Image text analysis for identifying hidden text

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10049310-B2
Application number	US-201615251698-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2016
Priority date	Aug 30, 2016
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

Provided are techniques for image text analysis for identifying hidden text. An Optical Character Reader (OCR) is utilized to extract a text string from an image. Context within the image is analyzed. It is determined that the extracted text string is a partial text string based on the context. For a first radius level of a plurality of radius levels, a segmented sub-image is identified around the partial text string within the first radius level, an image search on the segmented sub-image is performed to identify a candidate text string, and, in response to determining that the candidate text string is a complete text string, the complete text string is provided for performing an action.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for identifying hidden text, comprising:
utilizing, using a processor of a computer, an Optical Character Reader (OCR) to extract a text string from an image;
analyzing context within the image;
determining that the extracted text string is a partial text string based on the context using text coherence; and
for a first radius level of a plurality of radius levels around the partial text string,
identifying a segmented sub-image around the partial text string within the first radius level;
performing an image search on the segmented sub-image to identify a candidate text string by:
searching one or more data sources for an image that includes the partial text string and the context; and
identifying a longer text string that includes the partial text string as the candidate text string;

determining whether the candidate text string is a complete text string based on the context; and
in response to determining that the candidate text string is the complete text string, providing the complete text string for performing an action.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the action comprises at least one of summarizing the image and translating the text into another language.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a number of radius levels and a size for each of the radius levels.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the candidate text string is not the complete text string,
selecting a next radius level from the plurality of radius levels;
identifying another segmented sub-image around the partial text string within the next radius level;
performing another image search on the another segmented sub-image to identify a new candidate text string; and
in response to determining that the new candidate text string is the complete text string, providing the complete text string for performing the action.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image search identifies a new image in a data source of the one or more data sources that includes the context and the partial text string.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a Software as a Service (SaaS) is configured to perform operations of the method.

7. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by at least one processor to perform:
utilizing an Optical Character Reader (OCR) to extract a text string from an image;
analyzing context within the image;
determining that the extracted text string is a partial text string based on the context using text coherence; and
for a first radius level of a plurality of radius levels around the partial text string,
identifying a segmented sub-image around the partial text string within the first radius level;
performing an image search on the segmented sub-image to identify a candidate text string by:
searching one or more data sources for an image that includes the partial text string and the context; and
identifying a longer text string that includes the partial text string as the candidate text string;

determining whether the candidate text string is a complete text string based on the context; and
in response to determining that the candidate text string is the complete text string, providing the complete text string for performing an action.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the action comprises at least one of summarizing the image and translating the text into another language.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the program code is executable by the at least one processor to perform:
receiving a number of radius levels and a size for each of the radius levels.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the program code is executable by the at least one processor to perform:
in response to determining that the candidate text string is not the complete text string,
selecting a next radius level from the plurality of radius levels;
identifying another segmented sub-image around the partial text string within the next radius level;
performing another image search on the another segmented sub-image to identify a new candidate text string; and
in response to determining that the new candidate text string is the complete text string, providing the complete text string for performing the action.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the image search identifies a new image in a data source of the one or more data sources that includes the context and the partial text string.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein a Software as a Service (SaaS) is configured to perform operations of the computer program product.

13. A computer system, comprising:
one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories and one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices; and
program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to perform operations comprising:
utilizing an Optical Character Reader (OCR) to extract a text string from an image;
analyzing context within the image;
determining that the extracted text string is a partial text string based on the context using text coherence; and
for a first radius level of a plurality of radius levels around the partial text string,
identifying a segmented sub-image around the partial text string within the first radius level;
performing an image search on the segmented sub-image to identify a candidate text string by:
searching one or more data sources for an image that includes the partial text string and the context; and
identifying a longer text string that includes the partial text string as the candidate text string;

determining whether the candidate text string is a complete text string based on the context; and
in response to determining that the candidate text string is the complete text string, providing the complete text string for performing an action.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the action comprises at least one of summarizing the image and translating the text into another language.

15. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a number of radius levels and a size for each of the radius levels.

16. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to determining that the candidate text string is not the complete text string,
selecting a next radius level from the plurality of radius levels;
identifying another segmented sub-image around the partial text string within the next radius level;
performing another image search on the another segmented sub-image to identify a new candidate text string; and
in response to determining that the new candidate text string is the complete text string, providing the complete text string for performing the action.

17. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the image search identifies a new image in a data source of the one or more data sources that includes the context and the partial text string.

18. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein a Software as a Service (SaaS) is configured to perform the operations of the computer system.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Abou Mahmoud Alaa
• Bastide Paul R
• Lu Fang

Classifications

• G06V30/1983

  Syntactic or structural pattern recognition, e.g. symbolic string recognition · CPC title

• G06F40/58 Primary

  Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation · CPC title

• G06V30/268

  Lexical context · CPC title

• G06V30/10

  Character recognition · CPC title

• G06K9/344

  Physics · mapped topic