JPH09212577A - Character reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correct a character to a right character by one kind of operation sequence without fail by always fixing the correcting operation at the time of correcting a character recognized by means of an OCR(optical character reader). SOLUTION: An OCR is provided with a format data part 14 holding character kind information in each character entry field of a reading slip and all pieces of candidate character group information which is corresponding to character kind information has possibility to be written. Thus the OCR displays at least a part of the group of all the candidate characters in the format data part 14 corresponding to a character kind of in an character entry field including the position of this character on the picture in response to instruction input from a character instruction means and selects an optional candidate character in this group of the candidate characters by the character instruction means to replace the character at the character position instructed by the character instruction means with it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention obtains image data representing a character (including a symbol), recognizes a character included in an image based on the image data, and outputs a corresponding character code. The present invention relates to a reading device and a correction method for a character that is erroneously recognized.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a character reading device (OCR), a character image is cut out from image data obtained by optically reading a form by an image scanner or a facsimile device, and the character features are compared with the contents of a recognition dictionary. -By collation, the character code of the character having the most similar feature amount is output as the recognition result. Furthermore, it is possible to output a plurality of recognition candidate characters having similar feature amounts at a certain level. However, since the recognition of characters is not always performed correctly, it is necessary to perform a correction operation to correct a recognition character that is erroneously recognized as a correct character. Such correction work is performed by displaying a recognition character as a recognition result on a display device and performing a correction operation with an instruction input device such as a keyboard or a mouse.

Next, the operation for correcting the erroneously recognized character will be described. In FIG. 7, among the recognition result display fields 21a to 21i displayed on the screen of the display device,
A plurality of recognition candidate character groups 23 extracted in the recognition process of the recognized character are displayed by placing the cursor 22 on the character that is considered to be erroneously recognized and performing a click operation. In this example, the character "E" having the first degree of similarity is the character that is the recognition result, and the character "2" having the second highest degree of similarity is "
B "is the second-ranked recognition candidate character, and third is the candidate character with the highest degree of similarity," 6 "is the third-ranked recognition candidate character.

Since each displayed recognition candidate character is a character having a high degree of similarity, there is a high possibility that the correct character is included in this candidate character group. Therefore, after displaying the recognition candidate character group 23, the operator further moves the cursor 2 to the position of the correct recognition candidate character in the displayed recognition candidate characters.
Move 2 and click at this position. If there is no correct recognized character among the candidate characters, enter the correct character from the keyboard. By these operations, the erroneously recognized character is corrected. Note that this conventional technique is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-324901.

[0005]

According to the method of displaying only the recognition candidate character group having a high degree of similarity extracted in the conventional recognition process and selecting the correct answer character from the group, the recognition candidate character group is If the correct character is not included, the correct character cannot be selected, and the correct character must be newly input by another operation (for example, keyboard operation), resulting in poor correction efficiency. There was a point.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a character reading device capable of correcting a recognition result into a correct character by always performing the same operation. .

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 recognizes a character of a form represented by image data and outputs a recognized character as a recognition result. And a recognition character display means for displaying the recognition character output by the recognition processing means on the screen, and a character designating means for designating an arbitrary character among the recognition characters displayed by the display means with a cursor on the screen. In a character reading device equipped with, a format data section holding character type information of each character entry field and all candidate character group information that may be entered corresponding to the character type information is provided, In response to the instruction input from the character pointing means, at least a part of all the candidate character groups of the format data portion corresponding to the character type of the character entry field including the character position is displayed on the screen. It indicated thereby, by selecting an arbitrary candidate character in the candidate character group in the character indicating means, which is constituted so as to replace the character designated character position the character indicating means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of recognition candidate character groups extracted in the recognition process of the character designated by the character designating means are first displayed, and then the above The candidate character group of the format data portion is displayed. In the invention according to claim 3, in the invention according to claim 1, the candidate character group is displayed when the degree of similarity of the characters designated by the character designating means is lower than a predetermined value. .

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 shows a concrete entry example of a form, and 1 shows the form. This form 1 is composed of character entry fields 2a, 2b, ..., And characters are entered or printed in each character entry field 2a, 2b ,. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the character reading device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. A photoelectric conversion unit 11 has a function of optically scanning the surface of the form 1 as shown in FIG. 1 and converting it into image data. The character recognition unit 12 converts the image data into the format data unit 14
According to the above, each character is cut out, its characteristic parameter is extracted, and for each character indicated by the characteristic parameter,
Similarity with the standard pattern registered in the character recognition dictionary 13 is calculated, and candidate characters are obtained for each of the written or printed characters. Each character of the first candidate of the recognition result obtained by the character recognition unit 12 is displayed on the display unit 15. 16 is a controller for controlling the above-mentioned processing, 17,
Reference numerals 18 are a keyboard and a mouse for inputting various information. As shown in FIG. 5, the format data section 14 holds the information 51 of the character type to be recognized for each character entry feed and the candidate character group information 52 corresponding to the character type information.

In the apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration, an example in which the form shown in FIG. 1 is input and the group of characters having the highest degree of similarity recognized by the character recognition section 12 is displayed on the display section 15 is shown in FIG.
It is. In FIG. 3A, 21a, 21b, 21c
... indicates each character entry field 2 in Fig. 1
It is a recognition result display field corresponding to the written characters a, 2b, 2c ... In FIG. 3 (A), mouse 1
When the mouse cursor 22 is moved with 8, and the correction target character "A" in the display field 21g is clicked,
The candidate character group information of the recognition target character type corresponding to the character entry field 2g defined in the format data section 14 is displayed in the window 23 as shown in FIG. 3 (B). By selecting the correct letter "E" from the window 23 and clicking it, the letter "A" at the cursor position in the field 21g is changed to the letter "A" selected in the window 23.
Replace with E ″. As described above, in this embodiment, the misrecognized character can always be corrected by the same operation (for example, mouse operation).

When the mouse cursor 22 is moved with the mouse 18 and the field 21h is clicked as shown in FIG. 4, only the candidate character groups "A, B, C" of the character types that can be entered in the field 2h are displayed. Since it is displayed, not only can it be easily selected, but it is also possible to prevent erroneous input of characters that are not allowed to be input.

Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a FAXOCR device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a portion corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit 11 in FIG. 2 is replaced with a FAX receiving unit 19, and information of a form is externally F information as FAX information.
The operation after arriving at the AX receiving unit 19 is the same as that in the first embodiment.

Embodiment 3 In the first and second embodiments, the display window 23 for candidate characters is displayed in the order defined in the format data section of FIG. 5, but the character with the highest similarity in the character recognition process is displayed. , Is included in the characters defined in this format data, the character is moved to the beginning of the candidate character and displayed. If there is a character with the second highest similarity, It is possible to make it easier to select a character to be selected by moving the character to the second position and displaying it, and doing the same for the third character and thereafter.

Embodiment 4 As for the character having the highest similarity in the character recognition process, which is higher than the value designated in advance, the character having the highest similarity is displayed in the window 23 as a candidate as in the conventional case, and the similarity between the characters is displayed. For the character whose similarity of the highest character is lower than the value specified in advance, the method of displaying the candidate characters is automatically performed, such as displaying all the characters defined in the format data section like this invention. It is also possible to make the correction of characters easier by changing the setting.

Embodiment 5 When a plurality of recognition candidate character groups extracted in the character recognition process designated by the character designating means are first displayed, and the target character is not included (or found) in these recognition candidate character groups, After that, the candidate character group of the format data portion may be displayed. With such a configuration, in general, the target character is often included in the recognition candidate character group, so the primary correction can be efficiently performed, and the target character in the recognition candidate character group can be efficiently performed. The correction input can also be efficiently performed when no character is included, and is particularly effective for a field having many candidate character groups.

[0016]

According to the character reading apparatus of the present invention, when the recognized character is displayed on the screen and the erroneous reading or the unrecognizable character is corrected, the correction target character is clicked to write the character at the position. Since all possible characters are displayed as candidate characters, correct characters always exist in the candidate characters, and it is possible to make corrections by always performing the same operation.

Further, it is possible to prevent input of a character or the like that should not be input to the position due to a selection error of a candidate character or an incorrect input from the keyboard.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of filling in a form handled in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of the character reading device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a recognition result display and correction instruction screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of a recognition result display and a correction instruction screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows the format data section data used in the present invention.
It is a conceptual diagram which shows a data example.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a FAXOCR device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a screen view showing a correction screen of a conventional character reading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 OCR Form 2 (2a to 2i) Entry Field 11 Photoelectric Conversion Section 12 Character Recognition Section 13 Character Recognition Dictionary 14 Format Data Section 15 Display Section 17 Keyboard 18 Mouse

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recognition processing unit for reading and recognizing handwritten or printed character image data, a character display unit for displaying a recognition character output from this recognition processing unit, and a display unit displayed on this display unit. In a character reading device provided with a character designating means for designating an arbitrary character from a character group, a character holding information holding character type information of each character entry field and candidate character group information corresponding to the character type information. A matte data section is provided, and at least a part of all candidate characters of the format data section corresponding to the character type of the character entry field including the character position designated by the character designating means is displayed on the screen. The character reading device is characterized in that by selecting an arbitrary candidate character from the candidate character group, the character at the character position designated by the character designating means is replaced. Place. 2. A plurality of recognition candidate character groups extracted in the character recognition processing of the character designated by the character designating means are first displayed, and then the candidate character group of the format data section is displayed. The character reading device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The character reading device according to claim 1, wherein the candidate character group is displayed when the similarity of the characters designated by the character designating means is lower than a predetermined value.