JP2007158453A - Image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, image processing program and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquire easily readable image data by applying processing to image data in which the same expressions are repeatedly used. <P>SOLUTION: An image processor 10 of a composite machine 1 used for applying predetermined processing to image data is provided with a character string recognizer 3, a retrieval 4 and a converter 6. The character string recognizer 3 recognizes character strings included in the image data. The retrieval 4 retrieves a first character string to be repeated two or more times from among the character strings in the image data recognized by the character string recognizer 3. When the retrieval 4 retrieves the first character string, the converter 6 converts the first character string into a second character string shorter than the first character string. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an image processing program, and an image processing method.

  For example, an image processing apparatus having a scanner function is known that includes character recognition means that can recognize a character string included in a read document. Examples of the character recognition means include an optical character recognition device (OCR). An image processing apparatus that does not have a scanner function is known that can recognize a character string included in image data created by the apparatus itself.

  As a technique using this type of image processing apparatus, for example, one disclosed in Patent Document 1 below is known. In this technique, in order to prevent forgery of securities, etc., for example, when a predetermined character string included in the securities is stored in advance and the same character string as the stored character string is recognized in the read document, The output of the image data of the document is prohibited.

By the way, in image data including a large number of character strings such as document data, the same expression such as a specific term often appears repeatedly. For this reason, when the repeated expression is long or the meaning content is professional, it may be difficult to read.
JP-A-8-194212

  An object of the present invention is to obtain image data that is easy to read by processing image data in which the same expression is repeatedly used.

  An image processing apparatus according to a first aspect is an apparatus for performing predetermined processing on image data, and includes character string recognition means, search means, and conversion means. The character string recognition means recognizes a character string included in the image data. The search means searches for a first character string that is repeated twice or more from the character string in the image data recognized by the character string recognition means. The converting means converts the first character string into a second character string shorter than the first character string when the first character string is searched by the searching means.

  In this apparatus, when a first character string repeatedly used in image data is searched, the searched first character string is converted into a shorter second character string. Thereby, the length of the character string in the converted image data is shorter than the character string in the original image data, and the output image data is easy to see.

  In the present invention, the characters constituting the character string include symbols, numbers, and the like. The number of characters in the first character string may be two or more, and the number of characters in the second character string may be plural or only one. Further, the image data may be read by a document reading unit described later or may be stored in a predetermined storage unit. Further, the image processing apparatus may have a scanner function such as a copying machine, a facsimile apparatus, and a scanner apparatus, and may have a scanner function as an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) or an office computer. You may not have.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus of the first aspect, the image processing apparatus further includes a number counting unit that counts the number of times the first character string is repeated. The conversion means converts a character string counted a predetermined number of times or more by the number counting means in the first character string into a second character string.

  In this apparatus, for example, when the predetermined number of times is “4”, the character string whose number of repetitions in the image data is “3” or “2” is not converted to the second character string, and is “4” or more. Is converted to a shortened second character string. Thus, it is possible to obtain easy-to-read image data by shortening the character string that appears frequently in the document.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising character number counting means for counting the number of characters of the first character string. The converting means converts a character string in which the number of characters counted by the character number counting means is a predetermined number or more, out of the first character string, into a second character string.

  In this apparatus, for example, when the predetermined number is “3”, the character string having the character number “2” or “1” is not converted to the second character string, and the character number is changed to the character string having the character number “3” or more. The second character string is shortened only for a shorter time. As a result, it is possible to obtain easy-to-read image data by shortening a character string having a large number of characters.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the search means further searches for the third character string that is repeated twice or more in the image data including the second character string. . The converting means further converts the third character string into a fourth character string shorter than the third character string when the third character string is further searched by the searching means.

  In this apparatus, when the repeated character string is included in the image data including the second character string obtained by the first conversion, the searched character string is converted into a shorter fourth character string. The character string in the data is further shortened. Therefore, it is possible to obtain easy-to-view image data with a small number of characters. Further, by repeating such processing, it is possible to obtain very easy-to-read image data in which the contained character string is converted to the shortest.

  The number of characters in the third character string may be two or more, and the number of characters in the fourth character string may be plural or only one.

  The image processing apparatus according to claim 5 can output the image data converted by the conversion means in the apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 in association with the second character string and the first character string. The output means is further provided.

  According to this apparatus, since the converted character string is output in association with the character string before conversion, the contents of the shortened image data after conversion can be easily understood.

  Note that the output mode may be display on a predetermined display unit, or image formation on a transfer material by an image forming unit described later.

  An image processing apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, further comprising original reading means for reading the original and acquiring image data.

  In this apparatus, easy-to-read image data can be obtained using image data obtained by reading a document such as a document containing a large number of character strings.

  An image forming apparatus according to a seventh aspect includes the image processing apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, and an image forming unit. The image forming means can form an image on the transfer material based on the image data converted from the first character string to the second character string by the converting means of the image processing apparatus.

  In this apparatus, the image data subjected to the conversion processing as described above can be output to a transfer material such as paper, and an easily viewable printed matter can be obtained.

  An image processing program according to claim 8 is an image processing program executed in a computer of an image processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on image data, and the computer includes character string recognition means, search means, And function as a conversion means. The character recognition means recognizes a character string included in the image data. The search means searches for a first character string that is repeated twice or more from the character string in the image data recognized by the character string recognition means. The converting means converts the first character string into a second character string shorter than the first character string when the first character string is searched by the searching means.

  When this program is executed by the computer of the image processing apparatus, a first character string that is repeatedly used in the image data is searched, and the searched first character string is converted into a shorter second character string. Thereby, the length of the character string in the converted image data is shorter than the character string in the original image data, and the output image data is easy to see.

  An image processing method according to a ninth aspect is a method for performing predetermined processing on image data, and includes a character string recognition step, a search step, and a conversion step. In the character string recognition step, a character string included in the image data is recognized. In the search step, a first character string that is repeated twice or more from the character string in the image data recognized in the character string recognition step is searched. In the converting step, when the first character string is searched in the searching step, the first character string is converted into a second character string shorter than the first character string.

  According to this method, the first character string repeatedly used in the image data is searched, and the searched first character string is converted into a shorter second character string. Therefore, the character string in the converted image data The length is shorter than the character string in the original image data, and the output image data is easy to see.

  According to the present invention, the length of the character string in the converted image data is shorter than the character string in the original image data, and the output image data is easy to see. Therefore, the convenience of the user who uses this image processing apparatus is increased.

<First Embodiment>
(1) Configuration The multifunction device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The multifunction machine 1 also has functions as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a scanner device. The multifunction device 1 includes an image processing unit 10 including an original reading unit 2, a character string recognition unit 3, a search unit 4, a number counting unit 5, a conversion unit 6, and a storage unit 7, and an image forming unit 8.

(1-1) Document Reading Unit The document reading unit 2 reads a document placed on a document placing table (not shown) and acquires image data. Then, the document reading unit 2 outputs the acquired image data to the character string recognition unit 3.

(1-2) Character String Recognizing Unit The character string recognizing unit 3 extracts character data included in the image data acquired by the document reading unit 2, and recognizes two or more consecutively extracted characters as a character string. . The character string recognized here is output to the search unit 4 together with the image data. The image data output to the character string recognition unit 3 includes not only the image data acquired by the document reading unit 2 but also the image data created by the image processing unit 10 itself and stored in the storage unit 6.

(1-3) Search Unit The search unit 4 searches the character string in the image data recognized by the character string recognition unit 3 for a character string that is repeated twice or more. For example, in the case where the character string “Copying machine” is included in five places in the image data, the search unit 4 causes the first “Copying machine” character string to appear in the image data. It is determined whether or not the character string “Copying machine” appears, and it is determined that the character string “Copying machine” has appeared in five places, and the search is terminated, and the image data together with the determination result is output to the conversion unit 6. To do.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the search unit 4 determines that the character strings that are repeated two or more times have different colors and fonts is the same character string. .

(1-4) Count Count Unit The count count unit 5 counts the number of repetitions of the character string repeated in the image data. Hereinafter, the number of repetitions of the same character string in the image data is referred to as “appearance count”. For example, as described above, when the retrieval unit 4 retrieves that the character string “copy machine” appears five times in the image data, the number counting unit 5 sets the number of appearances of the character string “copy machine” to “ 5 ”. Then, the number counting unit 5 counts the number of appearances for each repeated character string. The number counting unit 5 outputs the counted number of appearances of each character string to the conversion unit 6.

(1-5) Conversion unit The conversion unit 6 is a case where there is a character string repeated twice or more in the image data as a result of the search by the search unit 4, and the number of appearances of this character string is a predetermined number of times or more. If it is, the character string is converted into a character string having a smaller number of characters. The conversion unit 6 stores the converted image data in the storage unit 7 and further outputs the image data to the image forming unit 8 when copying or the like is instructed.

  For example, when the predetermined number of times is “3”, the number of appearances counted by the number counting unit 5 exceeds the number of appearances as described above. Convert to “(10)”.

  Further, when the search unit 4 searches for the character string that appears repeatedly in the converted image data, the conversion unit 6 converts the character string into a shorter character string. Then, the conversion unit 6 continues such conversion processing until a character string that appears repeatedly is no longer searched in the image data.

  Then, the conversion unit 6 records the converted image data in a conversion content table 7a in the storage unit 7 to be described later. In the case of the above example, the fact that the character string “copy machine” has been converted to the character “(10)” is written into the conversion content table 7a.

(1-6) Storage Unit The storage unit 7 stores a conversion content table 7a in which the content converted by the conversion unit 6 is written. As shown in FIG. 2, the conversion content table 7a stores a character string before conversion and a character after conversion as one record. For example, the character string “(2)” after conversion is stored in association with the character string “setting” before conversion.

  The storage unit 7 has a hard disk drive (HDD) for storing image data. The HDD stores image data read and acquired by the document reading unit 2.

  The multifunction machine 1 includes a control unit configured by a microcomputer including a CPU, and the storage unit 7 has a control program for controlling input / output units such as the document reading unit 2 and the image forming unit 8. In addition, an image processing program for realizing the control unit as the character string recognition unit 3, the search unit 4, the number counting unit 5, and the conversion unit 8 is stored.

(1-7) Image Forming Unit The image forming unit 8 is for forming an image on a sheet stored in a sheet feeding cassette (not shown). The image forming unit 8 is provided around a photosensitive drum (not shown) and the periphery of the photosensitive drum. It has a main charging device, an exposure device, a developing device, a transfer device, a cleaning device, and the like. When the image forming unit 8 acquires the image data subjected to the conversion process in the conversion unit 6, the image forming unit 8 reads the conversion content from the conversion content table 7 a stored in the storage unit 7, and based on the acquired converted image data. In addition to printing on the paper, based on the read conversion content, the character string before conversion is converted into a post-conversion character string as shown, for example, in the column “<character string corresponding to each number>” in FIG. Output in association with characters.

  The multi-function device 1 also feeds paper stored in a paper feed cassette or the like to the image forming unit 8 and discharges paper discharged from the image forming unit 8. A paper portion (both not shown) is further provided.

(2) Operation The operation of the multifunction machine 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the multifunction machine 1. 4 to 7 are examples of image data in each operation of FIG. Here, a case where the predetermined number of times is “3” will be described as an example.

  Step S1: When a document to be copied is placed on the document placing table of the multifunction machine 1 and copying is instructed, the document reading unit 2 reads the image information of the document to obtain image data, and the character It is output to the column recognition unit 3. Here, description will be made assuming that image data as shown in FIG. 4 has been acquired.

  Step S2: When the character string recognition unit 3 acquires the image data from the document reading unit 2, the character string recognition unit 3 determines whether there is a character string in the image data.

  Step S3: In step S2, when the character string recognition unit 3 recognizes a character string from the image data, the search unit 4 searches for a character string that appears repeatedly among the character strings in the image data. The number counting unit 5 counts the number of appearances of the character string searched by the searching unit 4.

  Step S4: The conversion unit 6 determines whether or not the number of appearances of the searched character string is equal to or greater than the predetermined number “3” based on the search result of the search unit 4 and the number of appearances of the number counting unit 5. .

  Step S5: When it is determined in step S4 that the number of appearances of the searched character string is equal to or greater than the predetermined number “3”, the conversion unit 6 converts this character string into a shorter character string.

  Step S6: The conversion unit 6 records the conversion content in the conversion content table 7a of the storage unit 7.

  Step S7: The search unit 4 searches whether there is a repeated character string including the converted second character string in the image data that has undergone the conversion process in step S5. When the search is completed, the process returns to step S4. If there are more than three character strings that appear repeatedly, the process proceeds to step S5, and if there are less than two times, the process proceeds to step S8. In this way, the MFP 1 repeats the processes of steps S4 to S7 until no character string appearing three or more times is searched.

  Step S8: If it is determined that the number of appearances of the character string repeatedly appearing in Step S4 is 2 or less, if conversion processing is performed in Step S7, the conversion contents table 7a in the storage unit 7 reads “Before conversion”. ”And“ character after conversion ”are read out and output to the paper in the image forming unit 8 (an example of image data output here is shown in FIG. 7), and once in step S7. If the conversion process is not performed, the image data read in step S1 is output as it is.

  Step S9: When the character string is not recognized by the character string recognition unit 3 in step S2, the image forming unit 8 outputs the image data read in step S1 as it is. That is, FIG. 4 shows an example of the image data output here.

(3) Effect According to this multifunction device 1, if there is a character string that repeatedly appears in the document, it is converted into a shorter character string and output, so that it is easy to see and understand the contents on the output paper. Become.

  Further, according to the multifunction device 1, since the character string whose number of appearances in the image data is equal to or more than the predetermined number is to be converted, the character string that appears frequently in the document can be shortened to obtain an easy-to-read printed matter. Can do.

  Furthermore, according to the multifunction device 1, since the character string before conversion and the character after conversion are output in association with each other, it is known which character string before conversion corresponds to the expression after conversion. be able to.

  In the present embodiment, a condition for converting a character string whose number of appearances in the image data is a predetermined number or more is provided, but this condition may not be provided. In this case, the conversion unit 6 sets all character strings having the appearance count of 2 or more as conversion targets.

Second Embodiment
(1) Configuration Next, the configuration of the multifunction peripheral 101 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of the multifunction peripheral 101 according to the second embodiment. 8 includes a character count unit 109 in addition to the configuration of the MFP 1 according to the first embodiment. That is, the multifunction machine 101 includes an image processing unit 110 including a document reading unit 102, a character string recognition unit 103, a search unit 104, a number counting unit 105, a conversion unit 106, a storage unit 107, and a character number counting unit 109; Part 108.

  The character count unit 109 counts the number of characters in a character string that is repeated twice or more in the image data. For example, assume that the search unit 104 searches for a character string “reduction ratio of copying machine” that is repeated in image data. The character count unit 109 counts the number of characters in the character string “copier reduction ratio”, and outputs the counted result “7” to the conversion unit 106.

  Since the configuration other than the character count unit 109 is the same as that of the multifunction device 1 of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

(2) Operation Next, the operation of the multifunction machine 101 of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of the multifunction machine 101 according to the second embodiment. The operation of the MFP 101 according to the present embodiment is performed by processing by the character count unit 109 in addition to the operation of the MFP 1 according to the first embodiment. Here, a brief description will be given focusing on processing different from the operation of the multifunction device 1 of the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the operation when the conversion target is all character strings appearing two or more times in the image data without providing the predetermined number of times will be described.

  When the document reading unit 102 reads the document and acquires image data (S101), the character string recognition unit 103 recognizes a character string from the image data (S102). The search unit 104 searches for a character string that has been repeated twice or more from within the recognized character string (S103). If there is a character string that has been repeated twice or more as a result of the search, the character count unit 109 counts the number of characters in the character string hit as a result of the search, and outputs it to the conversion unit 106. Here, it is assumed that the conversion unit 106 stores a predetermined number of characters “3”. When the number of characters acquired from the character count unit 109 satisfies the predetermined number of characters “3” (S104), the conversion unit 106 converts the character string into a shorter character string (S105 to 107). If the acquired number of characters is less than the predetermined number of characters “3”, the conversion unit 106 outputs the character string without conversion (S108).

(3) Effect According to the multifunction peripheral 101 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to obtain an easy-to-read printed matter in which such a character string is shortened and output from an original in which a complicated character string is repeatedly generated with a large number of characters.

<Other examples>
(A)
As shown in FIG. 7, the image forming unit 8 in the MFP 1 of the first embodiment outputs “character string before conversion” and “character after conversion” in association with the lower part of the converted image data. However, as long as the character string before conversion and the character string after conversion are output in association with each other, another output form may be used. FIG. 10 shows another example of image data output after conversion. In FIG. 10, a character string before conversion is output in association with a character string immediately after the first character among the converted characters in the image data.

(B)
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, information in which a character string before conversion is associated with a character string after conversion is output, but this information may not be output. That is, the image processing apparatus only needs to output at least the converted image data. For example, if the original character string is personal information or the like by converting the character string included in the document into a character string shortened to an extent that cannot be estimated and outputting only the converted image data, Such information can be protected.

(C)
The output of the converted image data is output from a display unit (for example, a display screen of an operation panel) provided in the image forming apparatus instead of image formation on a sheet by the image forming unit as in the first and second embodiments. It may be done by displaying on the screen. The present invention can also be applied to an image processing apparatus that does not include an image forming unit (corresponding to the image processing unit of the above-described embodiment).

(D)
The image processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus of the present invention may be a printer that does not have a scanner function. In this case, for example, when connected to an external PC, character string conversion processing may be performed on image data sent from the PC in the same manner as in the above embodiment. In this case, for example, image data sent from the PC is stored in the HDD of the storage unit.

  The image processing apparatus of the present invention may be an information processing apparatus such as a PC or an office computer. In this case, the image processing apparatus performs, for example, the same processing as described in the above embodiment on the document data created by itself, and applies the document data subjected to such processing to itself. Displayed on a display means such as a display provided, or stored in a storage means such as a memory of the apparatus itself, and accessed from other information processing apparatus etc. via its own display means or a network Or can be displayed on a display means included in the other information processing apparatus.

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral having functions as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile apparatus, and a scanner apparatus, an information processing apparatus such as a PC or an office computer, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc. It can be applied to the image processing apparatus.

1 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. A conversion content table stored in the storage unit. 3 is an operation flowchart of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an example of image data in each operation of FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is an example of image data in each operation of FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is an example of image data in each operation of FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is an example of image data in each operation of FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment. 10 is an operation flowchart of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment. The example of the image data output in the other Example A.

Explanation of symbols

1, 101 MFP 2, 102 Document reading unit 3, 103 Character string recognition unit 4, 104 Retrieval unit 5, 105 Count counting unit 6, 106 Conversion unit 7, 107 Storage unit 7a, 107a Conversion content table 8, 108 Image formation Units 10, 110 Image processing unit

Claims (9)

An image processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on image data,
Character string recognition means for recognizing a character string included in the image data;
Search means for searching for a first character string repeated twice or more from the character string in the image data recognized by the character string recognition means;
Conversion means for converting the first character string to a second character string shorter than the first character string when the first character string is searched by the search means;
An image processing apparatus. A number of times counting means for counting the number of times the first character string is repeated;
The converting means converts a character string counted a predetermined number of times or more by the number-of-times counting means in the first character string to the second character string.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. A character number counting means for counting the number of characters of the first character string;
The converting means converts, from the first character string, a character string whose number of characters counted by the character number counting means is a predetermined number or more to the second character string.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. The search means further searches for a third character string that is repeated twice or more in the image data including the second character string,
The converting means further converts the third character string into a fourth character string shorter than the third character string when the third character string is further searched by the searching means.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The image according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising output means capable of outputting image data converted by the conversion means in association with the second character string and the first character string. Processing equipment.   6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an original reading unit for reading the original and acquiring the image data. An image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Image forming means capable of forming an image on a transfer material based on the image data converted from the first character string to the second character string by the converting means of the image processing apparatus;
An image forming apparatus. An image processing program executed in a computer of an image processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on image data,
The computer,
Character string recognition means for recognizing a character string included in the image data;
Search means for searching for a first character string repeated twice or more from the character string in the image data recognized by the character string recognition means;
Conversion means for converting the first character string to a second character string shorter than the first character string when the first character string is searched by the search means;
An image processing program that makes it function. An image processing method for performing predetermined processing on image data,
A character string recognition step for recognizing a character string included in the image data;
A search step of searching for a first character string that is repeated twice or more from the character string in the image data recognized in the character string recognition step;
A conversion step of converting the first character string into a second character string shorter than the first character string when the first character string is searched in the search step;
An image processing method including:

Images