JP2002312401A - Electronic filing device, control method thereof, recording medium and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic filing device capable of easily discriminating documents independently of the existence of characteristic of layout in the case of displaying the document with a thumbnail. SOLUTION: A key sentence characterizing content of the document is generated on the basis of the character string extracted from the document and the layout information, and stored in a key sentence database 104. The document and the thumbnail are related to each other, and stored in a document database 101. When displaying the documents in a list, corresponding thumbnails are displayed in a list. When a user selects the thumbnail with a cursor, a key sentence is retrieved from the database 104 on the basis of the information about the selected thumbnail, and displayed in a display unit 107 with a pop-up form.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document, a control method therefor, a storage medium, and a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, document management information is stored in association with image data of a document created by reading a document as a document by a scanner or the like, and search, display, printing, and the like are performed on the information. Electronic filing devices are known. In such an electronic filing apparatus, a document name, the number of pages, a registration date, a keyword, and the like are registered as document management information for identifying each document, and a document list or a search result list is displayed. Display management information.

However, it is difficult to grasp the contents of a document only by using such document management information. for that reason,
An electronic filing apparatus that can create and register a thumbnail of a document and display the thumbnail in a document list, a search result list, or the like has also been proposed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional electronic filing apparatus. This device displays thumbnails in document lists and search result lists.
It is a general electronic filing device.

The electronic filing apparatus includes a document reading unit 300, a thumbnail creating unit 301, a document storage unit 30
2, a display control unit 303. The document reading unit 300 reads image data of a document from a scanner device (not shown) or the like. Also, the thumbnail creation unit 301
From the image data of the document read by the document reading unit 300, thumbnail image data reduced to an appropriate size by dot thinning or the like is created.
The document storage unit 302 stores the image data of the document read by the document reading unit 300 and the thumbnail creation unit 3
01 and associated with the thumbnail data of the document created in step S01. The display control unit 303 controls display of image data and thumbnails of the document stored in the document storage unit 302. And, for example, FIG.
A list of documents is displayed by thumbnails as shown in FIG. The user identifies each document based on the thumbnail.

[0006]

However, in the conventional electronic filing apparatus, when displaying a list of documents, a search result list, and the like, only the layout of the entire document can be grasped from a thumbnail, and the document is described in the document. Characters cannot be read. For this reason, it is difficult to identify a document having a similar layout, a document having no large characters or graphics, and the like, and having a small layout characteristic from others. Therefore, there is a problem that it is very difficult to identify individual documents and the like only from the thumbnails.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to facilitate the identification of a document in the case of displaying a document, regardless of layout features. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic filing apparatus, a control method thereof, a storage medium, and a program.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit. Extracting means for extracting at least one of the layout information; generating means for generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from the character string or layout information extracted by the extracting means; and a thumbnail group displayed on the display unit. Selection receiving means for receiving a selection of a desired thumbnail from among them, and display control means for displaying characteristic information generated by the generating means for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail selected by the selection receiving means. It is characterized by the following.

Further, the electronic filing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the electronic filing apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a database storage unit for storing the characteristic information generated by the generation unit in a storage unit as a database, and The control means searches the database stored by the database storage means for characteristic information generated for the document corresponding to the selected thumbnail.

Further, in the electronic filing apparatus according to a third aspect, in the configuration according to the second aspect, the storage unit includes:
A database for documents is stored, and the database of the feature information is constructed by being included in the database for documents.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus according to the first aspect, each time the selection receiving unit receives a selection of a thumbnail, the generation unit may receive the selected thumbnail. , Generating feature information of a document corresponding to.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the characteristic information is a key sentence.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the generation means can adjust the length of the key sentence.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the display control means causes the display unit to display the characteristic information on a screen. Features.

The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 8 is the electronic filing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the screen display of the characteristic information is at least one of a status bar display, an output window display, a pop-up type display, and a balloon type display. It is characterized by being done by one.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the characteristic information is displayed on a screen in a pop-up format, a balloon type display, a status bar display, and an output window display. And is characterized by being performed by a plurality of combinations.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, the thumbnail group is displayed on the display unit on a screen,
The selection receiving unit receives a thumbnail on which a cursor on the screen is placed as a selected desired thumbnail.

In the electronic filing apparatus according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, the selection receiving means is configured to perform the desired thumbnail by at least one of a voice input and a line-of-sight input. Is selected.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling an electronic filing apparatus, wherein a thumbnail corresponding to a document is displayed on a display unit. An extracting step of extracting at least one of the layout information; a generating step of generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from the character string or the layout information extracted in the extracting step; and a generation step of a thumbnail group displayed on the display unit. A selection receiving step of receiving a selection of a desired thumbnail from among them; and a display control step of displaying the characteristic information generated by the generation step with respect to a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail selected by the selection receiving step. It is characterized by.

In a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the control method of the electronic filing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect has a database storing step of storing the characteristic information generated in the generating step in a storage unit as a database. The display control step is characterized by retrieving feature information generated for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail from a database stored in the database storage step.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus control method according to the thirteenth aspect, the storage unit stores a document database.
The feature information database is constructed by being included in the document database.

In the control method of an electronic filing apparatus according to a fifteenth aspect, in the configuration according to the twelfth aspect, the generation step includes receiving the selection every time a selection of a thumbnail is received by the selection receiving step. Generating feature information of a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the control method of the electronic filing apparatus according to any one of the twelfth to fifteenth aspects, the characteristic information is a key sentence.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus control method according to the sixteenth aspect, the generation step is capable of adjusting the length of the key sentence.

In the control method for an electronic filing apparatus according to the present invention, the display control step includes displaying the characteristic information on a screen of the display unit. It is characterized by making it.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic filing apparatus control method according to the eighteenth aspect, the screen display of the characteristic information includes a status bar display, an output window display, a pop-up type display, and a balloon type display. Is performed by at least one of the following.

[0027] According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the nineteenth aspect, the screen display of the characteristic information includes a pop-up display, a balloon display, a status bar display, and an output display. It is characterized by a plurality of combinations of window display.

According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, in the control method of the electronic filing apparatus according to any one of the twelfth to twentieth aspects, the thumbnail group is displayed on the display unit on a screen, and the selection receiving step is performed. Receives the thumbnail on which the cursor on the screen is placed as a selected desired thumbnail.

In a control method of an electronic filing apparatus according to a twenty-second aspect, in the configuration according to any one of the twelfth to twentieth aspects, the selection receiving step is performed by at least one of a voice input and a line-of-sight input. It is characterized in that selection of a desired thumbnail is received.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to implement a control method of an electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit. An extraction step of extracting at least one of a character string and layout information from the document in a readable storage medium, and a generation step of generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from the character string or the layout information extracted by the extraction step Instructions,
A selection receiving step of receiving a selection of a desired thumbnail from a group of thumbnails displayed on the display unit, and characteristic information generated by the generation step for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail selected by the selection receiving step. And a display control procedure for causing the computer to execute the program.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to claim 24 of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to implement a method of controlling an electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit, An extraction procedure for extracting at least one of a character string and layout information from a document, a generation procedure for generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from the character string or the layout information extracted by the extraction procedure, and displaying on the display unit Selection receiving procedure for receiving a selection of a desired thumbnail from the selected thumbnail group, and display control for displaying feature information generated by the generation procedure for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail selected by the selection receiving procedure. Steps and Characterized in that it is a program to be executed by the data.

[0032]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic filing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In this apparatus, a database control unit 106 (display control means, database storage means) includes a document database 101, a key sentence database 104 (storage unit), a user operation detection unit 105 (selection reception unit), and a display unit. 107 are connected.
A character string / layout extraction unit 102 (extraction means) is connected to the document database 101, and the key sentence generation unit 1 is connected to the key sentence database 104.
03 (generation means) is connected. The character string / layout extraction unit 102 is also connected to the key sentence generation unit 103. Further, a thumbnail creation unit 108 and a document reading unit 109 are connected to the document database 101, and the thumbnail creation unit 10
8 and the document reading unit 109 are also connected to each other.

The apparatus includes a CPU, a RAM, and an R (not shown).
An OM, a hard disk, and the like are provided. The character string / layout extraction unit 102, the key sentence generation unit 103,
Each function of the database control unit 106 and the thumbnail creation unit 108 is substantially performed by a CPU, a RAM, a ROM storing a control program executed by the CPU, and the like. The functions of the document database 101 and the key sentence database 104 are performed by the hard disk.

The database control unit 106 controls the document database 101, the key sentence database 104, and the display unit 107. The document database 101 stores a database of documents such as document files and image files. Character string
The layout extracting unit 102 extracts a character string and its layout information from the document. In the case of an image file, extraction of a character string and acquisition of layout information are performed using means such as character recognition.

The key sentence generation unit 103 generates a character string
A key sentence (feature information) for characterizing the contents of the document is generated from the character string and the layout information extracted by the layout extraction unit 102. As a method of generating key sentences, a method of comparing with another document and extracting a different portion (a phrase unique to the document, etc.) and a character string of a portion considered important in the layout of the document are extracted. A method can be considered. Alternatively, it may be generated by a text summarization technique or the like.

The key sentence database 104 is
The key sentence database generated by the key sentence generation unit 103 is stored. User operation detection unit 105
Detects a user's operation instruction using a keyboard, a mouse, or the like (not shown). The display unit 107 is configured by an LCD, a CRT, or the like, and displays various information on a screen, such as a thumbnail display of a document.

The document reading unit 109 reads image data of a document document from a scanner (not shown) or the like, or reads a document from an external storage device (not shown). Thumbnail creator 10
8 is obtained by thinning dots from the document data read by the document reading unit 109.
A thumbnail image, which is image data reduced to an appropriate size, is created.

The document database 101 stores the document read by the document reading unit 109 and the thumbnail data created by the thumbnail creation unit 108 in association with each other. The display unit 107 displays a corresponding thumbnail when displaying a list of documents stored in the document database 101 or displaying a search list under the control of the database control unit 106.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the display processing in the present embodiment. This processing is executed, for example, when a list of stored documents or a list of documents searched under a certain condition is displayed in a list. Before this processing, the document database 1
01 is stored as a database in which documents and thumbnails are associated with each other, and the key sentence database 104 stores key sentences stored in a database corresponding to each document.

First, the document database 101
A list of thumbnail images corresponding to the document stored in is displayed on the display unit 107 as shown in FIG. 4 (step S201), and selection of a thumbnail from the user is received (step S202). A cursor (not shown) that can be moved with a mouse or the like is displayed on the display unit 107 on the screen, and the user can select a thumbnail by moving the cursor over a desired thumbnail. That is, the thumbnail on which the cursor overlaps is detected as the selected thumbnail. Since selection can be made only by moving the cursor, selection and deselection operations by mouse clicking are omitted, and usability is improved. The thumbnail may be selected by a pointing device or a keyboard, for example, by clicking a mouse or pressing a decision key.

Next, in step S203, when the cursor is placed on the thumbnail by the user, the user operation detecting unit 105 detects the cursor and sends information of the selected thumbnail to the database control unit 106. Next, the key sentence database 104 searches the key sentence database 104 for the key sentence of the corresponding document based on the sent thumbnail information, and sends the searched key sentence to the display unit 107 (step S204). ).

Next, the display unit 107 displays the sent key sentence in a pop-up format (a balloon format or the like) (step S205). Next, it is determined whether or not the selection of the selected thumbnail has been released (step S206). This determination is made based on the detection by the user operation detection unit 105. When the cursor deviates from the selected thumbnail, it is determined that the selection has been released. The determination is repeated until the selection is released, and when the selection is released, the display of the key sentence on the display unit 107 is erased, and the thumbnail image is displayed again (step S207), and the present process ends. I do.

According to the present embodiment, a key sentence that characterizes the contents of a document is generated from a character string extracted from the document and layout information, and the displayed thumbnail is selected with a cursor to display the corresponding document. Is displayed, so that the key sentence makes it easy to recognize what the document is about. Therefore, even for documents whose layout is similar and documents whose layout features are small with no large characters or figures, it is difficult to understand the contents only with thumbnails. The document can be identified without the need. Therefore, when a document is displayed as a thumbnail, it is possible to easily identify the document regardless of the presence or absence of layout features.

In the present embodiment, the key sentence is displayed in a pop-up format or a balloon format when the key sentence is displayed, but may be displayed in a status bar. Thus, the key sentence can be displayed without impairing the display of the thumbnail. Or,
A dedicated display area such as an output window may be created in advance or newly, and a key sentence may be displayed therein. Thus, the length of the key sentence that can be displayed can be extended to some extent. In addition, a pop-up type display, a balloon type display, a status bar display, and an output window display may be appropriately combined and displayed. In this case, a plurality of types of key sentences to be displayed may be generated, and a different key sentence may be displayed for each display location. As a result, a plurality of different key sentences can be displayed simultaneously for one document, and identification by thumbnails becomes easier.

To select or deselect a thumbnail,
An input technique such as a voice instruction or a line-of-sight instruction may be used. This eliminates the need for the user to use his hands, etc.
Usability is improved.

In the present embodiment, a key sentence for simply specifying a document is created. However, a key sentence length adjusting unit for adjusting the length of the key sentence to some extent is provided, and the key sentence is set in advance. You may make it adjust so that it may become the length which was set. This makes it possible to freely set the length of the key sentence so as to meet user needs. Further, the display area of the key sentence can be set so as not to be unnecessarily large, and the usability is improved.

In this embodiment, the document database 101 and the key sentence database 1 are used.
Although the key sentence is configured separately from the document sentence 04, the key sentence may be constructed by being included in the document database and stored in the document database 101. As a result, the number of databases to be managed can be reduced, and maintenance work is also facilitated.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a key sentence is created and stored before a thumbnail is displayed and a document is to be identified. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As soon as the user selects a thumbnail, a key sentence of a document corresponding to the thumbnail may be generated. In other words, by generating a key sentence every time a thumbnail is selected, there is no need to create and save a key sentence in advance, and the operation can be simplified. In addition, it is possible not to provide a database for storing key sentences, and it is possible to save the capacity of a storage medium.

A storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to an electronic filing apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the electronic filing apparatus stores the program in the storage medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention is also achieved by reading and executing the program code thus set.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. When the program code is supplied via a transmission medium or the like, the program code itself constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk,
Hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-
A ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

The functions of the above-described embodiments are not only realized by the computer executing the readout program code, but also the OS or the like running on the computer is executed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a document is displayed as a thumbnail, it is possible to easily identify the document regardless of the presence or absence of layout features.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic filing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a display process in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional electronic filing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a document list display by thumbnails.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 101 Document database 102 Character string / layout extraction unit (extraction unit) 103 Key sentence generation unit (generation unit) 104 Key sentence database (storage unit) 105 User operation detection unit (selection reception unit) 106 Database control unit (display control) Means, database storage means) 107 display unit 108 thumbnail creation unit 109 document reading unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 12/00 515 G06F 12/00 515B G06T 1/00 200 G06T 1/00 200E F-term (Reference) 5B050 AA10 BA16 CA07 EA04 EA12 FA02 FA12 FA19 5B075 ND07 NK06 PQ02 PQ22 PQ46 PQ48 UU06 5B082 AA13 GC03

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. An electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit, comprising: extracting means for extracting at least one of a character string and layout information from the document; and a character string or layout extracted by the extracting means. Generating means for generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from information; selection receiving means for receiving selection of a desired thumbnail from a thumbnail group displayed on the display unit; and selection received by the selection receiving means An electronic filing apparatus comprising: display control means for displaying characteristic information generated by the generation means for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail. 2. A storage unit for storing feature information generated by the generation unit as a database in a storage unit, wherein the display control unit stores the feature information generated for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail. 2. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a search is performed from a database stored by said database storage means. 3. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the storage unit stores a document database, and the feature information database is constructed by being included in the document database. . 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each time a selection of a thumbnail is received by the selection receiving unit, the generation unit generates characteristic information of a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail for which the selection has been received. An electronic filing apparatus according to claim 1. 5. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feature information is a key sentence. 6. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the generation unit is capable of adjusting a length of the key sentence. 7. The display control device according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit causes the display unit to display the characteristic information on a screen.
The electronic filing apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 10. 8. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the screen display of the characteristic information is performed by at least one of a status bar display, an output window display, a pop-up type display, and a balloon type display. 9. The screen display of the feature information is performed by a plurality of combinations of a pop-up type display, a balloon type display, a status bar display, and an output window display. An electronic filing apparatus according to claim 1. 10. The thumbnail group is displayed on the display unit on a screen, and the selection accepting unit accepts a thumbnail on which a cursor on the screen is placed as a selected desired thumbnail. The electronic filing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9. 11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection receiving unit receives the selection of the desired thumbnail by at least one of a voice input and a line-of-sight input.
The electronic filing apparatus according to any one of the above. 12. A method for controlling an electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit, comprising: an extracting step of extracting at least one of a character string and layout information from the document; and a character extracted by the extracting step. A generation step of generating feature information characterizing the contents of the document from a column or layout information; a selection receiving step of receiving a selection of a desired thumbnail from a thumbnail group displayed on the display unit; And a display control step of displaying the characteristic information generated in the generation step for the document corresponding to the selected thumbnail received. 13. A database storage step of storing feature information generated in the generation step as a database in a storage unit, wherein the display control step includes generating the feature information generated for a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail. 2. Searching for a database from the database stored in the database storage step.
3. The method for controlling an electronic filing apparatus according to item 2. 14. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the storage unit stores a database for a document, and the database of the feature information is constructed by being included in the database for the document. Control method. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generating step generates, every time a thumbnail selection is received by the selection receiving step, characteristic information of a document corresponding to the selected thumbnail whose selection has been received.
3. The method for controlling an electronic filing apparatus according to item 2. 16. The method according to claim 12, wherein the feature information is a key sentence. 17. The control method for an electronic filing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the generation step is capable of adjusting a length of the key sentence. 18. The display control method according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the feature information on a screen.
The control method for an electronic filing apparatus according to any one of 2 to 17, 19. The electronic filing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the screen display of the characteristic information is performed by at least one of a status bar display, an output window display, a pop-up type display, and a balloon type display. Control method. 20. A display according to claim 19, wherein the screen display of the characteristic information is performed by a plurality of combinations of a pop-up display, a balloon display, a status bar display, and an output window display. The control method of the electronic filing apparatus according to the above. 21. The thumbnail group is displayed on the display unit on a screen, and the selection receiving step receives a thumbnail on which a cursor on the screen is placed as a selected desired thumbnail. 12-2
0. The method for controlling an electronic filing apparatus according to any one of 0. 22. The selection receiving step according to claim 12, wherein the selection of the desired thumbnail is received by at least one of a voice input and a line-of-sight input.
21. The control method for an electronic filing device according to any one of 20. 23. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to implement a method of controlling an electronic filing apparatus for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit, wherein a character string and layout information of the document are stored. An extraction procedure for extracting at least one of the above; a generation procedure for generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from a character string or layout information extracted by the extraction procedure; and a desired procedure from a thumbnail group displayed on the display unit. And a display control procedure for displaying the characteristic information generated by the generation procedure for the document corresponding to the selected thumbnail selected by the selection reception procedure. Storage medium characterized by storing a program for causing. 24. A program for causing a computer to control a method of controlling an electronic filing device for displaying a thumbnail corresponding to a document on a display unit, the method comprising: extracting at least one of a character string and layout information from the document. A generation step of generating feature information characterizing the content of the document from the character string or the layout information extracted by the extraction step; and a selection receiving a selection of a desired thumbnail from a group of thumbnails displayed on the display unit A program for causing a computer to execute an accepting procedure and a display control procedure of displaying feature information generated by the generating procedure for a document corresponding to a selected thumbnail selected by the selection accepting procedure.