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EP0616296A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method and apparatus for processing documents
Assignee: NCR International Inc
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Filing: 1994-02-28
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2014-02-28
Abstract
Abstract In a method and apparatus for processing documents (30), a digital image of each document (30) is captured and stored in a memory (70). A feature model is formed from the stored image by extracting graphical features such as horizontal lines and/or boxes from the stored image, and this feature model is compared with stored feature models from an identification feature file (80) to identify the type of the document. The identification information is used to select, from a document definition file (82), an appropriate document description for identifying document zones to be read, and, from a library of image processing utilities (84), an appropriate processing utility, such as a data recognition utility to recognize the information read from such zones. The invention has an application to a self-service document processing terminal (10) for processing documents such as cheques (100) to be deposited or bills (150) to be paid.
Inventors
- 👤 David B. Sharman
- 👤 Derek Zuckert
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 12:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q40/00; G06Q40/02; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/04; G06Q20/042; G06V; G06V30/00; G06V30/10; G06V30/14; G06V30/1444; G06V30/40; G06V30/41; G06V30/412
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 9
Claim 1
Independent Claim
121 words
A method of processing documents of a plurality of types, including the steps of: forming a digital image of a document (30) to be processed; and storing the digital image, characterized by the steps of: extracting from the stored digital image graphical features of said document (30); identifying the document type to which said document (30) belongs on the basis of the extracted graphical features; utilizing the identified document type to select an appropriate stored document description; utilizing the selected document description to select at least one zone of the stored digital image and to select an image processing program; and processing the information contained in the selected zone or zones in the stored image using the selected image processing program.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said identifying step is effected on the basis of extracted horizontal lines.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 2, characterized in that said identifying step is effected on the basis of extracted horizontal lines, vertical lines and boxes.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
32 words
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the selected image processing program is a character recognition program adapted to recognize characters contained in the selected zone.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
36 words
A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the selected image processing program is a zone validation program adapted to check that a zone on the document has been completed.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
24 words
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by the step of displaying the stored digital image on display means (18).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
209 words
Apparatus for processing documents of a plurality of types, including transport means (32) adapted to move a document (30); imaging means (38) adapted to provide digital image signals representing an image of said document (30); and image storage means (70) adapted to store said image signals, characterized by processing means (74) coupled to said image storage means (70) and adapted to extract graphical features from the stored image of said document (30) and to compare the extracted graphical features with corresponding graphical features associated with a plurality of document feature models arranged in a first file (80) stored in first memory means, to identify the document type to which the document (30) belongs; second memory means for storing a second file (82) of document zone descriptions and adapted to provide location information for at least one zone on the document (30) containing data to be processed and parameters defining the properties of data contained within the respective zones; third memory means for storing a library of image processing programs (84) for performing image processing functions, and control means (86) adapted to utilize said parameters to select an appropriate image processing program from said library of image processing programs for processing the data contained in said at least one zone.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the selected image processing program is a character recognition program.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterized by display means (18), responsive to the stored digital image of said document (30) to provide a visual display of said document (30).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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