Form identification and processing system using hierarchical form profiles
First Claim
1. A method for creating a form dictionary, the method comprising the steps of:
- scanning a first blank form;
creating a hierarchical profile of the first blank form;
scanning a plurality of exemplary completed forms of the first blank form;
creating a hierarchical profile for each exemplary completed form;
comparing each completed form hierarchical profile with each other completed form hierarchical profile to determine invariant elements between each completed form hierarchical profile;
extracting the invariant elements;
correlating the blank form hierarchical profile with the extracted invariant elements;
creating a first enhanced blank form hierarchical profile based on the correlating step; and
storing the first enhanced blank form hierarchical profile in the form dictionary.
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus for identifying completed forms includes scanning a plurality of different blank forms, and creating hierarchical profiles of each scanned blank form. Each hierarchical form profile is stored in a dictionary. Once the form dictionary is created, a completed form is scanned. A hierarchical profile of the completed form is created, and the hierarchical profile of the completed form is compared with stored hierarchical form profiles. In accordance with the result of comparison, one of the stored hierarchical form profiles is identified as corresponding to the completed form hierarchical profile. Based on the identity of the corresponding hierarchical form profile, the completed form can be routed for further processing. A further aspect of the invention makes it possible to extract data from predesignated fields which may be unique to that particular form within a completed form based on the form'"'"'s identity. Furthermore, by using the form dictionary, it is possible to identify a completed form, extract data from the completed form, store the data with the form'"'"'s identity, and display the completed form by drawing the identified form using the vectorized data from the form dictionary and superimposing the extracted data from the completed form into respective data fields.
216 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for creating a form dictionary, the method comprising the steps of:
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scanning a first blank form; creating a hierarchical profile of the first blank form; scanning a plurality of exemplary completed forms of the first blank form; creating a hierarchical profile for each exemplary completed form; comparing each completed form hierarchical profile with each other completed form hierarchical profile to determine invariant elements between each completed form hierarchical profile; extracting the invariant elements; correlating the blank form hierarchical profile with the extracted invariant elements; creating a first enhanced blank form hierarchical profile based on the correlating step; and storing the first enhanced blank form hierarchical profile in the form dictionary. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for identifying a completed form using a form dictionary of hierarchical form profiles, each of said hierarchical form profiles consisting of vectorized data which defines features of a corresponding blank form, the method comprising the steps of:
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creating hierarchical profiles of different blank forms; comparing the hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding the invariant elements; storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; scanning a completed form; creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to the completed form; comparing the hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to the completed form with the hierarchical form profiles in the form dictionary; and identifying, in accordance with the comparing step, one of the hierarchical form profiles in the form dictionary as corresponding to the hierarchical profile of the completed form. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for displaying completed portions of a form, the method comprising the steps of:
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creating hierarchical profiles of different blank forms; comparing the hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding the invariant elements; storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; scanning a completed form; creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of the completed form; comparing the hierarchical profile of vectorized data defining features of the completed form with a hierarchical profile of a blank form in the form dictionary; extracting portions of the hierarchical profile defining features of the completed form which differ from corresponding portions of the hierarchical profile of the blank form; and displaying portions of the completed form which are dissimilar to corresponding portions of the blank form using the extracted portions of the hierarchical profile defining features of the completed form. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method for routing completed forms, the method comprising the steps of:
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scanning a plurality of different blank forms; creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of a blank form for each scanned blank form; comparing the hierarchical profiles to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding the invariant elements; storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; scanning a completed form; creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to the completed form; comparing the hierarchical profile of the completed form with the hierarchical profiles for the blank forms in the form dictionary; identifying one of the hierarchical profiles for the blank forms in the form dictionary as corresponding to the hierarchical profile of the completed form in accordance with the result of a comparison; and routing the completed form for processing in accordance with the identity of the corresponding stored hierarchical profile. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A method for storing and retrieving completed portions of a form, the method comprising the steps of:
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scanning a plurality of different blank forms; creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of a blank form for each scanned blank form; comparing the hierarchical profiles to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding the invariant elements; storing remaining elements for each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; scanning a completed form; creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data for the completed form; comparing the hierarchical profile of the completed form with the hierarchical profiles for the blank forms in the form dictionary; identifying one of the hierarchical profiles of the blank forms as corresponding to the hierarchical profile of the completed form in accordance with a result of the comparison; extracting completed portions of the completed form and respective header information which differ from the blank form corresponding to the identified stored hierarchical profile; and displaying the extracted completed portions and respective header information. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. An apparatus for identifying a completed form using a form dictionary of hierarchical form profiles, each of said hierarchical profiles consisting of vectorized data which defines features of a corresponding blank form, the apparatus comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding the invariant elements; storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; scanning means for scanning a completed form; profile creating means for creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to the completed form; comparison means for comparing the hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to the completed form with the hierarchical form profiles in the form dictionary; identifying means for identifying, in accordance with the result of the comparing means, one of the hierarchical form profiles in the form dictionary as corresponding to the hierarchical profile of the completed form; and extracting means for extracting portions of the hierarchical profile of the completed form which differ from the identified hierarchical form profile in the form dictionary. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for displaying completed portions of a form, the apparatus comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding the invariant elements; storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; scanning means for scanning a completed form; profile creating means for creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of the completed form; comparison means for comparing the hierarchical profile of vectorized data defining features of the completed form with a hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to a blank form stored in the form directory; extracting means for extracting portions of the hierarchical profile defining features of the completed form which differ from the hierarchical profile corresponding to the blank form; and displaying means for displaying portions of the completed form which are dissimilar to corresponding portions of the blank form using the extracted portions of the hierarchical profile defining features of the completed form. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus for identifying completed forms, the apparatus comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding means for discarding the invariant elements; storing means for storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; memory means for storing the form dictionary; scanning means for scanning a completed form; creating means for creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data for the completed form; comparison means for comparing the hierarchical profile of vectorized data for the completed form with the stored hierarchical profiles of vectorized data in the form dictionary; identifying means for identifying one of the stored hierarchical profiles of vectorized data as corresponding to the completed form hierarchical profile of vectorized data in accordance with the result of the comparison by the comparing means; and routing means for routing the completed form for processing in accordance with corresponding stored hierarchical profile of vectorized data.
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27. A completed form identifier, comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding means for discarding the invariant elements; storing means for storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; a scanner for scanning a completed form; a hierarchical profile creator for creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of the scanned completed form; a comparator for comparing the hierarchical profile of the scanned completed form with hierarchical profiles of vectorized data corresponding to various blank forms stored in the form dictionary; a form identifier for identifying the completed form based on a comparison result of the comparator; and a form router for routing the completed form for further processing based on an identification result of the form identifier.
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28. An apparatus for displaying extracted data from a completed form, comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding means for discarding the invariant elements; storing means for storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; a scanner for scanning a completed form; a hierarchical profile creator for creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of the scanned completed form; a comparator for comparing the hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to the completed form to hierarchical profiles of vectorized data corresponding to various blank forms stored in the form dictionary; a form identifier for identifying the completed form and for extracting data from the completed form based on an identification result of the identifier; and a display screen for displaying the extracted data.
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29. An apparatus for displaying a completed form, comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding means for discarding the invariant elements; storing means for storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; a scanner for scanning a completed form; a hierarchical profile creator for creating a hierarchical profile of vectorized data which defines features of the scanned completed form; a comparator for comparing the hierarchical profile of the scanned completed form to hierarchical profiles of blank forms in the form dictionary and for locating a blank form hierarchical profile which matches the completed form hierarchical profile; a data extractor for extracting data identifiers and data which is dissimilar to the matching blank form hierarchical profile from the hierarchical profile of the completed form; a memory for storing the extracted data, data identifiers, and an indicia of the matching blank form; and a screen display for displaying the extracted data superimposed on the matching blank form, wherein the matching blank form is drawn in accordance with the hierarchical profile of the blank form, and wherein the extracted data is superimposed into appropriate locations of the matching blank form in accordance with the extracted data identifiers.
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30. A form identifier for identifying a completed form using a form dictionary of hierarchical form profiles, each of said hierarchical form profiles consisting of vectorized data which defines features of a corresponding blank form, the form identifier comprising:
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comparing means for comparing hierarchical profiles of different blank forms to each other to determine invariant elements therebetween; discarding means for discarding the invariant elements; storing means for storing remaining elements of each hierarchical profile in a form dictionary; a processing unit including a computer for executing stored program steps; a memory for storing the form dictionary of hierarchical form profiles and process steps for execution by the processing unit; and a scanner for scanning completed forms, wherein the process steps stored in the memory include steps to create a hierarchical profile of vectorized data corresponding to a scanned completed form, to compare the hierarchical profile of the completed form to the hierarchical form profiles in the memory, to match the hierarchical form profile of the completed form to one of the hierarchical form profiles in the memory, and to form-process the completed form based on an identity of the matched hierarchical form profile in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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Specification