Mass document storage and retrieval system

摘要

A sequence of documents is delivered to an optical scanner in which each document is scanned to form a digital image representation of the content of the document. In one embodiment, the image representation is converted into code (ASCII) and is automatically examined by data processing apparatus to select search words which meet predetermined criteria and by which the document can subsequently located. In another embodiment, the image is not converted. The search words are stored in a non-volatile memory in code form and the entire document content is stored in mass storage, either in code or image form. Techniques for selecting the search words are disclosed.