System and Method for Comparing and Reviewing Documents

Abstract

A document processing system for accurately and efficiently analyzing documents and methods for making and using same. Each incoming document includes at least one section of textual content and is provided in an electronic form or as a paper-based document that is converted into an electronic form. Since many categories of documents, such as legal and accounting documents, often include one or more common text sections with similar textual content, the document processing system compares the documents to identify and classify the common text sections. The document comparison can be further enhanced by dividing the document into document segments and comparing the document segments; whereas, the conversion of paper-based documents likewise can be improved by comparing the resultant electronic document with a library of standard phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. The document processing system thereby enables an image of the document to be manipulated, as desired, to facilitate its review.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer program product for facilitating accurate review of a document, the computer program product having instructions encoded on one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, which when executed by a computer system, cause one or more processors of the computer system to execute a process, comprising:
 manipulating by a computer a scanned image of the document,   indicating to a reader a portion of the document that has been reviewed in a previous or master document, and   manipulating the image of the document while preserving its fidelity, said manipulating the image including highlighting or de-emphasizing a selected portion of the image such that a colored or textured background is disposed behind the image in three-dimensional space.   
     
     
         2 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the portion of the document that has been already reviewed includes text, one or more diagrams, or one or more pictures. 
     
     
         3 . The computer program product of  claim 2 , further comprising storing the previous or master document in a master library. 
     
     
         4 . The computer program product of  claim 3 , wherein the master library includes approved variations text. 
     
     
         5 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , wherein the portion of the document that has been reviewed includes text that corresponds to a predetermined category. 
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 5 , wherein the categories include risky, benign or expected. 
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein said highlighting or de-emphasizing the selected portion includes greying-out portions of the image by reducing the contrast on the selected portion. 
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein said highlighting or de-emphasizing the selected portion includes changing or enhancing the colors of the non-blank portions of the image. 
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein said highlighting or de-emphasizing the selected portion includes moving portions of the image forward or backward in three-dimensional space.