System and method for block segmenting, identifying and indexing visual elements, and searching documents

Abstract

A method for segmenting, identifying and indexing visual elements, and searching documents comprises for each document generating metadata, segmenting the document into blocks using the metadata, performing block operations on the identified blocks, identifying and indexing inline visual elements using data and metadata rules, identifying and indexing block visual elements using profiles, and searching for documents containing visual elements,

1 . A computer-implemented method for providing results of a search operation on a data source comprising documents, the method comprising: (a) receiving, by a computer from a user device, a search query wherein the search query comprises at least one keyword and for the at least one keyword at least one visual element type wherein the visual element type is selected from a group consisting of Paragraph, Table, List, Menu, Graphs/Charts, Fixed Width Text, Interactive Data, Key/Value, Question/Answer and Timeline; (b) finding, by the computer, at least one document relevant to the search query in the data source comprising a visual element of a visual element type from the search query; (c) constructing a search result web page comprising of a summary extracted from the visual element of the document; and (d) returning and displaying on a graphical user interface of the user device the search result web page comprising of the summary. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the summary on the search result page is constructed in the visual element type of the visual element from which the summary is extracted. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the summary on the search result page is constructed in the presentation semantics as the visual element from which the summary is extracted. 
     
     
         4 . A computer-implemented method for providing results of a search operation on a data source comprising documents, the method comprising: (a) receiving, by a computer from a user device, a search query wherein the search query consists of at least one keyword and for the at least one keyword more than one visual element type wherein the visual element type is selected from a group consisting of Paragraph, Table, List, Menu, Graphs/Charts, Fixed Width Text, Interactive Data, Key/Value, Question/Answer and Timeline; (b) finding, by the computer, at least one relevant document in the data source comprising a visual element of any of visual element type(s) from the search query; (c) constructing a search result web page comprising of a summary extracted from the visual element of the document; and (d) returning and displaying on a graphical user interface of the user device the search result web page comprising of the summary. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the summary on the search result page is constructed in the visual element type of the visual element from which the summary is extracted. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the summary on the search result page is constructed in the presentation semantics as the visual element from which the summary is extracted.