JP2009048655A - Handwriting input device, program, and handwriting input method system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means for performing change operation, such as deletion, addition, substitution and emphasis of written characters, on a computer with the same operating feeling as a usual writing act using common paper and a common pen as much as possible in a writing means with a tablet and an electronic pen. <P>SOLUTION: Signs such as a double line and blot-out which mean deletion, an angular or trough-shaped symbol and an arrow mark which mean addition, and an enclosure and an underline which mean emphasis, all being used by a writing person in the usual writing act, are associated with control commands for starting change processing and specifying the characters to be changed, and these commands are automatically detected from writing information to automatically carry out the processing. In detecting the characters to be changed at that time, character extraction information generated in a character recognition method is utilized. When control signs such as the double line and enclosure are written, the overlap degree of the character extraction information and the control signs is obtained and utilized for determination of the characters to be changed, thereby achieving high accuracy detection. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic pen having means for converting handwritten character / graphic information into electronic data, and an information input method in an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to electronic data such as deletion / addition / replacement / emphasis for written character information. The present invention relates to a reflection method and apparatus.

As a means for inputting information to a computer, it is common to input characters and figures using a keyboard or a mouse. However, there is a need for a means for inputting information through the more natural act of “writing” for human beings. In response to such a request, means for inputting information by writing using an electronic pen, acquiring the locus of the pen, and reconstructing characters and figures on a computer is realized.

As a means to digitize characters and figures written by humans and input them to a computer,
For example, using a pressure-sensitive device called a tablet and a pen-shaped instrument called a stylus to apply pressure on the device, writing on the pressure-sensitive device with the stylus allows the stylus trajectory on the device to be written. There is a method to convert it into an electric signal and input it to a computer as characters and figures, PC or workstation,
It has been put into practical use as a character / graphic input means for PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) products.
An electronic pen with a camera device that captures reflected infrared light and the position of the pen on the paper is uniquely identified as another means for inputting human-written characters and graphics into the computer. The dot pattern is photographed by the camera device using the printed dot pattern paper, and the pen movement when writing is written on the paper.
That is, there is a method of generating a series of coordinates and inputting them to a computer as characters or figures from now on (for example, see Patent Document 1). With these means, an electronic pen with a position detection function on the writing surface, and handwritten information input using a pressure-sensitive input device such as a tablet, or a paper on which an electronic pen and a special pattern for position detection are printed In the handwriting input used, the electronic pen or pressure-sensitive device collects (1) the position on the tablet or paper, and (2) the writing pressure applied to the surface of the electronic pen or tablet at certain time intervals. Output writing pressure information in chronological order,
Or it outputs with time information. By reproducing the pen trajectory from the information in (1) and (2), it is possible to generate information on the structure and shape of the characters and figures "written" on a tablet or paper by a computer. It becomes possible. That is, characters written by humans are not encoded and stored on the computer, but are stored as graphic information.
As a form of storing character information entered by humans on a computer, considering subsequent processing such as database search on the computer, the character is converted from pen trajectory information to character code and stored on the computer. This increases the compatibility with processing on the computer. A character recognition process is used to convert the locus information, that is, a character as a figure into a character code. Specifically, a series of pen trajectory position information sampled in a certain unit of time is used as an input, and the pen trajectory position information is compared with a template of position information registered in advance for each character. A method is generally known in which a template label having a high value is used as a recognition result for a series of input position information, that is, characters.
By using the means described so far, it is possible to realize a function in which character information written by a person is digitized and input as a figure on a computer, or encoded and input as text data on a computer.

As a situation where characters and figures are input to a computer by handwriting input means using a pressure-sensitive device such as the stylus and tablet, there is, for example, schedule management software that operates on a PDA. When a new schedule is assigned to a PDA user, or when a schedule that has already been registered is changed, the PDA uses the stylus to display information such as time, destination, and visitor. Describes the character string to be represented.
In addition, as a situation where characters and figures are input to a computer by handwriting input means using paper on which the electronic pen and dot pattern for position detection are printed, there is an electronic application at a window of a city hall, for example. When applying for resident card issuance at the city hall, the applicant writes a character string such as name, date, address, and purpose in the prepared application form. The completed application form will be submitted to the counter, and the written information will be transferred to the computer using an electronic pen for input to the business system of the city hall.
Furthermore, it may be assumed that a map or a communication text is described on paper and sent to the other party by means of a mobile phone or the like in order to inform the other party away from each other where the other person is located. .
In any case, since all the stylus and electronic pen trajectory during the writing act are recorded as position information, all characters and figures written by the writer are input to the computer in a written state. That is, if a character is mistaken in the middle of writing, the erroneously written character is digitized and held on the computer.
Here, in contrast to the above case, by writing characters on the tablet and digitizing it, the character to be deleted on the paper is designated by a surrounding line, and a specially prepared button is touched on the tablet. There is a method (hereinafter referred to as a conventional method A) in which characters inside the surrounding line are deleted (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

National Opening 00/73781 Pamphlet

JP 2001-14779 A

Supervised by Kenichi Mori, edited by The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers “Pattern Recognition” (November 1, 1988, first edition, Publisher: The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers)

However, in the conventional method A, a character string to be deleted is designated by a surrounding line, and then a character is deleted by touching a delete button prepared at a specific location on the tablet. However, the writer will separately input control information such as activation of the deletion process. On the other hand, in the situation where the writer is presenting on the application form, if the contents of the entry are changed during the process, for example, a double line is put over the word to be deleted or highlighted Generally, a character string to be emphasized is surrounded by a line. That is, the conventional method A forces the writer to perform a new work in addition to the normal writing action. This has a problem that it is difficult to apply to a system that is difficult for a writer to educate in advance, such as a window application system.
The conventional method A provides only deletion. In general, when filling out an application form or schedule, there are cases where new characters are added in addition to deletion of erroneously written characters. In addition, new characters may be added in the form of comments or annotations to supplement the described contents. In such a case, the conventional method
A only specified the target character for processing such as deletion by drawing a box around the already written character. In this case, additional added characters cannot be extracted, so that it is not possible to support the addition of characters. In addition, when an error is made, replacement may be performed in which the missed character is deleted and the correct character is entered. further,
In some cases, you may want to emphasize underlined characters that have already been described. The conventional method A has a problem that it cannot cope with such addition, replacement, and emphasis.
Further, in the conventional method A, the method for detecting the pen trajectory to be deleted is not clearly described. For example, when a character to be deleted overlaps a character that is not to be deleted, the deletion area is designated by a surrounding line. There was a problem that could not be done. In the conventional method A, a printed character is a target of a deleted character, and thus a handwritten character string that may cause a character contact or the like cannot be handled.

In view of the above problems, a first object of the present invention is to provide a handwriting input means using a tablet or an electronic pen that can be operated with the same work feeling as a normal writing action using ordinary paper and a pen. And This is because, in the handwriting input method using a tablet or an electronic pen, when changing the written characters, a conventional paper such as a double line or underline is used without forcing the writer to press a button. By automatically recognizing the writing action that has been used when filling in, the means for starting the change work is provided.

Further, it is a second object of the present invention to provide means for saving the history of change work, which can delete, add, replace, and change the content of the entry. After the handwritten input entered by the writer is converted from the image information into the code information, the correction described above is performed on the environment described by the writer, that is, on the paper on which the pattern that enables position detection is printed, When added and emphasized, the result is reflected and managed in the information on the computer coded.
Furthermore, it is a third object of the present invention to provide a means for detecting a character whose entry content is to be changed with high accuracy.
To summarize the above, the object of the present invention is to automatically delete, add, replace, and emphasize the characters and figures written by the writer on the tablet or paper. It is to provide means for automatically detecting a command to be controlled and automatically executing the processing.

The representative inventions disclosed in the present application are as follows. A handwriting input device connected via a network to a digital pen capable of outputting entry position information on the entry surface and the information acquisition time information, comprising a control means, a display means, and a storage means, and the storage means comprises a plurality of Storing the control symbol, the control means to extract the control signal from the entry position information obtained from the digital pen, determine its type,
Controlling the step of executing processing stored in association with each other and the step of displaying the entry on the entry surface on the display means using the entry position information after the execution, particularly the entry Includes deletion, addition, and change of location information. A system including a digital pen and server.

Further, the additional location designation symbol is extracted from the information obtained from the digital pen to detect the additional location and the start and end designation information of the additional information, and the acquisition time of the start designation information and the acquisition time of the end designation information This is a write-once method in which the entry position information acquired in the meantime is extracted as write-once information and is inserted with the write-once information between the write-position information before and after the write-on point to reproduce the description on the entry surface.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the entry means using a tablet or an electronic pen, deletion, addition, substitution, and emphasis of entry characters are performed with the same working feeling as a normal writing action using a general paper and pen. It is possible to automatically execute processing on the computer regarding the change of entry contents such as.

The outline of the present application will be described below.
In order to reflect deletion, addition, replacement, and emphasis changes to the characters entered by the writer, the digitized data is generated by the movement of the stylus or electronic pen on the tablet or paper. It must be distinguished whether the stroke to be done is a normal character or the subject of changes in the entry.

In addition, from the pen locus position data series transferred from the input device such as a tablet or electronic pen to the processing device, the stroke data corresponding to writing with one stroke and the partial line data that is a set of strokes are constructed from the handwriting position information. To do. Of the control commands, partial line data sandwiched between commands for starting, ending, deleting, adding, replacing, and emphasizing can be distinguished as those to be changed. For the partial row data, a flag for distinguishing between the target before and after the change and a pointer for associating the partial row data before and after the change are prepared. By leaving the history of changes in this way, it is possible to switch between displaying only the characters after the change on a display device such as a display, or displaying both the characters before and after the change.

To detect control commands that automatically detect the start and end of change processing such as deletion, addition, replacement, and emphasis while the writer writes characters and does not perform special processing such as pressing a button. In addition, when a writer writes on a piece of paper, it is used for emphasizing a double or solid line used for deletion or replacement, a peak or valley symbol used for adding, or an arrow symbol. Symbols such as a surrounding line and an underline are associated with a control command for starting the change process and designating a target character. Also, double diagonal lines and punctuation marks are associated with a control command for designating the end of the character string to be changed. Alternatively, it is possible to automatically generate the end control command from information on the distance between strokes continuously written and the writing time.

In order to detect the symbols corresponding to these control commands (these are called control symbols), the character line estimation function from the stroke data series, the control symbol recognition function by shape, and the deletion / addition / replacement / emphasis functions A change type determination function, a change target character estimation function, and a change partial line data correlation function are prepared.
The character line estimation function from the stroke data series is, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-96288, in horizontal writing, only a stroke that maintains the uniformity of the vertical position of the stroke data is regarded as one line. This is a function for grouping. Thereby, the positions of the upper end and the lower end of the character line can be estimated.

The control symbol recognition function and the change type discrimination function by shape recognize from the shape whether a series of strokes is a predetermined control symbol, and identify the symbolization corresponding to which processing. . Before recognizing the shape, it is determined that the stroke deviating from the upper end and the lower end of the character line estimated by the character line estimation function may be a chevron symbol or an underline. If there is already a component of the character line at the stroke position, that is, a stroke determined to be a character,
Judge that there is a possibility of a double line. For example, the literature “Handbook of Ch”
aracter Recognition and Document Image Analysis ”, H. Bunke, PSPWang
, World Scientific, Inc., and can be realized by a character recognition method using the direction of the contour line as described in 1997.

The change target character estimation function considers a character component existing there as a target of change processing based on the position where the control symbol detected by the control symbol recognition function is present.
For example, in the case of replacement, partial line data composed of a set of strokes overwritten by a double line is formed, and this is used as a character string before replacement. A stroke that continues from immediately after the control symbol to an end control symbol, which will be described later, constitutes partial line data, which is treated as a character string after replacement. The association between the partial row data before and after the replacement is performed by the changed partial row data association function. The same procedure can be used for addition. That is, the stroke written after the chevron symbol at the position immediately after the chevron symbol detected by the control symbol recognition function constitutes the partial line data to be added. For this partial row data, newly added partial row data is inserted between the partial row data positioned before and after the angle symbol.

As a result, the deletion / addition / replacement / emphasis change process can be reflected in the digitized data and the history can be saved without pressing a button placed on a specific place on the tablet or paper.
In this way, a part of characters and symbols written by a writer on a tablet or paper is interpreted as a special control command for digitizing written information in addition to the meaning of ordinary characters and symbols. In the process on the computer after the computerization, it is possible to execute a process corresponding to the command.
In addition, regarding the detection of the character to be changed at that time, when the character extraction information generated in the character recognition method is used and a control symbol such as a double line or a surrounding line is entered, the character extraction information and the control thereof are performed. By obtaining the degree of overlap with the symbol and using it for determining the character to be changed, highly accurate detection is realized.

As an example of an embodiment of the handwriting input method according to the present invention, electronic data conversion of application documents at city halls, mail-order sales, etc. will be described. Examples of devices for handwriting input here include tablets and styluses, paper with printed patterns for position detection, and electronic pens equipped with camera devices for acquiring images of these patterns when writing. It has been. Here, an explanation will be given by taking the latter paper for position detection printing and an electronic pen as an example. As an example of such an input device, National Publication No. 01/71473 pamphlet is known.
FIG. 13 shows the apparatus configuration of this embodiment. An electronic pen 1301 and paper 1302 are used by the writer. The electronic pen communicates with the character input terminal 1305 via the communication device 1304. As communication means between the electronic pen and the communication device, wireless communication means such as Bluetooth and infrared, and wired communication means such as USB and IEEE1394 can be used. The character input terminal includes a writing position detection device 1306 and a character recognition device 130 via a network 1303.
Communicate with 7. Various forms such as the Internet and LAN can be applied as the form of the network. Moreover, you may implement | achieve any combination of a character input terminal, a writing position detection apparatus, and a character recognition apparatus with 1 apparatus. The above configuration is the device configuration of the present embodiment. The writing position detection device 1306 stores the pen ID code and the ID code of the entry surface in the storage means, identifies the pen and the entry surface based on the information from the pen, and stores the information on the entry surface in the computer. Forward.

Next, the principle of position detection using the electronic pen will be described. This principle is nationally open to the public.
It is made clear by the pamphlet. The principle of position detection using the electronic pen will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 101 denotes an electronic pen, and reference numeral 102 denotes a camera device that acquires an image of a pattern for position detection printed on paper. 1 small dot on paper 103
04 is printed non-homogeneously. This dot is a virtual grid line 105
Printed at a certain distance from the intersection at
A plurality of these dots are referred to at the same time, for example, in a range of 10 × 10, and a combination of values of vertical and horizontal shifts of these 100 dots provides a mechanism for providing absolute position information of a vast plane area. That is, by collecting images of a range including the plurality of dot patterns at a certain time interval by the camera 102 provided in the electronic pen,
It is possible to specify the position of the deviation combination on the space.

Actually, it is practical to use the relative position of each paper rather than obtaining the absolute position of the above combination of deviations in the space. There is a writing position detection device for performing conversion for this purpose. This holds in advance information on which part of the paper position the paper position occupies in the entire space, and uses the absolute position in the space as an input, and the relative position on the paper. Is output. An example of the device configuration for generating on-paper position information using the electronic pen including this device is shown in FIG. 2 (a), and the information flow there is shown in FIG. 2 (b). This is described in the National Publication No. 01/48678 pamphlet.
The electronic pen 201 and the character input terminal 203 are connected by wireless communication via the communication device 202. The absolute position data output from the electronic pen is input to the writing position detection device 205 via the wired or wireless network 204, where it is converted into a representation of the relative position based on the paper, and character input Output to the terminal. The writing position detection device may be mounted on the character input terminal.
The digitization of the information on the application form at the city hall, etc., using the handwriting input device having the above configuration will be described.

Currently, when applying at a city hall, etc., the applicant fills in the necessary information on the application form using writing tools at the entry desk of various application forms usually installed in the lobby. After completing the application, bring the application form to the counter and submit it to the staff. The clerk performs a predetermined task based on the information on the application form. At this time, if you want to digitize the description, enter it by typing on the keyboard or use the OC
This is done by collecting an image of the entire application form using R (optical character reader) and recognizing the characters contained therein.

When the handwriting input method according to the present invention is applied to the electronic work of an application form, an application form is created with paper on which dots for position detection are printed, and an electronic pen is used as a writing instrument. That is, in FIG. 3, an electronic pen 301 and an application form 302 on which the dots are printed are placed on the entry table, and the applicant writes necessary items on the application form 302 using the electronic pen 301. While the applicant is filling in with the electronic pen, the locus of the electronic pen on the application paper is accumulated in the electronic pen as a series of position information. When the entry is completed, it is transmitted to the handwriting input terminal 303 inside the window by a predetermined method. As described above, the display unit in the handwriting input terminal is based on the data from the electronic pen,
Conversion processing is performed from the absolute position information in the dot displacement combination space on the application form to the relative position information on the application form. As a result, characters and figures written by the applicant are displayed on the display screen of the handwriting input terminal. Is displayed.
Character recognition processing can be applied to character and graphic information received by the handwriting input terminal 303, that is, a set of stroke data, and can be coded and stored in the handwriting input terminal. Thereby, it becomes possible to input to the next business process, for example, an inquiry to the database or an application receiving process. The character recognition process will be described (FIG. 5).

First, time-series handwriting position information is input to create stroke data (step 501). Thereafter, a character line is estimated from the stroke data, and a character line hypothesis is created (step 502). By performing character extraction 504 on each character line hypothesis,
The stroke data in the character line hypothesis is divided into a subset of strokes constituting each character. A set of the divided strokes is called a character pattern. Character identification 506 is executed for each character pattern to obtain a character identification result. Finally, the character identification result of each character pattern is collated to determine whether it is a character string that makes sense as a written character string (step 507), and the result is output (step 508).
An example of the stroke data storage method is shown in FIG. All stroke data is hierarchically managed by four tables of all line information 1502, line component information 1503, stroke information 1504, and position information 1505. All line information is a table for managing each line created in step 502 of FIG. 5, and a link to each line information is provided. Since there is only one line in this entry example, there is only one line information. Next, line component information 1503 is a table for managing information of elements (line components) constituting the line. The number of strokes, the link to the head of the stroke, the attribute of the line component, the character code of the character recognition result, the next line Manage links to ingredients. Attributes include Visible (normal component), Command (control symbol component), Delete
(Component to be deleted), Emphatic (component to be emphasized), etc. At the beginning of the stroke,
Links to the strokes that make up the row component are set up. In this entry example, strokes No. 1 to No. 3 in the stroke information 1504 are the corresponding strokes in the line information 1503. In each stroke, a link to a sample point constituting the stroke is managed as position data, and position information 1505 can be referred to. Stroke attributes include Normal (normal) and Command (control symbol). The above is the stroke storing method in this embodiment.

Here, (a) deletion of entry, (b) addition, (
Each change process of c) replacement and (d) emphasis will be described. First, control characters used in this embodiment are shown (FIG. 7). These control symbols are the same as those used in document revision using general paper and a pen.
Note that the symbols shown in FIG. 7 are merely examples, and the user may be able to define them independently. In that case, it registers in the memory | storage means of a character recognition apparatus with the shape of the operation | movement group corresponding to the shape of a control symbol. Further, for example, a button may be provided on the electronic pen and information on the ON / OFF thereof may be used.
As the deletion control symbol, a multiple line (including a single line) indicated by 701 or a fill 702 is used. Further, as an additional control symbol, a mountain (valley) symbol 703 or an arrow symbol 704 is used. Arrow symbols may be entered across lines. The emphasis symbol is a box 705
Underline 705 is used.
Next, an outline of each change process of (a) deletion, (b) addition, (c) replacement, and (d) emphasis of the entry contents will be described with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in Fig. 4 (a), regarding the deletion of the entry, if the applicant notices an error in writing the letter "town" on the application form, for example, "town" will appear on the application form. It is overwritten with a double line 403 that means deletion. Thereafter, when writing information is transferred from the electronic pen 401 to the handwriting input terminal 404 by a predetermined procedure, the deleted character information is displayed on the display screen of the handwriting input terminal. At this time, the information before deletion is also held in the handwriting input terminal, and the character string before deletion can be displayed as necessary.
Next, the addition of a new character string will be described with reference to FIG. If you want to add the character string “Minamimachi” after “Kanda” to the characters “Kyoda in Chiyoda-ku” on the application form, write the check mark 405 at the top of the end of “Kanda” on the application form. Write the word “Minamimachi” 406 in the vicinity. When the writing information in the electronic pen is transferred to the handwriting input terminal by a predetermined procedure, the added character image 407 is displayed on the display screen of the handwriting input terminal. It is also possible to display the information entered on the application form including the check marks.
As for the replacement, as shown in Fig. 4 (c), if the applicant notices that he / she wrote a letter on the application form, for example, “33 years”, the part “33 years” is displayed on the application form. Overwrite with double line 408, and then write the correct string "44 years" 409. When writing information is transferred from the electronic pen to the handwriting input terminal by a predetermined procedure, the replaced character image 410 is displayed on the display screen of the handwriting input terminal. At this time, the information before replacement is also held in the handwriting input terminal, and the character strings before and after replacement can be displayed simultaneously as necessary. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, before replacement (FIG. 14 (a)), before replacement + after (FIG. 14 (b)), after replacement (FIG. 14 (c)
)) Can be displayed.

The emphasis on the entered character string will be described with reference to FIG. When it is desired to emphasize a character string described on the application form, for example, “Chiyoda-ku”, a box 411 is entered on the application form so as to include “Chiyoda-ku”. When the writing information in the electronic pen is transferred to the handwriting input terminal in a predetermined procedure, the part “Chiyoda-ku” is highlighted, for example, highlighted 412.
Next, a specific processing procedure for realizing deletion, addition, replacement, and emphasis as described above for handwritten input will be described (FIG. 6). First, time-series handwriting position information is input to create stroke data (step 601). Thereafter, a character line is estimated from the stroke data, and a character line hypothesis is created (step 602). By executing character extraction 604 in each character line hypothesis, the stroke data in the character line hypothesis is divided into character patterns made up of a set of strokes constituting each character.

First, control symbol detection 606 is performed for each character pattern. In this step, the shape of the control symbol registered in the storage means of the character recognition device is used. As described above, in this storage means, each control symbol shape and the corresponding operation are registered in pairs, so that when a control symbol is detected, the corresponding operation can be acquired. It has become.
In the control symbol detection, if a control symbol is detected, first, if the control symbol represents emphasis, a character to be emphasized is extracted (step 609), and character emphasis 610 is executed.
If the detected control symbol represents deletion, the character to be deleted is extracted (step 612), and character deletion 613 is executed.
After that, if the detected control character is a symbol indicating addition or deletion, the character addition processing in step 615 and subsequent steps is executed. Here, not only the additional control symbols but also the deletion control symbols are used as the activation conditions for adding characters, because this corresponds to the character replacement process. That is, in the case of character replacement, additional characters are entered immediately after entering the deletion control symbol such as a double line, and character replacement processing can be regarded as character deletion processing + character addition processing. It is.

In the character addition process, first, an additional position is determined from the additional control symbol position (step 61).
5) Extract additional character patterns (step 616). Details of step 616 will be described later. Thereafter, each additional character is identified (step 617), and character addition 618 is executed. Incidentally, in the case of character replacement, the position of the deletion control symbol gives the position of character addition.
On the other hand, when the control symbol is not detected in the control symbol detection 605, the character pattern is identified 619 to obtain a character identification result. Finally, the character identification result of each character pattern is collated to determine whether it is a character string that makes sense as a written character string (step 620), and the result is output (step 621).
Both the deletion target character and the highlight target character detection processes can be basically realized by the same method. Here, an example of a deletion target character extraction method focusing on the center point of a character circumscribing rectangle when a deletion character is designated by a double line will be described (FIGS. 9 and 10).
). First, 901 is input, character line extraction and character extraction are executed, and the character pattern indicated by 902 is obtained. It is assumed that character identification is performed on each character pattern to obtain a character identification result, and a character string “Spring is Akebono” is obtained. Here, it is assumed that the writer entered the double line 905 of the deletion control symbol. Here, in the method of the present invention, a process for extracting characters to be deleted is executed. First, a center point 909 is obtained for each character pattern (step 1002). The axis of the character string by approximating a straight line from the set of obtained center points by the least square method etc.
910 is calculated (step 1003). The both ends of the deleted character area are determined by lowering the perpendicular lines (907, 908) from the end points of the double line (905) to the character string axis 910 (
Step 1004). If the center point of each character pattern is included in the deleted character area, the character pattern is registered as a character to be deleted (step 1007). Finally, the character to be deleted is output (1008). In this way, the deletion target character is extracted.

In the detection of the character to be changed in this embodiment, the center of the character pattern circumscribing rectangle is used. Instead, for example, the center of the black pixel constituting the character or the character pattern circumscribing rectangle is included in the deleted character area. An area ratio of overlapping portions may be used.
There are mainly four forms shown in FIG. 11 for entering additional characters. The flow of additional character pattern extraction processing (step 616 in FIG. 6) in each form will be described below.
First, in the first embodiment (a), a special field for additional characters is provided on the paper surface and used. Since it is a dedicated field, it is easy to extract additional character patterns, but the scribes are forced to use this special entry method.
In the second form (b), an additional character is designated by a surrounding line. For the extraction of the additional character pattern, the same method as the method for detecting the character to be emphasized described above can be used.
In the third form (c), a terminal symbol such as a double diagonal line is written at the end of the additional character. The start position of the additional character is detected from the position of the additional control symbol such as the angle symbol and the arrow symbol and the entry time information. Therefore, the start / end positions of the additional characters can be detected, and the additional character pattern can be extracted.
The fourth form (d) is a type in which nothing is entered at the end of the additional character. In this case, since a line feed can be used as information for giving the end of the additional character, an additional character pattern can be extracted. In the case of this form, it is not necessary to enter anything other than the additional control symbol and the additional character, and since it is closest to normal paper calibration, the additional character pattern extraction process (step 616 in FIG. 6) is at a minimum. It is desirable to support this form. An example of the additional character pattern extraction processing flow corresponding to the fourth mode (d) is shown in FIG.

Here, the expansion of the enhancement process is considered. Specifically, a method of additionally writing the type of emphasis desired by the writer when entering the emphasis control symbol will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, if a desired type of emphasis is directly entered in parentheses, for example, the emphasis process with more variations can be performed by interpreting it.
Specifically, as a processing procedure, in the character recognition processing flow with control symbols in FIG.
Before extracting the character to be emphasized in step 609, extraction processing of the character pattern representing the emphasis type, its character identification processing, and collation of the emphasis type from the character identification result,
What is necessary is just to perform an emphasis type collation process. Alternatively, the emphasis type may be specified by using different emphasis control symbols.
A description will be given of a method of storing stroke data when the above entry content changing process is executed. For example, the case of deletion will be described with reference to FIG. 16 before the deletion process and FIG. 17 after the deletion process. Before the deletion process (Figure 16), there is one row component and the attribute is Visible.
(Ordinary ingredients). After executing the entry content changing process described above (FIG. 6), the double line as the deletion control symbol is recognized, and the data structure changes as shown in FIG. That is, the line component information 1603 in FIG. 16 is divided into two parts: a line component 1703 constituting a character and a line component 1704 of a deletion control symbol. Since the former is a deletion target, the attribute is Delete, and the latter is a control symbol because it is a control symbol. Furthermore, at the time of replacement (Fig. 18
), A new row component 1806 having an attribute Correct associated with replacement is added.
With such a storage method, stroke data before and after the change process can be comprehensively handled, and various display forms as shown in FIG. 14 are possible.

In the apparatus configuration of this embodiment, the writer and the handwriting input terminal (such as 303 in FIG. 3)
May be placed apart. In this case, there is a problem that the writer cannot confirm his / her entry content change result. For this purpose, for example, a display that displays the same as the display unit of the handwriting input terminal is installed on the application entry table, or a lamp that indicates that the pen is being changed is provided on the pen, and lights up when a control symbol such as a double line is recognized. It is preferable to provide means for notifying the writer when the process executed by the symbol is normally completed, and the pen itself vibrates. In this case, it is necessary to transmit a signal from the character recognition device to the electronic pen.
Communication between 1301 and communication device 1304 must be bidirectional.

Also, from the viewpoint of security, when applying handwriting input means using a tablet or electronic pen to an application form submission system at a city hall, etc., confirm that the applicant is the beneficiary or the applicant is the person. In addition, it is necessary to accept the submission of the application form. In other words, if it is determined that the application should not be accepted, such as if it is not a description of the person, you must stop entering the digitized text information written by the applicant into the business system inside the city hall. Don't be. As a method for realizing this, a character string written by the writer by electronically authenticating the character string to a character string having the property of specifying personal characteristics such as the writer's signature, Alternatively, there is a technique for determining the validity of a request expressed by a character string entered by a writer. Thus, for example, the name of the writer who is written at a specific position on the paper is checked against a pre-registered signature, and if the person is identified, the writing information is digitized or a computer Perform processing such as executing database query processing above, and if it is not identified as the person, distinguish the processing such as discontinuing digitization of written information or disallowing queries to the database on the computer It becomes possible to do. As a collation method for determining whether or not the character string of the name is a signature by the person, a method according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-302340 can be used.

Explanation of the principle of position detection with an electronic pen. An example of a device for position detection on paper with an electronic pen. An overview of computerization of application forms using an electronic pen. Outline of deletion / addition / change / emphasis processing in the handwriting input method. Character recognition processing flow. Character recognition processing flow with control symbols. Examples of control symbols. Extended example of emphasis control symbols. An example of deletion object character extraction processing. An example of a deletion target character extraction processing flow. An example of a form for entering additional characters. An example of an additional character pattern extraction process flow. The apparatus structure in a present Example. Screen display example during replacement processing. An example of a stroke data structure. An example of the stroke data structure before the deletion process. An example of a stroke data structure after deletion processing. An example of a stroke data structure after replacement processing.

Explanation of symbols

101, 201, 301, 401, 1301 Electronic pen 102 Camera device 302, 402, 1302, 1401 Paper 303 Handwriting input terminal.

Claims (3)

Acquiring entry position information written by a digital pen on a paper surface on which a dot pattern is formed, and acquisition time information of the entry position information via a network;
Reconstructing the writing information based on the entry position information,
Extracting from the character information obtained by reconstructing the writing information, a control symbol corresponding to the control symbol stored in the storage means in advance;
Based on the extracted control symbol, an execution step of either deleting at least a part of the entry position information or combining with newly acquired entry position information;
Reproducing the description on the entry surface from the entry position information after the execution step;
A step of displaying the reproduction on a display means. The handwriting input program according to claim 1,
The handwritten input program characterized in that newly acquired entry position information to be combined is specified based on entry time information of the entry position information. The handwriting input program according to claim 1,
The handwritten input program characterized in that the control symbols stored in the storage means include control symbols for executing deletion, additional writing, and replacement processing, respectively.

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