SCANNER WITH GESTURE-BASED TEXT SELECTION CAPABILITY

• US 20100289757A1
• Filed: 05/15/2009
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ABBYY Software
• Original Assignee: ABBYY Software
• Inventors: Budelli, Joey G.
• Application Number:
  US12/467,245
• Publication Number:
  US 20100289757A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00236 using an image reading or reproducing device, e.g. a facsimile reader or printer, as a local input to or local output from a computer image input to or image output from a computer via a network H04N1/00209
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00241 using an image reading device as a local input to a computer input via network, e.g. network scanners H04N1/00225
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0035 User-machine interface; Control console input or output arrangements for computers G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00411 the display also being used for user input, e.g. touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0081 Image reader H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention disclose a scanner with a touch-sensitive screen that supports finger tapping gestures for selecting text. A single tap gesture causes a portion of a character string to be selected. A double tap gesture causes the entire character string to be selected. A tap and hold gesture causes the scanner to enter a cursor mode wherein the placement of a cursor relative to the characters in the character string can be adjusted. In text selection mode, a finger can be used to move the cursor from a cursor start position to a cursor end position to select text therebetween.

Claims

1. A scanner, comprising:

a processor;

a touch-sensitive screen coupled to the processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor the memory storing instructions which when executed cause the scanner to perform a method comprising;

detecting a tapping gesture adjacent a character string displayed on the touch-sensitive screen; and

selecting characters of the character string based on the tapping gesture.

2. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the tapping gesture comprises a single tap, said selecting then comprising selecting a word from the character string based on a proximity of the single tap gesture to the word in the character string.

3. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the tapping gesture comprises a double tap, said selecting then comprising selecting the entire character string.

4. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises displaying the selected characters in a text box that is laterally offset from the character string.

5. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the tapping gesture comprises a tap and hold gesture wherein a user taps the touch-sensitive screen with a finger, whereafter the user maintains finger pressure on said screen with said finger.

6. The scanner of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises, responsive to said tap and hold gesture, entering a cursor mode in which sliding of said finger on said screen causes sympathetic movement of a cursor.

7. The scanner of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises entering a text selection mode upon release of said finger.

8. The scanner of claim 7, wherein in text selection mode sliding of the finger causes movement of the cursor from a cursor start position to a cursor end position and the characters between the cursor start position and the cursor end position to be selected.

9. A method, comprising:

scanning a document;

displaying the scanned document on a touch-sensitive screen;

detecting a finger tapping gesture performed on the touch-sensitive screen;

determining if the scanned image comprises text;

if the scanned image does not contain text then performing an optical character recognition (OCR) operation to convert information in the scanned image to text; and

selecting text from a line of text associated with the scanned image based on the finger tapping gesture.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the finger tapping gesture comprises a single tap, said selecting then comprising selecting a word from the line of text based on a proximity of the single tap gesture to the word in the line of text.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the finger tapping gesture comprises a double tap, said selecting then comprising selecting the entire line of text based on a proximity of the finger tapping gesture to the line of text.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises displaying the selected text in a text box that is laterally offset from the line of text.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the finger tapping gesture comprises a tap and hold gesture wherein a user taps the touch-sensitive screen with a finger, whereafter the user maintains finger pressure on said screen with said finger.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, responsive to said tap and hold gesture, entering a cursor mode in which sliding of said finger on said screen causes sympathetic movement of a cursor.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising entering a text selection mode upon release of said finger.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein in text selection mode sliding of the finger causes movement of the cursor from a cursor start position to a cursor end position and the characters between the cursor start position and the cursor end position to be selected.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating metadata associated with the scanned image based on the selected text.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending the metadata to a document management system.