Layout-based approach for extracting constructive elements of bar-charts

Abstract

The analysis/recognition subject of chart structures aims to distinguish individual composite elements structurally, identify their constructive relationships logically, and extract the interpretative information semantically. Many of constructive elements are often allocated to appropriately predefined positions according to the illustrated structures of individual charts. Thus, we can construct a layout knowledge for chart structures with respect to the connective/neighboring relationships among some composite elements. We represent the layout knowledge of bar-chart structures, using a network structure called the layout network. This network contains all possible chart primitives in bar-charts and is composed by all possible relationships among them. In addition to this network, rules are introduced to make the interpretation of this layout network effectual and resolve the ambiguously duplicated representations stepwisely.