Document stream operating system

Abstract

A document stream operating system and method is disclosed in which: (1) documents are stored in one or more chronologically ordered streams; (2) the location and nature of file storage is transparent to the user; (3) information is organized as needed instead of at the time the document is created; (4) sophisticated logic is provided for summarizing a large group of related documents at the time a user wants a concise overview; and (5) archiving is automatic. The documents can include text, pictures, animations, software programs or any other type of data.

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       13 . A system for organizing electronic documents comprising: 
 a main stream comprising a plurality of documents, each having a timestamp;    a plurality of document representations, each associated with one document in the plurality of documents and comprising information about the document including its timestamp; and    means for displaying one or more of the document representations in a chronological order based on their respective timestamps.    
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the document representations are displayed in a gallery of recently-used documents.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the document representations are displayed in a calendar month display.  
   
   
       16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein each document comprises any type of data.  
   
   
       17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the document is an application.  
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein at least one document further comprises a user selected annotation.  
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising means for changing a document to read-only.  
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 a first substream that identifies a first set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream; and    a second substream that identifies a second set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream;    wherein the first set and the second set intersect but are not identical and one is not a subset of the other.    
   
   
       21 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 a first substream that identifies a first set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream;    a second substream that identifies a second set of documents; and    a combined stream comprising a plurality of documents in the first substream and the second substream.    
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 means for determining whether each document in the plurality documents is a past document, a present document or a future document; and    wherein the plurality of document representations further comprises information regarding whether its associated document is past, present or future.    
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein documents determined to be past documents are archived, but their associated document representations are not archived.  
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising 
 at least one browse card indicating a summary of contents of one of the plurality of documents; and    means for selecting one of the document representations, said means capable of displaying the browse card for the document corresponding to the selected document representation.    
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the browse card further comprises a reduced-size image representing the contents of the document.  
   
   
       26 . The system of  claim 25 , further comprising 
 means for archiving documents having a timestamp older than a specified age;    wherein one or more of the document representation and browse card corresponding to an archived document can be accessed by the means for displaying and means for selecting, respectively.    
   
   
       27 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising 
 at least one substream that identifies one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream.    
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the substream comprises a query identifying one or more of the plurality of documents.  
   
   
       29 . The system of  claim 27 , further comprising 
 a calling card that comprises a query identifying one or more of the plurality of documents, wherein the calling card is one of the plurality of documents in the main stream.    
   
   
       30 . The system of  claim 27 , further comprising: 
 a stream envelope that references the at least one substream and provides a copy of the documents identified by the at least one substream.    
   
   
       31 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the means for displaying displays only the document representations associated with the documents identified by the at least one substream.  
   
   
       32 . The system of  claim 27 , further comprising means for creating the substream.  
   
   
       33 . The system of  claim 32 , further comprising means for summarizing the data contained in a selected substream.  
   
   
       34 . The system of  claim 32 , further comprising 
 a voice recognition system that recognizes voice commands wherein the means for creating a substream is capable of responding to voice commands recognized by the voice recognition system.    
   
   
       35 . The system of  claim 27 , further comprising: 
 means for creating a summary document comprising a summary of information contained in the documents identified by the substream.    
   
   
       36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the summary is based on the type of data in the documents identified by the substream.  
   
   
       37 . A system for organizing documents comprising: 
 a main stream comprising a plurality of documents, each having a timestamp;    a plurality of document representations, each associated with one document in the plurality of documents and comprising information about the document including its timestamp;    at least one substream that identifies one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream;    means for selecting a time in the past, present or future; and    means for displaying a portion of the plurality of document representations associated with the documents in one of the main stream and the at least one substream in a chronological order based on their respective timestamps;    wherein the first document representation displayed by the means for displaying is determined by the means for selecting.    
   
   
       38 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein each document comprises any type of data.  
   
   
       39 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein only document representations associated with present documents are displayed unless a time other than the present time is selected by the means for selecting.  
   
   
       40 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein past documents are archived.  
   
   
       41 . A method for organizing electronic documents comprising: 
 creating a main stream comprising a plurality of documents, each having a timestamp;    generating a plurality of document representations, each associated with one document in the plurality of documents and comprising information about the document including its timestamp; and    displaying one or more of the document representations in a chronological order based on their respective timestamps.    
   
   
       42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the step of displaying displays the document representations in a gallery of recently-used documents.  
   
   
       43 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the step of displaying displays the document representations in a calendar month display.  
   
   
       44 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein each document comprises any type of data.  
   
   
       45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the document is an application.  
   
   
       46 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising associating a user selected annotation with one or more documents in the plurality of documents.  
   
   
       47 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising changing a document to read-only.  
   
   
       48 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising: 
 generating a first substream that identifies a first set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream; and    generating a second substream that identifies a second set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream;    wherein the first set and the second set intersect but are not identical and one is not a subset of the other.    
   
   
       49 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising: 
 generating a first substream that identifies a first set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream;    generating a second substream that identifies a second set of one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream; and    generating a combined stream comprising a plurality of documents in the first substream and the second substream.    
   
   
       50 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising: 
 determining whether each document in the plurality documents is a past document, a present document or a future document; and    wherein the plurality of document representations further comprises information regarding whether its associated document is past, present or future.    
   
   
       51 . The method of  claim 50 , further comprising archiving documents determined to be past documents, but not archiving their associated document representations.  
   
   
       52 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising: 
 generating a summary of contents of at least one of the plurality of documents on a browse card;    selecting one of the document representations; and    displaying the browse card for the document corresponding to the selected document representation.    
   
   
       53 . The method of  claim 52 , wherein the browse card includes a reduced-size image representing the contents of the document.  
   
   
       54 . The method of  claim 53 , further comprising: 
 archiving documents having a timestamp older than a specified age;    wherein one or more of the document representation and browse card corresponding to an archived document are accessible.    
   
   
       55 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising: 
 generating at least one substream that identifies one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream.    
   
   
       56 . The method of  claim 55 , wherein the substream is generated based on a query identifying one or more of the plurality of documents in the substream.  
   
   
       57 . The method of  claim 55 , further comprising 
 generating a calling card that comprises a query identifying one or more of the plurality of documents, wherein the calling card is one of the plurality of documents in the main stream.    
   
   
       58 . The method of  claim 55 , further comprising: 
 generating a stream envelope that references the at least one substream and provides a copy of the documents identified by the at least one substream.    
   
   
       59 . The method of  claim 55 , further comprising: 
 creating a summary document comprising a summary of information contained in the documents identified by the substream.    
   
   
       60 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein the summary is based on the type of data in the documents identified by the substream.  
   
   
       61 . The method of  claim 55 , wherein the step of displaying displays document representations associated with the documents identified by the at least one substream.  
   
   
       62 . The method of  claim 55 , further comprising summarizing the data contained in a selected substream.  
   
   
       63 . The method of  claim 55 , wherein at least on substream is generated based on voice commands recognized by a voice recognition system.  
   
   
       64 . A method for organizing documents comprising: 
 creating a main stream comprising a plurality of documents, each having a timestamp;    generating a plurality of document representations, each associated with one document in the plurality of documents and comprising information about the document including its timestamp;    generating at least one substream that identifies one or more of the plurality of documents in the main stream;    selecting a time in the past, present or future; and    displaying a portion of the plurality of document representations associated with the documents in one of the main stream and the at least one substream in a chronological order based on their respective timestamps;    wherein the first document representation displayed is determined by the selected time.    
   
   
       65 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein each document comprises any type of data.  
   
   
       66 . The method of  claim 64 , further comprising displaying only document representations associated with present documents unless a time other than the present time is selected.  
   
   
       67 . The system of  claim 64 , further comprising archiving past documents.