JP2007004621A - Document management supporting device, and document management supporting method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document management supporting device processing an image of a paper tag while maintaining an image of an original document by discriminating the paper tag from an electronic document with the paper tag attached thereto. <P>SOLUTION: When a control part 21 receives image data, the control part 21 compares RGB values included in the image data with values of an RGB value table stored in a nonvolatile storing part 25b to extract a tag area. Then, the control part 21 stores the RGB values, a position, a size or the like of the extracted tag area as data. Then, if text data exists in the tag area, the text data is also included in tag information and stored. An image of image data including tag image data generated on the basis of the tag information is displayed. When a user selects the tag image, the selected tag image is rectangularly displayed, a tag drawing image is newly generated, and the generated tag drawing image is displayed in a designated place by a drag-drop operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for digitizing and processing a document, and more particularly to a technique for digitizing and processing a document on which a paper sticky note is attached.

It is convenient for reusing data, for example, for filing and searching for documents, when electronic annotations in a document and sentences for calling attention are electronically read and processed.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for extracting a title from a read original and printing the extracted title as a tag.
JP 2000-261651 A

  On the other hand, there are many manuscripts with paper sticky notes attached for annotation and attention. Once such a document has been electronically read, it will be read as a single image with a paper sticky note attached, so that the paper sticky note may be moved or changed in color later. Processing cannot be performed. In the technique of the above-mentioned patent document 1, although it is possible to print as a tag based on the title, the tag cannot be processed or processed. Therefore, it has been desired to develop an apparatus that can easily and easily process a sticky note portion on a trace of a document on which a paper sticky note is pasted.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its purpose is to identify the outline of a sticky note from an electronic document attached with a sticky note and process the sticky note while maintaining the image of the original document. An object of the present invention is to provide a document management support device that can be used.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an input unit that reads an image of a sheet and generates image data, a feature storage unit that stores a feature of an image of a paper sticky note, and an input unit that is generated by the input unit. A sticky note area extracting unit for extracting a sticky note region indicating an outline of a paper sticky note attached to the paper based on the feature of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storing unit, and the sticky note region extracting unit. First sticky information acquisition means for acquiring first sticky note information representing the attribute of the sticky note area from the image data of the sticky note area extracted by the above, and character recognition for the image data in the sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means. The second sticky information acquisition means for performing processing and acquiring the character string in the sticky note area as the second sticky information, the first sticky information acquired by the first sticky information acquisition means, and the second sticky information are acquired. Providing document management support apparatus comprising a tag information storing means for storing in association with the second tag information.

  According to this document management support apparatus, since the features of paper sticky notes are stored in advance, an area of a paper sticky note is obtained from image data representing a document on which characters, pictures, etc. are written based on the stored features. (Sticky note area) can be extracted. Further, attributes of the extracted sticky note area are stored, and text data generated by performing character recognition processing on the extracted sticky note area is also stored. Since these pieces of information, that is, the attribute of the sticky note area and the text data are stored in association with each other, even if there are a plurality of sticky notes attached to the document, the relevance of the sticky note information in each sticky note area can be maintained.

  In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the sticky note area extracting means stores the rectangular area specifying means for specifying a rectangular area by edge detection processing and the feature storage means in the rectangular area specified by the rectangular area specifying means. A rectangular sticky note area specifying unit that specifies a rectangular area that matches the feature of the paper sticky note as the sticky note area may be included.

  In another preferred embodiment, the sticky note area extracting means is adjacent to the attention area specifying means for sequentially specifying the attention area from the image data, and within each attention area specified by the attention area specifying means. A distance between two characters is determined for each set of the two character strings, and a determination unit that determines whether or not the degree of variation in the calculated distances exceeds a predetermined range; The attention area determined to exceed a predetermined range includes attention sticky area specifying means for specifying the attention area that matches the feature of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storage means as the sticky area. Good.

  The feature of the image of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storage means may be a color or size defined in advance. Since the feature of the paper sticky note can be expressed by color or size, the area of the paper sticky note can be extracted from the image data based on such information. The attribute of the sticky note area may be at least one of the color, position, and size of the sticky note area. Since the image data of the sticky note area can be specified by color, position and size, the sticky note area can be specified from the image data based on the first sticky note information by using these as the first sticky note information. it can.

  The attribute of the sticky note area includes at least a position and a size, and generates sticky image data from at least a position and a size of the first sticky note information stored in the sticky note information storage unit, and the input unit Display means for displaying the sticky note image data together with the image data generated by may be provided.

  Furthermore, an operation means operated by an operator, a designation means for designating a display mode of the sticky image data based on the operation content of the operation means, and a control content designated by the designation means includes the tag image data In the case of movement, a sticky note drawing control means for controlling the sticky note image data selected by the specifying means to be moved and displayed on the display means may be provided.

  According to the present invention, a first step of reading an image of a sheet to generate image data, and an image data generated by the first step, based on the characteristics of an image of a paper sticky note stored in advance, A second step of extracting a sticky note region indicating the outline of the paper sticky note attached to the paper, and first sticky note information representing the attribute of the sticky note region from the image data of the sticky note region extracted in the second step. A third step of acquiring, a fourth step of performing character recognition processing on the image data in the sticky note area extracted in the third step, and acquiring a character string in the sticky note region as second sticky note information; There is provided a document management support method comprising a fifth step of storing the first sticky note information obtained in step 3 and the second sticky note information obtained in the fourth step in association with each other.

  Further, according to the present invention, an input unit that reads a paper image to generate image data, a feature storage unit that stores a feature of a paper sticky note image, and an image data generated by the input unit are used as the computer. Based on the features of the paper sticky notes stored in the feature storage means, a sticky note area extracting means for extracting a sticky note area indicating the outline of the paper sticky notes attached to the paper, and a sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means First sticky information obtaining means for obtaining first sticky note information representing the attribute of the sticky note area from the image data, and performing character recognition processing on the image data in the sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means, Second sticky information acquisition means for acquiring the character string in the first sticky information, first sticky information acquired by the first sticky information acquisition means, and second sticky information acquired by the second sticky information. Providing a program to function as a tag information storing means for storing in association with and.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a document in which a rectangular tag is attached substantially parallel to the upper and lower sides of the document is assumed to be processed.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a document management support system 1 which is an embodiment of a document management support apparatus according to the present invention. The image reading apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes an automatic document feeder (ADF), and the user automatically uses the ADF to move a plurality of documents one by one to the document reading position. It can be transported and scanned. At this time, the image reading apparatus 10 scans with a size corresponding to the document.
The image reading apparatus 10 also has a function called a flood bed scanner (FBS). With this FBS function, the user can specify the size at which the original set at the original reading position is scanned. . Then, the image reading apparatus 10 scans the set original with the designated size. That is, the user can issue an instruction to read a document in a size including the paper tag even when the document with the paper tag sticking out of the document is read.
The image reading apparatus 10 transfers image data corresponding to the image of the paper document optically read by ADF or FBS to the document management support apparatus 20 via the communication line 12. As the communication line 12, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), the Internet, or the like can be used. In this embodiment, a LAN is used as the communication line 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the document management support apparatus 20.
The control unit 21 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), for example, and controls each unit of the document management support apparatus 20 by executing various kinds of software stored in the storage unit 25. A communication IF (Inter Face) unit 22 is connected to the image reading device 10 via the communication line 12, receives image data transmitted from the image reading device 10 via the communication line 12, and transfers the image data to the control unit 21. To do.

  The display unit 23 is, for example, a liquid crystal display and its drive circuit, and displays an image corresponding to the data transferred from the control unit 21. The operation unit 24 is, for example, a keyboard and a mouse provided with a plurality of operators (not shown), and supplies data corresponding to the operation contents of these operators (hereinafter, operation content data) to the control unit 21.

The storage unit 25 includes a volatile storage unit 25a and a nonvolatile storage unit 25b. The volatile storage unit 25 a is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used as a work area of the control unit 21. The nonvolatile storage unit 25b is, for example, a hard disk. The non-volatile storage unit 25b stores the RGB value table T1 shown in FIG. The RGB value table T1 is a table in which the color value of a paper sticky note is represented by 3 bytes (24 bits) for each color of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). The non-volatile storage unit 25b is surrounded by the outline of a paper sticky note by analyzing OS data for causing the control unit 21 to execute an OS (Operating System) and image data transmitted from the image reading device 10. An analysis processing program for executing extraction (hereinafter referred to as a sticky note area) or the like is stored. In addition, a non-volatile storage unit 25b stores a sticky note information table T2 that stores information indicating the color and position of the sticky note area (hereinafter referred to as sticky note information).
The elements described above are connected by a bus 26.

Hereinafter, the control unit 21 attaches the paper sticky notes 31 and 32 (here, yellow paper sticky notes are assumed) and the paper sticky note 33 (here, lime paper sticky notes are assumed) shown in FIG. On the other hand, the case of performing image data analysis processing will be described with reference to FIGS.
When the power (not shown) of the document management support apparatus 20 is turned on, the control unit 21 first reads the OS software from the nonvolatile storage unit 25b. When the execution of the analysis processing program is instructed by a user instruction, the control unit 21 reads the analysis processing program from the nonvolatile storage unit 25b.
Next, the control unit 21 waits for transfer of image data to be analyzed from the image reading apparatus 10.

  On the other hand, when the user sets the original 30 on the image reading apparatus 10 and performs a predetermined operation, the original 30 is read by the image reading apparatus 10, and image data corresponding to the original 30 is read via the communication line 12. Sent from the apparatus 10 to the document management support apparatus 20.

  The control unit 21 receives the image data sent from the image reading device 10 via the communication IF unit 22 (step SA10). The received image data includes RGB values at each pixel. The control unit 21 compares the RGB value of each pixel of the image data with the value of the RGB value table T1 stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 25b, and extracts a tag area (step SA12). That is, each pixel is scanned in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and a range in which a predetermined number of RGB values in the RGB value table T1 are continuously detected is extracted as a tag area. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, sticky note areas 31 a to 33 a are extracted corresponding to the paper sticky notes 31 to 33.

  Then, the color, position and size of each extracted sticky note area are detected and stored as sticky note information in the sticky note information table T2 shown in FIG. 6 (step SA14). Here, “number” in the tag information table T2 is an identification number for identifying each tag region, and “RGB value” is an RGB value indicating the color of each tag region. “Position” is the x and y coordinates of the reference point (upper left vertex of the sticky note area) when the upper left corner of the document image is the origin, and “Size” is the length (short side) of two sides extending from the reference point , Long side).

  Subsequently, the control unit 21 performs layout analysis and OCR processing on the image data, and converts the character string in the image data representing the document 30 into text data (step SA16). Next, the control unit 21 reads the position and size of each sticky note area from each sticky note information in the sticky note information table T2, and indicates the range indicated by the read position and size, and the range of the text data generated in step SA16. Are extracted, and the text data in each sticky note area is extracted and stored in the “text data” field of the corresponding sticky note information table T2 (step SA18). In the example shown in FIG. 6, characters (handwritten characters) are extracted from the sticky note areas corresponding to “1” and “3” in the “number” field, and the “text data” field corresponding to these sticky note areas is displayed. , Text data of “None” and “Need to investigate recovery”, which are extracted characters, are stored. Since no character is extracted from the sticky note area corresponding to “2” in the “number” field, no text data is stored in the “text data” field corresponding to this sticky note area.

  After performing the operation as described above, the control unit 21 displays an image representing the document 30 on the display unit 23 (step SA20). At this time, the control unit 21 reads the sticky note information stored in the sticky note information table T2, and generates and displays sticky note images 31b to 33b based on the read sticky note information. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an image displayed on the display unit 23 by the control unit 21. As shown in the figure, the control unit 21 displays the same image as the original image of the document 30 on the display unit 23.

Next, a case where the sticky note images 31b to 33b (see FIG. 7) displayed on the display unit 23 are edited according to the operation by the user will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, for example, when any one of the tag images 31b to 33b is selected by the mouse of the operation unit 24 (step SB10), the control unit 21 displays the outline of the selected tag image as a dotted line (step SB12). In the following description, a case where the tag image 31b is selected by the user will be described. That is, when the control unit 21 detects that the pointer operated by the mouse or the like is located in the area of the sticky note image 31b and the mouse button is clicked in this state, the outline of the sticky note image 31b is displayed in a dotted line. When the pointer is moved and the mouse button is clicked again at the moved position, the control unit 21 refers to the RGB value, size, and text data of the tag information corresponding to the tag image 31b of the tag information table T2. Then, the sticky note drawing image 31c is generated (step SB14), and the generated sticky note drawing image 31c is drawn using the position of the pointer at this time as a reference position (step SB16).

  Next, the control unit 21 displays the character string of the text data “sticky” in a light color such as gray, for example, inside the sticky note image 31b that is the movement source (step SB18). Specifically, the control unit 21 reads out gray RGB values from the text data of “sticky” stored in advance and the RGB value table shown in FIG. 3, and generates a character string generated based on the read information. indicate. Thereby, the character string “sticky” is displayed in the outline of the sticky note image displayed by the dotted line in step SB12.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a sticky note area is extracted from an image based on characteristics of a paper sticky note stored in advance, and the color, position, size, and text data in the sticky note area of the extracted sticky note area are determined. A tag image generated based on the tag information is displayed in association with each other. Therefore, the same image as the original document including the sticky note can be displayed. Further, since the display mode of the sticky note image can be changed based on the stored sticky note information, the user who visually recognizes the image of the original can change the position of the sticky note image on the image. Further, when control indicating the position change of the sticky note image is instructed, the original sticky note image is displayed in a rectangular display or the like, so that even after the user moves the sticky note image, the original position of the moved sticky note image is displayed. Can be grasped. That is, the originality of the original can be maintained and the image data can be edited according to the user's instruction.

[Modification]
(1) In the present embodiment, the case where the document 30 is reproduced and displayed on the display unit 23 based on the tag information stored in the tag information table T2 has been shown. However, for a specific tag, a predetermined conversion is performed. May be displayed. For example, a sticky note image having text data in the sticky note area is converted to dark gray and displayed. Specifically, when the control unit 21 displays an image in step SA20 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, sticky note image data in which text data is stored in “text data” of the sticky note information table T2 (see FIG. 6). Is read out from the tag information corresponding to the tag area and the RGB value (dark gray) from the RGB value table T1 shown in FIG. 3, and a gray tag image is generated based on the tag information. . Then, the generated gray sticky note image is displayed. In this way, even if a document is attached with paper sticky notes of a plurality of colors, the sticky note image with text data is displayed in the same color, so that the display of the paper sticky notes can be made consistent. . That is, it is possible to assist the user in grasping information such as the importance level of the tag.

(2) Alternatively, a tag image generated by converting the RGB value of each tag image into a predetermined RGB value may be displayed. At this time, the color conversion table T3 shown in FIG. 10 is stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 25b. The color conversion table T3 includes an “original color” field and an “after conversion” field. The control unit 21 searches for the RGB value of the “original color” field that matches the RGB value of the tag image data, and reads the RGB value of the “after conversion” field stored in association with the RGB value. Then, the tag image generated based on the read RGB values is displayed. In this way, for example, even when a paper sticky note that is light (for example, yellow) or dark (for example, red) is difficult to see when displayed as an image in the same color depending on the paper sticky note, it is visually recognized by the user. Can be displayed in easy colors.

(3) In the present embodiment, the control unit 21 has shown the case where the sticky note area is extracted by comparing the RGB value of each pixel of the image data with the value of the RGB value table T1. A rectangular area may be specified by detection processing (for example, sobel processing), and a tag area may be specified from the size of the specified rectangular area and the RGB value. Specifically, a size table indicating the size of the paper sticky note is stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 25b. Then, the control unit 21 performs second order differentiation on the pixel value of each pixel of the image data, and calculates the density change in the pixel. Subsequently, in a series of pixels having the same calculated density change, a pixel group in which the series of pixels has a rectangular shape is set as a specific region. Then, in the specific area, the specific area whose size is the same as the value stored in the size table and the RGB value of the pixel in the specific area is the same as that in the RGB value table T1 is extracted as a tag area.

(4) Alternatively, the handwritten area may be specified from the width of the arrangement of black pixels, and the tag area may be specified by comparing the RGB value in the specified area with the value of the RGB value table T1. Specifically, when image data analysis processing is performed on the document 40 to which the paper sticky note 41 illustrated in FIG. 11A is attached, the control unit 21 operates the corner pixels in the horizontal direction. When the distance between two adjacent characters, that is, the width of the arrangement of pixels other than the continuous black pixels is smaller than the predetermined value X, those pixels are replaced with black pixels. The predetermined value X is approximately matched with a value assumed as a distance from the adjacent character. Similarly, the control unit 21 scans each pixel also in the vertical direction, and when the arrangement width of pixels other than the continuous black pixels is smaller than the predetermined value Y, the RGB values of those continuous pixels are volatile. The pixels are stored in the storage unit 25a, and those pixels are replaced with black pixels. At this time, the predetermined value Y is substantially matched with a value assumed as a space between character lines. As a result, a region filled with black pixels is formed. FIG. 11B shows a state where the above-described replacement process is performed on the image of the document 40. In this figure, regions L1 to L3 filled with black pixels are formed.

Then, the control unit 21 specifies the attention area to be processed, and restores the pixel that has been replaced with the black pixel in the specified area to the original drawing content. Subsequently, the pixels in the region are scanned in the horizontal direction, and it is determined whether or not the degree of variation in the pitch of the pixels in the pixels other than the continuous black pixels is smaller than a predetermined value. In general, since the interval between two adjacent characters is substantially constant in a region where printed characters are written, the degree of variation in pitch other than continuous black pixels is smaller than a predetermined value. On the other hand, since the interval between two adjacent characters is not constant in an area where handwritten characters are written, the degree of variation in pitch other than the continuous black pixels is larger than a predetermined value. In the example of determination for the areas L1 to L3 shown in FIG. 11B, the determination result that the areas L1 and L3 are type areas is given, and the determination that the area L2 is a handwriting area The result has been given.
With the above operation, if the extracted handwriting area has a value corresponding to the RGB value in the area in the RGB value table T1, the handwriting area is set as a tag area.

(5) In the present embodiment, the text data is also read from the tag information table T2 and displayed as a character string in the tag image. However, when the image is displayed for the first time (FIG. 5: Step SA20), the character string is not displayed, the sticky note image generated only from the position, size and color of the sticky note is displayed, and the sticky note image is clicked with a mouse or the like. In such a case, the character string of the corresponding text data may be displayed. Specifically, the control unit 21 reads the position, size, and RGB value of the tag area from the tag information table T2, generates a tag image based on the read information, and displays the tag image on the display unit 23. Then, the text data stored in association with the tag image data corresponding to the clicked tag image is read from the tag information table T2, and the character string of the read text data is displayed in the tag image.

(6) In the present embodiment, the case where a document (character) is described in the manuscript 30 is shown. However, what is described is not limited to a character but is a picture, a graph, or the like. Also good.

(7) In the present embodiment, the case where the image reading apparatus 10 and the document management support apparatus 20 are configured as separate hardware has been described. However, both may be configured as integral hardware. Good. At this time, the communication line 12 serves as an internal bus for connecting the image reading apparatus 10 and the document management support apparatus 20 within the hardware.

(8) Further, in the present embodiment, the case of performing based on a program stored in advance in the nonvolatile storage unit 25b has been shown, but for example, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) or a DVD (Digital Versatile) The software may be installed in a computer-readable recording medium such as a disk.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a document management assistance apparatus. It is the figure which showed the format of the RGB value table. It is the figure which illustrated the manuscript with the paper sticky note. It is the figure which showed the flowchart which showed the operation | movement which a control part performs. It is the figure which showed the format of the tag information table. It is the figure which showed the display image. It is the figure which showed the flowchart which showed the operation | movement which a control part performs. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image representing a document after a sticky note area is changed. It is the figure which showed the format of the color conversion table. FIG. 6 is a diagram in which a document with a paper sticky note is replaced with a black pixel.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Document management support system, 10 ... Image reading device, 12 ... Communication line, 20 ... Document management support device, 21 ... Control part, 22 ... Communication IF part, 23. ..Display unit 24 ... Operation unit 25 ... Storage unit 25a ... Volatile storage unit 25b ... Non-volatile storage unit 26 ... Bus T1 ... RGB value table , T2 ... Sticky note information table, T3 ... Color conversion table

Claims (9)

An input unit that reads an image of a sheet and generates image data;
Feature storage means for storing the characteristics of the image of the paper sticky note;
A sticky note area extracting unit that extracts a sticky note region indicating an outline of a paper sticky note attached to the paper based on the feature of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storing unit from the image data generated by the input unit; ,
First sticky information acquiring means for acquiring first sticky information representing the attribute of the sticky note area from image data of the sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means;
Second sticky information acquisition means for performing character recognition processing on the image data in the sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means, and acquiring a character string in the sticky note area as second sticky note information;
Document management support, comprising: tag information storage means for storing the first tag information acquired by the first tag information acquisition means and the second tag information acquired by the second tag information in association with each other apparatus. The sticky note area extracting means includes:
Rectangular area specifying means for specifying a rectangular area by edge detection processing;
The rectangular area specified by the rectangular area specifying means includes: a rectangular sticky note area specifying means for specifying, as a sticky note area, a rectangular area that matches the feature of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storage means; The document management support apparatus according to claim 1. The sticky note area extracting means includes:
Attention area specifying means for sequentially specifying the attention area from the image data;
Within each attention area specified by the attention area specifying means, the distance between two adjacent characters is obtained for each set of the two character strings, and the degree of variation of the obtained distances exceeds a predetermined range. A judging means for judging whether or not,
Attention sticky note area that identifies the attention area that matches the feature of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storage means as the sticky note area in each attention area at which the judgment result by the judging means is determined to exceed a predetermined range. The document management support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a specifying unit.   4. The document management support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feature of the image of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storage means is a color or size defined in advance.   4. The document management support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute of the sticky note area is at least one of a color, a position, and a size of the sticky note area. The attributes of the sticky note area include at least a position and a size,
Display means for generating sticky note image data from at least the position and size of the first sticky note information stored in the sticky note information storage means, and displaying the sticky note image data together with the image data generated by the input means; The document management support apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. An operation means operated by an operator;
Designation means for designating a display mode of the tag image data based on the operation content of the operation means;
A sticky note drawing control means for controlling that the sticky image data selected by the designation means is moved and displayed on the display means when the control content designated by the designation means is movement of the sticky image data; The document management support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: A first step of reading the image of the paper and generating image data;
A second step of extracting, from the image data generated in the first step, a sticky note region indicating the outline of the paper sticky note attached to the paper based on the characteristics of the paper sticky note image stored in advance;
A third step of acquiring first sticky note information representing the attribute of the sticky note region from the image data of the sticky note region extracted in the second step;
A fourth step of performing character recognition processing on the image data in the sticky note area extracted in the third step, and acquiring a character string in the sticky note region as second sticky note information;
A document management support method, comprising: a fifth step of storing the first sticky note information acquired in the third step and the second sticky note information acquired in the fourth step in association with each other. Computer
An input unit that reads an image of a sheet and generates image data;
Feature storage means for storing the characteristics of the image of the paper sticky note;
A sticky note area extracting unit that extracts a sticky note region indicating an outline of a paper sticky note attached to the paper based on the feature of the paper sticky note stored in the feature storing unit from the image data generated by the input unit; ,
First sticky information acquiring means for acquiring first sticky information representing the attribute of the sticky note area from image data of the sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means;
Second sticky information acquisition means for performing character recognition processing on the image data in the sticky note area extracted by the sticky note area extracting means, and acquiring a character string in the sticky note area as second sticky note information;
A program which functions as sticky information storage means for storing the first sticky information acquired by the first sticky information acquisition means and the second sticky information acquired by the second sticky information in association with each other.

Images