Apparatus, method and programmable product for identification of a document with feature analysis

• US 20100027834A1
• Filed: 04/25/2008
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bell & Howell LLC (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Bowe Bell & Howell Company
• Inventors: Spitzig, Roger, Phifer, Leondo R., Conard, Walter S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,520,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/80 Recognising image objects characterised by unique random patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/186 by deriving mathematical or geometrical properties from the whole image
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00467 Transporting mailpieces postal sorting B07C
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00443 Verification of mailpieces, e.g. by checking databases
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00491 Mail/envelope/insert handling system

Abstract

The present application relates to a method, apparatus and programmable product for uniquely identifying a document. More specifically, the application allows for the identification of the document through collection of minutiae data at various points throughout the document'"'"'s lifecycle without reliance upon or requirement for any unique identification characters, barcodes and/or objects that were added to the document specifically for the purpose of identification.

Claims

1. A method of compiling information for unique identification of one document from among a plurality of documents, the method comprising steps of:

receiving a representation of the one document;

extracting minutiae data items from the representation of the document, in accordance with defined identification criteria, sufficient to uniquely identify a hardcopy of the document;

collecting metadata regarding the representation of the document;

storing the extracted minutiae data items in association with the collected metadata, in a searchable database of data regarding the plurality of documents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the received representation of the one document is a pre-print electronic representation of the document; and

the step of extracting minutiae data items comprises obtaining electronic minutiae data from the pre-print electronic representation of the document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the received representation of the one document comprises an electronic image of a hardcopy of the document; and

the step of extracting minutiae data items comprises obtaining hardcopy minutiae data from the hardcopy of the document.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

obtaining physical characteristic minutiae data of the image of the hardcopy of the document; and

including the physical characteristic minutiae data in the extracted minutiae data items for the document stored in the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the minutiae data items comprise properties relating to one or more aspects of the one document selected from the group consisting of:

a glyph contained in the one document;

a graphic contained in the one document;

font used on the one document;

coordinates of an object on a page of the one document; and

defined text contained in the one document.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the physical characteristics minutiae data items comprise properties relating to one or more aspects of the one document selected from the group consisting of chemical, radio frequency, magnetic or microscopic properties of the document.

7. A computer programmed to implement the steps of the method of claim 1.

8. A product comprising a program to enable a computer to implement the steps of the method of claim 1, and a computer readable storage medium bearing the program.

9. A system configured to implement the steps of the method of claim 1.

10. A method of compiling information for recognition of a hardcopy of a document, the method comprising steps of:

collecting minutiae data of the hardcopy of the document, in accordance with defined identification criteria, sufficient to uniquely identify the hardcopy of the document;

comparing the collected minutiae data of the hardcopy of the document to minutiae data for a plurality of identified documents in a database; and

returning a result indicating whether or not the collected minutiae data matched minutiae data of any of the documents identified in the database.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the collecting step comprises extracting the minutiae data of the hardcopy of the document from an image taken of the hardcopy of the document; and

the comparing step comprises comparing the minutiae data extracted from the image to corresponding minutiae data of the documents identified in the database.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the collecting step further comprises obtaining physical minutiae data regarding the hardcopy of the document; and

the comparing step further comprises comparing the physical minutiae data regarding the hardcopy of the document to physical minutiae data regarding the documents identified in the database.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the collecting step comprises obtaining physical minutiae data regarding the hardcopy of the document; and

the comparing step comprises comparing the physical minutiae data regarding the hardcopy of the document to physical minutiae data regarding the documents identified in the database.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein upon the result indicating a match of the collected minutiae data to minutiae data of one of the documents identified in the database, the method further comprises:

displaying metadata associated with the image of the hardcopy of the document or metadata associated with the one document identified in the database.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein upon the result indicating a match of the collected minutiae data to minutiae data of one of the documents identified in the database, the method further comprises:

comparing the metadata associated with the image of the hardcopy of the document to metadata associated with the one document identified in the database, and

when the metadatas differ, updating the metadata associated with the one document identified in the database in accordance with the metadata associated with the image of the hardcopy of the document.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising controlling at least one operation of processing of the hardcopy of the document responsive to the result.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the collected minutiae data comprise properties relating to one or more aspects of the hardcopy of the document selected from the group consisting of chemical, radio frequency, magnetic or microscopic properties of the hardcopy of the document.

18. A computer programmed to implement the steps of the method of claim 10.

19. A product comprising a program to enable a computer to implement the steps of the method of claim 10, and a computer readable storage medium bearing the program.

20. A system configured to implement the steps of the method of claim 10.

21. A method of compiling information for authenticating a hardcopy of a document, the method comprising steps of:

collecting both physical minutiae data regarding the hardcopy of the document and image minutiae data extracted from an image of the hardcopy of the document, in accordance with defined identification criteria, sufficient to uniquely identify the hardcopy of the document;

comparing the collected image and physical minutiae data of the hardcopy of the document to corresponding minutiae data for a plurality of identified documents in a database; and

returning an authentication result indicating whether or not the collected minutiae data matched minutiae data of any of the documents identified in the database.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the image minutiae data includes properties relating to one or more aspects of the hard copy of the document selected from the group consisting of:

a glyph contained in the document;

a graphic contained in the document;

font used on the document;

coordinates of an object on a page of the document; and

defined text contained in the document.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the physical minutiae data includes properties relating to one or more aspects of the hard copy of the document selected from the group consisting of chemical, radio frequency, magnetic or microscopic properties.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein upon the authentication result indicating a match of the collected minutiae data to minutiae data of one of the documents identified in the database, the method further comprises:

displaying metadata associated with the image of the hardcopy of the document or metadata associated with the document identified in the database.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising controlling at least one operation of processing of the hardcopy of the document responsive to the authentication result.