JP2006172070A - Ledger sheet processor, ledger sheet processing method and ledger sheet processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the processing efficiency of a ledger sheet by facilitating the correction processing of a character attribute in a character recognition result of the ledger sheet, thereby reducing a burden on a user side. <P>SOLUTION: This ledger sheet processor can perform correction processing of a correspondence relation between a field attribute and a character attribute and display recommendation correction data 52 obtained by correcting a recognition result having an error on a display 9 even if, for example, a recognition result 51 or the like which causes a contradiction is obtained in a correspondence relation between the character attribute obtained by recognizing an image read from the ledger sheet and a normal field attribute that is preliminarily defined. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a form processing apparatus that performs form processing, a form processing method, and a form processing program.

  Conventionally, in a form processing apparatus that performs character recognition processing by reading an image on a form, characters to be entered in each field so as to correspond to each field divided into a plurality of areas by a character entry frame on the form. Attribute information is defined in advance. That is, the character attribute information corresponding to each field is, for example, kanji for the name column, katakana for the reading column, and numbers for the number column.

  The form processing apparatus uses such attribute information to recognize kanji in the name field, katakana recognition in the reading field, and number recognition in the number field, and output the recognition result on the display. For example, the recognition result When there is an error, the operator generally performs correction processing through a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like.

Here, when printing characters on a form, for example, if there is a misalignment in the positioning of the form on the printer, the character attributes actually printed in a predetermined field on the form and the field are defined in advance. There may be a gap between the attribute of the selected character. Therefore, even in such a case, there has been proposed a character recognition device that can change the setting of the character attribute defined in the field and the setting of the field size of the recognition target so that a correct character recognition result can be obtained ( For example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-160811

  However, in such a conventional apparatus, for example, even if a character recognition result is obtained correctly, a field to which the character is associated as a recognition result and a normal field to which the character is to be actually associated There may be an error in the correspondence with. Further, in this conventional apparatus, in order to change the setting of the character attribute and the setting of the field size described above, an artificial setting operation is required, which increases the operator's work.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and by making it possible to quickly and easily perform the correction processing of the character attribute in the character recognition result of the form, the burden on the user side can be reduced and the form processing can be performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a form processing apparatus, a form processing method, and a form processing program that can improve efficiency.

  In order to achieve the above object, the form processing apparatus according to the present invention defines character attribute information to be recorded for a plurality of areas divided by character entry frames provided on the form. Attribute information storage means for storing each area in association with each other, a character recognition means for inputting a form image and performing character recognition, and at least each of the character entry boxes obtained as a recognition result by the character recognition means Recognition result determination means for determining whether the correspondence between the attribute of the area and the attribute of the character is correct or not based on the storage contents of the attribute information storage means, and the attribute of the area and the attribute of the character as a determination result by the recognition result determination means When there is a contradiction in the correspondence relationship, the correction content estimation means for estimating the correction content of the recognition result capable of matching the correspondence relation, and the correction content estimation means The contents correcting the recognition result, characterized by comprising a display means for visually displaying, as recommended correction data.

  That is, in the present invention, when a form image is input and a character recognition result is obtained for each area in the character entry frame, the attribute of each area and the character attribute in the character entry frame obtained as the recognition result are obtained. Is determined based on character attribute information defined in advance for each area. Furthermore, in the present invention, even if a recognition result in which a contradiction occurs, for example, in a correspondence relationship between the recognized character attribute and the predefined regular region attribute, the region attribute and the character attribute is obtained. The recommended correction data obtained by correcting the recognition result in which an error has occurred can be displayed. Therefore, according to the present invention, the correction processing of the character attribute in the character recognition result of the form can be realized quickly and easily, so that the burden on the user side is reduced and the efficiency of the form processing can be improved.

  In the present invention, the display means may display selection information for prompting information input corresponding to approval / rejection to update the recognition result by the character recognition means with the recommended correction data. Good. In this case, the character recognition result corrected correctly can be stored and held as electronic data only by an information selection operation that is easy for the user to input.

  Furthermore, the form processing method of the present invention is a method for inputting an image read from a form in which characters are recorded in a character entry frame and performing character recognition, and at least the recognition result obtained in the character recognition step. Whether the correspondence between the attribute of each area in the character entry frame and the attribute of the character is correct or not, attribute information of the character to be entered in a plurality of areas divided by the character entry frame previously written on the form A recognition result determination step for determining based on the storage contents of the storage device that defines and stores the attribute information in association with each region, and the attribute and character of the region as the determination result in the recognition result determination step When a contradiction occurs in the correspondence relationship with the attribute, a correction content estimation step for estimating a correction content of the recognition result that can match the correspondence relationship, and the correction content estimation step The estimated content modifies the recognition result-up, and having a display step of visually displaying, as recommended correction data.

  The form processing program according to the present invention is a form processing program for causing a computer to execute a form process, wherein the computer is recorded in a plurality of areas divided by character entry frames provided on the form. Attribute information storage means for defining attribute information of characters to be associated and storing the attribute information in association with each area, character recognition means for inputting a form image and performing character recognition, and recognition by the character recognition means A recognition result determining means for determining whether or not the correspondence relationship between the attribute of each area and the character attribute in at least the character entry frame obtained as a result is correct based on the storage content of the attribute information storage means; and the recognition result determination If there is a contradiction in the correspondence between the attribute of the area and the attribute of the character as a result of determination by the means, the recognition result that can match the correspondence The correction content estimation means for estimating the correction content of the information, and the display means for visually displaying the correction result of the recognition result estimated by the correction content estimation means as recommended correction data, .

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the burden on the user side and improve the processing efficiency of the form by enabling the correction processing of the character attribute in the character recognition result of the form to be performed quickly and easily. A form processing apparatus, form processing method, and form processing program can be provided.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of a form processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows various functions realized by the form processing program executed on the form processing apparatus. It is a figure shown with a flow.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the form processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a CPU 2, a main memory 3, a storage device 5, a display 9, a keyboard 10, a pointing device 6, and a scanner 8. Prepare mainly. Here, in the form processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, various hardware other than the scanner 8 is realized by a computer apparatus including, for example, a PC (Personal Computer).

  The CPU 2 controls the entire form processing apparatus. According to various programs executed on the main memory 3, the CPU 2 performs input / output control of data, character recognition processing from the image on the form input through the scanner 8, and other processes. Perform various processes.

  The main memory 3 is an area for storing programs, data, and the like. When processing is executed according to various programs, data to be processed is temporarily stored along with the execution of the program. On the main memory 3, a form processing program 12 a that performs recognition processing of an image recorded on the form is executed. The data stored with the execution of the form processing program 12a includes original image data 14 that is an image of the form input through the scanner 8, and recognition as a recognition result obtained by character recognition processing on the original image data 14. Result data (character code) 15 and the like are stored.

  The display 9 is composed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like, and visually (visually) displays information indicating the character recognition result and the state of the apparatus. The keyboard 10 is used for inputting various instructions to the form processing apparatus main body. The pointing device 6 is configured by a mouse, a tablet, or the like, and is used for inputting various instructions to the form processing apparatus. The scanner 8 reads an image on a form to be subjected to character recognition processing as an image, and outputs original image data 14.

  The storage device 5 reads / writes programs and data from / to various storage media. The storage device 5 can use a magnetic disk such as a hard disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like as a storage medium. The storage medium may be either a fixed type or a portable type. Specifically, the storage device 5 stores a form processing program main body 12 executed on the main memory 3. Further, the storage device 5 defines character attribute data 7 to be entered for a field which is an area partitioned in advance by a character entry frame preliminarily written on the form. It is stored in association with the field. Here, the form processing apparatus 1 may include a printer. For example, this printer can print a character recognition result obtained from a read image of a form on a paper medium.

Next, various functions (processes) that can be realized by the form processing program 12a executed on the main memory 3 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the basic processing contents of the field recognition processing 22 (to be described later) realized by the form processing program 12a will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, the form processing program 12a includes a field recognition process 22 for processing an original image 21 (original image data 14) read as an image from the form by the scanner 8, and a field attribute information check. The processing 23, the field attribute information correction processing 24, and the recommended correction data display output processing 25 for displaying the recommended correction data 52 on the display 9 are mainly realized.

In more detail, the field recognition process 22 includes noise reduction, binarization, form and preprint character removal, recognition target field cutout, and character recognition from images obtained from the result of the preprocessing. Character extraction processing for extracting a group, and character recognition processing for recognizing a character in the extracted character group and converting it into a character code.
Further, in the character extraction process described above, a projection in the horizontal direction is calculated for the image to be processed, and a place where the ratio between the value and the maximum value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is set as a line delimiter. Then, the projection in the vertical direction is obtained within the delimited line, and the place where the ratio of the value and the maximum value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold is set as the character delimiter. Character image. The character extraction process can also be performed as a connected region extraction by labeling, and is not limited to the method described here, and any method may be used as long as it can acquire the image and position of the character.

  In the character recognition process, the character image extracted by the character extraction process is classified into one of previously relaxed classes by a method such as a composite similarity method or a subspace 怯, and a character code corresponding to the class is classified. Character recognition is performed by outputting. In the character recognition process, a character code corresponding to the input character image is basically output, but a reject code can be output for a character that is difficult to distinguish from the character image. Further, in methods such as the composite similarity method and the subspace method, the similarity value that is a classification scale is used for class classification, but this similarity value may be output together.

  Next, the configuration for realizing the character attribute correction processing in the form character recognition result performed by the form processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 in addition to FIGS. . Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of the attribute data 7 stored in the storage device 5 of the form processing apparatus 1, and FIG. 4 is a pre-printed character entry frame 34 processed by the form processing apparatus 1. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a form 30 and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which characters are printed in a pre-printed character entry frame 34 on the form.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the attribute data 7 includes characters to be entered in fields 31, 32, and 33, which are areas divided into a plurality of character entry frames 34 previously written on the form 30. Is defined, and the attribute is associated with each field 31, 32, 33. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the attribute data 7 is mainly composed of a field No., coordinate positions stored in association with the field No., field attributes, relationships, and the like. For example, coordinate position information from a predetermined reference position on the form 30 is stored in the coordinate position. In the field attribute, for example, character attribute information indicating symbols, English letters, numbers, katakana, kanji, hiragana, colors, and the like is stored. As the relationship, for example, the positional relationship (relative positional relationship with other fields) of each field divided into a plurality of sections by character entry frames 34 previously recorded on the form 30 is stored as, for example, column information. ing.

Here, the format of the form 30 applied in the present embodiment will be schematically described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 4, the character entry frame 34 is pre-printed on the form 30 in advance. Fields 31, 32, and 33 divided by the character entry frame 34 are respectively secured as areas for entering characters having predetermined attributes. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the field 31 is given (defined) a numeric attribute, the field 32 is given a katakana attribute, and the field 33 is given a kanji attribute. In addition, the pre-print character (number) 35 exists in the field 31, the pre-print character (name) 36 exists in the field 32, and the pre-print character (name) 37 exists in the field 33. Included in.

Furthermore, processing contents mainly related to correction of character attributes realized by a series of processes by the above-described field recognition processing 22, field attribute information inspection processing 23, field attribute information correction processing 24, and recommended correction data display output processing 25. Will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 and FIG.
As shown in these drawings, in the field recognition process 22, an image read through the scanner 8 from a form 30 in which characters are entered in a character entry frame 34 is input, and each field 31, 32, 33 in the character entry frame 34 is input. Character recognition processing is performed every time. In the field attribute information inspection process 23, whether or not the correspondence between each area in the character entry box 34 and the character attribute obtained as a result of the recognition by the field recognition process 22 and the character attribute is correct or not is stored in the attribute data 7 stored in the storage device 5. Judge based on. That is, in the field attribute information inspection process 23, character attribute information (for example, kanji, katakana, alphanumeric characters, etc.) defined in advance for each of the fields 31, 32, 33 and the result recognized by the field recognition process 22 are obtained. By comparing and matching (matching), it is determined whether or not the character to be recognized exists in the correct field.

  In the field attribute information correction process 24, when there is a contradiction in the correspondence between the field and the character attribute as a result of the determination by the field attribute information inspection process 23, a correction result of the recognition result that can match the correspondence is displayed. presume. That is, in the field attribute information correction processing 24, when it is determined that the character to be recognized does not exist in the correct field as a processing result by the field attribute information inspection processing 23, a correct field that matches the character attribute information is searched. The retrieved field is associated with the recognition result of the field recognition process 22.

  The recommended correction data display output process 25 is a process for visually displaying the content of correcting the recognition result estimated by the field attribute information correction process 24 as recommended correction data (see FIG. 7 described later). That is, the recommended correction data display output process 25 is a process of outputting a control signal for causing the display 9 to display the result associated with the correct field by the field attribute information correction process 24.

  Next, specific processing by the form processing program 12a executed on the form processing apparatus 1 will be described based on FIGS. 6 and 7 in addition to FIGS. Here, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the form processing program 12a, and FIG. 7 is a view showing recommended correction data 52 displayed on the display 9 of the form processing apparatus 1.

  First, it is investigated whether there is a field recognition result that has not been subjected to this processing among the results of the field recognition processing 22 (S [step] 1). If there is no unprocessed field recognition result (No in S1), this process ends. When there is an unprocessed field recognition result (Yes in S1), the field recognition result is read (S2). Here, in this embodiment, the katakana 39 is described not in the field 32 having the katakana attribute to be originally described but in the field 33 having the kanji attribute. In the field recognition process 22, the characters described in the fields 31, 32, and 33 are recognized by recognizing the character entry frame 34 of the form 30. In this case, information indicating that a pre-print character (number) 35 exists in the field 31, a pre-print character (name) 37 exists in the field 32, and a pre-print character (name) 37 exists in the field 33. Is included in the attribute data 7, the character to be recognized is differentiated from these pre-printed characters.

  Next, the verification result of the read field is compared with the character attribute information of the field defined in advance in the attribute data 7 (S3). More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the number 38 “123456789” entered in the field 31 will be described as an example. Since the attribute information corresponding to the field 31 is a numeric attribute, the field recognition result is correctly “123456789”. If a character string with a number "is obtained, both have a numeric attribute and it is determined that the field recognition result is correct (Yes in S3).

  Further, when processing “Toshibata Taro” as Katakana 39 described in the field 33 and “Toshiba Taro” as Kanji 40, each is processed individually. It is assumed that the recognition result of Katakana 39 is obtained as “Toshibata Taro”. Here, since the attribute information corresponding to the field 33 is a Chinese character attribute, it is determined that the field attribute is inconsistent with the katakana 39 and is not correct (No in S3). Next, it is searched whether or not there is a field having a katakana attribute defined in advance in the attribute data 7 (S4). As shown in FIGS. 5 and 3, since the field attribute information of the field 32 is defined as a katakana attribute (Yes in S4), it is determined that the katakana 39 is not the field 33 but a character belonging to the field 32. Is done. In this case, the katakana 39 is associated with the correct field 32 defined by the katakana attribute, and as shown in FIG. 7, the recognition result 51 obtained by the field recognition processing 22 and the recommended correction data display output processing 25 are used. The obtained recommended correction data (correction contents obtained by moving the recognition position of the katakana 39 from the field 33 to the field 32) 52 and selection information 53 that can be selectively input to accept / reject the recommended correction data 52 are displayed on the display 9 respectively. (S5).

  Here, the selection information 53 is an input button that prompts the operator (user) to input information corresponding to acceptance / rejection to update the recognition result 51 by the field recognition processing 22 with the recommended correction data 52. Here, as the selection information 53, an OK (OK) button 54 and a reject (Cancel) button 55 are displayed on the GUI, and the operator clicks any button with the pointing device 6 such as a mouse, so that the recommended correction data 52 is displayed. It is possible to select update / non-update in. Further, in conjunction with the pressing of the approval button 54, the recommended correction data 52 whose update has been approved is stored and held in, for example, a magnetic disk medium provided in the storage device 5 or the like.

  Also, for example, in the displayed recommended correction data 52, when there is still an error in the correspondence between the attributes of characters and fields, for example, the erroneous character string is moved to the correct field position through the pointing device 6 or the like. The form processing program 12a may be configured to allow manual correction. If the recognition result matches the attribute information of the field (Yes in S3), or if there is no field having the same attribute information in the surrounding fields (No in S4), the recognition process is further performed in S1. Processing continues until there are no unprocessed fields that have not been performed.

  As described above, in the form processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, for example, the correspondence between the character attribute obtained by recognizing the image read from the form 30 and the attribute of the regular field defined in advance is inconsistent. Even when the recognition result 51 or the like that causes the error is obtained (for example, when the character of the attribute that does not match the attribute of the field is entered in the field), the correspondence between the attribute of the field and the attribute of the character Thus, the recommended correction data 52 obtained by correcting the recognition result in which an error has occurred can be displayed on the display 9. Therefore, according to the form processing apparatus 1, since the character attribute correction process in the character recognition result of the form is realized quickly and easily, the burden on the operator side can be reduced and the form processing efficiency can be improved. .

  Although the present invention has been specifically described above by the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, only one type of recommended correction data 52 is displayed. Instead, a plurality of recommended correction data different from each other are displayed, and a user can select a desired candidate from among them. You may make it select. In addition, it is also possible to apply a processing apparatus for a standard paper sheet other than a form preprinted with a character entry frame as the present invention.

1 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of a form processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the various functions implement | achieved by the form processing program performed on the form processing apparatus of FIG. 1 with the flow of the process. The figure which shows the content of the attribute data stored in the memory | storage device of the form processing apparatus of FIG. The figure which shows the form by which the character entry frame pre-printed processed by the form processing apparatus of FIG. The figure which illustrates the state in which the character was printed in the pre-printed character entry frame on the form of FIG. The flowchart which shows concretely the process by the form processing program performed on the form processing apparatus of FIG. The figure which shows the recommended correction data displayed on the display of the form processing apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Form processing apparatus, 2 ... CPU, 3 ... Main memory, 5 ... Storage device, 8 ... Scanner, 9 ... Display, 7 ... Attribute data, 12 ... Form processing program body, 12a ... Form processing program, 22 ... Field recognition Processing, 23 ... field attribute information inspection processing, 24 ... field attribute information correction processing, 25 ... recommended correction data display output processing, 30 ... form, 31, 32, 33 ... field, 34 ... character entry frame, 51 ... recognition result, 52 ... Recommended correction data, 53 ... Selection information, 54 ... Accept button, 55 ... Reject button.

Claims (6)

Attribute information storage means for defining attribute information of characters to be recorded for a plurality of areas partitioned by a character entry frame provided on the form, and storing the attribute information in association with each area;
Character recognition means for inputting a form image and performing character recognition;
Recognition result determination means for determining whether or not the correspondence between at least the attribute of each area in the character entry frame and the attribute of the character obtained as a recognition result by the character recognition means is correct based on the storage contents of the attribute information storage means When,
When there is a contradiction in the correspondence between the attribute of the region and the attribute of the character as the determination result by the recognition result determination unit, the correction content estimation that estimates the correction content of the recognition result that can match the correspondence Means,
Display means for visually displaying the corrected contents of the recognition result estimated by the correction content estimation means as recommended correction data;
A form processing apparatus comprising:   2. The form processing according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays selection information for prompting information input corresponding to approval / rejection to update the recognition result by the character recognition means with the recommended correction data. apparatus. A character recognition step for inputting an image read from a form in which characters are recorded in a character entry frame and performing character recognition;
Whether or not the correspondence between at least the attribute of each area in the character entry frame and the attribute of the character obtained as a recognition result in the character recognition step is correct is divided into a plurality by a character entry frame previously written on the form A recognition result determination step for determining, based on the storage contents of a storage device that defines attribute information of characters to be entered for an area and stores the attribute information in association with each area;
If the correspondence between the attribute of the region and the attribute of the character is inconsistent as the determination result in the recognition result determination step, the correction content for estimating the correction content of the recognition result capable of matching the correspondence An estimation step;
A display step for visually displaying the corrected content of the recognition result estimated in the correction content estimation step as recommended correction data;
A form processing method characterized by comprising:   4. The display step displays selection information for prompting information input corresponding to approval / rejection to update the recognition result obtained in the character recognition step with the recommended correction data. Form processing method. A form processing program for causing a computer to execute form processing,
The computer,
Attribute information storage means for defining attribute information of characters to be recorded for a plurality of areas partitioned by a character entry frame provided on the form, and storing the attribute information in association with each area;
Character recognition means for inputting a form image and performing character recognition;
Recognition result determination means for determining whether or not the correspondence between at least the attribute of each area in the character entry frame and the attribute of the character obtained as a recognition result by the character recognition means is correct based on the storage contents of the attribute information storage means When,
When there is a contradiction in the correspondence between the attribute of the region and the attribute of the character as the determination result by the recognition result determination unit, the correction content estimation that estimates the correction content of the recognition result that can match the correspondence Means,
Display means for visually displaying the corrected contents of the recognition result estimated by the correction content estimation means as recommended correction data;
Form processing program characterized by functioning as   6. The form processing according to claim 5, wherein the display means displays selection information that prompts an information input corresponding to approval / rejection to update the recognition result by the character recognition means with the recommended correction data. program.

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