Systems and methods for routing a facsimile confirmation based on content

• US 8,804,178 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kofax Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Kofax Incorporated
• Inventors: Borrey, Roland G., Couchman, Roy
• Primary Examiner(s): Cato, Miya J
• Application Number:
  US13/776,541
• Publication Number:
  US 20130169999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 533 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/2247 Characters composed of bars, e.g. CMC-7
• 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: H04N 1/00122 of text or character information only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00326 with a data reading, recognizing or recording apparatus, e.g. with a bar-code apparatus arrangements for the associated working of recording or reproducing apparatus with related apparatus G11B31/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32 Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device H04N1/38, H04N1/387 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32438 Informing the addressee of reception
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0017 Notifying a communication result
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0093 Facsimile machine H04N2201/0094 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3218 of a confirmation, acknowledgement or receipt

Abstract

A method for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof according to one embodiment of the present invention includes analyzing text of a facsimile for at least one of a meaning and a context of the text; and routing one or more confirmations to one or more destinations based on the analysis.

Claims

1. A method for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, comprising:

analyzing text of a facsimile for at least one of a meaning and a context of the text;

recognizing one or more global document features of the facsimile based at least in part on the analysis;

comparing at least one recognized global document feature in the facsimile to a plurality of known document types;

routing one or more confirmations to one or more destinations based at least in part on the analysis and the comparison; and

determining a type of information contained within each physical area of significance and each logical area of significance;

wherein the global document features comprise physical areas of significance and logical areas of significance, and

wherein the determining does not utilize any OCR techniques.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis includes determining one or more keywords in the text,

wherein more than one keyword is determined by the analysis and said keywords are not adjacent in the facsimile text, and

wherein each of the keywords comprise one or more letters or symbols.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising labeling at least some of the physical areas of significance and the logical areas of significance.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facsimile text does not contain confirmation destination information, and

wherein the confirmation destination information not contained in the facsimile text includes one or more of names of intended facsimile recipients and destination data.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis includes comparing one or more keywords in the text to other elements in the text, and wherein the elements include words, symbols, keywords, and graphic elements.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis includes:

matching one or more keywords in the text to data stored in memory; and

determining a position of one or more keywords in the text.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining a position of one or more of the global document features.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis includes classifying the text as a specific document type.

9. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the analysis includes classifying at least one of the keywords in the text as a specific word type.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

digitizing the facsimile;

segmenting the digitized facsimile into areas, each area comprising one or more of the recognized global document features; and

matching one or more of the areas to one or more objects described in a knowledge base.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising labeling at least one of the matched areas based on a type of information contained in the matched area.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the text is produced by converting a source to text in a human language other than a language of the source.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the confirmation is selected from a group consisting of an audible message, a flux, a text message, and a multimedia message.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising dynamically modifying one or more characteristics of a knowledge base,

wherein the each of the plurality of known document types is described by one or more of the characteristics.

15. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the confirmation is routed to a sender of the facsimile as well as a destination other than one associated with a sender of the facsimile.

16. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the each of the known document types corresponds to one of a plurality of document classes, at least one document class further comprising a plurality of document sub-classes.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the global document features comprise physical areas of significance and logical areas of significance, the method further comprising:

classifying the facsimile according to one of the plurality of document classes;

verifying the classification of the facsimile based on at least one of;

structural characteristics of one or more of the areas; and

relational characteristics of one or more of the areas, and

classifying the facsimile according to one of the document sub-classes

18. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facsimile text does not contain confirmation destination information, wherein the analysis includes classifying the text as a specific document type, and wherein the text is produced by converting a source to text in a human language other than a language of the source.

19. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facsimile text does not contain confirmation destination information, wherein the analysis includes classifying the text as a specific document type, and wherein the confirmation is routed to a sender of the facsimile as well as a destination other than destinations associated with a sender and an intended recipient of the facsimile.

20. A system for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured for performing the method of claim 1.

21. A system for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, comprising:

a memory storing logic for performing the method of claim 1; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured for executing the logic.

22. A method for routing a confirmation, comprising:

converting a facsimile to a computer-readable document;

identifying one or more keywords in the document;

analyzing the document by determining at least two of a;

relation of one or more symbols in the document to the one or more keywords,

relation of graphic elements to the one or more keywords, and

classification of text of the document as a specific document type,

determining a confirmation destination based on the analysis; and

routing the confirmation to the confirmation destination based on the determination,

wherein the determining does not utilize any OCR techniques.

23. A system for routing ac comprising:

a processor for executing logic;

logic for converting a facsimile to a computer-readable document;

logic for identifying one or more keywords in the document;

logic for analyzing the document by determining at least two of a

relation of one or more symbols in the document to the one or more keywords,

relation of graphic elements to the one or more keywords, and

classification of text of the document as a specific document type,

logic for determining a confirmation destination based on the analysis; and

logic for routing the facsimile to the confirmation destination based on the determination,

wherein the determining does not utilize any OCR techniques.

24. A computer program product for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer code thereon, including;

computer code for converting a facsimile to a computer-readable document;

computer code for identifying one or more keywords in the document;

computer code for analyzing the document by determining at least two one of a;

relation of one or more symbols in the document to the one or more keywords,

relation of graphic elements to the one or more keywords, and

classification of text of the document as a specific document type,

computer code for determining a confirmation destination based on the analysis; and

computer code for routing the confirmation to the confirmation destination based on the determination,

wherein the determining does not utilize any OCR techniques.

25. A method for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, comprising:

analyzing a facsimile for at least one of a meaning and a context of the facsimile;

segmenting the facsimile into areas;

matching at least some of the areas to one or more of;

a structural characteristic of one or more known document types; and

a relational characteristic of one or more known document types;

labeling each matched area based on the matching, the labeling further comprising compiling evidence and disevidence for one or more of the areas;

attempting to initiate a business process based on the analysis; and

routing one or more confirmations relating to the business process to one or more destinations based on the analysis,

wherein the evidence and the disevidence each relate to whether the area contains a particular object corresponding one or more of the labels

wherein one of the confirmations is sent upon either completion of the business process or upon encountering a problem with the business process.

26. A system for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured for performing the method of claim 25.

27. A system for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, comprising:

a memory storing logic for performing the method of claim 25; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured for executing the logic.

28. A computer program product for routing a confirmation of receipt of a facsimile or portion thereof, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer code thereon, including;

computer code for analyzing a facsimile for at least one of a meaning and a context of the facsimile;

computer code for labeling one or more areas of the facsimile based on the analysis;

computer code for classifying the facsimile as a particular document type based on one or more of the analysis and the labeling;

computer code for attempting to initiate a business process based on the analysis;

computer code for routing one or more confirmations relating to the business process to one or more destinations based on the analysis;

computer code for digitizing the facsimile;

computer code for segmenting the digitized facsimile into areas, each area comprising one or more of the recognized global document features; and

computer code for matching one or more of the areas to one or more objects described in a knowledge base; and

computer code for labeling at least one of the matched areas based on a type of information contained in the matched area,

wherein the computer code for segmenting does not utilize any OCR techniques.

29. The computer program product in claim 28, further comprising computer code for verifying the classification.