Retrieving electronic documents by converting them to synthetic text

A system for retrieving an electronic document in response to receipt of an image patch, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• an indexing module stored on a memory and executable by the processor, the indexing module receiving the image patch, identifying a first two-dimensional structure in the image patch, identifying a second two-dimensional structure in the image patch and identifying a third two-dimensional structure in the image patch;
• an encoder coupled to the indexing module, the encoder generating a first text string that encodes the first two-dimensional structure into a first one-dimensional structure by specifying a location of the first two-dimensional structure, a first quantized angle measured between a line originating from the first two-dimensional structure and a path joining a center of the first two-dimensional structure to a center of the second two-dimensional structure and a second quantized angle defining a path joining a center of the second two-dimensional structure to a center of the third two-dimensional structure;
• a retrieval engine coupled to the indexing module, the retrieval engine searching, from a library, for a second one-dimensional structure that is similar to the first one-dimensional structure of the image patch;
• and
• a retrieval module coupled to the indexing module, the retrieval module retrieving the electronic document corresponding to the second one-dimensional structure similar to the first one-dimensional structure of the image patch from a document storage.

A computer program product for retrieving an electronic document in response to receipt of an image patch comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

• receive the image patch;
• identify a first two-dimensional structure in the image patch;
• identify a second two-dimensional structure in the image patch;
• identify a third two-dimensional structure in the image patch;
• generate a first text string that encodes the first two-dimensional structure into a first one-dimensional structure by specifying a location of the first two-dimensional structure, a first quantized angle measured between a line originating from the first two-dimensional structure and a path joining a center of the first two-dimensional structure to a center of the second two-dimensional structure and a second quantized angle defining a path joining a center of the second two-dimensional structure to a center of the third two-dimensional structure;
• search, from a library, for a second one-dimensional structure that is similar to the first one-dimensional structure of the image patch;
• and
• retrieve the electronic document corresponding to the second one-dimensional structure similar to the first one-dimensional structure of the image patch from a document storage.