Advantages of XML Document Conversion and its role in the US Patent office
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Converting to XML (Extensible Markup Language) serves a wide range of needs. XML works as a great intermediary format that can help in conversion of data to other formats. XML conversion provides a great foundation for accurate reporting and formatting. XMLbased data and processes provide a solid base for automated quality analysis and conversion of the data to many output formats. Facts about XML XML works well for technical information:
It helps in the creation and maintenance of structured data
Each component of the hierarchical data is described with XML attributes and elements
While XML is plain text, bold, underline and italics can be used to emphasize content
XML can be stored in a CMS (content management system) or used in a file system
The XML markup language serves as a great dynamic framework that enables other content types to be created from it. You can use XML stylesheets for creating output in multiple channels such as PDF, HTML, etc., from one source. XML can, of course, be also rendered in a browser directly. In data conversion not involving XML, this format can be used to help make the transformation more precise by neutralizing the data. XML Conversion -- Role in the US Patents Office The US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) deals with an vast volume documents, particularly paper-based ones. According to one report, the Patent Office has had to deal with around 3.7 million pages of filing each month this year. The documents involve www.managedoutsource.com
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invention claims, some of which could be anywhere between 30 and 50 pages long, while others extend to hundreds of pages. It takes time for each of these claims to be processed since they need to be verified and cross-checked - tasks that require a good deal of research. It is no wonder then, with so many claims pouring in each month, that the USPTO had been lagging behind by up to four years in patent processing. Documents were arriving in various formats, which made automated scanning necessary. However, many of the available scanning solutions needed human interpretation since there were scientific and technical drawings, images and chemical formulas involved which required human interpretation. Searching the documents also became a nightmare since there were so many images involved and keyword or phrase search wouldn’t serve the purpose. That’s when a company was brought in to set in place an automated process for converting the USPTO’s paper documents to automated XML files which can be processed by humans and machines. How XML Conversion Helped USPTO The XML conversion software created for USPTO can clean up a document before the OCR process, by taking out images, math and formulas and by leaving out the white space. This helps provide an amazing character accuracy exceeding 99%. As a result, the USPTO is now able to scan over a million pages each month! This system turns a document to text and also inserts information including keywords and tags which make searching for related patents easier. This automated conversion to XML makes it easier to digitize large collections of content and information flows, the kind the USPTO has to deal with. Specifically, the advantages of XML
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are felt in the areas of import and export tools, stylesheet language transformations, and application programming interfaces. XML also has other uses, in distributing news feeds, communication with web services, stock market price reporting, etc. It can also help describe SVG and other such graphic formats. When it comes to large scale conversion for projects related to Internet publishing, data exchange, content management, knowledge management, and supply chain integration, the practical solution would be to rely on a professional document conversion company.
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