Patent ID: 7519226

Claim:
A method of classifying forms comprising one or more processor implementing the steps of: registering a plurality of template forms with features of table attribute areas included in each template form, the features including information of the position and size of each table area; inputting image data representative of an input form; segmenting the input image data into a plurality of areas, each area having one of a plurality of attributes, wherein the plurality of attributes includes a table attribute, a frame attribute, and a figure attribute; extracting features of the plurality of areas segmented in said segmenting step; performing an approximate selection, by selecting some template forms from among the plurality of registered template fonts according to a result of comparison between the features extracted from the segmented table attribute areas of the input form and the features of table attribute areas of the registered template forms, wherein the compared features include the numbers of areas; calculating each score of some template forms selected in said approximate selection step by comparing the extracted features of the plurality of segmented areas of the input form with the features of table attribute areas of the some template forms selected in said approximate selection step, wherein the compared features of the input form include information of the position and size of the areas having the table attribute or the frame attribute or the figure attribute, and wherein the compared features of the some template forms are information of the position and size of the areas having the table attribute; making a further selection by selecting a temp 1 ate form matching the input form from among the some template forms selected in said approximate selecting step based on the scores calculated in said calculating step; and outputting an output corresponding to the template form selected in said further selection step.