract which may be generated for winning or shortlisted

Suppliers, may be generated on the basis of pre-existing standard form

documents.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of using one or more data processing means to generate a

customised document from a standard document stored in the form of data on

data storage means, said standard document comprising:

i) data representing one or more units of known information for

possible inclusion in said customised document;

ii) data representing one or more logical rule units, each of which

determine, on the basis of information not contained in said

standard document ('further information'), the use made of one

or more of said known information units when generating said

customised document ('determined known information units');

and

iii) data representing said further information,

said standard document data being in a first document presentation format in

which each of said logical rule units and said determined known information

units are associated with each other when said standard document is presented

to a user.

2. A method according to claim 1, said method comprising the steps of

using one or more data processing means to: a) process said standard document data to generate data

representing one or more documents for capturing at least part

of said further information ('information-capturing

documents'), said information-capturing document comprising

means for inputting at least part of said further information by

a user and said information-capturing document data being in a

second document presentation format different to said first

document presentation format;

b) process said information-capturing document data to generate

said one or more information-capturing documents for

presentation, in said second document presentation format, to

one or more users and to capture, using said means for

inputting information, data representing at least part of said

further information from said one or more users; and

c) process said standard document data and said captured further

information data to generate said customised document.

3. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

standard document further comprises data representing instructions for

performing, using one or more data processing means, at least part of steps a),

b), and c).

4. A method according to any preceding claim wherein steps a)

and c) are performed using first data processing means, and step b) comprises

the sub-steps of:

i) transmitting data representing one or more of said information-

capturing documents from said first data processing means to

one or more further data processing means using

communications means,

ii) processing said transmitted data using said one or more further

data processing means to generate said one or more

information-capturing documents for presentation, in said

second document presentation format, to one or more users and

to capture, using said means for inputting information, data

representing at least part of said further information from said

one or more users; and

iii) transmitting said captured further information data from said

one or more further data processing means to said first data

processing means using communication means.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein said information-

capturing documents generated using said further data processing means

comprise data representing instructions for performing sub-step b) iii).

6. A method according to claims 4 or 5 wherein said information-

capturing documents generated using said further data processing means

comprise data representing instructions for transmitting data representing said

information-capturing document from said further data processing means to a

second further data processing means using communications means

7. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

standard document further comprises data representing one or more user

guidance units relating to one or more of said known information units and

logical rule units ('related units'), and said first document presentation format

is such that each of said user guidance units and said related units are

associated with each other when said standard document file is presented to a

user.

8. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said units

of said standard document are presented to a user, in said first document

presentation format, as a two-dimensional table with one or more rows and

three columns: a first of said columns comprising only said known

information units, a second of said columns comprising only said logical rule

units, and the third of said columns comprising only said user guidance units,

if any.

9. A method according to claim 8 wherein one or more of said

columns of said two-dimensional table comprise one or more sub-columns

comprising alternative known information units, alternative logical rule unit

or alternative user guidance units respectively, said alternate units being

arranged side by side in said columns.

10. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

information-capturing document data comprises data for controlling,

restricting or validating, according to predetermined rules, the information

captured from a user using one or more of said means for inputting

information presented in one or more of said information-capturing

documents.

11. A method according to claim 10 wherein at least part of said

data for controlling, restricting or validating the information captured from a

user is generated on the basis of said standard document.

12. A method according to any preceding claim wherein one or

more of said information-capturing documents generated further comprise

data representing one or more of said units of said standard document and, in

said second document presentation format, each of said means for inputting particular further information and said units comprising data representing said

particular further information are associated with each other when said

information-capturing documents are presented to a user.

13. A method according to claim 12 wherein said units comprised

in said information-capturing documents are uneditable using said

information-capturing documents.

14. A method according to claim 12 or 13 wherein, in said second

document presentation format, each of said logical rule units, if any, and said

determined known information units, if any, are associated with each other

when said information-capturing documents are presented to a user.

15. A method according to any of claims 12 to 14 when dependent

on claim 7 wherein, in said second document presentation format, each of

said user guidance units, if any, and said related units, if any, are associated

with each other when said information-capturing documents are presented to a

user.

16. A method according to claim 14 or 15 wherein, in second

document presentation format, said units and said means for inputting

information are presented to a user as a two-dimensional table with one or more rows and one to four columns, with known information units, if any,

logical rule units, if any, and user guidance units, if any, contained in separate

columns and said means for inputting information contained in one of said

separate columns or in a further column.

17. A method according to claim 7 or any preceding claim

dependent on claim 7 wherein one or more of said user guidance units

comprises one or more references to further user guidance.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein said references to

further user guidance comprise an embedded uniform resource locator.

19. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

generated customised document is uneditable by a user.

20. A method according to any preceding claim wherein one or

more of said known information units in said standard document comprise

formatted text and those known information units included in said

information-capturing documents and said generated customised document

comprises identical text formatted at least partially identically.

21. A method according to any preceding claim wherein captured

further information data, captured using a particular information-capturing

document, is uniquely associated with the particular standard document, or

particular version of a standard document, from which said particular

information-capturing document was generated, and is not used to generate a

customised document in combination with data representing a different

standard document or a different version of the particular standard document.

22. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

standard document data is in a standard word-processing format.

23. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

information-capturing document data is in a standard browsing format.

24. A method according to any preceding claim wherein said

standard document further comprises a further column of labelling units

uniquely identifying each row of said table which permits addition of

labelling units uniquely identifying added rows at interstices such that rows

may be retraced even if reordered.

25. A method of creating, using data processing means, a standard

document for carrying out the method of any preceding claim.

26. A method of generating, using data processing means, one or

more information-capturing documents for carrying out the method of any of

claims 1 to 24.

27. A method of presenting one or more information-capturing

documents to one or more users and capturing information, using data

processing means, for carrying out the method of any of claims 1 to 24.

28. A method of generating a customised document using one or

more data processing means comprising the steps of:

a) creating a standard document, said standard document

comprising:

i) known information for possible inclusion in said

customised document,

ii) instructions for capturing further information, and

iii) instructions for generating said customised document

using said known information and said further

information,

b) on the basis of said instructions for capturing further

information, generating one or more information-capturing

documents, c) capturing said further information using said one or more

information-capturing documents, and

d) on the basis of said instructions for generating said customised

document, generating said customised document using said

known information and said captured further information.

29. A method of using one or more data processing means to generate a

customised document from a standard document, said standard document

comprising one or more items of known information and one or more logical

rules for determining, on the basis of further information to be supplied or

captured, the use made of one or more of said items of known information

when generating said customised document.

30. A method according to claim 29 comprising the steps of using

one or more data processing means to:

i) generate one or more information-capturing documents for capturing

at least part of said further information, said information-capturing documents

being generated on the basis of said standard document;

ii) capture at least part of said further information using said

information-capturing documents; and

iii) generate said customised document on the basis of said captured

further information and said standard document.

31. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the

customised document is a specification of an invitation to tender.

32. A method according to any of claims 1 to 30 wherein the

customised document is a document inviting a party to tender.

33. A method according to any of claims 1 to 30 wherein the

customised document is a tender.

34. A method according to any of claims 1 to 30 wherein the

customised document is a report based on one or more responses to invitations

to tender or one or more tenders.

35. A method of using one or more data processing means to carry

out at least part of a tendering process, said method comprising the steps of:

a) presenting a first user with one or more information-capturing

documents;

b) capturing information from said first user using said one or

more information-capturing documents;

c) generating a second information-capturing document for

capturing information required to generate a tender on the basis of said

information captured from said first user; d) presenting a second user with said second information-

capturing document;

e) capturing said information required to generate a tender

document from said second user using said second information-capturing

document;

f) generating a first tender document on the basis of said

information captured from said second user.

36. A method according to claim 35, comprising the further step,

performed after step c) and before step d), of generating a notification

document for notifying the second user of an invitation to tender, said

notification document being generated on the basis of the information

captured from the first user and comprising data representing the location of

the second information-capturing document.

37. A method according to claim 36, wherein the notification

document is an e-mail for sending to the second user.

38. A method according to claim 36, wherein the notification

document is web page for posting to a website accessible to said second user.

39. A method according to any of claims 36 to 38, wherein the

data representing the location of said second information-capturing document

is a uniform resource locator.

40. A method according to any of claims 35 to 39, comprising the

following further step, which is performed after step f):

g) generating a contract document on the basis of said

information captured from said second user.

41. A method according to any of claims 35 to 40, comprising the

following further steps performed after step b):

cc) generating a third information-capturing document for

capturing information required to generate a tender on the basis of said

information captured from said first user;

dd) presenting a third user with said third information-capturing

document;

ee) capturing said information required to generate a tender from

said third user using said third information-capturing document;

ff) generating a second tender document on the basis of said

information captured from said third user;

said method further comprising the following step performed after

steps f) and ff): gg) generating a first report document on the basis of said first and

second tender documents or on the basis of information captured from said

first, second or third users.

42. A method according to claim 41, wherein the first report

document is generated automatically on the occurrence of a predetermined

event in the tendering process.

43. A method according to any of claims 41 to 42, wherein the first

report document presents information captured from the second and third

users in response to corresponding requests in said second and third

information-capturing documents, such that said corresponding information is

associated when said report document is presented to a user.

44. A method according to any of claims 41 to 43, wherein the first

report document presents numerical information captured from the first,

second or third users in a graphical format.

45. A method according to any of claims 41 to 44, wherein the first

report document provides scores comparing the information captured from the

second and third users.

46. A method according to any of claims 41 to 45, wherein the first

report document provides scores comparing the tenders of the second and

third users.

47. A method according to any of claims 35 to 46, wherein a

second report document is generated comprising information on the stage in

the tendering process reached by the second or third user.

48. A method according to claim 47, wherein the second report

document is generated automatically on the occurrence of an event in the

tendering process.

49. A method according to claim 47 or claim 48, wherein the event

in the tendering process is one selected from the following group: notification

document generated; second information-capturing document presented to

second user; information captured from the second user; all required

information captured from second user; first tender document generated,

contract document generated; time for response to invitation to tender expired.

50. A method according to any of claims 35 to 49, wherein a

password is used by the second user to access the second information-

capturing document at step e).

51. A method according to any of claims 35 to 50 wherein a

password is used by the second user to release the information entered by said

second user prior to proceeding to step f).

52. A method according to any of claims 35 to 51 wherein the one

or more information-capturing documents and the second information-

capturing document comprise data in a standard browsing format.

53. A method according to any of claims 35 to 52, wherein steps

a), aa), b), bb), d), dd), e), and ee), if performed, are performed using browser

application software.

54. A method according to any of claims 35 to 53, wherein steps

c), cc), f), ff), g) and gg), if performed, are performed using web server

application software.

55. A method according to any one of claims 35 to 54, wherein, if

generated, any of the one or more information-capturing documents, the

second information-capturing document, and the third information-capturing

document, is or are generated using the method of generating information-

capturing documents according to any of claims 2 to 24, 28 and 30.

56. A method according to any one of claims 35 to 55, wherein, if

generated, any of the first and second tender documents, the notification

document, the first and second report documents, and the contract document,

is or are generated using the method of any of claims 1 to 24, and 28 to 30.

57. A computer program or computer programs for performing the

method of any preceding claim.

58. A computer program or computer programs according to claim

55 held on a data carrier.

59. Apparatus for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 56.