A template-based method for identifying input regions in survey forms

This paper presents a template-based approach for survey form analysis. User input areas on the survey forms are identified. Regions of interest (ROI) include checkboxes, radio buttons, underlined and parenthesized handwritten regions. Scale invariant vertical and horizontal projection profile patterns for each of those four types of ROI are defined as matching templates. The templates are matched against projection profiles of connected components in the given survey form. Experiments with 158 different forms at 100-dpi scan resolution resulted in recognition rate of over 99%.