Patent ID: 7054871

Claim:
A method performed by a computer system containing programming for reformulating raw data appearing in a delineated table region of an electronic document into a table structure, comprising the steps of: a) reading raw data, said raw data spatially arranged in a delineated table region of an electronic document, said raw data, as read, lacking hierarchical arrangement sufficient to enable a logical query of said raw data based on said spatial arrangement; b) creating a binary tree using a hierarchical clustering of a plurality of words included in said raw data; c) segregating a plurality of columns from the raw data using a breadth-first traversal algorithm; d) identifying column headers, if any, from the plurality of columns using a first heuristic algorithm; e) identifying row headers, if any, from the column headers using a second heuristic algorithm; f) segregating at least one row from the raw data using a row determination algorithm; and g) storing the plurality of columns and the at least one row into a table structure.