Hand-held scanning system for heuristically organizing scanned information

• US 6,360,951 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1999
• Issued: 03/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Swinehart, Daniel Carl
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech, Karl D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TAYLOR, APRIL ALICIA
• Application Number:
  US09/464,381
• Time in Patent Office: 831 Days
• Field of Search: 235/383, 235/385, 235/472.01, 235/472.03, 235/462.44, 235/462.28, 235/462.45, 235/470, 235/462.07
• US Class Current: 235/472.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/416 Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors

Abstract

Systems consistent with the present invention allow a user to scan document text and then automatically recognize and organize that text into a format for display by the user. The system preferably includes a hand-held device operable by the user for scanning the text of the document. The hand-held device stores the scanned text information and can then transfer the stored text information to a computer. The computer automatically recognizes the scanned text based on the format and context in which the text is found in the document. Further, the computer automatically creates data entries describing the scanned text and organizes these data entries for display to the user.

Claims

1. A system for scanning and formatting indicia located on a document comprising:

a scanning head for scanning the indicia located on the document;

a memory for storing the scanned indicia; and

a processor for recognizing a meaning of the scanned indicia stored in the memory based on a context in which the scanned indicia appears in the document, and wherein the processor creates a data entry, using the recognized meaning, describing the document and the scanned indicia.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the scanning head is a single-line scanning unit.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the scanning head includes an optical character recognition unit.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory stores a bit-mapped image of the indicia, and wherein the processor further includes:

a processor for recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia based on a format of the indicia.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the scanning head is located in a hand-held device and wherein the processor is located in a separate computer, and wherein the hand-held device further includes:

a data interface for communicating with the separate computer.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the data interface comprises a bi-directional infrared transceiver.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory stores a time-stamp value indicating the time the indicia was scanned by the scanning head.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further, includes:

a first processing unit for automatically recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia based on a format of the indicia.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further includes:

a first processing unit for automatically recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia according to a template identifying a format of indicia located in the document.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further includes:

a first processing unit for automatically recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia based on a user input made when the indicia was scanned.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further includes:

a first processing unit for automatically organizing the recognized indicia into a format for display to a user.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the data entry further includes:

data identifying the document scanned by the scanning head; and

data identifying particular indicia contained in the identified document.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data entry further includes:

a link to a version of the document stored on a network.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the scanning head further includes:

a scanning head that fits over a finger of the user.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines the context in which the indicia appears in the document by determining whether the scanned indicia and information adjacent to the scanned indicia satisfy a predetermined textual pattern criteria.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognizing step further includes determining the context in which the indicia appears in the document by determining whether the scanned indicia and information adjacent to the scanned indicia satisfy a predetermined textual pattern criteria.

17. A method for scanning and organizing indicia located on a document comprising the steps of:

scanning the indicia located on the document;

storing the scanned indicia in a memory;

recognizing a meaning of the scanned indicia stored in the memory based on a context in which the scanned indicia appears in the document; and

creating a data entry describing the document and the scanned indicia based on the recognized meaning.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the scanning step further includes:

scanning a single-line of indicia located on the document.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the scanning step further includes:

recognizing the indicia according to an optical character recognition routine.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the recognizing step further includes:

recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia based on a format of the indicia.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the storing step further includes:

storing a time-stamp value indicating the time the indicia was scanned.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the recognizing step further includes:

heuristically recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia according to a template identifying a format of indicia located in the document.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the recognizing step further includes:

heuristically recognizing the meaning of the scanned indicia based on a user input made when the indicia was scanned.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the recognizing step further includes:

organizing the recognized indicia into a format for display to a user.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of creating a data entry further includes:

creating a data entry including data identifying the document scanned by the scanning head and including data identifying particular indicia contained in the identified document.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of creating a data entry further includes:

creating a link to a version of the document stored on a network.