Document indexing and delivery system

Abstract

A document indexing and delivery system is disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention provide an agent-based delivery platform to supply financial document images in a variety of formats to fulfill requests from various clients of an image processing system at a financial institution. Workflows can be created using extensible markup language (XML) to direct the operation of the system. Software agents on the system can include a client agent, a delivery agent, an index agent, a format agent, an image agent, and/or a workflow agent. The workflow agent manages the execution of the workflow. Images and relevant data can be located using a master index residing in partitioned, high-speed databases.

1 . A method of providing images of indexed documents using at least one of a plurality of software agents, the method comprising:
 receiving a request for the images;   creating a workflow to direct the at least one of the plurality of software agents to fulfill the request;   searching an index for the indexed documents according to the workflow; and   retrieving the images for delivery according to the workflow in response to the request.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of software agents comprises at least two of a client agent, a delivery agent, an index agent, a format agent, an image agent, and a workflow agent. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising supplying the workflow to the workflow agent to direct the searching of the index by the index agent and the retrieving of the images by the image agent. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 validating the request against business rules;   formatting the images for delivery; and   delivering the images to a drop zone.   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the creating of the workflow further comprises creating an extensible markup language (XML) file. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the creating of the workflow further comprises creating an extensible markup language (XML) file. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the creating of the workflow further comprises creating an extensible markup language (XML) file. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the creating of the workflow further comprises creating an extensible markup language (XML) file. 
   
   
       9 . A computer program product for providing images of indexed documents, the computer program product including a medium having computer program code embodied thereon, the computer program code comprising:
 instructions for receiving a request for the images;   instructions for creating a workflow to direct a plurality of software agents to fulfill the request;   instructions for searching an index for the indexed documents according to the workflow; and   instructions for retrieving the images for delivery according to the workflow in response to the request.   
   
   
       10 . The computer program product of  claim 9  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for supplying the workflow to a workflow agent from among the plurality of software agents. 
   
   
       11 . The computer program product of  claim 10  further wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating the workflow in extensible markup language (XML). 
   
   
       12 . The computer program product of  claim 9  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating a format agent to format the images for delivery. 
   
   
       13 . The computer program product of  claim 12  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating at least one of:
 a client agent for validating the request against business rules; and   a delivery agent for delivering the images.   
   
   
       14 . The computer program product of  claim 10  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating a format agent to format the images for delivery. 
   
   
       15 . The computer program product of  claim 14  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating at least one of:
 a client agent for validating the request against business rules; and   a delivery agent for delivering the images.   
   
   
       16 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating a format agent to format the images for delivery. 
   
   
       17 . The computer program product of  claim 16  wherein the computer program code further comprises instructions for creating at least one of:
 a client agent for validating the request against business rules; and   a delivery agent for delivering the images.   
   
   
       18 . Apparatus for providing images of indexed documents in response to client requests, the apparatus comprising:
 means for receiving a request for the images;   means for creating a workflow to direct a plurality of software agents to fulfill the request;   means for searching an index for the indexed documents according to the workflow; and   means for retrieving the images for delivery according to the workflow in response to the request.   
   
   
       19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  further comprising means for storing the workflow in extensible markup language (XML). 
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 18  further comprising:
 means for formatting the images according to the client requests; and   means for validating the request against business rules.   
   
   
       21 . The apparatus of  claim 19  further comprising:
 means for formatting the images according to the client requests; and   means for validating the request against business rules.   
   
   
       22 . A document indexing and delivery system comprising:
 an image archive to store images of financial documents;   a master index to maintain information to be used to locate the images of the financial documents; and   a delivery platform to provide images of the financial documents in response to client requests, at least in part by creating a workflow to direct a plurality of software agents on the delivery platform to fulfill the requests by searching the master index and retrieving the images.   
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 22  wherein the master index is disposed in at least two, mirrored, partitioned databases. 
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 23  further comprising a server to provide load balancing between the at least two, mirrored, partitioned databases. 
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 22  further comprising an image application program interface (API) to retrieve images from the image archive in response to an image agent from among the plurality of software agents. 
   
   
       26 . The system of  claim 22  wherein the plurality of software agents comprises at least two of a client agent, a delivery agent, an index agent, a format agent, an image agent, and a workflow agent. 
   
   
       27 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the plurality of software agents comprises at least two of a client agent, a delivery agent, an index agent, a format agent, an image agent, and a workflow agent. 
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 24  wherein the plurality of software agents comprises at least two of a client agent, a delivery agent, an index agent, a format agent, an image agent, and a workflow agent.