JP2006186414A - Image reader, image reading method, system and program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reading system in which re-reading time of a document can be shortened, and image reading and character recognition processing can be carried out without making a user recognize alteration of reading resolution. <P>SOLUTION: The image reading system comprises an image processor 100 consisting of a personal computer, or the like, and a scanner 200 connected with the image processor 100 through a communication network 300. The image processor 100 divides a prescan image received from the scanner 200 into blocks of character, picture, and the like, calculates the block location information and optimal resolution of each divided block sequentially and transmits them to the scanner 200, and performs main scanning of the blocks sequentially based on the block location information and optimal resolution. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus and method, an image reading system, a program, and a storage medium that can read an image of a document with an optimum reading resolution.

In recent years, there has been proposed an image reading apparatus that reads an image of a document and performs high-precision character recognition in conjunction with OCR (Optical Character Reader) processing (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this image reading apparatus, character recognition is performed by OCR processing after a document reading operation is performed at a low resolution, and when the character recognition rate is less than a predetermined value, the resolution is gradually increased until the predetermined value is reached. Read operation is being performed.
JP 2000-293633 A

  However, in the image reading apparatus described in Patent Document 1, if the character recognition rate is less than a predetermined value, even if there is a portion with a high character recognition rate on the document, the reading resolution is increased and the entire document is again displayed. On the other hand, the reading operation is executed, and there is a problem that time is wasted.

  There is also a problem that the user himself / herself must be aware of the optimum reading resolution corresponding to the original when the reading operation is first executed at a low resolution in order to shorten the re-reading time.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and can reduce the time for re-reading a document and perform image reading and character recognition processing without making the user aware of changes in the reading resolution. An object of the present invention is to provide an image reading apparatus and method, an image reading system, a program, and a storage medium.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image reading system according to claim 1 is an image reading system including an image reading device that reads an image of a document and an information processing device connected to the image reading device. The image reading apparatus includes: a first image reading unit that reads the document at a first reading resolution; and a transmission unit that transmits the first image data obtained by the first image reading unit to the information processing apparatus. And a second image reading means for reading a plurality of ranges on the document at different second reading resolutions based on instruction information from the information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus from the image reading apparatus A dividing unit that divides the received first image data into a plurality of second image data; a calculating unit that calculates a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data; Read resolution storage means for storing the calculated second read resolution, and instruction information for instructing the original to be read at the second read resolution for each second image data is sent to the image reading apparatus. Image reading instruction means.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image reading apparatus according to claim 11 is an image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document, wherein the first image reading means reads the document at a first reading resolution; A dividing unit that divides the first image data obtained by the image reading unit into a plurality of second image data; a calculating unit that calculates a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data; And a second image reading unit that reads the document at the second reading resolution for each second image data.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image reading method according to claim 12 is an image reading method of an image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document, and includes a first image reading step of reading the document at a first reading resolution; A dividing step of dividing the first image data obtained by the first image reading means into a plurality of second image data, and a calculation for calculating a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data And a second image reading step of reading the original document at the second reading resolution for each of the second image data.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image reading method according to claim 13 is an image reading system comprising: an image reading apparatus that reads an image of a document; and an information processing apparatus connected to the image reading apparatus. In the method, a first image reading step of reading the document at a first reading resolution, a transmission step of transmitting the first image data obtained by the first image reading means to the information processing device, A second image reading step of reading a plurality of ranges on the document at different second reading resolutions based on instruction information from the information processing device; and a plurality of the first image data received from the image reading device. A dividing step of dividing the second image data, a calculating step of calculating a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data, and the calculated second reading resolution. A reading resolution storing step, and an image reading instruction step of sending instruction information for instructing the document to be read at the second reading resolution for each second image data to the image reading device. To do.

  According to the present invention, first image data obtained by reading a document at a first reading resolution is divided into a plurality of second image data, and a second reading is performed from each of the plurality of second image data. Since the resolution is calculated and the original is read at the second reading resolution for each second image data, reading time is changed by changing the reading resolution for each portion of the image data, thereby shortening the time for rereading the original. Thus, image reading and character recognition processing can be performed without making the user aware of changing the reading resolution.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an entire image reading system and an internal hardware configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  1, the image reading system 1 includes an information processing apparatus 100 including a personal computer and a scanner 200 connected to the information processing apparatus 100 via a communication network 300.

  The information processing apparatus 100 includes a CPU 101, a RAM 102, a ROM 103, an external memory 104, an input device 106, a display device 107, a printing device 108, and a communication interface 109. The scanner 200 is an image reading apparatus that can read an image of a document placed on a document table (not shown).

  The ROM 103 or the external memory 104 stores a basic input / output system (BIOS) that is a control program of the CPU 101, an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS"), and the like. The RAM 102 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 101.

  The CPU 101 comprehensively controls access to various devices connected to the system bus 110, loads a program necessary for execution of processing to be described later into the RAM 102, and executes the program to perform various operations. It is realized.

  The input device 106 includes a keyboard, a pointing device, and the like. The display device 107 is configured by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like. The printing apparatus 108 is configured by a laser printer or the like. The communication interface 109 is connected to the communication network 300 by a predetermined protocol and controls communication with the scanner 200.

  The external memory 104 includes a storage device such as a hard disk, and includes a database (DB) 105 used in character recognition processing described later. The DB 105 stores the resolution conversion index table 1101 shown in FIG. 11A and the resolution conversion No. 1 shown in FIG. A table 1102 is provided. The resolution conversion index table 1101 indicates the resolution conversion table No. from the character height. Is table information for determining. Resolution conversion No. The table 1102 is table information for determining the minimum necessary resolution from the number of black and white change points.

  Next, character recognition processing in the image reading system 1 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a character recognition process executed in the image reading system 1 of FIG. This process is executed by the CPU 101 based on a program stored in the ROM 103 or the external memory 104.

  In FIG. 2, first, in step S401, the scanner 200 performs a pre-scan on a document with a low resolution of 75 dpi, and transmits the result to the information processing apparatus 100 as a pre-scan image.

  Next, the information processing apparatus 100 receives a pre-scan image from the scanner 200 (step S402), detects and excludes blank portions of the document from the received pre-scan image, and collects several similar items such as characters and pictures together. These blocks are divided (step S403). Here, FIG. 3 shows an example of the prescan image divided into blocks.

  In FIG. 3, the pre-scan image 301 is divided into blocks 302, 303, 304, and 305 because there are four character blocks (character strings).

  In step S403, block position information such as the position, width, and height of the blocks 302 to 305 on the pre-scan image 301 is measured and stored in the RAM 102 as a block position information table. An example of the stored block position information table is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, the block position information table 201 includes a block No. Corresponding to 1 to 4, the positions, widths, and heights of the blocks 302 to 305 in the X-axis and Y-axis directions are stored. A block number (No.) is assigned to each block in the scanning order. The position of the X axis and the Y axis is one of the vertices of each block, but is not limited to this.

  Returning to FIG. 2, in step S404, the optimum resolution determination process described later is performed for each of the blocks 302 to 305, the dot height and the optimum resolution of each block are calculated, and stored in the RAM 102 as a block-specific resolution table. Here, an example of the resolution table for each block is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 6, the block-specific resolution table 901 includes a block No. Corresponding to 1 to 4, the dot height [dot] and the optimum resolution [dpi] of each of the blocks 302 to 305 are stored. This dot height is the height of one line of characters in each block. Based on this dot height, the resolution at which the block is read is determined to be optimal for improving the character recognition rate, and the determined resolution is the optimal resolution. The optimum resolution in the block resolution table 901 is calculated so that each block can be read at 32 [dots] or more, but is not limited to this.

  Returning to FIG. 2, in step S405, the block position information for one block (for example, block No. 1) is read from the block position information table 201 stored in the RAM 102 in step S403, and the block-specific information stored in the RAM 102 is stored. The optimum resolution corresponding to the block is read from the resolution table 901. Subsequently, in step S406, the block position information and the optimum resolution for one block read in step S405 are transmitted to the scanner 200.

  In step S407, the scanner 200 specifies the scan position based on the block position information for one block received from the information processing apparatus 100, and performs the main scan of the block on the document with the optimum resolution corresponding to the block. Subsequently, the result of the main scan is transmitted to the information processing apparatus 100 (step S408).

  When receiving the main scan result from the scanner 200, the information processing apparatus 100 determines whether or not the main scan has been completed for all the blocks (step S409), and the main scan has been completed for all the blocks. If there is any remaining block, the process returns to step S405 to move to the next block (for example, block No. 2). On the other hand, when the main scan has been completed for all the blocks, the process proceeds to step S410.

  In step S410, a character recognition process is performed on the received main scan result of each block, and the process ends.

  By the above process, even if there are multiple character strings with different character sizes on the document, each of them can be scanned with the optimum reading resolution, improving the character recognition rate and reducing the time for re-reading. can do.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the optimum resolution determination process in step S404 of FIG.

  In FIG. 5, in step S <b> 601, it is determined whether one of the blocks 302 to 305 is a character string. In general, two-dimensional information such as a character pattern includes many components having a high spatial frequency, and a pattern such as a photograph includes many components having a low spatial frequency. Therefore, the character area and the picture area included in the input image can be identified by using a known technique such as edge detection. Moreover, since a halftone-processed photograph or the like can be detected by halftone detection, it can be distinguished from a character area. As a result, if the block is not a character string, character recognition is not performed on the block, and the process proceeds to step S605. On the other hand, if the block is a character string, the process proceeds to step S602.

  Next, in step S602, a blank portion in the character string block is detected to recognize a line space. For example, in the pre-scan image 301, a portion where a blank continues in the horizontal direction is detected and recognized as a line spacing 307. Subsequently, in step S603, the height 306 of one character line is recognized from the line spacing recognized in step S602, and the dot height is stored in the resolution table 901 for each block of the character string block.

  Next, in step S604, based on the dot height recognized in step S603, the optimal resolution is calculated so that the character portion of the character string block is read at, for example, 32 [dots] or more. In step S605, the calculated optimal The resolution is stored in the block-by-block resolution table 901 of the character string block.

  Next, in step S605, it is determined whether or not the optimal resolution has been calculated for all the blocks. If there is a block that has not been calculated, the process returns to step S601 and proceeds to the next block. On the other hand, when the optimum resolution is calculated for all the blocks, the process returns.

  According to the first embodiment, the pre-scan image received from the scanner 200 is divided into similar blocks such as characters and pictures, and the block position information and the optimum resolution of each divided block are sequentially calculated to the scanner 200. Since the actual scan of the block is sequentially performed based on the block position information and the optimum resolution, the re-reading process is performed with the optimum reading resolution for each position of the paper to be read. Reading time can be shortened.

  In addition, by performing pre-scan at low resolution, recognizing the range where character recognition is expected to be difficult in advance, automatically setting the optimal resolution and executing image reading processing, the user is not aware of the resolution Image reading can be performed.

[Second Embodiment]
The image reading system according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration (FIG. 1) as that of the first embodiment, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and their components are denoted by the same reference numerals. Description is omitted. Only differences from the first embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing character recognition processing in the second embodiment of the present invention. This process is executed by the CPU 101 based on a program stored in the ROM 103 or the external memory 104. Note that the processing in steps S701 to S704 is the same as that in steps S401 to S404 in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, in step S <b> 705, the block position information of all blocks is read from the block position information table 201 stored in the RAM 102, and the optimal resolution of all blocks is read from the block-specific resolution table 901 stored in the RAM 102. Subsequently, in step S706, the block position information and the optimum resolution of all the blocks read in step S705 are transmitted to the scanner 200 at once.

  In step S707, the scanner 200 specifies a scan position based on the block position information of all the blocks received from the information processing apparatus 100, and performs a main scan of each block on the document with an optimal resolution corresponding to each block. Subsequently, the result of the main scan is transmitted to the information processing apparatus 100 (step S708).

  When the information processing apparatus 100 receives the main scan result from the scanner 200 (step S709), the information processing apparatus 100 performs character recognition processing on the received main scan results of all the blocks (step S710), and ends the process.

  According to the second embodiment, the pre-scan image received from the scanner 200 is divided into blocks such as a character string, a picture, and a figure, and the position information and the optimal resolution of all the divided blocks are calculated and the scanner 200 is calculated. Since all the blocks are transmitted based on the positional information and the optimum resolution, the time required for the actual scan can be further shortened.

[Third Embodiment]
The image reading system according to the third embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration (FIG. 1) as that of the first embodiment, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and their components are denoted by the same reference numerals. Description is omitted. Only differences from the first embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the optimum resolution determination process in the third embodiment of the present invention. This process is executed by the CPU 101 based on a program stored in the ROM 103 or the external memory 104.

  In FIG. 8, in step S501, it is determined whether one of the blocks 302 to 305 is a character string. As a result, if the block is not a character string, character recognition is not performed on the block, and the process returns. On the other hand, if the block is a character string, the process proceeds to step S502.

  Next, in step S502, the change point resolution correspondence table stored in advance in the ROM 103 or the external memory 104 is read. The change point resolution correspondence table includes a resolution conversion index table 1101 and a resolution conversion No. shown in FIG. A table 1102 is included.

  In step S503, a predetermined number of scanning lines are read from one of the blocks 302 to 305, and the change points from white pixels to black pixels and from black pixels to white pixels are counted. Next, in step S504, the number of scanning lines in the block corresponding to the height of one character is analyzed, and the optimum resolution is calculated based on the scanning line number and change point resolution correspondence table. That is, the number of scanning lines and the resolution conversion table No. And the resolution conversion No. in FIG. The optimum resolution is calculated from the table 1102 and the counted number of change points, and stored in the block-specific resolution table 1201 shown in FIG.

  According to the third embodiment, since the optimum resolution is calculated by counting the number of change points that change from white pixels to black pixels and from black pixels to white pixels, the effect of the first embodiment is obtained. In addition, the optimum resolution can be calculated even if characters on the document are faint or light, and character recognition processing can be performed appropriately.

  The present invention can also be realized by applying the third embodiment to the second embodiment.

[Fourth Embodiment]
The image reading system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration (FIG. 1) as that of the first embodiment, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and their components are denoted by the same reference numerals. Description is omitted. Only differences from the first embodiment will be described below.

  In the first to third embodiments, the method of scanning without being conscious of the reading resolution has been described. In the fourth embodiment, the method of scanning by checking the character recognition result for each block. explain.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing character recognition processing in the fourth embodiment of the present invention. This process is executed by the CPU 101 based on a program stored in the ROM 103 or the external memory 104.

  In FIG. 9, first, the information processing apparatus 100 reads the change point resolution correspondence table stored in advance in the ROM 103 or the external memory 104 (step S801). The change point resolution correspondence table includes a resolution conversion index table 1101 and a resolution conversion No. shown in FIG. A table 1102 is included.

  Next, the scanner 200 pre-scans the document with a low resolution of 75 dpi, and transmits the result as a pre-scan image to the information processing apparatus 100 (step S802).

  Next, the information processing apparatus 100 receives a pre-scan image from the scanner 200 (step S803), detects a blank portion of the document from the received pre-scan image, and collects similar items such as characters and pictures together. Divide into blocks (step S804).

  Next, block scanning processing (to be described later) is performed on each divided block using the change point resolution correspondence table read in step S801 (step S805), and it is determined whether there is an unprocessed block (step S805). S817) When there is no unprocessed block, this processing is terminated.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the block scan processing in step S805 of FIG.

  In FIG. 10, first, a predetermined number of scanning lines are read from one of the blocks 302 to 305, and change points from white pixels to black pixels and from black pixels to white pixels are counted (step S806). Next, the number of scanning lines and the number of scanning lines and the resolution conversion index table 1101 in FIG. And the resolution conversion No. in FIG. The optimum resolution is calculated from the table 1102 and the number of change points counted in step S806 (step S807).

  Next, the calculated number of change points and the calculated optimum resolution are stored in the block-specific resolution table 1201 of FIG. 12 (step S808). Subsequently, the block position information for one block is read from the block position information table 201 stored in the RAM 102, and the optimum resolution corresponding to the block is read from the block-specific resolution table 1201 stored in the RAM 102 and transmitted to the scanner 200. (Step S809).

  The scanner 200 performs a main scan on the one block received from the information processing apparatus 100 at the received optimal resolution (step S810), and transmits the main scan result and information on the current position of the main scan to the information processing apparatus 100 (step S810). S811).

  The information processing apparatus 100 performs character recognition processing on the main scan result received from the scanner 200 (step S812). Next, the result of the character recognition process is displayed on the display device 107 (step S813), and whether or not the result of the displayed character recognition process is accepted is input to the user (step S814), and it is determined whether or not the user has determined OK. (Step S815). As a result, when it is determined as NG, the resolution is manually changed by the user (step S816), and the processing after step S808 is performed again, while when it is determined as OK, the process returns.

  According to the fourth embodiment, the pre-scan image received from the scanner 200 is divided into similar blocks such as characters and pictures, and the block position information and optimum resolution of each divided block are calculated and transmitted to the scanner 200. Then, the main scan of the block is performed based on the block position information and the optimum resolution, the character recognition process is performed on the main scan result received from the scanner 200, and the character recognition result is displayed. Therefore, it is possible to provide a character recognition result according to the user's request.

  In the first to fourth embodiments, in the image reading system 1, the information processing apparatus 100 and the scanner 200 are configured separately, but may be configured integrally. The scanner 200 may be a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine as long as it has an image reading function.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus as a storage medium. This can also be achieved by reading and executing the stored program code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RAM, and a DVD. -RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  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) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. A case where part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. This includes 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, by executing the program code read out by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code is actually Needless to say, the present invention also includes a case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing part or all of the processing, and the processing.

  In this case, the program is supplied by downloading directly from a storage medium storing the program or from another computer or database (not shown) connected to the Internet, a commercial network, a local area network, or the like.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration and an internal hardware configuration of an entire image reading system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the character recognition process performed with the image reading system 1 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image pre-scanned by a scanner 200 in step S401 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a block position information table. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the optimal resolution determination process in step S404 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the resolution table classified by block. It is a flowchart which shows the character recognition process in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the optimal resolution determination process in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the character recognition process in the 4th Embodiment of this invention. 10 is a flowchart showing details of block scan processing in step S805 of FIG. 9. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the resolution conversion Index table, (b) is resolution conversion No .. It is a figure which shows an example of a table. It is a figure which shows the other example of the resolution table classified by block.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image Reading System 100 Information Processing Device 101 CPU
102 RAM
103 ROM
104 External memory 107 Display device 200 Scanner 301 Pre-scanned images 302, 303, 304, 305 blocks

Claims (15)

In an image reading system including an image reading device that reads an image of a document and an information processing device connected to the image reading device,
The image reading apparatus includes: a first image reading unit that reads the document at a first reading resolution;
Transmitting means for transmitting the first image data obtained by the first image reading means to the information processing apparatus;
Second image reading means for reading a plurality of ranges on the document at different second reading resolutions based on instruction information from the information processing apparatus;
The information processing apparatus includes a dividing unit that divides the first image data received from the image reading apparatus into a plurality of second image data;
Calculating means for calculating a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data;
Reading resolution storage means for storing the calculated second reading resolution;
An image reading system comprising: image reading instruction means for sending instruction information for instructing the original to be read at the second reading resolution for each second image data to the image reading apparatus.   2. The dividing unit divides the first image data into at least second image data composed of characters and second image data composed of things other than characters. The image reading system described.   3. The image reading system according to claim 2, wherein the calculation unit calculates the second reading resolution based on a size of the character of the second image data composed of the character. 4.   3. The image reading system according to claim 2, wherein the calculating unit calculates the second reading resolution based on the number of black-and-white change points in the character of the second image data composed of the character. .   The image reading system according to claim 1, wherein the second reading resolution is higher than the first reading resolution.   The information processing apparatus further includes a position information storage unit that stores, as position information, a reading position on the document corresponding to the plurality of second image data, and the image reading instruction unit includes the calculated second image data. The image reading system according to claim 1, wherein the reading resolution and the position information are sent as the instruction information.   The second image reading unit specifies a range on the document corresponding to the plurality of second image data based on the position information, and reads the range with a second reading resolution different from each other. The image reading system according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The information processing apparatus includes: a character recognition unit that performs character recognition on image data of a document obtained by the second image reading unit;
Display means for displaying the result of the character recognition;
The image reading system according to claim 1, further comprising a changing unit that changes the second reading resolution in response to an input from a user.   The image reading system according to claim 1, wherein the image reading instruction unit sends the instruction information to the image reading apparatus for each second image data.   The image reading system according to claim 1, wherein the image reading instruction unit sends the instruction information to the image reading apparatus in a batch. In an image reading apparatus that reads an image of a document,
First image reading means for reading the document at a first reading resolution;
Dividing means for dividing the first image data obtained by the first image reading means into a plurality of second image data;
Calculating means for calculating a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data;
An image reading apparatus comprising: a second image reading unit that reads the original document at the second reading resolution for each second image data. In an image reading method of an image reading apparatus that reads an image of a document,
A first image reading step of reading the document at a first reading resolution;
A dividing step of dividing the first image data obtained by the first image reading means into a plurality of second image data;
A calculation step of calculating a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data;
And a second image reading step of reading the original document for each of the second image data at the second reading resolution. In an image reading method of an image reading system including an image reading device that reads an image of a document and an information processing device connected to the image reading device,
A first image reading step of reading the document at a first reading resolution;
A transmission step of transmitting the first image data obtained by the first image reading means to the information processing apparatus;
A second image reading step of reading a plurality of ranges on the document at different second reading resolutions based on instruction information from the information processing apparatus;
A dividing step of dividing the first image data received from the image reading device into a plurality of second image data;
A calculation step of calculating a second reading resolution from each of the plurality of second image data;
A reading resolution storing step of storing the calculated second reading resolution;
An image reading method comprising: an image reading instruction step of sending instruction information for instructing to read the original for each of the second image data at the second reading resolution to the image reading apparatus.   A computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute the image reading method according to claim 12 or 13.   A storage medium storing a computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute the image reading method according to claim 12.

Images