JP2000293622A - Method and device for image processing and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the accuracy of optical character reader(OCR) processing by performing image contrast processing of an image to be read according to an instruction and outputting it when a read instruction of an inputted image is in a prescribed mode. SOLUTION: When an image data read instruction exists in a command received by a network module 21 through a network 20, a server extension module 22 decides whether or not the instruction is a read instruction of a read mode for an OCR and controls reading. In the case of the read mode for an OCR, an image input device 17 reads an image with a 256 gradation grayscale according to an instruction of an image data type conversion module 25. Further, the module 25 performs ground elimination processing of the read grayscale image data to convert it into binary black-and-white picture data. The image data is outputted to a client through the module 22 after the processing is finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image processing method, apparatus, and storage medium for instructing another apparatus connected via a network to read an image and receiving and utilizing the image.

[0002] The present invention relates to an image processing method, apparatus, and storage medium for inputting and returning an image in accordance with an instruction from another device connected via a network.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, when image reading is instructed from a client machine to a server machine via a network, the image reading function executed by the server machine does not include an image trust (Image Trust) process.

[0004]

However, an image that has not been subjected to image trust processing is an image that is unsuitable for character recognition in which text is unclear, and the accuracy of subsequent character recognition processing on a client machine deteriorates. I was

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention is to input an image reading instruction and determine whether or not the input image reading instruction is in a predetermined mode. When it is determined that the mode is a predetermined mode, an image processing method, an apparatus, and a storage medium for performing image trust processing on an image read in accordance with the instruction and outputting the image trust processing are provided.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, according to the present invention, preferably, the image trust processing includes an undercolor removal processing.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, according to the present invention, preferably, the image trust processing includes a conversion processing from multi-valued data to binary data.

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, according to the present invention, preferably, the image reading instruction is an instruction from a device connected via a network.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention outputs an image reading instruction, and when an image corresponding to the output instruction is input, the image reading instruction is specified. Perform conversion processing according to the mode,
An image processing method, device, and storage medium for outputting the converted image are provided.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, according to the present invention, preferably, the conversion process is an image trust process.

[0011] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention preferably outputs the instruction to another device connected via a network.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an apparatus according to the present invention.

The system bus 1 enables data to be exchanged between the components described below. CPU (Cen
The true processing unit 2 executes various processes according to the present invention in accordance with a control program stored in the PMEM 3 described later. The processing shown in the flowchart described later is also executed by the CPU 2. The PMEM (memory) 3 is a memory for appropriately reading, reading, and storing control programs for various processes according to the present invention from the hard disk 10 as appropriate. The control program for the processing shown in the flowchart described later is
It is stored in M3. The PMEM 3 also functions as a text memory, and stores text data input from the keyboard 12 and text data read from the external storage medium 9 or the hard disk 10 under the control of the external storage control unit 8. The communication control unit 4 controls input / output data at the communication port 5. The communication port 5 is connected to a communication port 7 of another device on the network via a communication line 6 such as a LAN or a WAN under the control of the communication control unit 4 to transmit and receive data. Transmission of print data to a printer connected to the network and input of data from a scanner also connected to the network are also performed through the communication port 5.

The external storage control unit 8 reads data from a memory for data files, for example, a hard disk (HD) 10 or an external storage medium (for example, a floppy disk, MO, CD-R, etc.) that is detachable from the apparatus. And control the writing of data. The input control unit 11 inputs data from input devices such as a keyboard 12 and a mouse 13. Here, the mouse 13 only needs to function as a coordinate input unit for inputting the coordinates of the position indicated on the display screen of the CRT 16, and may be a tablet, a touch panel, or the like. Furthermore, at the designated coordinate position,
Any device can be used as long as a selection instruction can be made by pressing a button, tapping, or the like. By operating the mouse, the designated position displayed by the mouse cursor is set to a desired position,
For example, a command represented by a command icon can be input by pressing the button while positioning the command icon on the command menu. Instructions for editing and drawing positions can also be made with the mouse.
13 is possible. The operator operates the keyboard 12 to input a character code and various operation commands.

Video image memory (VRAM) 14
Is a memory for holding an image to be displayed on a display such as a CRT, for example. Under the control of the display output control unit 15, display data is developed and written into bitmap data.
Displayed on RT16. The display is not limited to the CRT, but may be a liquid crystal display. The printer control unit 17 controls output of data to the connected printer 18. The printer 18 functions as a unit for printing an image, and is an LBP, an inkjet printer, or the like. The image input device controller 1A controls the connected image input device 1B. The image input device 1B may be a scanner that optically reads a placed document or a film scanner.
Alternatively, it may execute a function of reading image data from a memory storing the image data. In FIG. 1, the printer control unit 17 and the printer 18 and the image input device 1B and the image input device control unit 1A are described as different configurations.
Of course, these may be physically separate components or one component.

FIG. 5 shows a network system diagram in a case where the components described in FIG. 1 are realized in a distributed manner by devices on the network, and will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a network system in which a network board (NB) 101 for connecting a printer to a network is connected to a printer 102 having an open architecture. The NB 101 connects to a local area network (LAN) 100, for example, an Ethernet interface 1 having a coaxial connector.
0Base-2 and 10Base-T with RJ-45
And so on through a LAN interface.

PC103, PC104, PC111, P
A plurality of personal computers (PCs) such as C112 and PC115 are connected to the LAN, and under the control of the network operating system, these PCs
It can communicate with B101 and function as each device connected to the network. Also, for example, the PC 103 can be designated to be used as a network device management PC.
The print processing in the printer 105 locally connected to the printer 102 or the PC 104 may be controlled.

A file server PC is connected to the LAN 100.
104, and accesses the file server 106 via the LAN 100 in accordance with an instruction input on the display screen of the PC 104, and has a large capacity (for example, 10 billion bytes).
The management of reading data from a file stored in the network disk 107 and writing and storing the data is managed. The file server PC 104 serves as a file management unit to receive data files between LAN members,
It performs storage, queuing, caching, and transmission. For example, a data file created by the PC 104 itself or the PC 103 is sent to the file server 106 under the control of the file server PC 104, and the file server 106 arranges these data files in order, and according to a command from the print server 104, The arranged data file is transmitted to the printer 110.

The scanner server 115 controls a locally connected scanner 117 and a remote scanner 110 to input an image. The copying machine 118 is connected to the LAN 11 via the image processing unit 119.
0, and also functions as a scanner or printer under the control of a PC connected via the network 110.

PC 103 and PC 104 are respectively
Generation of data file and L of generated data file
It comprises a normal PC capable of transmitting to the AN 100, receiving a file from the LAN 100, and displaying and processing such a file. Although FIG. 5 shows a personal computer device, other computer devices that are suitable for executing network software may be used. Usually LA
LANs, such as N100 and LAN 110, provide services to somewhat local user groups, such as user groups on one floor or multiple connected floors in one building. A wide area network (WAN) may be created as a user moves away from another user, such as in another prefecture. WAN is
Basically, it is an aggregate formed by connecting several LANs with a high-speed digital line such as an integrated high-speed service digital network (ISDN) telephone line. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
And the LAN 120 via the backbone 140 to form a WAN. These connections are simple electrical connections with several buses. Each LAN includes a dedicated PC and, although not necessarily, usually includes a file server and a print server.
Devices connected to the LAN 100, the LAN 110, and the LAN 120 communicate with other LANs via the WAN connection.
Can access the functions of the device.

Hereinafter, processing according to the present invention in the apparatus and the network system as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the server machine according to the present invention. Each function of a certain device functioning as a server connected to the network 20 is shown as a module, and the devices connected to the server are illustrated. The network 20 is a LAN 100,
Communication lines such as 110 and 120 and public lines.

The network server module 21 converts data obtained from a server extension function described below into a data format that can be exchanged on a network compatible with a general-purpose network protocol, and outputs the data to the network 20. Conversely, it also receives network data sent from the client and converts it to an internal data format that can be interpreted by the server extension module. The server extension module 22 analyzes the data passed from the network server module 21 and selects a module indicated in the analyzed data from a plurality of image service modules under the control of the module. The process in is executed. Alternatively, data is transferred from one service module to another service module. (For example, the common interface conversion module is called from the OCR module 24.) The common interface conversion module 23
When the server extension module requests the provision of the service of any of the image input devices, it converts the requested data at that time into a control command corresponding to the input device control module 26 instructed. For example, the command is a control command including image reading parameter setting information from a client. Conversely, it also has a function of converting device-specific control information from the input device control module into a general interface that can be passed to the server extension module. For example, conversion of image information obtained as a result of a reading instruction and its accompanying information. OCR module 24
Performs character recognition processing in response to an instruction from the server extension module 22 when a client requests to convert image data read by the image input device 27 or image data sent from the client as document data. Execute. The image data format conversion module 25 is a module for converting the format of the image data obtained from the image input device 27 into the image data format specified by the client. The input / output device control module 26 controls the image input device 27 in accordance with each of the image input devices 27.
Controls input / output of control commands / information.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the client machine according to the present invention. Each of the functions of a certain device functioning as a client connected to the network 30 is shown as a module, and a device that functions as a source of management of the module and information used by the module are illustrated. The network 30 is a LAN 100, 1
Communication lines such as 10, 120 and public lines.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a general application having an image input function, and reference numeral 32 denotes an image input / output device manager for providing a general-purpose image input / output interface to the application. The manager 32 exchanges information with a designated one of the image input / output device control modules under its management. 33 is
This is an image input device control module having general-purpose i / o.
The module 33 controls the image input devices 34 individually connected by a general-purpose interface negotiated with the image input manager 32. This module 33 provides a general-purpose interface unlike the image input device control module 26 described above. That is, functionally, the image input device control module 26,
This module is a combination of the common interface conversion module 23 and the general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module 37. That is, the manager 32
For example, a TWAIN manager and a module 33
Corresponds to a TWAIN driver corresponding to each device. Reference numeral 34 denotes an individual image input device locally connected to the apparatus.

The client function control module 35
It performs overall management of modules constituting individual client extended functions described below. The image input device connection information generation module 36 acquires the attribute information of the image input / output device connected to the server device obtained by using the network client module 38 and the information necessary for network connection, and Is a module for generating the image input device information 3A. At this time,
At the same time, the virtual image input device control module 39 is automatically generated. By generating this module, the image input device manager 32 can handle devices on the network as if they were virtually connected.

The general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module 37 is a network client module 3
8 is converted into a general-purpose interface corresponding to the image input manager 32. This module does not directly provide the functions having these interfaces to the image input device manager 32, but provides them via the individual virtual image input device control modules 39 as described later.

Network client module 38
Converts the data into a data format compatible with a general-purpose network protocol and exchangeable on a network so that the module and the server-side module can communicate with each other, and outputs the data to the network.

The virtual image input device control module 39 includes:
One-to-one with image input devices on the set network
Is generated. This module basically returns the information of the corresponding image input device connection information 3A or returns the information to the general-purpose image input / output interface providing module 3A.
, And intermediate processing such as passing the result to the image input manager 32 is performed. In this way, since most of the actual processing is performed by the general-purpose image input / output interface providing module, the module can be small, and overhead is created even when modules for image input devices on a plurality of networks are created. Less is needed.

In the following, according to the flow chart shown in FIG. 4, a process for performing image trust processing in the case of instructing and executing image reading between devices connected via a network and transmitting / receiving data will be described. .

When the server is provided with an image trust processing function, the OCR module 24 is provided with a function, or, similarly to the image data format conversion module 25, as an image trust module under the control of the server extension module 22. Place and run.

The server extension module 22 determines whether the command received by the network server module 21 via the network includes an instruction to read image data (S41). Is a read instruction in the OCR read mode (S42), and the subsequent reading is controlled. S42
If it is determined that the OCR reading mode instruction has been issued, the image input device 27 reads the image in 256 gray scales in accordance with the instruction from the image trust module. Further, in the image trust module, the read grayscale image data is subjected to a background removal process to convert it into binary black and white image data. S42
When it is determined that the OCR reading mode instruction has not been issued, the instruction is output from the server extension module 22 to the common interface conversion module 23 so that the image reading device 27 reads the image. S
When the processing in 44 or S45 is completed, the server extension module 22 and the network server module 21
Is output to the client (the device that transmitted the command received in S41).

If the client has the image trust function, the network client module 3
8 and the client function control module 35, that is, the image trust module is placed and executed in the same row as the image input device connection information generation module 36 or the general-purpose image input / output interface conversion module 37. In this case, the image reading instruction is output to the server in response to the image reading instruction from the operator, and the OCR reading mode is instructed in response to the reception of the image data read in response to the instruction. In this case, the image trust processing is executed by the image trust module.

The image subjected to the above image trust processing is subjected to OCR processing by an OCR module in a server or a client, and a text as a recognition result is output.

By performing such processing, even when image data is input from a device connected via a network, an image suitable for OCR processing can be input by an operator's instruction. The accuracy of the OCR process can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a server-side machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a functional configuration diagram of a client machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a system diagram of a network according to the present invention.

Claims (18)

[Claims] An image reading instruction is input, and it is determined whether or not the input image reading instruction is in a predetermined mode. If it is determined that the input image reading instruction is in a predetermined mode, an image to be read by the instruction is given. An image processing method characterized by performing image trust processing and outputting. 2. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the image trust processing includes an under color removal processing. 3. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the image trust processing includes a conversion processing from multi-value data to binary data. 4. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the image reading instruction is an instruction from a device connected via a network. 5. An image reading instruction is output, and when an image corresponding to the output instruction is input,
An image processing method, comprising: performing a conversion process according to a mode specified for the reading instruction; and outputting the converted image. 6. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the conversion processing is an image trust processing. 7. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the instruction is output to another device connected via a network. 8. An input unit for inputting an image reading instruction, a determining unit for determining whether or not the input image reading instruction is in a predetermined mode; Output means for performing image trust processing on an image read in accordance with the instruction and outputting the image trust processing. 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image trust processing includes an under color removal processing. 10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image trust processing includes a conversion processing from multi-value data to binary data. 11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image reading instruction is an instruction from a device connected via a network. 12. An output unit for outputting an image reading instruction, and when an image corresponding to the output instruction is input,
An image processing method, comprising: a process execution unit that performs a conversion process according to a mode specified for the reading instruction; and an output unit that outputs the converted image. 13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the conversion processing is an image trust processing. 14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the instruction is output to another device connected via a network. 15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a character recognizing means for recognizing the converted image as a character. 16. A storage medium readable by a computer, comprising: a control program for inputting an image reading instruction; and control for determining whether the input image reading instruction is in a predetermined mode. A storage medium storing a program and a control program for performing an image trust process on an image to be read in accordance with the instruction when the mode is determined to be the predetermined mode and outputting the image. 17. A storage medium readable by a computer, comprising: a control program for outputting an image reading instruction; and an image corresponding to the output instruction.
A storage medium storing a control program for performing a conversion process in accordance with a mode specified in response to the reading instruction, and a control program for outputting the converted image. 18. The storage medium according to claim 17, wherein a control program for character recognition of the converted image is stored.