JP2007011656A - Character recognition system and character recognition method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a character recognition system capable of performing efficient correction. <P>SOLUTION: The character recognition system is provided with a document format file 110 for assigning a regulation number in each field when a document is provided with a field for entering credit judgment information and a field for entering incidental information and a recognized result file 130 for storing recognized result data obtained by character recognition according to the regulation number; where first recognition for recognizing characters written in the field specified by the regulation number, e.g. essential character information to be used for a credit, is performed, and when the recognized result data passes the credit judgment, second recognition for recognizing characters written in the other field specified by the regulation number, e.g. incidental information such as a company's address, is performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a character recognition system and a character recognition method in an optical character reader that recognizes characters written in a form using an optical character reading function, and in particular, there are a plurality of entry fields in a form, The present invention relates to a character recognition system and a character recognition method capable of efficiently performing character recognition or correction according to the contents described in an entry field.

  In general, the optical character reading (OCR) system has improved the reading time / reading rate of the form due to the speeding up of the scanner and the advancement of the recognition technology, but unread and misreading still cannot be made zero. For this reason, the time to correct unread and misread characters is a bottleneck in the OCR system.

In the prior art, in order to reduce the bottleneck, attributes such as form structure called form format and description character types of a plurality of reading fields are stored in advance, and according to attributes such as the description character type of each reading field. The following patent document proposes a technique for reducing unread or misread by performing character recognition.
JP 2002-150219 A

  Although the prior art can perform character recognition in accordance with the attributes of the character types described in a plurality of predetermined reading fields, for example, character types such as numbers and kanji, it still cannot eliminate unread or misreads. For this reason, there has been a problem that non-reading or misreading becomes a bottleneck in the OCR system, and the efficiency of office processing cannot be improved. In addition, when the operator of the correction terminal performs the recognized character, the character correction is performed without considering the skill level of the operator.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the problems caused by the above-described conventional technology, and provide a character recognition system and a character recognition method capable of improving the paperwork efficiency by paying attention to the description content of a form to be read. That is.

  Specifically, the present invention comprises a form format file with a rule number assigned to each field, and a recognition result file that stores recognition result data that has undergone character recognition corresponding to the rule number, and a plurality of In an optical character reading system for recognizing characters described in a form comprising a feed using an optical character reading function, first recognition for recognizing characters described in the field specified by the rule number is performed. When the recognized recognition result data passes a predetermined examination, the first feature is to perform second recognition for recognizing characters described in other fields by the rule number. In the system, when the form includes a field for entering credit examination information and a field for entering accompanying information, the first character recognition The character written in the field for entering the credit review information is recognized, and the character written in the field for entering the accompanying information is recognized when performing the second character recognition. The second feature.

  The present invention also includes a form format file in which a rule number is assigned to each field, and a recognition result file that stores recognition result data that has been subjected to character recognition in correspondence with the rule number, and includes a plurality of feeds. In the optical character reading system that performs character recognition using the optical character reading function, the first correction for correcting the recognized character described in the field specified by the rule number is performed. In the character recognition system, the first feature is to perform a second correction for correcting a recognized character described in another field by the rule number when the recognized result data passed a predetermined examination. When the form includes a field for entering credit examination information and a field for entering accompanying information, when performing the first character correction Correcting the recognized character described in the field for entering the credit review information, and correcting the recognized character described in the field for entering the accompanying information when performing the second character correction; It is characterized by.

  Further, the present invention provides a form format file with rule numbers for each field, a recognition result file for storing recognition result data for character recognition corresponding to the rule numbers, and a plurality of corrections for recognized characters. In a character recognition system of an optical character reader that performs character recognition using an optical character reading function, a character specified in a field specified by the rule number is provided. Storing the recognized character recognition result data in the recognition result file in correspondence with the rule number, and reading the stored recognition result data from the recognition result file and transferring it to the correction terminal specified by the rule number. In this character recognition system, the form includes a field for entering only numbers and character information including kanji. And when the transfer is performed, the character recognition data in the field in which only numbers are entered and the character recognition data in the field in which character information including Chinese characters is transferred to different correction terminals. It is characterized by.

  Furthermore, the present invention provides a character recognition method for an optical character reader for recognizing characters described in a form composed of a plurality of feeds using an optical character reading function. A form format file with a number and a recognition result file for storing recognition result data subjected to character recognition corresponding to the rule number are provided, and correction of the recognized characters described in the field specified by the rule number A first correction step for performing the correction, and when the recognition result data corrected in the first correction step passes a predetermined examination, a second correction for correcting the recognized character described in the other field by the rule number. A fifth feature is that a correction step is included. In this character recognition method, the form fills in a field for entering credit examination information and accompanying information. The optical character reader corrects the character written in the field for entering the credit examination information in the first correction step, and enters the accompanying information in the second correction step. A sixth feature is that the characters written in the field are corrected.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character recognition method for an optical character reader that performs character recognition on a form composed of a plurality of feeds using an optical character reading function. A numbered form format file, a recognition result file for storing recognition result data for character recognition corresponding to the rule number, and a plurality of correction terminals for correcting the recognized character, and the rule number Storing the recognition result data of the characters described in the field designated by the field in the recognition result file corresponding to the rule number, and reading the stored recognition result data from the recognition result file to specify the rule number. And transferring the data to the corrected terminal. In this character recognition method, the form fills in only numbers. When a field and a field for entering character information including kanji are provided, the character recognition data in the field for entering only numbers and the character recognition data in the field for inputting character information including kanji are differently modified in the transfer step. The eighth feature is that the data is transferred to the terminal.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a rule for classifying form data for efficient correction is defined, information on the form encoded in the field is stored together with the format information of the form, and these are stored. Use this to specify recognition character information, input and output data based on the specified information, and use correction means to enter keys and display a correction screen, thereby efficiently correcting data already input from OCR, etc. can do.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a character recognition system and a character recognition method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of the character recognition system according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the device configuration according to the present embodiment, FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a form example suitable for the present embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a form format of a form according to the present embodiment, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing control parameters for controlling the character recognition result of the form according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a business flow of a credit card application form. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a rule for distinguishing a set of fields suitable for the present embodiment.
<Principle explanation>

  First, the principle of the present invention will be described. In general, there are various forms that can be used for optical character recognition. However, the contents to be included in the forms are essential for applications such as membership applications for various circles / facilities, credit card applications, etc. There are fields that contain essential information required for credit verification and credit review, and fields that contain accompanying information for marketing and segmentation to improve customer service. Even if it is information, there are character types that can be easily corrected such as numbers, and character types that are more preferably corrected by skilled operators such as kanji.

  Explaining this, as shown in FIG. 3, the target form 30 that is the subject of the present invention is, for example, a name entry field / birth date field / address field / working company name / telephone in the case of a facility membership application form. The number is roughly divided into a field for filling in essential information whose personal confirmation information and credit information and a field for entering accompanying information such as a company address / phone number. At the same time, the target form 30 has character types that can be easily corrected such as numbers such as postal codes and telephone numbers, and character types that are preferably corrected by skilled operators such as names and addresses. To do.

The inventor examines essential information such as the name, etc., when the system that reads the above-mentioned character information, and pays attention to the characteristic that it is necessary to recognize other accompanying information when passing this examination, When the first correction for correcting the characters described in the field for entering the designated credit examination information is performed, and the corrected recognition result data passes a predetermined credit examination, other associated information is obtained by the rule number. Focusing on the fact that there is a difference in the ability of the operator when performing the second correction for correcting the recognized character described in the field for entering the character, and the number specified by the rule number And the correction of the recognized character written in the kanji field is transferred to the correction terminal designated by the rule number, and the invention for efficiently correcting the character is achieved.
<Description of configuration>

  Next, a character recognition system and method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The device configuration to which the character recognition system according to the present embodiment is applied, as shown in FIG. 2, controls an optical character reader (OCR) 25 that optically reads and recognizes characters written in a form, and controls the OCR 25. A form reading terminal 20, correction terminals 21 and 22 for correcting unread characters and misread characters unrecognizable by the form reading terminal 20, reading by the form reading terminal 20, and correction by the correction terminal 21 A shared disk 27 for storing recognition result data in which unread or misread characters are corrected, and a credit examination terminal for performing credit by inputting essential information such as a name among the recognition result data stored in the shared disk 27 28 and network 2 connecting the form reading terminal 20 / correction terminal 21 / correction terminal 22 / shared disk 27 / credit examination terminal 28 Composed of a.

  In the device configuration to which this character recognition system is applied, the form reading terminal 20 recognizes the character information optically read from the form by the OCR 25, temporarily stores it in the shared disk 27 via the network 26, and the correction terminal 21 or the like. The recognition result data (character information) stored in the shared disk 27 and the recognition result data corrected by misreading or unreading characters with reference to the image data are stored in the shared disk 27. . Further, the credit examination terminal 28 refers to only character information necessary for credit among the read recognition result data, and performs credit such as qualification. The detailed operation will be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the function of the character recognition system according to the present embodiment includes a control parameter file 100 for storing control parameters including a recognition result file name and a form format file for storing a format of a form to be read. 110, a form reading program 120 that controls the reading of the form with reference to the control parameter file 100 and the form format file 110, and stores the recognition result file in the recognition result file 130 (corresponding to the shared disk 27 in FIG. 2); The form reading program 120 includes a recognition result correction program 140 that corrects the recognition result file read by the form reading program 120, and these constituent functions are included in the form reading terminal 20. In addition, the line which connects each structure in FIG. 1 shows that each structure is related, the display which is not designated with a numerical value etc. has a one-to-one relationship, and the display of 1 ... * is 1. Show a many-to-many relationship. The control parameters and the form format are created in advance by a format creator by a predetermined method prescribed by the form reading program or the recognition result correction program. Specifically, the control parameter and the form format are created using a text editor or the like. It is created in a predetermined format such as XML.

  The target form to be read by the OCR 25 has a description format as shown in FIG. 3, and the form format 40 of the target form has an item number / name of this item number / this item as shown in FIG. Character number described in number / Rule number for identifying whether it is essential information or accompanying information / Maximum number of characters described / Position (position) of item number / Meaning of item number In this example, item number 1 is the name of this item “name 1” / its character attribute is “katakana” / rule number is “1” (essential information) / number of characters is “30” characters / position is “0350”. , 1850, 0050, 0120 ”/ meaning“ name: reading ”, rule number“ 1 ”is set as a priority processing item, and rule number“ 2 ”is set as a semi-priority item. Note that the rule number is not limited to the above-described necessity or not, but is a rule that allows efficient correction (for example, simple correction of numbers, kanji, etc.) due to factors such as operator ability differences. Correction that is relatively difficult to correct).

  The rule number is set according to the description content of the form to be read. For example, when the form is a credit card application, this rule number is necessary for credit as shown in rule 71 of FIG. Set “1” for data, “2” for data to be corrected after credit completion, “0” for all data, or date of birth, credit number, etc. for data entry companies “3” is set as a field for character information of only numbers, and “4” is set as a field for character information including Chinese characters such as name / address.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the form format file 110 includes a form format 111 storing the form length / width / modified screen information of the target form format 40 described above, and a field 112 storing position information / number of characters of each field. A field rule 113 that stores a rule number for each field 112, a field correction screen 114 that stores position information in the screen of the field, and field check information 115 that stores a check method for a recognized character. The The control parameters stored in the control parameter file 100 include, as shown in FIG. 5, a control parameter 51 for performing data correction necessary for credit storing a form format example / rule number to be corrected / recognition result file name, Stored is a control parameter 52 for correcting data after completion of credit storing the same configuration.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the form reading program 120 includes a character recognition unit 122 that performs character recognition with reference to a dictionary, a data input / output unit 123 that controls field data designated with reference to field information, and a menu. The screen management unit 124 controls the screen and the correction screen, and the form reading unit 121 recognizes the character information in the field designated by the data input / output unit 123 using the character recognition unit 122. It works.

The recognition result correction program 140 includes a recognition result correction unit 141 that corrects a character recognition result stored in the recognition result file 130 according to a specified control parameter name and rule number, and field data specified by referring to field information. The data input / output unit 142 controls the screen and the screen management unit 143 for controlling the menu screen and the correction screen.
<Description of operation>

  Now, in the character recognition system configured as described above, when the form to which the rule 71 of FIG. 7 is applied is a credit card application form, as shown in FIG. (Step 60), using the essential information such as the name of the person who made the correction, a credit as to whether or not it is possible to join a credit card is implemented (step 61), and then whether or not the credit examination result is OK If the credit result is NO in step 62, the credit NG process is performed. If the credit is determined to be OK in step 62, the card issuance and the related document customer shipping process are performed. After performing (Step 64), the operation is performed to correct the accompanying information such as the company address described above.

  For example, in the case of a data entry company, the processing procedure is as follows: rule number 1 is character information that requires skill such as kanji, rule number 2 is character information that can be easily corrected such as numbers, and the skilled person has character information such as kanji. You may change so that a new face may correct the character information of a number after correcting.

  Further, this processing procedure, for example, transmits a recognized character recognized from a field designated by rule number 1 to a correction terminal operated by a skilled worker at a data entry company, and recognized character recognized from a field designated by rule number 2. Is transmitted to a correction terminal operated by an unskilled person, and the character correction work is shared in parallel with both of them, whereby efficient character correction can be performed.

  In this way, the present invention classifies the fields in the form according to those rules, processes only the necessary parts first, improves the efficiency of paperwork, and improves the speed of response to customers. Can do.

The figure which shows the function structure operation | movement of the character recognition system by one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the apparatus structure by this embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a form suitable for this embodiment. The figure which shows the form format of the form by this embodiment. The figure which shows the control parameter which controls the character recognition result of the form by this embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the work flow of an application form of a credit card. The figure which shows the example of the rule which distinguishes the collection of each field suitable for this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

20: form reading terminal, 21-22: correction terminal, 26: network, 27: shared disk, 28: credit examination terminal, 30: target form, 40: form format, 51-52: control parameter, 71-72: rule , 100: control parameter file, 110: form format file, 111: form format, 112: field, 113: field rule, 114: field modification screen, 115: field check information, 120: program, 121: form reading unit, 122 : Character recognition unit, 123: data input / output unit, 124: screen management unit, 130: recognition result file, 140: recognition result correction program, 141: recognition result correction unit, 142: data input / output unit, 143: screen management unit .

Claims (8)

Characters described in a form composed of a plurality of feeds, each comprising a form format file with a rule number for each field and a recognition result file storing character recognition result data corresponding to the rule number An optical character reading system that performs character recognition using an optical character reading function,
When the first correction is performed to correct the recognized character described in the field specified by the rule number, and the corrected recognition result data passes a predetermined examination, it is described in the other field by the rule number. A character recognition system that performs a second correction for correcting the recognized character.   When the form includes a field for entering credit examination information and a field for entering accompanying information, the correction of the recognized character described in the field for entering the credit examination information when performing the first character correction The character recognition system according to claim 1, wherein when the second character correction is performed, the recognition character described in the field for entering the accompanying information is corrected. A form format file with a rule number for each field, a recognition result file for storing recognition result data corresponding to character recognition in correspondence with the rule number, and a plurality of correction terminals for correcting recognized characters A character recognition system of an optical character reader that performs character recognition using an optical character reading function for characters described in a form composed of a plurality of feeds,
Character recognition result data described in the field specified by the rule number is stored in the recognition result file corresponding to the rule number, and the stored recognition result data is read from the recognition result file and specified by the rule number. The character recognition system is characterized in that it is transferred to a modified terminal.   The form includes a field for entering only numbers and a field for entering character information including kanji. When performing the transfer, the character recognition data of the field for entering only numbers and the character information including kanji are entered. 4. The character recognition system according to claim 3, wherein the character recognition data in the field is transferred to a different correction terminal. A character recognition method for an optical character reader for recognizing characters by using an optical character reading function for characters described in a form composed of a plurality of feeds,
The optical character reader is provided with a form format file with a rule number for each field, and a recognition result file for storing recognition result data for character recognition corresponding to the rule number,
A first correction step of correcting the recognition character described in the field designated by the rule number, and when the recognition result data corrected by the first correction step passes a predetermined examination, the rule number A character recognition method comprising a second correction step of correcting a recognized character described in another field.   When the form includes a field for entering credit examination information and a field for entering accompanying information, the character written in the field for entering the credit examination information by the optical character reader by the first correction step. 6. The character recognition method according to claim 5, wherein the character described in the field in which the accompanying information is entered is corrected in the second correction step. A character recognition method for an optical character reader for recognizing characters by using an optical character reading function for characters described in a form composed of a plurality of feeds,
In the optical character reader, a form format file with a rule number assigned to each field, a recognition result file for storing recognition result data corresponding to character recognition corresponding to the rule number, and correction of the recognized character Multiple correction terminals to perform,
Storing the recognition result data of the characters described in the field designated by the rule number in the recognition result file corresponding to the rule number; and reading the stored recognition result data from the recognition result file to the rule number And a step of transferring to a correction terminal specified by the character recognition method. When the form includes a field for entering only numbers and a field for entering character information including Chinese characters, the character recognition data of the field for entering only numbers and the character information including Chinese characters are input in the transfer step. 8. The character recognition method according to claim 7, wherein the character recognition data in the field is transferred to a different correction terminal.

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