JP6772595B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus.

Conventionally, an image processing apparatus for transmitting an image in a specified image file format when transmitting a scanned image obtained by scanning with a scanner to a specified destination has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

The image processing device described in Patent Document 1 has a scanner unit that sequentially reads documents set in a paper feed mechanism, a storage unit that stores the read scanned images in a form of adding them to a predetermined file, and a storage unit. It includes a conversion means for converting a scanned image in a stored predetermined file into a file having a specified file format, and a transmission means for transmitting the converted file to a specified transmission destination.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-167938

An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of generating an original image representing the contents of a manuscript and an editing document to be edited with reference to the original image by giving an instruction to execute the processing. It is in.

[1] A scanning unit that scans the original and
Based on one instruction to execute a process including the scanning process, the document is read by the scanning unit to generate an original image representing the contents of the document, the original image is separated for each component, and the document is described. An image processing device comprising an execution means for generating an editing document from a component, and the editing document is generated so that the component has the same arrangement as the original image .
[2] The image processing apparatus according to [1], wherein the executing means transmits the original image and the editing document to a designated destination as a part of the processing.
[3] The executing means is composed of an original image generating means for generating the original image from the scanned image obtained by the scanning process, a component separating means for separating the original image for each component, and the component. The image processing apparatus according to the above [1], further comprising an editing document generating means for generating the editing document.
[4] The image processing apparatus according to [1], wherein the executing means performs optical character recognition processing on the characters when the constituent elements are characters.
[5] The image processing apparatus according to [3], wherein the original image generating means and the editing document generating means generate the original image and the editing document in the same file format.

According to the inventions of claims 1 and 3, it is possible to generate an original image representing the contents of the manuscript and an editing document to be edited with reference to the original image by giving an instruction to execute the process. ..
According to the invention of claim 2, the original image and the document for editing can be transmitted to a designated destination by giving an instruction to execute the process.
According to the invention of claim 4, the result of the character recognition process can be modified by the editing document.
According to the invention of claim 5, the original image and the editing document can be opened by the same application, and the editing work can be performed on the editing document while displaying the original image.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration example of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration example of the image processing apparatus. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an example of an original image, and FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an example of an editing document. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on the display unit of the terminal device. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the image processing device. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an original image and an editing document when an EXCEL spreadsheet file is selected as the file format of the editing document.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each figure, components having substantially the same function are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration example of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the image processing system 1, the image processing device 2, the server device 3, and the terminal device 4 are connected to each other via a network 5.

The server device 3 stores the file transmitted from the image processing device 2 via the network 5 in the storage unit, and when there is an access from the terminal device 4, transmits the file to the terminal device 4 via the network 5. To do.

The terminal device 4 accesses the server device 3 via the network 5 and edits the file. The terminal device 4 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an interface, and the like, and is composed of a control unit that controls each part of the terminal device 4, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, and the like. It has a storage unit, an input unit composed of a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, a display unit composed of a liquid crystal display and the like, and a communication unit connected to the network 5.

The network 5 is a communication network such as a LAN (local area network) or the Internet that transmits / receives data by wired communication, wireless communication, or the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration example of the image processing device 2. The image processing device 2 is a multifunction device having a plurality of functions such as copying, scanning, printing, and faxing, and has a control unit 20 that controls each part of the image processing device 2. The storage unit 22, the display operation unit 23, the image reading unit 24, the image processing unit 25, the image output unit 26, the facsimile unit 27, and the communication unit 28 are connected. The image reading unit 24 is an example of a reading unit.

The storage unit 22 is realized by a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, or the like, and stores a program 220, an original image 221, an editing document 222, or the like.

The display operation unit 23 has a touch panel display in which a touch panel is superposed on a display unit such as a liquid crystal display, displays an operation screen on the display unit, and receives an operation from the operator to the touch panel.

The image scanning unit 24 performs a document scanning process. For example, the image scanning unit 24 includes an automatic document feeder provided on the platen and a scanner, and feeds the document by the document arranged on the platen or the automatic document feeder. The scanned image is read from the obtained document and input. The image processing unit 25 performs image processing such as image compression, decompression, and composition. The image output unit 26 has, for example, an image holder made of a photoconductor, and forms an image on a recording medium such as paper and outputs the image. The facsimile unit 27 modifies and demolishes data according to a facsimile protocol such as G3 and G4, and performs facsimile communication via a telephone line.

The control unit 20 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an interface, and the like. The CPU functions as a receiving means 200, an executing means 210, and the like by operating according to the program 220 stored in the storage unit 22. The executing means 210 includes an original image generating means 211, an object separating means 212, an editing document generating means 213, a transmitting means 214, and the like. The object separating means 212 is an example of the component separating means. An object is an example of a component.

The reception means 200 is instructed by the display operation unit 23 to execute a series of processes including the reading process by the image reading unit 24 (hereinafter referred to as “cooperation job”) and a job to execute a single process (hereinafter referred to as “single”). Job ") is accepted. Further, the receiving means 200 may receive a job transmitted from the terminal device 4. The receiving means 200 passes the received linked job or a single job to the executing means 210.

The linked jobs are, for example, "original image generation processing" that reads the original and generates an original image that represents the contents of the original, "separation processing" that separates the original image for each object, and editing from the objects separated by the separation processing. This is a job in which a "document generation process" for generating a document and a "transmission process" for transmitting an original image and an editing document to a designated destination are linked and executed as one job. This cooperation job saves the trouble of executing a print job to generate an original image and executing a second print job to generate an editing document. The designated destination is, for example, the server device 3, but may be the terminal device 4. As the linked job, the "original image generation process", the "separation process", and the "document generation process" may be linked and executed as one job.

The single job includes, for example, a print job for printing a document placed on a platen on paper, and a job for controlling and executing an image reading unit 24, an image processing unit 25, an image output unit 26, or a facsimile unit 27. is there.

Further, the receiving means 200 receives the image reading condition and the output condition. Image reading conditions include the file format of the original image, reading resolution, color / black and white, reading size, and the like. Output conditions include the file format of the document for editing, the destination, and the like. Since the original image is also a reference image of the document for editing, the original may be in color and the original image may be in black and white. The file formats of the original images include JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), PDF (Portable Document Format), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), PNG (Portable Network Graphics) and the like. The file formats of documents for editing include document files such as WORD (registered trademark), spreadsheet files such as EXCEL (registered trademark), and file formats such as DocuWorks (registered trademark), which can be edited by the terminal device 4. File format.

The execution means 210 causes the image reading unit 24 to read the original image based on the cooperation job to generate an original image, separates the original image for each object, generates an editing document from the object, and generates the original image and the editing document. Executes a series of processes to send a document to a specified destination. That is, when the job received by the receiving means 200 is a cooperative job, the executing means 210 executes a series of processes by the original image generating means 211, the object separating means 212, the editing document generating means 213, and the transmitting means 214. The execution means 210 may control the image processing unit 25, the image output unit 26, the facsimile unit 27, and the like to execute the processing depending on the job passed from the reception means 200.

The original image generation means 211 controls the image reading unit 24 and the image processing unit 25 in accordance with the image reading conditions to perform "original image generation processing" of reading from the original and generating the original image. The image reading unit 24 reads the original by the RGB line sensor and outputs the scanned image in the RGB format. The original image generation means 211 generates an original image by converting the RGB-format scanned image into a file format designated by the image processing unit 25. For example, after the scanned image is once generated in the JPEG file format, it may be used as it is in the JPEG file format as the original image to be displayed on the display screen 230 described later, or in the PDF file format or the DocuWorks file format. It may be converted and used.

The object separation means 212 performs a "separation process" to separate the original image for each object. Objects include pictures, figures, tables, characters, auto shapes, and the like. Autoshape is a graphic object used in WORD, EXCEL, Power Point (registered trademark) and the like. An object is an example of a component that constitutes an image or a document.

The editing document generation means 213 performs a "document generation process" to generate an editing document in a file format specified by the objects separated by the separation process according to the output conditions. The editing document generation means 213 creates an editing document by pasting an object into the WORD document, for example, when WORD is specified as the file format of the editing document. Further, the editing document generation means 213 creates an editing document by pasting an object on the EXCEL sheet, for example, when EXCEL is specified as the file format of the editing document. Further, the editing document generation means 213 performs OCR (optical character recognition) processing on a character object. When OCR processing is performed, characters may be erroneously recognized. Therefore, it is necessary to generate an editing document and correct erroneously recognized characters.

The editing document generation means 213 can generate an original image and an editing document in the same file format depending on the output conditions. The original image and the editing document in the same file format refer to the original image and the editing document created in the file format in which the original image and the editing document can be opened by the same application. An example of the output condition will be described below.

As an output condition, one WORD file in which the original image 221 is pasted on the first page WORD document and the second page is the WORD editing document 222 may be transmitted. When a plurality of originals are read by the image reading unit 24, a WORD file is created for each original. According to this output condition, the original image 221 and the editing document 222 can be opened by the same WORD application, and both can be arranged on the same screen to edit the editing document 222.

Further, as another output condition, a first WORD file in which the original image 221 is pasted on the WORD document and a second WORD file in which the editing document 222 is in the WORD format may be transmitted. When a plurality of originals are read by the image reading unit 24, for example, a first WORD file including a plurality of original images 211 corresponding to the reading order of the originals and a plurality of editing documents 222 corresponding to the reading order of the originals. A second WORD file containing is created. Even with this output condition, the original image 221 and the editing document 222 can be opened by the same WORD application, and both can be arranged on the same screen to edit the editing document 222.

The transmission means 214 performs a "transmission process" of transmitting the original image 221 and the editing document 222 to a designated destination.

The receiving means 200 and the executing means 210 are each composed of hardware circuits such as a reconfigurable circuit (FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array) and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). You may.

(Operation of image processing system)
An example of the operation of the image processing system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an example of the original image 221 and FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an example of the editing document 222. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on the display unit of the terminal device 4. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the image processing device 2.

For example, the user arranges a plurality of documents on the document feeding tray of the automatic document feeder of the image processing device 2, operates the display operation unit 21, and causes the display operation unit 21 to display the menu screen. The user selects a linked job from the menu screen. Subsequently, the user operates the display operation unit 21 to display the input screen on the display operation unit 21, and inputs the image reading condition and the output condition on the input screen.

The receiving means 200 of the image processing device 2 receives the input image reading condition and output condition (S1). JPEG is selected as the file format of the original image as one of the image reading conditions, and the original image 221 is pasted on the WORD document on the first page as one of the output conditions, and the second page is the document for editing WORD 222. It is assumed that one WORD file is selected. Further, it is assumed that the server device 3 is selected as one transmission destination of the output condition.

Next, the user operates the display operation unit 21 to select a start button on the input screen and gives an instruction to start execution of the linked job. The reception means 200 receives an instruction to start execution of the linked job (S2).

The receiving means 200 notifies the executing means 210 of the received image reading condition and output condition. The execution means 210 executes the linked job based on the notified image reading condition and output condition.

First, the original image generation means 211 controls the image reading unit 24 and the image processing unit 25 according to the image reading conditions to perform the original image generation process of generating the original image from the original (S3). That is, the image reading unit 24 reads the scanned image from the documents fed one by one by the automatic document feeding device. The original image generation means 211 generates the original image 221 by processing the scanned image by the image processing unit 25, and stores the original image 221 in the storage unit 22.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the original image 221 includes the objects of the character 101, the auto shape 102, the picture 103, and the table 104.

The object separation means 212 performs a separation process for separating the original image 221 generated by the original image generation means 211 for each object (S4). In the case of the original image 221 shown in FIG. 3A, the object separating means 212 separates the original image 221 into the characters 101, the auto shape 102, the picture 103, and the objects in the table 104.

The editing document generating means 213 performs a document generating process for generating an editing document 222 in a file format specified by an output condition from an object separated by the separation process (S5).

As shown in FIG. 3B, the editing document generating means 213 generates a WORD file format editing document 222 composed of the objects of the character 101, the autoshape 102, the picture 103, and the table 104. Then, the editing document generation means 213 attaches the original image 221 to the WORD document on the first page according to the output conditions, and creates one WORD file in which the second page is the editing document 222 of WORD.

The transmission means 214 performs a transmission process of transmitting a WORD file including the original image 221 and the editing document 222 to a designated destination. Since the server device 3 is designated as the transmission destination, the transmission means 214 transmits the WORD file including the original image 221 and the editing document 222 to the server device 3 via the communication unit 28 and the network 5 (S6).

When the WORD file including the original image 221 and the editing document 222 is transmitted to the server device 3, the server device 3 stores the transmitted WORD file in the storage unit. The user operates the terminal device 4 to access the server device 3 via the network 5, imports the WORD file including the original image 221 and the editing document 222 into the storage unit of the terminal device 4, and takes in the original image 221 and the editing document 222. 222 is displayed on the display unit.

As shown in FIG. 4, the user causes the original image 221 to be displayed on the left side and the editing document 222 to be displayed on the right side on the display screen 230 of the display unit of the terminal device 4. In this way, by displaying the original image 221 and the editing document 222 on the display screen 230 so that they can be visually recognized at the same time, the user inputs an incorrect character or the like of the editing document 222 while looking at the original image 221. Operate the part to correct it.

(EXCEL spreadsheet file)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the original image 221 and the editing document 222 when the EXCEL spreadsheet file is selected as the file format of the editing document. As shown in FIG. 6, as an output condition, the editing document 222 is placed on the left side of the same sheet 110 of the EXCEL spreadsheet file, and the original image 221 is placed on the right side, or the original image 221 is placed on the left side. , You may specify to place the editing document 222 on the right side. When a plurality of originals are read by the image reading unit 24, the original image 221 and the editing document 222 corresponding to the originals are arranged on the plurality of sheets, respectively. According to this output condition, the original image 221 and the editing document 222 can be opened by the same EXCEL application, and both can be arranged on the same screen to edit the editing document 222.

As an output condition, the original image 221 and the editing document 222 may be arranged on different sheets. Further, the print area may be set only to the editing document 222 in the output conditions. As a result, unnecessary printing can be omitted when printing and confirming the editing document 222 after editing.

(Other embodiments)
It should be noted that the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without changing the gist of the present invention. For example, the editing document generation means 213 does not have to generate the editing document when only the object of the picture 103 exists as a result of the separation of the objects.

As output conditions, a Docuworks document file in which the original JPEG image 221 is pasted on the PDF and a WORD file in which the editing document 222 is in the WORD format may be transmitted.

In addition, steps can be added, deleted, changed, replaced, etc. in the flow of the embodiment without changing the gist of the present invention. Further, the program used in the above embodiment can be recorded and provided on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

1 ... image processing system, 2 ... image processing device, 3 ... server device, 4 ... terminal device,
5 ... Network, 20 ... Control unit, 21 ... Display operation unit, 22 ... Storage unit,
23 ... Display operation unit, 24 ... Image reading unit, 25 ... Image processing unit, 26 ... Image output unit,
27 ... Facsimile department, 28 ... Communication department,
101 ... characters, 102 ... auto shapes, 103 ... pictures, 104 ... tables,
110 ... sheet, 200 ... reception means, 10 ... execution means, 211 ... original image generation means,
212 ... Object separation means, 213 ... Editing document generation means, 214 ... Transmission means,
220 ... program, 221 ... original image, 222 ... editing document,
230 ... Display screen

Claims (5)

A scanning unit that scans the document and
Based on one instruction to execute a process including the scanning process, the document is read by the scanning unit to generate an original image representing the contents of the document, the original image is separated for each component, and the document is described. Execution means to generate an editing document from components, and
Equipped with a,
The editing document was generated so that the components had the same arrangement as the original image.
Image processing device. The executing means transmits the original image and the editing document to a designated destination as part of the process.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. The executing means includes an original image generating means for generating the original image from the scanned image obtained by the scanning process, a component separating means for separating the original image for each component, and the editing means from the component. An editing document generation means for generating a document,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. When the component is a character, the executing means performs optical character recognition processing on the character.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. The original image generating means and the editing document generating means generate the original image and the editing document in the same file format.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 3.