Methods and apparatus for populating electronic forms from scanned documents
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for populating an electronic form from an electronic image, the method comprising:
- (a) identifying a size, orientation and position of a first object having any arbitrary orientation within the electronic image;
(b) identifying information elements from pixels within the electronic image that correspond to the first object, including identifying text blocks within the first object using optical character recognition;
(c) displaying simultaneously to a user fields of the electronic form in a form data area and the identified text blocks in an object data area that is outside of the form data area, which corresponds to the first object, through a graphical user interface, wherein the text blocks are selectable by the user within the object data area through the graphical user interface for insertion into respective fields of the electronic form in the form data area;
(d) parsing the information elements into tagged groups of different information types;
(e) automatically populating the fields of the electronic form with the tagged groups to produce a populated form and allowing the user to edit the populated fields through the graphical user interface; and
(f) providing a visual status indicator adjacent each field of the form data area alerting the user that the field is unfilled and unverified, filled but unverified, and filled and verified, the status being based on the automatic populating and user editing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented method and apparatus are provided for populating an electronic form from an electronic image. The method and apparatus identify a size, orientation and position of an object within the electronic image, and identify information elements from pixels within the image that correspond to the object. Fields of the electronic form are displayed to a user along with the identified information elements through a graphical user interface. The information elements are parsed into tagged groups of different information types. At least some of the fields of the electronic form are populated with the tagged groups to produce a populated form. The user is allowed to edit the populated fields through the graphical user interface.
101 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for populating an electronic form from an electronic image, the method comprising:
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(a) identifying a size, orientation and position of a first object having any arbitrary orientation within the electronic image; (b) identifying information elements from pixels within the electronic image that correspond to the first object, including identifying text blocks within the first object using optical character recognition; (c) displaying simultaneously to a user fields of the electronic form in a form data area and the identified text blocks in an object data area that is outside of the form data area, which corresponds to the first object, through a graphical user interface, wherein the text blocks are selectable by the user within the object data area through the graphical user interface for insertion into respective fields of the electronic form in the form data area; (d) parsing the information elements into tagged groups of different information types; (e) automatically populating the fields of the electronic form with the tagged groups to produce a populated form and allowing the user to edit the populated fields through the graphical user interface; and (f) providing a visual status indicator adjacent each field of the form data area alerting the user that the field is unfilled and unverified, filled but unverified, and filled and verified, the status being based on the automatic populating and user editing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-readable medium comprising computer storage media and computer-executable instructions, which are stored on the computer storage media and that, when executed by a computer, perform a method comprising:
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(a) identifying a size, orientation and position of a first object having any arbitrary orientation within an electronic image; (b) identifying information elements from pixels within the electronic image that correspond to the first object, including identifying text blocks within the first object using optical character recognition; (c) displaying simultaneously to a user fields of the electronic form in a data area and the identified text blocks in an object data area that is outside of the form data area, which corresponds to the first object, through a graphical user interface, wherein the text blocks are selectable by the user within the object data area through the graphical user interface for insertion into respective fields of the electronic form in the form data area; (d) parsing the information elements into tagged groups of different information types; (e) automatically populating the fields of the electronic form with the tagged groups to produce a populated electronic form and allowing the user to edit the populated fields through the graphical user interface; and (f) providing a visual status indicator adjacent each field of the form data area alerting the user that the field is unfilled and unverified, filled but unverified, and filled and verified, the status being based on the automatic populating and user editing. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system for a least partially populating electronic forms, the system comprising:
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a display device; an object detection and extraction module, which processes pixels in the electronic image to identify a size, orientation, and position of an object having any arbitrary orientation within the electronic image; on optical character recognition module, which identifies information elements, including text blocks, from pixels within the electronic image that correspond to the first object; a graphical user interface, which simultaneously displays to a user, on the display device, fields of the electronic form in a form data area and the identified text blocks in an object data area that is outside of the form data area and corresponds to the first object, and wherein the text blocks are selectable by the user within the object data area through the graphical user interface for insertion into respective fields of the electronic form in the form data area; and a parsing module, which parses the information elements into tagged groups of different information types and at least partially populates the fields with the tagged groups automatically to produce a populated electronic form, wherein the graphical user interface provides a visual status indicator adjacent each field of the form data area alerting the user that the field is unfilled and unverified, filled but unverified, and filled and verified, the status being based on the automatic populating and user editing. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification