System for searching a corpus of document images by user specified document layout components

Claim 3

The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of highlighting in the example document image the feature identified by the routine composed at a program interface.

Claim 4

The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the selection operations executed by said executing step is a filtering operation that produces a second set of layout objects having attribute values between a minimum threshold value and a maximum threshold value.

Claim 5

The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the selection operations executed by said executing step is a gating operation that produces a second set of layout objects equal to the first set of layout objects when each of the layout objects in a document image have attribute values between a minimum threshold value and a maximum threshold value.

Claim 6

The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the selection operations executed by said executing step is an accumulation operation that identifies an attribute value for the layout objects in the first set of layout objects.

Claim 7

The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of forming the corpus document images in the memory by scanning hardcopy documents.

Claim 8

The method according to claim 1, wherein said segmenting step defines one of the plurality of layout objects to be a text block of.

Claim 9

The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of defining a structural model for identifying a genre of document; the structural model defining a set of features absent and a set of features present in document images to specify a class of document images which express a common communicative purpose that is independent of document content.

Claim 10

A program storage device readable by a machine, embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for searching a corpus of document images stored in a memory of a document management system, said method steps comprising: segmenting each document image in the corpus of document images into a first set of layout objects; each layout object in the first set of layout objects being one of a plurality of layout object types; each of the plurality of layout object types identifying a structural element of a document; for each segmented document image, computing attributes for each layout object in the first set of layout objects; the computed attributes of each layout object having values that quantify properties of a structural element and identify spatial relationships with other segmented layout objects; providing a program interface for composing a routine that includes a sequence of selection operations for identifying certain of the layout objects in the first set of layout objects of an example document image selected from the corpus of document images; the certain layout objects defining a feature of the example document image; executing the sequence of selection operations of the routine for identifying the feature of the example document image in ones of the document images in the corpus of document images; for each segmented document image, the sequence of selection operations receiving as input the first set of layout objects and the computed attributes to produce as output a second set of layout objects; said executing step identifying the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images that include at least one layout object in the second set of layout objects as having the feature of the example document image; and displaying at the program interface the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images identified by said executing step.

Claim 11

A program storage device readable by a machine, embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for searching a corpus of document images stored in a memory of a document management system, said method steps comprising: segmenting each document image in the corpus of document images into a first set of layout objects; each layout object in the first set of layout objects being one of a plurality of layout object types; each of the plurality of layout object types identifying a structural element of a document; for each segmented document image, computing attributes for each layout object in the first set of layout objects; the computed attributes of each layout object having values that quantify properties of a structural element and identify spatial relationships with other segmented layout objects; providing a program interface for composing a routine that includes a sequence of selection operations for identifying certain of the layout objects in the first set of layout objects of an example document image selected from the corpus of document images; the certain layout objects defining a feature of the example document image; executing the sequence of selection operations of the routine for identifying the feature of the example document image in ones of the document images in the corpus of document images; for each segmented document image, the sequence of selection operations receiving as input the first set of layout objects and the computed attributes to produce as output a second set of layout objects; said executing step identifying the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images that include at least one layout object in the second set of layout objects as having the feature of the example document image; and displaying at the program interface the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images identified by said executing step.

Claim 12

The program storage device as recited in claim 9, wherein said method steps further comprise the step of defining a structural model for identifying a genre of document; the structural model defining a set of features absent and a set of features present in document images to specify a class of document images which express a common communicative purpose that is independent of document content.

Claim 13

A document management system for searching a corpus of document images, comprising: a memory for storing the corpus of document images and image processing instructions of the document management system; a display; and a processor coupled to the memory and the display for executing the document image processing instructions of the document management system; the processor in executing the document image processing instructions: segmenting each document image in the corpus of document images into a first set of layout objects; each layout object in the first set of layout objects being one of a plurality of layout object types; each of the plurality of layout object types identifying a structural element of a document; for each segmented document image, computing attributes for each layout object in the first set of layout objects; the computed attributes of each layout object having values that quantify properties of a structural element and identify spatial relationships with other segmented layout objects; providing a program interface on the display for composing a routine that includes a sequence of selection operations for identifying certain of the layout objects in the first set of layout objects of an example document image selected from the corpus of document images; the certain layout objects defining a feature of the example document image; executing the sequence of selection operations of the routine for identifying the feature of the example document image in ones of the document images in the corpus of document images; for each segmented document image, the sequence of selection operations receiving as input the first set of layout objects and the computed attributes to produce as output a second set of layout objects; identifying the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images that include at least one layout object in the second set of layout objects to have the feature of the example document image; and displaying at the program interface on the display the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images identified as having the feature of the example document image.

Claim 14

A document management system for searching a corpus of document images, comprising: a memory for storing the corpus of document images and image processing instructions of the document management system; a display; and a processor coupled to the memory and the display for executing the document image processing instructions of the document management system; the processor in executing the document image processing instructions: segmenting each document image in the corpus of document images into a first set of layout objects; each layout object in the first set of layout objects being one of a plurality of layout object types; each of the plurality of layout object types identifying a structural element of a document; for each segmented document image, computing attributes for each layout object in the first set of layout objects; the computed attributes of each layout object having values that quantify properties of a structural element and identify spatial relationships with other segmented layout objects; providing a program interface on the display for composing a routine that includes a sequence of selection operations for identifying certain of the layout objects in the first set of layout objects of an example document image selected from the corpus of document images; the certain layout objects defining a feature of the example document image; executing the sequence of selection operations of the routine for identifying the feature of the example document image in ones of the document images in the corpus of document images; for each segmented document image, the sequence of selection operations receiving as input the first set of layout objects and the computed attributes to produce as output a second set of layout objects; identifying the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images that include at least one layout object in the second set of layout objects to have the feature of the example document image; and displaying at the program interface on the display the ones of the document images in the corpus of document images identified as having the feature of the example document image.

Claim 15

The document management system according to claim 11, further comprising means for displaying at the program interface on the display an example document with the feature highlighted.

Claim 16

The document management system according to claim 11, wherein the program interface on the display comprises: a first display area for specifying a name for the feature; a second display area for specifying a set of images which exemplify the feature; a third display area for specifying a set of input layout objects; the set of input layout objects limiting the first set of layout objects of the document image consumed by the sequence of selection operations of the routine; and a fourth display area for defining the sequence of selections operations of the feature.

Claim 17

The document management system according to claim 11, further comprising a program interface on the display for defining a model of a genre of document.

Claim 18

The document management system according to claim 14, wherein the program interface on the display comprises: means for specifying that a feature is present in the genre of document; and means for specifying that a feature is absent from the genre of document.

Claim 19

The document management system according to claim 14, wherein the genre of document specified is a letter.

Claim 20

The document management system according to claim 14, wherein the genre of document specified is a memo.

Claim 21

The document management system according to claim 11, wherein the document image is a bitmap image.

Claim 22

The document management system according to claim 11, wherein one of the sequence of selection operations is a filtering operation given by: F(L,A,u,v,N)={lεL:uN≦A(l)<vN}, where: L is a set of layout objects to which the filtering operation is applied; A is an attribute; u and v are threshold arguments; and N is a normalization argument.

Claim 23

The document management system according to claim 11, wherein one of the sequence of selection operations is a gate operation given by: ##EQU3## L is a set of layout objects to which the gate operation is applied; A is an attribute; u and v are threshold arguments; and N is a normalization argument.