JP2005149475A - Digital information carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital information carrier and its recognition method which integrate a printed document and an electronic document without a joint and perform mutual processing between a method for learning positional information and the described contents of the document without making false recognition and at high speed in the case of accessing by an image recognition means. <P>SOLUTION: The digital information carrier constituted by associating bit data with relative relation between two or more image objects to be components is used. A cluster information carrier makes correspondence of judgment conditions whether or not the two or more image objects to be the components constitute the cluster information carrier. A logical block constituted by integrating a plurality of unit information carriers as the minimum unit in the case of decoding the bit data from the digital information carrier can be configured and at least one of components of the logical block is replaced with the adjoining unit information carrier to be able to configure a new block. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to increasing the amount of information by applying a digital information carrier to a displayed document.
Specifically, the cluster information carrier formed by combining image objects is blended with other visible contents of the document (characters, images, backgrounds, etc.), by image recognition means such as partial scanning. Access to digital information carrier, seamless integration of printed document and electronic document, method for knowing location information on document and method for mutual processing with document description Relating to providing.

  A technique for integrating information encoded as bit data and an electronic document in a print document in correspondence with each other is well known.

  A usage method for obtaining position information on a document based on the concept of a one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcode or information added to a printed document is disclosed (for example, see Patent Documents 1 to 8). .

  An invention that integrates barcodes of different dimensions is also disclosed (for example, Patent Document 9). As a specific example, a digital information carrier in which one dimension and two dimensions are integrated is shown.

  One-dimensional and two-dimensional barcodes having a multilayer structure are also disclosed (for example, Patent Documents 10 and 11).

  It is also disclosed that bar codes are mixed in images and secret documents (for example, Patent Documents 12 to 19).

  A data encoding method performed using the illustrated symbols is also disclosed (for example, Patent Documents 20 and 21).

  A method is also disclosed in which at least two types of symbols are used, and these symbols are arranged in a matrix on various media that can be displayed in a document (for example, Patent Document 22). As a specific example, the use of a black and white grid pattern is shown.

A method of combining a plurality of two-dimensional dot codes using different colors is also disclosed (for example, Patent Documents 23 to 26).
Dot code

  A technique based on a self-synchronous graphic symbol called “glyph” is also disclosed (for example, Non-Patent Document 1). In the glyph, it is described that the position of each glyph is indicated by a clock mechanism, and the direction of the glyph is indicated in a state where the information is digitally encoded.

  Also disclosed is a method for indicating position information using glyphs over a predetermined area of a document (for example, Patent Document 27). Each glyph is indicated by a line segment tilted to the right or left of the document, and each glyph is described as having 1-bit information. Furthermore, another glyph capable of encoding 2-bit bit data is also disclosed (for example, Patent Document 28). It is described that a glyph is represented by a triangular shape and has four different orientations, thereby allowing 2 bits of information per glyph.

US Patent Application Publication No. 20020027165 US Pat. No. 6,418,244B2 US Pat. No. 6,176,427 B1 US Pat. No. 5,617,358 US Pat. No. 6,070,805 US Pat. No. 5,742,041 US Pat. No. 6,043,899 Japanese Patent Application No. 7-306904 US Pat. No. 5,0063,117 Special table WO96 / 18972 US Pat. No. 5,525,798 US Pat. No. 5,525,798 US Pat. No. 6,256,398 B1 US Patent No. 0522623A US Patent Application Publication No. 200200603396 European Patent No. 1154373A2 JP 2001-320573 A JP 2002-36763 A JP 2002-63142 A French Patent No. 2809210A1 US Pat. No. 6,460,766 B1 US Pat. No. 6,273,340 B1 European Patent No. 1178428A1 JP 2000-293644 A JP 2000-293645 A JP 2000-293646 A US Pat. No. 6,327,395 B1 US Pat. No. 5,245,165 Hecht D., Printed Embedded Data Graphical User Interfaces, Computer, March 2001, pp. 47-55

  However, none of the conventional techniques has completely overcome the problem of misrecognition. The causes of misrecognition are classified into several categories, and each will be described.

Ghost dot Refers to noise and dirt on the display, such as dirt generated during printing. When the digital information carrier is constituted by dots, this influence is remarkable, and it is common to define and remove a grid on which image objects are arranged.

Misrecognition due to display distortion Occurs when an image object is displayed or recognized deviating from an ideal shape when digital information carrier is displayed or read. Specifically, variations in the printing feed speed during display are caused by variations in the scanning speed of the scanner and tilt of the camera during reading. This effect is particularly noticeable when it is composed of a plurality of image objects such as a two-dimensional code.
In addition to display distortion, when bit data is encoded in the color of an image object, a deviation from an ideal color, that is, a color difference is also a source of erroneous recognition.

Misrecognition based on misrecognition of coordinate system For example, when a digital information carrier is read in a state where the document is turned upside down, if it is decoded without realizing that it is upside down, incorrect information is generated. . This is particularly a problem for image objects with high symmetry.

Other misrecognition When there is an image object that is partially difficult to recognize in the recognition range, there is a possibility that the entire image object in the recognition range cannot be decoded or misrecognized. This is a particular problem when obtaining one piece of information from a group of a plurality of image objects in a predetermined range.

If an attempt is made to increase the amount of information held in the digital information carrier, the display density of the image increases, and the possibility of the above-mentioned erroneous recognition increases. In addition, the measures taken to avoid misrecognition reduce the degree of freedom of display of the digital information carrier, or complicate the processing for obtaining information and reduce the processing speed.
Therefore, there is a need for a digital information carrier that can easily display a large amount of information, has a low possibility of erroneous recognition in decoding, and is easy to process at high speed.
Therefore, the present application aims to provide a digital information carrier that solves these problems and a method and system for handling the same.

The digital information carrier according to the first invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems includes a plurality of image objects as components, and includes a cluster information carrier constituted by two or more image objects, The cluster information carrier is characterized in that bit data is associated with the relative relationship between the two or more image objects as constituent elements.
Here, the digital information carrier is a collection of image objects obtained by encoding bit data, and the image object is composed of a collection of image pixels.
The relative relationship refers to the relationship between the shapes of a plurality of image objects such as the difference in shape and color, the longest main diameter ratio, and the relationship between the plurality of image objects such as the distance between the centers of gravity and the relative angle.
As described above, since many relations can be defined as relative relations, more bit data is associated with one cluster information carrier than with bit data associated with each constituent image object. Is realized. That is, it is possible to display a lot of information with one cluster information carrier. For this reason, the amount of constituent image objects of the digital information carrier is reduced, and the image display density can be reduced. Therefore, the influence of ghost dots or the like is reduced, a digital information carrier that is difficult to be recognized, easily displayed, and has a high recognition speed is realized.
Moreover, being able to display a lot of information with one cluster information carrier means that a lot of information can be displayed in a small image display area. For this reason, when the digital information carrier indicates position information, the position resolution is increased.
Furthermore, general image processing is possible by using a form extraction technique based on the existing technique related to the image recognition of the cluster structure. For this reason, the image processing speed is high and erroneous recognition is unlikely to occur. Therefore, high-density display is possible, and a digital information carrier that can cope with a large capacity is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the second invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the first invention of the present application, and is a plurality of image objects constituting the cluster information carrier. Among the relative relationships, a relative relationship not associated with bit data can be arbitrarily configured.
Such a digital information carrier generates a cluster information carrier that displays the same bit data while having a different form by making the relative relationship not associated with the bit data arbitrary. For this reason, a high degree of freedom can be obtained in the display form. Therefore, it is possible to select a form that hardly causes display distortion and is easy to display, or to select a form that can be easily distinguished from ghost dots and recognized. Furthermore, when digital information carriers are mixed in an existing document display, it is also possible to select a form in which the presence is not conspicuous.

The digital information carrier according to the third invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the first or second invention of the present application, and includes the components of one cluster information carrier. At least one of the image objects to be formed constitutes a component of another cluster information carrier.
In such digital information carrier, different cluster information carriers share some of the image objects. For this reason, cluster information carriers are displayed with high density. Therefore, a digital information carrier corresponding to an increase in capacity is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the fourth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems includes a plurality of image objects as components, and includes a cluster information carrier constituted by two or more image objects, In the cluster information carrier, the relative relationship between the two or more image objects that are constituent elements is associated with a determination condition as to whether or not those image objects constitute the cluster information carrier, and the cluster information is It is characterized in that bit data is associated as a unit.
Here, the entire process for performing the determination is referred to as a cluster function.
In such a digital information carrier, before generating bit data by decoding, it is specified whether or not each image object constituting the digital information carrier is a decoding target. For this reason, it is easy to identify ghost dots, and erroneous recognition is unlikely to occur. Also, different determination conditions can be set for determination of the same cluster information carrier. For this reason, setting different cluster functions for each display mode is realized. Specifically, for example, setting of a cluster function suitable for a printed material or a cluster function suitable for electronic display is realized. As described above, by setting an optimal cluster function for each display mode, occurrence of erroneous recognition is further suppressed.

The digital information carrier according to the fifth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the fourth invention of the present application, and the cluster information carrier determined is a component. Bit data is associated with the relative relationship among the plurality of image objects.
In such digital information carrier, it is realized that a lot of bit data is associated with one cluster information carrier. For this reason, the amount of constituent image objects of the digital information carrier is reduced, and the image display density can be reduced. Therefore, the influence of ghost dots or the like is reduced, a digital information carrier that is less likely to be erroneously recognized, easy to display, and fast in recognition speed is realized.
Furthermore, since it is confirmed that the relative relationship is a predetermined relationship at the stage of determining that it is a cluster information carrier, a digital information carrier that is particularly difficult to cause erroneous recognition is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the sixth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is a digital information carrier according to any one of the first to fifth inventions, and is a relative arrangement of cluster information carriers. Is provided with predetermined information.
As described above, the ghost dot is unlikely to have a specific relative arrangement with other image objects. For this reason, when information is included in the relative arrangement of the cluster information carrier like the digital information carrier, it is easily identified as a ghost dot in the process of generating the information. Therefore, a digital information carrier that is unlikely to be erroneously recognized is provided.
In addition, when the bit data held by the cluster information carrier is also given to the relative arrangement, the information is double-checked, so that a digital information carrier that is not particularly likely to be erroneously recognized is provided.
Furthermore, if information different from the bit data held by the cluster information carrier is given, the amount of information per unit display area will increase, enabling high-density display and corresponding to large capacity. A digital information carrier is provided.
In addition, when one piece of information is encoded by combining the cluster information carrier and the relative arrangement, bit data held by a plurality of cluster information carriers can be integrated into one piece of information. Therefore, a digital information carrier corresponding to a large capacity is provided. In addition, since a single piece of information is generated by combining a plurality of decoding processes, a digital information carrier with improved confidentiality of information is obtained.

The digital information carrier according to the seventh invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the sixth invention of the present application, and the information given to the relative arrangement is a plurality of clusters. It is the information which concerns on the integration rule for integrating the bit data matched with the information carrier, and producing | generating one information.
In such cluster information carrier, the bit data that is the basis of one information is held by the cluster information carrier, and the relative arrangement has information about the integration rules, so the amount of information that can be displayed on the digital information carrier Is very much. Therefore, a digital information carrier corresponding to an increase in capacity is realized. A group of minimum units for decoding cluster information carrier and the like, which can construct one piece of information by a predetermined integration rule, is called a logical block.

The digital information carrier according to the eighth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the sixth or seventh invention of the present application, and the relative arrangement of the cluster information carrier is cluster information. Information relating to at least one of the coordinate axis and the orientation of the carrier array is given.
In such cluster information carrier, the attribution of the coordinate axis and direction is realized only by recognizing the relative arrangement. For this reason, it is not necessary to associate information about coordinate axes and directions with the cluster information carrier, and the amount of information that can be encoded by the cluster information carrier is relatively increased. Therefore, a digital information carrier corresponding to an increase in capacity is realized.
Moreover, even if the cluster information carrier itself has high symmetry, the coordinate axes and orientation can be easily recognized. In general, the higher the symmetry of the cluster information carrier, the higher the ease of display, and it is difficult for the cluster information carrier to be erroneously recognized. For this reason, if the cluster information carrier itself has high symmetry, and information on coordinate axes and orientations is given to the relative arrangement, a digital information carrier that is not easily recognized erroneously is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the ninth invention of the present application provided to solve the above-mentioned problem is the digital information carrier according to the eighth invention of the present application, and is a two-dimensional arrangement of the cluster information carrier. An arrangement interval is set for each coordinate axis.
If the coordinate axis is misrecognized, it is extremely difficult to obtain correct information. For this reason, the recognition of coordinate axes is particularly important to avoid misrecognition. In such cluster information carrier, since the coordinate axis is easily assigned simply by recognizing the arrangement interval, a digital information carrier that is particularly difficult to be erroneously recognized is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the tenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is the digital information carrier according to the eighth or ninth invention of the present application, and is d pieces (provided that Among cluster information carriers with d ≧ 4), e cluster information carriers that satisfy the condition e <d / 2 are orthogonal to the arrangement direction formed by the remaining de cluster information carriers. The information about the coordinate axes is given to the arrangement direction, and the information about the azimuth is given to the deviation.
In the case where the digital information carrier is a one-dimensional array, the direction of displacement with respect to the array direction formed by the remaining de cluster information carriers is always constant, so that the forward array or the reverse direction is It is realized to determine whether it is an array.
When the digital information carrier is a two-dimensional array, the arrangement direction formed by the remaining de cluster information carriers is made to coincide with one coordinate axis, and the positive direction of the coordinate axis is determined by the deviation direction. By making it possible to determine which one is, it is possible to uniquely recognize the other coordinate axis.
As described above, by appropriately setting the shift direction, the coordinate axis and the direction are easily assigned from the arrangement interval before the individual cluster information carrier is decoded. For this reason, the digital information carrier which is hard to be erroneously recognized is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the eleventh invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is formed by integrating a plurality of unit information carriers that are the minimum units when decoding bit data from the digital information carrier. A logical block is made configurable, and one piece of information is given to an array formed by integrating some of the components of the logical block, and at least one of the components of the logical block is a unit adjacent to the logical block. The information carrier is replaced with a new logical block that can be configured.
Here, the unit information carrier is a cluster information carrier or an image object. In addition, a logical block is a group of unit information carriers, and one information can be constructed by a predetermined integration rule. Generally, unit information carriers are arranged in a matrix. Say. A group of bit data obtained by decoding individual unit information carriers constituting a logical block may be referred to as a logical block.
In the logical block according to the present invention, replacement of the unit information carrier constituting this is allowed, so that the shape of the logical block can change at any time. Since this is different from the conventional logical block, it is also referred to as a virtual block. Therefore, in the following description, the logical block may be used to include a conventional logical block and a virtual block.
Since the shape of the virtual block can be changed as described above, even if the recognition range, which is the target range for the recognition of the digital information carrier, moves in accordance with the movement of the input device, a new virtual block is appropriately changed while repeating the replacement. To follow the movement of the recognition range. Accordingly, a digital information carrier that is unlikely to be temporarily unrecognizable along with the movement of the recognition range and is less likely to be erroneously recognized is realized.
In addition, even if a part of the image object within the recognition range becomes unrecognizable, it is possible to avoid this and form a virtual block. For this reason, even when it is not necessarily good at the image recognition stage, predetermined information is realized. Therefore, the digital information carrier that can constitute such a virtual block is resistant to disturbance and is not easily recognized erroneously.

The digital information carrier according to the twelfth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the eleventh invention of the present application, and the logical block (virtual block) has one information. It is composed of a larger number of unit information carriers than the number of elements of the assigned array.
In such a digital information carrier, it is realized to use a unit information carrier that is not involved in the configuration of one information as a redundant carrier. For this reason, even if some of the unit information carriers in the virtual block become unrecognizable, it may be possible to complement with redundant carriers. It may be set. Specifically, digital information carriers created with a low-dpi general printer have a high possibility of misrecognition, so a large number of redundant carriers are set. Since the possibility of misrecognition is low in digital information carriers, the number of redundant carriers is set to be small. Note that if the number of redundant carriers increases, it is easy to avoid misrecognition, but the number of components of the virtual block increases, so the processing load for obtaining one piece of information increases.

The digital information carrier according to the thirteenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is the digital information carrier according to the eleventh or twelfth invention of the present application, and one information is a logical block (virtual block). ) Is information that can specify the arrangement coordinates of any of the constituent elements.
In such a digital information carrier, it is realized that position information is obtained by recognizing a virtual block, and further, appropriate position information is continuously provided even if the recognition range is slightly moved.

The digital information carrier according to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above problem is an array element b _m (m = 0 to n−1) of a reference bit array B having a predetermined array length n. Are arranged in a matrix, bit data is associated with the bit matrix, and two matrix elements v (adjacent to one of the two arrangement axes (i-axis) of the bit matrix V (i-axis) i, j), v (i + 1, j) is v (i, j) = b _m
v (i + 1, j) = b _{m + 1}
And the two matrix elements v (i, j) and v (i, j + 1) adjacent to the other array axis (j-axis) of the bit matrix V are the shift amounts on the j-axis side of the array element b _m As a
v (i, j) = b _m
v (i, j + 1) = b _{m + a}
And the deviation amount a on the j-axis side is an integer of 2 or more.
The bit matrix V obtained by decoding the digital information carrier is a bit array obtained by integrating the constituent elements of a logical block having a number of arrays in the main scanning direction, regardless of which array element is the starting point. This is a partial array of the reference bit array. For this reason, it is realized that a logical block is formed starting from an arbitrary place, and it is possible to construct a logical block while avoiding matrix elements that are not well recognized. Accordingly, it is avoided that some recognition failures make it difficult to recognize the entire recognition range. As a result, the recognition speed is improved and the possibility of erroneous recognition is also reduced.

The digital information carrier according to the fifteenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the fourteenth invention of the present application, and any one of the matrix elements v ( For a logical block (virtual block) that is a submatrix of the bit matrix V with the i-j) starting point and the i-axis array length as the shift amount a, the i-axis positive direction is the main scanning direction, and the j-axis By integrating some of the components of the logical block (virtual block) with the positive direction as the sub-scanning direction, the same bit arrangement as the partial arrangement of the reference bit arrangement B can be formed.
In such integration, the digital information carrier that can form a virtual block that forms the same bit array as the partial array of the reference bit array B is configured to form a virtual block starting from an arbitrary place. For this reason, compared with the conventional logical block, since it is determined rapidly whether to constitute a block, a digital information carrier is realized that has a high recognition speed and is less likely to cause erroneous recognition.
Further, by setting the i-axis side array length to a, the formed virtual block can have a matrix shape. Recognition is easy because of the matrix shape. Accordingly, a digital information carrier that is unlikely to cause erroneous recognition is realized.

The digital information carrier according to the sixteenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is the digital information carrier according to the fifteenth invention of the present application, and the reference bit array B is obtained with an arbitrary offset. The partial sequences having a predetermined length are different from each other.
The logical block constructed in this way can obtain one offset value by comparing the array obtained by integrating the constituent elements with the reference bit array B. If this offset value is used as position information that defines which part of the digital information carrier is a logical block, the position information of the current recognition range can be obtained by recognizing the image related to the logical block in the recognition range. Easy to obtain.

The digital information carrier according to the seventeenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to the fifteenth or sixteenth invention of the present application, and comprises a logical block (virtual block). The matrix element v (i, j) that forms the end of the scan direction array, and either the matrix element v (ia, j + 1) or v (i + a, j-1) is adjacent to the logical block (virtual block) As a result, a new logical block (virtual block) can be configured by replacing any of the matrix elements.
The shape of the newly constructed virtual block can be changed by replacement. For this reason, forming a virtual block while avoiding difficult-to-recognize image objects among the recognized image objects is realized. Therefore, the digital information carrier having such a configuration is less likely to be erroneously recognized.

The digital information carrier according to the eighteenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to any one of the fifteenth to seventeenth inventions of the present application, and constitutes the first bit array. It is possible to construct a new logical block (virtual block) by excluding the matrix element to be processed from the logical block (virtual block) and complementing the adjacent matrix element on the main scanning direction side of the matrix element constituting the end of the array Is done.
The digital information carrier according to the nineteenth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the digital information carrier according to any one of the fifteenth to seventeenth inventions, wherein the last bit arrangement is The matrix elements that make up are excluded from the logical blocks (virtual blocks), the matrix elements that make up the first of the array are complemented by the adjacent matrix elements on the opposite side of the main scanning direction, and new logical blocks (virtual blocks) are added. It can be constructed.
Any virtual block constructed in this way can change its shape. For this reason, forming a virtual block while avoiding difficult-to-recognize image objects among the recognized image objects is realized. Therefore, the digital information carrier having such a configuration is less likely to be erroneously recognized.

The display medium according to the twentieth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is a display medium on which the digital information carrier according to any one of the first to nineteenth inventions of the present application is displayed. The display medium is not limited to paper or film, but may be any medium as long as digital information carrier can be displayed in a detectable manner.
A display device according to the twenty-first invention of the present application displays the digital information carrier according to any one of the first to nineteenth inventions of the present application. This display device refers to a device for displaying a digital information carrier by a display element such as a liquid crystal display element, CRT, EL display element, or digital paper.
A recording medium according to the twenty-second invention of the present application is one in which display data of the digital information carrier according to any one of the first to nineteenth inventions is recorded. This display data is data in which data for displaying a predetermined digital information carrier on a display medium or a display device can be stored in a storage medium. The recording medium means a magnetic recording medium such as an FD, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape, an optical recording medium such as a CD or a DVD, or a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MO.

A digital information carrier creation system according to the twenty-third aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above-described problems is composed of an input device for data input and a plurality of image objects by processing the input data. A processing device that generates data related to the digital information carrier, and an output device that outputs data related to the generated digital information carrier, and the processing device includes conversion means for converting the input data into bit data; ,
Two or more image objects corresponding to the bit data converted by the conversion means and their relative relationship are specified, and based on the specified contents, the cluster information carrier consisting of two or more image objects is specified. And generating means for generating image data.
With such a system, it is realized that a digital information carrier that includes cluster information carrier and is less likely to cause erroneous recognition is output from the output device.

The digital information carrier creation system according to the twenty-fourth invention of the present application provided to solve the above-mentioned problems is a digital information carrier creation system according to the twenty-third invention of the present application. When the amount of bit data obtained by the conversion means is larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed by the body, the conversion means uses the converted bit data as the element of bit data having a data size equal to or less than the maximum data amount. The generating means generates image data of a plurality of cluster information carriers corresponding to the bit data that is each element of the bit array, and corresponds to the array relation of the bit array. The display position of the plurality of image data is determined.
According to such a system, a plurality of cluster information carriers are output from the output device so that a bit arrangement can be formed from their relative positions. For this reason, by recognizing the relative arrangement of a plurality of cluster information carriers, it is realized that data having a data size larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed per cluster information carrier is generated as decoded information. The

The digital information carrier creation system according to the twenty-fifth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is the digital information carrier creation system according to the twenty-third or twenty-fourth invention of the present application, An input / output unit that exchanges data signals with the input device and the output device, a processing unit that processes data input from the input / output unit, and a storage unit that stores data necessary for the processing unit to perform data processing The storage unit includes image data of the cluster information carrier and correspondence data related to the correspondence between the cluster information carrier and the bit data, and the generation unit converts the bit converted by the conversion unit. Selection means for selecting the cluster information carrier corresponding to the data based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit, and the image data corresponding to the selected cluster information carrier is stored in the storage unit Has a Luo reading No reading means, and determining means for determining the display position of the image data of the cluster information carrier which read.
According to such a processing apparatus, it is realized that the processing unit appropriately exchanges data with the storage unit to form a cluster information carrier that displays input data.

According to a twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital information carrier creating method provided to solve the above-mentioned problems, wherein digital information composed of a plurality of image objects according to data input to an input device for data input. A method for creating a digital information carrier executed by a processing device that generates data related to a carrier and outputs the data to an output device. Two or more image objects corresponding to the bit data and their relative relationship are specified, and image data of cluster information carrier consisting of two or more image objects is generated based on the specified contents. And a generation step.
By executing such a method, it is realized that a digital information carrier that includes cluster information carrier and hardly causes erroneous recognition is output from the output device.

The digital information carrier creation method according to the twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above-described problem is a digital information carrier creation method according to the twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, in which the cluster information carrier per piece is provided. When the amount of bit data obtained in the conversion step is larger than the maximum amount of data that can be displayed by the body, the converted bit data is converted into bit data with a data size equal to or less than the maximum data amount in the conversion step. In the generation step, image data of a plurality of cluster information carriers is generated corresponding to the bit data that is each element of the bit array, and the array relation of the bit array is supported. The display position of the plurality of image data is determined.
By executing this method, a plurality of cluster information carriers are output from the output device so that a bit arrangement can be formed from their relative positions. For this reason, by recognizing the relative arrangement of a plurality of cluster information carriers, it is realized that data having a data size larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed per cluster information carrier is generated as decoded information. The

The digital information carrier creation method according to the twenty-eighth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is a digital information carrier creation method according to the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh invention of the present application. An input / output unit that exchanges data signals with the input device and the output device, a processing unit that processes data input from the input / output unit, and a storage unit that stores data necessary for the processing unit to perform data processing And the storage unit has image data of cluster information carrier and correspondence data related to the correspondence between the cluster information carrier and bit data, and the generation step is a bit converted by the conversion step. A selection step for selecting the cluster information carrier corresponding to the data based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit and the image data corresponding to the selected cluster information carrier are recorded. Having a reading No reading step from parts, and determining step of determining a display position of the image data of the cluster information carrier which read.
By executing such a method, it is realized that the processing unit exchanges data with the storage unit as appropriate, thereby forming a cluster information carrier that displays input data.

A decoded information generation system for a digital information carrier according to a twenty-ninth invention of the present application provided to solve the above-mentioned problem is inputted with an input device for inputting a digital information carrier consisting of a plurality of image objects. A processing device that performs processing for generating decoded information held by the digital information carrier and an output device that outputs the decoded information, and the processing device includes a plurality of digital information carriers input from the input device. Recognizing means for recognizing as a plurality of image objects, cluster determining means for determining whether one of the plurality of image objects forms a cluster information carrier with one of the other image objects, and cluster information carrier The bit data is decoded from the determined cluster information carrier on the condition that it is determined to constitute the body, and the bit is Characterized in that it comprises a decoding information generating means for generating a decoded information based on the data.
With such a system, the digital information carrier including the cluster information carrier input from the input device is subjected to processing such as decoding while suppressing the possibility of erroneous recognition in the processing device, and error information is obtained as a result of the processing. Decoding information that is unlikely to be included is generated, and the decoding information is output from the output device.

The decoded information generation system for the digital information carrier according to the thirty-third invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is the decoded information generation system for the digital information carrier according to the twenty-ninth invention of the present application, When there are a plurality of cluster information carriers determined by the cluster determining means, the decoding information generating means generates a plurality of bit data by decoding the plurality of cluster information carriers, and a plurality of cluster information carriers. Based on the relative arrangement of the fields, some of the plurality of bit data are integrated to form a bit array, and one piece of information is generated as decoding information from the bit array.
According to this system, one piece of information distributed and held in a plurality of cluster information carriers is generated. For this reason, it is realized that data having a data amount larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed by one cluster information carrier is displayed on the digital information carrier.
Note that a method of integrating bit data based on the relative arrangement may be set in advance, but an optimal integration method may be determined in the decoding information generation process by the present system.

The decoded information generation system for digital information carrier according to the thirty-first aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above problems is the decoded information generation system for digital information carrier according to the twenty-ninth or thirty-th aspect of the present invention. The processing device has a processing unit that controls data processing and a storage unit that stores data necessary for data processing by the processing unit. The cluster determination unit uses a relative relationship between a plurality of image objects as a determination condition. The determination conditions are stored in the storage unit.
By adopting such a determination condition, ghost dots that are mixed without having a relative relationship with other image objects are effectively eliminated. Therefore, a system in which erroneous recognition is unlikely to occur is realized.

The decoding information generation system for the digital information carrier according to the thirty-second invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the decoding information generation system for the digital information carrier according to the thirty-first invention of the present application, In the cluster information carrier, bit data is associated with the relative relationship between a plurality of image objects that are constituent elements, and the storage unit has correspondence data related to the correspondence between the relative relationship and the bit data. The decoding information generation means includes decoding means for decoding bit data from the cluster information carrier based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit.
Since bit data is associated with the relative relationship of multiple image objects, there is a low possibility that bit data will be decoded even if there is cluster information carrier containing ghost dots as a component due to misrecognition. Become. Accordingly, it is difficult to generate erroneous decoding information. Moreover, since it is realized to associate a lot of bit data with one cluster information carrier, an improvement in display density and an increase in capacity of the digital information carrier are realized.

The decoding information generation system for the digital information carrier according to the thirty-third aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above-mentioned problems is a decoding information generation of the digital information carrier according to any one of the twenty-ninth to thirty-second aspects of the present invention. The system evaluates how much the display state of the plurality of image objects constituting the cluster information carrier determined by the cluster determination means deviates from the ideal display state of the cluster information carrier, and Display state determining means for determining whether or not to perform decoding by the decoding information generating means based on the evaluation result is provided.
The display state here refers to display distortion, color misalignment, and the like. The reason why this display state deviates from the ideal display state is the reason for processing in the output device of the digital information carrier (for example, scanning deviation of the printer). There are also reasons for an input state in the input device (for example, a large tilt angle of the camera) and reasons for processing in the input device (for example, low contrast and no color difference).
In such a system, a deviation from an ideal display state is evaluated as cluster information carrier by a plurality of image objects. For this reason, it is possible to set many evaluation items compared with the case of evaluating in image object units, and the evaluation accuracy is improved. In addition, the large display area is also effective for improving the evaluation accuracy, which is remarkable when the evaluation target is display distortion. Furthermore, if the same content as the determination condition (cluster function) for determining whether or not to constitute a cluster information carrier is to be evaluated, the evaluation result of deviation can be obtained by quantifying the degree of satisfaction of the determination condition. It can be used and high evaluation accuracy is realized.
Further, in such a system, when the evaluation result of the deviation is bad, it is also realized that the cluster information carrier is not subject to decoding. This is because even if it is determined whether or not the cluster information carrier is configured, that is, it is determined that the cluster information carrier is configured in the cluster function, there is a high possibility of erroneous recognition. For this reason, a system in which erroneous recognition is particularly difficult to occur is realized.

The decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to the thirty-fourth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is input to an input device for inputting digital information carrier composed of a plurality of image objects. A digital information carrier decoding information generation method executed by a processing device that generates decoding information obtained by processing digital information carrier and outputs the decoding information. The processing device receives an input from an input device. A recognition step of recognizing the digital information carrier as a plurality of image objects, and determining whether one of the plurality of image objects forms a cluster information carrier together with any of the other image objects On the condition that it is determined that the cluster determination step and the cluster information carrier are configured, the cluster information carrier formed from the determined cluster information carrier Todeta decodes, characterized in that it comprises a decoding information generation step of generating a decoded information based on the bit data.
By adopting such a method, the digital information carrier including the cluster information carrier input from the input device is subjected to processing such as decoding while suppressing the possibility of erroneous recognition in the processing device, and the result of the processing As described above, it is realized that decoding information that is unlikely to contain erroneous information is generated, and that the decoding information is output from the output device.

The decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to the thirty-fifth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is the decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to the thirty-fourth invention of the present application, When there are a plurality of cluster information carriers determined by the cluster determination step, the decoding information generation step generates a plurality of bit data by decoding the plurality of cluster information carriers, and a plurality of cluster information carriers. Based on the relative arrangement of the fields, some of the plurality of bit data are integrated to form a bit array, and one piece of information is generated as decoding information from the bit array.
By adopting such a method, one piece of information that is distributed and held in a plurality of cluster information carriers is generated. For this reason, it is realized that data having a data amount larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed by one cluster information carrier is displayed on the digital information carrier.
Note that a method of integrating bit data based on the relative arrangement may be set in advance, but an optimal integration method may be determined in the decoding information generation process by the present system.

The decoding information generation method for the digital information carrier according to the thirty-sixth aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above problem is the decoding information generation method for the digital information carrier according to the thirty-fourth or thirty-fifth aspect of the present invention. The processing apparatus includes a processing unit that manages data processing and a storage unit that stores data necessary for data processing by the processing unit. The determination conditions are stored in the storage unit.
By adopting such a determination condition, ghost dots that are mixed without having a relative relationship with other image objects are effectively eliminated. Therefore, a system in which erroneous recognition is unlikely to occur is realized.

The decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to the thirty-seventh aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above problem is the decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to the thirty-sixth aspect of the present invention, In the cluster information carrier, bit data is associated with the relative relationship between a plurality of image objects that are constituent elements, and the storage unit has correspondence data related to the correspondence between the relative relationship and the bit data, The decoding information generation step includes a decoding step for decoding bit data from the cluster information carrier based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit.
Since bit data is associated with the relative relationship of multiple image objects, there is a low possibility that bit data will be decoded even if there is cluster information carrier containing ghost dots as a component due to misrecognition. Become. Accordingly, it is difficult to generate erroneous decoding information. Moreover, since it is realized to associate a lot of bit data with one cluster information carrier, an improvement in display density and an increase in capacity of the digital information carrier are realized.

The decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to the thirty-eighth aspect of the present invention provided to solve the above-described problem is a decoding information generation of the digital information carrier according to any of the thirty-fourth to thirty-seventh aspects of the present invention. It is a method and evaluates how much the display state of a plurality of image objects constituting the cluster information carrier determined by the cluster determination step deviates from the ideal display state of the cluster information carrier, and A display state determination step for determining whether or not to perform decoding in the decoding information generation step based on the evaluation result is provided.
In this method, a deviation from an ideal display state is evaluated as cluster information carrier by a plurality of image objects. For this reason, it is possible to set many evaluation items compared with the case of evaluating in image object units, and the evaluation accuracy is improved. In addition, the large display area is also effective for improving the evaluation accuracy, which is remarkable when the evaluation target is display distortion. Furthermore, if the same content as the determination condition (cluster function) for determining whether or not to constitute a cluster information carrier is to be evaluated, the evaluation result of deviation can be obtained by quantifying the degree of satisfaction of the determination condition. It can be used and high evaluation accuracy is realized.
Further, according to the method, it is also realized that the cluster information carrier is not subject to decoding when the deviation evaluation result is bad. This is because even if it is determined whether or not the cluster information carrier is configured, that is, it is determined that the cluster information carrier is configured in the cluster function, there is a high possibility of erroneous recognition. For this reason, a method in which erroneous recognition is not particularly likely to occur is realized.

  The program according to the thirty-ninth invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is a program for causing a computer to execute the digital information carrier creating method according to the twenty-sixth or twenty-eighth invention.

  A program according to the 40th invention of the present application provided to solve the above problem is a program for causing a computer to execute the decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to any of the 34th to 38th inventions of the present application. .

  The recording medium according to the 41st invention of the present application provided to solve the above problems is a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the digital information carrier creating method according to the 26th or 28th invention of the present application. It is a recording medium.

  A recording medium according to a forty-second invention of the present application provided to solve the above-described problem is a program that causes a computer to execute the decoding information generation method for a digital information carrier according to any of the thirty-fourth to thirty-eighth inventions. A recorded computer-readable recording medium.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the digital information carrier includes cluster information carrier in which bit data is associated with a relative relationship between a plurality of image objects. This cluster information carrier can hold more bit data than the case where bit data is associated with each of a plurality of constituent image objects. For this reason, the amount of constituent image objects of the digital information carrier is reduced, and the image display density can be reduced. Therefore, the influence of ghost dots or the like is reduced, a digital information carrier that is difficult to be recognized, easily displayed, and has a high recognition speed is realized. In addition, since a lot of bit data can be displayed in a small image display area, the resolution of the position can be increased when the digital information carrier indicates the position information.

  Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether one image object that is a constituent element of the digital information carrier constitutes a cluster information carrier with another image object. Decoding is performed only when it is determined that the cluster information carrier is configured in the determination. For this reason, it is easy to identify ghost dots that are displayed almost independently of other image objects. Therefore, a digital information carrier that is unlikely to be erroneously recognized is realized.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, information is also given to the relative arrangement of cluster information carriers. As described above, since the cluster information carrier is not easily affected by the ghost dots, the information included in the relative arrangement of the cluster information carrier is less susceptible to the ghost dots. Therefore, a digital information carrier that is unlikely to be erroneously recognized is realized. In addition, since the information that the cluster information carrier has and the information that the relative arrangement has are essentially independent, the digital information carrier that has mutually independent information and one information can be obtained by associating the mutual information. The generated digital information carrier is realized. For this reason, the information holding aspect as the whole digital information carrier increases. Therefore, it is possible to create a digital information carrier in which the information retention density and the possibility of erroneous recognition are adjusted according to the display mode and application.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, a component of a logical block (virtual block) formed by integrating a plurality of unit information carriers, which is a minimum unit for decoding a digital information carrier Is replaced with unit information carrier adjacent to the logical block (virtual block) to form a new logical block (virtual block). The new logical block (virtual block) thus replaced has a high degree of freedom in the shape of the block, unlike the logical block according to the prior art in which the block shape is fixed in a matrix. For this reason, even if some unit information carriers recognized as images are inappropriate for decoding, it is easy to configure a logical block (virtual block) so as not to include it. Therefore, a digital information carrier that is less likely to be unrecognizable or erroneously recognized is realized. In addition, the range required as the recognition range is narrower than when using a logical block according to the prior art in which the block shape is fixed, and it is realized that the number of cluster information carriers included in the recognition range is set to be small. The Therefore, the image processing required for position recognition can be completed in a short time.

  Hereinafter, the digital information carrier according to the present invention will be described in detail.

  The simplest image object can be a dot and a line segment. Therefore, in the description of the cluster information carrier according to the present invention, these are used as examples in order to facilitate understanding.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of cluster information carrier composed of one dot and one line segment, and FIG. 2 is an example of operation of a cluster function for determining the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. It is a flowchart to show.
Consider a cluster information carrier composed of one dot and one line segment as shown in FIG. 1 and a cluster function as shown in FIG.
Each image object is recognized using very common image processing methods, and the main diameter and center of gravity of the object are calculated. When the main diameters are the same, the image object is a circle, that is, a dot, and when there is a sufficient difference in the main diameters, it is recognized as a line segment.

In this cluster function, input parameters are two image objects obj1 and obj2, and an output value is a true value or a false value.
As a definition, it is assumed here that one cluster information carrier includes only two different image objects, that is, dots and line segments. Therefore, when the main diameter is calculated for each of the inputted obj1 and obj2 (step S301), it can be determined whether each is a dot or a line segment.
Therefore, it is next determined whether or not the two image objects related to the process of whether or not to constitute the cluster information carrier are the same type (dot and dot, or line and line) (step S302).
If it is determined in step S302 that they are the same type, these image objects are determined by the cluster function as not forming a cluster information carrier, and a false value is output.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S302 that they are not of the same type, the distance between the centroids is calculated for the two image objects (step S303), and the distance between the centroids is compared with a predetermined threshold value.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the distance between the centers of gravity of two different types of image objects, that is, dots and line segments, is closer than the threshold value (step S304).

  If it is determined in step S304 that the image object is closer than the threshold value, these image objects are determined to be cluster information carriers by the cluster function, and a true value is output. On the other hand, if it is determined that it is farther than the threshold value, a false value is output.

  According to the cluster function as shown in FIG. 2, it is determined that the image information related to the determination process constitutes the cluster information carrier when the clustering definition is satisfied.

Here, the specific processing of the determination may be performed based on the measurement value obtained by measuring the display distortion value as a cluster, in other words, the error value as the cluster information carrier, in addition to the authenticity determination. Good.
This measured value quantitatively indicates how close the cluster information carrier related to the current determination process is to the ideal cluster information carrier based on the clustering definition. Taking the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the longest of the main diameters (longest main diameter) P of the dots included in one cluster information carrier and the longest of the main diameters of the line segments. The ratio with S must be close to 1/3. When the longest main diameter ratio between the dot and the line segment deviates from 1 and approaches 1/3, the numerical value of P / S-1 / 3 approaches zero. Further, the condition may be set such that the distance D between the centers of gravity of the dots and the line segments must be smaller than S / 2. At this time, when the dots and the line segments are arranged at appropriate positions, the value of DS / 2 approaches zero. These two expressions may be combined, and the sum of the absolute values of the respective measured values may be used as a display distortion measurement value to determine whether or not to constitute the cluster information carrier. Specifically, it is determined that the cluster information carrier is configured on the condition that the measured value is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. Here, for the sake of easy understanding, an extremely simple calculation method of display distortion has been shown. However, the present invention is not limited to the above contents, and other methods are used to calculate distortion. May be. The obtained display distortion measurement value is also used in decoding of digital information carrier, as will be described later.

  Once the cluster information carrier is recognized, the encoded bit data is decoded as follows.

First, the center of gravity of the line segment belonging to the cluster information carrier is set as the center of the cluster information carrier, and image processing is performed so that the center moves to the origin for decoding processing.
Next, image rotation processing is performed on the cluster information carrier so that the line segments belonging to the cluster information carrier are arranged on the X axis.
Subsequently, for the dots belonging to the cluster information carrier, the coordinates in the coordinate system with the center of the line segment as the origin are confirmed. When the X coordinate value and Y coordinate value of the dot are the same, it is decoded as “1”, and when the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value are different, it is decoded as “0”.
Note that the above-described cluster information carrier conversion process is not substantially performed, and the decoding process may be performed only by performing the coordinate confirmation work. In this case, the recognition system is realized at low cost.

  An example of the arrangement of cluster information carriers shown in FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. In this case, the bit arrangement obtained by decoding is “101000”. Here, since each cluster information carrier has an asymmetric shape with respect to 180 ° rotation, in decoding this cluster information carrier array, the first cluster information carrier is unambiguous. To be determined. For this reason, the bit arrangement is not obtained in the reverse order (like “000101”). Therefore, the asymmetric cluster information carrier array can be directly used for linear encoding, and at this time, the coordinate range is defined only by the length of the bit array.

Next, linear encoding for generating one piece of information from this bit arrangement will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram conceptually showing a relationship between a numerical value obtained by converting a reference bit array and a partial array having an array length of 4 obtained by appropriately offsetting the reference bit array into a decimal system and an offset value.
Here, for ease of understanding, description will be made using a reference bit array having an array length of only 15 as shown in FIG.
When the reference bit array consisting of 15 bits shown in FIG. 4 is selected as an arbitrary consecutive 4 bits as a partial array, 15 partial arrays other than “0000” are obtained. In the case of offset 0, the partial array is “0001” and “1” in decimal notation. Similarly, in offset 1, the partial arrangement is “0011”, “3” in decimal notation, and in offset 2, the partial arrangement is “0111”, and “7” in decimal notation. Since the reference bit array is a cyclic type, the bit next to the 15th bit returns to the beginning of the array. In fact, a partial array starting from the 13th to 15th bits can be obtained by adding the first three of the array, that is, “000” to the end of the array. For example, at offset 14, the partial array is “1000” and “8” in decimal.
It should be noted here that there are no overlapping arrays in the 15 partial arrays selected from the reference bit array. For this reason, the position information of the coordinate number 15 can be encoded by the offset value from the first bit of the reference bit array of the array length 15.

The derivation of the offset value will be specifically described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of an example of a process for deriving an offset value from a bit array having an array length of 4.
First, “0” is set as an initial offset value for extracting a partial array from the reference bit array (step S320). Subsequently, a partial array having an array length of 4 starting from the offset value is generated (step S321).
It is determined whether or not the partial array is the same as the bit array having the array length 4 related to the processing (step S322). If it is determined that the partial array is the same, the offset value is output and the process according to FIG. The process ends.
On the other hand, when it is determined that they are not the same, the offset value is increased by “1” (step S323), and it is determined whether or not the offset value after increase is smaller than 14 (step S324). If it is determined that the size is small, the process proceeds to step S321 to execute processing after generation of the partial array.
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S324 that it is not smaller than 14, this means that the bit arrangement related to the process is not the same as any partial arrangement starting from any offset value. Therefore, an error value (for example, -1) is output and the processing according to FIG.
More specific examples will be given below. If four consecutive cluster information carriers are recognized when a predetermined range of the digital information carrier is recognized, position information can be obtained from a bit arrangement obtained by decoding them. For example, if the bit arrangement is “1101”, the decimal value is “13”, the offset value is “5”, and the recognition range coordinate is “5”. Note that the bit arrangement of the bit length shown here is an example, and the method according to the present application can be applied to a bit arrangement of an arbitrary bit length without device dependency.

The one-dimensional bit array obtained by decoding the linearly encoded digital information carrier is easily extended to two dimensions. This extension will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of expressing two dimensions using a one-dimensional array.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a digital information carrier encoded by the rules according to FIGS. 1 and 4 using the expression method of FIG.
For example, by assigning numbers to the entire surface by a method as shown in FIG. 6, all positions on the two dimensions are specified. FIG. 7 shows an example in which the upper left triangular area in FIG. 6 is actually encoded. In FIG. 7, for the sake of convenience, the triangular area is rotated by 45 ° to the right.

As another method for expressing two dimensions, there is a method of expressing one dimension per one digital information carrier using two digital information carriers. This method will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a plurality of one-dimensional arrays in which the digital information carriers encoded according to the rules of FIGS. 1 and 4 are arranged in the positive X-axis direction in the negative Y-axis direction.
FIG. 9 shows a plurality of one-dimensional arrays in the positive direction of the X-axis, in which the digital information carriers encoded in accordance with the rules of FIGS. 1 and 4 are arranged in the negative direction of the Y-axis. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 8, one-dimensional digital information carriers are arranged in a plurality of rows at predetermined intervals. Next, the digital information carrier is rotated by 90 °, and similar one-dimensional digital information carriers are further arranged. In this way, a digital information carrier as shown in FIG. 9 is obtained.
In this digital information carrier, any position on the surface can be defined by independently decoding two types of codes. For example, a bit array obtained by decoding four cluster information carriers surrounded by a long rectangle in the horizontal direction is “0111”, and this offset value “2” indicates an X coordinate value. Similarly, a bit arrangement obtained by decoding four cluster information carriers surrounded by a rectangle that is long in the vertical direction is “0011”, and this offset value “1” indicates a Y coordinate value. Here, once the orientation of the bit array (which is the positive direction) is recognized, the attribution of each axis can be easily performed from the relationship between the two X and Y coordinate axes in the positive direction.

Furthermore, when the cluster information carrier can have 2 bits of information or can have four different numerical values, one cluster information carrier has two-dimensional information directly. It is also possible. An example thereof is shown in FIGS.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of cluster information carrier that can have information of 2 bits.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a digital information carrier in which the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 10 is two-dimensionally arranged based on the rules of FIG.

  In the cluster information carrier shown here as an example, two line segments forming one image object indicate an X axis and a Y axis that intersect at the origin. The cluster information carrier is decoded by recognizing the coordinates of the dots in the coordinate system of the X axis and the Y axis. In this example, the X (Y) coordinate value is decoded as “0” when the numerical value indicating the coordinate is negative, focusing on the Y (X) coordinate, and is “1” when positive. I am going to do that. An example of a digital information carrier encoded by this method is shown in FIG.

An example of decoding the position information of this area is shown. When four consecutive cluster information carriers surrounded in the horizontal direction in FIG. 11 are selected, if bit data obtained by decoding each cluster information carrier is integrated, 2 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction Two 4-bit arrays are obtained. The bit array indicating the X-axis direction is “0001”, and the bit array indicating the Y-axis direction is “1111”. When the offset values are obtained for these bit arrays based on FIG. 5, “0” is obtained in the X-axis direction, and the X coordinate value is recognized as “0”.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the offset value in the Y-axis direction cannot be used to indicate the coordinate value in the Y-axis direction.
For this reason, in order to obtain the Y coordinate value, the cluster information carrier that is four consecutive in the vertical direction is selected with the first cluster information carrier in the first four consecutive cluster information carriers in the horizontal direction as the head. Then, the bit data obtained by decoding these are integrated to obtain two bit arrays. In this case, a bit arrangement corresponding to the coordinate value is obtained only from the Y-axis direction, contrary to the case of the X-axis direction. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, “1111” is obtained in the Y-axis direction, and “3” is obtained as the Y coordinate value.

  In the case of an asymmetric cluster information carrier as used in the above description, it is extremely easy to assign the X axis and the Y axis. On the other hand, when the symmetry of the configuration image object is high and therefore the symmetry as the cluster information carrier is also high, the configuration is relatively simplified, but the coordinate axis is determined from the arrangement of the cluster information carrier. It may not be easily recognized. Note that a method for resolving the ambiguity related to the recognition of the coordinate system generated in the cluster information carrier having high symmetry will be described in detail later.

  12 to 15 show examples of cluster information carriers having high form symmetry. FIG. 12 shows an example of a cluster information carrier that can have 1-bit information using two dot-shaped image objects. FIG. 13 shows an example of a cluster information carrier that can have 2-bit information using the same two dot shapes. FIGS. 14 and 15 each show an example of cluster information carrier that can have 2-bit information using two line segments. An example of the digital information carrier formed by arranging the cluster information carriers defined in FIG. 15 on a plane is shown in FIG.

  At first glance, the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 16 is similar to a digital information carrier encoded by glyphs. However, as explained so far, since the digital information carrier according to the present invention is based on a principle completely different from the glyph, the similarity in appearance is merely on the surface. If it sees in detail, it will be understood immediately that the cluster information carrier which concerns on this application is a thing which is not disclosed by any prior art.

FIG. 17 is an example of a digital information carrier in which the two types of cluster information carriers shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 are used together.
In the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 17, the distance between the centers of gravity of the respective image objects constituting the image information carrier is constant, and it is unclear at first glance which two image objects form the cluster information carrier. However, instead of using the distance between two image objects to determine whether or not to form cluster information carrier, it is possible to make the determination easily by using the object type determined by the orientation of the image object. Become. In fact, when the determination is made using the closest distance between two image objects, the image object 17-2 in the first row and the second column when the upper left image object is in the first row and the first column and the image object on the right side thereof It is determined that the closest distance to 17-3 is smaller than the threshold value, and it is determined that these image objects form one cluster information carrier. However, by determining based on the image object type, these image objects are separated and determined to form cluster information carrier with the same type of image objects adjacent to each other. Specifically, the image object by the diagonal line segment shown by the image object 17-1 and the image object 17-2 forms one cluster information carrier, and the image object 17-3 and the image object 17-4 The image object by the vertical or horizontal line segment shown makes up one cluster information carrier.

  The cluster function for performing such determination is set so as to calculate the minimum angle between the main axes forming the maximum lengths of the two image objects related to the determination. When the angle is close to 0 ° or 90 °, the two image objects are recognized as forming cluster information carrier. This will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 17. The angle between the principal axes forming the maximum lengths of the two image objects 17-1 and 17-2 is close to 0 °, and the two line segments are substantially parallel. Yes, the angle between the principal axes forming the maximum length of each of the image objects 17-3 and 17-4 is close to 90 °, and the two line segments are almost orthogonal. On the other hand, different types of image objects, for example, the image objects 17-2 and 17-3, have a vicinity of 45 °.

  Further, in the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 17, all the image objects adjacent in the vertical direction are of different types, and only the image object adjacent in the horizontal direction can form the cluster information carrier. ing. Such a configuration is an important configuration in that the horizontal axis and the vertical axis can be easily determined based on the orientation of the cluster information carrier.

The image objects constituting the cluster information carrier may be different from each other only by their sizes. An example is shown in FIG.
FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example in which the image objects constituting the cluster information carrier are different from each other only by their sizes.
The digital information carrier shown in FIG. 18 is formed by arranging cluster information carriers composed of dot-shaped image objects of two sizes, large and small. The cluster function based on the dot size and the threshold value of the distance between dots is a cluster composed of two large dots and one small dot as shown in 18-1, 18-2, 18-3 in FIG. Define information carrier. In recognition of one cluster information carrier, first, two dots are sequentially sampled from the recognized image. If it is determined that the two sampled dots are the small dot S and the large dot L1, they are determined to belong to one cluster information carrier. Next, the cluster function determines whether or not the small dot S recognized as the first parameter constitutes a cluster information carrier with an image object different from the recognized large dot L1 as the second parameter. Make a decision. When the cluster function outputs a true value as a result of the determination, the dot related to the determination is recognized as the second large dot L2, and constitutes one cluster information carrier with L1, S, L2 It is determined.

  Here, if the feature of the cluster information carrier according to FIG. 18 is described, a certain dot can be a component of a plurality of cluster information carriers. That is, as indicated by the cluster information carrier 18-2 and the cluster information carrier 18-3, the cluster information carriers partially overlap each other. In this way, many advantages are obtained by allowing the overlap. The number of image objects required to display a plurality of cluster information carriers is reduced, and the digital information carrier becomes inconspicuous on the document. The important point here is that this overlap does not cause interference in the encoding of the data. In order to realize such incoherency, bit data may be encoded in a relative arrangement of non-overlapping image objects among the image objects constituting the cluster information carrier. This is illustrated in FIG. FIG. 19 shows an arrangement between large dots L1 and L2 of small dots S. By arranging a small dot S at any of the positions indicated by the small white circles in FIG. 19, it is realized to form a cluster information carrier in which different numerical values are encoded. When decoding, the numerical value shown in the circle corresponding to the position where the small dot S is arranged is obtained.

The cluster information carrier decoding method shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 will be described below.
First, a line segment connecting the centroids of the large dots L1 and L2 is defined.
Next, the coordinates of the small dot S are calculated, and it is determined whether the coordinates are above the line segment, substantially above the line segment, or below the line segment. If it is above the line segment, it will be either 1, 2, or 3 in FIG. 6, 7, or 8.
Subsequently, the distance | L1S | between the large dot L1 and the small dot S and the distance | L2S | between the large dot L2 and the small dot S are calculated, and these are compared to determine which row the small dot S is in. judge.

Here, the maximum information amount that the cluster information carrier can hold may be 2 bits or 1 bit instead of 3 bits as shown in FIG. FIG. 20 shows a cluster information carrier whose maximum information amount that can be held is 1 bit, and FIG. 21 shows a cluster information carrier whose maximum information amount that can be held is 2 bits.
Actually, the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 18 is composed of the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 21, and in FIG. 18, the two types of cluster information carriers shown in FIG. Used separately for direction. For this reason, axis attribution is easily performed. The small dots S of the cluster information carriers 18-1 and 18-2 in the horizontal axis direction are arranged based on the arrangement configuration of (b) in FIG. On the other hand, the small dots S of the cluster information carrier 18-3 in the vertical axis direction are arranged based on the arrangement configuration (a) in FIG.
In FIGS. 19 to 21, only the cluster information carrier arranged in the horizontal axis direction is shown. However, in the cluster information carrier in the vertical axis direction as shown in the cluster information carrier 18-3 in FIG. 18. The encoding is the same as the encoding shown in FIGS. 19 to 21 except that the coordinate axes are different.

Further, cluster information carriers composed of different numbers of image objects are also effective, and this will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of cluster information carrier composed of 1 to 4 dots.
In this example, when the cluster information carrier is decoded, a numerical value from 0 to 3 is obtained corresponding to the number of constituent dots, and the cluster information carrier has 2-bit information. In this case, since the information is decoded only based on the number of constituent dots, there may be cluster information carriers indicating the same bit data (number of bits) even if the display formats are different. An example is shown in FIG. Some cluster information carriers shown in the column direction in FIG. 22 have the same number of bits when decoded because they have the same number of dots, although the display formats are different. What is required for these cluster information carriers is that when a plurality of dots are arranged in the same cluster information carrier, the distance between the centers of gravity of the dots is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. There is no restriction on the shape and size of the cluster information carrier.
In order to support raster-type document display, in each cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 22, the dot objects that are configured are arranged on an equally spaced grid. As a result, the cluster information carrier 22-1 and the cluster information carrier 22-2 are distinguished from each other by comparing the distance between the centers of gravity of the dots.

Moreover, you may encode based on the shape of cluster information carrier, and this is demonstrated using FIG.
FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of cluster information carrier in which bit data is encoded in the shape of the cluster information carrier.
For example, as shown in FIG. 23, it may be classified into two groups depending on whether or not the shape formed by arranging three dots is a straight line. The cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 23 has 1, 2, 3 dots, and decoding is performed based on the number of constituent dot objects and the shape as the cluster information carrier. In particular, when the number of dot objects is 3, when the line connecting the three dots is a straight line, the numerical value obtained by decoding is “2”. 3 ”is decoded. Here, although the determination is based on the shape, the cluster information carrier having the same information can be obtained even if the appearance is different, similarly to the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. Please keep in mind.

  It is extremely important that visually different display forms can be selected with a certain degree of freedom while having the same information. This is because when an appropriate form of dots is selected to improve the overall appearance of the digital information carrier, or when bit data is mixed with existing document information, the existing document display is visually uncomfortable. This is because it is possible to select cluster information carriers in a form that reduces the number of clusters.

Subsequently, a more practical and relatively simplified example will be described in order to provide a more detailed description of the present invention. Consider a cluster information carrier constituted by the distance between two centroids of a dot-shaped image object having a minimum area being equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. Assume that the cluster information carrier has 2-bit information as shown in FIG. If the image object and the cluster information carrier are simplified as in this case, the symmetry of the form of the cluster information carrier increases. For this reason, it becomes comparatively difficult to obtain information on coordinate axes and directions from the form of the cluster information carrier.
In such a case, it is desirable to give information on the coordinate axis and direction to the relative arrangement of the cluster information carrier. Specifically, the cluster information carrier may be arranged on a kind of virtual lattice in which the lattice interval is defined in advance. The arrangement interval of the cluster information carrier, that is, the lattice interval of the virtual lattice is set larger than the typical distance between the centers of gravity of the image objects constituting the cluster information carrier. The interval in the row direction and the interval in the column direction may be set based on different definitions so that the row and the column can be easily identified. If the row and column arrangement intervals are set appropriately, the row and the column can be easily identified even if the image recognized during the decoding process is geometrically deformed. An example is shown in FIG. FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a digital information carrier in which information for specifying a coordinate axis is included in the arrangement interval of the cluster information carrier. In FIG. 24, different lattice spacings in the vertical and horizontal directions, that is, vertical lattice spacing> horizontal lattice spacing are applied.

  Having described how cluster information carrier recognition is performed, here we will explain how cluster information carrier is useful even at the stage of image recognition.

  It is well known that the recognition processing speed of a digital information carrier encoded in a dot format often decreases due to display noise and dirt called ghost dots. In order to distinguish between the ghost dots and the true dots, some kind of virtual grid for arranging the image objects may be used. For example, when true dots are placed on a grid with a predetermined interval, the grid is first recognized, and then the ghost dot is distinguished from the true dot by the positional relationship between the grid and the dot. Is done.

  However, it is very difficult to define the lattice spacing of this virtual lattice. For example, when a considerable number of ghost dots are included in the document, it is particularly difficult to recognize the virtual lattice itself. For this reason, ghost dots may not be properly eliminated.

On the other hand, in the present invention, since a cluster function for determining whether each image object constitutes cluster information carrier is applied before decoding, ghost dots are effectively eliminated in this process. .
For example, when the image shown in FIG. 24 is recognized, in image processing, a dot having at least one dot in the vicinity may constitute a cluster information carrier and is therefore classified as a true dot. On the other hand, dots that do not have dots in the vicinity are classified as ghost dots.
Of course, there may be a case where one ghost dot happens to be in the vicinity of the dots constituting the cluster information carrier. However, in this case, there are three image objects constituting the cluster information carrier. On the other hand, in the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 24, the cluster information carrier is not composed of three dots. For this reason, it is not recognized that the dot containing the ghost dot comprises cluster information carrier. In addition, since the cluster function defines the mutual relationship between the dots that make up the cluster information carrier, two true dots are selected from the three dots by the clustering function to eliminate ghost dots, and appropriate cluster information It is quite possible that a carrier is recognized.
In addition, the possibility of finding a ghost dot in image processing increases by narrowing the true dot interval constituting the cluster information carrier and increasing the interval between the cluster information carriers.

  On the other hand, when the cluster information carrier is composed of different image objects, ghost dots are more efficiently removed in image processing. For example, in the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 1, only the dots arranged at a predetermined distance from both ends of the line segment can be true dots. As described above, since the relationship between the image objects constituting the cluster information carrier is defined in advance, a ghost dot can be easily found by using the relationship. In the above description, specific modes are used in order to promote understanding of the use of the relationship between the image objects. However, these are merely examples, and what is intended by the present invention is limited by the above description. It will never be done.

  Returning again to FIG. FIG. 24 shows a cluster information carrier by a dot pattern as an example. This dot pattern can hold a maximum of 2 bits per cluster information carrier and can be displayed on a surface of any size. Using this dot pattern, the absolute position of the recognition range can be decoded more efficiently according to the present invention, and the digital information carrier related to the position information can be displayed in a carpet shape. Is shown below.

First, the concept of the virtual block will be described.
Some prior arts disclose that bit data decoded from a plurality of image objects are integrated to form a logical block. The logical block is effective in that it can have more information than the image object itself can have. For example, even when only 0 and 1 are indicated in the image object alone, in a logical block formed by integrating 10 of these, when position information is formed using the reference bit array, 2 ¹⁰ −1 ( = 1023) The position of the location can be specified.
The virtual block introduced in the present invention is obtained by decoding a minimum unit in decoding (a single image object or the above-described cluster information carrier, also referred to as “unit information carrier”). A plurality of bit data is formed into blocks at a virtual level. By introducing the concept of virtual blocks, overlapping between logical blocks is allowed, the level of redundancy can be controlled, and recovery when an image is erroneously recognized can be performed.

Hereinafter, the position recognition using the virtual block will be specifically described by taking as an example the case where the cluster information carrier is selected as the minimum unit (unit information carrier) in decoding. The position recognition is performed based on linear encoding as shown in FIG. That is, a bit array of a predetermined length is formed from a virtual block, and it is determined which position of the reference bit array forms a partial array, and position information is obtained from an offset value indicating the starting point of the partial array Shall.
The size of the virtual block necessary for position recognition is selected as follows. First, the number of coordinates necessary for position recognition is determined from the size of the document on which the digital information carrier is displayed and the size of the cluster information carrier. Next, the number of cluster information carriers required for position recognition, that is, the bit arrangement length is determined from the number of coordinates and the amount of information that the cluster information carrier can have. Subsequently, the size of the virtual block is determined by considering the display arrangement interval of the cluster information carrier.

An example of the virtual block according to the present invention is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 25, a 6 × 8 digital information carrier is shown as an example. However, in FIG. 25, the cluster information carrier, which is a component, is not directly displayed, but a bit value and a Y-axis direction for specifying coordinates in the X-axis direction from bit data obtained by decoding the cluster information carrier. Are displayed to indicate which array element of the reference bit array each corresponds to.
Explaining the case where the display is Xm / Yn in the upper stage / lower stage, the bit value for the X-axis direction obtained from the cluster information carrier arranged at the corresponding position is represented by the reference bit arrangement m. This indicates that the bit value obtained by offsetting (in other words, the bit value forming the m + 1th array element of the reference bits) is the same. The bit value for the Y-axis direction is the same as the bit value obtained by offsetting the reference bit array by n.
Therefore, the cluster information carrier according to FIG. 25 has (bit value for the X-axis direction, bit value for the Y-axis direction) = (0,0), (1,0), (0,1), It is necessary to have four kinds of distinguishable information (1, 1), and therefore it is necessary that at least two bits can be encoded.
Note that the reason why the cluster information carrier is not directly displayed in FIG. 25 is to facilitate understanding.

For this digital information carrier, 12 is selected as the number of cluster information carriers constituting the virtual block, and a 3 × 4 matrix area is set as the virtual block. In this case, a possible combination of 2 ¹² kinds as the virtual block, it is possible to form the bit sequences of sequence length 12 from this virtual block. The maximum number of position coordinates that can be specified using this bit array and an appropriate reference array is 2 ¹² −1. If the row width and the column width of the cluster information carrier are 4: 3, the 3 × 4 area constituting the virtual block is a square.

From the virtual block thus obtained, a bit array having an array length of 12 is formed as follows.
For bit values in the X-axis direction, the bit number in the X-axis direction is integrated by sequentially integrating the X-axis positive direction with the upper left corner of the virtual block as the starting point, the X-axis positive direction as the main scanning direction, and the Y-axis negative direction as the sub-scanning direction. A length 12 bit array is formed.
On the other hand, for bit values in the Y-axis direction, a bit array having an array length of 12 is formed in the same manner with the upper left corner of the virtual block as the starting point, the Y-axis negative direction as the main scanning direction, and the X-axis positive direction as the sub-scanning direction.

The bit array thus obtained forms a partial array having an array length of 12 in the reference bit array in both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. This is true even if any 3 × 4 square area in the matrix shown in FIG. 25 is selected to form a virtual block.
For example, the bit arrangement in the X-axis direction obtained from the virtual block 25-1 indicated by the broken line in FIG. The bit array also forms a partial array having an array length of 12 obtained from the reference bit array at an offset “0”. In the virtual block 25-2 indicated by the solid line, the bit arrangement in the X-axis direction is a partial arrangement with an offset “1”, and the bit arrangement in the Y-axis direction is a partial arrangement with an offset “3”.

  Thus, the virtual block according to the present invention can be constructed from any cluster information carrier. Therefore, several virtual blocks can overlap each other as shown by virtual blocks 25-1 (broken line), 25-2 (solid line) and 25-3 (dotted line) in FIG. This is a significant difference from the prior art. In the prior art, the blocks indicating the position information formed on the surface on which the digital information carrier is displayed are often arranged mainly in a tile shape, that is, without overlapping each other.

Here, the arrangement of the bit values of each axis of the digital information carrier in FIG. 25 will be described in some detail. The p row X-axis direction of the bit value of q columns v _x and the Y-axis direction of the bit number v _y, the upper left end as 0 row 0 column, if the bit number in the offset m of the reference bit sequence and b _m Is expressed as follows.
v _x = b _{(4 * p + q)} (Formula 1)
v _y = b _{(p + 3 * q)} (Formula 2)

If this is generalized and N is the number of cluster information carriers constituting the virtual block, r is the number of columns of the virtual block, and c is an integer obtained by rounding up N / r, Equations 1 and 2 are as follows: become.
v _x = b _{(r * p + q)} (Formula 3)
v _y = b _{(p + c * q)} (Formula 4)

  That is, in a digital information carrier that is encoded so that the bit values of each axis of p rows and q columns satisfy Expressions 3 and 4, a virtual block consisting of c rows and r columns may be formed at an arbitrary location. Realized.

When the above contents are generalized with respect to the coordinate axes and expressed in another way, the following is obtained.
Two bit values v (i, j) and v (i + 1) adjacent to the main scanning direction (i-axis positive direction) when the main scanning direction is the i-axis positive direction and the sub-scanning direction is the j-axis positive direction. , j) satisfies the following expressions 5 and 6.
v (i, j) = b _m (Formula 5)
v (i + 1, j) = b _{m + 1} (Formula 6)
On the other hand, two bit values v (i, j) and v (i, j + 1) adjacent to each other in the sub-scanning direction (j-axis positive direction) are as follows, assuming that the arrangement length of the logical blocks in the main scanning direction is a. Equations 7 and 8 are satisfied.
v (i, j) = b _m (Formula 7)
v (i, j + 1) = b _{m + a} (Formula 8)
For application to the X-axis direction of the bit numbers v _x in the main scanning direction is the X-axis positive direction for the bit sequence forming, since the sub-scanning direction is the Y-axis negative direction, the i-axis positive direction X-axis positive The j-axis positive direction may be the Y-axis negative direction. Further, the i-axis positive direction in order to apply to the bit numbers v _y in the Y-axis direction and Y-axis negative direction may be the j-axis positive direction and X-axis positive direction.

The concept of the virtual block may be expanded to separate the contents of the virtual block for indicating one piece of position information from the shape of the virtual block. This will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of a virtual block having a shape degree of freedom.
When the definition of the virtual block is simplified, “a group in which a bit array having a predetermined array length of 12 can be formed by at least one of the bit value in the X-axis direction and the bit value in the Y-axis direction” is surrounded by a thick line in FIG. All four regions of 12 elements, that is, 26-1 to 26-4, are virtual blocks.
In FIG. 26A, a group 26-1, 26-2 surrounded by a thick solid line starts from the upper left corner, and the bit value in the X-axis direction is the X-axis positive direction in the main scanning direction and the Y-axis negative direction is sub-scanned. When integrated as directions, the resulting bit arrays are X16 to X27 and X2 to X13, respectively, and the offset values are continuous. For this reason, each of them forms a partial arrangement of the reference bit arrangement and becomes a virtual block.
In addition, regarding the groups 26-3 and 26-4 surrounded by the thick solid line in FIG. 26B, when bit numbers are formed by integrating the bit values in the Y-axis direction, Y0 to Y11 and Y13 to Y24, respectively. Since these all constitute a partial arrangement of the reference bit arrangement, the groups 26-3 and 26-4 are also virtual blocks.

Here, it should be noted that the virtual block for recognizing the bit arrangement in the X-axis direction and the virtual block for recognizing the bit arrangement in the Y-axis direction may be defined independently. For this reason, in a group of recognized digital information carriers, it is allowed to decode from cluster information carriers having different bit values in the X-axis direction and bit values in the Y-axis direction.
When the bit arrangement in one coordinate axis direction is obtained from the virtual block in this way, the bit arrangement may be used to generate position information using another reference bit arrangement having a longer arrangement length. . That is, position information may be generated using a plurality of reference bit arrays.

  It should also be noted that in this case, the shape of the virtual block is not a 3 × 4 square. This is because the virtual block only needs to include a predetermined number of cluster information carriers in which the number of consecutive bits is encoded, and the shape of the entire block is arbitrary.

The virtual block will be further described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 27 is a diagram in which a virtual block and a recognition range are displayed as an example of a bit matrix obtained by decoding digital information carrier.
FIG. 28 is a diagram in which virtual blocks, recognition ranges, and matrix elements that can be replaced with each other are displayed as an example of a bit matrix obtained by decoding digital information carrier.

  In FIG. 27, one of the virtual block areas is indicated by a thick line. A circle with a solid line is an example of a recognition range including the virtual block. The recognition range is a range recognized by a series of image recognition processes, and only the cluster information carrier included in the recognition range can be a constituent element of the virtual block in the series of processes. The recognition range varies with the movement of the input device, and accordingly, the number of cluster information carriers in the recognition range also varies. For example, the cluster information carrier included in the solid line recognition range in FIG. 27A has a rectangular shape with 3 rows and 5 columns, and the solid line recognition range in FIG. 27B has a rectangular shape with 4 rows and 4 columns. .

  Here, in FIG. 27A, when the recognition range moves slightly in the horizontal direction to become, for example, the position of a broken-line circle, the X5Y4 cluster information carrier that can be recognized in the recognition range by the solid-line circle. It becomes difficult to recognize the body and the cluster information carrier of X13Y6. In addition, when moving to the position of the one-dot chain line circle, it becomes difficult to recognize all the cluster information carriers (X5Y4, X9Y5 and X13Y6) in the leftmost column of the virtual block indicated by the bold line. For this reason, it is difficult to recognize a virtual block starting from X5Y4, and it becomes difficult to obtain information related to position recognition by decoding this virtual block.

  However, even in this case, the leftmost column in the virtual block indicated by the thick line is excluded from the virtual block, and instead, X9Y16, X13Y17, and X17Y18 are added as the rightmost column, which is indicated by the broken line. A new virtual block starting from X6Y7 is reconstructed. Therefore, by decoding this virtual block, a bit array in the X-axis direction having elements from X6 to X17 and a bit array in the Y-axis direction having elements from Y7 to Y18 are formed. Based on this, information related to position recognition is obtained. In addition, even if the position information obtained from the virtual block starting from X5Y4 recognized by the solid circle and the position information in this case are different, it differs depending on the movement of the recognition range. There is no problem.

  The same applies to the movement of the virtual block accompanying the movement in the vertical direction, and an outline thereof is shown in FIG.

When the recognition range moves to both the X axis and the Y axis, the virtual block moves as shown in FIG. When moving from the recognition range indicated by the solid circle in the lower right direction to the recognition range indicated by the dashed circle, the cluster information carrier of X6Y7 at the upper left of the virtual block indicated by the thick line is recognized. It becomes difficult. If this cluster information carrier cannot be recognized, the remaining virtual blocks include 11 X-axis bit values (X7 to X17) and 11 Y-axis bit values (Y8 to Y18). It becomes.
Here, in order to complete the virtual block in the X-axis direction, the cluster information carrier indicating X6 or X18 may be complemented. Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 28A, it is allowed to reconstruct a virtual block complemented by X18Y21. Similarly, to complete a virtual block in the Y-axis direction, X21Y19 is used as shown in FIG.
Note that in these cases the shape of the virtual block is no longer a 3 × 4 square. Since the block shape is arbitrary for the virtual block, it is possible to select an appropriate shape according to the cluster information carrier included in the recognition range. For this reason, the range required as the recognition range is narrower than the case where a conventional logical block with a fixed block shape is adopted, and the number of cluster information carriers included in the recognition range is set to be small. Is done. Therefore, the image processing required for position recognition can be completed in a short time.

Depending on the location of the recognition range, it may be possible to decode more than 12 bit sequences. For example, in the recognition range after movement indicated by a broken-line circle, X19Y13, X20Y16, and X21Y19 can be decoded as the X-axis direction, and X14Y20 and X18Y21 can be decoded as the Y-axis direction.
Moreover, depending on the moving direction of the recognition range, among the cluster information carriers corresponding to the corners of the virtual block, it may be difficult to recognize cluster information carriers other than those constituting the start point. FIG. 28A shows the correspondence when the recognition becomes difficult in forming the bit array in the X-axis direction. In the virtual block indicated by the bold line, if X9Y16 at the upper right end cannot be recognized, X9Y5 in the lower left direction may be used instead of X9Y16 to construct a virtual block. In the newly constructed virtual block, a continuous bit array from X6 to X17 is formed by the conventional integration method in which the upper left corner is the starting point, the X-axis positive direction is the main scanning direction, and the Y-axis negative direction is the sub-scanning direction. The Similarly, if X17Y18 at the lower right end is difficult to recognize, X5Y4 in the upper left direction is used, and if X14Y20 in the upper right direction is used in the case of X14Y9 at the lower left end, a continuous bit array from X6 to X17 is formed.
The same applies to the bit arrangement in the Y-axis direction, and FIG. 28B shows the correspondence of replacement in the virtual block indicated by the thick solid line.

  As described above, the virtual block reconstructed according to the movement direction of the recognition range is obtained by replacing a part of the cluster information carrier constituting the constituent elements of the virtual block before the movement. For this reason, regardless of the direction of movement, many components of the reconstructed virtual block have the components of the virtual block before the movement as overlapping portions. Therefore, in the image processing of a new virtual block, much of the data of the virtual block before movement is used, and processing loss due to the reconstruction of the virtual block can be minimized. On the other hand, in the tiled logical block according to the prior art, the new logical block constituted by the movement cannot use the data of the logical block before the movement at all.

  If the recognition range moves diagonally and the three cluster information carriers constituting the end of the virtual block cannot be recognized, the cluster information carriers that have become difficult to recognize are individually replaced. Instead, a new virtual block is constructed by moving in the diagonal direction corresponding to the movement of the recognition range as a whole while the virtual block remains square.

  The parameters required for the scanning type or batch recognition type image input device are determined by the circular recognition range used in the above description. For example, in the case of a typical rectangular image input range, it is first necessary to include the above circular recognition range. Next, the number of pixels allocated to each cluster information carrier is calculated from the physical resolution of the image input device. This is because the degree of misrecognition in image recognition and the image processing speed are determined by the number of assigned pixels. Specifically, when the number of allocated pixels is large, the number of pixels constituting the image object increases, so that erroneous recognition is unlikely to occur, but the calculation load increases. On the other hand, when the number of assigned pixels is small, the calculation load is low, but the difference in the number of pixels between the image object and the ghost dot is reduced, and thus the incidence of erroneous recognition is increased.

Although the description has been given above assuming that the number of cluster information carriers constituting the virtual block is 12, the number is essentially arbitrary. Even if the virtual block is composed of, for example, 10 cluster information carriers, no change occurs in the arrangement of the cluster information carriers. The array length of the bit array obtained from the virtual block is only 10. This change reduces the number of bits that can be used to obtain position information, and the number of coordinates that can be displayed by the digital information carrier is 2 ¹² −1 to 2 ¹⁰ −1.

  Alternatively, even if the bit length of the bit array used to obtain the position information is 10, even if 12 cluster information carrier arrays are read and a bit length of 12 is generated as described above Good. In this case, in order to obtain position information, it is only necessary to have 10 partial arrays as the array length, and the remaining two bit values are used as redundant data. It should be noted that this redundant data can be fully utilized. This is because the array length of the cluster information carrier array recognized as the array length of the bit array necessary for decoding is completely independent. For this reason, in the case of a display method and an input method that are likely to cause erroneous recognition, it is possible to further increase the number of redundant data and increase the array length of the cluster information carrier array. In addition, it is arbitrary which bit information from which cluster information carrier is used as redundant data. Taking the virtual block 25-1 in FIG. 25 as an example, the first two bit values (X0 and X1) in the X-axis direction may be used as redundancy information or the last two (X10 and X11). Good. Alternatively, the first and last two (X0 and X11) may be used. Furthermore, the cluster information carrier corresponding to the bit value that is the redundant data may be different between the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

  The redundant data included in the virtual block can be used to determine the presence or absence of misrecognition, or can be used to correct this when there is misrecognition. When the display distortion value of the cluster information carrier is obtained for each cluster information carrier, the most reliable one of the cluster information carriers that can form the redundant data actually has the position information. Redundant data can be set so as to be included in the cluster information carrier array to be obtained. Further, correction of misrecognition is also realized by combining data obtained from data recognized by cluster information carriers within the recognition range and outside the virtual block and redundant data. For example, if there is a cluster information carrier in the range outside the virtual block that shows the same bit value as any of the cluster information carriers that make up the virtual block, the distortion amount of each cluster information carrier By comparing, the cluster information carrier having higher reliability may be used for specifying the position information.

  This will be described with reference to FIG. The recognition range indicated by the solid line includes X9Y5 and X9Y16, and any cluster information carrier includes X9 as a bit value in the X-axis direction. In this case, as a result of decoding the two cluster information carriers, both should be numerical values that should originally mean X9. When both are recognized as different numerical values, which value is closer to the truth? It is necessary to judge. At this time, the bit value obtained by comparing the distortion values of both cluster information carriers and decoding the smaller one may be true. In addition, the cluster information carrier that is not used for decoding may be recognized as having low reliability, and the cluster information carrier may not be used for decoding the Y-axis direction bits. Specifically, when X9Y16 has a higher distortion value, the bits in the X-axis direction are decoded using X9Y5, and X9Y16 is not used for decoding the bits in the Y-axis direction. X20Y16 having the same Y-axis direction bit value within the range is used.

Further, such redundant data may be used in order to define the direction of the bit arrangement that has been decoded and recognized. This point will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of a digital information carrier in which highly symmetrical cluster information carrier is used and the cluster information carrier interval has no direction dependency.
In the case of a digital information carrier as shown in FIG. 29, it is impossible to perform attribution in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction even if a virtual block is decoded to obtain a bit arrangement. In order to resolve such ambiguity, first, a cluster information carrier array is obtained by a predetermined method for a recognized virtual block of unknown orientation. Next, a bit array having a predetermined length necessary for obtaining position information is extracted from the bit array obtained by decoding the array to obtain position information. The procedure is as shown in FIG. 5, and an offset value when the bit arrangement constitutes a partial arrangement of the reference bit arrangement is obtained as information indicating the position. Subsequently, it is confirmed whether or not the bit array composed of the entire cluster information carrier array including redundant data other than the bit array used for obtaining the position information constitutes a partial array in the reference bit array. When the partial array is not configured, the orientation of the virtual block is not recognized properly, and the obtained bit array is an inverted version of the original bit array, but the inverted bit array is accidentally used as a reference bit. It means that it was a partial sequence of the sequence. Therefore, in such a case, the same confirmation operation is performed by reversing the bit arrangement obtained from the virtual block. In other words, by comparing with the reference bit array using a bit array that is longer than the minimum array length necessary to obtain position information, it is erroneous from the inverted bit array obtained due to inappropriate orientation recognition. It avoids deriving the offset value and recognizing the position.

  If the bit array including the redundant data also forms a partial array, the bit array is obtained from the virtual block in the same way for the orthogonal axis directions, and the position information is obtained while checking the direction. Since the information regarding the set of coordinates obtained in this way is not assigned to an axis, it is unknown which is the X axis. However, which direction is the positive direction for each coordinate axis has already been recognized by the above method, and from this information, which is the X axis is uniquely determined. If the starting points are the same for both axes and shown in a vector shape, the axis that forms the right side of each combined vector is the X axis and the axis that forms the left side is the Y axis. Thus, the coordinates of each axis are accurately grasped.

However, the coordinates thus obtained are preliminary coordinates that are not final coordinates indicating the position of the recognition range, and need to be converted in accordance with the coordinate system in the document. This point will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 30 is a diagram showing another example of the virtual block according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 30, the virtual block 30-1 indicated by the dotted line and the virtual block 30-2 indicated by the solid line have the same bit arrangement in the X-axis direction, and therefore, they have the same X coordinate. Give value. From this, it is recognized that the line segment connecting the cluster information carriers at the upper left corner of each virtual block is substantially parallel to the Y axis. Similarly, the line segment that connects the cluster information carriers at the upper left corners of the virtual block 30-2 indicated by the solid line and the virtual block 30-3 indicated by the broken line is recognized as being substantially parallel to the X axis. Therefore, it can be said that the two line segments shown in FIG. 30 visualize the initial coordinate system obtained by the arrangement of the cluster information carriers described here as an example. The relationship between the coordinates (X, Y) obtained by decoding and the corresponding matrix arrangement (R, C), that is, the coordinates on the document, is obtained as follows based on the equations 1 and 2.
R = (3 * X−Y) / 11 (Formula 9)
C = (4 * Y−X) / 11 (Formula 10)

  By applying such an expression, the arrangement position of the center of the cluster information carrier at the upper left corner of the decoded virtual block is specified. Once the position of the center of gravity is specified, the center and orientation of the recognition range and other parameters can be easily obtained by using existing technology.

So far, the cluster information carrier arranged in 3 rows and 4 columns has been described as a virtual block. However, it is not limited to this sequence. The virtual block may have any number of arrays or array shape. However, the coefficients of Equations 9 and 10 also change according to the size of the virtual block. Specifically, when the size of the virtual block is c rows and r columns, it is as follows.
R = (c * X−Y) / (c * r−1) (Formula 11)
C = (r * Y−X) / (c * r−1) (Formula 12)

  Further, although the constituent elements of the virtual block have been described as the cluster information carrier, some or all of the constituent elements may be image objects.

  Furthermore, the arrangement of the cluster information carrier may be performed independently of the arrangement of the virtual blocks, and the arrangement relationship may include information independent of the virtual blocks. An example is shown in FIG.

FIG. 31 shows the arrangement of the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 29 with the cluster information carrier surrounded by a rectangle and the cluster information carrier surrounded by a circle shifted slightly below other cluster information carriers. FIG.
As is clear from FIG. 31, cluster information carriers shifted downward every four are arranged for all rows. However, in order to avoid a specific pattern such as a display medium and to obtain a more uniform distribution, the columns of the cluster information carrier shifted downward are odd rows (encircled) and even rows. It is different from (enclosed by a rectangle).

According to this arrangement, the orientation of the document is obtained as follows. First, four continuous cluster information carriers in the row direction or the column direction are recognized as a group.
Next, four types of subsets are created by removing one cluster information carrier from the four cluster information carriers.
Subsequently, linear approximation is performed on the three cluster information carriers that are configured for each subset, and the subset that minimizes the error value in the approximation is selected.
Finally, the center of gravity of one cluster information carrier that does not constitute the selected subset, that is, the cluster information carrier shifted downward is drawn from the approximate straight line of the subset.
When the result of this subtraction is positive, the approximate line indicates the X-axis direction, and it is determined that the direction from left to right is the positive direction.
On the other hand, if the result of the subtraction is negative, it is determined that the approximate straight line indicates the X-axis direction but is recognized in an inverted state, and the image is rotated 180 ° to It is necessary to reverse the direction.
Alternatively, when the result of the subtraction is close to 0, the four cluster information carriers are substantially on a straight line, and in this case, the approximate straight line is determined to indicate the Y-axis direction. Therefore, the cluster information carrier is recognized in the direction orthogonal to the approximate straight line, the same processing is performed, and the direction is confirmed in the X-axis direction.

  It should be noted that the above azimuth recognition method is performed completely independently from the information that the cluster information carrier has individually. However, the above arrangement is merely an example, and the unit information carrier constituting the virtual block is not limited to the cluster information carrier, and may be an image object. Further, the arrangement of the cluster information carrier may be another arrangement mode. Moreover, since the azimuth | direction recognition based on arrangement | positioning of the cluster information carrier shown here and the azimuth | direction recognition using the above-mentioned bit arrangement are mutually independent, you may use combining.

  As described above, the digital information carrier according to the present invention includes the configuration of the cluster information carrier, the maximum number of bits that can be displayed by the cluster information carrier, the bit arrangement length, the size of the virtual block, and the arrangement interval of the cluster information carrier. It is composed of parameters that are mutually independent or have extremely moderate interdependencies, such as the arrangement of cluster information carriers. With such a structure, a digital information carrier having high flexibility is realized. This is because these elements can be used independently or in combination depending on the situation.

  Then, an example of the system for outputting the digital information carrier concerning the present invention is shown.

FIG. 32 is a conceptual diagram of a system for displaying a digital information carrier according to the present invention.
The digital information carrier generation system 11 generates an input device 101 for inputting information that the finally output digital information carrier should have, and a digital information carrier having information input to the input device 101 And a processing device 102 that performs processing for converting the data format so that the output device 103 can output the digital information carrier, and an output device that outputs information related to the digital information carrier based on the converted data. 103. In addition, information can be transmitted between the devices in at least one direction by a communication means such as a communication cable or radio.

  The input device 101 may be a keyboard, mouse, microphone or the like for humans to input information, or may be a scanner or camera for optically reading a medium such as paper on which characters and symbols are displayed. A reading device for reading a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, a semiconductor storage medium, or the like on which information is recorded in a format other than a recognizable format may be used.

  The processing device 102 includes an input / output unit 102a for exchanging data with the input device 101 and the output device 103, a storage unit 102c having a storage area for temporarily storing data, and a processing unit for managing data processing 102b. Data input from the input device 101 is stored in the storage unit 102c via the input / output unit 102a, and the processing unit 102b captures and writes data related to the digital information carrier as needed from the storage unit 102c. And output to the output device 103 via the input / output unit 102a.

  The output device 103 may be a printing machine or printer for displaying digital information carrier on a paper-like medium, a liquid crystal display element or CRT for variably displaying the digital information carrier, or magnetic storage. It may be a writing device for writing information to a storage medium such as a medium, an optical storage medium, or a semiconductor storage medium in a format other than that which can be directly recognized by humans.

  In addition, although FIG. 32 demonstrated as a digital information carrier production | generation system independent of the input device 101, the processing apparatus 102, and the output device 103, some of them may be physically integrated. Each device may be connected to a network such as the Internet.

Next, an example of operation | movement of the digital information carrier production | generation system 11 is demonstrated based on FIG. 33 and FIG.
FIG. 33 is a flowchart conceptually showing an example of the operation of the digital information carrier generating system 11.
FIG. 34 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation of the digital information carrier generating system 11.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 34A, the surface of the paper-like medium 111 is virtually divided into 25 areas of 5 rows and 5 columns, and digital information carrier having coordinate information of the paper-like medium 111 is obtained. A process of generating a body displayed on a paper-like medium 112 using the digital information carrier generation system 11 will be described as an example.

  For simplicity, the surface of the paper-like medium 111 is virtually divided into 25 areas of 5 rows and 5 columns (step S101). In the case considered now, the simple bit arrangement shown in FIG. 4 can be used. The coordinates of each element (also referred to as a cell or a block) can be determined as a set of X coordinate values and Y coordinate values as shown in FIG. 34A (step S102). It should be noted that it is not possible to form a logical block including a continuous bit value from the coordinate information shown in FIG.

  Next, the discussion will proceed using a 2-by-2 logic block as the simplest possible logic block. The main scanning is the right direction starting from the upper left corner, and the sub main inspection direction is the downward direction (step S103). The target digital information carrier can be generated from the coordinate information of FIG. 34 (a) as follows.

The X coordinate value (data) can be encoded as shown in FIG. The first row uses the first 5-bit value of the offset value shown in FIG. The second row uses bit values from 2 to 6, and the third row uses bit values from 4 to 8. Hereinafter, the same applies to each row (step S104).
Note that, despite having 25 elements (cells), only 13 (bit values 0-12) are required as the bit array length. Since the required bit arrangement length is 13, a bit arrangement having an arrangement length of 15 as shown in FIG. 4 can be used safely.

  Next, an actual bit value is applied to each element. It is only necessary to read the bit array corresponding to the offset value in FIG. 4 and apply these values to each element. For example, since the offset value of 0 row and 0 column is 0, the bit arrangement is 0001, and the respective values are applied to 0 row 0 column, 0 row 1 column, 0 row 2 column, and 0 row 3 column. Since the offset value of 0 row and 1 column is 1, the bit arrangement is 0011, and the respective values are applied to 0 row and 1 column, 0 row and 2 columns, 0 row and 3 columns, and 0 row and 4 columns. Since the offset value of 0 row and 2 column is 2, the bit arrangement is 0111, and each value is applied to 0 row 2 column, 0 row 3 column, and 0 row 4 column, and the last 1 is not applied anywhere. Good. Hereinafter, the bit value is similarly applied to each row and each column. FIG. 34C is obtained in this way (step S105).

  Similarly, the Y coordinate value (data) is also performed. Corresponding to FIG. 34 (b), FIG. 34 (d) is obtained. Next, an actual bit value is applied to each element of FIG. 34 (d) to obtain FIG. 34 (e). However, regarding the Y coordinate, unlike the case where the fitting direction is related to the X coordinate, the fitting is performed in the Y axis direction. For example, since the offset value of 0 row and 0 column is 0, the bit array is 0001, and each value is applied to 0 row 0 column, 1 row 0 column, 2 rows 0 column, 3 rows 0 column (Y coordinate). Is not shown in particular, but is the same as steps S104 and S105 regarding the X coordinate).

  Here, FIG. 34F is obtained by combining the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value. This can be easily obtained by combining FIG. 34 (b) and FIG. 34 (d). Note that FIG. 34 (f) is not obtained by directly encoding the coordinate values of the elements in FIG. 34 (a). Any 2 × 2 block in FIG. 34 (f) always includes four consecutive X bit values and four consecutive Y bit values.

  When FIG. 34 (f) is expressed by an actual bit value, FIG. 34 (g) can be obtained from FIG. 34 (c) and FIG. 34 (e). Therefore, as the next operation, the bit value of FIG. 34G is represented on the paper-like medium using the cluster information carrier.

  Here, consider using a cluster information carrier having 2-bit information. As the cluster information carrier having 2-bit information, for example, those shown in FIGS. 13, 14, 15, 22, and 23 can be used. In the case considered now, it is preferable to adopt the configuration shown in FIG. 11 using the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 10 (step S106).

  Naturally, the bit value represented by each cluster information carrier must be the same as in FIG. For example, the cluster information carrier at the upper left in FIG. 34 (g) is 0, 0, which means X = 0, Y = 0. Therefore, if the cluster information carrier corresponding to X = 0 and Y = 0 is searched from FIG. 10, the leftmost one in FIG. 10 can be found. Therefore, this class information carrier is printed on the upper left element of the paper-like medium. Thereafter, similarly, cluster information carrier corresponding to the bit value of each element is determined to form output data (step S107). The output data is temporarily stored in the storage unit 102c of the processing device 102, and is output to the output device 103 via the input / output unit 102a and printed. FIG. 34 (h) schematically shows a printed state. In this way, the paper-like medium 112 has a digital information carrier. Note that the cluster information carrier corresponding to the bit value of each element is stored in the storage unit 102c of the processing device 102 with the cluster information carrier shown in FIG. 10 and can be automatically found by the processing unit 102b. You may comprise.

Decoding is as follows.
An arbitrary 2 × 2 block is selected on the paper-like medium on which the digital information carrier is printed. The cluster information carrier written in each block (element) is read, and a bit array is generated according to FIG. The resulting bit array can be obtained for the X and Y coordinates, respectively. For example, the X coordinate is 1110, and the Y coordinate is 1101. However, the X coordinate is read in the order of upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right, and the Y coordinate is read in the order of upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right.

  The obtained bit arrangement is compared with the reference bit arrangement in FIG. 4 to find a matching portion. For example, since the X coordinate value is 1110, the offset value 4 is obtained from the reference bit array of FIG. This can be determined uniquely. Similarly, since the Y coordinate value is 1101, an offset value of 5 is obtained. Since the offset value is (4, 5), it can be seen from FIG. 34 (a) and FIG. 34 (f) that the original virtually divided area is (2, 1). Note that the method described in FIG. 30 can be applied to the conversion from FIG. 34 (f) showing the encoded coordinate values to FIG. 34 (a) showing the original coordinate values. As described above, the position information can be known. In addition, although what has 2-bit information was used as a cluster information carrier, naturally the cluster information carrier which has 1-bit information may be used.

  Then, an example of the system which makes it possible to recognize the information contained in what displayed the digital information carrier which concerns on this invention is shown.

FIG. 35 is a conceptual diagram of a system for recognizing information included in a digital information carrier according to the present invention.
The digital information carrier decoding system 21 includes an input device 201 that inputs a digital information carrier displayed on a predetermined medium, and a digital information carrier that decodes the digital information carrier from an image input to the input device 201. A processing device 202 that performs processing for converting the data format so that the output device 203 can output the information, and a digital information carrier based on the converted data. And an output device 203 that outputs the information being processed. In addition, information can be transmitted between the devices in at least one direction by a communication means such as a communication cable or radio.

  As the input device 201, an optical image input device such as a scanner, a CCD camera, a CMOS camera, a photocoupler, or other display input device can be used. In the following description, an image input apparatus will be described as an example.

  The processing device 202 includes an input / output unit 202a for exchanging data with the input device 201 and the output device 203, a storage unit 202c having a storage area for temporarily storing data, and a processing unit that manages data processing 202b. Data input from the input device 201 is stored in the storage unit 202c via the input / output unit 202a, and the processing unit 202b forms predetermined data while taking in or writing necessary data from the storage unit 202c as appropriate. The data is output to the output device 203 via the input unit 202a.

  The output device 203 may be a printing machine or printer for displaying digital information carrier on a paper-like medium, a liquid crystal display element or CRT for variably displaying the digital information carrier, or magnetic recording. It may be a writing device for writing information to a storage medium such as a medium, an optical storage medium, or a semiconductor storage medium in a format other than that which can be directly recognized by humans.

  In addition, although FIG. 35 demonstrated as a digital information carrier decoding system in which the input device 201, the processing device 202, and the output device 203 were independent, some of them may be physically integrated. Each device may be connected to a network such as the Internet.

Next, an example of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.
36 (1) to 36 (3) are flowcharts conceptually showing an example of the first half of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. FIG.

  First, a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 202c included in the processing device 202 is cleared, and a work area is secured (step S201).

  Next, a control signal for reading an image under a predetermined image input condition is output to the input device 201 (step S202). The input device 201 that has received this control signal reads an image and outputs it to the processing device 202 as image data.

  The image data is stored in a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 202c included in the processing device 202 (step S203), and then recognition processing as an image object is performed (step S204).

In step S205, it is determined whether or not a plurality of image objects have been recognized. If it is determined that a plurality of image objects have been recognized, the recognized image objects are numbered so as to be distinguished from each other, The image object data is stored in the storage area for pooling together with the respective position coordinates (step S206).
Here, in order to store the position coordinates, information on the coordinate system is required. This information is used when the information of the coordinate system can be recognized in the step S204 of recognizing the image object, and when the information cannot be obtained, the coordinate system of the image data is used as it is.

On the other hand, if it is determined that a plurality of image objects have not been recognized, the image reading conditions such as brightness and contrast are adjusted (step S207), and the process proceeds to step S201 to output an image reading control signal again. To do.
Here, the image data may be continuously output from the input device 201, and the processing device 202 may be controlled to read through the input / output unit 202a as necessary. In such control, step S202 is unnecessary. When step S207 is executed, the image reading conditions set in this process may be reflected in the next image reading. In addition, when step S207 is continuously executed a predetermined number of times, for example, 10 times, an error signal may be notified to the system operator.

  Next, processing for recognizing cluster information carrier from a plurality of image objects stored in a storage area for pooling image object data will be described.

  First, one of the plurality of image objects stored in the storage area for pooling image object data is read (step S208).

  Next, it is determined whether or not a readable image object is stored in the storage area for pooling image object data (FIG. 36 (2), step S209).

If it is determined in step S209 that there is an image object that can be read,
Those image objects are sequentially read from a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 202c, and it is determined whether or not to constitute cluster information carrier. That is, a cluster function is applied (step S210). An example of the determination process is as shown in FIG.

  Then, it is determined whether or not the image object read in steps S208 and S210 constitutes cluster information carrier with any of the other image objects (step S211).

If it is determined in step S211 that the image object is a component of the cluster information carrier, the image data of the cluster information carrier to which the image object belongs in the storage area for pooling the cluster information carrier data. Stored together with the position coordinates (step S212). Subsequently, the image object is deleted from the storage area where the image object is pooled (step S213). The reason why the read image object is deleted in this step in step S213 is to prevent the same cluster information carrier from being recognized twice.
Here, in order to store the position coordinates of the cluster information carrier, information on the coordinate system is required. If this information can be recognized at the stage of step S210 in which the cluster function is applied, this information is used. Otherwise, the coordinate system of the image data is used as it is. For example, when coordinate information is included in the arrangement of cluster information carriers as shown in FIG. 24 or FIG. 31, the coordinate system can be obtained by obtaining the barycentric coordinates and the like of a plurality of cluster information carriers. Can be obtained.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S211 that the image object is not a component of the cluster information carrier, the image object is deleted from the storage area where the image object data is pooled (step S213).
When the image object which concerns on a process is a ghost dot, possibility that it will determine with comprising cluster information carrier in step S211 is low. For this reason, there is a high possibility that the image object is excluded in step S213 without becoming a component of the cluster information carrier.

When the predetermined image object is deleted in step S213, another image object is read from the predetermined storage area of the storage unit 202c (step S214), and the process proceeds to step S209 to apply the cluster function again.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S209 that there is no image data to be read, the image object read in step S208 or S214 is the last image object stored in the storage area where the image object data is pooled. Since there is only one image object, it is not possible to determine whether or not to form a cluster information carrier.
Therefore, it is assumed that the execution of the step 210 of applying the cluster function is not necessary, and the display distortion value is evaluated for all the cluster information carriers stored in the storage area where the data of the cluster information carrier is pooled (FIG. 36). (3), Step S215).

Here, it is desirable that the display distortion value be evaluated using not only the form of the image object constituting the cluster information carrier but also their relative arrangement. This is because the cluster information carrier is composed of a plurality of image objects, and thus has a larger display area than the single image object constituting the cluster information carrier, and therefore display distortion is easily measured. In addition, when the relative arrangement of the image object is included in the determination condition (cluster function) for determining whether or not to constitute the cluster information carrier, the relative arrangement related to the determination condition satisfies the predetermined condition. Satisfies. Therefore, by quantifying the degree of satisfaction of the condition, it can be used as a display distortion evaluation result.
Although only display distortion has been described as an evaluation target here, a color difference or the like may be evaluated.

  As a result of evaluating the display distortion value in step S215, the cluster information carrier evaluated as having a large display distortion value and a high degree of display distortion may generate a bit value different from the true bit value in decoding. high. Therefore, such cluster information carrier is deleted from the storage area where the cluster information carrier data is pooled (step S216) and is not subject to decoding.

  Subsequently, a determination process is performed as to whether or not the number of cluster information carriers stored in the storage area where the cluster information carrier data is pooled has reached the number required for the subsequent processing (step S217). ).

If it is determined that a predetermined number of pieces of cluster information carrier data are stored, the process proceeds to step S231 of the process shown in FIG.
On the other hand, if it is determined that the number of data is insufficient, the subsequent processing cannot be performed, and thus the image input condition is adjusted (step S218), and the process proceeds to step S201. Similarly to step S207, step S218 may correspond to the continuous image input method, or an error signal may be output when the image input is inappropriate multiple times continuously.

Subsequently, a continuation of an example of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 37 is a flowchart conceptually showing an example of the latter half of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21.

When it is determined in the determination process shown in step S217 of FIG. 36 (3) that a predetermined number of cluster information carriers are stored in a predetermined storage area, these cluster information carriers are read (step S231). ) Individual cluster information carrier is decoded (step S232).
An example of decoding in step S232 is shown below. First, correspondence data related to the correspondence between a plurality of image objects that are constituent elements of the cluster information carrier and bit data is stored in the storage unit 202c in advance. In step S232, the data of one cluster information carrier is read from the storage area in which the data of the cluster information carrier in the storage unit 202c is pooled, and the data is referenced with the correspondence data stored in the storage unit 202c. It is determined which bit data the cluster information carrier corresponds to, and bit data obtained as a result of the determination is used as a decoding result. This process is performed for all cluster information carriers stored in the storage area where the cluster information carrier data is pooled.
Here, when the information of the coordinate system as the digital information carrier is obtained as a result of decoding, the coordinate system is appropriately adjusted using the information, and decoding is performed again as necessary. On the other hand, when the coordinate system information cannot be obtained, the image data coordinate system is used as it is. An example of obtaining coordinate system information in the decoding process is cluster information carrier as shown in FIG. Information about the X axis is obtained from the longest main diameter of the line segment, and information about the positive direction of the X axis is obtained from the relationship between the relative position of the line segment and the dot. When the orientation of the X axis becomes clear, the Y axis and its positive direction become clear. Information about the coordinate system is thus obtained.

Next, a bit matrix composed of bit values obtained by decoding individual cluster information carriers is formed (step S233). The arrangement of matrix elements in this bit matrix is based on the position coordinates of individual cluster information carriers. Specifically, one bit numerical value is arranged at the center of gravity position of the corresponding cluster information carrier or the center position determined for each type of cluster information carrier.
For the coordinate system in the bit matrix arrangement, if the coordinate system as the digital information carrier has been clarified by the processing so far, that coordinate system is used, and if it is not clarified, the coordinate system of the image data is set. Use.
Here, if a bit value corresponding to a part of the matrix cannot be obtained due to a problem in image recognition or the like, the information is added to the element to construct the matrix. This is a process for convenience in the subsequent logical block construction.
Examples of the bit matrix obtained by such processing are shown in FIGS. 38 (a) and 39 (a). In FIG. 39A, the matrix element whose bit value is not obtained by decoding is indicated by “x” which is an error value.

Subsequently, a logical block is selected from the bit matrix (step S234). The selection of the logical block is performed as follows. First, a matrix element that is most likely to be the most suitable as a starting point of a logical block is selected from the matrix elements of the obtained bit matrix. For example, when the logical block is composed of 3 rows and 4 columns and the matrix element at the upper left corner is the starting point, the matrix element at the upper left corner of the obtained bit matrix is selected as the starting point of the logical block. Next, a 3 × 4 submatrix is selected starting from this matrix element, and this is used as a logical block.
Examples of selecting logical blocks from the bit matrices shown in FIGS. 38 (a) and 39 (a) according to the above selection rules are shown in FIGS. 38 (b) and 39 (b), respectively.

The components of the logical block thus selected are all bit values, and it is determined whether or not a bit array formed by integrating these bit values can be formed (step S235). If it is determined that a bit array can be formed, a bit array is formed from the bit values included in this logical block (step S236).
Bit array formation from this logic block is performed based on a predetermined formation rule. For example, when the rule is “for the bit matrix shown in FIG. 38A, the logical block is integrated by determining the horizontal direction rightward as the main scanning direction and the vertical downward as the subscanning direction”. The bit arrangement obtained in accordance with is as shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the obtained bit array forms a partial array starting from any one element of the reference bit array (step S237). If it is determined that a partial arrangement of the reference bit arrangement is made, an offset value is obtained (FIG. 37 (2), step S238). For example, if the bit array corresponds to a partial array starting from the mth element of the reference bit array, the offset is m.

If the offset thus obtained indicates the display position of the cluster information carrier that forms the starting point of the logical block on the paper-like medium, the position coordinates can be calculated from the offset value (step S239). The calculation result is converted into a data format that can be processed by the output device 203 (step S240) and output to the output device 203 (step S241), whereby predetermined information is obtained from the digital information carrier displayed on the paper-like medium. Are extracted, and the result is output to the output device 203.
The bit arrangement obtained from FIG. 38 (b) is “011110111001”, which matches “011110111001” from the eleventh of the reference bit arrangement “000000000000001111011100111111...”. Therefore, the decimal value is 1977 and the offset value is “10”. The position information on the paper-like medium is calculated from the numerical value, and a state where “10” is displayed at a predetermined position on the liquid crystal screen 203a displayed so as to correspond to the paper-like medium is shown in FIG. ).
The obtained offset may mean another information, or the obtained bit arrangement may indicate information without requiring a reference bit arrangement.

  Next, processing when the logical block selected in step S234 cannot form a bit array will be described. The case where the bit array cannot be formed includes a case where some elements of the logical block sequence do not indicate a bit value as shown in FIG. 39B, for example.

  In such a case, it is examined whether or not a virtual block can be constructed by replacing a matrix element that does not indicate a bit value in a logical block with an element of a bit matrix other than the constituent elements of the logical block. (FIG. 37 (3), step S243).

An example of constructing a virtual block by replacing matrix elements in the case where the bit array is formed according to the predetermined main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction from a predetermined starting point as described above is based on FIG. I will explain. For the sake of explanation, the bit value at the upper left corner of FIG. 39B is assumed to be a matrix element of 0 rows and 0 columns, and the bit value at the lower right corner is assumed to be a matrix element of 3 rows and 4 columns.
In FIG. 39 (b), a 1-by-0 matrix element whose bit value is not defined can be replaced with an element outside the logical block on the right side of the 0-by-3 matrix element (that is, a 0-by-4 matrix element). Thus, since each element is arranged, a new logical block as shown in FIG. 39 (c) can be constructed. The fifth element in the bit array obtained by applying the above-described bit array formation rule to a new logical block is a bit value forming a 0-by-4 matrix element, which is a 1-by-0 matrix element This is because, as a result, the bit arrangement obtained from the logical block after replacement is the same as the bit arrangement before replacement. The aggregate of bit values constructed in this way is conceptually different from a conventional logical block having a matrix arrangement, and is called a virtual block.

  If it is determined in step S244 whether or not a virtual block can be constructed (step S244), the process proceeds to step S236 to form a bit array using the constructed virtual block. The subsequent processing is also performed. Note that although “logical block” is indicated in step S236, the virtual block is constructed so that the same rule as the bit arrangement forming rule applied to the logical block can be applied even in the case of the virtual block. Yes.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S244 that the virtual block cannot be constructed, the re-selection is performed by changing the starting point of the logical block, or the virtual block is constructed from the re-selected logical block. An examination is made as to whether it can be performed (step S245).
Here, an example of reselecting a logical block in the above bit array forming method will be described. In FIG. 39A, assume that the matrix element of 0 rows and 4 columns does not have a bit value. In this case, it is not possible to form a virtual block starting from a matrix element of 0 rows and 0 columns as shown in FIG. Therefore, it is examined whether or not a logical block of 3 rows and 4 columns is formed by sequentially moving the start point of the logical block from 0 row and 0 column. First, since the matrix element of 0 row and 1 column does not have a bit value as described above, a logical block cannot be constructed using this as a starting point. Since the 1 × 0 matrix element does not have a bit value by itself, a logical block cannot be constructed using this as a starting point. However, a 1-by-1 matrix element can be used as a starting point to construct a logical block. Therefore, a bit array is formed based on a logical block starting from a 1 × 1 matrix element. In the example shown in FIG. 39 (d), “011100111111” is obtained as the bit arrangement, which matches the “011100111111” from the 16th in the reference bit arrangement “0000000000001111011100111111. Therefore, the decimal value is 1855, and the offset value is “15”.

  When it is determined that selection or construction is possible in the determination of whether or not a logical block can be selected or a virtual block can be constructed (step S246), the process proceeds to step S236 and the selected logical block is selected. Alternatively, the bit array formation rule is applied to the constructed virtual block to form a bit array, and the subsequent processing is also performed.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S246 that selection of a logical block or the like is impossible even after the above processing, it is determined whether or not cluster information carrier rotation processing is possible (step S247). . The case where the rotation processing of the cluster information carrier is impossible is a case where at least one rotation processing has already been performed and there is no room for further rotation processing.

  If it is determined in step S247 that the cluster information carrier can be rotated, the cluster information carrier is rotated (step S248). This rotation angle may be 90 degrees or 180 degrees. Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S232, and the bit value is decoded again for the cluster information carrier after the rotation process.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S247 that the rotation processing of the cluster information carrier is impossible, the image reading condition is adjusted (step S249), and the process proceeds to step S201 in FIG. Note that step S249 may correspond to the continuous image input method as in step S207, or an error signal may be output when the image input is inappropriate multiple times in succession.

In addition, you may add the determination process of the possibility of a rotation process for the bit matrix formed by decoding cluster information carrier between step S246 and step S247. If it is determined that the rotation process can be performed, if a predetermined rotation process is performed on the bit matrix, the process proceeds to step S234, and the process after the logical block selection is performed on the bit matrix obtained by the rotation. You may do it.
Further, a determination process of the possibility of rotation processing for the read image may be added between step S247 and step S249. If it is determined that the rotation process can be performed, if a predetermined rotation process is performed on the read image, the process proceeds to step S204, and the process after recognition of the image object is performed on the read image obtained by rotation. You may make it perform.

When information that can identify the position of a component is encoded in the digital information carrier, information related to the position of the recognition range is obtained by recognizing a part of the displayed digital information carrier. Can do. For this reason, it is very easy to specify the position of the display recognition device on the display medium. If the display recognition device is attached to the pen and paper is used as the display medium, it is possible to always display the position of the pen writing the character on the paper, for example, on a computer.
Further, the digital information carrier can be displayed so as to be inconspicuous in the display of existing visual information, for example, characters and photographs, due to the variety of display modes. For this reason, when the display recognition apparatus is brought close to a photograph on the printed document, the photograph is explained by the computer, and the printed document and the information outside the document related to the document can be appropriately linked.

It is a figure which shows an example of the cluster information carrier which consists of one dot and one line segment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the cluster function for determining the cluster information carrier shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the arrangement | sequence of the cluster information carrier shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows notionally the relationship between the numerical value and the offset value which converted the partial arrangement | sequence of the arrangement | sequence length 4 obtained by offsetting the reference bit arrangement | sequence and the reference bit arrangement | sequence suitably to the decimal system. It is a flowchart which shows the outline | summary of the process for deriving an offset value from the partial arrangement | sequence of arrangement | sequence length 4. It is a figure which shows an example which represents two dimensions using a one-dimensional arrangement | sequence. It is a figure which shows an example of the digital information carrier encoded by the rule which concerns on FIG.1 and FIG.4 using the representation method of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a plurality of one-dimensional arrays arranged in the Y-axis direction in which digital information carriers encoded by the rules according to FIGS. 1 and 4 are arranged in the X-axis direction. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a plurality of one-dimensional arrangements in the X-axis direction in which digital information carriers encoded according to the rules shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 are arranged in the Y-axis direction on the digital information carrier in FIG. It is. It is a figure which shows an example of the cluster information carrier which can have the information for 2 bits. It is a figure which shows an example of the digital information carrier formed by arrange | positioning the cluster information carrier shown by FIG. 11 two-dimensionally based on the rule of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of what is a cluster information carrier with the high symmetry of a form, and has a 1-bit maximum information. It is a figure which shows an example of what is a cluster information carrier with the high symmetry of a form, and has the information of a maximum of 2 bits. It is a figure which shows an example of what is a cluster information carrier with the high symmetry of a form, and has the information of a maximum of 2 bits. It is a figure which shows an example of what is a cluster information carrier with the high symmetry of a form, and has information of a maximum of 2 bits. It is shown. It is a figure which shows an example of the digital information carrier formed by arrange | positioning the cluster information carrier prescribed | regulated in FIG. 15 on a plane. It is a figure which shows an example of the digital information carrier in which two types of cluster information carriers shown by FIG.14 and FIG.15 are used together. It is a figure which shows an example which made the image object which comprises cluster information carrier differ only from the magnitude | size. It is a figure which shows an example of the rule for decoding the cluster information carrier which concerns on FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the rule for decoding the information of a maximum of 2 bits from the cluster information carrier which concerns on FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the rule for decoding the information of a maximum of 4 bits from the cluster information carrier which concerns on FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the cluster information carrier comprised from 1 to 4 dots. It is a figure which shows an example of the cluster information carrier by which bit data is encoded by the shape of cluster information carrier. It is a figure which shows an example of the digital information carrier in which the information for specifying a coordinate axis is contained in the arrangement | positioning space | interval of cluster information carrier. It is a figure which shows an example of the virtual block which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the virtual block to which the shape freedom was given. It is the figure by which the virtual block and the recognition range were displayed on an example of the bit matrix formed by decoding digital information carrier. It is the figure by which the virtual block, the recognition range, and the matrix element which can mutually be substituted are displayed on an example of the bit matrix formed by decoding digital information carrier. It is the figure which showed an example of the digital information carrier in which the cluster information carrier with high symmetry is used, and there is no direction dependence in the cluster information carrier interval. It is a figure which shows another example of the virtual block which concerns on this invention. FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the digital information carrier shown in FIG. 29 in which the cluster information carrier surrounded by a rectangle or a circle is shifted slightly downward from the other cluster information carriers. It is a conceptual diagram of the digital information carrier production | generation system 11 which concerns on this invention. 3 is a flowchart conceptually showing an example of the operation of the digital information carrier generating system 11. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating operation | movement (first half) of the digital information carrier production | generation system 11. FIG. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating operation | movement (second half) of the digital information carrier production | generation system 11. FIG. It is a conceptual diagram of the digital information carrier decoding system 21 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows notionally an example of the first half 1 of operation | movement of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. FIG. 12 is a flowchart conceptually showing an example of the first half 2 of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. It is a flowchart which shows notionally an example of the first half 3 of operation | movement of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows notionally an example of the latter half 1 of the operation | movement of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. FIG. 12 is a flowchart conceptually showing an example of the second half of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. 12 is a flowchart conceptually showing an example of the latter half 3 of the operation of the digital information carrier decoding system 21. It is a figure which shows notionally an example of the process which concerns on a logic block. It is a figure which shows notionally another example of the process which concerns on a logic block.

Explanation of symbols

11: Digital information carrier generation system 101: Input device 102: Processing device 102a: Output / input unit 102b: Processing unit 102c: Storage unit 103: Output device 111: Paper-like medium 112: Paper-like medium 21: Digital information carrier decoding System 201: input device 202: processing device 202a: input / output unit 202b: processing unit 202c: storage unit 203: output device

Claims (42)

It has multiple image objects as components,
Including cluster information carrier composed of two or more image objects,
The cluster information carrier is a digital information carrier characterized in that bit data is associated with a relative relationship between the two or more image objects as constituent elements. The digital information carrier according to claim 1, wherein among the relative relationships of the plurality of image objects constituting the cluster information carrier, a relative relationship not associated with bit data can be arbitrarily configured.   3. The digital information carrier according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the image objects constituting a component of one of the cluster information carriers constitutes a component of the other cluster information carrier. It has multiple image objects as components,
Including cluster information carrier composed of two or more image objects,
The cluster information carrier is associated with the relative relationship between the two or more image objects that are constituent elements, and whether or not these image objects constitute the cluster information carrier.
A digital information carrier characterized in that bit data is associated with the cluster information carrier as a unit.   The digital information carrier according to claim 4, wherein the determined cluster information carrier is obtained by associating bit data with a relative relationship between a plurality of image objects as constituent elements.   The digital information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein predetermined information is given to a relative arrangement of the cluster information carrier. Information given to the relative arrangement is:
The digital information carrier according to claim 6, which is information related to an integration rule for integrating bit data associated with a plurality of cluster information carriers to generate one piece of information.   The digital information carrier according to claim 6 or 7, wherein a relative arrangement of the cluster information carrier is given information related to at least one of a coordinate axis and an orientation of the cluster information carrier array.   9. The digital information carrier according to claim 8, wherein an arrangement interval of the cluster information carrier arranged in two dimensions is set for each coordinate axis.   Of the d pieces of cluster information carriers arranged continuously (d ≧ 4), e pieces of cluster information carriers satisfying the condition e <d / 2 are the remaining pieces of cluster information. The arrangement according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the arrangement is shifted in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction formed by the carrier, information relating to the coordinate axes is provided in the arrangement direction, and information relating to the azimuth is provided in the deviation. Digital information carrier. It is possible to configure a logical block in which a plurality of unit information carriers, which are the minimum units when decoding bit data from a digital information carrier, are integrated,
The logical block is obtained by adding one piece of information to an array in which some of its constituent elements are integrated,
At least one of the components of the logical block is replaced with the unit information carrier adjacent to the logical block so that a new logical block can be configured.   The digital information carrier according to claim 11, wherein the logical block is configured by a larger number of the unit information carriers than the number of elements of the array to which the one information is assigned.   The digital information carrier according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the one information is information capable of specifying an arrangement coordinate of any one of the components of the logic block. It includes a bit matrix V in which array elements b _m (m = 0 to n−1) of a reference bit array B having a predetermined array length n are arranged in a matrix, and bit data corresponds to this bit matrix V Attached,
Two matrix elements v (i, j) and v (i + 1, j) adjacent to one of the two arrangement axes (i-axis) of the bit matrix V are v (i, j) = b _m
v (i + 1, j) = b _{m + 1}
The filling,
Second matrix elements v adjacent to the other array axis (j axis) of the bit matrix V (i, j), v (i, j + 1) is the amount of deviation of the j-axis side of the array elements b _m as a
v (i, j) = b _m
v (i, j + 1) = b _{m + a}
And the j-axis side deviation amount a is an integer of 2 or more. For a logical block that is a sub-matrix of the bit matrix V starting from any one matrix element v (i, j) of the bit matrix V and having the shift length a as the array length on the i-axis side,
By integrating some of the components of the logical block with the positive direction of the i-axis as the main scanning direction and the positive direction of the j-axis as the sub-scanning direction, the same as the partial array of the reference bit array B 15. The digital information carrier according to claim 14, wherein a bit array can be formed.   16. The digital information carrier according to claim 15, wherein the reference bit array B is configured such that partial arrays having a predetermined length obtained with an arbitrary offset are different from each other. A matrix element v (i, j) that forms the end of the main scanning direction array constituting the logical block,
On the condition that any one of matrix elements v (ia, j + 1) and v (i + a, j-1) is adjacent to the logical block,
The digital information carrier according to claim 15 or 16, wherein a new logical block can be constructed by replacing any of the matrix elements.   The matrix element constituting the first bit array is excluded from the logical block, and the matrix element adjacent to the main scanning direction side of the matrix element constituting the end of the array is complemented to construct a new logical block. The digital information carrier according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein:   The matrix element constituting the end of the bit array is excluded from the logical block, and the matrix element adjacent to the opposite side of the matrix element constituting the first of the array in the main scanning direction is complemented, and the new logical block The digital information carrier according to any one of claims 15 to 17, which can be constructed.   A display medium on which the digital information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 19 is displayed.   A display device on which the digital information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 19 is displayed.   A recording medium on which display data of the digital information carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 19 is recorded. An input device for data input, a processing device that processes the input data and generates data related to the digital information carrier composed of a plurality of image objects, and the generated data related to the digital information carrier An output device for outputting,
The processor is
Conversion means for converting the input data into bit data;
Two or more image objects corresponding to the bit data converted by the conversion means and their relative relationship are specified, and the cluster information carrier consisting of the two or more image objects based on the specified contents. A digital information carrier generating system comprising: generating means for generating body image data. When the data amount of the bit data obtained by the conversion unit is larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed per cluster information carrier, the conversion unit converts the converted bit data into the maximum data amount. Convert the bit data of the following data size into a bit array with elements,
The generating means generates a plurality of pieces of cluster information carrier image data corresponding to the bit data that is each element of the bit arrangement, and the plurality of image data corresponding to the arrangement relation of the bit arrangement. The system for creating a digital information carrier according to claim 23, wherein a display position is determined. The processing device includes an input / output unit that exchanges data signals with the input device and the output device, a processing unit that processes data input from the input / output unit, and a processing unit that performs data processing. A storage unit for storing necessary data,
The storage unit includes image data of the cluster information carrier, and correspondence data related to the correspondence between the cluster information carrier and the bit data,
The generating means includes
Selection means for selecting the cluster information carrier corresponding to the bit data converted by the conversion means based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit;
Reading means for reading image data corresponding to the cluster information carrier selected by the selection means from the storage unit;
The digital information carrier creation system according to claim 23 or 24, further comprising: a determination unit that determines a display position of image data of the cluster information carrier read by the reading unit. Creation of digital information carrier executed by a processing device that generates data related to a digital information carrier composed of a plurality of image objects and outputs the data to an output device according to data input to an input device for data input A method,
A conversion step of converting the input data into bit data;
Two or more image objects corresponding to the bit data converted in the conversion step and their relative relationship are specified, and cluster information carrier comprising the two or more image objects based on the specified contents A generation step of generating the image data of the digital information carrier. When the amount of bit data obtained in the conversion step is larger than the maximum data amount that can be displayed per cluster information carrier, in the conversion step, the converted bit data is converted into the maximum data amount. Convert the bit data of the following data size into a bit array with elements,
In the generation step, a plurality of pieces of cluster information carrier image data are generated corresponding to the bit data serving as each element of the bit arrangement, and the plurality of image data corresponding to the arrangement relation of the bit arrangement are generated. 27. The method for creating a digital information carrier according to claim 26, wherein the display position is determined. The processing device includes an input / output unit that exchanges data signals with the input device and the output device, a processing unit that processes data input from the input / output unit, and a processing unit that performs data processing. A storage unit for storing necessary data,
The storage unit includes image data of the cluster information carrier, and correspondence data related to the correspondence between the cluster information carrier and the bit data,
The generating step includes
A selection step of selecting the cluster information carrier corresponding to the bit data converted in the conversion step based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit;
A step of reading image data corresponding to the cluster information carrier selected by the selection step from the storage unit;
28. The method of creating a digital information carrier according to claim 26 or 27, further comprising a determining step of determining a display position of the image data of the cluster information carrier read by the reading step. An input device for inputting digital information carrier composed of a plurality of image objects, a processing device for performing processing for generating decoding information held by the input digital information carrier, and outputting the decoding information An output device,
The processor is
Recognition means for recognizing the digital information carrier input from the input device as a plurality of image objects;
Cluster determination means for determining whether one of the plurality of image objects forms a cluster information carrier with a group of any of the other image objects,
Decoding information generation means for decoding bit data from the determined cluster information carrier and generating decoding information based on the bit data on the condition that it is determined to constitute the cluster information carrier The decoding information generation system of the digital information carrier characterized by comprising. When there are a plurality of cluster information carriers determined by the cluster determination means,
In the decryption information generating means,
The plurality of cluster information carriers are decoded to generate a plurality of bit data, and a bit arrangement is formed by integrating some of the plurality of bit data based on the relative arrangement of the plurality of cluster information carriers, 30. The decoding information generation system for a digital information carrier according to claim 29, wherein one piece of information is generated as decoding information from the bit array. The processing device includes a processing unit that controls data processing and a storage unit that stores data necessary for data processing by the processing unit,
The digital information carrier decoded information generation system according to claim 29 or 30, wherein the cluster determination means uses a relative relationship between a plurality of image objects as a determination condition, and the determination condition is stored in the storage unit. In the cluster information carrier, bit data is associated with the relative relationship of a plurality of image objects that are constituent elements thereof,
The storage unit has correspondence data related to the correspondence between the relative relationship and the bit data;
32. The digital information carrier according to claim 31, wherein the decoding information generating means includes decoding means for decoding bit data from the cluster information carrier based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit. Decryption information generation system.   Evaluate how much the display state of the plurality of image objects constituting the cluster information carrier determined by the cluster determination means deviates from the ideal display state of the cluster information carrier, and the result of the evaluation The decoding information generation system for digital information carrier according to any one of claims 29 to 32, further comprising a display state determination unit that determines whether or not to perform decoding by the decoding information generation unit. A digital information carrier composed of a plurality of image objects is input to an input device, a decoding device formed by processing the input digital information carrier is generated, and a processing device that outputs the decoded information executes A method for generating decoded information of a digital information carrier,
The processor is
Recognizing the digital information carrier input from the input device as a plurality of image objects;
A cluster determination step of determining whether one of the plurality of image objects recognized by the recognition step constitutes a cluster information carrier in a group with any of the other image objects;
Decoding that decodes bit data from the determined cluster information carrier and generates decoding information based on the bit data on condition that it is determined that the cluster information carrier is configured by the cluster determination step An information generation step, comprising: a method for generating decoded information of a digital information carrier. When there are a plurality of cluster information carriers determined by the cluster determination step,
In the decryption information generation step,
The plurality of cluster information carriers are decoded to generate a plurality of bit data, and a bit arrangement is formed by integrating some of the plurality of bit data based on the relative arrangement of the plurality of cluster information carriers, 35. The decoding information generation method for digital information carrier according to claim 34, wherein one piece of information is generated as decoding information from the bit array. The processing device includes a processing unit that controls data processing and a storage unit that stores data necessary for data processing by the processing unit,
36. The method for generating decoded information of a digital information carrier according to claim 34 or 35, wherein in the cluster determination step, a relative relationship between a plurality of image objects is used as a determination condition, and the determination condition is stored in the storage unit. In the cluster information carrier, bit data is associated with a relative relationship between a plurality of image objects that are constituent elements of the cluster information carrier,
The storage unit has correspondence data related to the correspondence between the relative relationship and the bit data;
37. The digital information carrier according to claim 36, wherein the decoding information generation step includes a decoding step of decoding bit data from the cluster information carrier based on the correspondence data stored in the storage unit. Decryption information generation method.   Evaluate how much the display state of the plurality of image objects constituting the cluster information carrier determined by the cluster determination step deviates from the ideal display state of the cluster information carrier, and the result of the evaluation The decoding information generation method of the digital information carrier according to any one of claims 34 to 37, further comprising a display state determination step for determining whether or not to perform decoding by the decoding information generation means.   A program for causing a computer to execute the digital information carrier creating method according to any one of claims 26 to 28.   A program for causing a computer to execute the method for generating decoded information of a digital information carrier according to any one of claims 34 to 38.   A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute the digital information carrier generating method according to any one of claims 26 to 28 is recorded.   A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to execute the method for generating decoded information of the digital information carrier according to any one of claims 34 to 38.

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