JP2001320575A - Device and method for forming image and computer readable recording medium with image forming program stored therein - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming technique capable of easily producing a cover and a back binding by utilizing an OCR technique. SOLUTION: A digital copying machine as an image forming device has an OCR part 32 for recognizing a character string from a character image included in a header area and/or a footer area in each page of an original composed of a plurality of pages. The recognized character string is arranged to a form for the cover and/or the back binding, and an image for the cover and/or the backbone is formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming technique for recognizing a character string from a character image contained in a predetermined area of each page of a multi-page document and forming a cover and / or spine image. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical character reading (OCR) technique for reading an original by a scanner and recognizing a character string or a table layout from the read image is known. I have. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-231291 describes a technique for recognizing a character string such as a date and a name printed in advance on a document to create layout information and automatically creating a form format. .

Further, a facsimile apparatus is disclosed in
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. -289407 is known. The facsimile apparatus obtains information of a transmission source and information of a transmission destination based on a key operation at the time of transmission, adds a cover in which a destination name, the number of transmissions, and the like are arranged to the first page and transmits the first page.

When a printed matter obtained by copying a document is stored in a file, the printed matter may have a cover or a spine. In this case, in addition to the copying operation, it is necessary to start application software and separately create a cover and a spine. The task of bothersomely creating a cover or the like is a very time-consuming task for the user. For this reason, there is a strong demand for simplifying the work of creating a cover or the like and increasing the efficiency of office work.

[0005] However, none of the prior arts takes into account the creation of a cover or spine using the OCR technique.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming technique which can easily create a cover or spine using the OCR technique.

[0007]

The present invention for achieving the above object is constituted as follows for each claim.

(1) A character recognizing unit for recognizing a character string from a character image included in a predetermined area of each page of a multi-page document, and a cover and / or spine image on which the recognized character string is arranged. And a forming unit for forming.

(2) The image forming apparatus according to the above (1), further comprising: a character string recognized for each of the predetermined areas of each of the pages, and a determining unit for determining a character string to be arranged.

(3) The image forming apparatus according to (1), wherein the character recognition unit recognizes a character string representing a title, a company name, or a date.

(4) The image forming apparatus according to (1), wherein the predetermined area is a header area and / or a footer area of a document.

(5) The image forming apparatus according to (1), further including a size changing unit that changes a character size of the character string to be arranged in accordance with an area in which the recognized character string is to be arranged.

(6) The image forming apparatus according to (5), wherein the size changing unit calculates the character size based on the size of the area and the number of characters of a character string to be arranged.

(7) The image forming apparatus according to the above (1), further comprising: a setting section for setting a predetermined form in which areas in which the recognized character strings are arranged are arranged.

(8) The image forming apparatus according to (7), wherein the setting unit is capable of selecting a form to be used from a plurality of stored forms.

(9) The image forming apparatus according to the above (1), further comprising: a reading section for reading a document; and an output section for outputting an image formed by the forming section.

(10) The image forming apparatus according to (9), further including a printing unit that prints an image output from the output unit.

(11) The output unit further outputs an image of the document read by the reading unit (9).
Or, the image forming apparatus according to (10).

(12) An extracting unit for extracting an image contained in a portion corresponding to a header area and / or a footer area of the original from an image of the original, and a cover and / or spine for arranging the extracted image. And a forming unit for forming an image.

(13) A step of recognizing a character string from a character image included in a predetermined area on each page of a multi-page document, and forming an image for a cover and / or spine on which the recognized character string is arranged. And an image forming method.

(14) A procedure for recognizing a character string from a character image included in a predetermined area of each page of a multi-page document, and forming an image for a cover and / or spine on which the recognized character string is arranged. And a computer-readable recording medium storing an image forming program having the following steps.

[0022]

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

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system.

The image forming system 10 includes a network 1
1, a scanner 12 for reading an original, a printer 13 for printing an image, and a digital copying machine 14 are interconnected. The image read by the scanner 12 can be printed by the printer 13 and also by the digital copying machine 14. The digital copier 14 can read a document and print an image, and can output the read image to the printer 13 or a personal computer (not shown) via the network 11. The present invention is applied to the digital copying machine 14.

[Embodiment 1] FIG.
4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of FIG.

The digital copying machine 14 includes a reading section 21 for reading a document, an image processing section 22 for processing the read image, a printing section 23 for printing the processed image, and an operation panel section 24 for key operation by a user. And the storage unit 25,
And a control unit 26 that controls each unit.

The reading section 21 includes an automatic document feeder (A
DF) 27. A plurality of originals stacked on the ADF 27 are transported one by one to a predetermined reading position. The user operates the operation panel unit 24 to switch the display screen and the copy mode, and to input the number of copies and the like.

The image processing section 22 includes a header / footer area extracting section 31, an OCR section 32, a determining section 33, a matching section 34, a synthesizing processing section 35, a copy processing section 36,
And a value conversion unit 37.

The header / footer area extraction unit 31 extracts the header area and / or
Alternatively, an image included in a portion corresponding to the footer region is extracted.

The OCR section 32 sequentially cuts out character images from the extracted images, recognizes the character images, and converts them into character code data. Recognizable characters include all characters, numbers, and symbols to which character code data is assigned, and also include external characters registered by the user as patterns. The OCR unit 32 also recognizes fonts and font sizes. The OCR unit 32 further determines the item represented by the recognized character string. The items include “title”, “company name”, and “date”. The OCR unit 32
The determined item is added to the character string as an attribute of the character string. The attributes also include “title”, “company name”, and “date”. For example, when determining that the item of the recognized character string is “title”, the OCR unit 32 adds an attribute “title” to the character string. In the case of a document including a plurality of pages, the OCR unit 32 performs character recognition and attribute addition for all pages.

The determining unit 33 compares the recognized character strings and determines a character string to be used for the cover and / or spine for each attribute.

The matching unit 34 determines the size of the area in which the determined character string is to be arranged and the number of characters in the character string.
Calculate the optimal font size of the character string to be placed.

The synthesis processing unit 35 arranges the character code data of the determined character string in the area using the calculated font size, and forms an image for a cover and / or spine.

The copy processing section 36 performs copy image processing such as smoothing and edge enhancement, and the binarization section 37 performs binarization processing on an input image.

The storage unit 25 stores parameters required for image processing. The storage unit 25 further stores a plurality of forms in which regions in which character strings are arranged are arranged. The form includes a cover form used to create a cover and a spine form used to create a spine. Each of the cover form and the spine form has a plurality of patterns depending on the paper size and the arrangement of the areas. The user can select a desired form from a plurality of forms.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the operation panel unit 24 on which a copy mode selection screen is displayed.

The operation panel section 24 has a liquid crystal touch panel 41 on which various screens are displayed, a numeric keypad 42 for setting the number of copies, a start key 43 for instructing stop of operation, and a stop key for instructing stop of operation. Key 44,
Is provided. At present, the liquid crystal touch panel 41
The copy mode selection screen is displayed. The digital copying machine 14 has four modes: a normal copy mode, a cover creation mode, a spine creation mode, and a cover / spine creation mode.
It has two modes. The user can select a desired mode by instructing any one of the touch keys 45a to 45d in the liquid crystal touch panel 41. If the user has not selected a mode, the normal copy mode is set as the default mode.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an original consisting of a plurality of pages. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a predetermined area in each page of the document.

As shown in FIG.
3. In general, the company name 54 and the creation date and time 55 are often described in a header area or a footer area. By recognizing a character string by performing OCR processing on a character image included in a header area or a footer area, a cover or spine can be created. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
1 and a footer area 52 are set. Each area 5
Default values are set for the dimensions 1 and 52.
For example, the header area 51 is set within a range of 15 mm from the upper edge of the sheet, and the footer area 52 is also set 1 mm from the lower edge of the sheet.
It is set in the range of 5 mm. The user can freely specify the dimensions of the header area 51 and the dimensions of the footer area 52 by operating the operation panel unit 24. The dimensions of the header area 51 and the footer area 52 may be different.

When the predetermined areas 51 and 52 are applied to the manuscript 50 shown in FIG. 4, the header area 51 of the first page includes a character string representing the title 53 of "ab proposal". In the footer area 52, a character string representing the company name 54 of "Minolta Co., Ltd."
A character string representing the date 55 of “month 20”.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of the cover form 61, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of the spine form 62. FIG. 7A shows an example of a cover 71 created by applying the cover form 61 shown in FIG. 6A, and FIG. 7B shows a spine form shown in FIG. 6B. It is a figure which shows an example of the spine cover 72 created by applying 62.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the cover form 61 has a title area 61a, a company name area 61b, and a date area 61c arranged in order from the top.
Each of the regions 61a to 61c is aligned in the center along the width direction (the left-right direction in the drawing) of the form 61.
As shown in FIG. 6B, the spine form 62 also includes a title area 62a, a company name area 62b, and a date area 62c arranged in order from the top. However, the respective regions 62a to 62c of the spine cover form 62 are smaller than the respective regions 61a to 61c of the cover form 61, and are arranged in the substantially left half of the form 62. In the back cover form 62, a ruled line frame 63 surrounding the title region 62a, a ruled line frame 64 surrounding the company name region 62b and the date area 62c, and the two ruled line frames 63, 64
And an outer ruled line frame 65 further enclosing the line.

FIGS. 8 to 15 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the present embodiment. FIG. 16 is an example showing the result of the OCR process. FIG. 17 is an example showing a result of the adaptation processing.

FIG. 8 shows a main flowchart. When the normal copy mode is selected (S11 “Ye
s "), the normal copy mode process is executed (S1).
2). When the cover creation mode is selected (S13 “Ye
s "), a cover selection process is performed (S14), and thereafter,
The cover creation mode processing is executed (S15). When the spine creation mode is selected (S16 "Yes"), spine selection processing is executed (S17), and spine creation mode processing is executed (S18). When the cover / backstrip creation mode is selected (“Yes” in S19), a cover / spine cover selection process is executed (S20), and a cover / spine creation mode process is executed (S21). If the user has not selected a mode (S19 "No"), a default normal copy mode process is executed (S22).

In the cover selection process (S14), the user selects what kind of cover 71 is to be created. Specifically, a list of cover forms 61 stored in advance in the storage unit 25 is displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 41,
The user can select a desired cover form 61 from the list.
Select Similarly, in the spine selection process (S17), the user selects a desired spine form 62. In the cover / backstrip selection process (S20), the user selects the desired forms 61, 6 for the cover and spine.
Select 2. By using the forms 61 and 62, images for the cover and / or spine can be formed easily and quickly.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the normal copy mode process.

The read image is subjected to copy image processing such as edge enhancement and smoothing (S31), binarized, and printed (S32). Steps S31 and S32 are repeated for all pages of the document 50 (S33).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the cover creation mode processing.

First, an image included in a portion corresponding to the header area 51 and the footer area 52 of the document 50 is extracted from the image of each page (S41). The dimensions of the image to be extracted are equal to the dimensions set in the header area 51 and the footer area 52.

Next, OCR processing is performed on the extracted character image to recognize a character string representing a title, a company name, and a date (S42). As a rule when creating the manuscript 50,
It is predetermined that a title 53 is described in a header area 51 and a company name 54 and a date 55 are described in a footer area 52. An attribute “title” is added to a character string recognized as a title. Similarly, a character string recognized as a company name contains "company name"
Is added to the character string recognized as a date. In the OCR process, the font and the font size of the character string are also recognized. An example of the result of the OCR process is as shown in FIG.

Header area 51 and footer area 52
The read image is subjected to copy image processing as in the normal copy mode processing (S43), and then subjected to binarization processing and printed (S44).

Steps S41 to S44 are repeated for all pages of the document 50 (S45). Thereafter, a character string to be arranged on the cover form 61, that is, a determination process for determining a title, a company name, and a date is executed (S46), and the determined character string is arranged on the cover form 61 to create the cover 71. A cover creation process is executed (S47).

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the determination process.

If it is determined that there is only one type of character string to which the attribute "title" is added (S71 "Ye
s "), the character string is determined to be the recognition result of the attribute" title "(S72). Similarly, when the character string of the attribute “company name” is one type (S71 “Yes”),
It is determined that the character string is a recognition result of the attribute “company name” (S72). If there is only one type of character string of the attribute “year / month / day” (S71 “Yes”), it is determined that the character string is a recognition result of the attribute “year / month / day” (S72).

The case where the character string to which the same attribute is added is only one kind is specifically: (1) When the document is only one sheet; (2) When the document is composed of a plurality of pages and the title 53 (3) so-called 2-in-1
For example, when the original is the same and the title 53 is the same.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there are two or more types of character strings to which the same attribute is added (S71 "N
o "), the number of recognized character strings is counted for each character string having the same attribute (S73). For example,
The character string to which the attribute “company name” is added is “abc (stock)”
If it is determined that the two types are “abcd” and “abcd”, the total of the character strings “abcd” and the total of the character strings “abcd” are counted.

If it is determined that there is only one type of character string having the maximum sum (S74 "Yes"), it is determined that the character string is a recognition result of the attribute (S75).
If it is determined that there are two or more types of character strings having the maximum sum (S74 “No”), it is determined that the first recognized character string is a recognition result of the attribute (S7).
6). In the above example, if the character string having the largest sum is "abc (shares)", the company name is determined to be abc (shares). In addition, when the sum of the character strings “abcd (stock)” and the character strings “abcd (stock)” is maximum and equal, and the character string “abcd (stock)” is recognized first, the company name Is determined to be abcd.

As a case where there are two or more types of character strings to which the same attribute is added, specifically, (1) when a document having a plurality of pages and a plurality of types of titles 53 are present, (2) For example, there is a case where there are a plurality of types of titles 53 in a 2 in 1 original.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the cover creation process.

First, an adaptation process for a cover for adapting each of the determined character strings to each of the areas 61a to 61c of the cover form 61 is executed (S81). The cover adaptation process is a process of changing the font size of each character string to be arranged according to each of the regions 61a to 61c. Specifically, area 6
The font size of the character string to be arranged is calculated based on each of the sizes 1a to 61c and the number of characters of the character string to be arranged. For example, when the recognition result of the attribute “title” is a character string composed of five characters, the maximum font size in which five characters can be arranged in the title area 61a is calculated. An example of the result of the adaptation processing is as shown in FIG. For example, for the attribute “title”, the font size of the document 50 is 10 points, but the font size when arranging it in the area 61a is calculated to be 18 points. As the font of the character string when arranging in the regions 61a to 61c, the font recognized by the OCR process, that is, the font of the document 50 is used. By automatically changing the font size, a good-looking cover and / or spine image can be formed easily and quickly.

Next, a cover synthesizing process of pasting the matched character strings to the corresponding areas 61a to 61c of the cover form 61 is executed, the formed cover image is output, and the cover 71 is printed. (S82).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the spine cover creation mode process.

The back cover creation mode processing is substantially the same as the above-described cover creation mode processing except that the form to be used is different. In steps S51 to S55, FIG.
0, the same processing as in steps S41 to S45 is executed, and a determination process for determining a character string to be arranged on the spine form 62 is executed (S56), and the determined character string is arranged on the spine form 62. Then, a backstrip creation process for creating the backstrip 72 is executed (S57). The determination process is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the spine creation process.

First, a spine adaptation process is executed to adapt each of the determined character strings to each of the regions 62a to 62c of the spine form 62 (S91). Regions 62a to 62c
, And the number of characters in the string to be placed,
The font size of the character string to be arranged is calculated. Next, the respective character strings subjected to the adaptation processing are assigned to the corresponding areas 62a to 62a.
A spine combining process for pasting the spine 2c is performed, the formed spine image is output, and the spine 72 is printed (S92).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the cover / spindle creation mode processing.

The cover / backstrip creation mode processing uses the forms 61 and 62 for both the cover and the backstrip, and is substantially the same as the above-described cover creation mode processing and spine creation mode processing. . In steps S61 to S65, the same processes as those in steps S41 to S45 shown in FIG. 10 are performed, and a determination process for determining a character string to be arranged on both of the forms 61 and 62 is performed (S66).
Next, a cover creation process is performed to arrange the determined character strings on the cover form 61 to create the cover 71 (S6).
7). Further, the determined character string is converted into a spine form 62.
A backstrip creation process of creating the backstrip 72 by arranging the backstrip is performed (S68). The determination processing, the cover creation processing, and the spine creation processing are respectively performed in FIG. 13, FIG. 14, and FIG.
It is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the cover 71 and / or the spine 72 attached to the document 50 are automatically created and printed at the same time as the document 50 is copied, which is very convenient. Digital copier 14
Can be provided. Furthermore, the user does not need to start up the application software and create a cover or the like, so that the user can save time and improve the efficiency of office work.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a cover sheet creation mode process in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

In the first embodiment, a character string is converted into a character code by OCR processing, and an image for the cover 71 and / or the spine 72 is formed. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the character string is not converted into the character code, and the cover 71 and / or the spine 72
Image is formed. As shown in FIG. 4, when the title 53 is described in the header area 51 and the company name 54 and the date 55 are described in the footer area 52,
It is determined in advance. Further, the date 55 indicates that the company name 5
4, it is determined in advance.

First, an image included in a portion corresponding to the header area 51 and the footer area 52 of the document 50 is extracted from the image of each page (S101). The images included in these areas are cut out by a rectangle circumscribing a character string representing a title, a rectangle circumscribing a character string representing a company name, and a rectangle circumscribing a character string representing a date. Each of the extracted images is not subjected to the OCR processing. Steps S102 to S
At step 104, steps S43 to S4 shown in FIG.
The same processing as in step 5 is executed.

Next, a cover creation process for arranging the extracted image on the cover form 61 and creating the cover 71 is executed (S105, S106). In the cover creation process according to the second embodiment, first, a cover adaptation process for adapting the extracted image to each of the areas 61a to 61c of the cover form 61 is executed (S105). The cover adaptation process is performed in each area 61a.
This is a process of changing the size of the image to be arranged in accordance with the steps 61 to 61c. Specifically, a magnification for enlarging or reducing the image to be arranged is calculated based on each size of the regions 61a to 61c and each size of the image to be arranged.

Next, a cover combining process of pasting the adapted image to the corresponding areas 61a to 61c is performed, the formed cover image is output, and the cover 71 is printed (S106).

Although the description is omitted, the spine cover creation mode processing and the cover / spindle creation mode processing are executed in the same procedure.

The digital copying machine 14 of the second embodiment can also copy the original 50
Since the cover 71 and / or the spine 72 attached to are automatically created and printed, it is possible to save time and effort for the user and increase the efficiency of office work. In addition, an image that cannot be subjected to OCR processing, for example, a cover 7 on which a company emblem or a mark is arranged.
One and / or spine 72 can be created.

The digital copiers 14 of the first and second embodiments always print the read image of the original 50, but print only the created cover 71, print only the spine 72, Alternatively, a mode for printing only the cover 71 and the spine 72 can be provided.

The digital copier 14 can start printing after reading all the originals 50. For this reason,
The cover image may be output first, and the cover 71 may be printed on the first sheet.

Although the form for printing the cover and / or spine image has been described, the present invention is not limited to this form. After the cover image or the like is formed, the image can be changed to a form in which the image is output to a storage medium in a PDF file format or the like and stored together with or instead of printing the image. In this case, the cover image saved in the storage medium
In response to a use request from a user, the message is transmitted to the user by e-mail or the like. Thereby, the user can post-edit the cover image and / or the spine image to create a more desirable cover 71 and / or spine 72.

Header area 51 and footer area 52
Has been described for the first embodiment in which the items described in are described in advance, but the following modifications can be made. OC
For example, when a character string such as “stock company”, “(stock)”, or “company” is recognized by the R process, the character string representing the company name may be determined. In addition, the OCR process recognizes, for example, a character string of “year”, “month” or “day” or a character string of “(arbitrary number) year (arbitrary number) month (arbitrary number) day”. In such a case, the character string representing the date may be determined. Thus, the specific form of recognizing the title, date and company name can be variously modified. Further, the character string to be recognized is title 5
3. It is not limited to a character string representing the company name 54 or the date 55. A character string representing another item is to be recognized according to the type of the document 50.

The font used for the cover 71 and / or the spine 72 need not be limited to the font recognized by the OCR process. The font to be used may be set in each of the forms 61 and 62 in advance. According to such a configuration, even when the fonts used in the respective originals 50 are different, the cover 71 and the spine 72 in which the fonts are unified can be created. For example, the cover 71 and / or the spine 72 can be created by unifying one type of font for each of the original 50 whose font is Gothic and the other original 50 whose font is Mincho. Form 61, 6
A different font may be set for each of the areas 61a to 61c and 62a to 62c. The forms 61 and 62 that can be used to select a font to be used may be made downloadable to the storage unit 25 from the outside via the network 11 or the like. The user can create a desired cover 71 or spine 72 using desired forms 61 and 62.

[0081]

According to the present invention described above, the following effects can be obtained for each claim.

According to the image forming apparatus of the first, second, third, and fourth aspects, an image for a cover and / or spine of a multi-page document is automatically formed, so that a very convenient image is formed. A forming device can be provided. Furthermore, the user does not need to start up the application software and create a cover or the like, so that the user can save time and improve the efficiency of office work.

According to the image forming apparatus of the fifth and sixth aspects, it is possible to form a good-looking cover and / or spine image.

According to the image forming apparatus of the seventh and eighth aspects, the cover and / or
Alternatively, an image for the spine can be formed easily and quickly.

According to the image forming apparatus of the ninth, tenth and eleventh aspects, it is possible to output or print an image for a cover and / or spine or an image obtained by reading a document.

According to the image forming apparatus of the twelfth aspect, since the image for the cover and / or spine of the original is automatically formed, a very convenient image forming apparatus can be provided. Furthermore, the user does not need to start up the application software and create a cover or the like, so that the user can save time and improve the efficiency of office work. Further, an image in which character recognition is not possible, for example, a cover and / or spine on which a company emblem or mark is arranged can be created.

According to the image forming method of the present invention, it is possible to automatically form an image for a cover and / or spine of an original consisting of a plurality of pages. Furthermore, the user does not need to start up the application software and create a cover or the like, so that the user can save time and improve the efficiency of office work.

According to a computer-readable recording medium storing the image forming program according to claim 14,
By reading and executing the program stored in the recording medium by a computer, an image for a cover and / or spine of a multi-page document is automatically formed. Efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a digital copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation panel unit on which a copy mode selection screen is displayed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document including a plurality of pages.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a predetermined area on each page of a document.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of a cover form, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of a spine form.

7A is a diagram showing an example of a cover created by applying the cover form shown in FIG. 6A, and FIG. 7B is a spine shown in FIG. 6B. It is a figure which shows an example of the spine created by applying the application form.

FIG. 8 is a main flowchart for explaining the operation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a normal copy mode process.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of cover creation mode processing.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of spine creation mode processing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a cover / spindle creation mode process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a determination process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a cover creation process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of spine creation processing.

FIG. 16 is an example showing a result of the OCR process.

FIG. 17 is an example showing a result of an adaptation process.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a cover creation mode process according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Digital copying machine (image forming apparatus) 21 ... Reading part 22 ... Image processing part 23 ... Printing part 24 ... Operation panel part (setting part) 25 ... Storage part 26 ... Control part (output part) 31 ... Header / footer area Extraction unit (extraction unit) 32 OCR unit (character recognition unit) 33 determination unit 34 adaptation unit (size change unit) 35 synthesis processing unit (formation unit) 50 original document 51 header area (predetermined area) 52 ... Footer area (predetermined area) 53 ... Title 54 ... Company name 55 ... Date 61 ... Cover form (form) 62 ... Spine cover form (form) 61a-61c, 62a-62c ... Area to arrange recognized character strings

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A character recognizing section for recognizing a character string from a character image included in a predetermined area on each page of a multi-page document, and forming an image for a cover and / or spine on which the recognized character string is arranged. And an image forming apparatus. 2. A determining unit that compares character strings recognized for each of the predetermined areas of each page and determines a character string to be arranged.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the character recognition unit recognizes a character string representing a title, a company name, or a date. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area is a header area and / or a footer area of a document. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a size changing unit that changes a character size of the character string to be arranged in accordance with an area in which the recognized character string is to be arranged. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the size changing unit calculates the character size based on the size of the area and the number of characters of a character string to be arranged. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit for setting a predetermined form in which regions in which the recognized character strings are arranged are arranged. 8. The form setting unit can select a form to be used from a plurality of stored forms.
An image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a reading unit that reads a document; and an output unit that outputs an image formed by the forming unit. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a printing unit that prints an image output from the output unit. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the output unit further outputs an image of the document read by the reading unit. 12. An extractor for extracting an image contained in a portion corresponding to a header area and / or a footer area of the original from the image of the original, and an image for a cover and / or spine on which the extracted image is arranged. And an image forming apparatus for forming an image. 13. A step of recognizing a character string from a character image included in a predetermined area of each page of a multi-page document, and a step of forming an image for a cover and / or spine on which the recognized character string is arranged. An image forming method comprising: 14. A procedure for recognizing a character string from a character image included in a predetermined area on each page of a multi-page document, and a procedure for forming an image for a cover and / or spine on which the recognized character string is arranged. And a computer-readable recording medium storing an image forming program.