Method for automated image indexing and retrieval

• US 7,813,595 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 6, LLC
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Patel, Shivang, Nagarajan, Ramesh, Fan, Zhigang
• Primary Examiner(s): Tabatabai; Abolfazl
• Application Number:
  US11/925,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20080055669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 382/117, 382/180, 382/218, 382/224, 382/243, 382/257, 382/305, 382/318, 382/319, 704/256.4, 358/462, 358/474, 358/487, 358/497, 358/505
• US Class Current: 382/305
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/412 Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/414 Extracting the geometrical structure, e.g. layout tree; Block segmentation, e.g. bounding boxes for graphics or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/90 using coding techniques not provided for in groups H04N19/10-H04N19/85, e.g. fractals

Abstract

A method of indexing images contained in scanned documents, wherein said scanned documents are stored in a repository, includes: for each document to be stored in the repository, dividing the document into a plurality of sections; scanning the plurality of sections; segmenting each scanned segment according to a predetermined coding model into image segment and non-image segments; associating each of the image segments with the document; and generating an index correlating the image segments with the document. The method may further include, at the time of image recall, displaying the index of image segments in a user interface; and responsive to selection of an image segment from the index, displaying the document information associated with the image segment in the user interface.

Claims

1. A method of retrieving a scanned document stored in a repository, comprising:

displaying in a user interface a preview of a plurality of index images and each name of the document from which each index image originates, wherein each index image represents image regions in multiple documents or between pages of a single document, and each index image occurs at least once in each of its corresponding documents;

displaying along with each of the index images and the document names, a document type, and a user associated with each of the documents; and

responsive to user selection of at least one index image displayed in the user interface, retrieving all documents associated with the selected index image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein only authorized documents, based on user authentication, are displayed in the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein for each displayed document, all associated documents are displayed in the user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein upon selection of the at least one index image, all associated documents are printed on an output device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein upon selection of the at least one index image, all associated documents are sent over a network to a user desired location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein upon selection of the at least one index image, all associated documents are displayed in the user interface.

7. A method of retrieving a scanned document stored in a repository, comprising:

displaying in a user interface a preview of a plurality of index images and each name of the document from which each index image originates, wherein each index image occurs at least once in each of its corresponding documents;

displaying along with each of the index images and the document names, a document type, and a user associated with each of the documents; and

responsive to user selection of at least one index image displayed in the user interface, retrieving all documents associated with the selected index image, wherein the scanned documents have been indexed according to the following;

for each document to be stored in the repository, dividing the document into a plurality of sections;

scanning the plurality of sections;

segmenting each scanned section according to a predetermined coding model into image segments and non-image segments;

associating each of the image segments with the document;

generating an index correlating the image segments with the document;

defining the correlated image segments as index images; and

storing additional information about the index image.

8. A method of retrieving a scanned document stored in a repository, comprising:

displaying in a user interface a preview of a plurality of index images and each name of the document from which each index image originates, wherein each index image occurs at least once in each of its corresponding documents;

displaying along with each of the index images and the document names, a document type, and a user associated with each of the documents; and

responsive to user selection of at least one index image displayed in the user interface, retrieving all documents associated with the selected index image, wherein the scanned documents have been indexed according to the following;

for each document to be stored in the repository, scanning the document to obtain a grayscale image;

determining at least one region of interest in the grayscale image;

determining predetermined statistical characteristics of the at least one region of interest;

based on the statistical characteristics of the at least one region of interest, classifying the at least one region of interest as either text or non-text;

associating each of the non-text regions of interest with the document; and

generating an index correlating the non-text regions of interest with the document.