US 8,429,154 B2Granted

Document search device, imaging forming apparatus, and document search system

AssigneeOki Data Corporation

InventorHitoshi Takeya

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Abstract

A search device is provided that extracts and stores field data from document data and displays a search result in a two-dimensional coordinate system whose axes are freely chosen by a user. The search device has a data input unit for inputting input data to the search device, a field extraction unit for extracting field data from the input data, a data storage unit for storing the field data and the input data associated with the field data, a search word input unit for inputting a search word, a search processing unit for searching the field data in the data storage unit based on the inputted search word and for retrieving the input data associated with the found field data, and a display unit for displaying an icon, representing the input data found by the search processing unit, at a position in a coordinate system.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A search device comprising:

a data input unit for inputting document data to the search device;
a data judgment unit for making a determination whether the document data is image data or non-image data;
a corresponding template search unit;
a field data template memory storing a field data template indicating a position of field data within the document data;
a field extraction unit for extracting the field data from the document data, wherein
(i) in response to the data judgment unit determining that the document data is image data, the corresponding template search unit searches the field data template corresponding to the document data from the field data template memory, identifies a position of the field data included in the document data according to the found field data template, and thereafter the field extraction unit extracts the field data, and
(ii) in response to the data judgment unit determining that the document data is non-image data, the field extraction unit extracts the field data from the document data without searching the field data template;
a data storage unit for storing the field data, the document data, and an importance rank of the document data, the storing associating the document data, the field data and the importance rank, wherein the importance rank is calculated based on document properties independent from an entry of a search word;
a search word input unit for inputting the search word;
a search processing unit for searching the field data in the data storage unit based on the inputted search word and for retrieving the document data associated with the found field data;
and
a display unit for displaying an icon representing the document data found by the search processing unit, at a position in a coordinate system, wherein a size of the icon varies according to the importance rank associated with the document data,
wherein the document data is associated with the icon on a one-to-one basis, and
wherein upon clicking the icon, information related to the associated document data becomes viewable.

11 more elements

An image forming apparatus comprising:

a data input unit for inputting document data to the search device;
a data judgment unit for making a determination whether the document data is image data or non-image data;
a corresponding template search unit;
a field data template memory storing a field data template indicating a position of field data within the document data;
a field extraction unit for extracting field data from the document data, wherein
(i) in response to the data judgment unit determining that the document data is image data, the corresponding template search unit searches the field data template corresponding to the document data from the field data template memory, identifies a position of the field data included in the document data according to the found field data template, and thereafter the field extraction unit extracts the field data, and
(ii) in response to the data judgment unit determining that the document data is non-image data, the field extraction unit extracts the field data from the document data without searching the field data template;
a data storage unit for storing the field data, the document data and an importance rank of the document data, the storing associating the document data, the field data and the importance rank, wherein the importance rank is calculated based on document properties independent from an entry of a search word;
a search word input unit for inputting the search word;
a search processing unit for searching the field data in the data storage unit based on the inputted search word and for retrieving the document data associated with the found field data;
a display unit for displaying an icon representing the document data found by the search processing unit, at a position in a coordinate system, wherein a size of the icon varies according to the importance rank associated with the document data,
wherein the document data is associated with the icon on a one-to-one basis,
wherein upon clicking the icon, information related to the associated document data becomes viewable;
and
an image forming unit for forming an image according to the document data.

12 more elements

A document search system comprising:

an information processing apparatus for generating document data and for inputting the generated document data to the search device;
a data judgment unit for making a determination whether the document data is image data or non-image data;
a corresponding template search unit;
a field data template memory storing a field data template indicating a position of field data within the document data;
a field extraction unit for extracting field data from the document data, wherein
(i) in response to the data judgment unit determining that the document data is image data, the corresponding template search unit searches the field data template corresponding to the document data from the field data template memory, identifies a position of the field data included in the document data according to the found field data template, and thereafter the field extraction unit extracts the field data, and
(ii) in response to the data judgment unit determining that the document data is non-image data, the field extraction unit extracts the field data from the document data without searching the field data template;
a data storage unit for storing the field data, the document data and an importance rank of the document data, wherein the importance rank is calculated based on document properties independent from an entry of a search word;
a search word input unit for inputting a search word;
a search processing unit for searching the field data in the data storage unit based on the inputted search word and for retrieving the document data associated with the found field data;
and
a display unit for displaying an icon representing the document data found by the search processing unit, at a position in a coordinate system, wherein a size of the icon varies according to the importance rank associated with the document data,
wherein the document data is associated with the icon on a one-to-one basis, and
wherein upon clicking the icon, information related to the associated document data becomes viewable.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.