In accordance with this invention, a method, computer program product, and system for performing automated recognition of blocks of text within a graphic file are provided. The method, computer program product, and system automatically transform drawings into a graphic file format that provides enriched electronic display and text search of the graphic files. The text within large sets of drawings, parts catalogs, and various manuals is automatically discovered, extracted and indexed by the geometric location of the text within the graphic file. Single lines of text and blocks of text are recognized by utilizing geometric reasoning techniques based upon proximity and font characteristics. As such, the present invention automatically produces an interactive electronic representation of a graphic file that allows a user to quickly and accurately search graphic files for particular text, whether the text appears in a single line or over multiple lines in a block of text.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority from a provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/280,315, filed Mar. 29, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
