Segmenting Hand-printed Characters Patents (Class 382/179)
  • Patent number: 11687618
    Abstract: The invention concerns a method comprising: detecting strokes of digital ink input on a computing device in a free handwriting format; detecting a text block from said strokes; performing text recognition on each text line of said text block, including extracting text lines from the text block and generating model data that associate each stroke of the text block with a character, a word and a text line of the text block; normalizing each text line from the free handwriting format into a structured format to comply with a document pattern. The normalization may comprise for each text line: computing a transform function to transform said text line into the structured format; applying the transform function to the text line; and updating the model data of said text line based on the transform function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: MyScript
    Inventor: Alain Chateigner
  • Patent number: 11562006
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for receiving, processing and interactively displaying real-time air traffic data representative of the movement of aircraft throughout an airspace. The apparatus is an interactive data visualization framework which provides an immediately visualized aviation-oriented insights, with a focus on evaluating the deviations among flights by route, type, airport, and aircraft performance. The apparatus includes utilities for such as capacity planning, flight route prediction, and fuel consumption analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: OHIO STATE INNOVATION FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Seth Young, Arnab Nandi, Behrooz Omidvar Tehrani
  • Patent number: 10976838
    Abstract: Color information obtained by an optical sensor of a stylus can be displayed at a pen tip of the stylus with good visibility, and visual feedback is provided as a suitable user interface when the color information is transmitted from the stylus to an electronic apparatus. A stylus includes: a trigger signal generating circuit; an optical sensor that detects incident light; a memory circuit that stores color information of the incident light detected by the optical sensor; a color presenting circuit which is disposed at a pen tip of the stylus and which presents a color corresponding to the color information; and a control circuit. The control circuit presents the color information detected by the optical sensor using the color presenting circuit at the pen tip, and controls the color presenting circuit in response to a trigger signal from the trigger signal generating circuit when transmitting the color information to the electronic apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Vanio Kirilov Ivanov
  • Patent number: 10867124
    Abstract: Embodiments are disclosed in which a process receives annotation inputs for annotations of a document. The annotation inputs may be grouped together into clusters based at least in part on a functional relationship between the timing of annotation inputs and the paths of the annotation inputs across an electronic display. The annotation inputs may be associated with portions of the document based at least in part on the shape of the paths of the annotation inputs, the sequence of annotation inputs, or the locations of the annotation inputs. Additionally, the paths of the annotation inputs to portions of the document may be modified in response to modifications of the portion of the document data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jiva Gandhara DeVoe, John Henry Sturgeon, James Vernon Van Boxtel, Elden G. Wood, III, Kevin Raemon Glyn Smyth, Evan Sean Torchin
  • Patent number: 10817083
    Abstract: Signals are transmitted from a plurality of regions of an electronic device. Location information is then received from an electronic pen in proximity to the electronic device. The location information is determined by the electronic pen and corresponds to a location of the electronic pen relative to the screen of the electronic device. The location information is determined using one or more of the transmitted signals received by the electronic pen. A display on the screen of the electronic device is controlled based at least in part on the received location information. A more efficient pen operating state is thereby provided that improves the user experience by more accurately and reliably determining the pen location in space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Arie Y. Gur, Amir Zyskind, Vadim Mishalov, Adam Benjamin Meshi, Felix Chazanovich, On Haran
  • Patent number: 10649652
    Abstract: Provided are a method of displaying an interface of a mobile device including a touch screen and a mobile device performing the method. The mobile device includes a touch screen having a first area and a second area. The method includes receiving, when the first and second areas are locked during a phone call state of the mobile device, an input function activation signal, and displaying, in the second area, an interface comprising a plurality of operation keys related to the phone call state, according to the received input function activation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Weiwei Sun
  • Patent number: 10318147
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and system of gesture recognition in a touch display device, which is able to predetermine gesture inputs possibly to be made by a user prior to the completion of the user's touch input, and enable a display unit to display all possible similar gesture inputs so as to provide an instruction (or navigation guidance) for the user. Thus, when using a large-sized touch display device, the user does not have to perform touch operations widely throughout the screen of the display device, because the system can recognize the similar gesture inputs in advance, which renders it easier for the user to operate on the touch display device, thereby obtaining a better user experience.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Peng Du
  • Patent number: 10291805
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a document placing table, a scanner configured to read a reading region on the document placing table from below the document placing table, an interface configured to communicate with an image capturing device which is positioned above the document placing table to capture an image of a capturing region on the document placing table from above the document placing table, and a processor configured to generate an image file in which first image data obtained by reading a target placed on the document placing table with the scanner and second image data obtained from the image capturing device via the interface, are associated with each other, wherein the second image data is generated from at least one image of the target captured by the image capturing device from above the document placing table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Akihiro Moro
  • Patent number: 10181077
    Abstract: The present invention relates to methods and systems for automated processing of document images using mobile and desktop communications devices. Systems and methods are provided for expediting analysis of the accuracy and quality of captured images by such devices before transmission to a server for processing. The processes use on-device software to provide immediate feedback to the user as to whether the quality of the document photograph is sufficient for processing, without the need for intermediate communication with a server. The processes utilize component labeling, MICR character recognition methods, automatic image rotation, and weighted image scaling. The invention increases speed of processing, reduces rates of rejection, increases processor efficiency, limits memory use, identifies images with likely errors, and provides the opportunity for correction of errors at the earliest possible time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: Vertifi Software, LLC
    Inventor: Christopher Edward Smith
  • Patent number: 9910852
    Abstract: For detecting cascading sub-logograms, code may detect a sub-logogram from a written input to a written input device. In addition, the code may display one or more logogram hints in response to detecting the sub-logogram. Each logogram hint includes the sub-logogram and one or more subsequent sub-logograms of a logogram sequence of multiple sub-logograms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Ming Qian, Jian Li, Song Wang, Jianbang Zhang
  • Patent number: 9898187
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer-readable media related to a technique for providing handwriting input functionality on a user device. A handwriting recognition module is trained to have a repertoire comprising multiple non-overlapping scripts and capable of recognizing tens of thousands of characters using a single handwriting recognition model. The handwriting input module provides real-time, stroke-order and stroke-direction independent handwriting recognition for multi-character handwriting input. In particular, real-time, stroke-order and stroke-direction independent handwriting recognition is provided for multi-character, or sentence level Chinese handwriting recognition. User interfaces for providing the handwriting input functionality are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Mei-Qun Xia, Jannes G. Dolfing, Ryan S. Dixon, Karl M. Groethe, Karan Misra, Jerome R. Bellegarda, Ueli Meier
  • Patent number: 9710704
    Abstract: Systems and methods for finding and presenting differences between documents are provided. One method includes identifying one or more differences between a first document and at least one second document. The method further includes determining each of the one or more differences to be either a significant difference or an insignificant difference. The determination of whether each of the one or more differences is a significant difference or an insignificant difference may be performed in an automated manner without intervention from a user. The method further includes providing an identification of the significant differences to the user. The method further includes either hiding the insignificant differences from the user or providing an identification of the insignificant differences in a different manner than a manner in which the identification of the significant differences is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: ABBYY DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventors: Vasily Vladimirovich Panferov, Andrey Anatolievich Isaev, Catherine Yurievna Bobrova, Olga Zhukovskaya
  • Patent number: 9672340
    Abstract: For secure handwriting input for password fields, an apparatus for using a tone indicator to identify language in text recognition is disclosed. The apparatus may include a processor, a handwriting input unit operatively coupled to the processor, a display operatively coupled to the processor, a handwriting element module that identifies a handwriting element from handwriting input, an input replication module that controls the display to present the handwriting element, and a privacy module that controls the display to obscure the handwriting element in response to a predetermined trigger event. Obscuring the handwriting element may include removing the handwriting element, rendering transparent the handwriting element, replacing the handwriting element and an area surrounding the handwriting element with a colored area, and/or replacing the handwriting element with an anonymizing symbol. A method and computer program product also perform the functions of the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) PTE. LTD
    Inventors: John Weldon Nicholson, Scott Edwards Kelso, Steven Richard Perrin, Jianbang Zhang
  • Patent number: 9652996
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for measuring a person's cognitive load comprises initially receiving 100 stroke data (FIG. 4, FIG. 5(a)) representative of hand-based strokes produced by a person 200 while performing a task. A processor 216 selects 104 a subset of the stroke data FIG. 5(c) that meets one or more predetermined stability criteria. A measure indicative of the person's cognitive load based on the subset of stroke data is determined 106. In this was the user's cognitive load in an objective, uniform and non-intrusive manner by analyzing the user's writing behavior. An analysis of all of a user's writing strokes will bias the evaluation result. The accuracy of the cognitive load measurement is increased by applying stability criteria to select the best strokes for further analysis. By disregarding unstable strokes the computation costs for determining the user's cognitive load is also improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: NATIONAL ICT AUSTRALIA LIMITED
    Inventors: Fang Chen, Kun Yu
  • Patent number: 9582740
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a receiving unit and a selecting unit. The receiving unit receives an image of a document. The selecting unit selects a character recognition result in a first frame of the document from plural character recognition candidates in the first frame on the basis of definition information defining a relationship between a character string in the first frame of the document and a character string in a second frame of the document different from the first frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Satoshi Kubota, Masanori Sekino, Shunichi Kimura
  • Patent number: 9377948
    Abstract: An aspect provides a method, including: accepting, at an input surface of an information handling device, one or more inputs, the one or more inputs comprising handwriting inputs including a special handwriting input pre-associated with a request for assistance; determining, using one or more processors, a candidate list of inputs based on the handwriting inputs and the special handwriting input; and providing a display of the candidate list. Other aspects are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Xin Feng, Mei-Wen Sun
  • Patent number: 9355313
    Abstract: One or more components of an image document may be detected and extracted in order to create a flow document from the image document. Components of an image document may include text, one or more paths, and one or more images. The text may be detected using optical character recognition (OCR) and the image document may be binarized. The detected text may be extracted from the binarized image document to enable detection of the paths, which may then be extracted from the binarized image document to enable detection of the images. In some examples, the images, similar to the text and paths, may be extracted from the binarized image document. The extracted text, paths, and/or images may be stored in a data store, and may be retrieved in order to create a flow document that may provide better adaption to a variety of reading experiences and provide editable documents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Milan Sesum, Ivan Vujic
  • Patent number: 9348437
    Abstract: Methods and systems for collecting and validating data are provided. Data may be collected from users at a variety of locations with a mobile device. The mobile device may wirelessly transmit the collected data to a central location. The collected data may then be validated at the central location and any resulting error messages may be transmitted to the mobile device while the mobile device remains in close proximity to the user so that the data may be corrected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited
    Inventors: Francesco Zampini, Gabriele Mutarelli, Giovanni D'Angelo, Marco Donna, Andrea Franco
  • Patent number: 9335909
    Abstract: Provided is a drawing assist device and the like which assists a drawing operation while improving efficiency thereof. According to the drawing assist device of the present invention, whether or not a first factor of an element defined according to a positional trajectory of a pointer moved by an agent is adequate in design for a subject represented by the element is determined. The agent is notified if the determination result thereof is negative. According thereto, the agent can progress the drawing operation while confirming whether or not the subject drawn personally is adequate in design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunji Sabanai, Yoichiro Komatsu, Kenji Shimada, Soji Yamakawa
  • Patent number: 9330331
    Abstract: A method, non-transitory computer readable medium and character recognition device for character recognition includes a character recognition device for receiving an image representing a character comprising one or more strokes. A set of first parameters associated with each of the one or more first strokes is determined. Each of the one or more first strokes is compared with the associated set of first parameters with a plurality of stored sets of second parameters, where each of the plurality of stored second strokes is associated with a stored set of second parameters. A second stroke is identified from among the plurality of stored second strokes corresponding to each of the one or more first strokes based on the comparison. The character is identified based on the identified one or more second strokes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Wipro Limited
    Inventor: Magesh Kasthuri
  • Patent number: 9274607
    Abstract: The present document describes a method for authenticating a user into a system using gestures. The user may draw the gesture on a touch sensitive device (e.g. touchpad), or make the gesture in the air in front of a camera. In the touchpad embodiment, the trajectory defined by the gesture is received ready from the touchpad. In the camera embodiment, the trajectory is built by analyzing the images of an image stream to find a hand (or another subject i.e. meta-subject). The trajectory may then be built by monitoring the change of position of the hand in the succession of images. The trajectory is analyzed to determine the key-code defined by the gesture, and to determine whether or not it is the authenticated user who is performing the gesture (as opposed to an intruder) based on the speed and the distance between the trajectory and a straight line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Inventor: Bruno DeLean
  • Patent number: 9082005
    Abstract: A method is provided for sketch segmentation via smart scribbles, the results of which are especially suitable for interactive real-time graphics editing applications. A vector-based drawing may be segmented into labels based on input scribbles provided by a user. By organizing the labeling as an energy minimization problem, an approximate solution can be found using a sequence of binary graph cuts for an equivalent graph, providing an optimized implementation in a polynomial time suitable for real-time drawing applications. The energy function may include time, proximity, direction, and curvature between strokes as smoothness terms, and proximity, direction, and oriented curvature between strokes and scribbles as data terms. Additionally, the energy function may be modified to provide for user control over locality control, allowing the selection of appropriately sized labeling regions by scribble input speed or scribble input pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Gioacchino Noris, Daniel Sykora, Ariel Shamir, Stelian Coros, Alexander Hornung, Robert Sumner, Maryann Simmons, Brian Whited, Markus Gross
  • Patent number: 8908971
    Abstract: Methods, devices and systems are described for transcribing text from artifacts to electronic files. A computer system is provided, wherein the computer system comprises a computer-readable storage device. An image of the artifact is received wherein text is present on the artifact. A first portion of the text is analyzed. Characters representing the first portion of the text are identified at a first confidence level equal to or greater than a threshold confidence level. The characters representing the first portion of the text are stored. A second portion of the text appearing on the artifact is analyzed. A plurality of candidates to represent the second portion of the text are identified at a second confidence level below the threshold confidence level. Finally, the plurality of candidates to a user for selection are presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
    Inventor: Lee Samuel Jensen
  • Patent number: 8860806
    Abstract: Disclosed are a device, a method, and a system for enhancing color. The device comprises a unit used to extract a foreground portion from a whiteboard color image to serve as whiteboard contents; a unit used to stretch R, G, and B channel values of each of a plurality of foreground pixels forming the whiteboard contents; a unit used to adjust color tone of each of the foreground pixels; a unit used to adjust a ratio of color saturation degree to color intensity of each of the foreground pixels so as to cause the ratio to approach a ratio expectation value; and a unit used to increase the color saturation degree and the color intensity of each of the foreground pixel so as to cause the two to approach a color saturation degree expectation value and a color intensity expectation value Id, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Wenbo Zhang, Yan Li
  • Patent number: 8787671
    Abstract: Disclosed is a character recognition preprocessing method and apparatus for correcting a nonlinear character string into a linear character string. A binarized character string region is divided into character regions on a character-by-character basis. Upper and lower feature points of each character region are derived, and an upper boundary line, which is a curve connecting the upper feature points of the character regions, and a lower boundary line, which is a curve connecting the lower feature points of the character regions, are generated by applying cubic spline interpolation. Nonlinearity is corrected through adaptive region enlargement by using the maximum horizontal length and the maximum height of the divided character regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, Industry Foundation of Chonnam National University
    Inventors: Hee-Bum Ahn, Jong-Hyun Park, Soo-Hyung Kim, Hyung-Jung Yang, Guee-Sang Lee
  • Patent number: 8768060
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a storage unit, a receiving unit, a search unit, a processing unit and an output unit. The storage unit stores information of drawn image elements. The receiving unit receives a transformation instruction to transform a part of the image elements specified by the information of the image elements. The search unit searches the storage unit for an image element that (i) has a relation, being based on a predetermined condition, with the image elements, which are a target of the transformation instruction, and (ii) is not the target of the transformation instruction. The processing unit performs a transformation process on (i) the image elements, which are the target of the received transformation instruction, and (ii) the image element, which is found as the search result, based on the received transformation instruction. The output unit outputs the result of the transformation process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Koushi Kawamoto
  • Patent number: 8750619
    Abstract: Systems and methods for character recognition by performing lateral view-based analysis on the character data and generating a feature vector based on the lateral view-based analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: University of Calcutta
    Inventors: Nabendu Chaki, Soharab Hossain Shaikh
  • Publication number: 20140146200
    Abstract: An example method of entering calendar events into an electronic calendar involves capturing a digital image of a document that contains a written calendar event; analyzing the digital image of the document containing the written calendar event to extract text information appearing on the digital image of the document; matching the extracted text information in the digital image of the written calendar event document to a date in the electronic calendar; and populating the extracted text information to at least one field of the electronic calendar associated with the date.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2012
    Publication date: May 29, 2014
    Applicant: RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED
    Inventors: Sherryl Lee Lorraine SCOTT, Scott David REEVE, Julia Murdock THOMPSON, Jodie Elizabeth FLETCHER
  • Publication number: 20140112582
    Abstract: Systems and methods for character recognition by performing lateral view-based analysis on the character data and generating a feature vector based on the lateral view-based analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
    Inventors: Nabendu Chaki, Soharab Hossain Shaikh
  • Patent number: 8675260
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, the image processing apparatus includes a printing control unit, an image reading unit, an extracting unit, a difference image extracting unit, and a determination unit. The printing control unit controls printing of a plurality of pages on one sheet of paper according to a print setting information which indicates a printing form, and printing of a code indicating the print setting information on the paper. The image reading unit read the paper. The extracting unit extracts the code from the read image. The difference image extracting unit extracts a difference image between the printed image and the read image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigeo Uchida, Taira Ashikawa, Satoshi Oyama, Katsuhito Mochizuki
  • Patent number: 8666174
    Abstract: Systems, methods and computer program products on storage devices for shape clustering and applications in processing various documents, including an output of an optical character recognition (OCR) process. The output of an OCR process is classified into a plurality of clusters of clip images and a representative image for each cluster is generated to identify clusters whose clip images were incorrectly assigned character codes by the OCR process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Luc Vincent, Raymond W. Smith
  • Patent number: 8644616
    Abstract: Systems and methods for character recognition by performing lateral view-based analysis on the character data and generating a feature vector based on the lateral view-based analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: University of Calcutta
    Inventors: Nabendu Chaki, Soharab Hossain Shaikh
  • Patent number: 8611669
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a line information reception unit, a line extraction unit, an inversion unit and a determination unit. The line information reception unit receives a set of information indicating (i) information on an image having a possibly of being a line and (ii) line elements being a rectangular pixel lump which constitutes a line. The line extraction unit extracts a line by tracing from a first start point to an end point of the line, based on the received information indicating the line elements and a tracing direction of the line. The inversion unit inverts the tracing direction of the line, sets the extracted end point of the line as a second start point and sends the second start point and the inverted tracing direction to the line extraction unit. The determination unit determines whether or not to cause the inversion unit to perform a process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Eiichi Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20130315484
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a handwritten character retrieval apparatus is provided with an acquisition unit, a feature extraction unit, an segmentation unit, a attribute append unit and a retrieval unit. The acquisition unit acquires a handwritten character string in units of a stroke. The feature extraction unit extracts a first feature value unique to each of the strokes from the handwritten character string. The segmentation unit segments the strokes into a plurality of sets. The attribute append unit appends a second feature value based on the sets to each of the strokes. The retrieval unit executes retrieval based on the first feature value and the second feature value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Publication date: November 28, 2013
    Inventor: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
  • Publication number: 20130315483
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a handwritten character retrieval apparatus is provided with an acquisition unit, a separation unit, a feature extraction unit and a retrieval unit. The acquisition unit acquires a document including handwriting data. The separation unit separates the document into a plurality of parts. The feature extraction unit extracts feature values, each indicating a feature value of each part. The retrieval unit executes retrieval based on the feature values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Publication date: November 28, 2013
    Inventors: Tomoyuki SHIBATA, Yojiro TONOUCHI, Kazunori IMOTO, Yasunobu YAMAUCHI
  • Patent number: 8594431
    Abstract: A method and system for recognizing a character affected by a noise or an obstruction is disclosed. After receiving an image with characters, a character being affected by a noise or an obstruction is determined. Then, areas in the character where the noise or obstruction affected are precisely located. Templates representing every possible character in the image are updated by removing equivalent areas to the areas in the character being affected by the noise or obstruction. Then, the character is classified in a template among the updated templates by finding the template having the highest number of matching pixels with the character.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ami Ben-Horesh, Amir Geva, Eugeniusz Walach
  • Patent number: 8588526
    Abstract: A visualization program, method and apparatus for determining reading order of content in a structured document. The method includes generating, for each of a plurality of elements, a directed segment; storing, in the reading order, the generated directed segments of the elements into a storage device; reading from the storage device; linking together the directed segments for the elements in accordance with the reading order; and displaying the linked directed segments overlaid on the structured document which is displayed on the screen. A computer implemented program and an apparatus for carrying out the above method are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Daisuke Sato
  • Patent number: 8571270
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus is provided that includes a character chopper component that segments words into individual characters in a bitmap of a textual image undergoing an OCR process. The Character chopper component is configured to produce a set of (possibly curved) chop-lines which divide a bitmap of any given word into its individual character or glyph candidates. Cases where an input bitmap contains two separate words are handled by marking a place where those words should be split. The character segmentation algorithm computes the set of vertically oriented, curved chop-lines by considering glyph and background colors in a given word bitmap. The set is filtered afterwards using various heuristics, in order to preserve those lines that indeed do separate a word's glyphs and minimize the number of those that do not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Djordje Nijemcevic
  • Patent number: 8565526
    Abstract: A system and method for searching optical character recognition results of image text documents includes an image text transformer that linguistically analyzes the optical character recognition results within a context of multiple lexicons to form edited text results and creates a reflection repository having reflection files therein corresponding to the image documents from the optical character recognition results. A search engine searches the reflection files and a user device displays a first reflection file from the reflection files or a first image document from the image documents in response to searching. The files are displayed on a display associated with a user device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Syscom, Inc.
    Inventors: Theodore F. Bayer, Donald R. Adkins, Gregory A. Corbin
  • Patent number: 8559723
    Abstract: A handwriting recognition system is described that includes a language model with scoring to improve recognition accuracy, such as for words outside of a selected language model. The handwriting recognition system increases the accuracy of handwriting recognizers that perform segmentation of ink into atomic elements (segments) and then classify each ink segment separately. After segmentation, a shape classifier estimates the class (letter) probabilities for each segment of ink by producing a corresponding score. The system applies the language model scoring to the shape classification results and typically selects the class with the highest score as the recognition result. Because the language model is not too restrictive, it works well for recognizing any word, even those that would not be in a dictionary for the current language. Thus, the handwriting recognition system produces better recognition results and can often recognize words that dictionary-based language models would not recognize correctly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Veljko Miljanic, Dave Stevens
  • Patent number: 8548246
    Abstract: A method and system for preprocessing an image, wherein the image includes a plurality of columns, or regions, of text is disclosed. A plurality of components associated with the text is determined. On determining the plurality of components, a line height and a column spacing is determined for the components. The components are then associated with a column based on the line height and the column spacing. A set of characteristic parameters are calculated for each column and the plurality of components of each column are merged based on the characteristic parameters to form sub-words and words. A first plurality of words and/or subwords is merged and processed as a first region and a second plurality of words and/or subwords is merged and processed as a second region wherein at least a portion of the second region vertically overlaps at least a portion of the first region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST)
    Inventors: Hussein Khalid Al-Omari, Mohammad Sulaiman Khorsheed
  • Patent number: 8542952
    Abstract: Embodiments include a method, a manual device, a handheld manual device, a handheld writing device, a system, and an apparatus. An embodiment provides a manual device operable in a context. The manual device includes a writing element operable to form a mark on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element with respect to the surface. The manual device also includes a controller operable to encode information corresponding to the context of the manual device by regulating the formation of the mark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, LLC
    Inventors: Alexander J. Cohen, B. Isaac Cohen, Ed Harlow, Eric C. Leuthardt, Royce A. Levien, Mark A. Malamud
  • Patent number: 8509535
    Abstract: A method for emphasizing differences in graphical appearances between an original document and a modified document using annotations with outer and inner boundaries is disclosed. A first bitmap of the modified document and a second bitmap of the original document are received. A set of difference points is derived from a comparison of the first bitmap and the second bitmap. Those difference points are representative of coordinates within the first and second bitmaps having pixel value differences exceeding a predetermined threshold. An outer boundary and an inner boundary of the difference points is derived, then an annotation defined by an area between the outer boundary and the inner boundary is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Inventors: Brian Hartmann, Benjamin Gunderson
  • Patent number: 8498024
    Abstract: It is an object to provide image processing apparatus and method which can execute a drawing combining instruction and a trimming instruction of illustration/characters or the like on the basis of a disclosure on one sheet in a composite print of a sheet scanning system. When a trimming instruction command is issued, an image process for trimming is executed to a given one of closed areas detected from a drawing instructing area on the sheet. Another image process for a combining process of characters/illustration is executed to the other closed areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshiyuki Hirai
  • Patent number: 8498485
    Abstract: A system and method for creating one of a plurality of test decks to qualify and test forms processing systems, including preparing a handprint snippet data base containing labeled handprint image snippets representing a unique hand, preparing a form description file and a data content file, selecting handprint snippets from the handprint snippet data base to formulate a form using the data content file, creating a form image using the selected snippets according to the form description file and printing the form image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: ADI, LLC
    Inventors: K. Bradley Paxton, William L. DiBacco, Steven P. Spiwak, Craig A. Towne, Manuel Trevisan
  • Patent number: 8494278
    Abstract: A method and computer program product for recognizing handwriting. A handwritten character is captured as an image of black pixels and white pixels. The image is partitioned into segments, each of which having a pixel ratio of a total number of black pixels in the segment to a total number of black pixels in the image. A reference character has segments corresponding to the image segments. Each reference character segment has a value range of a pixel ratio of a total number of black pixels in the segment of the reference character to a total number of black pixels in the reference character. It is ascertained that the pixel ratio of more than a predetermined number of segments in the image are within the value range of the pixel ratio of the corresponding segments of the reference character, from which, the handwritten character is recognized as the reference character.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Choudhary Khushboo, Shiva C T Kumar, Mukundan Sundararajan
  • Patent number: 8494277
    Abstract: A system for recognizing handwriting. A handwritten character is captured as an image of black pixels and white pixels. The image is partitioned into segments, each of which having a pixel ratio of a total number of black pixels in the segment to a total number of black pixels in the image. A reference character has segments corresponding to the image segments. Each reference character segment has a value range of a pixel ratio of a total number of black pixels in the segment of the reference character to a total number of black pixels in the reference character. It is ascertained that the pixel ratio of more than a predetermined number of segments in the image are within the value range of the pixel ratio of the corresponding segments of the reference character, from which, the handwritten character is recognized as the reference character.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Choudhary Khushboo, Shiva C T Kumar, Mukundan Sundararajan
  • Patent number: 8483483
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus that allows easy and reliable extraction of a hand-written image and allowing reliable execution of a desired process on image data based on the hand-written image is provided. For this purpose, during a mark adding process, a scanner unit and an image processing unit form YMCK data based on an original image; a specific area extracting unit extracts image data of a specific area from the YMCK data; a mark image adding unit combines image data of the specific area with the mark image data to form combined data; and a printer unit outputs a first image based on the combined data. During image processing of the specific area, the scanner unit forms RGB data based on the first image; the mark area extracting unit extracts image data of the mark area from the RGB data; the specific area image processing unit performs prescribed image processing on the image data of mark area; and the printer unit outputs a second image based on the YMCK data after the prescribed image processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazuyuki Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 8482827
    Abstract: A media sheet is scanned. The media sheet has an image and an annotation. The annotation indicates a functionality to be performed in relation to the image. The annotation on the media sheet as scanned is detected. The functionality to be performed in relation to the image is determined in correspondence to the annotation detected on the media sheet. The functionality to which the annotation corresponds is performed in relation to the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Dinesh Mandalapu, Anjaneyulu Seetha Rama Kuchibhotla, Sriganesh Madhvanath, Deepu Vijayasenan, Rama Vennelakanti
  • Patent number: 8472719
    Abstract: A method of identifying stricken-out characters in handwriting, comprising parsing a scanned image into regions and objects, defining objects containing handwritten characters, applying structural or feature classifiers for primary character recognition, applying one or more supplemental feature classifiers preliminarily trained by strike-out characters, and identifying a stricken-out character if any. The stricken-out character may be further examined by special procedures, either automated or manual.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: ABBYY Software Ltd.
    Inventors: Diar Tuganbaev, Dmitri Deriaguine