Methods and systems for processing filled forms

• US 9,384,180 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2013
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Piratla, Nischal M, Gajera, Rinku, Ponnavaikko, Kovendhan, Pettit, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Stork, Kyle
• Assistant Examiner(s): Level, Barbara
• Application Number:
  US13/859,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20140310583A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a method and system for processing forms filled by a user. The system includes a scanner configured to scan a first form in a first language that includes one or more fillable fields filled with content; a content extractor configured to extract content from the scanned filled fields; a content processor configured to process the extracted content; and an embedding module configured to embed the processed content into a second form including one or more fields corresponding to the fillable fields of the first form.

Claims

1. A document processing system comprising:

a scanning device configured to scan a first form in a first language, including one or more fillable fields filled with content of the first language;

a content extractor configured to extract the content from a space provided for each of the scanned filled fields and detect a loss of content caused by a size of the content exceeding the space of the scanned filled fields from which the content is extracted;

a content processor configured to process the extracted content, when the content extractor detects the loss of the content, by rebuilding the lost content, using a content rebuilder, into a rebuilt lost content corresponding to the content filled into the first form;

a database including a template of a second form in a second language including one or more fillable fields in a second language corresponding to the fillable fields in the first language of the first form; and

an embedding module configured to embed the processed rebuilt lost content in the first language into the second form to create a single combined merged image of a form with the rebuilt lost content in the first language in the fillable fields from the first form combined into corresponding fillable fields for the second form in the second language.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the content processor includes a scaling module configured to:

compare content size to the available space defined by the one or more fields of the first form with the one or more fields of the second form; and

scaling the extracted rebuilt lost content or the image to accommodate the space.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a wherein the database, which stores a plurality of user profiles and one or more forms in a plurality of languages.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the embedding module includes:

a merge module configured to merge the rebuilt lost content as multiple images into a single combined image.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a transceiver configured to send a plurality of forms to a remote processing system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the content extractor is configured to extract a difference in content between the filled first form and an un-filled first form.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the content extractor includes a match-lifting algorithm.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the content rebuilder is configured to rebuild the lost content in the scanned form based on the difference of the content by using a broken stroke reconstruction algorithm.

9. A method for processing documents at a document processing system, the method comprising:

using a scanning device to scan a first form in a first language including one or more fillable fields filled with content in the first language;

extracting the content from a space provided for each of the scanned filled fields;

detecting a loss of content caused by a size of the content exceeding the space of the scanned filled fields from which the content is extracted;

processing the extracted content by rebuilding the lost content into a rebuilt lost content corresponding to the content filled into the first form;

providing a database including a template of a second form in a second language including one or more fillable fields in a second language corresponding to the fillable fields in the first language of the first form; and

embedding the processed rebuilt lost content in the first language into the second form to create a single combined merged image of a form with the rebuilt lost content in the first language in the fillable fields from the first form combined into corresponding fillable fields for the second form in the second language.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the content is extracted using a match-lifting algorithm.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein extracting the content comprises extracting a difference in content between the filled first form and an un-filled first form.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein processing the content further comprises rebuilding the lost content in the scanned form by using a broken stroke reconstruction algorithm.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein processing the content further comprises scaling the rebuilt lost content to correspond to a size of the corresponding field in the second form.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein embedding the extracted content into a second form comprises merging the extracted content with the second form.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising printing the second form comprising the embedded content.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising comparing pixel height of the content for each field of the first form and scaling the rebuilt lost content for the one or more fields to a common pixel height.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing, in the database, a plurality of user profiles that include one or more forms in a user-preferred language.

18. A method for processing documents at a document processing system, the method comprising:

using a scanning device to scan a first form in a first language that includes one or more fillable fields filled with content in the first language;

extracting the content in the first language from a space provided for each of the filled fields to define a secondary image;

detecting a loss of content in the secondary image caused by a size of the content exceeding the space of the scanned filled fields from which the content is extracted;

processing the extracted content by rebuilding the lost content into a rebuilt lost content in the secondary image corresponding to the content filled into the first form;

providing a database including a template of a second form in a second language that defines a primary image including one or more fillable fields in a second language corresponding to the fillable fields in the first language of the first form; and

overlaying or merging the secondary image in the first language with the primary image to define a combined image, wherein the primary image comprises the second form in the second language with the fillable fields in the second language corresponding to the fields of the first form in the first language.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein extracting the content comprises extracting a difference in content between the filled first form and an un-filled first form.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the content is extracted using a match-lifting algorithm.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the rebuilding includes using a broken stroke reconstruction algorithm.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising scaling the rebuilt content of the secondary image to fit the fields of the second form.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising comparing pixel height of the rebuilt content in each field and scaling the rebuilt content to a common pixel height.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising printing the combined image.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising storing, in the database, a plurality of user profiles that include one or more forms in a user-preferred language.