A hybrid method for table detection from document image

Abstract

In this paper, we present a hybrid method consisting of three main stages for detecting tables in document images. Based on table structure, our system separates table into two main categories, ruling line table and non-ruling line table. In the first stage, the text and non-text elements in document are classified by a heuristic filter. Then, the white space analysis is used to group the text elements into text lines, while ruling line table candidates are identified from non-text elements. In the second stage, based on the text lines, text and non-text elements, a hybrid method which consist of the alternative bottom-up and top-down approaches is implemented to find the table region candidates. In the final stage, these candidates are examined to get the table regions by analyzing text lines and spare lines. Experimental results with the document database from the ICDAR2013 table competition show that the proposed method works better than the previous ones.