Abstract:
A method of performing a designated action comprises the processing image data representative of an image recorded on a medium comprising identifying intent information contained within said image data; processing the intent information to identify the action; and initiating processing of the image to perform the designated action. A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon, the computer program product comprising code for processing image data and identifying within said image data at least one portion representing an instruction for further processing said image data, and code for initiating said further processing said image data in accordance with said instruction.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
       [0001]     A user typically has to perform several steps or functions in order to process a hardcopy of a document. For example, if the user desires to copy, save or e-mail a hardcopy document, the user first has to convert the hardcopy document into a digital format, such as an image or word processing file format. Then the user has to manipulate or process the digital file, for example, by attaching it to an e-mail message or sending the file to a printer. These steps may require the user to use more than one device, such as a scanner, a Personal Computer (PC) and a printer, and more than one software application, such as scanning software, word processing software, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and messaging software.  
         [0002]     The user must manually interact with each of these devices and applications in order to process the hardcopy document. For example, to send information in a paper document via e-mail to a user, a user has to scan the document, OCR the image, and then save the document as a word processing file before attaching the document to an e-mail message.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     In one embodiment, a method comprises processing image data recorded on a medium, identifying intent information contained within said image data, processing the intent information to identify a specific action associated with intent information, and initiating processing of the specific action.  
         [0004]     In another embodiment, a computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon, the computer program product comprises code for processing image data and identifying within said image data at least one portion representing an instruction for further processing said image data, and code for initiating said further processing said image data in accordance with said instruction.  
         [0005]     In another embodiment, a method of processing a document comprises representing said document as image data, locating, within said image data, an area of said document containing intent information, identifying an action indicated by said intent information, and initiating processing of said document consistent with said action.  
         [0006]     In an additional embodiment, a data processing system comprises means for representing a document as image data, means for locating, within said image data, an area of said document containing intent information, means for identifying an action indicated by said intent information, and means for initiating processing of said document consistent with said action. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a data processing system suitable for practicing methods and systems consistent with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0008]      FIGS. 2A and 2B  are examples of media suitable for practicing methods and systems consistent with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  includes examples of symbols suitable for practicing methods and systems consistent with an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a computer according to an embodiment of the invention as depicted in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart of steps performed when scanning media and reading embedded information consistent with exemplary methods and systems of the present invention; and  
         [0012]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart of steps performed when scanning media and reading embedded information consistent with exemplary methods and systems of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]     Hardcopy documents and other media may be converted into a digital format by scanning the document or media using an optical scanner. Scanners are devices that detect information, such as text or illustrations, that is printed on documents or other media. The scanner transforms the printed information into a suitable digital form for computer use. To read the information, the optical scanner may first digitize the image on the media. The scanner may create a digital “bitmap” of the image that can be stored in a file, displayed on a computer screen, or manipulated by other software programs, such as a printing application, a messaging application, an OCR application or a photo editing program. Optical scanners may be stand-alone devices, such as flatbed scanners, or they may be incorporated into other devices, such as an All-In-One (AIO) device that can scan, print, copy and/or fax documents.  
         [0014]     The present invention allows a computer system, or other processor-based system, to process a document according to specific intent information that is embedded in the document. The intent information on the document determines how the document is processed. To perform an action on a document, the user first inputs the document or other medium into the computer. This step may be accomplished by scanning, as discussed above, or by other methods, such as opening a digital file on a disk or hard drive or receiving the document via an e-mail message or facsimile. The computer system analyzes the intent information on the document and determines an appropriate processing for the document based on the intent information.  
         [0015]     The present invention reduces the extent of manual actions required by the user and allows the user to embed intent information onto the document or media. The intent information represents an intended or desired action that the user wishes to perform on the document. The embedded intent information may be captured and processed by a computer using processing software. The embedded intent information enables a user to perform an action with little to no manual intervention. In other words, a computer system can read the intent information on the document and automatically perform the intent without any further action by the user.  
         [0016]     Using embedded intent information to input commands reduces the time that a user has to spend processing the document. The embedded information may be included on or in the original document, or the user may hand annotate the media, for example, within a designated intent area. The intent information indicates action(s) that the computer system is to perform on the document or on the information contained on some other media.  
         [0017]      FIG. 1  depicts one example of a data processing system  100  suitable for use with methods, apparatus, and systems consistent with the present invention. System  100  includes computer  101 , AIO device  102 , server  103 , electronic whiteboard  104 , and electronic display screen  105  that are all connected through network  106 . Computer  101  may communicate with AIO device  102  using an input/output port, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port (not shown), on computer  101 .  
         [0018]     AIO device  102  may be used to scan information contained on media or documents. Alternatively, a scanner or other device may be used to capture or otherwise retrieve the information on a document. In one embodiment, AIO  102  identifies and processes the embedded intent information located within the media. Server  103  receives, via computer  101 , information from media that is scanned by AIO device  102 . Server  103  may send this information in the form of an e-mail message to other computers or may store the captured information.  
         [0019]     An alternative method for inputting information is by drawing on electronic whiteboard  104 . The information drawn on electronic whiteboard  104  may include intent information that can be processed as embedded intent information according to the present invention. The information from electronic whiteboard  104  may be sent to computer  101  for further processing. For example, intent information may be written on whiteboard  104  that causes computer  101  to capture the information on written whiteboard  104  and to display that information on screen  105  or to print that information on AIO device  102 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 2A  depicts exemplary medium  200  suitable for use with methods and systems consistent with the present invention. Medium  201  contains content area  202  and intent information area  203 . Content area  202  is a location where a scanner, AIO device  102  or other device may capture content to be processed. Intent area  203  contains icon area  204  and text area  205 . Icon area  204  may contain at least one icon that indicate a desired action (i.e., intended action or processing) to be performed with the medium and/or with the content area. For example, icon area  204  includes a print or e-mail icon, as shown in  FIG. 2A . Text area  205  may contain additional intent information that is associated with at least one icon located within icon area  204 . For example, text area  205  may include an e-mail address, file location or electronic whiteboard name.  
         [0021]     In one embodiment, scanning software may include an application that recognizes the information within intent area  203  as an indication that certain processing should be performed on medium  201 . For example, icon area  204  may contain an e-mail icon and text area  205  may contain the text “john@smith.com.” The e-mail icon indicates that computer  101  should electronically transmit (e.g., e-mail) the content located within content area  202  to the recipient associated with the e-mail address in text area  205  (i.e. john@smith.com). It will be understood that medium  201  may be a pre-printed form with designated areas for content information ( 202 ) and for intent information, such as icons ( 204 ) and text ( 205 ). Alternatively, medium  201  may be a completely hand-written message with, for example, hand-drawn boxes  204 ,  205  at the bottom for the icon and text-intent information. Of course, other techniques for applying intent information according to the present invention may be used, such as application of preprinted pressure sensitive labels to media indicative of intent, if desired. Further, the locations of content area  202  and intent area  203  may vary so that any area of medium  200  may contain content or intent information. The content and/or intent information may be offset from other information using, for example, preprinted or hand-drawn boxes.  
         [0022]      FIG. 2B  is another example of media that is useable with the present invention. Medium  206  may contain blank area  207 , content area  208 , intent area  203  and form area  209 . Blank area  207  is an available location where AIO device  102  or other printer device may print information. Form area  209  is a location that may contain various information useful according to the present invention, such as a media profile identifier. An icon in icon area  204  may indicate the presence of information in form area  209 . For example, if there is a print icon in icon area  204 , then there may also be corresponding information in form area  209 , such as to provide a media profile with respect to medium  206 .  
         [0023]     In the illustrated embodiment, form area  209  contains a media profile identifier in the form of the number “33,” which may indicate a particular format of information upon medium  206  and/or certain information or images that AIO device  102  should print on medium  206 . A media profile according to embodiments of the invention may provide a description of the document and/or associate a type of media with a particular software program to launch if the media type is detected. In such cases, scanning or editing software utilized according to one embodiment may automatically initiate an associated software program to requests specific information to be placed as additional information within the recognized media. For example, if medium  206  is a personal check, scanning or editing software may initiate money management software and request information, such as payee, amount, date and memo. The additional information may then be automatically inserted into medium  206 , in the correct locations and/or in a desired format, during printing. Additional information regarding printing an image within blank area  207  may be found in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/301,440, entitled DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SCANNING A FIRST IMAGE OF A DOCUMENT AND PRINTING A SECOND IMAGE ON THE DOCUMENT, filed Nov. 21, 2002, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.  
         [0024]     The intent information may be indicated by placing it in boxes, as shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B , or by any number of alternative ways, such as highlighting, underlining, using a particular color or font, or placing the information in a designated area (e.g., at the bottom or top or in the margin of a document).  
         [0025]      FIG. 3  illustrates exemplary icons that are suitable for use with the present invention. Icon  301  “@” may represent an e-mail icon. A user may use icon  301  to indicate to the processing software that the media or its content ( 202 ,  208 ) should be e-mailed to a particular e-mail recipient or uploaded to a particular Internet address.  
         [0026]     Icon  302  may represent a print icon. A user may use icon  302  to indicate to the processing software that the media or its content should be printed. For example, if AIO device  102  scans and captures a document with print icon  302 , the processing software will recognize print icon  302  as an instruction to print the scanned document. Accordingly, the user only has to scan the document, but does not have to manually save the scanned file, open the file in a word processing or graphics program and select a printer. Instead, the intent information processing software automatically prints the document upon recognizing print icon  302 . Text area  205  may be used with print icon  302  to identify a particular printer, such as an attached, local printer or a network printer, or to indicate the type of paper that should be used by the printer.  
         [0027]     Icon  303  may represent a retrieve icon. A user may use retrieve icon  303  to retrieve an image that is stored in a location identified by the user in text area  203 . For example, text area  205  may indicate a file path for the stored image, such as “c:\retrieve area\file.jpg.” Retrieve icon  303  may be used to identify a path where an image or text can be found to print in blank space  207 .  
         [0028]     Alternatively, icon  303  may represent a save icon. A user may use icon  303  to instruct the system to save an image to a location identified by the user in text area  203 . For example, text area  205  may indicate a file path and a filename to be assigned to the stored image, such as “c:\stroage area\file.jpg.” Icon  303  may itself instruct the system as to where the image should be stored. For example, the arrow ( 303 ) shown in  FIG. 3  may indicate that the image should be stored to a default or predesignated location, such as a folder on a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a CD drive.  
         [0029]     Icon  304  may represent a form designation icon. A user may use form designation icon to indicate the presence of media profile identifier information, which is illustrated by icon  305 . Media profile identifier icon  305  may indicate a variety of information, such as the type of medium that is currently being scanned, the image that is to be printed within blank area  207 , the form or format of the medium, the type of application software associated with the medium, or any other format or processing instructions.  
         [0030]     Icon  306  may represent a push icon. A push icon may be used to initiate a transfer of information from a source system, e.g., “push” information from server  103  to another system.  
         [0031]     It will be understood that many other symbols are possible and within the scope of the present invention, such as hand-annotated symbols, character symbols or symbols based on a standard, such as the ASCII standard. Also note that the icons in icon area  204  may be mutually exclusive and/or interrelated. For example, one icon may be an e-mail icon and a second icon may be a print icon or save icon. Also for example, one icon may be a retrieve icon and a second icon may be a print icon.  
         [0032]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of one example computer system  101  that may be used to practice the present invention. Computer system  101  contains a memory  401 , secondary storage device  405 , Central Processing Unit (CPU)  407 , video display  408  and input/output port  409 . Memory  401  stores processing software  402 , scanning software  403  and printing software  404 . Processing software  402  may be used to process embedded intent information within medium  201  and to perform actions based on the intent information within intent area  203 . Scanning software  402  may be used to control a device that scans medium  201 . Printing software  404  may be used to control the printing of selected documents or content.  
         [0033]     Secondary storage device  405  may contain media profiles  406  that are associated with form icon  209 , for example, to identify a scanned media form. Input/output port  409  transmits information and receives information from AIO device  102  (e.g., print instructions). Input/output port  409  may be a RS-232 serial port or bi-directional IEEE 1388 compliant port, such as a parallel port or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port. Although aspects of software  402 ,  403  and  404  are described as being stored in memory, note that these aspects may be stored on or read from a computer&#39;s readable media or other secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, and CD-ROM, a carrier wave received from a network like the Internet, or other forms of Read Only Memory (ROM) or Random Access Memory (RAM).  
         [0034]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment that illustrates scanning media and reading embedded information located within the media consistent with methods and systems of the present invention. In step  501 , using scanning software  403 , computer  101  initiates a scan of information contained on medium  201  by AIO device  102 . Medium  201  may contain content located within content area  202  and intent information located within intent area  203 . Once the medium is scanned, in step  502 , computer  101  receives scanned information from AIO device  102 . Note that information may also or instead come from other sources, such as whiteboard  104  or from any other device capable of receiving information. As such, device  102  is not limited to originating in an AIO device. For example, a user may create information and intent information on whiteboard  104 . The information and intent information may be transmitted to computer  101  to be processed. Alternatively, computer  101  may receive intent information from secondary storage device  405 .  
         [0035]     In step  503 , using processing software  402 , if computer  101  determines intent information contains a “print” icon, computer  101  may use printing software  404  to perform a print action in step  504 . Printing software  404  may transmit a print command and the associated print information, such as the content located within content area  202 , to AIO device  102  or to a designated printer. Processing software  402  may determine the type of icon using an algorithm, such as a pattern recognition algorithm. For example, if processing software  402  determines an icon exists within intent area  203 , processing software  402  may analyze icon area  204  using a pattern recognition algorithm.  
         [0036]     In step  505 , using intent information processing software  402 , if computer  101  determines that the intent information located within intent area  203  is an “e-mail” icon, computer  101  may use processing software  402  to perform an e-mail action in step  506 . Computer  101  may forward content located within content area  202  to an e-mail address located within user-supplied text area  205  by way of server  103 . Server  103  may forward the entire e-mail message, including content to the identified recipient.  
         [0037]     In step  507 , using processing software  402 , if computer  101  determines intent information located within intent area  203  is a “push” icon ( 306  of  FIG. 3 ), computer  101  may use processing software  402  to perform a push action in step  508 . A push action may be used to send data to a device without the device requesting the data. Computer  101  may push content located within content area  202  to a device located within user-supplied text area  205  capable of receiving push information. For example, computer  101  may push content to electronic whiteboard “WHITEBOARD1.” WHITEBOARD1 may be connected to network  106  and may display the content. Alternatively, information could be sent to another computer, uploaded to the Internet, or pushed to another electronic device.  
         [0038]     In step  509 , using processing software  402  if computer  101  determines intent information located within intent area  203  contains additional icons, computer  101  may perform appropriate additional action(s) in step  510 . For example, icon area  204  may contain two icons, such as “retrieve” and “fax.” In such instances, computer  101  may first retrieve content from secondary storage device  405  based on information provided in user-supplied text area  205  and then send the retrieved content (for example, using a fax capable modem) to a facsimile number located within user-supplied text area  205 .  
         [0039]     In another example, using processing software  402 , computer  101  may recognize information from medium  206  scanned by AIO device  102  and overlay an image stored within or identified by a media profile, such as stored within medial profile  406 . A media profile is a description of the media and includes a notation as to where an additional image may be placed on the media. For example, if medium  206  are a loan application, computer  101  may include the loan officer&#39;s photograph on medium  206  within blank area  207  before e-mailing medium  206  to a group of loan applicants. For example, the present invention may be used with a system that scans a document and adds additional information to a printed version of the document, such as is described in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/301,440 entitled “DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SCANNING A FIRST IMAGE OF A DOCUMENT AND PRINTING A SECOND IMAGE ON THE DOCUMENT,” filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Nov. 21, 2002, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety.  
         [0040]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment that illustrates scanning and printing on the same media consistent with methods and systems of the present invention. In step  601 , using scanning software  403 , computer  101  may initiate a scan of medium  206 . In step  602 , computer  101  identifies the content located within content area  208  and intent information located within intent area  203 . Using processing software  402 , computer  101  recognizes medium  206  by matching a form icon located within form area  209  with a known media from media profiles  406  that are stored in secondary storage device  405 . In step  603 , computer  101  may overlay the image stored within media profile  406  onto medium  206  using the scanning and printing on the same media methodology, described above. In step  604 , using processing software  402 , computer  101  may perform an action based on the icon located within icon area  204  on medium  206 . For example, if medium  206  are loan applications, computer  101  may include an image of the loan officer&#39;s photograph on medium  206  and e-mail medium  206  (including a new image in blank area  207 ) to a group of recipients.  
         [0041]     The flow charts in  FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate exemplary processes used in embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the number or order of the illustrated steps. The illustrated processes may be rearranged, may omit certain steps, or may add other steps (not shown). In another embodiment, a scanner may be used with scanning software  403  to digitize an image that is then automatically sent to another computer, facsimile machine, whiteboard or other electronic device. Note also that while the present invention has been discussed primarily using paper medium, other types of media including paper, cloth, plastics, photographs, or ceramic, may be used to capture images from or record images on.