JP2005267394A - Information processing device, method for changing area, and program and recording medium thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable setting of area data on image data easily with a fewer number of work processes than before, save the trouble of creating a template for an OCR (thus improving working efficiency), prevent an operational mistake, and enable creation of area data for an OCR template of a constant level of accuracy without being affected by an operator's work experiences, etc. <P>SOLUTION: When an area data is selected from one or more area data created on the image data displayed on a display 211 with a pointing device 207, etc. and a change instruction is given to the selected area data, a CPU 201 calculates an amount of change of the selected area data based on the resolution of the image data, and performs the area change to the selected area data from side to side and up and down based on the calculated amount of change. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an area changing method, a program, and a recording medium that create a selection area on image data.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-172780 (Patent Document 1) describes that a ruled line is extracted from a read form image and a ruled line frame is extracted from the extracted ruled line information.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-123262 (Patent Document 2) also describes that a line segment is discriminated from the read image data and divided.

  Furthermore, currently, a technique for automatically searching for an area in a form based on the extracted line segment and extracting the form area has been proposed, and when an filled form form is subjected to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing. It is possible to easily create an area when creating a template.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-143730 (Patent Document 3) describes that an image of a selected area of binary image data is enlarged at a specified magnification at a vertical / horizontal ratio.
JP 2000-172780 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-123262 JP-A-6-143730

  However, in order to make it easy for the user to see or select when extracting the extracted area in the form, the extracted area display is extracted and displayed so that the areas are adjacent to each other.

  Therefore, when the displayed area is simply selected and a template necessary for OCR processing is created, when the completed form is read and OCR is performed using the template, the interval between the read completed form and the template is determined. In many cases, the OCR processing of the range selected at the time of creating the template cannot be accurately performed.

  In order to solve this problem, conventionally, a pointer is placed on the vertex of the rectangular area extracted for the area selected by the user, and the area is enlarged. When OCR processing is performed on this rectangular area, it is not known in which direction the read / finished form slips up / down / left / right, so it is necessary to enlarge the rectangular frame in all directions.

  However, in the enlargement method in which the pointer is set to the vertex of the rectangular area in this way, the rectangular area can be enlarged only in a maximum of two directions (for example, upper left direction or lower right direction) by one operation. Therefore, in order to expand the rectangular area in four directions, up, down, left, and right, the above operation has to be performed at least twice. In the case of reducing the area, it was only possible to reduce the area by the same method.

  In addition, as described above, in the enlargement method in which the pointer is manually set for each area by aligning the pointer with the vertex of the rectangular area, each operator considers a frame line for each rectangular area based on his / her experience and performs OCR processing. Since the rectangular area has been intuitively enlarged to a suitable size, it is difficult for an operator with little experience to enlarge the rectangular area to an appropriate size. Therefore, when the OCR process is performed using the rectangular area enlarged by the above operation, the OCR recognition rate differs greatly depending on the creator.

  In the above-mentioned Patent Document 3, it is possible to simply enlarge an image of a selected area of image data in the horizontal and vertical magnifications. However, in this method, the operator needs to specify the enlargement magnification for each area. As a result, there is a problem that it is difficult for an operator with little experience to determine a frame line for each rectangular area and specify an enlargement rate suitable for OCR processing.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide any region data from one or a plurality of region data created on image data displayed on the display means. And instructing the selected area data to be changed, calculating a change amount of the selected area data based on the resolution of the image data, and selecting the selection based on the calculated change amount By performing the area change process for the area data in the vertical and horizontal directions, it is possible to easily set the area data on the image data with fewer man-hours than before, and to create the OCR template. (Improving work efficiency), preventing work mistakes, and obtaining area data for OCR templates with a certain degree of accuracy without being affected by the work experience of the operator. It is to provide an information processing apparatus and a region changing method, and program and recording medium that can be formed.

  The present invention provides an information processing apparatus that changes one or a plurality of area data created on image data, and that selects any one of the area data and changes the selected area data. Means for calculating a change amount of the selected region data based on the resolution of the image data, and up / down / left / right with respect to the selected region data based on the change amount calculated by the calculation unit. And a region changing means for performing a region changing process in the direction.

  According to the present invention, any region data is selected from one or a plurality of region data created on the image data, the change is instructed to the selected region data, and the resolution of the image data is set. Since the change amount of the selected area data is calculated based on the area, and the area change process is performed in the vertical and horizontal directions on the selected area data based on the calculated change amount, less work is required than in the past. Depending on the man-hours, it is possible to easily set the area data on the image data, to save the trouble of creating an OCR template (work efficiency can be improved), and to prevent work mistakes.

  In addition, since the change width is calculated by a calculation method (number of dots) corresponding to a resolution determined in advance for the OCR processing, an area for an OCR template having a certain accuracy without being affected by the work experience of the operator. Data can be created.

  Therefore, it is possible to recognize the OCR accurately by enlarging only the area data at the necessary location, and to reduce the area data only at the necessary location and reliably change the area data to the inner area of the frame. As a result, it is possible to easily create a template capable of accurately performing the OCR recognition processing.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system to which an information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a user terminal 101, a server 102, and a multifunction machine 103 are connected to each other via a LAN (Local Area Network) 104 so that they can communicate with each other. The user terminal 101 is an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a workstation, and realizes processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The processing according to the embodiment of the present invention is executed by the user terminal 101 and uses image data such as BMP, TIFF, JPEG, PDF, etc., but uses image data stored in the user terminal 101. Alternatively, image data read by an image reading apparatus such as the scanner 105 connected to the user terminal 101 may be acquired and used, or stored in the server 102 via the LAN 104. Image data may be acquired and used, and further, image data read by the multifunction machine 103 having an image reading function may be acquired and used.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of the user terminal 101 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a user terminal 101 includes a CPU 201 that controls the entire user terminal, a ROM 203 that stores a program executed by the CPU 201, a RAM 202 that is used as a working storage area when the program is executed, and the like. I / F 209 for connecting to an image reading device such as a scanner for reading an image from a document such as a form, an external storage device 204 such as a magnetic disk for storing the read image, and a video adapter 205 having an image display function And a keyboard (K / B) 206 having an input function and a pointing device 207 such as a mouse, and a network interface (NIC) 208 for connecting to a network such as the LAN 104, which are connected to each other via a system bus 210. Has been.

  In addition, a display 211 such as LCT or CRT is connected to the video adapter 205 of the user terminal 101.

  The program according to the embodiment of the present invention is stored in the ROM 203 or the external storage device 204, and is loaded into the RAM 202 and executed by the CPU 201.

  It should be noted that the internal configuration of the server 102 shown in FIG.

  Here, the program according to the embodiment of the present invention may be stored in a ROM or an external storage device in the server 102 and executed by the CPU in the server 102. In this case, the user operates the user terminal 101 as a client and executes a program stored in the server 102 via the LAN 104. In this case, the execution result in the server 102 is transmitted to the user terminal 101 as a client and displayed on the display 211.

  Hereinafter, an example of the area changing process in the information processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a first control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The CPU 201 of the user terminal 101 shown in FIG. 2 loads a program stored in the external storage device 204 into the RAM 202. This corresponds to the area changing process of the first embodiment executed by S101 to S111 indicate each step.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in step S101, the CPU 201 of the user terminal 101 reads image data (image data) such as BMP, TIFF, JPEG, or PDF read by the scanner 105 or the like, or has already been read and stored externally. Image data (image data) stored in the storage device or the like of the device 104 or the server 102 is read into the RAM 202. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that image data having a frame as shown in FIG. 4 (for example, image data such as a form) is read.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of image data read by the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the present embodiment, as an example of image data to be read, there are a plurality of frames, and image data of a form in which characters or the like can be entered in each frame is used.

  The description returns to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S102, the CPU 201 includes data corresponding to the frame image in the read image data (frame data (which may include not only a straight line but also a curved image, or may not be completely closed). (Hereinafter simply referred to as a frame line)), the region data is extracted, and the extracted region data (hereinafter simply referred to as a region) is stored in the RAM 202 in the data structure shown in FIG. For example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-172780, this frame line extraction method is performed by first extracting a line segment in image data by, for example, contour lines and centers of connected components of the image. This is done by approximating the line segment. Next, a frame line is extracted using the extracted line segment information. Here, in order to extract a frame line from a line segment, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-221506, as one method, four intersections of line segments that form a rectangle are picked up. There is a method that is performed by inspecting whether there is a frame having a point as a vertex. Next, a region is extracted from the extracted frame line.

  Next, in step S103, the CPU 201 causes the display 211 to display the area extracted in step S102 and the data read in step S101. A display example of the area on the image data is shown in FIG.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 3, in step S102, the CPU 201 discriminates the frame line in the image data read in step S101 and extracts an area, and in step S103, the extracted area is displayed on the display 211 of FIG. Although the configuration to be displayed is described, instead of steps S102 and S103 in FIG. 3, the image data read in step S101 is displayed, the user is allowed to specify an area, and the area specified by the user is shown in FIG. As shown, the display 211 may be configured to display.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of an area extracted by the processing of the CPU 201 or specified by the user in the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The shaded portions (plurality) in the figure are extracted or the user. Corresponds to the specified area.

  Each area in the image data is stored in the RAM 202 with a data structure shown in FIG.

  The description returns to the flowchart of FIG.

  Next, in step S104, the CPU 201 determines whether or not the area displayed in step S103 has been designated (selected) by the keyboard 206 and the pointing device 207 illustrated in FIG.

  If the CPU 201 determines in step S104 that there is an area designation, the process proceeds to step S105. If the CPU 201 determines that there is no area designation, the process proceeds to step S111.

  In step S105, the CPU 201 determines whether there is an enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction) for the area specified in step S104. The state of this enlargement instruction is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining an enlargement instruction for the area displayed on the display 211 shown in FIG. 4.

  In step S105, when the CPU 201 determines that there is an enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction) for the area specified in step S104, the CPU 201 proceeds to step S106, and on the other hand, determines that there is no enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction). If so, the process proceeds to step S111. Although not shown in FIG. 3 for simplifying the explanation processing, the CPU 201 determines the area specified in step S104 even if it is determined in step S105 that there is no enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction). If it is determined that an instruction other than the enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction) has been issued, the process corresponding to the instruction is performed, and then the process proceeds to step S111.

  For example, when an “area setting” instruction is issued for the specified (selected) area, the area setting screen 800 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display 211 to set attribute information for the selected area. , The process proceeds to step S111. If attribute information for an area is set on the area setting screen 800 shown in FIG. 7 and an “OK” key or an “Apply” key is designated, the attribute information of the area set on the area setting screen 800 is displayed. Are stored in the RAM 202 with the data structure shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an area setting screen 800 for setting attribute information for the area displayed on the display 211 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, reference numeral 801 denotes a preview screen for displaying an area image of a designated area.

  The description returns to the flowchart of FIG.

  If it is determined in step S105 that an enlargement instruction has been given to the designated area, in step S106, the CPU 201 calculates the enlargement width (or reduction width) from the resolution of the image data (image data). For example, when the resolution of the form image is “300 dpi”, “30 dots = 300 ÷ 10”. For example, “40 dots = 400 ÷ 10” when the resolution of the form image is “400 dpi”, “60 dots = 600 ÷ 10” when the resolution of the form image is “600 dpi”, and the like are calculated according to the resolution of the image data. It may be configured.

  Further, the enlargement width (or reduction width) in predetermined points may be calculated according to the resolution. For example, if the enlargement width (or reduction width) is “7 points”, “1 point = 1/72 inch”, so “7 points” is “29 dots 300 × 7” when the resolution is “300 dpi”, for example. ÷ 72 ”,“ 39 dots 400 × 7 ÷ 72 ”when the resolution is“ 400 dpi ”, and“ 58 dots 600 × 7 ÷ 72 ”when the resolution is“ 600 dpi ”. As a result, it is possible to enlarge the image with the same apparent width without depending on the resolution. Furthermore, the predetermined enlargement width (or reduction width) in point units is not limited to “7 points”, and may be any number as long as the number of points is a predetermined number. For example, “3 points” may be used.

  Further, the user can set the predetermined enlargement width (or reduction width) in point units, the number of points set by the user is stored in the external storage device 204, and the enlargement (or reduction) width (dot) is set. The number may be read out and used for the calculation process. Furthermore, since the positional relationship between the region and the frame line differs depending on the region extraction method used in step S102, the CPU 201 may be configured to change the number of points according to the region creation method. Further, the CPU 201 may be configured to change and control the number of points according to the OCR engine to be used.

  Furthermore, an enlarged width (number of dots) corresponding to the resolution may be set in advance and stored in the external storage device 204, and may be selected and used according to the resolution of the image data (image data). . For example, when the resolution of the form image is “300 dpi”, the resolution is “30 dots”. Further, when the resolution of the form image is “400 dpi”, “40 dots” is set, and when the resolution is “600 dpi”, “60 dots” is set. The combination of the preset resolution and enlargement width of the image data is not limited to the above example.

  Also, when the vertical and horizontal directions have different resolutions, the vertical scaling is calculated with the vertical resolution, and the horizontal scaling is calculated with the horizontal resolution. Also good.

  Next, in step S107, the CPU 201 calculates the coordinates of the enlarged area based on the number of dots calculated in step S106. Physically, the area is expanded by the same number of dots vertically and horizontally. For example, in Windows (registered trademark), since the upper left is the vertex of coordinates, processing as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a second control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The CPU 201 of the user terminal 101 shown in FIG. 2 loads a program stored in the external storage device 204 into the RAM 202. This corresponds to the processing of step S107 in FIG. S107-1 to S107-5 indicate each step. In the present embodiment, the upper left corner of the screen displayed on the display 211 shown in FIG. 2 is the coordinate vertex (0, 0).

  As shown in FIG. 8, in step S107-1, the CPU 201 subtracts the enlargement width calculated in step S106 from the left coordinate (for example, the X coordinate of the upper left point) of the area coordinate 1303 shown in FIG. If so, add a reduction width).

  Next, in step S107-2, the CPU 201 subtracts the enlargement width calculated in step S106 from the upper coordinates (for example, the Y coordinate of the upper left point) of region coordinates 1303 shown in FIG. 10 described later (in the case of reduction, the reduction width). Plus).

  Next, in step S107-3, the CPU 201 adds the enlargement width calculated in step S106 to the right coordinate (for example, the X coordinate of the lower right point) of an area coordinate 1303 shown in FIG. Minus the width).

  Next, in step S107-4, the CPU 201 adds the enlargement width calculated in step S106 to the lower coordinates (for example, the X coordinate of the lower right point) shown in FIG. Minus the width).

  Finally, in step S107-5, the CPU 201 creates an area with the obtained coordinate values (that is, updates the area coordinates 1303 shown in FIG. 10 stored in the RAM 202 with the obtained coordinate values).

  Then, when the process of step S107-5 ends, the CPU 201 returns the process to step S108 of FIG.

  Next, in step S108, the CPU 201 redisplays the designated area on the display 211 based on the area coordinates 1303 shown in FIG. 10 created in step S107-5 and stored in the RAM 202 (FIG. 5). That is, it is possible to change the area by enlarging or reducing the area without changing the middle point of the area by adding or subtracting the selected area up, down, left, or right by a predetermined amount based on an enlargement or reduction instruction.

  In step S109, the CPU 201 determines whether or not all screens (preview screens such as the preview screen 801 illustrated in FIG. 7) displaying the area specified in step S104 are displayed on the display 211.

  In step S109, if the CPU 201 determines that the preview screen of the area specified in step S104 is displayed, the process proceeds to step S110. If the CPU 201 determines that the preview screen is not displayed, The process proceeds to step S111.

  In step S <b> 110, the CPU 201 updates the designated area preview screen based on the area coordinates 1303 shown in FIG. 10 stored in the RAM 202. That is, the enlarged designated area is displayed (updated) on the preview screen. As a result, the area image shown in the preview screen 801 in FIG. 7 is enlarged like the area image shown in the preview screen 901 in FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an area setting screen displayed on the display 211 after the designated area changing process (enlargement process) illustrated in FIG. 3.

  Finally, in step S111, the CPU 201 determines whether or not an end instruction is given by an end menu or the like (not shown) on the display 211 using the keyboard 206 or the pointing device 207 shown in FIG. If it is determined, the process returns to step S104.

  On the other hand, if the CPU 201 determines in step S111 that an end instruction has been issued, it stores the area data of all areas stored in the RAM 202 (the processing result in the flowchart of FIG. 3) in the external storage device 204. The process ends. Note that the processing can be ended without storing the processing result in the flowchart of FIG. 3 in the external storage device 204.

  If a plurality of areas (or all areas) may be specified in step S104, and if it is determined in step S105 that an enlargement (or reduction) instruction has been given, the processing in steps S106 to S110 is specified. This is done for all the areas. Thereby, the area change process of a plurality of areas can be performed by a single change instruction (enlargement instruction, reduction instruction).

  As described above, in the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the region data is selected from one or a plurality of region data created on the image data displayed on the display 211 by the pointing device 207 or the like. When a change is instructed to the selected area data, the CPU 201 calculates a change amount of the selected area data based on the resolution of the image data, and based on the calculated change amount, the CPU 201 calculates the change amount of the selected area data. Since the area change process (enlargement change process or reduction change process) is performed on the selected area data in the vertical and horizontal directions, the area data created for the frame data on the image data can be easily changed (enlargement process). When creating an OCR template for image data such as a form, the conventional frame can be changed manually. Easily can create templates for OCR without performing a complicated operation such as that, it is possible to improve work efficiency.

  In addition, the change width (enlargement width, reduction width, etc.) at the time of the above-described area change processing is the number of dots calculated by a calculation method according to the resolution determined in consideration of OCR recognition in advance, or OCR recognition in advance. The number of dots can be calculated according to the number of points determined in this way (because it is not affected by the quality of work performed by the worker or the operator's work mistakes), so that work mistakes are suppressed and a certain level of quality is achieved. A template for OCR can be created.

  In addition, since it is a configuration in which one or a plurality of areas are specified and an area change is instructed, a template capable of enlarging only a necessary portion and accurately recognizing a frame and accurately performing OCR processing is provided. Can be created.

  Furthermore, a region that covers the frame can be reduced to a region that does not include the frame, and a template that can accurately perform the OCR process can be created.

  Further, the CPU 201 may be configured to perform a change process on each of the selected plurality of area data when an instruction is given to change the plurality of area data.

  Further, as shown in steps S109 and S110, after the area data change processing, the CPU 201 displays all of the display of the changed area data on the display 211 (for example, a preview of the area image 801 shown in FIG. 7 or the like). Display) again.

  Further, as shown in step S102, the CPU 201 extracts frame line data from the image data and creates region data (for example, region data for performing OCR recognition processing (character and symbol recognition processing)).

  Further, the CPU 201 stores the changed area data in the RAM 202 and the external storage device 204, and loads an OCR program (not shown) stored in the external storage device 204 onto the RAM 202, so that the external storage device 204 is loaded. On the image data read out and input from the external storage device 204 and the server 102, which is scanned and input by the scanner 105 and the multifunction peripheral 103 based on the read out area data OCR processing (character and symbol recognition processing) can be performed.

  Hereinafter, the data structure of each region in the image data shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the area in the image data shown in FIG. 4, and this data structure is stored in the RAM 202 and the external storage device 204.

  In FIG. 10, an area name is stored in 1301. This area name can be given arbitrarily, but if no area name is given, the area number described in 1309 described later is given. In 1302, the type of area is stored. For example, recognition types such as “OCR”, “OMR”, and “barcode” are set.

  In 1303, the coordinates of the region are stored. For example, if the region is a rectangle, the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the upper left point of the rectangle and the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the lower right point are stored. Note that when the area is changed, such as enlargement or reduction, as will be described later, the coordinates of the area stored in 1303 are also changed.

  In 1304, when the OCR process is performed on this area, a recognition dictionary name used for the OCR is stored. For example, the dictionary name can be arbitrarily selected by the user, and various dictionaries such as “type”, “handwriting”, “check writer font”, “MICR”, “OCR-B”, and “check mark” can be selected.

  In 1305, a character type for each dictionary is stored. For example, if you select a type in the dictionary, “English large”, “English small”, “Number”, “Kana large”, “Kana small”, “Kana small”, “Kana small”, “Symbol” are selected as the character type. Although not shown, the character type is also stored.

  In 1306, the direction of characters in this area is stored. For example, there are “horizontal writing”, “vertical writing”, and the like as character directions. In 1307, the type of character frame in this area is stored. For example, the types of character frames are “no frame”, “ladder frame system (frame divided into multiple frames like a ladder)”, “single frame (independent character frame for each character)”, etc. There is.

  When the character frame stored in 1306 is “ladder frame system”, 1308 stores the number of digits and the number of lines of the character frame. In 1309, an area number assigned to each area is stored. For example, the numbers are sequentially assigned from 1 in the order of extraction (search) by the CPU 201, the order specified by the user, and the like.

  The above 1301 to 1308 store the initial values (default) stored in advance in the external storage device 204 at the time of frame extraction or creation by user designation, but the area setting screen shown in FIG. The user can input an arbitrary value from 800 or the like.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the configuration in which the selection region is changed (enlargement processing, reduction processing) based on the change width determined according to the resolution of the image data has been described. However, a frame line close to the selection region is extracted. Alternatively, a rectangle circumscribing the extracted frame line may be extracted, and the selected region may be enlarged to a size obtained by enlarging the extracted rectangle by a predetermined width. The embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a third control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The CPU 201 of the user terminal 101 shown in FIG. 2 loads a program stored in the external storage device 204 into the RAM 202. This corresponds to the area changing process of the second embodiment executed by Note that S101 to S104, S107 to S111, and S201 to S204 indicate steps, and the same steps as those in FIG.

  In step S201, the CPU 201 determines whether there is an enlargement instruction for the area specified in step S104. If it is determined that there is an enlargement instruction, the CPU 201 proceeds to step S202, and determines that there is no enlargement instruction. In that case, the process proceeds to step S111. Although not shown in FIG. 11 for simplifying the explanation process, even if the CPU 201 determines that there is no enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction) in step S202, the area specified in step S104. If it is determined that an instruction other than the enlargement instruction (or reduction instruction) has been issued, the process corresponding to the instruction is performed, and then the process proceeds to step S111.

  For example, when an “area setting” instruction is given to the specified (selected) area, the area setting screen 800 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display 211, and attribute information for the selected area is displayed. After prompting the setting, the process proceeds to step S111. When the attribute information for the area is set on the area setting screen 800 shown in FIG. 7 and the “OK” key or the “Apply” key is designated, the attribute of the area set on the area setting screen 800 is displayed. Information is stored in the RAM 202 in the data structure shown in FIG.

  If it is determined in step S201 that there has been an enlargement instruction for the designated area, in step S202, the CPU 201 determines that the designated area 1000 is the area in step S102 as shown in FIGS. The coordinates (rectangular data, for example, upper left XY coordinates, lower right XY coordinates) of a rectangle 1002 (broken line in FIG. 1) circumscribing the area defined by the frame line 1001 (thick line in FIG. 12) determined when extracting (decide.

  FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship between the designated area and the frame line in the image data.

  12A shows a case in which the designated area 1000 is inscribed in the frame line 1001 in the image data determined when the designated area 1000 is extracted.

  (B) shows a case where the circumference (contour) of the designated area 1000 intersects with the frame line 1001 in the image data determined when the designated area 1000 is extracted.

  As described above, there are various positional relationships between the designated area 1000 and the frame line 1001 determined when the designated area 1000 is extracted depending on the creation method and creation state of the area. For example, when the designated area 1000 is inscribed in the frame line 1001 as shown in (a), the circumference (contour) of the designated area 1000 intersects the frame line 1001 as shown in (b) (b), Further, in addition to the above (a) and (b), when the designated area 1000 is included in the area constituted by the frame line 1001, the designated area is included when the designated area 1000 includes the area constituted by the frame line 1001. Various cases are conceivable, including the case where the circumference (contour) of 1000 just overlaps the frame line 1001. In this embodiment, the frame line 1001 is close to the designated area 1000 in any of these positional relationships. It shall be called a frame line.

  That is, in step S202 of FIG. 11, the CPU 201 detects a frame line 1001 that is close to the specified area with respect to the specified area 1000, and coordinates of a rectangle 1002 (broken line in FIG. 12) circumscribing the detected adjacent frame line 1001. To get. Similarly, when the designated area 1000 is created by a user's designated operation, the CPU 201 detects (extracts) a frame line 1001 close to the designated area with respect to the designated area 1000, and detects the detected adjacent frame line 1001. The coordinates of a rectangle 1002 (broken line) circumscribing to are acquired.

  As a method for detecting (extracting) a frame line adjacent to the specified area, the area where the specified area and the area formed by the frame line overlap is the largest, and the area of the specified area and the frame line are used. A method of detecting (extracting) a frame line that has the smallest difference from the area of the region and has the highest degree of matching between the shape of the designated region and the region formed by the frame line is used.

  As shown in step S102, in the case of an area created by the CPU 201 discriminating the frame line in the image data and extracting the area, the determined frame line is associated with the area and the RAM 202 Alternatively, the frame line may be stored in the external storage device 204, and the associated frame line may be detected (extracted) based on the stored correspondence information.

  Next, in step S203, the CPU 201 calculates the difference between the rectangular coordinates of the designated area 1000 and the rectangular coordinates of the circumscribed rectangle 1002 acquired in step S202. As a calculation method of the difference between the rectangular coordinates of the designated area and the rectangular coordinates of the circumscribed rectangle, the difference between the coordinates of the designated area 1000 and the coordinates of the circumscribed rectangle 1002 is calculated by the difference of the X coordinate and the difference of the Y coordinate, respectively. The maximum value of the difference between the X coordinates and the maximum value of the difference between the Y coordinates are calculated.

  In step S204, the CPU 201 determines the enlargement width based on the value calculated in step S203. As a method of calculating the enlargement width, a predetermined value is added to the maximum value of the X coordinate and the maximum value of the Y coordinate of the difference between the rectangular coordinate of the designated area calculated in step S203 and the rectangular coordinate of the circumscribed rectangle. The enlargement width in the X direction and the enlargement width in the Y direction are calculated (determined). In this way, a line segment can be included reliably when enlarged by adding a certain value to the maximum difference between the rectangular coordinates of the specified area calculated and the circumscribing rectangular coordinates. Can be improved in the OCR recognition rate in the region when OCR is recognized as including a frame line.

  When all or part of the rectangle coordinates of the circumscribed rectangle are smaller than the rectangle coordinates of the designated area, the enlargement width may be a negative value.

  When a predetermined value is added to the maximum value of the difference between the rectangular coordinates of the specified area and the rectangular coordinates of the circumscribed rectangle, the predetermined value is converted into the process shown in step S106 of the first embodiment. Similarly, a value determined according to the resolution may be used.

  11 and 12, a frame line close to the selected area (also referred to as a designated area) is extracted, a rectangle circumscribing the extracted frame line is extracted, and the extracted rectangle is enlarged to the above size. Although the configuration for enlarging the selected area has been described, a frame line close to the selected area is extracted, a rectangle inscribed in the extracted frame line is extracted, and the selected area is reduced to a size obtained by reducing the extracted rectangle. You may comprise.

  As a result, the area can be reliably reduced to the inside of the frame line, and the OCR recognition rate in the area when this area is OCR-recognized as an area having no frame line can be improved.

  As described above, in the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the CPU 201 extracts the frame line data close to the selected region data from the image data of the image including the frame line, and adds the extracted frame line data to the extracted frame line data. Since circumscribing rectangular data is determined and the amount of change is calculated from the difference between the determined rectangular data and the selected area data, the enlargement width (or not including the frame) is included so as to include the frame close to the area. In addition to the effects of the first embodiment, each frame line on the image data is determined, and the area data is subjected to area change processing for each area data, so that OCR recognition with high accuracy is determined. This makes it possible to create area data of an OCR template that can obtain an OCR result desired by a user.

[Third Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, when an enlargement instruction is given to the selected area, the selection area is changed (enlargement process, reduction process) based on the change width determined according to the resolution of the image data. In the above description, the configuration is described in which each of the selected areas is changed when an instruction for enlargement is made for the selected areas. However, the instruction is selected when an instruction for combining the selected areas is given. Alternatively, an area may be created by combining the areas, and the combined area may be changed (enlarged or reduced). Hereinafter, the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a fourth control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The CPU 201 of the user terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2 loads a program stored in the external storage device 204 into the RAM 202. This corresponds to the region combination processing of the third embodiment executed by Note that S101 to S103 and S300 to S316 indicate the respective steps, and the same steps as those in FIG.

  In step S300, the CPU 201 determines whether or not the plurality of areas displayed in step S103 have been designated (selected) by the keyboard 206 and the pointing device 207 illustrated in FIG.

  If the CPU 201 determines that there are a plurality of area designations in step S300, the process proceeds to step S301. If the CPU 201 determines that there are no plurality of area designations, the process proceeds to step S316. .

  In step S301, the CPU 201 determines whether or not there is a combination instruction for a plurality of areas specified in step S300. FIG. 14 shows the state of combining instructions for the plurality of areas.

  FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram for explaining a combination instruction for an area displayed on the display 211 shown in FIG. In FIG. 14, reference numerals 1101 to 1104 denote designated (selected) areas.

  In step S301, if the CPU 201 determines that there is a combination instruction for a plurality of areas specified in step S300, the process proceeds to step S302-1, while if it is determined that there is no combination instruction, Then, the process proceeds to step S316. Although not shown in FIG. 13 for simplifying the explanation process, even when the CPU 201 determines in step S301 that there is no combination instruction, the CPU 201 performs processing for a plurality of areas specified in step S300. If it is determined that an instruction other than the combination instruction is given, the process corresponding to the instruction is performed, and then the process proceeds to step S316.

  If the CPU 201 determines in step S301 that there is a combination instruction for a plurality of designated areas, the CPU 201 performs the process between steps S302-1 to S302-2 (S303) as the first selected area of the selected selection areas. Repeat until the last selected area.

  In step S303, the CPU 201 extracts the coordinates of each selected area (for example, extracts the XY coordinates of the upper left vertex and the XY coordinates of the lower right vertex of the area (rectangle)). When the CPU 201 completes the coordinate extraction process in step S303 for all of the plurality of selection areas, the process proceeds to step S304. In the present embodiment, the upper left corner of the screen displayed on the display 211 shown in FIG. 2 is the coordinate vertex (0, 0).

  Next, in step S304, the CPU 201 acquires the minimum value of the left coordinate (for example, the X coordinate of the upper left vertex) among the coordinates of each region extracted in step S303. Next, in step S305, the CPU 201 acquires the minimum value of the upper coordinates (for example, the Y coordinate of the upper left vertex) among the coordinates of each region extracted in step S303.

  Next, in step S306, the CPU 201 acquires the maximum value of the right coordinate (for example, the X coordinate of the lower right vertex) among the coordinates of each region extracted in step S303. Next, in step S307, the CPU 201 acquires the maximum value of the lower coordinates (for example, the Y coordinate of the lower right vertex) among the coordinates of each region extracted in step S303.

  Next, in step S308, the CPU 201 deletes all of the plurality of areas specified in step S300 (deletes area data corresponding to the plurality of areas from the RAM 202).

  Next, in step S309, the CPU 201 calculates the enlargement width from the resolution. Note that this enlargement width calculation method uses the same method as that shown in step S106 of FIG. Further, based on the area created with the coordinates acquired in steps S304 to S307, the enlargement width may be calculated and determined by the method shown in the processing of steps S202 to S204 in FIG.

  Next, in step S310, the CPU 201 subtracts the enlargement width calculated in step S309 from the minimum value of the left coordinate acquired in step S304. Next, in step S311, the CPU 201 subtracts the enlargement width calculated in step S309 from the minimum value of the upper coordinates acquired in step S305.

  Next, in step S312, the CPU 201 adds the enlargement width calculated in step S309 to the maximum value of the right coordinate acquired in step S306. Next, in step S313, the CPU 201 adds the enlargement width calculated in step S309 to the maximum value of the lower coordinates acquired in step S307.

  Next, in step S314, the CPU 201 creates an area with the coordinate values acquired in steps S310 to S313 (that is, the area data obtained by combining the plurality of area data specified in step S105 is processed in steps S310 to S313. The obtained coordinate values are created as region data having region coordinates 1303 (FIG. 10) and stored in the RAM 202 with the data structure shown in FIG.

  Next, in step S315, the CPU 201 displays the area on the display 211 based on the area coordinates 1303 shown in FIG. 10 created in step S314 and stored in the RAM 202 (FIG. 15). Accordingly, the plurality of selection areas 1101 to 1104 illustrated in FIG. 14 are combined and enlarged as illustrated in the combination area 1201 of FIG. That is, based on a combination instruction for a plurality of selection areas, an area that combines the plurality of selection areas is created, and a middle point of the combination area is changed by adding a predetermined amount to the combination area in the vertical and horizontal directions. Thus, it is possible to perform the joining process of enlarging the joining area.

  Note that the enlargement width may be a negative value when it is smaller than the rectangular coordinates of the region where all or some of the rectangular coordinates of the circumscribed rectangles are combined.

  FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a combined area displayed on the display 211 after combining processing of a plurality of designated areas illustrated in FIG.

  Although not shown in FIG. 13, the CPU 201 displays all the screens (preview screens, for example, shown in FIG. 7) that display the area created in step S <b> 314 (the combined area of the selected areas) on the display 211. All preview screens are updated in the same manner.

  Finally, in step S316, the CPU 201 determines whether or not an end instruction has been given by an end menu (not shown) on the display 211 using the keyboard 206 and the pointing device 207 shown in FIG. If it is determined, the process returns to step S300.

  On the other hand, if the CPU 201 determines in step S316 that an end instruction has been issued, it stores the area data of all areas stored in the RAM 202 (the processing result in the flowchart of FIG. 13) in the external storage device 204. The process ends. Note that the processing can be ended without storing the processing result in the flowchart of FIG. 13 in the external storage device 204.

  It should be noted that the deletion process of all selected areas in step S308 may be performed after steps S313 and S314, and the timing of deletion may be any.

  In step S308, instead of deleting all selected areas, one of the selected areas, for example, the last selected area is left, the other area is deleted, and the coordinates of the remaining area are stored in steps S310 to S313. You may comprise so that it may change to the area | region of the coordinate value calculated | required by.

  In FIG. 13, when an instruction to combine a plurality of selected areas is given, an area in which the plurality of areas are combined is created, and the combined area is enlarged according to the resolution. Although the configuration in which the region enlarged by the width is created has been described, the region may be created by reducing the combined region by the reduction width calculated according to the resolution.

  As described above, when the CPU 201 of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is instructed to change a plurality of area data by the pointing device 207 or the like, the CPU 201 creates area data by combining the plurality of area data, In addition to the effect of the first embodiment, area data is created by changing (enlarging and reducing) the combined area data by a change width (enlarged width, reduced width) calculated according to the resolution. With a simple operation of selecting and combining multiple areas, OCR recognition with high accuracy is possible, and it is possible to create area data for OCR templates that can obtain the OCR results desired by the user. There are effects such as efficiency improvement.

  8 and 13 show the configuration in which the area data is changed in the vertical and horizontal directions. However, the area change direction is not limited to the vertical and horizontal directions. All configurations that are changed are also included in the present invention.

  Further, the data structure of the area shown in FIG. 10 is not limited to this, and it is needless to say that the data structure is configured in various configurations and contents depending on applications and purposes.

  As described above, each embodiment has been described. However, the present invention can take an embodiment as a system, apparatus, method, program, recording medium, or the like, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  In addition, the present invention includes a configuration in which the first to third embodiments are combined.

  The configuration of a data processing program that can be read by the information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the memory map shown in FIG.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a memory map of a recording medium (storage medium) that stores various data processing programs readable by the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  Although not specifically shown, information for managing a program group stored in the recording medium, for example, version information, creator, etc. is also stored, and information depending on the OS on the program reading side, for example, a program is identified and displayed. Icons may also be stored.

  Further, data depending on various programs is also managed in the directory. In addition, when a program or data to be installed is compressed, a program to be decompressed may be stored.

  The functions shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 8, FIG. 11, and FIG. 13 in this embodiment may be performed by a host computer by a program installed from the outside. In this case, the present invention is applied even when an information group including a program is supplied to the output device from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, or an FD, or from an external recording medium via a network. Is.

  As described above, a recording medium recording software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the recording medium in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by reading and executing the programmed program code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  The above-described program only needs to be able to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments by a computer, and the form includes forms such as object code, a program executed by an interpreter, and script data supplied to the OS. But you can.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, RAM, NV-RAM, flexible disk, magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW), magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon disk, or the like may be used as long as the program can be stored.

  Furthermore, the program may be supplied by downloading from another computer or database (not shown) connected to the Internet, a commercial network, a local area network, or the like.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) or the like running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program code read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted in the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading the recording medium storing the program represented by the software for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention. .

  Furthermore, by downloading and reading out a program represented by software for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention. It becomes.

  The present invention is also applicable to enlargement or reduction processing that does not change the center of gravity of image data by using region data used for OCR processing created on the image data as normal image data.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system to which an information processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention can be applied. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the internal structure of the user terminal shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the 1st control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the image data read in the information processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display extracted by the process of CPU in the information processing apparatus of this invention, or the area | region designated by the user. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an enlargement instruction for an area displayed on the display illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a region setting screen for setting attribute information for a region displayed on the display illustrated in FIG. 4. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the 2nd control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the area | region setting screen displayed on a display after the change process (enlargement process) of the designated area | region shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a data structure of a region in the image data illustrated in FIG. 4. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the 3rd control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the positional relationship of a designated area | region and the frame line in image data. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the 4th control processing procedure in the information processing apparatus of this invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a combination instruction for a region displayed on the display illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a combined area displayed on a display after combining processing of a plurality of designated areas illustrated in FIG. 13. It is a figure explaining the memory map of the recording medium (storage medium) which stores the various data processing program which can be read by the information processing apparatus which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

101 User terminal 102 Server 103 Multifunction machine 104 LAN
105 Scanner 201 CPU
202 RAM
203 ROM
204 External storage device 206 Keyboard 207 Pointing device 211 Display

Claims (13)

In an information processing apparatus that changes one or a plurality of area data created on image data,
Change instruction means for selecting any of the area data and instructing the change to the selected area data;
Calculating means for calculating a change amount of the selected area data based on the resolution of the image data;
Area change means for performing area change processing in the vertical and horizontal directions on the selected area data based on the change amount calculated by the calculation means;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area changing unit performs an enlargement change process or a reduction change process in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the selected area data. The image data is image data of an image including a frame line,
The calculation means extracts frame line data close to the selected area data from the image data, determines rectangular data circumscribing the extracted frame line data, and determines the determined rectangular data and the selected rectangular data The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change amount is calculated from a difference from the area data.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the area changing unit includes the adjacent frame line data in an area of the area data changed by the area changing unit.   The area changing unit performs a changing process on each of the selected plurality of area data when the change instruction unit instructs to change any of the plurality of area data. Item 5. The information processing apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 4   The area changing means creates area data obtained by combining the plurality of selected area data when the change instruction means instructs to change any of the plurality of area data, and the combined area data 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a change process is performed in the vertical and horizontal directions based on the change amount.   2. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising a re-display unit configured to re-display all displays in the display unit of the changed area data when the selected area data is changed by the area changing unit. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 1 to 6.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a creation unit that extracts frame line data from the image data to create the region.   9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area data created on the image data is area data for performing character and symbol recognition processing. Storage means for storing area data changed by the area changing means;
Recognition processing means for performing recognition processing of characters and symbols on the input image data based on the area data stored by the storage means;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: In an area changing method in an information processing apparatus for changing one or more area data created on image data,
A change instruction step for selecting any one of the area data and instructing the change to the selected area data;
A calculation step of calculating a change amount of the selected area data based on the resolution of the image data;
An area change step for performing an area change process in the vertical and horizontal directions on the selected area data based on the calculated change amount;
A region changing method characterized by comprising:   The program for performing the area | region change method described in Claim 11.   A recording medium storing a computer-readable program for executing the region changing method according to claim 11.

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