System and method for measuring and quantizing document quality

#The present invention generally relates to the field of document layout, design, and analysis and, more particularly, to methods which quantitatively measure a document's quality based on characteristics inherent in the document itself.

#When documents are created, many decisions must be made as to style, content, layout, and the like. The text, images, and graphics must be organized and laid out in a two-dimensional format with the intention of providing a presentation to the viewer which will capture and preferably maintain their attention for the time sufficient to get the intended message across. Different style options are available for the various content elements and choices must be made. The best choices for style and layout depend upon content, intent, viewer interests, etc. In order to tell if a set of choices made as to the look and feel of the final version of the document were good or bad, one might request feedback from a set of viewers after viewing the document and compile the feedback into something meaningful from which the document's creators or developers can make alterations, changes, or other improvements. This cycle repeats until the document's owners are satisfied that the final version achieves the intended result.

#Factors that contribute to the quality and effectiveness of layout and style decisions for a document are the handling of groups of content elements as style and layout choices affect groups of content. A group is a collection of content elements. Group membership is a property of the logical structure of the document. The neighborhood of groups can be considered a layout property. While layout structure often matches the logical structure, there is no requirement that it do so.

#The present invention may take form in various components and arrangements of components, and in various steps and arrangements of steps. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating a preferred embodiment and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an architectural layout for quantifiably measuring document quality according to the concepts of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 illustrates a conceptual circuit for quantifiably measuring document quality according to the concepts of the present invention;

#The present invention will be described in connection with preferred embodiments; however, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the present invention to the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

#For a general understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings, like reference have been used throughout to designate identical or equivalent elements. It is also noted that the various drawings illustrating the present invention are not drawn to scale and that certain regions may have been purposely drawn disproportionately so that the features and concepts of the present invention could be properly illustrated.

#The present invention is directed to various methods for quantifying various document properties to assist document developers in determining document quality. Quality can have several competing aspects and the overall quality can depend not only on the absolute properties of the document, but also on the relative importance of these properties to the beholder. One aspect or class of document quality is its aesthetics, which is its beauty, the degree to which pleasure can be derived from its appearance. Often this property is manifested in the degree of displeasure generated by an ugly layout.