Method and apparatus for defining fields in standardized test imaging

• US 9,195,875 B1
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Data Recognition Corporation (Brady Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Data Recognition Corporation (Brady Corporation)
• Inventors: Ray, Damon E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Drennan, Barry
• Assistant Examiner(s): WOLDEMARIAM, AKLILU K
• Application Number:
  US12/256,282
• Time in Patent Office: 2,589 Days
• Field of Search: 382/181, 382/138, 382/254, 382/283, 434/350, 434/353, 434/359, 347/19, 347/41, 347/43
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

Disclosed herein, among other things, are method and apparatus for defining fields in a standardized test imaging system. In various embodiments, at least one page of a standardized exam is converted into a raster image. One or more bubble response fields are automatically identified on the raster image and a location of one or more bubble response fields is stored in a database. According to various embodiments, a portion of the raster image is defined that includes one or more bubble response fields. A size of the bubbles of the one or more bubble response fields is selected, and one or more bubbles of the size selected are automatically detected. A position of each bubble detected is determined and stored, according to various embodiments.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

converting at least one page of a standardized exam into a raster image;

automatically identifying a location of at least one bubble response field on the raster image, thereby providing an identified location of the at least one bubble response field, wherein user input defines a number of bubbles in the identified location, and wherein at least a portion of the at least one bubble response field is demarcated using a graphical user interface;

storing the identified location in a database;

automatically detecting one or more bubbles within the at least one bubble response field; and

verifying whether the number of bubbles detected is equal to the number of bubbles defined by the user input.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically identifying further includes:

selecting a size of the bubbles within the at least one bubble response field;

automatically detecting one or more bubbles of the size selected; and

determining and storing a position of each bubble detected.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein it is verified that the number of bubbles detected is equal to the number of bubbles defined by the user input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically converting at least one page of a standardized exam into a raster image includes converting the page into a tagged image file format (TIFF) image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically converting at least one page of a standardized exam into a raster image includes converting the page from a portable document format (PDF) image into a raster image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically converting at least one page of a standardized exam into a raster image includes converting from a color image into a black and white image.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing directions to locate one or more bubbles associated with a response for a particular question.

15. The method of claim 3 wherein if the number detected is not equal to the number defined by the user, further comprising detecting the bubbles by tracing.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein if the number detected is not equal to the number defined by the user, further comprising redemarcating at least a portion of the at least one bubble response field.

8. A method, comprising:

converting a scanned image from a first format to a second format;

automatically searching the image for at least one bubble response field on the image;

identifying a position of the at least one bubble response field, thereby providing an identified position in the at least one bubble response field, wherein user input defines a number of bubbles within the bubble response field, and wherein at least a portion of the at least one bubble response field is demarcated using a graphical user interface;

storing the position of each bubble in a database;

automatically detecting one or more bubbles within the bubble response field; and

verifying whether the number of bubbles detected is equal to the number of bubbles defined.

9. The method of claim 8,

wherein it is verified that the number of bubbles detected is equal to the number of bubbles defined.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein automatically searching the image includes using a pattern-matching search.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein automatically searching the image includes defining tolerances for the pattern-matching search.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein automatically searching the image includes searching the image for patterns of a shape and a size.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein automatically searching the image includes providing user input for defining the shape and the size.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein converting a scanned image from a first format to a second format includes converting a scanned image from a portable document format (PDF).