초록 ▼

An improved document management system with high-speed retrieval by example retrieves a document attaching a target document, in whole or part, by comparing descriptors of documents. A descriptor is derived from a pattern of labels, where each label is associated with a character, or more precisely,

An improved document management system with high-speed retrieval by example retrieves a document attaching a target document, in whole or part, by comparing descriptors of documents. A descriptor is derived from a pattern of labels, where each label is associated with a character, or more precisely, a character bounding box. A bounding box is found by examining contiguous pixels in an image. The particular label associated with a bounding box depends on the value of a metric measured from that bounding box. In one system, the metric is the spacing between the bounding box and an adjacent bounding box, in which the labels approximately reflect a pattern of word lengths. In other systems, where words lengths are not present, the metric might be pixel density and the pattern of labels approximately reflect a pattern of denser characters and sparser characters. The document management system, or just the query portion of the document management system could be part of a copier, where a sample page is input to the copier and the copier retrieves the matching document and prints it.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [10.] An apparatus for matching an input document to a reference document in a document database, comprising:a document database, wherein reference descriptors are derived from content of reference documents in said document database;a descriptor database associating reference

[ What is claimed is:] [10.] An apparatus for matching an input document to a reference document in a document database, comprising:a document database, wherein reference descriptors are derived from content of reference documents in said document database;a descriptor database associating reference descriptors and reference documents, wherein a reference descriptor describes, at least in part, a pattern of character densities and a specific reference descriptor and a specific reference document are associated in the descriptor database when the pattern of character densities described by the specific reference descriptor is found in the specific reference document;input means for inputting content of an input document to be matched against said reference documents of said document database;descriptor derivation means, coupled to said input means, for deriving at least one input descriptor from the input document where said input descriptor describes, at least in part, a pattern of character densities found in the input document; andoutput means, coupled to said descriptor derivation means, for outputting an indication of reference documents which are associated with reference descriptors which match the input descriptor.