Abstract: In one embodiment, a system includes: a processor; and logic in and/or executable by the processor to cause the processor to: generate a first feature vector based on a digital image captured by a mobile device; compare the first feature vector to a plurality of reference feature matrices; classify an object depicted in the digital image as a member of a particular object class based at least in part on the comparison; determine one or more object features of the object based at least in part on the particular object class; and detect one or more additional objects belonging to the particular object class based on the determined object feature(s). The one or more additional objects are depicted either in the digital image or another digital image received by the mobile device. Corresponding computer program products are also disclosed.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a system includes a processor and logic in and/or executable by the processor to cause the processor to: initiate a capture operation using an image capture component of the mobile device, the capture operation comprising; capturing video data; and estimating a plurality of motion vectors corresponding to motion of the image capture component during the capture operation; detect a document depicted in the video data; track a position of the detected document throughout the video data; select a plurality of images using the image capture component of the mobile device, wherein the selection is based at least in part on: the tracked position of the detected document; and the estimated motion vectors; and generate a composite image based on at least some of the selected plurality of images.

Abstract: A method includes: displaying a digital image on a first portion of a display of a mobile device; receiving user feedback via the display of the mobile device; analyzing the user feedback to determine a meaning of the user feedback; based on the determined meaning of the user feedback, analyzing a portion of the digital image corresponding to either the point of interest or the region of interest to detect one or more connected components depicted within the portion of the digital image; classifying each detected connected component depicted within the portion of the digital image; estimating an identity of each detected connected component based on the classification of the detected connected component; and one or more of: displaying the identity of each detected connected component on a second portion of the display of the mobile device; and providing the identity of each detected connected component to a workflow.

Abstract: Computer program products for performing workflows using a mobile device, without requiring tactile input from the user. The workflow is thus “touchless” and may utilize input preferably including optical data and/or audio data. Tactile input may be optionally provided in some embodiments, but the workflow is configured to be performed without any tactile input. Accordingly, in one embodiment, a computer program product includes a computer readable medium having computer readable and/or executable program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being configured to cause a processor to: invoke a mobile application using a mobile device; receive auditory input via the mobile device; and perform a business workflow via the mobile application based on the auditory input. Corresponding systems and computer program product embodiments configured for touchless mobile workflows are also described.

Abstract: Computer program products for discriminating hand and machine print from each other, and from signatures, are disclosed and include program code readable and/or executable by a processor to: receive an image, determine a color depth of the image; reducing the color depth of non-bi-tonal images to generate a bi-tonal representation of the image; identify a set of one or more graphical line candidates in either the bi-tonal image or the bi-tonal representation, the graphical line candidates including true graphical lines and/or false positives; discriminate any of the true graphical lines from any of the false positives; remove the true graphical lines from the bi-tonal image or the bi-tonal representation without removing the false positives to generate a component map comprising connected components and excluding graphical lines; identify one or more of the connected components in the component map; and output and/or display and indicator of each of the connected components.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a digital image captured by a mobile device; and using a processor of the mobile device: generating a first representation of the digital image, the first representation being characterized by a reduced resolution; generating a first feature vector based on the first representation; comparing the first feature vector to a plurality of reference feature matrices; classifying an object depicted in the digital image as a member of a particular object class based at least in part on the comparing; and determining one or more object features of the object based at least in part on the particular object class. Corresponding systems and computer program products are also disclosed.

Abstract: In various embodiments, methods, systems, and computer program products for determining distance between an object and a capture device are disclosed. The distance determination techniques are based on image data captured by the capture device, where the image data represent the object. These techniques improve the function of capture devices such as mobile phones by enabling determination of distance using a single lens capture device, and based on intrinsic parameters of the capture device, such as focal length and scaling factor(s), in preferred approaches. In some approaches, the distance estimation may be based in part on a priori knowledge regarding size of the object represented in the image data. Distance determination may be based on a homography transform and/or reference image data representing the object, a same type or similar type of object, in more approaches.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for performing workflows using a mobile device, without requiring tactile input from the user. The workflow is thus “touchless” and may utilize input preferably including optical data and/or audio data. Tactile input may be optionally provided in some embodiments, but the workflow is configured to be performed without any tactile input. Accordingly, in one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for performing a touchless mobile workflow includes: invoking a mobile application using a mobile device; receiving auditory input via the mobile device; and performing a business workflow via the mobile application based on the auditory input. Corresponding systems and computer program product embodiments configured for touchless mobile workflows are also described.

Abstract: Systems, computer program products, and techniques for discriminating hand and machine print from each other, and from signatures, are disclosed and include determining a color depth of an image, the color depth corresponding to at least one of grayscale, bi-tonal and color; reducing color depth of non-bi-tonal images to generate a bi-tonal representation of the image; identifying a set of one or more graphical line candidates in either the bi-tonal image or the bi-tonal representation, the graphical line candidates including one or more of true graphical lines and false positives; discriminating any of the true graphical lines from any of the false positives; removing the true graphical lines from the bi-tonal image or the bi-tonal representation without removing the false positives to generate a component map comprising connected components and excluding graphical lines; and identifying one or more of the connected components in the component map.

Abstract: A computer program product includes program instructions configured to cause a processor, to: perform optical character recognition (OCR) on an image of a document; extract an identifier of the document from the image based at least in part on the OCR; compare at least portions of the identifier with content from one or more reference data sources; and determine whether the identifier is valid based at least in part on the comparison. The content comprises global address information; while the content from the reference is derived from geographic information. Deriving the content from the geographic information includes: obtaining the geographic information; and parsing the geographic information according to a set of predefined heuristic rules, where the heuristic rules are configured to normalize the global address information obtained from the one or more sources according to a single convention for representing address information.

Abstract: A method and system for delineating document and/or subdocument boundaries and identifying document and/or subdocument types, the method comprising: automatically generating at least one identifier for identifying which of a plurality of document and/or subdocument images belongs to which of a plurality of categories. The method and/or system optionally may include automatically categorizing a plurality of document and/or subdocument images into a plurality of predetermined categories in accordance with classification rules for said categories.

Abstract: In various embodiments, computer program products for detecting, estimating, calculating, etc. characteristics of a document based on reference objects depicted on the document are disclosed. In one approach, a computer program product for processing a digital image depicting a document includes instructions executable by a computer for analyzing the digital image to determine one or more of a presence and a location of one or more reference objects; determining one or more geometric characteristics of at least one of the reference objects; defining one or more region(s) of interest based at least in part on one or more of the determined geometric characteristics; and detecting a presence or absence of an edge of the document within each defined region of interest. Additional embodiments leverage the type of document depicted in the image, multiple frames of image data, and/or calculate or extrapolate document edges rather than locating edges in the image.

Abstract: A computer program product includes program instructions configured to cause a processor, to: perform optical character recognition (OCR) on an image of a document; extract an identifier of the document from the image based at least in part on the OCR; compare at least portions of the identifier with content from one or more reference data sources; and determine whether the identifier is valid based at least in part on the comparison. The content comprises global address information; while the content from the reference is derived from geographic information. Deriving the content from the geographic information includes: obtaining the geographic information; and parsing the geographic information according to a set of predefined heuristic rules, where the heuristic rules are configured to normalize the global address information obtained from the one or more sources according to a single convention for representing address information.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer program products for smart, automated capture of textual information using optical sensors of a mobile device, and selective provision of such textual information to a user interface for facilitating performance of downstream workflows are disclosed. The capture and provision is context-aware, and determines context of the optical input, and optionally invokes a contextually-appropriate workflow based thereon. The techniques also provide capability to normalize, correct, and/or validate the captured optical input and provide the corrected, normalized, validated, etc. information to the contextually-appropriate workflow. As a result, the overall process of capturing information from optical input using a mobile device, invoking an appropriate workflow, and providing captured information to the workflow is significantly simplified and improved in terms of accuracy of data transfer/entry, speed and efficiency of workflows, and user experience.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a system includes a processor and logic executable by the processor. The logic is configured to cause the processor to: capture video data using a mobile device, the video data comprising a plurality of frames; determine whether one or more of the frames depict a document exhibiting one or more defining characteristics; determine whether one or more of the frame(s) determined to depict the document also satisfy one or more predetermined quality control criteria; and in response to determining one or more of the frames depict the document and also satisfy the one or more predetermined quality control criteria, automatically capture an image of the document. Corresponding computer program products are also disclosed.

Abstract: In one approach, a method includes: capturing an image of a document using a camera of a mobile device; performing optical character recognition (OCR) on the image of the document; extracting data of interest from the image based at least in part on the OCR; and validating the extracted data of interest against reference information stored on the mobile device. In another embodiment, a method includes: capturing an image of a document using a camera of a mobile device; performing optical character recognition (OCR) on the image of the document; extracting data of interest from the image based at least in part on the OCR; and validating authenticity of the document based on comparing some or all of the extracted data of interest to reference information stored on the mobile device.

Abstract: An efficient method and system to enhance digital acquisition devices for analog data is presented. The enhancements offered by the method and system are available to the user in local as well as in remote deployments yielding efficiency gains for a large variety of business processes. The quality enhancements of the acquired digital data are achieved efficiently by employing virtual reacquisition. The method of virtual reacquisition renders unnecessary the physical reacquisition of the analog data in case the digital data obtained by the acquisition device are of insufficient quality. The method and system allows multiple users to access the same acquisition device for analog data. In some embodiments, one or more users can virtually reacquire data provided by multiple analog or digital sources. The acquired raw data can be processed by each user according to his personal preferences and/or requirements.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes: capturing an image of a document using a camera of a mobile device; performing optical character recognition (OCR) on the image of the document; extracting an identifier of the document from the image based at least in part on the OCR; comparing the identifier with content from one or more reference data sources, wherein the content from the one or more reference data sources comprises global address information; and determining whether the identifier is valid based at least in part on the comparison. The method may optionally include normalizing the extracted identifier, retrieving additional geographic information, correcting OCR errors, etc. based on comparing extracted information with reference content. Corresponding systems and computer program products are also disclosed.

Abstract: In various embodiments, methods, systems, and computer program products for detecting, estimating, calculating, etc. characteristics of a document based on reference objects depicted on the document are disclosed. In one approach, a computer-implemented method for processing a digital image depicting a document includes analyzing the digital image to determine one or more of a presence and a location of one or more reference objects; determining one or more geometric characteristics of at least one of the reference objects; defining one or more region(s) of interest based at least in part on one or more of the determined geometric characteristics; and detecting a presence or an absence of an edge of the document within each defined region of interest. Additional embodiments leverage the type of document depicted in the image, multiple frames of image data, and/or calculate or extrapolate document edges rather than locating edges in the image.

Abstract: Systems and methods for mobile image data capture and processing are disclosed. The techniques encompass receipt or capture of digital image data, detecting an object such as a document depicted in a digital image corresponding to the digital image data, processing the digital image to improve image quality, classifying the object from the processed image data, and extracting useful information from the object. Processing may improve image quality by correcting artifacts such as distortion, skew, blur, shadows, etc. common to digital images captured using mobile devices. Classification is based on identifying unique features (and/or combinations thereof) within the image data and determining whether the identified features indicate the object belongs to a class of known objects having similar characteristics, or is unique to all known classes. Extraction is based in whole or in part on object classification. All operations may be performed using mobile technology exclusively.