JP2006221233A - Business form for electronic pen - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business form for an electronic pen that guides writer's consciousness upward by providing an entry guide on the downside of an entry frame, does not reduce the entry area beyond necessity, and can improve recognition accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: When a user writes a required item in the entry frame of the business form 3 for the electronic pen with an electronic pen 10, the electronic pen 10 reads a dot pattern on the business form 3 following a movement of the electronic pen 10, and acquires stroke data about the character written by the user. At this time, by providing a guideline only on the downside in the entry frame, the user can be guided to write a character upward, and the character can be prevented from running over downward. The guideline restricts it only from the downside instead of four sides or vertical direction, the recognition rate can be improved without narrowing the entry area beyond necessity, and the entry frame can be designed freely. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for improving the recognition rate of electronic pen forms.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for optically recognizing marks and characters written on a form by OMR (Optical Mark Reader) or OCR (Optical Character Reader) is known. Patent Documents 1 to 4 are cited as documents relating to an entry guide for improving the accuracy of character recognition and the convenience of the writer in OMR forms and OCR forms. Also, in general OCR forms, an entry guide such as an 8-character guide or a 2-point guide is used in order to allow the entry person to enter characters in a size that fits within the entry frame.

  However, both entry guides are based on the premise that each character (one character) is entered in an independent entry frame. That is, an entry guide for entering a plurality of character strings in one entry frame is not known.

  Further, the recognition accuracy by OCR is improved as the area for recognizing characters is increased. In this case, however, it is necessary to enlarge an entry frame in the OCR form, which causes a problem in design. In addition, although the accuracy of recognition is also improved by restricting the characters by the entry person with the entry guide, in this case, the area to be actually entered is reduced, which causes a problem in terms of convenience for the entry person.

  On the other hand, in recent years, pen-type input devices called “electronic pens”, “digital pens” and the like have appeared (hereinafter referred to as “electronic pens” in this specification). “Anoto pen” developed by the company is known. Anotopen is used in a pair with dedicated paper (hereinafter referred to as “dedicated paper”) on which a predetermined dot pattern is printed. In addition to the normal ink-type pen tip, the Anoto pen is equipped with a small camera for reading the dot pattern on the dedicated paper and a data communication unit. When a user writes characters on the special paper with an anotopen or checks an image that is designed on the special paper, the small camera detects the dot pattern on the special paper as the pen moves, and the user Entry data (also referred to as “stroke data”) such as written characters and images is acquired. This entry data is transmitted from the Anotopen to a terminal device such as a nearby personal computer or mobile phone by the data communication unit. The system using this anotopen can be used as an input device in place of the keyboard, and is very easy to use for users who are reluctant to use the personal computer and keyboard described above.

  Therefore, it is convenient for a user who is unfamiliar with PC operation to acquire digital data by a pen input method on a paper form using an electronic pen and to perform character recognition by OCR based on the digital data. is there.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-50747 JP 2000-276554 A JP 2004-110529 A Registered Utility Model No. 3052755

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points. By providing a guideline below the entry frame, the writer's awareness is guided upward, and the recognition accuracy is improved without reducing the entry area. It is an object to provide a form for an electronic pen that can be made to operate.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic pen form that is filled in by an electronic pen including an ink pen unit and a reading unit that optically reads a dot pattern, the dots provided so as to be optically readable by the reading unit. A pattern area; an entry frame provided in the dot pattern area; and a guideline provided only on the lower side of the entry frame and visually recognizable by the writer.

  According to the electronic pen form described above, when the user fills in the entry box with the electronic pen's ink pen unit, the electronic pen reads the dot pattern on the form as the electronic pen moves, and the user fills in the form. Get stroke data and coordinate data related to the characters and symbols. At this time, by providing a guideline only on the lower side of the entry frame provided on the form, it is possible to guide the user to write letters and symbols on the upper side and prevent the letters from protruding below. can do. In this way, the guideline is not limited from the four directions or the top and bottom directions, but only from the bottom, so the recognition rate is improved without narrowing the entry area where the user enters characters more than necessary, It becomes possible to design the entry frame freely. In addition, the guidelines serve as a guide in the vertical direction when entering characters, making it easier for users to write and improving convenience.

  In one aspect of the electronic pen form, the plurality of entry frames are provided adjacent to each other in the vertical direction, and a plurality of character strings are filled in, and the guidelines are provided below each entry frame. It is provided only in. Since the guideline of the present invention is provided only below the entry frame, it is a continuous character entry frame that is not individually entered character by character and is provided adjacent to the vertical direction. Even so, it can be easily applied. In other words, the guideline of the present invention can be easily applied without worrying about securing the entry area and space. Since the electronic pen form needs to take into account the dot pattern area when setting the actual entry frame, it is important to have a design that tends to fill in the downward direction of the user. According to the form, it is possible to improve the recognition rate without narrowing the entry area more than necessary after taking into account the user's tendency to fill and the characteristics of the electronic pen form.

  In another aspect of the electronic pen form, a guide area between the guideline and the entry frame is shaded. According to this, since the user visually recognizes the shaded area, it is possible to guide the user's consciousness upward and prevent characters from protruding below.

  In another aspect of the electronic pen form, the guide line is a broken line. According to this, since the user visually recognizes the broken line guideline, it is possible to guide the user's consciousness upward and prevent the characters from protruding below. Further, since the guideline is a broken line, the user can feel a wide entry area in the entry frame.

  In still another aspect of the electronic pen form, the width of the guide line is different for each entry frame. According to this, it is possible to easily adjust the entry area and the recognition accuracy by making the width of the guideline different.

  According to the present invention, by providing an entry guide below the entry frame, the consciousness of the writer can be guided upward, and the recognition accuracy can be improved without making the entry area smaller than necessary. .

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an electronic pen used as an input device in the system of the present invention will be described.

[Electronic pen]
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing how the electronic pen is used, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of the electronic pen. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic pen 10 is used in combination with a dedicated paper 20 on which a dot pattern is printed. The electronic pen 10 includes a pen tip portion 17 similar to a normal ink pen, and a user writes characters on the dedicated paper 20 in the same manner as a normal ink pen.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic pen 10 includes a processor 11, a memory 12, a data communication unit 13, a battery 14, an LED 15, a camera 16, and a pressure sensor 18 therein. The electronic pen 10 includes an ink cartridge (not shown) as a component similar to a normal ink pen.

  The electronic pen 10 does not convert the locus of the ink drawn on the dedicated paper 20 by the pen tip unit 17, but converts the locus coordinates of the movement of the electronic pen 10 on the dedicated paper 20 into data. While the LED 15 illuminates the vicinity of the pen tip 17 on the dedicated paper 20, the camera 16 reads the dot pattern printed on the dedicated paper 20 and converts it into data. That is, the electronic pen 10 can acquire a stroke generated when the user moves the electronic pen 10 on the dedicated paper 20 as image data or vector data.

  The pressure sensor 18 detects the pressure applied to the pen tip portion 17 when the user writes characters on the dedicated paper with the electronic pen 10, that is, the writing pressure, and supplies the detected pressure to the processor 11. The processor 11 switches the LED 15 and the camera 16 on and off based on the writing pressure data given from the pressure sensor 18. That is, when the user writes characters or the like on the dedicated paper 20 with the electronic pen 10, writing pressure is applied to the pen tip portion 17. Therefore, when the writing pressure exceeding the predetermined value is detected, it is determined that the user has started the description, and the LED 15 and the camera 16 are operated.

  The camera 16 reads the dot pattern on the dedicated paper 20 and supplies the pattern data to the processor 11. The processor 11 calculates X / Y coordinates on the dedicated paper 20 from the supplied dot pattern.

  The processor 11 acquires the writing pressure array data and the X / Y coordinate data while the description of the user is performed, and stores them in the memory 12 in association with the time stamp (time information). Therefore, data corresponding to the description content of the user is stored in the memory 12 in time series. The capacity of the memory 12 can be about 1 Mbyte, for example.

  All the acquired data is held in the memory 12 until a transmission instruction is given by the user. When the user issues a transmission instruction, the data communication unit 13 transmits the data in the memory 12 to the terminal device 25 within a predetermined distance from the electronic pen 10. Basically, once a transmission instruction is given, the electronic pen 10 transmits all the data stored in the memory 12 to the terminal device 25, so that the memory 12 is cleared. Therefore, when it is desired to transmit the same information to the terminal device 25 again after transmission, the user needs to write the description on the dedicated paper 20 again. In this case, the user only has to trace characters written on the dedicated paper 20 with an ink pen.

  The electronic pen 10 itself does not include a function button such as a transmission button, and a transmission instruction and other instructions are performed by a user checking the dedicated box provided at a predetermined position on the dedicated paper 20 with the electronic pen 10. Executed. A transmission instruction is associated with the position coordinates of the dedicated box in advance. When the processor 11 receives the position coordinates of the dedicated box, the processor 11 supplies data in the memory 12 to the data communication unit 13 and transmits the data to the terminal device 25. To do. The electronic pen 10 can indicate completion of data transmission by vibration of the electronic pen.

  The battery 14 is for supplying power to each element in the electronic pen 10, and the electronic pen 10 itself can be turned on / off by a cap (not shown) of the electronic pen, for example.

  As described above, the electronic pen 10 has a function of acquiring coordinate data and writing pressure data corresponding to characters and the like described on the dedicated paper 20 by the user and transmitting them to the nearby terminal device 25. Since the pen tip portion 17 is a normal ink pen, the content described on the dedicated paper 20 remains as an original original. That is, at the same time as describing the original paper, its contents can be digitized in the form of coordinate data in real time.

  According to the standard function of the electronic pen 10, data obtained by the electronic pen 10 is in principle in the form of coordinate data or vector data, and is not text data. However, as a standard function, the electronic pen 10 has a function of converting text into alphanumeric characters by describing it in a dedicated area provided on the dedicated paper 20.

  Also, the electronic pen 10 can hold property information (pen information and pen owner information) regarding the pen itself and its owner, and can be referred to from an application. As the pen information, a battery level, a pen ID, a pen manufacturer number, a pen software version, a subscription provider ID, and the like can be held. The pen owner information can hold nationality, language, time zone, email address, free memory capacity, name, address, fax / phone number, mobile phone number, and the like.

  In the data communication unit 13 in the above example, the electronic pen 10 is connected to the terminal device 25 by various methods such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) wireless transmission, wired transmission using a USB cable, and data transmission by contact with a terminal. It is conceivable to perform data transmission.

  Next, a method for acquiring X / Y coordinate data of contents described by the user with the electronic pen will be described. As described above, a predetermined dot pattern is printed on the dedicated paper 20. The camera 16 of the electronic pen 10 does not read the locus of ink described on the dedicated paper 20 by the user, but reads the dot pattern on the dedicated paper 20. Actually, as shown in FIG. 1, the illumination area by the LED 15 and the shooting area of the camera 16 (located in the illumination area) are deviated from the position where the pen tip portion 17 contacts the dedicated paper 20.

  The dot pattern is printed with a special ink containing carbon, and the camera 16 can recognize only the pattern with the special ink. Even if ruled lines or frames are printed on dedicated paper with inks other than dedicated ink (not including carbon), the electronic pen does not recognize them. Therefore, when creating a form such as various application forms using dedicated paper, an entry frame, ruled lines, cautions, etc. are printed with ink other than dedicated ink.

  In the dot pattern, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the position of each dot is associated with data. In the example of FIG. 3, the 2-bit information of 0 to 3 is displayed by shifting the dot position vertically and horizontally from the reference position (intersection of vertical and horizontal lines) of the grid. The position coordinates on the dedicated paper are determined by the combination of information expressed in this way. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, 36 dots are arranged in a grid within a range of 2 mm in length and width, and the data array (FIG. 4B) indicated by these dots is displayed on the dedicated paper. Are associated with the position coordinates. Therefore, when the camera 16 of the electronic pen 10 captures a dot pattern as shown in FIG. 4A, the processor 11 changes the data array shown in FIG. 4B based on the dot pattern data input from the camera 16. The position coordinates on the dedicated paper (that is, where the dot pattern is located on the dedicated paper) corresponding to the acquired position are calculated in real time. The minimum unit for recognizing the dot pattern is 2 mm × 2 mm, and the camera 16 takes about 100 shots per second.

  Next, the dedicated paper will be described. An example of the structure of the dedicated paper is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the dedicated paper 20 has a dot pattern 32 printed on a mount 30 and a design 34 such as an entry frame or ruled line printed thereon. The mount 30 is usually paper, and the dot pattern 32 is printed with dedicated ink containing carbon as described above. Further, the design 34 is printed with normal ink or the like. The dot pattern and the design may be printed at the same time, or one of them may be printed first.

  An example of the design 34 is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example of a certain application form 36 in which a plurality of entry fields 38 and a transmission box 39 are printed. Although it is not clearly shown in FIG. 6 and will be described in detail later, a dot pattern is actually printed on the entire surface of the application form 36, and an entry box 38 and a transmission box 39 are formed on the entire surface using ordinary ink. It is printed. The user can enter the necessary items in each entry field 38 of the application form 36 using the electronic pen 10 in the same manner as a conventional application form without being aware of the dot pattern.

  The area on the dedicated paper 20 can be roughly divided into two types. One is an entry area, in which the description content of the electronic pen 10 is handled as information as it is. In the example of FIG. 6, a plurality of entry fields 38 correspond to this. The other is a functional element, and when the corresponding area is checked with the electronic pen 10, actions, instructions, etc. defined in advance for the area are executed. The transmission box 39 in the example of FIG. 6 corresponds to this.

  The transmission box 39 is used when giving an instruction to transmit data stored in the electronic pen 10 to the nearby terminal device 25 as described above. When the user checks the transmission box 39 with the electronic pen 10, the electronic pen 10 reads the dot pattern in the transmission box. The pattern is associated with a transmission instruction, and the processor 11 in the electronic pen 10 issues a command to transmit data stored in the memory 12 to the data communication unit 13.

  The assignment of dot patterns is usually performed for each application (paper type). In other words, the dot patterns in a certain application form do not overlap in one sheet, but the same dot pattern is printed on the same application form. Therefore, when the user inputs necessary items with the electronic pen 10, it can be specified from the coordinate data on the application form which item of the application form the input item is for.

  As described above, by printing a predetermined design on the dedicated paper on which the dot pattern is printed, various application forms using the dedicated paper can be created. If the user uses the electronic pen 10 and fills in necessary items in a normal manner, the electronic data is automatically acquired.

  In the above example, the dot pattern is printed on the dedicated paper with carbon-containing ink. However, the dot pattern can be printed on ordinary paper using a printer and carbon-containing ink. Furthermore, the design on the dedicated paper can also be formed by a printer instead of printing. When dot patterns are formed on paper by a printer, different dot patterns can be formed on each sheet. Therefore, it is possible to identify and distinguish each of these sheets by the difference in the formed dot patterns.

  In the present specification, the term “printing” has a concept including not only normal printing but also printing by a printer.

  Next, transmission processing of data acquired by the electronic pen will be described with reference to FIG. The data acquired by the electronic pen 10 is mainly data of items input by the user, but usually does not include information on where the service server that is the transmission destination of the data is. Instead, information specifying the application or service related to the dedicated paper is included in the dot pattern on the dedicated paper, and the information is acquired from the dedicated paper during the user's input operation. Therefore, the terminal device 25 that has received the entry data from the electronic pen 10 first makes an inquiry to the inquiry server 26 to which service server 27 the data input to the dedicated paper should be transmitted. The inquiry server 26 has information on a corresponding service server for each dedicated paper, and in response to an inquiry from the terminal device 25, information (such as a URL) of the service server 27 that performs a service related to the dedicated paper. Reply to the terminal device 25. Then, the terminal device 25 transmits the entry data acquired from the electronic pen to the service server 27.

  In the above example, the terminal device 25, the inquiry server 26, and the service server 27 are separately configured. However, some or all of them may be configured as one device. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a server described later also serves as the inquiry server 26 and the service server 27.

[Recognition system]
Next, the recognition system in the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of the recognition system 100. A recognition system 100 shown in FIG. 7 recognizes characters entered in a predetermined entry frame by a user using the electronic pen 10 and acquires accurate information.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the recognition system 100 is configured by connecting a terminal device 25 and a server 5 through a network 2. Here, one suitable example of the network 2 is the Internet. The terminal device 25 is a terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data via a network such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) used by a user or a mobile phone. The server 5 is connected to a user database (hereinafter referred to as “DB”) 6.

  First, the outline of the character recognition method by this system is described. The electronic pen form 3 (hereinafter referred to as “form”) is created as the above-described dedicated paper and is composed of a plurality of entry frames. The user uses the electronic pen 10 to enter necessary information in each entry frame. The electronic pen 10 acquires stroke data and coordinate data corresponding to the entered characters and symbols, temporarily stores them in the memory 12 in the electronic pen 10, and then transmits the data to the terminal device 25. The terminal device 25 receives stroke data and coordinate data from the electronic pen 10 and transmits them to the server 5 through the network 2.

  The server 5 is a server that performs character recognition based on stroke data by executing OCR processing. When the server 5 receives the stroke data from the terminal device 25, the server 5 identifies in which entry frame the stroke data is entered based on a coordinate table described later. Further, the server 5 recognizes characters and symbols entered in each entry frame by executing the OCR process.

  In addition, when a user can be identified from the characters and symbols entered in each entry frame, the identified user can be stored in the user DB 6 in association with the entry information. Specifically, if a user ID is assigned to each user in advance, the server 5 identifies the user who entered the form 3 by entering the user ID in the entry box. It is possible.

  In this way, the recognition system 100 shown in FIG. 7 can recognize characters and symbols entered in the form 3 and acquire accurate information.

[Form]
Next, the form 3 used in the recognition system 100 will be described. In the present invention, the form 3 is created as the dedicated paper described above. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a predetermined dot pattern 32 is printed on the mount 30, and predetermined characters, entry frames, and the like are printed thereon. As described above, the dot pattern 32 is printed with ink containing carbon so that the electronic pen 10 can recognize it. On the other hand, since the design 34 such as letters and entry frames is printed with normal (not including carbon) ink, the electronic pen 10 does not recognize it. The form 3 has an OCR conversion function for recognizing characters by OCR.

  Here, the entry frame printed on the form 3 will be described. 8A to 8D are examples of conventional entry frames. FIG. 8A shows an example in which an address is entered in an independent entry frame for each character (one character). In the conventional entry frame as shown in FIG. 8A, an inner frame is provided with a width of several millimeters from four directions in the entry frame in order to improve the recognition rate by OCR. In this case, all of the inside of the entry frame is a character recognition area capable of character recognition by OCR, but an inner frame is provided in order to restrict the user from protruding characters outside the entry frame. However, with such a method, there are problems such as the entry area that the user fills in becomes narrower due to the inner frame, and it becomes difficult to secure the space because the entire entry frame becomes larger if the entry area is secured. . Specifically, in the entry frames as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8D, since the inner frame is provided with a width of 1 mm from four directions, the actual entry area can be secured only 5 mm in height. Can not.

  FIG. 8B shows an example in which a two-point guide is provided in an independent entry frame for each character. FIG. 8C shows an example in which an 8-character guide is provided in an independent entry frame for each character. Since the two-point guide and the eight-character guide can be visually recognized, according to this guide, it is possible to restrict the user from writing outside the entry frame. However, such a method has a problem that it cannot be applied to a continuous character entry frame in which a plurality of characters are continuously entered as a character string as shown in FIG.

  By the way, as a result of performing the recognition rate evaluation with the form 3 having the OCR conversion function, the user tends to fill in the lower side in the entry frame as shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b). I understood. In particular, there are many cases in which characters that fall downward, such as “下”, protrude below the entry frame. Also, characters with a large number of strokes are often large, and often protrude below the entry frame depending on the position at the beginning of writing. As described above, since recognition errors often occur when the stroke falls below the entry frame, it has been found that guiding the writer's consciousness upward leads to an improvement in the recognition rate.

  FIGS. 10A to 10D are examples of entry frames in which guide lines and guide areas are provided only on the lower side in consideration of the entry tendency of users. Similar to the entry frames shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the inside of the entry frame is a character recognition area where character recognition by OCR is possible. The guideline and guide area are collectively referred to as “entry guide”.

  In FIG. 10A, a guideline is provided with a width of 1 mm below the continuous character entry frame, and the guide area between the guideline and the entry frame is shaded (hereinafter also referred to as “shaded guide area”). ). FIG. 10B shows an example in which a dashed guideline is provided with a width of 1 mm below the continuous character entry frame. In this way, by providing a guideline or guide area only on the lower side of the entry frame, it is possible to guide the user to write on the top and prevent characters from protruding below the entry frame. . Furthermore, an entry area with a height of 6 mm, which is wider than the conventional entry frame as shown in FIG. 8D, can be secured. That is, it is possible to improve the recognition rate and freely design the entry frame without narrowing the entry area more than necessary as in the restriction from the four directions and the vertical direction. In addition, the guideline and the guide area serve as a guide in the vertical direction when entering characters, so that it is easy for the user to write and the convenience can be improved.

  FIG. 10C shows an example in which a shaded guide area is provided with a width of 1 mm below each continuous character entry frame in continuous character entry frames adjacent in the vertical direction. As described above, the network of the present invention can be easily used even for adjacent continuous frames and for an entry frame that is not independent for each character without worrying about securing an entry area or space. It is possible to apply a hanging guide area. In particular, unlike an OCR dedicated form mainly composed of an independent entry frame for each character, for an electronic pen mainly composed of a continuous frame as shown in FIG. 10C and an independent entry frame for each character. In the case of forms, it is necessary to design the layout from a different perspective than the OCR dedicated form in setting the actual entry frame. Design that matches the trend (癖) is important.

  FIG. 10D shows an example in which a shaded guide area having a width of 1 mm on the lower side is provided in an independent entry frame for each character. In this manner, the shaded guide area of the present invention can be set without distinguishing between a single character entry frame and a continuous character entry frame.

  FIG. 11 shows an example in which the width of the shaded guide area of each continuous character entry frame is wider than the guide area shown in FIG. In this way, the width of the shaded guide area and the guideline can be arbitrarily changed between an entry frame that particularly requires recognition accuracy because it is an important item and an entry frame that does not require recognition accuracy because it is supplementary information. . In other words, it is possible to adjust the entry area and the recognition accuracy by arbitrarily changing the width of the guide area and the guide line.

  In addition, although FIG.10 (c), FIG.10 (d), and FIG. 11 have shown about the shaded guide area, it is also possible to apply the broken line guideline.

  In this way, the present invention focuses on the viewpoint that “the user tends to fill in the lower side of the entry frame”, which showed a high rate in the case of an error from the result of the actual recognition rate survey, This is effective in terms of an entry guide aimed at improving recognition accuracy without making the area as small as possible. In other words, when designing a dot pattern area and an entry frame in a form for an electronic pen, by providing an entry guide such as a shaded guide area or a broken line guideline below the entry frame, the user's consciousness is raised upward. It is possible to guide and improve the recognition rate.

[server]
Next, the server 5 will be described in detail. FIG. 12 shows an internal configuration of the recognition system 100, particularly the server 5. As illustrated, the server 5 includes a recognition program 101, an entry information acquisition function 102, a stroke extraction function 103, a coordinate table 104, an OCR process execution function 105, and an information storage function 106. Each function is realized by the CPU included in the server 5 executing a program prepared in advance.

  Based on the data acquired from the electronic pen 10 via the terminal device 25 and the coordinate table 104, the recognition program 101 identifies which entry frame contains a predetermined stroke, and displays the stroke as an OCR. This is a program that recognizes characters.

  The entry information acquisition function 102 is a function for acquiring stroke data and coordinate data related to characters entered in the form 3 by the user using the electronic pen 10 as entry information by executing the recognition program 101. As described above, the entry information includes the pen ID of the electronic pen 10 used by the user and time information related to the entry time.

  The stroke extraction function 103 is a function for extracting stroke data of characters entered by the user for each entry frame from entry information for each entry frame by referring to the coordinate table 104. Here, the coordinate table 104 will be described with reference to FIG. The coordinate table 104 includes an entry frame ID, coordinate data, and an entry frame name. The entry frame ID is information for identifying the area of each entry frame on the form 3 as shown in FIG. 10, and the coordinate data is a position coordinate on the form 3 indicating the arrangement of the area indicated by each entry frame ID. is there. The entry frame name represents the name of each entry frame indicated by the coordinate data. Specifically, according to the coordinate table 104 shown in FIG. 13, the area of the entry frame ID “A1” is an independent entry frame for each character as shown in FIG. It can be seen that this is the first character area. Further, it can be seen that the area of the entry frame ID “B1” is a continuous character entry frame as shown in FIGS. 10A to 10C and is an area for entering an address. The stroke extraction function 103 can extract stroke data for each entry frame from the entry information by referring to such a coordinate table 104. In addition, it is possible to recognize in which entry frame (for example, “entry box for entering an address”) the extracted stroke data is entered.

  The OCR process execution function 105 is a function for recognizing characters and symbols entered in each entry frame based on the stroke data extracted by the stroke extraction function 103 by executing the OCR process.

  The information storage function 106 is a function of storing information such as characters and symbols recognized by the OCR process execution function 105 in the user DB 6 in association with the user when the user who has made the entry can be identified. Specifically, if the user ID is assigned to the user in advance and the user ID is entered in the form 3, the user ID can be easily recognized by the OCR process execution function 105. Here, the user DB 6 will be described with reference to FIG. The user DB 6 includes a user ID, a name, an address, and the like. The user ID is information for identifying the user. The name and address are information entered in the form 3 by the user and are information recognized by the OCR process execution function 105 by referring to the coordinate table 104. That is, the information storage function 106 stores the name and address recognized from the entry information in the user DB 6 using the user ID recognized from the entry information as a key.

  In the present embodiment, information related to the name and address recognized from the entry information is stored in the user DB 6, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the information stored in the user DB 6 is a form. It can be arbitrarily set corresponding to the three entry boxes. An entry frame to be printed on the form 3 can be arbitrarily set.

[Recognition process]
Next, recognition processing executed by the recognition system 100 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the recognition process. It is assumed that the form 3 is printed with an entry frame in which an entry guide as shown in FIG. 10 is set.

  First, the user uses the electronic pen 10 to fill in the necessary items in the entry frame of the form 3. Specifically, the user enters characters and symbols so as not to protrude from the entry frame while being aware of entry guides such as a shaded guide area and broken line guide lines. Then, by filling a check mark in the transmission box 39 on the form 3, the entry information is transmitted to the server 5 via the terminal device 25.

  The server 5 acquires entry information (step S1). Then, the server 5 refers to the coordinate table 104 and extracts stroke data for each entry frame from the obtained entry information (step S2). Furthermore, the server 5 recognizes characters and symbols entered by the user in each entry frame based on the extracted stroke data by executing the OCR process (step S3). At this time, if the user ID for identifying the user can be recognized, the server 5 stores the information entered by the user in each entry box in the user DB 6 using the user ID as a key (step) S4). Thereby, the recognition process is completed.

  As described above, in the electronic pen form used in the data entry system using the electronic pen 10, the present invention guides the user to the lower side of the entry frame for the purpose of improving the recognition rate from the tendency of occurrence of character recognition errors. This is to set the entry guide. Therefore, the entry guide of the present invention is various application forms using an electronic pen, and can be applied to a character entry frame that uses the OCR conversion function. In particular, the entry guide of the present invention can be easily applied without narrowing the entry area even for a form laid out so that continuous character entry frames are adjacent, unlike the entry guide in the conventional OCR dedicated form. .

  According to the present invention, by providing an entry guide such as a shaded guide area or a broken line guideline below the entry frame in the electronic pen form, the user's consciousness is guided upward, and the entry characters are displayed in the entry frame. It is possible to reduce the occurrence of recognition errors caused by protruding below. Further, since the entry guide is provided only on the lower side, not in the vertical direction or the four directions, the recognition accuracy can be improved without reducing the entry area, unlike the conventional case. Furthermore, it is possible to arbitrarily adjust the entry area and the recognition accuracy by changing the width of the shaded guide area and the broken line guide line.

  The electronic pen form has a dot pattern printed in advance on the entire form, and a first production method for producing each form by defining each entry frame on the dot pattern, and for each entry frame at a predetermined position. And a second manufacturing method for manufacturing by printing a dot pattern. The entry guide of the present invention can be applied to either method, but is particularly useful in the case of the first manufacturing method and adjacent continuous frames. In this case, it is impossible to set so as to recognize a wide area beyond the entry frame. That is, because the area for character recognition cannot be expanded, the present invention that can improve the recognition accuracy without narrowing the entry area more than necessary by the entry guide set in the entry frame is particularly useful. .

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for an electronic pen input system that converts information entered in an electronic pen form by a user using an electronic pen into data.

It is a figure which shows the usage pattern of an electronic pen typically. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of an electronic pen. It is a figure explaining the expression method of the information by the dot pattern printed on the exclusive paper. It is an example of a dot pattern and the information corresponding to it. The structure of a form composed of dedicated paper is shown. An example of an electronic pen form is shown. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the recognition system in this invention. It is an example of the conventional entry frame and an entry guide. Below is an example of an entry box with characters that protrude below. It is an example of an entry frame provided with a shaded guide area and a broken line guideline. It is an example of the entry frame which expanded the width | variety of a shaded guide area. It is a functional block diagram of the server contained in the recognition system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of a coordinate table. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of user DB. It is a flowchart of the recognition process in this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Network 10 ... Electronic pen 11 ... Processor 12 ... Memory 13 ... Data communication unit 14 ... Battery 25 ... Terminal device 26 ... Inquiry server 27 ... Service server 100 ... Recognition system

Claims (5)

An electronic pen form that is filled in by an electronic pen including an ink pen unit and a reading unit that optically reads a dot pattern,
A dot pattern area provided optically readable by the reading unit;
An entry frame provided in the dot pattern area;
An electronic pen form provided with a guideline that is provided only on the lower side of the entry frame and that can be visually recognized by the entry person. The plurality of entry frames are provided adjacent to each other in the vertical direction, and a plurality of character strings are entered therein,
The electronic pen form according to claim 1, wherein the guideline is provided only on a lower side of each entry frame.   The electronic pen form according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a guide area between the guideline and the entry frame is shaded.   3. The electronic pen form according to claim 1, wherein the guide line is a broken line.   The electronic pen form according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the width of the guide line is different for each entry frame.

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