Patent ID: 7548916
Filing Date: 2009-06-16
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. An information processing apparatus for retrieving image files similar to an input document image from a plurality of image files, comprising: a memory for storing the input document image; a segmentation unit constructed to segment the input document image into text areas and image areas; a first similarity calculation unit constructed to calculate a first degree of similarity for text areas included in the plurality of image files, wherein the first similarity calculation unit applies a first type of similarity calculation which uses all of text data extracted by character recognition from each of the text areas obtained by segmentation by said segmentation unit; a second similarity calculation unit constructed to calculate a second degree of similarity for text areas included in the plurality of image files, wherein the second similarity calculation unit applies a second type of similarity calculation which uses a part of the text data extracted by character recognition from each of the text areas obtained by segmentation by said segmentation unit; a third similarity calculation unit constructed to calculate a third degree of similarity for image areas included in the plurality of image files, wherein the third similarity calculation unit applies a third type of similarity calculation which uses a feature extracted from each of the image areas obtained by segmentation by said segmentation unit; an input unit constructed to input first, second and third priority information for weighting the first, second and third degrees of similarity calculated by each of said first, second and third similarity calculation units, wherein the first, second and third priority information respectively correspond to each similarity calculation unit and are input using said input unit; an acquisition unit constructed to acquire, for each image file, the first, second and third degrees of similarity calculated by said first, second, and third similarity calculation units; a calculation unit constructed to calculate an overall degree of similarity for each image file by weighting, on the basis of the first, second and third priority information, each of the first, second and third degrees of similarity which have been acquired by said acquisition unit for each image file; and a display unit constructed to display a second plurality of image files acquired based upon the calculated overall degrees of similarity, and constructed to display information which represents the type of similarity calculation used for calculating the overall degree of similarity for each of the second plurality of image files.