JP2004096412A - Facsimile device and facsimile transmission method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve constraints for a document writing a fax number, and to improve a character recognition ratio using normalization for recognition of a facsimile number on a document to be transmitted. <P>SOLUTION: The facsimile device reads a number attached with a mark M by which the upper left, the lower left, the lower right, and the upper right can be identified for a telephone number 21 written at an arbitrary position in a document 10 to be transmitted. The facsimile device recognizes a number area, and recognizes a facsimile number by normalized image processing to transmit a facsimile data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for recognizing and transmitting a telephone number (including handwriting) and a facsimile (facsimile) number written on a manuscript.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-61550 discloses a technique of, for example, printing a telephone number entry field for entering a facsimile telephone number of a transmission destination at a predetermined position, for example, at a predetermined position near the top of a document. By providing such a document, the document can be reliably transmitted to the destination by a simple procedure.
[0003]
However, in this method, since a facsimile telephone number is always written in a predetermined position, it is difficult to use this method when there is no space in a document to be sent. By transmitting without reading the number area, the original without the transmission number can be sent. However, there is an inconvenience of using a specific sheet, and it is necessary to copy the original again to the sheet.
[0004]
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-7612, a telephone number of a transmission destination and an identification mark (square) capable of recognizing that a facsimile should be transmitted to the transmission destination are added. This is a facsimile that reads the identification mark and the transmission destination telephone number on the transmission paper and transmits data to the transmission destination by automatic dialing based on the identification mark and the transmission destination telephone number.
However, since the identification mark can only specify the position for recognizing the telephone number in the horizontal direction, it is difficult to accurately recognize only the area in which the telephone number is written vertically and horizontally. Further, in this method, since the process of deleting the described telephone number is not performed, the fax data describing the telephone number is transmitted to the other party. Further, when an identification mark is added by such a method, there is a problem in recognizing a telephone number, for example, the written area cannot be determined, and it cannot be accurately read depending on the size of the described telephone number.
[0005]
Generally, character recognition has a problem that characters cannot be read accurately. For example, characters are too large or too small to be recognized correctly, characters are skewed and unrecognizable, characters are too thin to be clearly recognized, you cannot find where the target character is written, There is a problem that it becomes difficult to read when there are many vehicles.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described method of writing and recognizing a facsimile transmission number at a predetermined position of a transmission document and a method of recognizing a facsimile transmission number using a transmission sheet with an identification mark, a specific sheet is required. When sending a fax to several recipients at the same time, a plurality of specific papers must be prepared, a specific paper for entering a fax number, a predetermined space, and text Depending on the size, etc., the recognition rate may decrease, and erroneous transmission may occur.
[0007]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the restriction on a document describing a fax number and improve the character recognition rate using normalization when recognizing a facsimile number on a transmission document. Also, when sending the same fax manuscript data to multiple destinations at one time, do not send facsimile manuscript data describing multiple destinations so that each recipient does not know who else sent it. It is another object of the present invention to provide a facsimile transmission apparatus capable of transmitting facsimile manuscript data (FAX) only to numbers that have been assigned to one or more candidates from a plurality of destinations.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the present invention, the upper left, the lower left, the lower right, the upper right of the telephone number described at an arbitrary position of the transmission original are read with a distinguishable mark, the number area is recognized, and the facsimile number is obtained by the normalized image processing. Can recognize and send facsimile data. In addition, when necessary, a configuration is provided in which facsimile data that does not include extra data such as a telephone (facsimile) number can be transmitted.
[0009]
The facsimile transmission device according to the present invention includes a device for reading a placed facsimile document, a device for recognizing a printed and handwritten telephone number on the document. For example, an OCR (optical character recognition device) and an MICR (magnetic ink type character) Recognition device). The image processing means (program) for processing the read facsimile manuscript data performs processing for normalizing the character area when performing the recognition processing for the number area, and recognizes and replaces the area specified by the mark with a blank. Provide processing.
[0010]
[Action]
In the present invention, a target character (such as a telephone number, etc.) is detected from many characters by detecting four marks that can identify the upper left, lower left, lower right, and upper right corners of a telephone number area described at an arbitrary position in a document. ) Can be found. As a result, the recognition rate can be increased without limiting the area where the facsimile number is described, and facsimile transmission can be performed for a single number or a plurality of numbers.
[0011]
In the present invention, for example, the problem of the size of the character is determined by using four marks that can identify the upper left, lower left, lower right, and upper right of the number area, by normalizing the enlargement / reduction of the size of the identified area. Can be solved by using. The character inclination problem can be solved by using angle correction normalization. If the characters are too thin to be recognized, normalize them by contrast adjustment (brightness adjustment) in the area. If the original is too noisy and difficult to read, smoothen the recognized area. The problem can be solved by the normalization using the noise elimination processing.
When the described number is not displayed to the transmission destination, the recognized number area is subjected to blank processing (replaced with white data), so that the facsimile data is converted to data that does not include number data. Can be sent.
[0012]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1A is a plan view of a transmission original to be transmitted by the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.
The transmission manuscript 10 describes a transmission sentence 1 and a telephone number 21. The telephone number 21 is a telephone number including the facsimile number of the transmission destination, and is handwritten at an arbitrary position on the document 10. Before and after the telephone number 21, an identification mark M indicating a recognition area is described. Each identification mark has a substantially right triangular shape and is described by handwriting. The identification mark M is written so that the position, direction, and the like of the area described in the telephone number can be reliably recognized. That is, in order to identify the upper left and lower left indicating the front end of the numerical description and the upper right and lower right indicating the rear end, the position of the right angle with respect to the hypotenuse of the right triangle of the identification mark M is determined. To be specified. For example, if the hypotenuse extends from the upper right to the lower left and there is a right angle to the left of the hypotenuse, the mark indicates the upper left of the area.
[0013]
In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the identification mark M indicates a first mark 4M indicating the upper left, a second mark 5M indicating the lower left of the recognition area, a third mark 6M indicating the upper right of the recognition area, and a lower right of the recognition area. The fourth mark 7M is described. The first mark 4M is the character at the tip of the telephone number 21. In the example shown in the drawing, the oblique side of the right triangle points from upper right to lower left, and the right angle is located at the upper left of the oblique side. Describe. Similarly, the second mark 5M is described such that the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is directed from upper left to lower right, and the right angle is positioned at the lower left of the hypotenuse, at the lower left just before the numeral "0" at the tip of the telephone number 21. In addition, the third mark 6M is the number at the rear end of the telephone number 21, in this example, the upper right of the numeral "9" is described such that the hypotenuse of the right triangle points from upper left to lower right, and the right angle is located at the upper right of the hypotenuse. I do. Similarly, the fourth mark 7M is described such that the hypotenuse of the right triangle is directed from the upper right to the lower left at the lower right of the numeral “9”, and the right angle is located at the lower right of the hypotenuse.
[0014]
Next, reading and transmission of the document 10 on which the telephone number is described by the facsimile apparatus 100 will be described. .. See FIG. 5 facsimile apparatus 100 is a document set detecting means, a character recognizing means (not shown) such as an OCR (optical character recognizing apparatus) or a MICR (magnetic ink type character recognizing apparatus), an image of a recognized character or the like. Image processing means for processing the document, document feeding means, and the like. In addition, control means is provided for controlling each drive mechanism based on a detection signal detected by each means and a recognized character / graphic.
[0015]
The original 10 is set on the facsimile apparatus 100. When the document set detecting means of the facsimile apparatus 100 detects the document 10, the paper feeding means sends the document to the inside of the apparatus. An OCR (optical character recognition device), MICR (magnetic ink type character recognition device), or the like attached to the device starts reading of the characters and numerals described in the transmitted document 10. At the same time, the identification mark M (4M, 5M, 6M, 7M) in the document 10 is read.
[0016]
The reading area of the numeral (telephone number) is recognized (detected) by the read recognition mark M. That is, the vertical position of the front end of the number area is recognized from the first mark 4M and the second mark 5M, and the vertical position of the rear end of the number is recognized from the third mark 6M and the fourth mark 7M. The recognized number area is normalized by the image processing means so that characters can be easily recognized. Here, examples of the normalization method include normalization of the size, adjustment of the luminance value, and noise removal. For example, the size of the character in the vertical direction is recognized by the recognition marks 4M and 5M. The size of the character in the horizontal direction is recognized by the recognition marks 4M and 6M. As an example of normalization, when a recognized character is too small or too large, the character is recognized after enlarging or reducing the length and width of the character, thereby making it easier to compare with a comparison target. Further, as another example of normalization, when the recognition marks 4M and 5M are not on a straight line in the vertical direction, it is possible to recognize that the character is oblique, correct the angle, and perform recognition. Go up. Further, when the luminance value is low, it can be recognized that the character is light, and the character region can be clearly recognized by increasing the luminance of the character region.
[0017]
In general, one of the most difficult points when performing image processing is how to find a place to perform processing. In this way, recognition marks attached to the top and bottom of the front end of a directional character string Since the number (character) area can be reliably recognized by the recognition marks attached to the upper and lower ends of the character string, and the number can be accurately determined from the transmission data, it is very efficient and effective in performing image processing. . The character recognition process is performed on the normalized data, and the facsimile number 21 can be recognized as character information.
Further, the fax device 100 has a function of performing blank processing on the recognized character (number) area. As a result, it is possible to transmit not the facsimile original data describing the destination telephone number, but the original data itself before the destination telephone number is added. This function is selectable.
[0018]
The fax device 100 includes a display device 11 on which a recognized number is displayed. At this time, if the displayed number is incorrect, the operator manually inputs the transmission number using the operation unit 19. Further, the facsimile apparatus 100 can select transmission or non-transmission according to the identification number. Whether or not to display a number is selected using the operation unit 19. For example, when transmission is selected, the transmission mark 111 is displayed on the display unit 11, and when non-display is selected, the non-display mark 113 is displayed.
[0019]
As described above, by reading and recognizing the four identification marks M at the front, bottom, rear, and top and bottom of the number described, the vertical and horizontal positions of the number area can be accurately determined.
In order to prevent the data in the number area from being included in the transmission data by selection when transmitting, the image processing means replaces the data in the selected number area with a blank to describe the destination telephone number. And the original data before the transmission destination telephone number is added can be transmitted. This process is also useful as a means for not informing another sender which telephone number is being sent when sending the same original data to a plurality of destinations.
[0020]
Next, control of the control device will be described with reference to a control flowchart of FIG.
When the document 10 is set on the facsimile apparatus 100, the document set detecting means detects the document (S10), and the document reading process is started (S11). The character recognition means attached to the facsimile machine detects the four identification marks M in the document and recognizes the number area (S12).
The image processing means normalizes the character size, inclination, luminance, and the like with respect to the detected number area so that the area can be easily recognized as a character (S13). The character recognition process is performed on the normalized data, and the facsimile number 21 is recognized as character information (S14). The recognized number is displayed on the display device 11 as shown in FIG. 4A (S15). It is determined whether the displayed number is correct (S16).
[0021]
If the displayed number is incorrect, the operator manually inputs the transmission number (S17). The one for performing the transmission process or the non-display process on the identification number displayed on the display device 11 is selected (S18). The fax transmission data is changed so that the entire number area indicated by the identification mark M (4M, 5M, 6M, 7M) is blank for the number selected to be hidden (indicated by reference numeral 113 in FIG. 4A). (S19). All the identification marks M (a set of four) in which the number area has been recognized are replaced with blanks (S20). The blank transmitted fax transmission data is transmitted to the recognized number (S21).
[0022]
As described above, the fax apparatus according to this embodiment can determine the number area by recognizing the identification marks attached to the upper left, lower left, lower right, and upper right of the telephone number. Further, for example, the problem of the character size can be solved by using normalization of enlarging / reducing the number area. In addition, the problem of skewed characters can be solved by using angle correction normalization. The problem that characters are too thin to be recognized can be solved by performing normalization to increase the contrast in the area.
[0023]
As described above, the problem that a target character cannot be found from many characters can be solved by recognizing identification marks having four directions. Further, the problem that the original has a lot of noise and is difficult to read can be solved by normalization using noise removal processing such as smoothing processing in the area recognized by the four marks.
Then, when non-display processing is performed on the described number to the transmission destination, the problem can be solved by performing blank processing (replacement with white data) on the area in which the telephone number is described.
[0024]
[Embodiment 2-see FIGS. 1 (B) and 4 (B)]
This embodiment shows a case where the destination telephone number 22 described in the message 1 of the manuscript 20 is recognized.
As described in the first embodiment, the first mark 4M is positioned at the hypotenuse of the right triangle from the upper right to the lower left, as described in the first embodiment, in the upper left of the first digit “0” of the telephone number 22 described in the text of the communication message 1. Is described so that a right angle is located to the left of. As in the first embodiment, the second mark 5M is located at the lower left just before the numeral “0” at the tip of the telephone number 22. The right angle to the hypotenuse of the right triangle is located at the lower left, and the third mark 6M is located after the telephone number 22. A fourth mark 7M is described at the upper right of the end numeral, in this example, the numeral "9", such that the right angle to the hypotenuse of the right triangle is the upper right and lower right at the lower right of the numeral "9".
[0025]
The OCR (optical character recognition device) or MICR (magnetic ink character recognition device) of the facsimile device 100 recognizes these four marks M as a range of telephone number information. That is, the control device recognizes the destination telephone number from the characters in the document in steps S11, S12, S13, and S14 in FIG.
[0026]
Normally, it is very difficult to find the destination telephone number from many characters in the original. However, this facsimile apparatus recognizes the four marks as identification marks, so that the destination telephone number in the original can be identified. Since a number can be found quickly and an area can be recognized, it is useful in performing a number recognition process and a non-display process.
At this time, as shown in the display screen of FIG. 4, only transmission is selected without selecting non-display (transmission mark 111). As a result, the original data before the destination telephone number is described can be transmitted to the destination described in the original.
[0027]
[Embodiment 3-see FIGS. 3 and 4C]
This embodiment shows a case where the same original is transmitted to a plurality of destination telephone numbers.
Even when there are a plurality of destination telephone numbers in a document, four identification marks 4M, 5M, 6M, and 7M are used for OCR (optical character recognition device), MICR (magnetic ink character recognition device), and the like. The telephone numbers 23, 24, and 25 are recognized as character information. If it is desired to add a new destination telephone number, the telephone number 26 is written in the transmission original 30 by hand, and the newly entered number 26 is also recognized as character information by attaching four identification marks. The recognized facsimile number is displayed on the display device 11 (see FIG. 4C). For the displayed numbers 23, 24, 25 and 26, transmission and non-display are selected. A transmission mark 111 and a non-display mark 113 are displayed for the selected number. By doing so, broadcast transmission can be performed without a number input error.
[0028]
Also, when facsimile data is sent to a plurality of destinations, the document data corresponding to the selected numbers 25 and 26 displayed by the non-display mark 113 is hidden by utilizing the fact that the area can be recognized by the four marks. By performing the processing (replacing the data in the area with white), it is possible to transmit the original data without the destination telephone number to the destination telephone numbers 25 and 26. This is useful when one does not want to know who the recipient is.
[0029]
[Embodiment 4]
In this embodiment, a case where a destination telephone number and a recognition mark are entered with a color pen will be described.
A destination telephone number (facsimile number) is handwritten on the original using a color pen, for example, a red color pen, and the recognition marks 4M, 5M, 6M, and 7M indicating the recognition area are similarly handwritten using the red color pen. . Thereafter, the original is set on a facsimile machine. The document set is detected, and the document reading process is started. At this time, when recognizing characters using OCR, character recognition is performed using only a sensor that detects red.
[0030]
By doing so, the search place is limited to the part written in red, so that the time required for identification mark search can be reduced. In addition, this reduces the probability of erroneously detecting a part that is not the identification mark, thereby enabling more accurate detection.
Then, a character recognition process is performed on the data obtained by normalizing the detected character area, and the facsimile number is recognized as character information. When performing blank processing, if a red color filter is used for reading, fax transmission data can be created without reading a character description portion.
[0031]
As described above, when a telephone number and a recognition mark are written on a document using a color pen, the telephone number can be detected accurately and in a short time by using a sensor that detects the same color as the color used. Use of the same color filter is also useful for blanking.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, a destination telephone number (facsimile number) can be described at an arbitrary position of a transmission original at the time of facsimile transmission, so that restrictions on the original can be solved and there is no need to use a special transmission sheet. In addition, an error such as in the case of manual dialing is unlikely to occur, transmission to an incorrect destination is prevented, and facsimile transmission operation can be performed easily and efficiently. Furthermore, when recognizing a facsimile number on a transmission document, normalization can be used to improve the character recognition efficiency. Also, if you want to delete the phone number or broadcast, in order to prevent each recipient from knowing the other destination, you can perform blank processing on the number area, and It is possible to transmit fax data (FAX) only to numbers that are one or more candidates from the destination.
In addition, by writing the number and the identification mark using the color pen, the search time can be reduced and the blanking process can be simplified.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a description example of a transmission original.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing another example of a transmission original.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a display example of a display unit of the facsimile apparatus.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a facsimile apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 original 10 transmission original 11 display unit 19 operation unit 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 telephone number 100 facsimile device 111 transmission mark 113 non-display mark M identification mark

Claims (7)

A facsimile device for reading a document describing a destination telephone number and an identification mark indicating an area of the number, and a number recognizing device for recognizing a telephone number from the read document, and facsimile transmitting a fax to the recognized telephone number In the device,
A facsimile apparatus wherein the number recognition means recognizes an identification mark at an arbitrary position on a document, determines a number area, and reads a destination telephone number. The identification mark recognized by the number recognition means has a right-angled triangular shape, and a first mark indicating the top left of the top of the number area and a second mark indicating the bottom left of the top of the number area by detecting the position of each mark at a right angle to the hypotenuse. , A third mark indicating the upper right end of the rear end of the number area, and a fourth mark indicating the lower right end of the rear end of the number area, and determining the number area from the four identification marks. Item 1. A facsimile apparatus according to Item 1. The number recognition means is configured to determine a plurality of number areas surrounded by four identification marks at arbitrary positions on the document, read a plurality of destination telephone numbers, and send a fax to the plurality of telephone numbers. A facsimile apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number recognition means recognizes the telephone number and the identification mark using a detection sensor of the same color as the telephone number and the identification mark, determines the number area, and reads the destination telephone number. Facsimile machine. A facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising an image processing unit,
A facsimile apparatus configured to execute normalization processing of enlargement / reduction, brightness adjustment, angle correction, and smoothing on a read telephone number area. The facsimile apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further includes a selection unit for displaying or not displaying a telephone number.
A facsimile apparatus configured to, when non-display is selected, execute image processing means to perform a blanking process on the number area recognized by the number recognition means and then transmit a fax. In a facsimile transmission method of reading a telephone number of a destination and a telephone number of a destination from a document with a recognition mark indicating a number area, and transmitting a fax to the telephone number,
The recognition mark attached to the manuscript has a right-angled triangular shape, and four places are placed before and after the telephone number. A transmission method in which the recognition mark having a right angle at the upper right and lower right with respect to the hypotenuse is read as the back of the telephone number, and the fax is transmitted to the read telephone number.

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