Identification of text
AssigneeEssex PA, L.L.C.
InventorDonald Monro
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of generating a code representative of a passage of text uses in the preferred embodiment the character spacing between respective occurrences of a selected key symbol string within the text. The string may be fixed, or may encompass a variety of different forms. By comparing the known code of a target text passage with the code generated from a sample text passage, it is easy to determine whether the target text has been used within the sample. The method may be integrated within a copying device such as a photocopier, allowing the device report automatically whenever a user attempts to copy a document bearing one of a predefined list of sensitive or controlled text passages.
Claims15
A method of generating a code representative of a passage of text comprising the steps of identifying within the passage positions at which a key symbol string occurs, determining distances between selected occurrences of the key symbol string, and generating a code including said distances.
A method of determining whether a target passage of text occurs within a sample passage, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating by using a submethod a target code representative of the target passage and a sample code representative of the sample passage, the submethod including the steps of identifying within the passage positions at which a key symbol string occurs, determining distances between selected occurrences of the key symbol string, and generating a code including said distances;
- (b) comparing the target code with portions of the sample code;
- and,
- (c) if the target code and a portion of the sample code match, according to required matching criteria, determining that the target passage of text does occur within the sample passage.
A copying device for making physical or electronic copies of a physical document bearing text, the device comprising:
- (a) an imager for generating an image of the physical document;
- (b) an OCR engine for converting said text into sample text in electronic form;
- (c) an analyser for generating from said sample text a sample code, said code including distances between selected occurrences within the sample text of a key symbol string;
- said analyser receiving a plurality of pre-computed target codes representative of target text passages of interest, comparing the target codes with portions of the sample code, and if the target code and a portion of the sample code match according to required matching criteria, generating a signal indicating the matching target text passage;
- and,
- (d) a controller for receiving said signal and for taking action in dependence upon said signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.