Active area identification on a machine readable form using form landmarks
First Claim
1. A method for identifying areas on an instance of a machine readable form to be examined for the presence of user made marks, said machine readable form void of predefined registration marks, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) creating said machine readable form by performing the sub-steps of;
composing said machine readable form having one or more active areas;
analyzing an image of said machine readable form to identify one or more original landmarks, said original landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars and vertical bars; and
storing location and identifying information for said one or more original landmarks and said active areas in a forms control file;
b) creating a bit-mapped representation of said instance of said machine readable form;
c) analyzing said bit-mapped representation of said instance of said machine readable form to identify one or more instance landmarks, said instance landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars and vertical bars;
identifying an active area in said instance of a machine readable form by performing the steps of;
d) retrieving said forms control file;
e) comparing said one or more original landmarks from said forms control file with said one or more instance landmarks to obtain pairings of original landmarks with instance landmarks based on location and shape;
f) generating an offset based on said landmark pairings;
g) applying said offset to location information in said forms control file of an active area being processed;
h) examining said area identified in step g) as said active area.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A forms creation and processing system which identifies and locates the active areas of a form using forms landmarks. The present invention eliminates the need to place predefined registration marks onto a machine readable form. The active areas of a form are those which may contain a user created mark, such as a checkbox or a signature box. A form is preanalyzed at the same time that the active areas are being described. The aim of the preanalysis is to find a set of graphic shapes, i.e. landmarks, that can be found on the form independent of their location or orientation in the image. Examples of such landmarks include paragraphs of text, heavy black lines and gray scale areas. The analysis looks at the geometric distribution and regularities of the connected components to choose a set of landmarks. The landmarks and active areas on the form are stored in a forms control file. A forms interpreter uses the forms control file to locate and examine the active areas of an instance of a form to determine if a mark has been placed thereon.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for identifying areas on an instance of a machine readable form to be examined for the presence of user made marks, said machine readable form void of predefined registration marks, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) creating said machine readable form by performing the sub-steps of; composing said machine readable form having one or more active areas; analyzing an image of said machine readable form to identify one or more original landmarks, said original landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars and vertical bars; and storing location and identifying information for said one or more original landmarks and said active areas in a forms control file; b) creating a bit-mapped representation of said instance of said machine readable form; c) analyzing said bit-mapped representation of said instance of said machine readable form to identify one or more instance landmarks, said instance landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars and vertical bars; identifying an active area in said instance of a machine readable form by performing the steps of; d) retrieving said forms control file; e) comparing said one or more original landmarks from said forms control file with said one or more instance landmarks to obtain pairings of original landmarks with instance landmarks based on location and shape; f) generating an offset based on said landmark pairings; g) applying said offset to location information in said forms control file of an active area being processed; h) examining said area identified in step g) as said active area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for locating active areas which may contain user created marks on an instance of a machine readable form, said machine readable form void of predefined registration marks, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) receiving a forms control file associated with said instance of said machine readable form, said forms control file comprising a set of original landmarks of said machine readable form, said original landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars or vertical bars, said forms control file further comprising original position information for each active area on said machine readable form and an iteration count; b) scanning said instance of a machine readable form to create a bit-mapped representation thereof; c) analyzing said bit-mapped representation of said instance of a machine readable form to identify a set of instance landmarks, said instance landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars or vertical bars; d) matching landmarks in said set of original landmarks with landmarks in said set of instance landmarks to create matched pairs of landmarks, said matching step based on predetermined spatial position and predetermined shape thresholds; e) generating an offset based on said matched pairs of landmarks and original position information for an active area being processed; and f) applying said offset to said original position information for the active area being processed. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A forms processing system for identifying active areas in machine readable forms, said machine readable forms void of predefined registration marks, said forms processing system comprising;
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a scanning device for scanning an instance of a machine readable form to create a bit-mapped representation thereof; receiving circuitry for receiving a forms control file associated with said instance of said machine readable form, said forms control file comprising a set of original landmarks of said machine readable form, said original landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars or vertical bars, said forms control file further comprising original position information for each active area on said machine readable form; first processing circuitry suitably adapted to provide functionality for analyzing said bit-mapped representation of said instance of a machine readable form to identify a set of instance landmarks, said instance landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars or vertical bars; second processing circuitry suitably adapted to provide functionality for matching landmarks in said set of original landmarks with landmarks in said set of instance landmarks to create matched pairs of landmarks, said matching based on predetermined spatial position and predetermined shape thresholds; third processing circuitry suitably adapted to provide functionality for generating an offset based on said matched pairs of landmarks and original position information for an active area being processed; and fourth processing circuitry suitably adapted to provide functionality for applying said offset to original position information for said active area being processed. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for identifying active areas on a machine readable form, wherein said machine readable form is void of registrations marks, said method steps comprising:
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b) receiving a bit-mapped representation of an instance of a machine readable form; b) receiving a forms control file associated with said instance of said machine readable form, said forms control file comprising a set of original landmarks of said machine readable form, said original landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars or vertical bars, said forms control file further comprising original position information for each active area on said machine readable form; c) analyzing said bit-mapped representation of said instance of a machine readable form to identify a set of instance landmarks, said instance landmarks including text blocks, graphic blocks, horizontal bars or vertical bars; d) matching landmarks in said set of original landmarks with landmarks in said set of instance landmarks to create matched pairs of landmarks, said matching step based on predetermined spatial position and predetermined shape thresholds; e) generating an offset based on said matched pairs of landmarks and original position information for an active area being processed; and f) applying said offset to said original position information for said active area being processed.
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Specification