System and method for connected container recognition of a hand-drawn chart in ink input

• US 7,400,771 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Issued: 07/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Yantao, Wang, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Mariam; Daniel G
• Application Number:
  US11/088,609
• Publication Number:
  US 20060062475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• Field of Search: 382/181, 382185-189, 382202-203, 382/209, 382/218, 382224-225
• US Class Current: 382/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/422 Technical drawings; Geographical maps

Abstract

A system and method for recognition of hand-drawn charts in ink input is provided. A chart recognizer may be provided that may recognize a hand-drawn diagram or chart in ink input. The chart recognizer may include a connectivity-based recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn chart having connected areas such as a pie chart, a connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn chart having connected containers such as a cycle diagram, and a curve recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn chart having a curve. The connected container recognizer may also recognize a hand-drawn chart having intersecting containers such as a Venn diagram or a hand-drawn chart having a container that may include another container such as a target diagram.

Claims

1. A computer system for recognizing a hand-drawn chart in ink input, comprising:

a connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn chart from closed containers and unclosed connectors recognized in ink input;

a cycle diagram recognizer operably coupled to the connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn cycle diagram having connected containers;

a radial diagram recognizer operably coupled to the connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn radial diagram having connected containers; and

an organizational chart recognizer operably coupled to the connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn organizational chart having connected containers.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a target diagram recognizer operably coupled to the connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn target diagram having containers without connectors; and

a Venn diagram recognizer operably coupled to the connected container recognizer for recognizing a hand-drawn Venn diagram having containers without connectors.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a chart detector operably coupled to the connected container recognizer for receiving ink input, the chart detector comprising a container detector for detecting the closed containers within ink input and a connector detector for detecting the unclosed connectors within ink input.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising an ink parser operably coupled to the chart detector for sending ink input to the chart detector.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising a shape recognizer operably coupled to the ink parser for recognizing a hand-drawn shape.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the shape recognizer comprises a container recognizer operably coupled to the shape recognizer and a connector recognizer operably coupled to the shape recognizer.

7. A computer-readable memory having computer-executable components comprising the system of claim 1.

8. A computer implemented method for recognizing a hand-drawn chart in ink input, comprising:

receiving ink input;

performing container detection for each container within the ink input;

performing shape recognition for each container detected within the ink input; and

performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having connected containers, wherein performing connected container recognition includes at least one of;

performing cycle diagram recognition including determining that the number of containers equals the number of connectors;

performing radial diagram recognition including determining that only one container has more than one connector;

or

performing organizational chart recognition including determining that there is not any connector that has an arrow.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having containers without connectors.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising generating a drawing for each hand-drawn chart recognized within the ink input.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising performing content detection for the recognized containers of the hand-drawn chart.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising performing shape refinement of the recognized containers of the hand-drawn chart.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having containers without connectors comprises performing target diagram recognition including determining that there are not any intersecting containers within any grouping of containers that may contain a specific container.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having containers without connectors comprises performing Venn diagram recognition including determining that there are at least two intersecting containers.

15. A computer-readable memory having stored computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 8.

16. A computer system for detecting a hand-drawn shape, comprising:

means for receiving ink input;

means for performing container detection for each container within the ink input;

means for performing shape recognition for each container detected within the ink input;

means for performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having connected containers;

means for recognizing a hand-drawn chart from closed containers and unclosed connectors recognized in ink input;

means for recognizing a hand-drawn cycle diagram having connected containers;

means for recognizing a hand-drawn radial diagram having connected containers; and

means for recognizing a hand-drawn organizational chart having connected containers.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising means for performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having containers without connectors.

18. A computer implemented method for recognizing a hand-drawn chart in ink input, comprising:

receiving ink input;

performing container detection for each container within the ink input;

performing shape recognition for each container detected within the ink input;

performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having connected containers; and

performing connected container recognition upon the containers recognized within the ink input for recognition of a hand-drawn chart having containers without connectors by at least one of;

performing target diagram recognition including determining that there are not any intersecting containers within any grouping of containers that may contain a specific container;

or

performing Venn diagram recognition including determining that there are at least two intersecting containers.