JP2006115022A - Original reading apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique of simply managing image data by easily reading desired image data stored with an index for cross-reference with each other in response to features of the image data, referencing the index. <P>SOLUTION: A multi-functioned machine 100 includes: an original reading section 104 for reading an original and generating the image data on the basis of the original; an index generating section 106 for either or both of a thumbnail picture and text information as the index of the image data; and an image data storage section 112 for storing the image data and the index of the image data in cross-reference with each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an original reading apparatus, and more particularly to an original reading apparatus having a function of storing image data of a read original.

  In recent years, in a multifunction device having a document reading function, a printing function, a facsimile transmission function, and the like, image data of a scanned document is stored in the apparatus, and desired image data is later read from the multifunction device or connected via a network. Reading from other terminals is also performed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133830 discloses a file name input via the input unit, a unit for inputting a file name, a reading unit for reading an image, a storage unit for storing image data, and image data obtained by the reading unit. And a control means for storing the information in a storage means in association with the document reading apparatus. Thereby, the loss of the image data is prevented.
JP 2001-313796 A

  However, in general, in an original reading apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral, an unspecified number of users perform original reading operations, and it is difficult to manage the read original with only the file name.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for easily managing read image data.

  According to the present invention, a document reading unit that reads a document and generates image data based on the document, and the image data generated by the document reading unit is used as an index of the image data based on character information or image information. An original comprising: index generation means for generating one or both of thumbnail images and text information; and image data storage means for storing the image data in association with the index of the image data A reader is provided.

  As described above, when storing the image data of the document read by the document reading unit, the index is stored in association with each image data according to the characteristics of the image data. Desired image data can be easily read, and management of the image data can be simplified. Here, the index generation means can generate one or both of text information and a thumbnail image as an index based on the determination based on the amount of character information or image information in the image data. When the image data includes image information, the contents of the image data can be easily grasped by looking at the thumbnail image. For example, in the case of image data including only character information, there is a thumbnail image. That alone cannot grasp the contents of the image data. In the document reading apparatus of the present invention, for example, an index can be created with text information or thumbnail images based on whether the image data contains a lot of character information or a lot of image information. Thereby, it is possible to easily manage the image data regardless of the type of the image data.

  In the document reading apparatus according to the present invention, the document reading unit is configured to output the document in a plurality of modes including a first mode for reading a document including a large amount of character information and a second mode for reading a document including a large amount of image information. The index generation means can determine the type of index to be generated based on the mode in which the original reading means reads the original.

  Here, the first mode can be, for example, a character mode. In addition, the second mode can be a photo mode, for example. For example, when the document reading unit reads a document in the first mode, the index generation unit can generate text information as an index and associate it with image data. For example, when the document reading unit reads a document in the second mode, the index generation unit can generate a thumbnail image as an index and associate it with the image data.

  The document reading means can also read the document in the “character + photo mode” for reading a document in which character information and image information are mixed. In this case, for example, the document reading unit can generate both text information and thumbnail images as indexes and associate them with the image data.

  Here, even when the document read by the image data reading unit actually includes a lot of character information, when reading in the second mode is designated, the index generation unit can generate a thumbnail image as an index. . Similarly, even when a document read by the image data reading unit actually includes a lot of image information, the index generation unit generates text information as an index when reading in the first mode is designated. Can do.

  The document reading apparatus of the present invention further includes a character reading unit that identifies character information included in the image data and converts it into text data when the index generation unit determines to generate text information as the index. The index generation means can generate the index based on the text data converted by the character reading means.

  Here, when the index generation unit determines that the text information is generated as an index, the document read by the image data reading unit actually includes a lot of image information. May not be able to get. In such a case, the index generation means can set, for example, default text information such as the date and time when the document is read, or a thumbnail image of image data as an index.

  In the document reading apparatus according to the present invention, any index is selected from a display processing unit that performs a process of displaying a list of indexes stored in the image data storage unit and the list display displayed by the display processing unit. By this, it is possible to further include reading means for reading out the image data associated with the index.

  Here, the display processing means can display a list of indexes on a display panel or the like provided in the document reading device, and can display the indexes on a monitor or the like of another terminal connected to the document reading device via a network. It can also be made. When the index is text information, the display processing means may display only a part of the text information or may display all of the text information. The reading unit can also read out desired image data based on a user instruction from an operation unit provided in the document reading apparatus, and can be based on a user instruction from another terminal connected via a network. Desired image data can also be read out.

  As described above, according to the document reading apparatus of the present invention, when reading a document, either one or both of text information and a thumbnail image are associated with the image data as an index according to the characteristics of the document. Since it is stored, desired image data can be easily read later with reference to the index.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily manage read image data.

  In the present embodiment, the document reading apparatus is a multifunction machine that integrates a facsimile, a printer, a copy, a scanner function, and the like. Here, the multi-function device may be a network multi-function device such as a network facsimile machine or MFP (Multi Functional Peripheral).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment.
The multifunction device 100 includes an instruction receiving unit 102, a document reading unit 104, an index generation unit 106, an OCR processing unit 108, an image data storage unit 112, a setting information storage unit 114, a data reading unit 116, and a display processing unit 118.

  Each component of the MFP 100 is centered on a CPU, a memory, a program that realizes the components of this figure loaded in the memory, a storage unit such as a hard disk that stores the program, and a network connection interface. Realized by any combination of hardware and software. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications to the implementation method and apparatus. Each drawing described in the embodiment shows a block of functional units, not a configuration of hardware units. In FIG. 1, the configuration of parts not related to the essence of the present invention is omitted.

  The instruction receiving unit 102 receives an instruction from the user. The display processing unit 118 performs processing for displaying various information. Although not shown here, the MFP 100 may be connected to another terminal such as a personal computer via a network such as a LAN. In this case, the instruction receiving unit 102 can also receive instructions from other terminals. The display processing unit 118 can also perform processing for displaying various information on a monitor of another terminal.

  Although not shown, the multi-function device 100 can send and receive facsimile data to and from other facsimile machines and terminals via a network such as PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or the Internet.

  The document reading unit 104 reads a document and generates image data. The document reading unit 104 is a scanner. In the present embodiment, the document reading unit 104 can read a document in a plurality of modes. For example, the document reading unit 104 mainly reads a “character mode” that reads a document that contains a lot of character information, “photo mode” that reads a document that contains a lot of image information, and “character +” that reads a document that contains both character information and image information. Documents can be read in “Photo mode”. The instruction receiving unit 102 receives, from the user, designation of a reading mode when the original reading unit 104 reads an original. The document reading unit 104 reads the document in that mode based on the designation received by the instruction receiving unit 102. If the mode is not specified, the document reading unit 104 reads the document in a mode set by default (for example, a normal mode).

  The document reading unit 104 stores the generated image data in the image data storage unit 112. In addition, when the document reading unit 104 generates image data, the document reading unit 104 notifies the index generation unit 106 to that effect.

  The index generation unit 106 generates an index of the image data generated by the document reading unit 104 and stores the generated index in association with the image data stored in the image data storage unit 112. The index generation unit 106 generates one or both of text information and thumbnail images as an index according to the type of document read by the document reading unit 104. For example, when the document reading unit 104 reads a document in the character mode, the index generation unit 106 generates text information based on character information included in the document read by the document reading unit 104 as an index. When the document reading unit 104 reads a document in the photo mode, the index generation unit 106 generates a thumbnail image of the image data generated by the document reading unit 104 as an index. When the document reading unit 104 reads a document in the character + photo mode, the index generation unit 106 generates text information and thumbnail images as index data.

  The index generation unit 106 can also generate an index for each page of image data generated by the document reading unit 104. However, when the document reading unit 104 reads image data of a plurality of pages at once, for example, Only an index of image data of an arbitrary page can be generated. Which page of the image data index is to be generated can be determined based on an instruction from the user, and can be determined according to information set in the setting information storage unit 114, for example.

  The OCR processing unit 108 is an optical character reader. If the index generation unit 106 determines that the text information is generated as an index, the OCR processing unit 108 identifies character information included in the image data read by the document reading unit 104 and converts it into text data.

  The index generation unit 106 can generate text information by various methods based on the text data converted by the OCR processing unit 108. For example, when generating the text information, the index generation unit 106 can cause the display processing unit 118 to display the image data read by the document reading unit 104 on a display or the like, and allow the user to select an area for performing OCR processing. Can do. In this case, the index generation unit 106 causes the OCR processing unit 108 to process only the area selected by the user.

  Further, the index generation unit 106 can cause the OCR processing unit 108 to process only a predetermined area according to the type of image data read by the document reading unit 104. For example, when the original document reading unit 104 reads a transmitted facsimile document, the index generation unit 106 causes the OCR processing unit 108 to process only the transmission source record (TTI) of the facsimile document, and the transmission source record is converted into text information. can do. Further, the index generation unit 106 can select text data of the first predetermined number of characters from the text data converted by the OCR processing unit 108 and use it as text information.

  The setting information storage unit 114 stores setting information referred to when the index generation unit 106 generates an index. In the present embodiment, the setting information storage unit 114 serves as an index of image data read in each mode according to the reading mode of the document reading unit 104 such as a character mode, a photo mode, and a character + photo mode as an initial setting. , The setting of whether to generate text information, to generate a thumbnail image, or to generate both is stored.

  The setting information storage unit 114 also includes, for example, the number of characters when the index generation unit 106 generates text information, the size of the thumbnail image when generating the thumbnail image (for example, the number of vertical and horizontal pixels, and reduction of the read image data). (Ratio) etc. are memorized. Further, the setting information storage unit 114 generates an index for all pages when the document reading unit 104 reads a plurality of pages of image data at once, or which page to generate when only an index for some pages is generated. The default information such as whether to generate an index is stored. In addition, the setting information storage unit 114 also stores information regarding which region the OCR processing unit 108 performs processing, and which region of text data is used as the text information of the index. Furthermore, the setting information storage unit 114 can also store information regarding default text information when the OCR processing unit 108 cannot extract text data when the index generation unit 106 generates text information.

  The index generation unit 106 generates index text information with reference to the setting information storage unit 114. The index generation unit 106 stores the generated index in the image data storage unit 112 in association with the image data.

  The data reading unit 116 reads an index and image data from the image data storage unit 112 based on an instruction from the user. The display processing unit 118 displays a list of indexes on a display panel (not shown) of the multifunction device 100, a monitor of another terminal connected to the multifunction device 100 via a network, or the like. When the index is text information, the display processing unit 118 may display only a part of the text information or may display all of the text information. The display processing unit 118 can also display image data on a display panel, a monitor, or the like. The data reading unit 116 selects the index displayed in a list based on a user instruction from the instruction receiving unit 102 or another terminal connected via a network, and thereby image data associated with the index is selected. Can be read out.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a part of the internal configuration of the setting information storage unit 114.
Here, the setting information storage unit 114 has a reading mode column, an index column, a parameter column, and a default column. For example, when the reading mode is the character mode, text information is generated as an index, and the number of characters of the text information at this time is 20 characters. When text data cannot be acquired by the OCR processing by the OCR processing unit 108, the date is associated with the image data as an index as a default.

  When the reading mode is the photo mode, a thumbnail image is generated as an index, and the size of the thumbnail image at this time is 200 × 200 pix. When the reading mode is the character + photo mode, both text information and thumbnail images are generated as indexes. At this time, the number of characters of the text information is 20 characters, and the size of the thumbnail image is 200 × 200 pix. As for text information, when text data cannot be acquired by OCR processing by the OCR processing unit 108, a date is associated with image data as an index as a default. In this case, the index generation unit 106 may generate only thumbnail images without generating text information.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a document reading and index generation processing procedure in the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment.

  When the instruction receiving unit 102 receives a document reading instruction from the user (YES in S100), the document reading unit 104 determines the reading mode (S102 and S118). When the user designates the reading mode, the document reading unit 104 determines the reading mode according to the user's instruction. Even when there is no instruction from the user, the document reading unit 104 can determine in which mode the document is read based on the characteristics of the document to be read.

  When it is determined to read in the character mode (YES in S102), the document reading unit 104 reads the document in the character mode (S104). The document reading unit 104 accumulates the read image data in the image data storage unit 112 (S106). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 determines whether to generate an index of the image data (S108). The index generation unit 106 can determine whether to generate an index according to a user instruction. Further, the index generation unit 106 can determine whether or not to generate an index according to the information set in the setting information storage unit 114. When generating an index (YES in S108), the index generation unit 106 causes the OCR processing unit 108 to extract character information from the image data (S110). When the OCR processing unit 108 extracts character information (YES in S112), the index generation unit 106 generates text information based on the character information (S113). On the other hand, if the OCR processing unit 108 cannot extract character information in step S112 (NO in S112), the index generation unit 106 sets default text information (S114). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 stores the text information generated in step S113 or the text information set in step S114 in the image data storage unit 112 in association with the image data (S116). The process ends as described above. If it is determined in step S108 that no index is to be generated (NO in S108), the process is terminated. In this case, no index is attached to the image data.

  If it is determined in step S102 that the document is read in the photo mode instead of the character mode (NO in S102, YES in S108), the document reading unit 104 reads the document in the photo mode (S120). The document reading unit 104 accumulates the read image data in the image data storage unit 112 (S122). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 determines whether to generate an index of the image data (S124). When generating an index (YES in S124), the index generation unit 106 generates a thumbnail image that is a reduced image of the image data based on the image data (S126). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 stores the thumbnail image in the image data storage unit 112 in association with the image data (S128). The process ends as described above. If it is determined in step S124 that no index is to be generated (NO in S124), the process ends.

  If it is determined in step S118 that the document is read in the character + photo mode instead of the photo mode (NO in S118), the document reading unit 104 reads the document in the character + photo mode (S130). The document reading unit 104 accumulates the read image data in the image data storage unit 112 (S132). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 determines whether to generate an index of the image data (S134). When an index is generated (YES in S134), the index generation unit 106 generates a thumbnail image that is a reduced image of the image data based on the image data (S136). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 causes the OCR processing unit 108 to extract character information from the image data (S138). When the OCR processing unit 108 extracts character information (YES in S140), the index generation unit 106 generates text information based on the character information (S141). On the other hand, if the OCR processing unit 108 cannot extract character information in step S140 (NO in S140), the index generation unit 106 sets default text information (S142). Subsequently, the index generation unit 106 stores the thumbnail image generated in step S136 and the text information generated in step S141 or the text information set in step S142 in the image data storage unit 112 in association with the image data ( S144). The process ends as described above. If it is determined in step S134 that no index is to be generated (NO in S134), the process ends.

  As described above, it is possible to easily manage the image data stored in the multifunction peripheral 100. In addition, by displaying an index from a terminal connected to the multifunction peripheral 100 using, for example, a browser, the contents of desired image data can be quickly grasped, and the management of the image data is facilitated. In MFP 100 according to the present embodiment, either or both of the text information and the thumbnail image are created as an index according to the characteristics of the image data. Therefore, image data can be managed regardless of the type of image data. It can be done easily.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. The embodiments are exemplifications, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. .

  In the above embodiment, the character reading mode of the original reading unit 104 is exemplified as the character mode, the photo mode, and the character + photo mode. However, the original reading unit 104 reads the original in various other reading modes. be able to. In this case as well, a desired index can be created by setting in the setting information storage unit 114 whether to generate either one or both of text information and thumbnail images as indexes for each mode. .

  In the above embodiment, an example in which the index type is determined according to the document reading mode of the document reading unit 104 has been described. However, for example, the document reading unit 104 may read a document in the normal mode. An index corresponding to the feature of the image data may be generated by a user instruction or automatic processing such as pattern matching.

  Further, for example, in a multi-function peripheral, the user can select the type of read original when reading the original, and either or both of the text information and the thumbnail image can be generated as an index according to the type. This setting can also be stored in the setting information storage unit 114.

  The index may be added or edited later. For example, when title information is generated as an index, the index can be edited later. Thereby, management of image data can be performed more conveniently.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated a part of internal structure of the setting information storage part. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a document reading and index generation processing procedure in the multifunction peripheral according to the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

100 MFP 102 Instruction Accepting Unit 104 Document Reading Unit 106 Index Generation Unit 108 OCR Processing Unit 112 Image Data Storage Unit 114 Setting Information Storage Unit 116 Data Reading Unit 118 Display Processing Unit

Claims (4)

Document reading means for reading a document and generating image data based on the document;
An index generation unit that generates one or both of text information and a thumbnail image as an index of the image data based on character information or image information included in the image data generated by the document reading unit;
Image data storage means for storing the image data and an index of the image data in association with each other;
A document reading apparatus comprising: The document reading device according to claim 1,
The document reading means is configured to be able to read a document in a plurality of modes including a first mode for reading a document containing a lot of character information and a second mode for reading a document containing a lot of image information,
The document reading apparatus, wherein the index generation unit determines a type of index to be generated based on a mode in which the document reading unit reads the document. The document reading device according to claim 1 or 2,
When the index generation means determines to generate text information as the index, the index generation means further includes character reading means for identifying character information included in the image data and converting it into text data,
The document reading apparatus, wherein the index generation unit generates the index based on text data converted by the character reading unit. The document reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Display processing means for performing a process of displaying a list of indexes stored in the image data storage means;
Reading means for reading image data associated with the index by selecting any index from the list displayed by the display processing means;
A document reading apparatus, further comprising:

Images