Automated method for extracting highlighted regions in scanned source

• US 20070253620A1
• Filed: 04/27/2006
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Nagarajan, Ramesh, Campanelli, Michael, Simmons, Isaiah
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/164
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1444 Selective acquisition, locating or processing of specific regions, e.g. highlighted text, fiducial marks or predetermined fields

Abstract

An automated method for extracting highlighted regions in a scanned text documents includes color masking of highlight regions, extracting text from highlighted regions, recognizing the characters in extracted text optically and inserting the recognized characters to new document in order to easily identify highlighted text in scanned images. Using a two-layer multi-mask compression technology configured in a scanned export image path, edges and text regions can be extracted and together with the use of mask coordinates and associated mask colors, all highlighted texts can be easily identified and extracted. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can then be utilized to appropriate summarization of different extracted highlighted texts.

Claims

1. A method for extracting highlighted regions in a scanned text document, comprising:

converting a scanned text document into a highlighted region comprising a highlighted text;

extracting said highlighted text from said highlighted region; and

optically recognizing said highlighted text in order to recognize text extracted from said highlighted region of said scanned text document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating recognized text, in response to optically recognizing said highlighted text; and

inserting said recognized text into a new document.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

summarizing a collection of scanned original text using an optically recognized highlighted text within said scanned text document to generate a summarized document.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising rendering said summarized document utilizing a printer.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein said summarized document is rendered remotely.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said summarized document is rendered remotely utilizing an electronic facsimile transmission.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said summarized document is rendered remotely utilizing electronic mail.

8. The method of claim 3 further comprising electronically storing said summarized within an electronic repository.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein converting said scanned text into said highlighted region further comprises:

converting said scanned text document into an sRGB color space;

setting a text of the said text document to black, when highlight color exceeds threshold value of the said sRGB color space else to white.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein converting said scanned text into said highlighted region further comprises:

converting said scanned text document into an sRGB color space;

setting a text of the said text document to black, when highlight color exceeds threshold value of the said sRGB color space else to white.

10. A method for extracting highlighted regions in a scanned image document, comprising:

converting a scanned image document into a plurality of background regions and a plurality of mask regions;

analyzing said plurality of background regions utilizing at least one mask coordinate, wherein said plurality of background regions are located beneath at least one mask region among said plurality of mask regions; and

optically recognizing a highlighted text in said at least one mask region, if the said plurality of background regions beneath said at least one mask region comprises a uniform color.

11. A system for extracting highlighted regions in a scanned text document, comprising:

a module for converting a scanned text document into a highlighted region comprising a highlighted text;

a module for extracting said highlighted text from said highlighted region; and

a module for optically recognizing said highlighted text in order to recognize text extracted from said highlighted region of said scanned text document.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a module for generating recognized text, in response to optically recognizing said highlighted text; and

a module for inserting said recognized text into a new document.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a collection of scanned original text summarized using an optically recognized highlighted text within said scanned text document to generate a summarized document.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said summarized document is rendered utilizing a printer.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein said summarized document is rendered remotely.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said summarized document is rendered remotely utilizing an electronic facsimile transmission.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said summarized document is rendered remotely utilizing electronic mail.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein said summarized document is electronically stored within an electronic repository.

20. A system for extracting highlighted regions in a scanned image document, comprising:

a module for converting a scanned image document into a plurality of background regions and a plurality of mask regions;

a module for analyzing said plurality of background regions utilizing at least one mask coordinate, wherein said plurality of background regions are located beneath at least one mask region among said plurality of mask regions; and

a module for optically recognizing a highlighted text in said at least one mask region, if the said plurality of background regions beneath said at least one mask region comprises a uniform color.