JP2002183165A - Digital hybrid machine and document storage system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital hybrid machine which eliminates the need for troublesome keyword input operation by selecting a keyword when sending a document to a file system stored with documents. SOLUTION: This digital hybrid machine has at lest one of a copying function, a facsimile function, and an image data read function and a function of transmitting a read document to the file system while physically connected to the file system stored with documents. Further, the machine is equipped with: a character extracting function 202 for extracting characters from read images of respective pages when either a document is copied, an image read is made for facsimile transmission, or an image is read; a keyword extract function 203 for analyzing the extracted characters to extract keywords; a keyword display function 204 for displaying the extracted keyword; a keyword display function 204 which displays the extracted keywords; and a keyword selecting function 205 which allows a user to select a keyword out of the displayed keywords. The machine transmits the selected keyword as additional information of the read document to the file system by using a document communicating function 201.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a copied image,
The present invention relates to a digital multi-function peripheral having an image reading function of transmitting a document to a file system for storing a facsimile-transmitted image and a scanned document, and a document storage system including the digital multi-function peripheral.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Documents such as documents to be saved because they are important and documents that may be used in the future are not stored on paper but read by a scanner device or the like.
A so-called document storage file system (hereinafter, referred to as a file system) stored in a large-capacity storage device is used. Some file systems of this type are designed so that they can be reused by performing a search later. Examples of this type of apparatus include: (1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-187775, (2) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-171841, (3) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-020549, and (4) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-298368. The disclosed invention is known.

[0003] Among the above, in the known technique (1), there is disclosed a system which targets not only a scanner device but also a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, etc. as a device for taking in image data. In (2), a keyword can be added at the time of reading an image. In (3), an area for extracting a keyword on a read image can be specified. It is disclosed that keywords are automatically extracted and added to a document in a file system. These are all devised so that the read and stored image data can be easily retrieved and retrieved later.

[0004]

However, in a system in which a keyword is added at the time of reading an image or after an image is read as in the known techniques (2) and (3), a complicated operation of inputting the keyword is required. . Further, in a system in which a keyword is automatically added in a file system as in the above-described known technique (4), the user cannot know in advance what kind of keyword has been added to the read image.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation of the prior art. A first object of the present invention is to select a keyword when transmitting a document to a file system, thereby performing a complicated keyword input operation. An object of the present invention is to provide an unnecessary digital multifunction peripheral.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a digital multifunction peripheral capable of simultaneously selecting a keyword and storing a document when transmitting a document to a file system.

[0007] A third object is to provide a digital multi-function peripheral in which a user can input an arbitrary keyword in addition to selecting a keyword.

A fourth object is to provide a document storage system including a digital multi-function peripheral capable of achieving the first to third objects.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a document storage device having at least one of a copying function, a facsimile function, and an image reading function for storing a document composed of a plurality of pages of read images. A digital multifunction peripheral physically connected to the apparatus, and
A character extraction function for extracting characters from an image read after performing a facsimile transmission operation / image reading, a keyword extraction function for extracting keywords from the extracted characters, a keyword display function for displaying the extracted keywords, and a display And a keyword selection function that allows the user to arbitrarily select a keyword from the set keywords. This eliminates the need for the user to input the keyword for the scanned document, and the keyword for the scanned document can be selected at the time of scanning. Therefore, when reusing the scanned document on the file system, it is necessary to search for an image. Don't get lost in your keywords.

More specifically, the first means for achieving the first object includes a copying function, a facsimile function,
In a digital multifunction peripheral having at least one function of an image data reading function and a function of being physically connected to a file system for storing a document and transmitting the read document to the file system, when copying a document,
In either case of executing image reading for facsimile transmission, or executing image reading, character extracting means for extracting characters from the image of each read page, and analyzing the characters extracted by the character extracting means And a keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword, a keyword displaying means for displaying the keyword extracted by the means, and a keyword selecting means for allowing a user to select a keyword from the keywords displayed by the means. A keyword is transmitted to the file system as additional information of the read document.

[0011] To achieve the second object, the second means is that, in the first means, a document read only when a user selects a keyword is transmitted to the file system. The keyword is displayed on the keyword display means from the point in time when the selection is made to the point in time when the selection is canceled.

A third means for achieving the second object is that, in the first means, a document read only when a user selects a keyword is transmitted to the file system, and then copied or newly copied. The keyword is displayed on the keyword display means until the facsimile transmission means or the image reading means is used.

A fourth means for achieving the second object is the first means, wherein a document read only when a user selects a keyword is transmitted to the file system, and a predetermined time period is set. The keyword is displayed on the keyword display means until elapses.

In order to achieve the third object, the fifth means is the first means, wherein the keyword input means for inputting an arbitrary keyword to be added to the read document and the keyword input means for inputting a keyword extracted from the image data. Alternatively, means for adding an arbitrary keyword to the document in addition to the keyword extracted from the image data and storing the keyword in the file system is provided.

In order to achieve the fourth object, the sixth means is a digital multifunction peripheral according to any one of the first to fifth means, a personal computer as the file system, and the digital multifunction peripheral and the personal computer. The document storage system is characterized by comprising a communication means for connecting between them.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of a digital copier as a digital multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a digital copier (Multi
Function Printer (hereinafter also referred to as “MFP”) 10
The CPU 11 reads out a control program stored in the ROM 12 in advance and uses the RAM 13 as a work area for temporarily storing image data, sensor signals, and the like, and controls various parts of the apparatus while performing various processes as a data processing apparatus. At the same time, the processing according to the present invention is executed.

The MFP 10 is connected via a network I / F (interface) 20 to a file system (not shown) for storing and managing data in an image data storage device (storage means) in a searchable and readable manner. By transferring the image data processed by the user to the file system regardless of the presence or absence of the transfer command, a file system for storing the processed image data in a reusable file (storage device) is constructed. It is needless to say that the file system is not limited to a configuration connected via a network, but may be directly connected. The MFP 10 sends a ROM 12, a RAM 13 and a network I / F to a CPU 11 via a system bus.
20, scanner 14, plotter 15, modem 1
6, an NCU (network control device) 17, a display operation unit 18, and a hard disk device 19 are connected.
Has overall control over these units 12 to 18, so that the scanner 14 functions as an image reading device,
A transmission function for transmitting image data by facsimile communication, and copying for recording and outputting read image data
It can be used as a copying machine having a function and a recording function of recording and outputting received image data. FIG.
Among them, 11a is a timer function used when the CPU 11 controls each unit of the apparatus, and the timer 11a is used, for example, when counting timing for synchronizing each unit of the apparatus. The MFP 10 is a PC (Personal Com.
puter), and may be configured to be usable as a printer device that receives and records image data from a printer, or a scanner device that sends read image data to a PC. May be performed.

In brief, for example, the scanner 14 separates and feeds sheet-like documents set on a document table one by one by an automatic document feeder (ADF) and positions them on a contact glass (reading position). later,
According to a known reading method, the light of an exposure lamp is applied to the original (a document composed of images, characters, and the like), and the reflected light from the image surface is photoelectrically converted by a CCD to read image data. The plotter 15 reads and receives the image data to be latched in the RAM 13 constituting the image memory unit, for example, by using a known electrophotographic recording method, and rotationally drives the image data to optically write on a charged photoconductor. Toner is attached to the latent image, and the toner image visualized by so-called toner development is transferred and fixed to a sheet conveyed from a sheet feeding cassette, and is discharged outside the apparatus.

The modem 16 and the NCU 17 are connected to the modem 1
4 modulates and demodulates image data and various procedure signals,
The NCU 17 performs line control with the PSTN (public line) to perform line connection or disconnection, thereby performing facsimile communication for transmitting and receiving facsimile data to and from a destination facsimile terminal. Note that the MFP 10
May be provided with an image processing unit that functions as a DCR (encoding / decoding) that encodes and compresses image data and decodes and expands the image data when reproducing the image data. It is needless to say that image processing for enlarging / reducing the image can be performed on the image data.

The display operation section 18 is composed of a keyboard 21 and a display board 31 prepared in an operation board provided on the upper front of the apparatus main body.
The display board 13 displays various information such as driving conditions, device states, and input conditions, and has a touch panel display operation LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for performing input operations such as selection input such as function selection and setting input by a user.
It is composed of

The CPU 11 of the MFP 10 is configured as a transfer unit. For example, the image data read by the scanner 14 is recorded and output on paper by the plotter 14, and is simultaneously transmitted by facsimile by the modem 16 and the NCU 17. Then, after the same image data is temporarily stored in the hard disk device (storage means) 19 by adding processing date and time information for specifying the read image data, specific information such as the number of copies, and the telephone number of the other party, A transfer process for sending the data to a file system (not shown) via the network I / F 20 is performed.

On the other hand, the file system connected to the MFP 10 can be constituted by a general PC, if not shown and will be briefly described. This allows the user to operate the keyboard and mouse while looking at the display to perform arithmetic processing and the like in accordance with the application program read from the memory.
Search / read out image data transferred from 10 and display /
By recording and outputting, the image data is stored and managed in the image data storage device in a reusable manner. In this storage management, image data is stored in a storage device in association with specific information for each successively processed document, and a part of the document (for example, the thumbnail of the first page) Image) is displayed on a display in a calendar display format or the like so as to be selectable based on specific information such as processing date and time. As a result, the image data selected from the image data can be read out from the image data storage device in document units, sent to the MFP 10 for recording and output, and the contents can be confirmed and reused. It should be noted that the image data of each document may be sequentially displayed and output on a display, so that the image data which has been digitized may be reused by processing it with a PC.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing each functional part of the MFP 10. The MFP 10 has a document communication function 20
1, document extraction function 202, keyword extraction function 203,
Keyword display function 204 and keyword selection function 2
05, and these functions are stored in the ROM 12 described above.
The CPU 11 performs processing according to the program stored in the CPU 11. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the keyword display unit and the keyword selection unit displayed on the display operation unit 18. In this example, the display board 3 of the display operation unit 18
1, all keywords extracted from the document are displayed, and the keyword selected by the user is shown in a black and white inverted state. In this example, the keywords "document management", "file system", "document", "search",
"Scanned image", "Facsimile", "Reuse",
The keywords "copy" and "store" are extracted as described below. The selected keyword is stored in the file system, for example, in the mass storage device of the connected PC by touching the display part "store in file system". That is, in this embodiment,
The display operation unit 18 for performing these displays is constituted by a liquid crystal touch panel. By touching a display portion, selection of a display corresponding to the display portion and execution of a function are input.

The character extracting function 201 of the MFP 11 extracts characters from a read image when reading each page of a document including a plurality of pages, and executes a keyword extracting function 20.
Numeral 3 analyzes a character extracted by the character extraction function 201 and extracts a keyword. Keyword display function 204
Displays the extracted keywords after copying all pages of the document, reading an image for facsimile transmission, or reading an image. The user can use the keyword selection function 205 to select a keyword from the displayed keywords. This allows the user to copy any one of the displayed keywords or to perform facsimile transmission by selecting an arbitrary keyword from the displayed keywords at any time after the execution of copying, after reading the image for facsimile transmission, or at any time after reading the image. Alternatively, a keyword can be added to a document from which an image has been read and stored in a file system. At this time, since the displayed keywords are extracted from the image obtained by reading each page in the document, it is not necessary to input the keywords one by one. In this way, the user can add a keyword to a document without performing the complicated task of inputting the keyword. In addition, since a keyword can be selected at the time of storing a document, the user does not get lost in the keyword for search at the time of image search later.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which a keyword is selected in the keyword display section and the keyword selection section, and FIG. 5 is a view showing a state in which no keyword is selected in the keyword display section and the keyword selection section. As shown in FIG. 5, in a state where no keyword is selected, here, in a state where there is no selected keyword indicated by black / white inversion, the document is not sent to the file system.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, in the keyword selection unit of the display operation unit 18, a set of documents read by the user selecting a keyword, here, "document management", "file system", The keywords "facsimile" and "copy" will be sent to the file system. On the other hand, if a keyword non-selection button (not shown) is pressed or a button is not selected and a condition described later occurs, it is not transmitted to the file system. As a result, the user can simultaneously perform an operation of selecting a keyword and an operation of storing a document in the document storage system. Keywords are selected in the keyword selection function,
While the selection is canceled The next time a copy or facsimile transmission function or image reading function is used The display is displayed for a certain period of time, which is set in advance. If not selected, the document will not be stored in the file system and will be discarded.

The user can understand the above from the display on the display board 31. That is, FIG.
If the keyword is not selected as shown in, the message "Not stored in the file system" or "Please select a keyword within XXX seconds" is displayed as a message and the message is not selected If
After the elapse of the preset time XXX seconds, the document is not stored in the file system.

In this embodiment, the keyword extracted by the keyword extracting function 203 is configured to be selected by the keyword selecting function 205. However, the keyword is replaced with the keyword extracting function 203 or the keyword extracting function 203. In addition to the above, it is also possible to configure so that the user himself inputs. In this case, the display operation unit 1
By inputting a keyword intended by the user from the keyboard 21 of FIG. 8 and adding the entered keyword to the read document, an arbitrary keyword set by the user can be added and stored in the file system. That is, by setting a keyword input function for adding an arbitrary keyword, not only automatically extracted keywords but also arbitrary keywords can be added.

[0029]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the character extracting means for extracting characters from the read image of each page, the characters extracted by the character extracting means are analyzed, and the keyword is analyzed. And a keyword display unit for displaying the keyword extracted by the unit, and a keyword selection unit for allowing a user to select a keyword from the keywords displayed by the unit. Since the document is transmitted to the file system as additional information of the document, the user does not need to input a keyword for the document stored in the file system, but only has to select an arbitrary keyword from the keywords extracted from the document. This eliminates the need to perform a complicated keyword input operation. Further, since a keyword can be added when storing a document, the keyword is not lost when a document is later searched.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the read document is transmitted to the file system only when the user selects a keyword, and the time from when the keyword is selected by the keyword selecting means to when the selection is canceled Until the keyword is displayed on the keyword display means, the selection of the keyword displayed on the keyword display unit also serves as an on / off function of storing the document in the file system. According to the third aspect of the present invention, a document can be stored in the system at the same time, and the read document is transmitted to the file system only when the user selects a keyword, and then a new copy or facsimile transmission is performed. Keyword until means or image reading means are used Since displayed on de display means, to select a keyword that is displayed in the keyword display unit,
It also has an on / off function of storing a document in the file system, and can simultaneously perform the act of selecting a keyword and the act of storing a document in the file system.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the read document is transmitted to the file system only when the user selects the keyword, and the keyword is displayed on the keyword display means until a set time passes. Selecting a keyword displayed on the keyword display unit also has an on / off function of storing a document in the file system, and simultaneously performs the act of selecting a keyword and the act of storing a document in the file system. be able to.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a keyword input means for inputting an arbitrary keyword to be added to a read document, and the keyword input means is used instead of the keyword extracted from the image data or extracted from the image data. Since there is provided means for adding an arbitrary keyword to the document in addition to the keyword and storing the keyword in the file system, the user can input an arbitrary keyword in addition to selecting an automatically extracted keyword. By doing so, the function of adding a keyword can be enhanced. Also, storage according to the user's intention becomes possible.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital multi-function peripheral according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, a personal computer as a file system, and a connection between the digital multi-function peripheral and the personal computer. Since the document storage system is composed of communication means connecting
A document storage system can be easily constructed using a personal computer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a digital copying machine as a digital multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing each functional part of the digital copying machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a keyword display unit and a keyword selection unit of the digital copying machine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which a keyword is selected in a keyword selection unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which a keyword is not selected in a keyword selection unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 digital copying machine (MFP) 11 CPU 11a timer 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 scanner 15 plotter 16 modem 17 NCU 18 display operation unit 21 keyboard 31 display board 201 document communication function 202 character extraction function 203 keyword extraction function 204 keyword display function 205 keyword Select function

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 12/00 520 G06F 12/00 520E

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A digital device having at least one of a copying function, a facsimile function, and an image data reading function, and a function of being physically connected to a file system for storing a document and transmitting the read document to the file system. In the multifunction peripheral, when performing copying of a document, performing image reading for facsimile transmission, or performing image reading, a character extracting unit that extracts characters from an image of each read page; A keyword extraction unit that analyzes the characters extracted by the character extraction unit and extracts a keyword; a keyword display unit that displays the keywords extracted by the unit; and a user that can select a keyword from the keywords displayed by the unit. Keyword selecting means,
A digital multi-function peripheral for transmitting a selected keyword to the file system as additional information of a read document. 2. A document read only when a user selects a keyword is transmitted to the file system, and the keyword is displayed on the keyword display means from the time when the keyword is selected by the keyword selection means to the time when the selection is canceled. 2. A display according to claim 1.
Digital multifunction peripheral as described. 3. A read document is transmitted to the file system only when the user selects a keyword, and the keyword is displayed on the keyword display means until the copy or facsimile transmission means or the image reading means is newly used. 2. The digital multifunction peripheral according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the read document is transmitted to the file system only when the user selects a keyword, and the keyword is displayed on the keyword display means until a set time has elapsed. Digital multifunction peripheral as described. 5. A keyword input means for inputting an arbitrary keyword to be added to a read document, and an optional keyword in place of the keyword extracted from the image data or in addition to the keyword extracted from the image data. 2. A digital multi-function peripheral according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing the file in a file system in addition to a document. 6. The digital multifunction peripheral according to claim 1, a personal computer as the file system, and communication means for connecting the digital multifunction peripheral to the personal computer. Document storage system.