JP2003216885A - Document information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document information processing system which prevents information from leaking and improves the efficiency of input operation. <P>SOLUTION: The document information processing system is equipped with an image input part 1, an image division part 3, and an identification information addition part 4. The image input part 1 inputs the image of a document to be inputted and converts it into image data as digital information. The image division part 3 divides image data of each document into divided image data for every specified area according to information from an area recognition part 2. The identification information addition part 4 adds discrimination information showing which entry field of the document each piece of divided image data are in to the divided image data. Each piece of divided image data is sent to an operator who performs input operation and displayed at a display part 5. The operator performs the input operation on an input screen while looking at the divided image data displayed at the display part 5. A restoration part 6 restores inputted character information to information entered into the original document according to the discrimination information added to the divided image data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document information processing system for processing information described in a document. 2. Description of the Related Art In the accounting and tax fields, various forms including slips are frequently used, but information written on these sheets is used more widely and efficiently. For this purpose, digital information has been input to a computer. Further, for example, when performing a blood donation or medical examination, various information is written on a medical chart or a dedicated examination sheet, and these are also input to a computer as in the above-described form. When it is necessary to quickly input a large number of forms and charts, such an input operation is performed by requesting a specialized input company. The input trader secures in advance a potential input worker who can operate in an emergency, and when a large number of input work requests are made, inputs the manpower to perform the input work. [0004] However, slips,
Forms such as forms and medical records (hereinafter referred to as "forms") are paper, so it is necessary to collect these and actually transport them to the inputting company. [0005] Further, it is necessary to carry the collected forms under an operator who actually performs the input operation, or to take the labor of the input operator to a trader.
Such work requires time and cost, and especially when inputting blood test results, prompt work is required. Therefore, a large amount of test paper is handed over to the input company, and the input is completed by the next day. Work is being carried out under the harsh conditions of getting them to do so. Also, so-called OCR (Optical Ch), which is a method in which handwritten characters are read into a computer by a scanner or the like and automatically replaced with characters on the computer.
arcar Reader or Optical
A method called "Character Recognition" has been studied. Particularly, in the case of a form, since a person in charge of the site has to write a large amount of characters, unreadable characters are often written. The recognition rate is lower and the processing speed tends to be slower than general handwritten characters. For this reason, the recognition of such ambiguous characters is far from human recognition ability and far from practical use. Further, some forms include information that should not be leaked to the outside and should be confidential.
For this reason, some companies that handle such information do not outsource the input work due to fear of information leakage and perform the input work internally, knowing that it will be expensive. . [0008] In addition, many documents related to medical examinations relate to the privacy of an individual, and workers who input such information as medical records containing such information into a computer have a sense of ethics. Is included,
Stakeholders may be inadvertently disadvantaged. [0009] The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and can reduce the time and cost required for transporting documents such as forms, prevent leakage of important information, and furthermore, input data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document information processing system that improves work efficiency. [0010] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an input management computer which is connected via an information network to a plurality of workers who have been determined to outsource data input. A document information processing system comprising: an input management computer configured to capture an image of a document including a plurality of entry fields, digitize the image, and convert the image data into image data; and An image division unit that divides the image data into divided image data by dividing the image data into predetermined regions, an identification information addition unit that adds identification information indicating which region of the document is the divided image data to the divided image data, A storage unit that stores the divided image data to which the divided image data is added, the divided image data in a specific description column for each of the workers, and the identification information corresponding to the divided image data. And a restoring unit that receives the character information input by each worker based on the transmission information and restores the information described in the original document based on the identification information. It is characterized by having. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the entire document information processing system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, an image input unit 1 uses a scanner or the like to capture an image of a document to be input, and converts it into image data as digital information. When a certain type of document is handled for the first time, the image input unit 1 inputs an image of a blank sheet (this is referred to as “entry column configuration sheet”), and the area recognition unit 2 inputs the image. Automatically recognize what kind of description column the document is composed of. When an image is actually input with respect to a document on which characters are described, the image dividing unit 3 operates as follows.
Based on the information from, the image data of each document is divided into image data divided into predetermined regions. The identification information adding section 4 adds identification information indicating to each of the divided image data which document is in which entry column of which document. Each divided image data is sent to a worker who performs an input operation, and is displayed on the display unit 5 here. The worker
While looking at the divided image data displayed on the display unit 5, an input operation is performed on an input screen also displayed by the display unit 5. The input character information is restored by the restoration unit 6 to information described in the original document based on the identification information added to the divided image data. Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the document information processing system shown in FIG. 1 is described in a medical chart, an inspection form, and other documents (hereinafter referred to as "medical records") used in a medical institution. A case where the present invention is applied to a handwriting character input operation will be described. In the hospital 10 shown in FIG. 2, when a large number of charts written by hand are created, the documents are transferred to a sales office 11 of an input company specialized in key input. The personal computer 13 of the business office 11 is provided with the image input unit 1, the area recognition unit 2, the image division unit 3, and the identification information addition unit 4 shown in FIG. At the business office 11, a large amount of documents conveyed from the hospital 10 are scanned by the scanner 12, and the image data is taken into the personal computer 13 as digital image data. This image data is compressed and temporarily stored in the recording medium 14 (storage unit). However, the recording medium 14 may be used as needed, and is not always necessary. After that, the image data manages the input operation.
The information is sent to the input management center 20 that supervises it. here,
Decide which data input is to be entrusted to whom, and, based on the decision, provide image data and information networks such as telephone lines to each of the workers 21 ₁ , 21 ₂ ,. To send through. [0020] The operator 21 ₁ such as a personal computer 22 ₁ or the like, is provided with the display unit 5 of the above. Further, the personal computer 22 _1, etc., software for expanding the compressed image data is installed in advance. [0021] The operator 21 ₁ or the like, to display the image data that has been sent to the screen by extension on the home personal computer 22 ₁ or the like, while watching it, was also to be displayed on the personal computer 22 _1, etc. Input characters using the keyboard on the character input screen. The input character data is sent back to the input management center 20 via the telephone line. A restoration section 6 shown in FIG. 1 is provided in a personal computer (not shown) of the input management center 20. Here, the input character information is restored in accordance with the original format of the medical charts.
Sent to 0. The test center 30 performs a predetermined test based on the input digital data, and sends the result to the hospital 10 directly or via the business office 11.
The sample such as blood sent from the business office 11 of the testing company to the testing center 30 is disposed after the testing at the testing center 30 is completed. As described above, since the divided image data of the medical charts is sent electronically to the operator via a network such as a telephone line, it is not necessary to deliver the paper on which the information is written. For this reason, the cost and time required for transportation are greatly reduced. In addition, since the input worker can perform the input work while at home, it leads to the spread of working at home, as well as a housewife who is pregnant, raising children,
There is a possibility of providing a wide range of work opportunities for people with physical disabilities and people living in remote areas. In FIG. 2, a sales office 1 reads an image of a medical chart delivered from a hospital by a scanner.
In step 1, the read image data is not transmitted as it is, but is transmitted to the input management center 20 as divided image data divided for each entry column as described above. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of charts. As shown in the figure, the medical record 40 includes many items describing various items related to medical practice, such as a patient's name, address, name of a doctor in charge, test results, diagnosis contents, treatment methods, medical expenses, and the like. A column is provided. If a person familiar with medical problems looks at the entire medical chart 40, depending on the case, what kind of illness, what kind of treatment is being performed, and how much cost is required for that, etc. Such information that you do not want others to know for privacy. If a person who inputs such medical record information includes a person who lacks ethics, there is a possibility that the related persons may be disadvantaged unexpectedly. However, individual items, for example,
For input workers who input only the name, address, disease name, name of the doctor in charge, etc., looking at them individually, it is not possible to associate the entry fields with each other, so this does not make any special sense for input workers who are outsiders. Absent. Therefore, in the present embodiment, after the image of the chart is read by the scanner at the office 11 of the inspection company, the image data is read for each predetermined area of the chart, for example, for each entry column in FIG. The divided image data is obtained, and the data is compressed. [0030] Then, together only divided image data of the same, wherein the column of a number of medical records such, via the input management center 20, and transmits the original 20 ₁ such separate operator for each entry field. At this time, as described above, the divided image data of each entry column is transmitted with the number of each chart and identification information indicating what item is the entry column in which it is entered. However, since such identification information is not necessary for the worker, the worker may not be able to see it. In addition, the identification information may also include information necessary for smooth operations such as the name of the person in charge of the inspection company and the name of the input operator. [0032] The operator 20 ₁ or the like, extends the divided image data transmitted is compressed, performs the inputting operation while displaying it on a computer screen, may be able to see the operator, certain Only items listed in the description column,
For example, if the name is only the name, if the disease name is only the disease name, the divided image data in the other entry columns will not be seen. For this reason, it is possible to effectively prevent information relating to the privacy of another person from leaking from the input worker to the outside. When the input operation by the operator is completed, the input character data is sent back to the input management center 20. On the computer of the input management center 20, based on the identification information sent together with the divided image data to the worker, the information sent separately to different workers for each entry column is restored and the original format is restored. And return to the information as one medical record. Then, if necessary, the input character data is inserted into a predetermined portion of the image data of the medical charts, and is recorded on a hard disk or other recording medium. Then, this is sent to the inspection center 30. As described above, by transmitting the image data of one medical record to each input operator as divided image data obtained by dividing the image data for each entry column, the contents written in the medical record can be confidential of the company or personal information. Even if it relates to privacy, the risk of leaking the information to the outside can be greatly reduced by requesting an input company to input the information. By the way, in the above example, the minimum unit for dividing the image data is a description column in which each item such as a name, an address, a disease name, a doctor in charge, a test result, a diagnosis content, a treatment method, and a medical cost is described. Every time. This is because, if the unit for dividing the image data is further finely divided into, for example, individual characters, the efficiency of the input operation is considered to be reduced. As long as the input operation is performed by a human, for example, if the name is divided to the level of each character, an erroneous character may be input due to an incorrect character. In contrast, looking at a single surname or first name as a whole, the minimum meaning can be recognized, so mistakes are likely to be much less. Further, even if a name or place name cannot be read by a normal person, a person who has input only an address or a name for a long period of time specially has a high possibility of having seen it in the past. In addition, some skilled input operators know the address only by looking at the postal code. As described above, by dividing the image data into units for each description column, the intellectual assets of the worker can be effectively used, and the work efficiency is improved,
There is also an advantage that the input operation proceeds quickly. Further, by sending individual entry fields to different operators, the operator does not see each item in association with each other, so that the meaning of each item in each entry field can be understood. However, workers cannot recognize important information that can only be obtained by looking at the entire medical record. Therefore, the security of the information is easily ensured without encrypting the transmission information. At present, at a site where a blood sampling operation is performed, an operation of manually inputting one million or more test sheets a day on which a blood test result is described is performed per day. In this case, due to the nature of the work, it is necessary to finish the input work by the next day,
For this reason, many input workers nationwide perform severe input work from midnight to early morning. If the document information processing system of the present embodiment is introduced into such a field, the time required for transporting the inspection paper can be greatly reduced, and the input operator can perform the input operation more quickly. You can start. Also, transportation costs are greatly reduced. Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, since all the operations and processes are performed on the computer, the progress of the operations of all the input workers can be accurately managed by the computer of the input management center 20. it can. For this reason, for example, 100
In the case where a request was made for input work, but all the work could not be performed for some reason and only 70 work could be performed, the staff of the input management center 20 took charge of the remaining 30 work. Response is also possible. In addition, the amount of remuneration to be paid can be automatically calculated in accordance with the number of completed tasks, and can be automatically transferred to a bank account, so that the efficiency of accounting can be improved. Next, how to divide the image data for each entry column in one medical record image data will be described in detail. In the present embodiment, a scanner is used as described above to convert medical record data into electronic digital data. As one method of dividing the image data read by the scanner into entry columns, charts in which no data is described as shown in FIG. 4 are read by the scanner in advance. As shown in FIG. 4, the unfilled charts 50 are usually provided with ruled lines that separate the entry columns. Therefore, using appropriate software on the personal computer 13 placed in the business office 11, Based on the image data of the unfilled medical records, the area of each entry column is recognized with some allowance. The reason for recognizing an area slightly larger than the description column is to take into consideration that characters and the like may run out of the column when writing in each description column at a hospital or the like. Next, when reading the actual chart with the data recorded by the scanner, the area recognized based on the unfilled chart is used as the item description column for each chart, and the image data of the entire chart is stored in each area. Is divided for each image and data is compressed. Then, the image data in the same description column of the predetermined number of medical records are collectively transmitted to the operator. By using this method, it is possible to handle not only one kind of charts but also a plurality of kinds of charts and other forms. As another method of dividing the image data of the medical records, there is a method of dividing the time required for the scanner to scan the medical records into an appropriate number, for example. Since the direction and order in which the scanner scans the charts is known in advance, the image data is divided for each entry field by appropriately dividing the scanning time according to the location of the entry section of the target chart. It is also possible to take in. Alternatively, it is also possible to divide each entry column based on the paper feed distance when feeding paper to the scanner. In the application example shown in FIG. 2, the image reading operation by the scanner is performed at the business office 11 of the inspection company. This is especially true if the target document is a medical record, the mark checked by a doctor or the like is often difficult to read by ordinary people, and often needs to be corrected or read by a person with a normal doctor's signature. This is because the inspection company staff who can read it needs to correct it to correct characters. Therefore, for example, for documents that are relatively easy to read and do not need to be modified, such as accounting documents, instead of having to read them with a scanner at a sales office, read them with a scanner at the department corresponding to the direct input management center. May be performed. Further, a scanner may be installed at the place where a document is created, and image data may be directly read there and transmitted to the department in charge of the input management center or directly to the operator. When such a system is used, a CPU (Read Only Memory) for storing a necessary program in a scanner (image input device), a RAM for temporarily storing data,
It is desirable to have a built-in modem or the like for sending data over a telephone line, to scan and compress the data at the same time as the device or system to send the data to the other party. It is possible. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made within the scope of the invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to the input operation of medical charts. However, in addition to this, for example, when a personal computer, its peripheral devices, or software for a personal computer is purchased, it is often attached. The present invention can also be applied to the input operation of a user card that has been performed. Also, the present invention can be applied to data input work of various forms in the accounting department of a company. The present invention can be applied to various other input operations. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a description has been given of a document in which each entry column is separated by parallel ruled lines which can be relatively easily divided for each entry column. However, for example, as shown in FIG. The present invention can also be applied to a document 60 in which each area of a sheet is complicatedly divided by an inclined straight line or curve. In this case, the blank sheet is read by a scanner, the equation of each curve dividing each area and the intersection of each curve are calculated, and each area of the sheet is recognized based on the calculation result. You can also. The present invention can be realized by causing a computer to execute the above operation. That is, a program is created so that the above-described operations are performed by a central processing unit, an input device, an output device, a storage device, and the like of a computer, and the computer executes the program, whereby the computer functions as the document information processing system of the present invention. I will do it. It is also possible to record the program on a storage medium and read and execute the program by a computer. Further, according to the present invention, information may be divided for each entry column of a document, and the divided information may be simply stored. This allows outsiders to view this document on a computer,
Since the meaning cannot be recognized, the secret of the information can be surely kept. As described above, according to the present invention,
The image data of the document consisting of multiple entry fields is divided for each entry field and sent to the input operator to perform the input operation, so the confidential information and information on personal privacy are described in the document Even so, the risk of such information being leaked to the outside through workers is greatly reduced, and as a result, the outsourcing of input work to outside contractors has been feared until now due to fear of leaking confidential information. Even for the work of inputting documents and the like that had to be hesitated, there is a way to be entrusted to an outside contractor, contributing to the expansion of the input business market. Further, since image information such as characters written on a document and key-input character information are exchanged by electronic information via a communication line, a paper medium such as a slip, a form, a chart, etc. is carried. Time and costs are greatly reduced, and work becomes more efficient. Further, since the input operator only has to perform the input operation by specializing in a specific description field, the intellectual assets of the operator can be effectively used, and the efficiency of the input operation can be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an entire document information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example in which the system of the present invention is applied to an input operation of a handwritten character described in a document such as a medical chart used in a medical institution. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of medical records. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an item configuration sheet that is a blank medical record. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document including inclined straight lines and curved lines; [Description of Signs] 1 Image input unit 2 Area recognition unit 3 Image division unit 4 Identification information addition unit 5 Display unit 6 Restoration unit 10 Hospital 11 Inspection company office 12 Scanner 13 Personal computer 14 Recording medium 20 Input management center 21 ₁ , 21 ₂ , ... Input workers 22 ₁ , 22 ₂ , ... Personal computer 30 Inspection center 40 Medical records 50 Unfilled medical records 60 Documents

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A document information processing system having an input management computer connected to a plurality of workers who have been determined to outsource data input via an information network. A computer configured to fetch an image of a document including a plurality of description columns and digitize the image to convert the image data into image data; An identification information adding unit that adds identification information indicating to which divided image data of which document the divided image data is, and a storage unit that stores the divided image data to which the identification information is added. Transmitting the divided image data of the specific description column and the identification information corresponding to the divided image data individually to each of the workers, and based on these transmission information, And a restoring unit that receives character information input by each worker and restores the information described in the original document based on the identification information.