Automatic creation of multiple rows in a table

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9298685-B2
Application number	US-201313781719-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2013
Priority date	Feb 28, 2013
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for creating a table including multiple rows to accommodate redundant field information is described. A table creation module receives a completed form, generates field images, determines a set of unique field images, redundant fields and associated fields in the completed form, populates a first row of the table in a first column with a first unique field image, adds remaining field images from the set of unique field images to the first row, populates the first row with a first redundant field image and remaining field images from a first set of associated fields. The tables can be used to create an organized report.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a first completed form;
generating field images that are a combination of symbolic fields and handwriting fields from the first completed form;
determining a set of unique field images from the generated field images;
creating a first row in a table and populating the first row with the set of unique field images under a first set of columns in the table;
determining redundant fields of the first completed form;
determining sets of associated fields in the first completed form, each set of associated fields grouping one or more of the redundant fields and each redundant field within each set of associated fields storing information of a different type;
populating the first row of the table with redundant field images from the generated field images that correspond to a first set of associated fields under a second set of columns in the table;
determining whether a second set of associated fields are redundant with the first set of associated fields;
responsive to determining that the second set of associated fields are redundant with the first set, creating a second row in the table and populating the second row with redundant field images from the generated field images that correspond to the second set of associated fields under the second set of columns in the table; and
populating the second row of the table with the set of unique field images under the first set of columns in the table.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to determining that the second set of associated fields are not redundant with the first set, creating the second row in the table;
populating the second row of the table with the redundant field images from the generated field images that correspond to the second set of associated fields under a third set of columns in the table; and
populating the second row of the table with the set of unique field images under the first set of columns in the table.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
receiving a second completed form;
determining a set of unique field images in the second completed form;
determining redundant fields of the second completed form;
determining sets of associated fields in the second completed form and redundant field images that correspond to the redundant fields within each set of associated fields in the second completed form;
creating an additional row in the table for each set of associated fields in the second completed form;
identifying, based on the sets of associated fields in the second completed form, the first set of columns in the table associated with the set of unique field images and the second and the third sets of columns associated with each set of associated fields; and
populating the additional row of the table with the set of unique field images under the first set of columns in the table and with the redundant field images that correspond to each set of associated fields under the second and the third set of columns in the table.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the table to a user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining redundant fields and sets of associated fields comprises:
receiving a blank form corresponding to the first completed form;
identifying fields in the blank form that are redundant with each other; and
identifying one or more of the fields as part of a set of associated fields wherein one set of associated fields is redundant with another set of associated fields.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the field images that are the combination of symbolic fields and handwriting fields also include media fields.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a request from a user device to modify the table;
retrieving at least one field image based on the request;
recreating the table with the at least one field image; and
providing the table to a user.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the request is a filter request and the at least one field image matches the filter request.

9. A system comprising:
a processor;
an image generator stored on a memory and executable by the processor, the image generator configured to receive a first completed form and to generate field images that are a combination of symbolic fields and handwriting fields from the first completed form; and
a table generator stored on the memory and executable by the processor, the table generator coupled to the image generator and configured to determine a set of unique field images from the generated field images, to create a first row in a table and populate the first row with the set of unique field images under a first set of columns in the table, to determine redundant fields of the first completed form, to determine sets of associated fields in the first completed form, each set of associated fields grouping one or more of the redundant fields and each redundant field within each set of associated fields storing information of a different type, to populate the first row of the table with redundant field images from the generated field images that correspond to a first set of associated fields under a second set of columns in the table, to determine whether a second set of associated fields are redundant with the first set of associated fields, responsive to determining that the second set of associated fields are redundant with the first set, to create a second row in the table and populate the second row with redundant field images from the generated field images that correspond to the second set of associated fields under the second set of columns in the table and to populate the second row of the table with the set of unique field images under the first set of columns in the table.

10. The system of claim 9 ,
wherein the table generator, responsive to determining that the second set of associated fields are not redundant with the first set, is configured to create the second row in the table, to populate the second row of the table with the redundant field images from the generated field images that correspond to the second set of associated fields column under a third set of columns in the table and to populate the second row of the table with the set of unique field images under the first set of columns in the table.

11. The system of claim 10 , further comprising:
the image generator is configured to receive a second completed form; and
wherein the table generator is configured to determine a set of unique field images in the second completed form, to determine redundant fields of the second completed form, to determine sets of associated fields in the second completed form and redundant field images that correspond to the redundant fields within each set of associated fields in the second completed form, to create an additional row in the table for each set of associated fields in the second completed form, to identify the first set of columns in the table associated with the set of unique field images and the second and the third set of columns associated with each set of associated fields in the second completed form storing redundant field images and to populate the additional row of the table with the set of unique field images under the first set of columns in the table and with the redundant field images that correspond to each set of associated fields under the second and the third set of columns in the table.

12. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
user interface engine stored on the memory and executable by the processor, the user interface engine configured to provide the table to a user.

13. The s

Assignees

• Barrus John W
• Schwartz Edward L
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Barrus John W
• Schwartz Edward L

Classifications

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G06F40/174 Primary

  Form filling; Merging · CPC title

• G06F9/4446

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/243 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic