JP2002082865A - Character recognizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a character recognizing device which is suitably used for a portable information terminal, recognizes the characters of a URL displayed on a displaying part, can connect satisfactorily to the homepage, etc., of the URL and is excellent in operability. SOLUTION: This device is provided with the displaying part for displaying an image on the basis of image data to be inputted, and performs character recognition to acquire the URL in regard to the image data of a URL display part in performing character recognition, when the optional position of the URL display part is designated to perform character recognition of the URL displayed on the displaying part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character recognition device, and more particularly, to a character recognition device suitably used for a portable information terminal and the like, and a URL (Uniform) displayed on a television program or an image obtained from a homepage on the Internet. Resource Locat
or) for recognizing characters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an apparatus having a function of recognizing characters in URL information, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-257401 discloses the following Internet television apparatus. That is, in the Internet television device, a video signal including URL information obtained from a television screen is digitized and stored in an image memory as digital image data. Next, character recognition is performed based on the digital image data, a character string including a predetermined reserved word such as “http:” is extracted as URL information, and the URL is accessed based on the extracted URL information. . in this way,
In the Internet television device, URL information displayed on a television screen is captured, and Internet access is performed using the captured URL information.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional Internet television apparatus, since the Internet connection apparatus and the television are integrated, it is difficult to reduce the size of the apparatus and the portability is poor. Have inconvenient problems. For example, take in the URL from the TV screen,
When connecting to the Internet and viewing the home page of the URL, the information of the home page can be viewed only at the place where the device is installed.

On the other hand, in a conventional portable device, a recorded T
If the operator wants to play back a moving image of a V program or a moving image taken from the Internet and connect to a URL home page displayed therein, the operator reads the URL and then starts the Internet connection application of the portable device again. It is necessary to re-enter the URL and connect to the home page, which is troublesome to re-enter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to be suitably used for a portable information terminal or the like, and to recognize characters displayed on a URL displayed on a display unit by character recognition.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a character recognition device which is excellent in operability and which can make a good connection to a homepage of L.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the character recognition device of the present invention includes a display unit for displaying an image based on input image data, and displays a URL displayed on the display unit. When an arbitrary position in the URL display portion is designated for character recognition, the URL is
It is characterized in that character recognition for obtaining the URL is performed on the image data of the display portion.

According to the present invention, U displayed on the display unit
When character recognition of the RL is desired, the character is specified by using a pen, a mouse, or the like, and character recognition of the URL display portion is performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform character recognition on the entire screen, and it is only necessary to perform character recognition on a part of the screen, so that character recognition can be performed quickly and accurately.

Further, since an arbitrary position on the screen can be designated, the URL display portion can be accurately designated regardless of the position where the URL is displayed on the screen.

The image data is, for example, image data of a moving image or a still image obtained by recording a TV program, or
This is data of a moving image or a still image taken from a homepage on the Internet or the like. In this case, a reproduced image based on the image data is displayed on the display unit. The equipment is
Since it is not necessary to have a television broadcast receiving function, miniaturization is possible and it can be suitably used for a portable information terminal or the like.

[0010] Here, "URL" means an address such as an electronic mail in addition to a homepage on the Internet.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, the UR
Even when a part of the L display part is designated, it is preferable that the character recognition is performed on the image data including the entire URL display part at the time of character recognition. Only by designating a part of the URL display part (for example, a part of the head of the URL), the entire URL character string can be recognized, and the operability can be improved.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, immediately after the character is recognized by the URL or by the instruction of the operator,
It is preferable to provide a means for connecting to the address of the URL on the Internet.
The connection of the URL whose character has been recognized to the homepage or the like can be performed well with good operability.

The character recognition apparatus according to the present invention has a structure including means for registering a URL whose character has been recognized, and connecting to the address of the URL on the Internet when a connection to the registered URL is instructed. It is preferable to
As a result, it is possible to satisfactorily connect the character-recognized and registered URL to a homepage or the like with good operability.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, when the image data is data obtained by interlaced scanning, the even-numbered scanning screen and the odd-numbered scanning screen of the URL display portion are superimposed,
It is preferable that character recognition be performed on the obtained image data, whereby the resolution of the image portion can be increased and character recognition can be performed satisfactorily.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, the UR
It is preferable to superimpose a plurality of screens of the L display portion, remove portions that do not match each other as noise, and perform character recognition on the obtained image data, thereby removing noise on the image. Therefore, the accuracy of character recognition can be improved. In the case where the image data is data obtained by the interlaced scanning, the unmatched portions of a plurality of continuous even-numbered scan screens and the unmatched portions of a plurality of continuous odd-numbered scan screens may be removed as noise.

In the character recognition apparatus of the present invention, when the image data has additional information of the data, when registering the URL whose character has been recognized, the additional information may be registered together with the URL. Preferably, when the image data has additional information such as a broadcast station name at the time of recording and a recording date and time, the additional information can be registered together with the URL, and the management of the registered URL is easy for the operator. become.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, the character recognition device 1 of this embodiment includes a CPU (central processing unit) 2, a display unit 3, a display driver 4, a tablet 5, a ROM 6, a RAM 7, a communication LSI 8, a keyboard 9, It is an electronic device used as a portable information terminal equipped with the pen 10.

The CPU 2 is connected to the bus 11,
It transmits and receives data to and from each unit of the device connected to the bus 11, and executes various processes described later.

The display unit 3 is composed of, for example, a color liquid crystal display device, and displays a reproduced image based on image data recorded on the IC card 13 or the like as described later. The display driver 4 is configured by, for example, a driver LSI, and drives the display unit 3 for display.

The tablet 5 is, for example, a tablet device of an analog resistive film type, and is attached on the display unit 3, that is, is superposed on the display unit 3. The tablet 5 constitutes a position detecting means together with the CPU 2, and when an arbitrary position on the tablet 5 is touched by the pen 10, the tablet 5 detects the touched position, while the CPU 2 detects the detected position. From the information, it is detected which part of the display image on the display unit 3 is designated.

The ROM 6 is a storage means, and is constituted by, for example, a mask ROM or a flash memory in which various programs for controlling operations and operations necessary for the portable information terminal are stored.

The RAM 7 is a readable and writable memory (storage means). For example, a work work area necessary for the operation of the CPU 2 and a stacked and compressed recording data are expanded and displayed on the screen of the display unit 3. And a work memory necessary for display. Also, as described later, the RAM 7
Stores a URL in which characters have been recognized and additional information obtained at the time of recording in pairs.

The communication LSI 8 has a function of performing data communication with a modem device for connecting to a general telephone line and another mobile telephone, etc., and via a communication port 12, a general telephone line or a mobile telephone. Connected to.

The keyboard 9 has at least two function keys, a [stop / play] key and a [pause] key. When the [Stop / Play] key is pressed in a state where no reproduction is performed, reproduction of a TV program or the like is started. When the key is pressed in the reproduction state, reproduction is stopped and a still image is obtained. When the [Pause] key is pressed, the reproduction is interrupted.

The pen 10 is a designating means for designating an arbitrary position on the display unit 3, and at the time of designation, the user touches the tablet 5 on the display unit 3 with the tip of the pen 10.
The designation means is not limited to the pen 10, but a pointing device such as a mouse may be used. The operator may directly touch the tablet 5 with his / her finger (or writing implement) to display any desired information on the display unit 3. May be specified.

The CPU 2 has a function of reproducing a TV program recorded by another device or a moving image or a still image taken from a homepage on the Internet. The CPU 2 expands and reproduces compressed image data recorded in advance on a medium such as the IC card 13 in real time, for example. "Image data"
Contains not only video data but also audio data in the case of recording a TV program, but image data reproduced by the character recognition device 1 of the present embodiment may be video data only. Not only video data,
The data may be still image data.

The image data of a TV program or the like is recorded as digital information on the IC card 13, for example. The configuration of the recording device for recording the image data on the IC card 13 is, for example, as shown in FIGS. The configuration shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG.
Is a media slot 22, a display area 23, an antenna input terminal 24, a tuner 25, a recording CPU 26,
/ D converters 27 and 28, a compression LSI 29, and a data storage RAM 30.

The media slot 22 is provided for the IC card 13
, Etc., in which a medium is inserted, and image data is recorded on the medium inserted in the slot. The display area 23 is a display unit that displays recording reservation information such as a reservation date and time, a broadcast station name, and other information, and is configured by, for example, a monochrome liquid crystal display device.

The TV program broadcast is input from an antenna via an antenna input terminal 24. In the recording device 21, the timer starts when the recording reservation time comes, and the TV program is recorded on the IC card 13 inserted in the media slot 22.

More specifically, an input signal from an antenna is input to a tuner 25 via an antenna input terminal 24. When the recording reservation time comes, the recording CPU 26 supplies power to the tuner 25, selects a reserved broadcast station, and causes the tuner 25 to output video data and audio data. A program for the recording CPU 26 to perform such processing and a memory required for performing the processing are built in the recording device 21.

The A / D converter 27 converts video data, which is analog data from the tuner 25, into digital data. Similarly, the A / D converter 28 includes the tuner 2
5 is converted to digital data.

The compression LSI 29 compresses digital data of video data and audio data. As an example of the compression method, video data is MPEG4, and audio data is G.4. 7
It is compressed by the method of No. 26. The compressed data is
It is temporarily stored in the data storage RAM 30. Recording CPU
26 reads out the compressed data temporarily stored in the data storage RAM 30, adds information for reproducing the video data and the audio data in pairs, and stores the compressed data in the IC card 13.
To record. This process is continued until the designated recording end time comes.

If the recording CPU 26 becomes unable to record due to insufficient memory of the IC card 13 or the like, the recording CPU 26 displays the fact in the display area 23 and suspends the recording. Also,
The recording CPU 26 records additional information such as a recording date and time and a broadcast station name on the IC card 13 at the start of recording. The additional information is recorded in pairs with the image data to be recorded.

As described above, the image data recorded on the IC card 13 can be reproduced by the character recognition device 1 of the present embodiment. Note that the character recognition device 1 can also reproduce a moving image or a still image taken from a homepage or the like on the Internet. In this case,
The captured image data is already digital information, and the character recognition device 1 can reproduce the image data without A / D conversion and handle the additional information.

Next, a description will be given of a processing procedure in the character recognition apparatus 1 of the present embodiment for recognizing a URL from a display screen while reproducing image data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a U.S. page of an Internet homepage that the operator wants to see while playing back recorded moving image data.
Since the RL 31 is displayed, the [Stop / Play] key of the keyboard 9 is pressed to make the screen of the display unit 3 a still image. In the case of a still image, processing can be performed while the image is displayed without operating the keyboard 9.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart in which the CPU 2 performs character recognition on the display portion of the URL 31.

First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not an arbitrary position in the display screen on the tablet 5 has been touched by the pen 10 or the like. If the touched position is not within the display screen (valid screen), the process returns to waiting for input again.

In step S2, it is determined whether or not the touched position is within the image display area. If it is not within the video display area, the process proceeds to step S3, where it is determined whether any of the buttons for instructing various operations has been touched. If none of the buttons has been touched, the process returns to the input wait state. If any one of the buttons has been touched, the process proceeds to step S4, and the control proceeds to a processing routine of the operation specified by the touched button.

In step S2, if the image display area is touched, the process proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the start position where the touch is started by the pen 10 or the like and the touch is released by the pen-up or the like. Information about the end position is temporarily stored. Then, the process returns to waiting for input.

After the processing in step S5 is performed, if the [URL recognition] button is touched by the operator, the processing in steps S6 to S11 is performed. still,
The “URL recognition” button may be a button provided on the screen of the display unit 3 or a button provided on the keyboard 9.

In step S6, the information on the touch position stored in step S5 is taken out, and it is determined whether or not the touch is a point touch. Here, in the information on the touch position, if the horizontal length between the start position and the end position is equal to or less than a predetermined length, it is determined that the touch is a point touch, and step S
Proceed to 7. On the other hand, if the length in the horizontal direction is longer than the predetermined length, it is determined that the entire URL character string on the screen has been touched, and the process proceeds to step S11.

In step S7, from the display image data,
Taking out surrounding image data of a predetermined range size including the touched position, and from the image data,
Calculate the height (width) of the character string.

Next, in step S8, horizontal image data corresponding to one row in the horizontal direction is cut out with the width of the height calculated in step S7.
Cut out the portion that seems to be a URL character string. Step S9
In step S8, the image data cut out in step S8 is recognized as a URL character string by limiting it to alphanumeric characters and some symbol characters.

For the processing in steps S7 to S9, a method similar to the processing for performing character recognition from read business card image data, which is performed in a conventional business card reader, can be applied. However, the conventional business card reader usually has a high reading resolution and recognizes various character sizes, fonts, and character types, whereas in the case of the present embodiment, even if the resolution of the image data is low, the The character recognition rate can be increased by limiting the recognition character type to alphanumeric characters and some symbol characters.

If it is determined in step S6 that the entire URL character string has been touched, not the point touch, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, the height (width) of the specified URL character string is recognized, and image data of the display portion of the URL character string is cut out. This method can apply the same method as in steps S7 and S8. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S9, and the image data cut out in step S11 is recognized as a URL character string by limiting it to alphanumeric characters and some symbol characters.

In step S10, the URL character string obtained by the character recognition in step S9 and the additional information at the time of recording of the image data from which the URL character string was obtained are combined, and the combined The displayed information is displayed on a predetermined screen.

As described above, when the position of the display screen on the tablet 5 is touched by the pen 10 or the like, the CPU 2 first specifies which part of the display image is specified, and then specifies the specified part. Character recognition is performed on the display image portion, and a URL character string is obtained from the image data.

In step S10, the combination information of the URL character string and the additional information is displayed on the screen of the display unit 3.
An example of this display is shown in FIG. In this example, the image data of the URL character string portion fetched in step S8 or S11 is displayed in the uppermost row 32, and the URL whose character has been recognized in step S9 is displayed in the second row 33.
Additional information recorded at the time of recording in the image data from which the URL is obtained (in this example, the broadcast station name and the recording time)
Are displayed in the third column 34 and the fourth column 35, and the title column (title name) is displayed in the bottom column 36. The user can enter any information in the title field.

In the above display example, a [register] button 3
7, three buttons, a [Modify] button 38 and a [Cancel] button 39, are displayed. When the user touches the [Registration] button 37 on the screen, the CPU 2
The UR displayed from the second stage 33 to the bottom column 36
L, the additional information, and the information in the title column are collectively stored in the RAM 7 (see FIG. 1) as storage means.
The display on the display unit 3 is changed to a screen as shown in FIG.

In the display state of FIG. 6, when the user touches the [Cancel] button 39 on the screen, the process returns to the input waiting state (step S1 in FIG. 5). For example, when the character string cannot be cut out properly and the character cannot be recognized as desired, after touching the [Cancel] button 39, the entire URL character string is traced again to cut out the URL character string. Can be redone.

In the display state shown in FIG. 6, when the user touches the [Modify] button 38 on the screen, the contents of the URL name can be rewritten and modified, and the input and modification of the title name can be executed through the operation from the keyboard 9. Then, for example, by touching an [end] button (not shown) displayed on the screen, the state returns to the registration waiting state in FIG. For example, U
If the RL cannot be recognized correctly and some characters need to be corrected, touch the [Modify] button 38 and then
Can be rewritten.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a URL registration list screen which is displayed after the user touches the [Registration] button 37 on the screen in the display state of FIG. The displayed title name and URL name are displayed as a pair.

In the display state of FIG. 7, when the user selects a desired URL and touches the [Connect] button 40 on the screen, the CPU 2 accesses the home page of the URL through the communication LSI 8 (see FIG. 1). Perform access. As this processing method, a method similar to that used in a conventional portable information terminal, personal computer, or the like can be applied. As described above, when the user selects a desired URL from the registered URLs, the CPU 2 can connect to the Internet and access the homepage of the selected URL. In addition, the user can select from the list screen with the title name given by the user and directly connect to the homepage of the URL, which is simple for the user.

In the display state of FIG. 7, when the user selects a desired URL and touches a [Details] button 41 on the screen, the display unit 3 switches to a screen for displaying detailed information on the URL. . An example of this screen is shown in FIG. 8, which is almost the same as the screen of FIG. 6, except that the image data of the URL is not displayed (in FIG. 6, displayed at the top 32), and [ When the [Cancel] button 42 is touched, the screen returns to the screen of FIG. 7 (returns to the input wait state in FIG. 6), which is different from the display screen of FIG.

In the above example, after registration of the URL, the U
The processing procedure was to access the RL homepage. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
L may access the homepage. For example, by providing a [Connect] button having the same function as the [Connect] button 40 on the display screen of FIG. 6, the user can immediately access the home page of the URL whose character has been recognized without going through the registration procedure. it can. Alternatively, the configuration may be such that the user accesses the home page of the character-recognized URL immediately after character recognition without user's operation.

By the way, in the case of an image in which interlaced scanning is performed, such as a TV broadcast, in either the even-numbered scanning screen or the odd-numbered scanning screen, the resolution of the image is reduced and the character recognition rate of the URL is reduced. . In addition, even when noise is included in the image, the character recognition rate of the URL is reduced.

Therefore, the present embodiment is provided with two modes, a “TV broadcast mode” and a “superposition mode”. Incidentally, any of the two modes can be selected by the user. The selection of each mode may be made by touching a button provided on the screen of the display unit 3 or by touching a button provided on the keyboard 9. When each mode is selected, the selected state is stored in the RAM.
7 is stored.

When the "TV broadcast mode" is selected, in the processing procedure of FIG. 5 for recognizing characters in URL display, the CPU 2 recognizes an even-numbered scan screen and an odd-numbered scan screen, superimposes them on each other, and Increase the resolution.
Thereafter, by performing character recognition, it is possible to prevent a reduction in the character recognition rate of the URL.

If noise is superimposed on the image and character recognition of the URL cannot be performed well, the user selects the above-mentioned "overlay mode". When the “superimposition mode” is selected, in the processing procedure of FIG. 5 for recognizing characters in the URL display, the CPU 2 superimposes a plurality of continuous screens, and removes a mismatched portion as noise. afterwards,
By performing character recognition, the character recognition rate can be increased.

Further, both the “TV broadcast mode” and the “overlay mode” can be selected. When both are selected, first, the even-number scan screen and the odd-number scan screen are continuously superimposed. Then, the two continuous screens thus superimposed are further superimposed, and the unmatched portion is removed as noise. Then, by performing character recognition, the accuracy of character recognition can be improved.

FIG. 9 is an example of a flowchart for executing the “TV broadcast mode” and the “superposition mode” in the character recognition processing of the present embodiment.

First, in step S 21, in the character recognition processing, one screen of the specified URL display portion from the moving image data that has been expanded and reproduced is stored in the “image work 1” in the RAM 7. take in.

In step S22, the "TV broadcast mode"
It is determined whether or not. If flag 1 is "1", the TV
If it is determined that the mode is the broadcast mode, the process proceeds to step S23. If the flag 1 is not “1”, it is determined that the mode is not the TV broadcast mode, and the process proceeds to step S27. The flag 1 is R
It is stored in AM7.

In step S23, the above-mentioned step S21
Then, a different scanning screen than the one captured by the above is captured and stored in the RAM 7. For example, if an even-numbered scan screen is captured in step S21, an odd-numbered scan screen is captured in step S23. In the case of TV broadcasting, generally 60 screens are transmitted per second, and even-numbered scan screens and odd-numbered scan screens are alternated. Since the number of screens per second at the time of recording is determined for distinguishing between even-numbered scan screens and odd-numbered scan screens, different scan screens can be calculated and captured. For example, when recording at 12 screens per second, even-numbered scan screens and odd-numbered scan screens are alternated. Also, if you record at 10 screens per second,
Since all 10 screens are either of the scan screens, screen capture is not performed until a different scan screen is obtained.

In step S24, the above-mentioned step S21
The image captured in step S23 is superimposed on the image captured in step S23, and the result is stored in "image work 1".
In the superimposition method, the lines of the captured image in step S21 and the captured image in step S23 are alternately superimposed in the vertical direction. That is, two image data rows are alternately sandwiched in the vertical direction between the two image data like a skewer. Overlap in the horizontal direction.

In step S25, it is determined whether or not the mode is the "overlay mode". If flag 2 is "1",
It is determined that the mode is the superimposition mode, and the process proceeds to step S26.
If the flag 2 is not "1", it is determined that the mode is not the superimposition mode, and character recognition is performed on the image obtained in step S24. Note that the flag 2 is stored in the RAM 7.

In step S26, the even-numbered scan image and the odd-numbered scan image are fetched again, the fetched two images are superimposed in the same manner as in step S24, and the result is transferred to "image work 2" in the RAM 7. .

If it is determined in step S22 that the current mode is not the TV broadcast mode, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S27, it is determined whether the current mode is the "overlay mode". If the flag 2 is "1", it is determined that the mode is the superimposition mode, and the process proceeds to step S28. If the flag 2 is not "1", it is determined that the mode is not the superposition mode, and the image obtained in step S21 is determined. To perform character recognition.

In step S28, the above-mentioned step S21
An image that is continuous with the image that has been captured is captured, and this image is stored in the “image work 2” in the RAM 7.

In step S29, the two images stored in "image work 1" and "image work 2" are superimposed, and the two images are ANDed. As a result, even when noise is present on the image, the noise can be removed. By performing character recognition on the image data from which noise has been removed as described above, the character recognition rate of the URL can be increased.

[0074]

As described above, the character recognition apparatus according to the present invention includes the display unit for displaying an image based on the input image data, and performs the character recognition of the URL displayed on the display unit. If any position of the display part is specified,
At the time of character recognition, character recognition for acquiring the URL is performed on the image data of the URL display portion.

Therefore, it is not necessary to perform character recognition on the entire screen, but only on a part of the screen. Therefore, character recognition can be performed quickly and accurately. Further, since an arbitrary position on the screen can be specified, the URL display portion can be accurately specified regardless of the position where the URL is displayed on the screen. Further, since the device does not need to have a television broadcast receiving function, the device can be miniaturized and can be suitably used for a portable information terminal or the like.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, the UR
Even when a part of the L display portion is designated, the character recognition is performed on the image data including the entire URL display portion at the time of character recognition. By simply designating a part, the entire URL character string can be recognized, and the operability can be improved.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, immediately after the character is recognized by the URL or by an instruction from the operator,
By providing a means for connecting to the URL address on the Internet, the character-recognized URL can be used.
To a homepage or the like with good operability.

The character recognition apparatus according to the present invention has a configuration including means for registering a URL whose character has been recognized, and connecting to the address of the URL on the Internet when an instruction to connect to the registered URL is given. By doing so, it is possible to satisfactorily connect the URL recognized and registered to the homepage or the like with good operability.

In the character recognition device according to the present invention, when the image data is data obtained by interlaced scanning, the even-numbered scanning screen and the odd-numbered scanning screen of the URL display portion are overlapped,
By adopting a configuration in which character recognition is performed on the obtained image data, the resolution of the image portion can be increased, and character recognition can be performed satisfactorily.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, the UR
By superimposing a plurality of screens of the L display portion, removing portions that do not match each other as noise, and performing character recognition on the obtained image data, noise on the image can be removed. The accuracy of recognition can be improved.

In the character recognition device of the present invention, when image data has additional information of the data, when registering a URL whose character has been recognized, the additional information is registered together with the URL. If the image data has additional information such as a broadcast station name at the time of recording or a recording date and time, the additional information can be registered together with the URL, and the registered UR
The management of L becomes easy for the operator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a character recognition device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an appearance of a TV program recorder for recording a television program on a medium such as an IC card.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the TV program recorder.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which a URL is displayed on a display unit of the character recognition device of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a character recognition process of the character recognition device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on a display unit after the character recognition processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a list screen of registered URLs.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a screen showing detailed information of a registered URL.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a character recognition process in a TV broadcast mode and a superimposition mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Character Recognition Device 2 CPU 3 Display Unit 4 Display Driver 5 Tablet 6 ROM 7 RAM 8 Communication LSI 9 Keyboard 10 Pen

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06K 9/20 340 G06K 9/20 340B 9/62 610 9/62 610Z F-term (reference) 5B029 CC25 CC28 EE13 5B064 AA07 AB13 CA08 CA09 5B075 KK07 ND20 NK02 PP04 PP12 PP22 PQ02 UU34

Claims (7)

[Claims] A display unit for displaying an image based on input image data; a character is displayed when an arbitrary position of the URL display part is designated in order to recognize a URL displayed on the display unit; When recognizing, a character recognition device performs character recognition for acquiring the URL with respect to the image data of the URL display portion. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein, even when a part of said URL display part is designated, character recognition is performed on image data including the entire URL display part at the time of character recognition. 2. The character recognition device according to 1. 3. The character recognition device according to claim 1, further comprising means for connecting to the address of the URL on the Internet immediately after the character is recognized by the URL or by an instruction from an operator. . 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for registering the URL whose character has been recognized, and connecting to the address of the URL on the Internet when a connection to the registered URL is instructed. The character recognition device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. When the image data is data obtained by interlaced scanning, the even scan screen and the odd scan screen of the URL display portion are superimposed, and character recognition is performed on the obtained image data. Any one of claims 1 to 4
A character recognition device according to the item. 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of screens of said URL display portion are overlapped, a portion which does not match each other is removed as noise, and character recognition is performed on the obtained image data. The character recognition device according to claim 1. 7. The character according to claim 4, wherein when the image data has additional information of the data, the additional information is registered together with the URL when registering the URL whose character has been recognized. Recognition device.