Toward Automatic Processing and Indexing of Microfilm

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Toward Automatic Processing and Indexing of
Microfilm
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Microfilm Processing
Images are scanned from ribbons of microfilm.
Each image on the microfilm ribbon is then
cropped and de-skewed.
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Microfilm Processing
Cropped and De-skewed Image
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Lines in a document emit a unique
signature.
Image Zoning

• The algorithm searches for these
• patterns to detect the lines that
  describe a table.

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Image Zoning
Automatically IdentifiesTable Structure.
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Optical Character Recognition

• A neural net evaluates each zone in the
  image.
• The neural net converts the printed
  characters in each zone into ASCII text.

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Optical Character Recognition
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Column-Row Recognition

• The algorithm uses the geometry of
• each zone to identify the tables
  columns and rows.
• The algorithm associates each column and
  row label with its values in the
• table.

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Column-Row Recognition
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Identify Labels

• The algorithm maps the printed text of
  each label to a standardized name.
• The standardized names correspond to the
  fields in a database.

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Identify Labels
ROAD, STREET, c., And No. or NAME of HOUSE
Address
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Identify Labels
NAME and Surname of each Person
Full Name
Address
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Identify Labels
RELATION to Head of Family
Relationship
Address
Full Name
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Extract Data

• The algorithm identifies factored table
  values.
• The algorithm stores each record in an XML
  file.

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Extract Data

Collafer
Extracted by hand.
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Extract Data

John Eyres
Head
Collafer
Extracted by hand.
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Extract Data

Annie Eyres
Wife
Collafer
Extracted by hand.
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Extract Data

Lehailes Eyre
Son
Collafer
Extracted by hand.
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Microfilm Queries

• A web form provides the interface to query
  the microfilm database.
• Individuals can enter keywords (such as
  a first and last name), and the system
  locates appropriate records in the indexed
  microfilm documents.

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Web Query
John
Eyre
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Search Results

• The system returns the indexed images that
  contain the results.
• Since the database indexes both the text
  and geometry of the document, the process
  can return just the relevant regions of the
  microfilm image.

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Search Results
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Search Results
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Just-In-Time Browsing

• To make the query results display quickly,
  the system uses Just-In-Time Browsing.

• Just-In-Time Browsing will allow people to
  browse digitized microfilm and other large
  collections of images over the Internet at
  interactive rates.

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Just-In-Time Browsing
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Just-In-Time Browsing