Method and apparatus for improved information transactions

• US 8,015,418 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2009
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ebrary
• Original Assignee: Ebrary
• Inventors: Holzgrafe, Richard M, Santos, Tom J, Nolan, Jay C, Warnock, Christopher M
• Primary Examiner(s): Dada; Beemnet W
• Application Number:
  US12/367,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20090187535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 713/165, 713/166, 713/193, 380/264, 380/265, 380/282, 380/299, 382/264, 382/265, 382/282, 382/299, 382/256
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/416 Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Methods and systems for analyzing an image, such as a newspaper or magazine pager or the like including text by mapping the image to determine regions of text and analyzing portions of the image in accordance with characteristics of selected regions of the text to develop a desired ordering of at least the selected regions in accordance with a textual relationship between the selected regions. The desired order may be related to the order in which the selected regions, and or words therein, are to be presented in a different format appropriate for a specific use, such by a human reader, for transferring the text over a network, for use in a database or by a search function, word processor or printer. Normalizing, columnizing, regionalizing, frameset building and article tracing functions may be used to develop the desired order in related regions in an article within the image.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing a secure transfer of a high-resolution image, used for non-viewing purposes, over a network from a server to a client, comprising:

said server comprising means for creating a high-resolution image of an original document for non-viewing purposes wherein said high-resolution image has higher resolution than a low-resolution image;

a data repository for storing said high-resolution image;

said server comprising means for creating said low-resolution image of the original document for viewing purposes wherein said low-resolution image contains all data present in said high-resolution image;

said data repository storing said low-resolution image;

said server comprising means for transferring from said data repository to said client at least a portion of said low-resolution image in response to a first user action;

said server comprising means for mapping the location of words or objects on each page of the original document to said low-resolution image to determine a mapping template related to discreet portions of said low-resolution image, wherein said discreet portions are user-selectable and correspond to both the original document and said high-resolution image;

said server comprising means for determining from said mapping template corresponding words or objects in said high-resolution image in response to a second user action, which comprises selecting one or more of said discreet portions of said low-resolution image by establishing the bounds of a box of pixels on said low-resolution image; and

said server comprising means for transferring said corresponding words or objects of said high-resolution image to said client.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said selected portions include words, said server further comprising:

means for determining a preferred order of said words in said selected portions.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said means for transferring further comprises:

means for transferring words in said selected portions in said preferred order.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said preferred order is a preferred order for interpretation by a human.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said means for determining a preferred order comprises:

means for one or more of columnizing and regionizing.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said means for determining a preferred order further comprises:

means for performing a normalizing function.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, said means for transferring further comprising:

means for transferring said selected portion to said client only if said client meets one or more authorization requirements.

8. An apparatus for providing a secure transfer of a page of a document, in the form of a high-resolution image, over a network from a server to a client, comprising:

means associated with said server for creating a high-resolution image of the original document page;

means associated with said server for creating a low-resolution image of the original document page for presentation to a user wherein said low-resolution image contains all data comprising at least any of the following;

words, graphics, content, metadata, structures, or other elements present in said high-resolution image;

means associated with said server for creating a mapping template of the location of words or objects on each page of the original document that assigns a unique identifier to each discreet portion of said low-resolution image;

means associated with said server for establishing the location of each such word or object by defining the bounds of a box of pixels in the original document that includes the word or object, and that is represented in a corresponding discreet portion of said low-resolution image to create user-selectable portions of said low-resolution image;

said server comprising means for transferring said low-resolution image of the original document page and its mapping template to the client in response to a first user action;

said client comprising means for using the mapping template to identify portion of said low-resolution image the user has selected in response to a further user action;

said client comprising means for transferring to the server information identifying the selected-portion according to the mapping template;

means associated with said server for using the mapping information to determine which words, graphics, content, metadata, structures, or other elements of the original document page correspond to the selected portion of said low-resolution image; and

said server comprising means for transferring to the client the corresponding selected words, graphics, content, metadata, structures, or other elements of the original document in the form of said high-resolution image.