Analyzing lines to detect tables in documents

• US 20070186152A1
• Filed: 02/09/2006
• Published: 08/09/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lopez, Rodrigo, Liu, Ming, Sedky, Khaled, Gurcan, Ahmet, McGatha, Jesse, Leese, Eric, Foehr, Oliver, Dunietz, Jerry, Brown, Jeffrey
• Granted Patent: US 7,707,488 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/209
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques detect tables in vector graphics based documents and use them in meaningful ways. The system detects at least one table in a vector graphics based document using a set of rules. The rules include analyzing a set of content representing horizontal and vertical lines to find intersections and identifying table cells based on the intersections. Once identified, the table content is translated into a modified format. The content can be output to a destination application in the modified format that is more suitable for output or use by the destination application.

Claims

1. A method for recognizing tables in vector graphics based documents comprising the steps of:

receiving a document in an original format, the original format having at least a set of table rendering instructions for at least one table in the document;

parsing the document to determine that at least one table exists in the document and identify a set of contents for the table; and

outputting the table to an output medium, the output medium presenting the table in a modified format that is more suited for output than the original format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is stored in an XML based document format.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the output medium is a display.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the output medium is a screen reader, and wherein a set of contents in the table are described audibly to a user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the output medium is another system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the output medium is a file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is based on an XML paper specification format.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing the document step comprises:

analyzing a set of text representing a plurality of horizontal and vertical lines to find intersections, and identifying a plurality of table cells based on the intersections.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing the document step comprises:

grouping a plurality of horizontal lines together, grouping a plurality of vertical lines together, looking for intersections that are present between the horizontal lines and the vertical lines, and identifying a plurality of table cells based on the intersections.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing the document step is operable to detect nested tables, and wherein the outputting the table step is operable to present the nested tables in the modified format.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step is performed when a user selects an option to copy a portion of the document to a destination application;

wherein the reading and parsing steps are performed by a source application;

wherein the modified format is created by the source application and then transmitted to the destination application for outputting to the output medium; and

wherein the modified format is a format used by the destination application.

12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the steps recited in claim 1.

13. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

detecting at least one table within a vector graphics based document using a set of rules, the rules comprising;

analyzing a set of content representing a plurality of horizontal and vertical lines to find intersections; and

identifying a plurality of table cells based on the intersections;

translating the at least one table to a modified format; and

outputting the modified format to an output medium.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the document is an XML document.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the document is based on an XML paper specification format.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the output medium is selected from the group consisting of a display device, a file, a screen reader, and a separate application.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the output medium is a screen reader, and wherein a set of table contents are described audibly to a user.

18. A method for interpreting vector graphics based documents comprising the steps of:

receiving an input from a user to copy a section of content, the content having an original format that includes a set of table rendering instructions;

interpreting the table rendering instructions to detect that at least one table exists in the document;

translating the content including the at least one table into a modified format that is more suitable for output in a destination application than the original format; and

providing the content in the modified format to the destination application for output.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the section of content is selected from a document which is in an XML based format.

20. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the steps recited in claim 18.