EP1302064A1

EP1302064A1 - Meta information handling

Info

Publication number: EP1302064A1
Application number: EP01937117A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Patrik Andersson; Gustav KÄLVESTEN; Julien Masnada; Kristofer Johansson; Peter Berggren; Ulf Olsson
Original assignee: Axis AB
Current assignee: Axis AB
Priority date: 2000-06-06
Filing date: 2001-06-05
Publication date: 2003-04-16
Also published as: CN1196314C; SE0002098D0; WO2001095609A1; SE0002098L; JP4095891B2; KR20030011348A; KR100804918B1; CN1435047A; JP2003536327A; SE518643C2; AU2001262882A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for transmitting image information acquired as a digital image file (6) in an image information acquiring operation by an image information acquiring means (5), to a data network (2). The system comprises an input device (4) for input of meta information regarding a selected image, which comprises image information acquirable by said image information acquiring means (5). Further it comprises means for connecting said meta information regarding said selected image to the digital image file (6) in connection with an image information acquiring operation whereby said image information acquiring means (5) acquires the image information of said selected image. It also comprises means for transmitting said meta information (18b) regarding said selected image and the digital image file (18a) to said data network (2).

Description

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after the actual scanning process. It also requires access to a client station where the extra information can be added.

There is however another way of obtaining the extra information. This could be achieved by means of software interpreting the scanned document image and using different image processing and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) techniques to derive the extra information from the document itself. The problem with this method is that it is very complex and resource requiring. There might even be a need of servers for the processing of the scanned document or image. The processing software also needs to know exactly how the different documents are formatted to be able to extract the extra information. Thus it is not able to adapt to new documents very easily.

In EP 0 748 107 A2 a method of scanning and adding extra information is disclosed. According to this document information regarding a document to be scanned is written or printed in a form. The form is then scanned and the extra information is extracted using an image recognition technique. The information extraction is not as complex for the scanning device as when the information is extracted from the document itself, but still an image processing is required and other problems are added. The scanning device must be able to recognise that the paper it is scanning is an information form and therefore only a restricted amount of different designs of the form could be used. If a form is changed, e.g. in a case when some other information is needed, the scanning device must be reprogrammed to be able to extract the information.

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Preferably, the method further comprises the step of validating the inputted information.

Hereby, the information can be controlled to be in the right format. For example if an amount is asked for the validation should ensure that the inputted information is a number.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will now be described in more detail by exemplification referring to the appended drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a data network with different applications including the system according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of an implementation of the system according to the invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a working procedure according to the invention.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment Referring to Fig. 1, a preferred embodiment of a system 1 according to the invention is showed connected to a network 2. The system 1 comprises a Network Document Server (NDS) 3, an input device 4 and a connection to an image information acquiring means 5. Furthermore, the system comprises a means for requesting information regarding the image information. This image information acquiring means 5 is in most cases a scanner, but it could also be a digital copier, a fax machine, a digital camera etc. The input device 4 could be any kind of input device, e.g. a keyboard or a pen scanner, and the information could be inputted by just inserting the data or by selecting it from a list presented in connection with a request. The means for requesting information could be any kind of display or a speech device for vocally requesting information.

The NDS 3 is the heart of the system 1 and connects the scanner to a data network 2. The NDS 3 could either

matically. This could be any kind of information that the NDS 3 can access without extensive processing, such as a time stamp for the scanning, the size of the digital image file 6 or a name of the scanner 5 that produced the digital image file 6.

When the NDS 3 has received a digital image file 6 and all meta information has been inputted, the NDS 3 connects the meta information 18b to the digital image file 18a. The meta information 18b could be embedded in the same file as the digital image file 18a, this is referred to as 18 in Fig. 2, but it could also be in a file separate from the digital image file 18a. If the meta information 18b is in a separate file, the meta information preferably is supplemented with a pointer to the image file.

The NDS 3 transmits the digital image file 18a and the meta information 18b to a selected destination on a data network 2. This destination is not necessarily the same for the digital image file 18a and the meta infor- mation 18b, the digital image file 18a could for example be transmitted to a certain catalogue on a file server whereas the meta information 18b is transmitted to another catalogue on another file server.

The components that are shown as internal NDS components in Fig. 2 could also be external components that is to be accessed over a network when needed.

Referring to Fig. 3, a process using the invention shall be described. In step 101 the administrator writes a control file 7 and in step 102 the administrator puts the control file 7 on a server. In step 103 the administrator configures the NDS 3 to retrieve the control file 7. Then the NDS 3 retrieves the control file in step 104. The control file 7 is then treated by the NDS 3 in step 105. During the treatment the control file 7 is parsed and validated and if the control file 7 is not correct an error information is sent to an administrator interface and the control file 7 is ignored, step 106. The admini- strator corrects the control file 7 in step 107 and then the process is returned to step 102.

If the control file 7 is found to be correct in step 105 the control file 7 could be used to control the requesting of meta information in the NDS 3. In connection with an image information acquiring operation the user is then requested to input meta information. The requested information is prompted for on a NDS display in step 108. In step 109 the user enters a value which is examined according to a specification in the control file 7 in step 110. If the value is not correct the process is returned to step 108.

If a correct value is inputted in step 110, the NDS 3 examines, in step 111, whether more information should be requested according to the control file 7. If so, the process is returned to step 108, otherwise an output file comprising the meta information is created in step 112. Some extra meta information could be added automatically to the output file. This is information which the NDS 3 could access without extensive processing, such as a time stamp for the scanning, the size of the digital image file 6 or a name of the scanner 5 that produced the digital image file 6. The control file 7 holds a specification for the format of the output file corresponding to a format required by a destination for the output file. The output file is then sent to the destination in step 113.

Finally, in step 114, a check is made if the meta information and the digital image file should be sent to more destinations. If so, the NDS 3 could be designed to restart in step 108 to prompt the user for information required for the destination. The NDS 3 could alternatively request all information for all destinations first and then transmit meta information to the desti- nations. In such case the NDS 3 creates a new output file in step 112 for the next destination. The output file is then prepared to be compatible to the destination appli- cation. If there are no more destinations in step 114 the process is complete.

A specific application of the invention will be described in the following. This application is an example of how the system could be used and it relates to invoice handling. In a company many different people could receive invoices. However, all invoices are handled at the same department or could even be handled by accounting software. When a person receives an invoice it should be sent to the invoice handler. The invoice handler wants to receive specific information regarding the invoice so that an additional analyse of the invoice is avoided. This information could be an invoice number, a date of payment and a name of an orderer. The system administrator designs a control file for a system according to the invention so that the specific information needed by the invoice handler is requested from a user when the invoice handler is chosen as destination for a scanned document. The administrator gives an attribute to the information as to whether it is required, optional or hidden information. If the information is required the user has to input the information to be able to send the document, whereas if the information is optional it is optional for the user to enter information. If the information is hidden the user does not see that the information is added, it is thus obtained automatically. Furthermore, the administrator set a pattern to check the lexical correctness of an entered value. In this case the invoice number could be set to be a five-digit number, the date of payment could be set to be a date in the form DD/MM/YYYY and the name of the orderer could be set to be a free text .

The person who received the invoice scans the invoice at a scanning device equipped with the system according to the invention for transmission of a scanned document to the invoice handler. At the moment of scanning the person is asked for meta information regarding the invoice. As the person enters the invoice handler as destination for the scanned document the dynamic control of the requesting will ensure that the person is prompted for the specific information that the invoice handler needs. When all required information is inputted the scanned document together with the meta information is sent to the destination. The receiver then has all information needed for the further treatment of the document. It should be emphasised that the preferred embodiment described herein is in no way limiting and that many alternative embodiments are possible within the scope of protection defined by the appended claims. For example, other languages than XML could be used to define the required information.

Claims

1. A system connecting an image information acquiring means to a data network for transmitting acquired image information as a digital image file to said data network, said system comprising an input device for input of meta information regarding a selected image, means for connecting said meta information regarding said selected image to the digital image file in connection with an image information acquiring operation, and means for transmitting said meta information regarding said selected image and the digital image file to said data network.

2. The system according- to claim 1, wherein the image information acquiring means comprises a scanning device.

3. The system according to claim 1 or 2 , further comprising means for requesting the input of said meta information responsive to a selected image.

4. The system according to claim 3, further comprising means utilising a control file for dynamic control of the requesting of the meta information.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the means utilising a control file for dynamic control in response to an inputted destination for the digital image file is arranged to request meta information in accordance with requirements of said inputted destination.

6. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising means for controlling the format of the meta information transmitted to the data network.

7. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the input device is a keyboard.

8. The system according to any one of claims 3 to 5, further comprising means for displaying requests .

9. A method for providing a digital image file with meta information, which digital image file comprises image information of a selected image and is acquirable by an image information acquiring means, comprising the steps of, in connection with an image information acquiring operation, requesting meta information regarding the selected image, inputting, in response to the request, the meta information by means of an input device, connecting said meta information regarding said selected image to the digital image file, and transmitting said meta information regarding said selected image and said digital image file to said data network.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the digital image file is acquired by means of a scanning device.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, further comprising the step of utilising a control file for dynamic control of the requesting of the meta infor- mation.

12. The method according to claims 11, wherein the control file is editable by an administrator.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to

12, further comprising the step of controlling the format of the meta information transmitted to the data network.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, further comprising the step of validating the inputted information.