JP2008042359A - Image processor, image processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it easy to transmit information that the originator of a document wants to transmit to a viewer when displaying the thumbnail image of document data. <P>SOLUTION: The image processor with a function of displaying the thumbnail image for which the elements of the document data are thumbnailed comprises a storage device 10 for storing the document data and a thumbnail control object adding operation function 20 for adding a thumbnail control object for controlling the thumbnail image of the document data stored in the storage device 10 to the document data and preserving the added thumbnail control object in the storage device 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus or the like realized by a personal computer or the like, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus or the like that handles document data.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are apparatuses and software that digitize and manage document data such as data read by a scanner or a document created by an application on a personal computer (PC). For example, document handling software such as DocuWorks (trademark) provided by the applicant (Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.) and Adobe Acrobat (trademark) of Adobe Systems are typical examples. For example, in this document work, paper documents read by a scanner can be digitized and managed, and even document data created by different applications can be managed as a single document. In addition, even though this document document is an electronic document, editing operations such as drawing a marker, adding a comment, attaching a sticky note, and pressing a stamp are possible.

  Furthermore, this DocuWorks has a function called a Desk window for managing files and folders. In the Desk window, a plurality of application files and image files can be managed together, and so-called “thumbnail images” are used for further management. This thumbnail image is an image that has been reduced to display a large number of images as a list. For example, when the number of image files increases, it is difficult to determine only by information such as file names. Therefore, it can be said that the thumbnail image used for roughly understanding the picture is very convenient when managing image files.

As a conventional technique described in the publication, for example, there is a technique for reducing an image including a small character without deteriorating its recognizability (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, the size of characters included in a character group is determined, and a reduction ratio is determined for each character group based on the determination result.
Further, as another technique described in the publication, in view of the thumbnail display, if many reduced images are displayed on one display screen, the reduction magnification is increased and the image discriminability is lowered, and the object separation is executed. A technique for controlling the reduction ratio for each object that has been set is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-171380 JP 2004-221431 A

  As described above, since a conventional thumbnail image is a reduced version of document data, information that can be read when the document data is displayed by a display application may be difficult to determine with a reduced image. In particular, when annotation, which is additional information such as “important”, “prohibited copying”, “urgent”, is added to the document data, the deterioration of the discriminability in the reduced image becomes a very big problem.

  FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams for explaining an image and a thumbnail image of document data to which annotation is added as a conventional technique. In FIG. 6A, the “important” annotation has an appropriate size in a state where the contents of the left document are displayed. At this time, the balance with the document image that is the image of the document data is also appropriate. However, in the thumbnail image obtained by reducing the state on the left side of FIG. 6A as it is (on the right side of FIG. 6A), the “important” characters are small and difficult to read. In other words, it is not preferable that it becomes difficult to distinguish the thumbnails even though some annotations are added to distinguish them from other documents.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 6B, since the “important” characters of the thumbnail image shown on the right side are displayed in an appropriate size, it is possible for the user to maintain discriminability at the stage of the thumbnail image. Become. However, in the state in which the content of the document that is the source of such a thumbnail image is displayed (on the left side of FIG. 6B), the annotation image “important” is too large and overlaps with other elements. It becomes impossible to distinguish the characters. That is, in the conventional technique, when information that can be discriminated by the reduced image is added to the document data, the viewability of the document data itself is impaired.

  According to Patent Document 1, a part of the above problem can be solved in that small characters can be read. However, since the reduction ratio is temporarily changed for a small character, a reduced image that is very difficult to see is formed even if the distinguishability of the character itself is improved. In addition, the process is very complicated, such as determining the reduction ratio by checking the overlap for each image, and the feasibility is poor.

  Moreover, in the said patent document 2, it is excellent as an idea at the point which expands only a part of image. However, in Patent Document 2, an object is separated from a photographic image and the object to be enlarged is cut out, and no image data exists for the cut out portion. Therefore, there is no problem when the range after enlargement completely includes the range of the object before enlargement, but otherwise, there is no image data in the clipped portion, resulting in an incomplete image. . Also, the process of determining an object for each image, separating it, and changing the reduction ratio is very complicated, and it is difficult to provide a simple file system. Furthermore, no solution has been proposed for the position of the displayed object.

The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems as described above, and the object of the present invention is to display information that the document creator wants to convey when displaying thumbnail images of document data. It is to make it easier for the viewer to tell.
Another object is to simply create a thumbnail image different from the appearance of the document data when creating a thumbnail image from the document data.
Still another object is to enable display of an annotation thumbnail image in a form different from that of the document data thumbnail when the document data is annotated.

  In order to achieve such an object, an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied is an image processing apparatus having a function of displaying a thumbnail image obtained by converting the elements of document data into thumbnails, and storing means for storing the document data And adding means for adding a thumbnail control object for controlling the thumbnail image of the document data stored in the storage means to the document data, and storing means for saving the thumbnail control object added by the adding means. .

Here, the thumbnail control object includes image data. When the document data is displayed, the image data is displayed together. When the thumbnail image of the document data is displayed, the image data is displayed together with the document data. The feature of displaying in another form is preferable in that the information desired by the creator of the document can be easily communicated to the viewer.
In addition, when displaying the thumbnail image, the image data is displayed with a different magnification and / or different display position from the display format together with the document data. it can.
Further, when displaying the thumbnail image, the document data is not displayed but the image data is displayed.

The thumbnail image data storage means for storing thumbnail image data for displaying thumbnail images, and the thumbnail image data stored in the thumbnail image data storage means when the thumbnail control object is stored by the storage means A re-creation unit that re-creates the object according to the information of the object is further provided.
Still further, the storage means stores a plurality of thumbnail control objects arranged in a document as element data of document data, and is filled with information of the plurality of thumbnail control objects stored in the storage means. And / or displaying thumbnail images in a format in accordance with the structural priority of thumbnail image data, for example, even when objects overlap, it is possible to provide a thumbnail image that is easy for the user to see Is excellent.

  From another point of view, the present invention is an image processing method for displaying on a display a thumbnail image in which elements of document data stored in a storage device are converted into thumbnails. And a thumbnail control object for controlling a thumbnail image based on the recognized setting is generated, and the generated thumbnail control object is associated with document data and stored in a storage device. .

Here, the thumbnail control object may be stored in a storage device as element data of document data.
In addition, the recognition of the setting may include recognition of a setting that does not display the annotation when displaying the thumbnail image.

  On the other hand, the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute processing for displaying on a display a thumbnail image obtained by converting the elements of document data stored in a storage device into thumbnails, and for displaying an annotation when displaying the thumbnail image. A function for recognizing the setting of the image, a function for generating a thumbnail control object for controlling the thumbnail image based on the recognized setting, and a function for storing the generated thumbnail control object in association with the document data in the storage device, Is executed on the computer.

Here, the function of recognizing this setting is characterized by recognizing the setting of the thumbnail display form of the annotation made independent of the thumbnail display form of the document data for the annotation displayed together when displaying the document data. It can be.
Further, the setting of the thumbnail display form of the recognized annotation is characterized in that the enlargement or reduction magnification is different from the display form together with the document data, and / or the display position is different. Can do.
Further, the storing function stores a plurality of thumbnail control objects as element data of document data, a format in which information of the plurality of thumbnail control objects stored in the storage device is satisfied, and / or a structure of thumbnail image data. It is possible to further cause the computer to execute a display function for displaying thumbnail images in a format in accordance with the above priority.

  As these programs, when the computer is provided to the customer, in addition to the case where the computer is provided in the state of being installed in the apparatus, the program stored in the computer is readable and stored. A form provided on a medium is conceivable. As this storage medium, for example, a CD-ROM medium or the like corresponds, and a program is read and executed by a CD-ROM reader or the like. These programs may be provided via a network by a program transmission device, for example. The program transmission apparatus includes, for example, a memory that is provided in a host-side server and stores a program, and a program transmission unit that provides the program via a network.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, when a thumbnail image of document data is displayed, it is possible to easily convey information that the document creator wants to convey to the viewer.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of an image processing apparatus to which the present embodiment is applied. This image processing apparatus is realized by a computer apparatus such as a PC (personal computer). More specifically, although not shown, a CPU that executes various software and controls the whole, a RAM that is a working memory, a ROM that stores various programs such as an image processing program, and the like are provided. In addition, a storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a display as a display device, a pointing device such as a mouse, various input devices such as a touch panel and a keyboard, and hardware such as various interfaces are provided.

  FIG. 1 shows various functions realized by these hardware. The image processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a storage device 10 in which document data is stored in, for example, an HDD, and a storage input / output unit 11 that executes input / output of document data stored in the storage device 10. In addition, a thumbnail control object addition operation function 20 for generating a thumbnail control object to be added to the document data as element data of the document data and adding the contents to the document data is provided. Further, a thumbnail display function 30 that is a function for displaying thumbnails is provided. The “document data” is not limited to text data.

  The thumbnail control object addition operation function 20 includes an input I / F (interface) 21 such as a mouse and a new annotation selection unit 22 that enables a user to select a new annotation. In addition, for example, a document data display unit 23 that displays an image of document data on a display and an annotation setting change unit 24 that enables the user to make a predetermined designation for the pasted annotation are provided.

  The thumbnail display function 30 includes a document data analysis unit 31 that analyzes the structure of document data read from the storage device 10, a thumbnail image creation unit 32 that creates a thumbnail image based on the analyzed document data structure, For example, a thumbnail image display unit 33 that displays the created thumbnail image on a display is provided.

Here, the “thumbnail control object” is an object that can be arranged on the page data of the document data. The “thumbnail control object” is an object that can affect the thumbnail display of itself or the entire document when the thumbnail display is performed.
An “annotation” refers to an object such as a character or graphic that can be pasted on a page constituting document data by a document data editing means (viewer). As with paper manuscripts, tools such as stationery (annotations on the pages that make up document data, such as attaching sticky notes to documents, writing letters, pressing date stamps, and drawing lines with markers, etc.) Annotations can be added using a tool.

  With the thumbnail control object addition operation function 20, the image processing apparatus reads out and reads out document data (document data having a structure as shown in FIG. 2) stored in the storage device 10 by the storage input / output unit 11. The document data (text data of the document itself) is displayed on the document data display unit 23. The new annotation selection unit 22 is realized by, for example, an annotation toolbar displayed on the display. The user selects a thumbnail control object by clicking a predetermined button in the annotation toolbar with the input I / F 21 such as a mouse. Then, the user drags the selected thumbnail control object onto the page of the document data displayed on the document data display unit 23 by using, for example, the input I / F 21 to specify the annotation attachment position. Further, the annotation setting changing unit 24 uses the thumbnail control information included in the thumbnail control object to specify “urgent” or a magnification “200%” to the pasted annotation.

  The thumbnail display function 30 reads the document data stored in the storage device 10 through the storage input / output unit 11, and the document data analysis unit 31 analyzes the document data structure. The thumbnail image creation unit 32 creates a thumbnail image based on the analyzed document data structure. At this time, if any thumbnail control object is designated as 200%, for example, the thumbnail image is doubled. When the created thumbnail image is transferred to the thumbnail image display unit 33, information such as the frame setting at the time of selection and blinking of the frame is also transferred.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of document data stored in the storage device 10. In the document data (so-called file), there are as many page data items as there are pages. This page data includes text data of the document itself (or image data such as photographs and drawings) and annotation data as additional data. There may be a plurality of annotation data. In FIG. 2, one of the annotation data is a thumbnail control object. For example, the text on the front surface is “Urgent” and the thumbnail control object itself is specified to be enlarged at a magnification of 200%. , Etc. are included as attributes. The thumbnail control information of the thumbnail control object can be specified, for example, when an annotation is pasted on a page or for an annotation already pasted on the page.

The thumbnail control object can include image data that is displayed when document data is displayed, and the image data can be displayed in another form in the case of a thumbnail image. Here, examples of the “different forms” include the following.
When the page image of the page data where the thumbnail control object is located is acquired, the thumbnail control object image is not displayed.
The ratio of the image of the thumbnail control object to the page image of the page data where the thumbnail control object is located is different depending on whether it is displayed by the document data display application or by the thumbnail image.
The content of the page data image is not displayed, and only the thumbnail control object image can be displayed.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface (UI) for enabling designation of a user related to the thumbnail control object. The annotation setting change unit 24 illustrated in FIG. 1 provides a UI for setting according to the type of annotation whose setting is to be changed. The UI display example in FIG. 3 shows a UI example for specifying “urgent” and “200%” as designation of the attribute of the thumbnail control object. In this UI example, in “Annotation Display Settings”, “display characters”, “display images”, and “display nothing” can be specified. When “display characters” is designated, it is possible to input a character string, and here, “urgent” characters are input. Further, when displaying an image, identification information of the image file can be designated, and when designated, a preview can be displayed.

In “Thumbnail Display Settings”, items “flashing thumbnail”, “changing the color of the selection frame when thumbnails”, and “changing display magnification” can be specified. When “Change the color of the selection frame at the time of thumbnail” is selected, the type of color can be selected. In the case of “changing the display magnification”, the magnification is input. Here, “change display magnification” is selected, and 200% is input as the magnification.
In the present embodiment, the setting for hiding the thumbnail control object and the setting of the image ratio of the thumbnail control object cannot be specified at the same time. On the other hand, other combinations are possible.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a display example controlled by the thumbnail control object. FIG. 4A shows a state where an annotation is added to the original document image and displayed. FIG. 4B shows a display example using conventional thumbnails, and FIGS. 4C to 4E show thumbnail examples (1) to (3) to which the present embodiment is applied. The conventional thumbnail image is a simple reduced image as shown in FIG. 4B, and it is difficult to determine the thumbnail contents. On the other hand, in the thumbnail example (1) of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 4C, as an example of the example shown in FIG. Is not displayed. In the thumbnail example (2) of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 4 (d), an annotation image of “Needs correction” is specified by specifying “requirement required” as a character string and a magnification at which the display magnification is enlarged. The enlargement / reduction ratio is different from the thumbnail image of the page of the document data. In addition, the display positions are displayed differently. Further, in the thumbnail example (3) of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 4E, the character string is designated as “requires correction”, and the display magnification is designated as the magnification. The contents of the document data page are not displayed.

  As in the example shown in FIGS. 4C to 4E, how the thumbnail control object is displayed in the case of a thumbnail image is held as attribute information of the thumbnail control object. Then, when the thumbnail control object is stored as element data of the document data, the thumbnail image data held by the document data is recreated according to the information of the thumbnail control object. 4C and 4D can be set by a UI as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4E, setting is made so that the page content of the document data is not displayed on a UI different from the UI as shown in FIG. 3, and the result is stored in the thumbnail control object.

In this way, in an application (application software) that can analyze document data and create and display a thumbnail image according to the data of the thumbnail control object, the thumbnail image may be displayed differently from other document data. it can. Therefore, the thumbnail control object
-Information for blinking the thumbnail image-Information for designating an outline such as a color surrounding the thumbnail image can be held. The “outline” designated in this way includes, in addition to the color, the thickness of the line and the type of line. Some thumbnail control objects do not have images.

Further, a plurality of thumbnail control objects can be arranged as element data of a document. When a plurality of thumbnail images are arranged, the thumbnail images of the page on which those objects are located are displayed in a format in which information of all the thumbnail control objects is satisfied. Or it is displayed according to the structural priority of the data.
For example, three thumbnail control objects are arranged in this order on one page data: an object A that is enlarged to 200%, an object B that blinks to make the selection state red, and an object C that makes the selection state blue. If the priority on the data structure is the order of object placement,
Object A is enlarged to 200%
The thumbnail image of page data blinks by object B,
The color of the frame surrounding the thumbnail image by the object C is displayed in blue.

  Here, in the thumbnail example (2) shown in FIG. 4D and the thumbnail example (3) shown in FIG. 4E, the arrangement positions of the enlarged thumbnail objects are changed. That is, when a predetermined object (for example, annotation) is specified by the thumbnail control object so as to be enlarged when the thumbnail is displayed, it is displayed as a thumbnail image with the size specified for the thumbnail control object and the specified enlargement / reduction ratio. Calculate the size of the object. The arrangement position of the object on the thumbnail image is changed so that the object enters the thumbnail area as much as possible on the thumbnail image. If it does not fit, position it so that it is within the thumbnail image area as much as possible. With this configuration, the conventional thumbnail image in FIG. 4B is a reduced image as it is displayed in the displayed application, whereas in this embodiment, the thumbnail image is reduced to a reduced image. It is possible to display differently. The display state can be specified for the element objects constituting the data. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 4D and 4E, for example, an enlarged image in which the arrangement position is changed can be displayed only for the element object “requires correction”.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a thumbnail image creation method executed by the thumbnail display function 30 shown in FIG. First, the thumbnail image creation unit 32 of the thumbnail display function 30 reads a value stored in advance, such as “size of 10% of the file”, from the memory, and determines the size of the thumbnail image (step 101). Next, the structure of the document data analyzed by the document data analysis unit 31 is read (step 102). Then, an object added for each page data is acquired (step 103). Here, it is first determined whether or not there is an object (step 104). If there is no object, the created thumbnail image and selection status display designation are passed to the thumbnail image display unit 33 (step 105), and the thumbnail image creation processing is terminated.

  On the other hand, if there is an object in step 104, it is determined whether or not it is a thumbnail control object (step 106). If it is a thumbnail control object, the setting of the thumbnail control object held as the attribute information of the thumbnail control object is acquired (step 107). Then, it is determined whether or not there is a setting relating to the selection state display (step 108). If there is a setting, the specification of the selection state display is updated (step 109), and an image of the thumbnail control object is created (step 110). If there is no setting in step 108, the process proceeds to step 110 without updating the designation. Thereafter, the thumbnail image is temporarily stored in the thumbnail image memory, which is a working memory (step 111), and the process returns to step 104. If it is determined in step 106 that the object is not a thumbnail control object, an image of the object is created (step 112), and the process of step 111 is executed.

Next, application examples of the above-described technique will be shown.
[Application Example 1]
For example, consider a business flow in which an electronic document (document data) is moved from the original folder A to another folder B to request the next operation. First, the worker (1) takes out the electronic document stored in the folder A, edits it, and moves it to the folder B. The worker (2) works on the electronic document stored in the folder B. Both folder A and folder B are displayed by an application that displays thumbnail images of electronic documents.
The worker (1) instructs the worker (2) using an annotation to handle the electronic document to be worked. For example, the instructions include “approval request”, “correction required”, “urgent”. When the worker (1) sets the enlargement ratio at the time of creating the thumbnail image to 200% with respect to the annotation “urgent”, the worker (2) promptly deletes the document with the “urgent” annotation. You can find and process it.

[Application 2]
An image processing apparatus capable of receiving facsimile data converts the received facsimile data into an electronic document format and stores it in folder C.
The worker (3) periodically refers to the folder C and moves the electronic document to a plurality of predetermined folders. The worker (3) attaches annotations set to blink thumbnail images to all electronic documents before sorting the electronic documents. Then move to multiple folders.
When the electronic document is distributed, the newly distributed electronic document is displayed in a blinking manner, so that it is possible to immediately determine whether the electronic document is a new document.
If it is a necessary document, it is possible to delete the blinking annotation and return to the normal display.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a thumbnail control object is added to the document data when the thumbnail display that is superior to the list display in terms of document management is adopted. As a result, when a thumbnail image is created (or displayed), it is possible to create (or display) a thumbnail image different from the appearance of the document data. For example, without enlarging the thumbnail image of the entire document, for example, a stamp for instructing the viewer such as “important”, or a part of the information such as a sticky note annotation of the document is enlarged. . By introducing such annotation data, it is possible to easily convey information that the document creator wants to convey to the viewer. Further, for example, by not displaying the contents of the page, it is possible to further emphasize the annotation that the creator wants to see.

It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of the image processing apparatus with which this Embodiment is applied. It is the figure which showed the structure of the document data stored in the memory | storage device. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI for enabling designation of a user related to a thumbnail control object. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of a display controlled by a thumbnail control object. 3 is a flowchart showing a thumbnail image creation method executed by the thumbnail display function shown in FIG. 1. (A), (b) is a figure for demonstrating the image and thumbnail image of the document data to which the annotation was added as a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Memory | storage device, 11 ... Memory | storage input / output part, 20 ... Thumbnail control object addition operation function, 21 ... Input I / F (interface), 22 ... New annotation selection part, 23 ... Document data display part, 24 ... Annotation setting change 30 ... Thumbnail display function, 31 ... Document data analysis unit, 32 ... Thumbnail image creation unit, 33 ... Thumbnail image display unit

Claims (13)

An image processing apparatus having a function of displaying thumbnail images obtained by converting document data elements into thumbnails,
Storage means for storing the document data;
Adding means for adding a thumbnail control object for controlling the thumbnail image of the document data stored in the storage means to the document data;
An image processing apparatus comprising: storage means for storing the thumbnail control object added by the addition means. The thumbnail control object includes image data;
When displaying the document data, display the image data together, and when displaying the thumbnail image of the document data, display the image data together with the document data in a form different from the display form. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The display of the thumbnail image is characterized in that the image data is displayed at a different magnification and / or display position from a display format together with the document data. 2. The image processing apparatus according to 2.   3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when displaying the thumbnail image, the image data is displayed without displaying the document data. Thumbnail image data storage means for storing thumbnail image data for displaying the thumbnail image;
A re-creation unit that re-creates the thumbnail image data stored in the thumbnail image data storage unit according to information of the thumbnail control object when the thumbnail control object is stored by the storage unit; The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. The storage means stores a plurality of thumbnail control objects as element data of the document data,
The thumbnail image is displayed in a format in which information of the plurality of thumbnail control objects stored in the storage unit is satisfied and / or in a format in accordance with a structural priority of thumbnail image data. Item 6. The image processing apparatus according to Item 1. An image processing method for displaying on a display a thumbnail image in which elements of document data stored in a storage device are converted into thumbnails,
Recognize the settings for displaying annotations when displaying the thumbnail images,
Generating a thumbnail control object for controlling the thumbnail image based on the recognized setting;
An image processing method comprising: storing the generated thumbnail control object in a storage device in association with the document data.   8. The image processing method according to claim 7, wherein the thumbnail control object is stored in the storage device as element data of the document data.   8. The image processing method according to claim 7, wherein the recognition of the setting includes recognition of a setting that does not display the annotation when the thumbnail image is displayed. A program for causing a computer to execute a process for displaying a thumbnail image obtained by thumbnailizing document data elements stored in a storage device on a display,
A function for recognizing settings for displaying annotations when displaying the thumbnail images;
A function of generating a thumbnail control object for controlling the thumbnail image based on a recognized setting;
A program for causing the computer to execute a function of storing the generated thumbnail control object in a storage device in association with the document data.   The function of recognizing the setting is to recognize the setting of the thumbnail display form of the annotation that is made independent of the thumbnail display form of the document data for the annotation displayed together when the document data is displayed. The program according to claim 10, wherein   The setting of the thumbnail display form of the recognized annotation is a setting to make the magnification of enlargement or reduction different from the form to be displayed together with the document data and / or a setting to make the display position different. 11. The program according to 11. The storing function stores a plurality of thumbnail control objects as element data of the document data,
The computer has a display function for displaying the thumbnail image in a format in which information of the plurality of thumbnail control objects stored in the storage device is satisfied and / or in a format in accordance with the structural priority of thumbnail image data. The program according to claim 11, further executed.

Images