DOCUMENT LAYOUT EXTRACTION

• US 20090144614A1
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: LUKACEVIC, DEJAN, TOMASEVIC, SASA, DRESEVIC, BODIN, UZELAC, ALEKSANDAR, TRUTNER, OREN
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,469 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/239
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation

Abstract

Computer-readable media, systems, and methods for document layout extraction are described. In embodiments, textual data in an electronic format is received and the textual data is converted from the electronic format to an independent interface format, the independent interface format including coordinates to one or more structural elements of the textual data. Further, in embodiments, a structure and layout analysis of the textual data is performed to generate a set of structure and layout information. Still further, in embodiments, the textual data and the set of structure and layout information is stored in an enriched interface format, the enriched interface format providing for search and navigation of the textual data.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for extracting information from a document in an electronic format to produce a representation containing structure and layout metadata, the method comprising:

receiving one or more textual data in the electronic format;

converting the textual data from the electronic format to an independent interface format, the independent interface format including coordinates to one or more structural elements of the textual data;

performing a structure and layout analysis of the textual data to generate a set of structure and layout information; and

storing the textual data and the set of structure and layout information in an enriched interface format, the enriched interface format providing for search and navigation of the textual data.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the electronic format of the textual data includes a set of available structure and layout information.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 2, wherein converting the textual data from the electronic format to the independent interface format comprises extracting the set of available structure and layout information from the electronic format of the textual data.

4. The computer-readable media of claim 3, wherein performing the structure and layout analysis of the textual data to generate the set of structure and layout information comprises:

applying a set of specialized sub engines to the textual data, each of the set of specialized sub engines extracting metadata from the textual data; and

integrating the metadata extracted from each of the specialized sub engines into the enriched interface format,

wherein only a subset of the specialized sub engines are applied to the textual data and,

wherein the subset of the specialized sub engines extract only metadata for generating the set of structure and layout information different from the set of available structure and layout information from the electronic format.

5. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein performing the structure and layout analysis of the textual data to generate the set of structure and layout information comprises:

applying a set of specialized sub engines to the textual data, each of the set of specialized sub engines extracting metadata from the textual data; and

integrating the metadata extracted from each of the specialized sub engines.

6. The computer-readable media of claim 5, wherein the enriched interface format includes one or more sections identifying one or more portions in the textual data having a role in the organization of the document.

7. The computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the enriched interface format further includes one or more markers identifying one or more segments in the textual data.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the enriched interface format further includes one or more linking mechanisms referencing between two or more elements in the textual data.

9. A computerized system for extracting information from a document in an electronic format to produce a representation containing structure and layout metadata, the system comprising:

a receiving component configured to receive one or more textual data in the electronic format;

a converting component configured to convert the textual data from the electronic format to an independent interface format, the independent interface format including coordinates to one or more structural elements of the textual data;

a processing component configured to analyze the textual data to generate a set of structure and layout information; and

a storing component configured to store the textual data and the set of structure and layout information in an enriched interface format, the enriched interface format providing for search and navigation of the textual data.

10. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein the processing component includes:

one or more specialized sub engines configured to extract a set of metadata from the textual data;

a managing component configured to manage operation of the one or more specialized sub engines; and

an integration component configured to integrate the metadata extracted from each of the specialized sub engines into the enriched interface format.

11. The computerized system of claim 10,

wherein the electronic format of the textual data includes a set of available structure and layout information, and

wherein the converting component is further configured to extract the set of available structure and layout information from the electronic format of the textual data.

12. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein the managing component is further configured to apply only a subset of the one or more specialized sub engines to the textual data, and wherein the subset of the specialized sub engines extract only metadata for generating a set of structure and layout information different from the set of available structure and layout information from the electronic format.

13. The computerized system of claim 12, wherein the one or more specialized sub engines includes at least one of:

a title detection engine configured to detect one or more titles in the document;

a page number engine configured to extract a set of page number information and a set of header and footer sections in the document;

a page classifier engine configured to classify one or more pages in the document;

a table of contents (“

TOC”

) engine configured to analyze one or more TOC pages in the document and produce a set of TOC metadata;

an index engine configured to analyze one or more index pages in the document and produce a set of index page metadata; and

a bibliography engine configured to analyze one or more bibliography pages in the document and produce a set of bibliography metadata.

14. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for converting a document in an electronic format into a representation containing structure and layout metadata, the method comprising:

sending one or more textual data in the electronic format to a layout extraction engine, wherein the layout extraction engine is configured to convert the textual data from the electronic format to an independent interface format, the independent interface format including coordinates to one or more structural elements of the textual data, and wherein the layout extraction engine is configured to perform a structure and layout analysis of the textual data to generate a set of structure and layout information; and

receiving the textual data and the set of structure and layout information in an enriched interface format, wherein the enriched interface format provides for search and navigation of the textual data.

15. The computer-readable media of claim 14,

wherein the layout extraction engine is further configured to apply a set of specialized sub engines to the textual data, each of the specialized sub engines extracting metadata from the textual data, and

wherein the layout extraction engine is further configured to integrate the metadata extracted from each of the specialized sub engines.

16. The computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the enriched interface format includes one or more sections identifying one or more portions in the textual data having a role in the organization of the document.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the enriched interface format further includes one or more markers identifying one or more segments in the textual data.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the electronic format of the textual data includes a set of available structure and layout information.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the layout extraction engine is further configured to extract the set of available structure and layout information from the electronic format of the textual data.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the layout extraction engine is further configured to apply only a subset of the specialized sub engines, and wherein the subset of the specialized sub engines extract only a set of metadata for generating a set of structure and layout information different from the set of available structure and layout information from the electronic format.