Systems and methods for routing a facsimile confirmation based on content

• US 9,277,087 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tungsten Automation Corp.
• Original Assignee: Kofax Incorporated
• Inventors: Couchman, Roy, Borrey, Roland G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cato, Miya J
• Application Number:
  US14/327,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20140320930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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; detecting at least one document feature of the facsimile based on the analysis; comparing one or more detected document features to a plurality of document features, each of the plurality of document features corresponding to one or more known document types; and routing the confirmation to one or more destinations based on at least one of the comparison and the analysis.

Systems and computer program products are also presented.

Claims

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

analyzing an image of a facsimile;

detecting at least one graphical document feature of the facsimile based on the analysis;

comparing one or more detected graphical document features to a plurality of known graphical document features, each of the plurality of known graphical document features corresponding to one or more known document types;

the comparing further comprising one or more of;

comparing one or more of the detected graphical document features to features of one or more forms, wherein the forms relate to one or more certain document types,

determining a position of one or more of the detected graphical document features within the image, and

comparing at least two of the detected graphical document features to one another; and

routing the confirmation to one or more destinations based on at least one of the comparison and the analysis.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining the one or more destinations based on one or more of the detected graphical document features.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more destinations to which the confirmation is routed includes a sender of the facsimile.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, the comparing further comprising correlating a pattern comprising the one or more detected graphical document features to one or more forms.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facsimile corresponds to an intended recipient and wherein the image of the facsimile indicates the intended recipient.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facsimile corresponds to an intended recipient,

wherein the image of the facsimile does not indicate the intended recipient, and

wherein at least one of the one or more destinations corresponds to the intended recipient, and

wherein the routing is based at least in part on the analysis.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis, the comparing and the routing are not based on optical character recognition.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more detected graphical document features comprise one or more of:

a picture and a diagram.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the image does not contain confirmation destination information.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising attempting to initiate a business process based on the analysis.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

detecting a problem with the attempt to initiate the business process;

generating a notification of the problem; and

notifying one or more entities of the problem; and

wherein the notification comprises an exception.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more detected graphical document features exclude text;

and

wherein the plurality of known document features exclude text.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising initiating a business process based on the analysis.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the routing is further based on the one or more detected graphical document features.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the routing is based on the analysis.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the routing is based on the comparison and the analysis.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis includes matching one or more of the detected graphical document features in the image to data stored in memory, the data stored in memory comprising one or more of:

the facsimile;

at least one of the detected graphical document features; and

at least one graphical document feature of one or more of the known document types.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to execute logic; and

logic in and/or executable by the processor to cause the processor to;

analyze an image of a facsimile;

detect at least one graphical document feature of the facsimile based on the analysis;

compare one or more detected graphical document features to a plurality of known graphical document features, each of the plurality of known graphical document features corresponding to one or more known document types;

the comparison further comprising one or more of;

comparing one or more of the detected graphical document features to features of one or more forms, wherein the forms relate to one or more certain document types,

determining a position of one or more of the detected graphical document features within the image, and

comparing at least two of the detected graphical document features to one another; and

route a confirmation of the facsimile to one or more destinations based on at least one of the comparison and the analysis.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied therewith computer readable program code, wherein the computer readable program code is configured, upon execution by a processor, to cause the processor to:

analyze an image of a facsimile;

detect at least one graphical document feature of the facsimile based on the analysis;

compare one or more detected graphical document features to a plurality of known graphical document features, each of the plurality of known graphical document features corresponding to one or more known document types;

the comparison further comprising one or more of;

comparing one or more of the detected graphical document features to features of one or more forms, wherein the forms relate to one or more certain document types,

determining a position of one or more of the detected graphical document features within the image, and

comparing at least two of the detected graphical document features to one another; and

route a confirmation of the facsimile to one or more destinations based on at least one of the comparison and the analysis.