Ordering document content based on reading flow

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit, defines a reading order through a plurality of primitive areas of a document page, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

• sorting the plurality of primitive areas into a sorted sequence of primitive areas based on a first sorting criteria that compares start points of the primitive areas within the document page, the sorted sequence comprising a first primitive area and a second primitive area subsequent to the first primitive area in the sequence;
• comparing the first primitive area and the second primitive area according to a second sorting criteria that compares a location of a start point of the first primitive area relative to a region preceding the second primitive area and a region following the second primitive area;
• transposing the first and second primitive areas in the sorted sequence when the start point of the first primitive area is in the region following the second primitive area;
• and
• generating an ordered list to define the reading order through the primitive areas based on the transposed sequence of primitive areas.

A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program which when executed by at least one processing unit defines a reading order through a plurality of primitive areas of a document page, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

• sorting a plurality of primitive areas into a sorted sequence of primitive areas according to a first sorting criteria based on locations of the primitive areas within the document page;
• selecting a successive pair of primitive areas in the sorted sequence comprising a first primitive area and a second primitive area;
• designating one of the first and second primitive areas as a primary area and the other primitive area as a secondary area based on a comparison of start points of the first and second primitive areas within a coordinate system of the first primitive area and a comparison of start points of the first and second primitive areas within a coordinate system of the second primitive area in order to determine the primary and secondary areas;
• comparing a location of the start point of the primary area with respect to the secondary area according to a second sorting criteria;
• transposing the two consecutive primitive areas in the sorted sequence of primitive areas when the comparison of the start point of the primary area with respect to the secondary area satisfies the second sorting criteria;
• and
• generating an ordered list to define the reading order through the primitive areas based on the transposed sequence of primitive areas.