JP2008305088A - Document processor, document processing method, and document processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently generate browsing navigation information according to a content region included in a document image, and to efficiently generate browsing navigation information according to the characteristics of a display means for displaying the document image in generating an electronic document including the document image. <P>SOLUTION: A bookmark data generation part classifies a whole content region into at least one group (step S114), and evaluates the degree of adaptation as the bookmark of each group on the basis of the position of the content region belonging to each of those classified groups in a document image (step S116). A bookmark generation part 17 selects at least one group as the generation object of the bookmark data from among the most significant evaluation results on the basis of the evaluation result (step S118), and generates the bookmark data showing the position of the content region belonging to the group selected as mentioned above in the document image on the basis of the attribute information about the content region belonging to the group (step S122). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus, a document processing method, and a document processing program that handle an electronic document including a document image, and more particularly to a technique for generating browsing navigation information for a content area included in a document image.

  From the viewpoint of resource saving and space saving, a document management system that converts and manages a document described on a paper manuscript or the like into an electronic document has been put into practical use. In such a document management system, a document image is generated by reading a document using a scanner device or the like, and an electronic document is generated from these document images.

  Since such a document image stores the document as an image (image) that is a set of pixels, data (typically, text data, etc.) for specifying contents such as character strings and charts included in the original document Does not contain. In addition, a document described on a paper manuscript or the like is not necessarily designed so that it can be used electronically. Therefore, when browsing an electronic document by using browsing software (viewer) on a computer that cannot display all document images at once, the user needs to perform scrolling (display screen switching) in an exploratory manner. There was a lot of work.

  Application software that allows users to interactively set browsing navigation information (typically "bookmarks" or "electronic bookmarks") to places of note on document images for such electronic documents is practical. It has become. By setting such a bookmark in a place to be noticed in advance, the user can quickly browse the place to be noticed without performing exploratory scrolling.

Here, setting a bookmark interactively while checking a document image is a very time-consuming work, and it is actually applied when generating an electronic document from a large number of paper originals. Not right. In view of this, for example, a technique for extracting and recognizing a necessary partial area from a document image as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-134406 (Patent Document 1) is used to search for a place where a bookmark should be set. Supporting the work can also be considered.
JP 09-134406 A

  However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-134406 (Patent Document 1) does not disclose a configuration for setting a bookmark, and there is still work for a user to set a bookmark interactively even if such a recognition technique is used. . For this reason, when generating an electronic document from a large number of paper originals, it has been difficult to efficiently set bookmarks at points to be noted.

  Further, when an attempt is made to browse a digitized document in which bookmarks are set in advance, if the page area of the original document and the area (size) displayed as the browsing software are greatly different, there is no bookmark in the display area. There is a problem that a state in which the display area is not included or a state in which a large number of bookmarks are included in the display area occurs, and the efficiency of the user viewing the digitized document is reduced.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a first object of the present invention is to generate an electronic document including a document image in accordance with the content area included in the document image. It is to provide a document processing apparatus, a document processing method, and a document processing program that can generate browsing navigation information. A second object of the present invention is to provide a document processing apparatus and document processing for generating efficient browsing navigation information according to the characteristics of display means for displaying a document image when displaying an electronic document including the document image. A method and document processing program are provided.

  According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing apparatus that generates an electronic document including a document image, and includes an acquisition unit that extracts at least one content area from the document image and acquires attribute information about the content area. The attribute information includes position information indicating the position of the content area in the document image, and further includes information generation means for generating browsing navigation information for specifying the position of the content area in the document image. The information generation means classifies at least one content area into at least one group based on the attribute information, and classifies each group based on the position of the content area belonging to each group in the document image. Evaluation means for evaluation, and selection means for selecting a group for generating browsing navigation information from at least one group based on an evaluation result by the evaluation means.

  Preferably, an image reading unit that generates a document image by reading a document and a document generation unit that generates a digitized document by adding browsing navigation information to the document image are further provided.

  Preferably, the document image is divided in units of pages, and the evaluation unit evaluates each group based on the number of appearances of the content area belonging to each group for each page.

  More preferably, the evaluation unit gives a relatively high evaluation to a group in which the content region to which the user belongs appears on more pages, and the selection unit selects a group given a relatively high evaluation.

  More preferably, the evaluation means further compares the group whose maximum number of appearances per page of the content area to which it belongs is within a predetermined range with a group whose maximum number of appearances is outside the predetermined range. Give a relatively high rating.

  Preferably, when the selection unit selects a plurality of groups, the information generation unit determines a dependency relationship between the groups based on the position of the content area included in the plurality of groups in the document image. Means are further included.

  Preferably, the content area includes at least one of a character string, a paragraph, a figure, a table, and a photograph.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing method for generating an electronic document including a document image, comprising: extracting at least one content area from the document image and acquiring attribute information about the content area. The attribute information includes position information indicating the position of the content area in the document image, and further includes a step of generating browsing navigation information for specifying the position of the content area in the document image. The step of acquiring the attribute information includes a step of classifying at least one content area into at least one group based on the attribute information, and a position of the group based on the position of the content area belonging to each group in the document image. And a step of evaluating each, and a step of selecting a group for which browsing navigation information is to be generated from at least one group based on an evaluation result of the step of evaluating.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing program for causing a computer to execute the above document processing method.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing apparatus for processing an electronic document including a document image, the electronic document being associated with a content area included in the document image and belonging to the content area Information generating means for generating browsing navigation information for specifying the position of the content area in the document image, including attribute information in which the type of the group to be performed and the position of the content area in the document image are defined Display means for displaying a document image together with browsing navigation information. The information generation means includes display characteristic acquisition means for acquiring display characteristics of the display means, area setting means for setting at least one browsing page area according to the display characteristics of the display means, and browsing of content areas belonging to each group An evaluation unit that evaluates each of the groups based on the number of appearances per page, and a selection unit that selects a group for which browsing navigation information is to be generated from at least one group based on an evaluation result by the evaluation unit; including.

  Preferably, the evaluation unit gives a relatively high evaluation to a group in which the content region to which the user belongs appears in more browsing pages, and the selection unit selects a group given a relatively high evaluation.

  More preferably, the evaluation means is relative to a group in which the maximum number of appearances per viewing page of the content area to which the user belongs is within a predetermined range compared to a group in which the maximum number of appearances is outside the predetermined range. Highly evaluated.

  Preferably, the information generation means further includes an addition means for adding information for specifying the page to the browsing page in which the content area does not appear as the browsing navigation information.

  Preferably, when the selection unit selects a plurality of groups, the information generation unit determines a dependency relationship between the groups based on the position of the content area included in the plurality of groups in the document image. Means are further included.

Preferably, the evaluation unit changes a reference for evaluation according to a browsing environment.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing method for processing an electronic document including a document image, the electronic document being associated with the content area included in the document image and belonging to the content area Generating browsing navigation information for specifying the position of the content area in the document image, including attribute information that defines the type of group to be performed and the position of the content area in the document image; And displaying the document image on the display unit together with the navigation information. The steps of generating browsing navigation information include: acquiring display characteristics of the display unit; setting at least one browsing page area according to the display characteristics of the display unit; and browsing content areas belonging to each group Select a group for generating browsing navigation information from at least one group based on the evaluation result of the step of evaluating each group based on the number of appearances per page and the step of evaluating each group Selecting step.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document processing program for causing a computer to execute the above document processing method.

  According to the present invention, when an electronic document including a document image is generated, browsing navigation information can be efficiently generated according to the content area included in the document image. Further, according to the present invention, when an electronic document including a document image is displayed, efficient browsing navigation information can be generated according to the characteristics of the display means for displaying the document image.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the same or corresponding parts in the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will not be repeated.

[Embodiment 1]
(Overall system configuration)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system including a document processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) equipped with the document processing apparatus according to the present invention will be typically described. The document processing apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to an MFP, and can be applied to a copying machine, a facsimile apparatus, a scanner apparatus, and the like.

  Referring to FIG. 1, MFP 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to include an image reading unit 104 for reading a document 300 and a printing unit 106 for performing a printing process on a paper medium or the like.

  In particular, MFP 1 according to the present embodiment obtains a document image by reading document 300 by image reading unit 104 and generates an electronic document 400 including the document image. Typically, the electronic document 400 can employ a format such as PDF (Portable Document Format). At this time, the MFP 1 extracts at least one content area from the document image, acquires attribute information for each content area, and specifies a position in the document image with respect to a specific content area among the extracted content areas. Browsing navigation information to generate.

  In this specification, a “content area” is an information resource included in a document, and is, for example, a content element (content) such as a character string, paragraph, figure, table, or photograph. Further, in this specification, “browsing navigation information” is information for supporting browsing of a document image included in an electronic document by a user, and more specifically, a content area included in the document image. This is information for specifying a position where a predetermined one exists. Such browsing navigation information includes "bookmark", "annotation", "thread", "link", etc. as an example, and in addition to information for specifying the position of the content area, the corresponding content An area thumbnail (reduced image) or the like may be included. In the present embodiment, a configuration using “bookmark” as a representative example of “browsing navigation information” will be described.

  The MFP 1 stores the generated electronic document 400 in its own storage unit (not shown), or personal computers PC1, PC2, and PC3 (hereinafter also collectively referred to as “personal computer PC”) and a portable terminal MT via a network. Or send to. As a typical usage mode, the personal computer PC1 and PC2 connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) that is a network laid in the same office where the MFP 1 is installed are transferred from the MFP 1 to an electronic document. 400 is sent directly. On the other hand, a server SRV is provided at a connection point between a LAN and a WAN (Wide Area Network). A personal computer PC3 or the like located in an office remote from the MFP 1 is connected from the MFP 1 via the server SRV. An electronic document 400 is transmitted. Further, the electronic document 400 is transmitted from the MFP 1 to the mobile terminal MT via a WAN, a public mobile phone network, a wireless network line (not shown) such as a wireless LAN. Here, the server SRV typically includes a mail server, an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, a Web server, an SMB server, and the like.

  The image reading unit 104 includes a loading table for setting a document, a document table glass, a conveyance unit that automatically conveys the documents set on the loading table one by one to the document table glass, and a scanned document. And a discharge stand for discharging (both not shown). As a result, a plurality of documents can be continuously read and generated as one electronic document 400.

(Schematic configuration of MFP)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration in MFP 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 2, MFP 1 includes a control unit 100, a memory unit 102, an image reading unit 104, a printing unit 106, a communication interface unit 108, and a data storage unit 110.

  The control unit 100 is typically configured by an arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and implements document processing according to the present embodiment by executing a program. The memory unit 102 is typically a volatile storage device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and holds a program executed by the control unit 100 and data necessary for executing the program. The communication interface unit 108 is typically a part for transmitting and receiving data to and from the personal computer PC (FIG. 1) and the portable terminal MT via a network (for example, the LAN shown in FIG. 1). Includes a LAN adapter and driver software for controlling it. The print unit 106 is a part for performing print processing, and includes a control device for controlling the operation of each unit in addition to the hardware configuration related to print processing. The data storage unit 110 is typically a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk device or a flash memory, and stores the electronic document 400 generated by the control unit 100.

(Configuration of personal computer)
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the personal computer PC according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 3, personal computer PC temporarily stores a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 that executes various programs including an operating system (OS) and data necessary for the CPU 201 to execute the program. A memory unit 213 that stores data and a hard disk unit (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) 211 that stores programs executed by the CPU 201 in a nonvolatile manner are included. The hard disk unit 211 stores a browsing application for displaying an electronic document generated by the MFP 1, and such a program is stored in the flexible disk 217 a by the FDD drive 217 or the CD-ROM drive 215, respectively. Alternatively, it is read from a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) 215a or the like.

  The CPU 201 receives an instruction from the user via the input unit 209 including a keyboard and a mouse, and outputs a screen output generated by executing the program to the display unit 205. Further, the CPU 201 acquires a digitized document from the MFP 1 or server SRV (FIG. 1) connected to the LAN or WAN via the communication interface unit 207 including a LAN card and stores the digitized document in the hard disk unit 211 or the like. Further, the above-described units exchange data with each other via the internal bus 203.

  Since mobile terminal MT is substantially equivalent to the mobile terminal MT with FDD drive 217 and CD-ROM drive 215 removed in FIG. 3, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

(Display screen of digitized document on personal computer PC)
When the CPU 201 executes the browsing application stored in the hard disk unit 211, the digitized document is displayed on the display unit 205 in the form as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 schematically shows an example of a display screen of an electronic document in personal computer PC according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 4, as an example, a document display area 500 and a browsing navigation information display area 510 are formed on display 205 (FIG. 3). A predetermined range of the document image included in the digitized document is displayed in the document display area 500, and icons 512 and 514 are displayed in the browse navigation information display area 510 based on the browse navigation information included in the digitized document. , 516 are displayed.

  The browsing navigation information includes position information indicating the position of the content area in the document image. If the user selects the icon 512 (typically, a click operation using a mouse or the like not shown), the document is displayed. In the display area 500, the display area of the document image changes (scrolls) so that the bookmark position 502 coincides with a predetermined position in the document display area 500 (typically, the uppermost part of the document display area 500). Similarly, when the user selects icons 514 and 516, the display area of the document image changes so that bookmark positions 504 and 506 are predetermined positions in document display area 500, respectively.

  Further, between the icons 512, 514, and 516, a dependency relationship is defined according to the hierarchical structure of the corresponding content area. That is, FIG. 4 shows an example in which icons 514 and 516 are subordinate to the icon 512. Note that the icons 512, 514, and 516 shown in FIG. 4 do not display characters or the like, but additionally display the type of the corresponding content area (for example, “large headline” and “medium headline”). Alternatively, a reduced image (thumbnail image) of the corresponding content area may be used as an icon.

  Thus, the user can efficiently search for a necessary content area by referring to the bookmark icon associated with a specific content area in the document image.

(Functional configuration of MFP)
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration in MFP 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. These functions are mainly realized by the control unit 100 and the memory unit 102 (FIG. 2) of the MFP 1.

  Referring to FIG. 5, the functional configuration of MFP 1 includes an image reading unit 104, an image preprocessing unit 12, an image buffer unit 13, a compression processing unit 14, a digitized document generation unit 15, and an image analysis unit. 16, a bookmark data generation unit 17, a transmission unit 18, an image processing unit 19, and a printing unit 106.

  The image reading unit 104 reads the document 300 to acquire a document image, and outputs the document image to the image preprocessing unit 12. The image preprocessing unit 12 adjusts the display characteristics of the document image so as to be suitable mainly for display on a personal computer PC or the like. Further, the image preprocessing unit 12 may remove noise included in the document image. Then, the document image subjected to the image processing by the image preprocessing unit 12 is sent to the image buffer unit 13. The image buffer unit 13 is a part for temporarily storing the acquired document image data, and outputs the stored document image to the compression processing unit 14, the image analysis unit 16, and the image processing unit 19. The compression processing unit 14 compresses the document image output from the image buffer unit 13 and outputs the compressed document image to the digitized document generation unit 15. The degree of compression by this compression process may be changed according to the size of the generated electronic document and the required resolution of the document image, and the compression process is irreversible such as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). It may be a conversion. Note that the compression process may be omitted when high resolution is required.

  The image analysis unit 16 extracts a content area from the document image output from the image buffer unit 13 and acquires attribute information about the extracted content area. Here, the attribute information includes, for each content area, the position in the document image, the size of the character included in the area, the color of the character included in the area, the background color of the area, and the like. These pieces of attribute information are sent to the bookmark data generation unit 17. The bookmark data generation unit 17 generates bookmark data for a specific one of the extracted content areas based on the attribute information of the content area output from the image analysis unit 16. Then, the bookmark data generation unit 17 outputs the generated bookmark data to the digitized document generation unit 15.

  The digitized document generation unit 15 generates a digitized document by adding the bookmark data from the bookmark data generation unit 17 to the document image compressed by the compression processing unit 14. Then, the generated electronic document is stored in the data storage unit 110 or output to the transmission unit 18 according to the setting by the user. The transmission unit 18 is realized by the communication interface unit 108, and transmits the digitized document generated by the digitized document generation unit 15 to a personal computer PC (FIG. 1) or the like via a network such as a LAN.

  On the other hand, the image processing unit 19 converts the document image output from the image buffer unit 13 into an image suitable for the printing operation in the printing unit 106 according to a user operation. Typically, a document image defined by an RGB display system is converted into image data of a CMYK display system suitable for color printing. At this time, color adjustment according to the characteristics of the print unit 106 may be performed. The printing unit 106 performs a printing process on a paper medium or the like based on the image data output from the image processing unit 19.

  For the correspondence between each functional block shown in FIG. 5 and the present invention, the image analysis unit 16 corresponds to “acquisition unit”, and the bookmark data generation unit 17 performs “information generation unit”, “classification unit”, “ The image reading unit 104 corresponds to an “image reading unit”, and the digitized document generation unit 15 corresponds to a “document generation unit”.

(Digitized document generation procedure)
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the digitized document generation process according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is realized by the control unit 100 (FIG. 2) reading and executing a program in the memory unit 102 (FIG. 2) and controlling each function shown in FIG. 5.

  Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, first, image reading unit 104 reads document 300 according to a user setting or the like to generate a document image (step S <b> 100). Next, the image preprocessing unit 12 adjusts the generated document image (step S102). The adjusted document image is stored in the image buffer unit 13.

  Subsequently, the compression processing unit 14 compresses the document image stored in the image buffer unit 13 and outputs the compressed document image to the digitized document generation unit 15 (step S104).

  On the other hand, the image analysis unit 16 extracts the content area from the document image stored in the image buffer unit 13 in units of lines (step S106). Then, the image analysis unit 16 sets a browsing path serving as a reference for specifying the position of each content area in the document image in accordance with the content area included in the document image of the first page (step S108). Furthermore, the image analysis unit 16 acquires a position (“distance from the browsing path” and “position on the browsing path”) based on the browsing path of each extracted content area (step S110). At the same time, the image analysis unit 16 acquires representative values of “character size”, “character color”, and “background color” of each extracted content area (step S112). Then, the “distance from the browsing path”, “position on the browsing path”, “size of character”, “character color”, and “background color” of each content area are sent to the bookmark data generation unit 17 as attribute information. Is output.

  Upon receiving this attribute information, the bookmark data generation unit 17 classifies the entire content area into at least one group (step S114). Thereafter, the bookmark data generation unit 17 evaluates the suitability of each group as a bookmark based on the position in the document image of the content area belonging to each classified group (step S116). Based on the evaluation result, the bookmark data generation unit 17 selects at least one group from among the highest evaluation results as a bookmark data generation target (step S118). Further, when a plurality of groups are selected, the bookmark data generation unit 17 determines a dependency relationship between the groups based on the position in the document image of the content area belonging to each selected group (step S120).

  The bookmark data generation unit 17 generates bookmark data indicating the position in the document image of the content area belonging to the group based on the attribute information about the content area belonging to the group selected in this way (step S122). At this time, if a dependency relationship between a plurality of groups is defined, bookmark data including the dependency relationship is generated.

  Subsequently, the digitized document generation unit 15 adds the bookmark data from the bookmark data generation unit 17 to the (compressed) document image from the compression processing unit 14 to generate a digitized document (step S124). ). Then, the digitized document generation process ends.

Hereinafter, detailed processing of each step will be described.
(Content area extraction processing)
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the content region extraction processing in step S106 of FIG.

  FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of a document image 420 generated from the document 300. FIG. 7B illustrates a content area extraction process performed on the document image 420 illustrated in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the result performed. For example, when a three-page document 300 is read by the image reading unit 104 (FIGS. 2 and 5), a document image 420 as shown in FIG. 7A is stored in the image buffer unit 13. This document image 420 includes page areas 421, 422, and 423. In each page area, “title A”, “heading A1”, “heading A1.1”, “content A1.1 is... According to the type, “indent” and “paragraph division” are described.

  The image analysis unit 16 sequentially extracts a rectangular area including a character string in line units from such a document image. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, a plurality of content areas 430 are extracted in each of the page areas 421, 422, and 423 included in the document image 420. For such extraction processing of the content area 430, a known method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-134406 (Patent Document 1) can be used. Here, the type of content area to be extracted can be arbitrarily set in advance. For example, “character string”, “paragraph”, “figure”, “table”, “photograph”, etc. can be extracted. it can. Note that such selection of the type of extraction target can also be realized by using a known technique as described above. 7A and 7B exemplify a configuration for extracting the content area 430 for a horizontally written document, the content area 430 can be similarly extracted for a vertically written document. Is possible. In this case, the image analysis unit 16 regards the vertical direction of the paper as the “row direction” and extracts the content region 430. The distinction between “horizontal document” and “vertical document” can be determined based on the density of content elements in the document. Specifically, in a “horizontal writing document”, content elements are generally concentrated on the left side of the paper, while the density of content elements on the right side of the paper is low. On the other hand, in the “vertically written document”, the content elements are concentrated on the upper side of the paper, while the density of the content elements on the lower side of the paper is low. Based on such uneven distribution of content elements, “horizontal writing original” and “vertical writing original” can be distinguished.

  In the following, description will be made by assigning identification numbers of “row 1” to “row 25” to the content region 430 extracted for convenience, but the image analysis unit 16 does not necessarily need to assign such an identification number. Each content area may be identified (specified) by arranging the areas 430 in the order of appearance (extraction order).

(Browsing path setting process)
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining browsing path setting processing in step S108 of FIG.

  With reference to FIG. 8, the image analysis unit 16 sets a browsing path 440 according to the position of the extracted content area 430. More specifically, the image analysis unit 16 sets a browsing path 440 that is on the start point side of the line of the document image and extends in a direction perpendicular to the line. Then, the start point (reference point) of the browsing path 440 is set on the head side of the line arranged in the document image. That is, the browsing path 440 extends in a direction corresponding to the document description order. Typically, in the case of a “horizontal writing document”, as shown in FIG. 8, a browsing path 440 is set so that the left edge of the paper faces from the top of the paper to the bottom of the paper. The browsing path 440 is set at the same position for each page area included in the document image. Then, the reference point of the browsing path 440 is set at the upper left of the page.

  Alternatively, in the case of “vertical writing document”, a browsing path is set in which the upper end of the sheet is directed from the right side to the left side. In this case, the reference point of the browsing path is set at the upper right of the page. Others are the same as in the case of the “horizontal writing document” described above.

  Here, the browsing path 440 is set to the “starting point side of the line”, and this “starting point side of the line” is determined according to the content area located closest to the starting point in the extracted content area 430. That is, in order to set the viewing path 440, it is necessary to extract the content area 430 included in the document image that is located closest to the starting point. However, when a digitized document is generated by reading a large number of originals with the image reading unit 104 (FIGS. 2 and 5), the number of target originals cannot be known in advance. Therefore, if an attempt is made to set the browsing path 440 after extracting the content area 430 included in all pages, the efficiency may decrease. Therefore, the image analysis unit 16 according to the present embodiment sets the browsing path 440 based on the content area 430 included in the page area 421 of the first page of the document image 420. Specifically, the image analysis unit 16 acquires a region 450 surrounding the content region 430 existing in the page region 421 and sets a browsing path 440 based on the region 450.

(Location acquisition processing)
The distance acquisition process based on the browsing path 440 for each content area in step S110 in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

  With reference to FIG. 8, in this specification, the distance in the row direction between the browsing path 440 and each content area 430 is defined as “distance from the browsing path”, and each content area 430 on the browsing path 440 is defined. The corresponding line position is defined as “position on the browsing path”. For example, the “distance from the browsing path” for the content area 430A is a distance indicated by reference numeral 454, and the “position on the browsing path” is a distance indicated by reference numeral 452. As the “position on the browsing path”, an “absolute value” calculated based on the starting point of the first page and a “relative value” calculated based on the starting point of the corresponding page are used.

  As described above, the image analysis unit 16 calculates “distance from the browsing path”, “position on the browsing path (relative value)”, and “position on the browsing path (relative value)” for each of the extracted content areas 430. get.

(Other attribute information acquisition processing)
The process of obtaining representative values of “character size”, “character color”, and “background color” of each content area in step S112 of FIG. 6 is realized using a known character recognition technique or the like. Image analysis unit 16 according to the present embodiment performs character recognition of each content area and acquires “character size” and “character color”. Here, when each of the content areas includes only a plurality of types of character sizes and character colors, the most frequently used value or an average value of all values can be employed. This process is effective only when the target content area is “character string”.

  Further, the image analysis unit 16 extracts, as an example, the most frequently used color as the “background color” based on the histogram of the pixels constituting each content area.

(Attribute information)
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a specific example of attribute information of each content area acquired from the document image 420 shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 9, the image analysis unit 16 obtains data as described in the data columns 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466 of FIG. 9 for each content area 430 extracted from the document image 420. Output as attribute information. Here, the “TYPE value” stored in the data column 467 in FIG. 9 is not included in the attribute information output by the image analysis unit 16 because it is determined by the bookmark data generation unit 17 described later.

(Classification process into groups)
FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the group classification processing in step S114 of FIG. FIG. 10A shows an example of the classification process based on the distance from the browsing path. FIG. 10B shows an example of classification processing based on character size.

  Referring to FIG. 10A, the bookmark data generation unit 17 (FIG. 5) uses the value of “distance from browsing path” stored in the data column 461 shown in FIG. A frequency distribution (histogram) is calculated for. Then, the bookmark data generation unit 17 classifies the “distance from the browsing path” into at least one section (in this example, the sections 1 to 4 according to the position of the peak appearing in the frequency distribution (the part where the appearance frequency is high). ).

  Similarly, with reference to FIG. 10B, the bookmark data generation unit 17 uses the “character size” value stored in the data column 462 shown in FIG. Calculate the frequency distribution (histogram). Then, the bookmark data generation unit 17 assigns the “character size” to at least one section (in this example, the small section, the middle section, Classify).

  In this way, the bookmark data generation unit 17 classifies each attribute value and integrates these classification results to determine a “TYPE value”. That is, the bookmark data generation unit 17 classifies the entire content area into at least one group (TYPE) according to a branching process according to the classification result of each attribute value. As an example, the bookmark data generation unit 17 classifies the content area whose “distance from the browsing path” is “category 1” and “character size” is “large category” as “TYPE1”, The content area whose “distance from” is “category 2” and whose “character size” is “under classification” can be classified as “TYPE 2”.

  The number of groups is preferably 2 to 8, and when the number of groups becomes too large by performing the classification process as described above, it is desirable to appropriately select the type of attribute value used for group classification.

  The grouping process as described above is a process for grouping content areas that share the same type (for example, “title”, “large headline”, “medium headline”, etc.) appearing in the document. In other words, the content areas that share the same type are considered to have similar “character size” and “distance from the browsing path”, so the attributes approximated as described above. By grouping content areas having information, classification processing according to the type in the document can be realized.

  As a result of such grouping processing, the “TYPE value” stored in the data column 467 of FIG. 9 is determined.

(Evaluation process for fitness as a bookmark and group selection process)
FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the fitness evaluation processing and group selection processing as bookmarks in steps S116 and S118 of FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 11, bookmark data generation unit 17 evaluates the degree of fitness as a bookmark for each group classified by the above-described classification process. Specifically, the bookmark data generation unit 17 evaluates each group based on the number of appearances of the content area belonging to each group for each page. In the present embodiment, as an example, “appearance coverage” and “maximum number of appearances” of each group are used as evaluation indexes.

  Here, the “appearance coverage” is an index indicating how many content areas belonging to each group appear in those pages among all pages constituting the document image. That is, it is an index indicating how much the content area belonging to each group covers the pages constituting the document image. For example, when a page area for 10 pages is included in a document image, if the content area belonging to the group exists in the page area for 5 pages, the coverage is “0.5”. The closer the coverage level is to “1”, the more the content area belonging to the group appears in the entire document image, which is considered appropriate as a bookmark target.

  The “maximum number of appearances” is an index indicating the maximum number of appearances for each page of the content area belonging to each group. That is, this is an index indicating how concentrated the content area belonging to each group is when viewing each page constituting the document image. For example, if the content area belonging to the group on the first page appears “5” times and does not appear at all on the other pages, the maximum number of appearances is “5”. It is considered that it is appropriate to select a group whose maximum appearance number is close to a value appropriate for a bookmark (for example, 1 to 2 times) as a bookmark.

  FIG. 11 shows the results of calculating specific examples of “appearance coverage” and “maximum number of appearances” using the attribute information of each content area shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, the content areas belonging to “TYPE3” and “TYPE4” in FIG. 9 appear on all pages, while the contents belonging to “TYPE1” and “TYPE2” respectively. Some areas do not appear in the area. In this “appearance coverage”, a relatively high evaluation is given to a group in which the content area to which it belongs appears on more pages. More specifically, “TYPE 3” and “TYPE 4” in which the content areas belonging to all pages appear are given “2” points as evaluation points. On the other hand, “TYPE 1” and “TYPE 2” are given “0” points and “1” points as evaluation points, respectively.

  In addition, regarding the “maximum number of appearances”, a group whose maximum number of appearances is within a predetermined range (for example, 1 to 2 times) has a relatively high evaluation compared to a group that is outside the predetermined range. Given. Specifically, “TYPE 1”, “TYPE 2”, and “TYPE 3” whose maximum number of appearances is “1” or “2” times are given “2” points as evaluation points. On the other hand, “TYPE 4” whose maximum number of appearances is “6” is given “0” as an evaluation score.

  Further, the bookmark data generation unit 17 evaluates the total score of the evaluation scores for the “appearance coverage” and the “maximum number of appearances” as the overall fitness, and bookmark data includes at least one group with the highest evaluation score. Select as the generation target. In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, “TYPE 2” and “TYPE 3” are the top two of the total fitness levels, and these are selected as bookmark data generation targets.

  In the above example, the generation target of the bookmark data is selected based on the result of combining the “appearance coverage” and the “maximum number of appearances”, but the generation target of the bookmark data is selected using one of the evaluation results. You may select and you may use another evaluation result. In addition, since groups with very low “appearance coverage” are assumed to be characteristic descriptions, these groups may be generated as bookmarks.

(Process to determine the dependency between groups)
FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the process of determining the dependency between groups in step S120 of FIG. FIG. 12A shows a state where the bookmark data generation target is simply selected. FIG. 12B shows a state after determining the dependency relationship between the groups.

  The bookmark data generation unit 17 determines a dependency relationship between groups when there are a plurality of groups selected as bookmark data generation targets by the selection process described above. This dependency relationship is determined so as to reflect the hierarchical structure of the description of the manuscript (for example, the relationship between “large heading” and “medium heading”).

  Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 12A, the bookmark data generation unit 17 includes contents belonging to a group selected as a bookmark data generation target (“TYPE 2” and “TYPE 2” in the example of FIG. 12). The positions on the browsing path 440 of the areas are compared with each other. Then, the bookmark data generation unit 17 extracts content areas (bookmarks) of different groups that are close to each other on the browsing path 440.

  Then, the bookmark data generation unit 17 compares bookmarks belonging to such different groups, and determines which bookmark is closer to the reference position on the browsing path 440. In the example shown in FIG. 12A, the bookmark belonging to “TYPE2” is closer to the reference position than the bookmark belonging to “TYPE3” (appears first on the browsing path 440). It is determined that the bookmark belonging to “” is subordinate to the bookmark belonging to “TYPE 2”. That is, the bookmark data generation unit 17 determines that the bookmark belonging to “TYPE2” is “main” and the bookmark belonging to “TYPE3” is “subordinate”.

  By such a procedure, the bookmark data generation unit 17 determines the dependency relationship between groups.

(Booklet data and digitized document generation process)
Based on the information obtained by the processing as described above, the bookmark data generation unit 17 generates bookmark data indicating the position of the selected content area in the document image. Further, the digitized document 400 is generated by adding the bookmark data generated by the bookmark data generator 17 to the document image by the digitized document generator 15.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the digitized document 400 generated by the digitized document generation unit 15.

  Referring to FIG. 13, the digitized document 400 includes a header part 402, a document image part 404, a bookmark data part 406, and a footer part 408. The header part 402 and the footer part 408 store information about the attributes of the digitized document 400, such as creation date / time / creator / copyright information. A document image corresponding to each page is stored in the document image unit 404. The document image may be stored in a compressed state as described above. In the bookmark data unit 406, the bookmark data generated by the bookmark data generation unit 17 is stored.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the bookmark data unit 406.
Referring to FIG. 14, bookmark data portion 406 stores position information indicating the position of the content area of the selected group in the document image. For example, “page 1, (10, 12)”, which is position information stored as “bookmark 1”, has a target content area “page 1” of the document image, and “distance from browsing path”. Is “10” and “position on the browsing path” is “12”. Further, the bookmark data unit 406 defines a dependency relationship between bookmarks. For example, “bookmark 1” defines that “bookmark 4” and “bookmark 5” are subordinate to “bookmark 1”. .

  Through the processing as described above, bookmark data can be efficiently generated according to the content area included in the document image.

  According to the first embodiment of the present invention, when an electronic document including a document image is generated by reading an original, browsing navigation information such as a bookmark is efficiently generated according to the content area included in the document image. it can.

(Modification)
In the above description, the case where the present invention is applied to a one-column document is illustrated, but the present invention can also be applied to a plurality of documents.

FIG. 15 is a diagram schematically showing processing according to the modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 15, as an example, when the present invention is applied to a two-column digitized document 400A, browsing paths 440A and 440B are set corresponding to each column. Here, the browsing paths 440A and 440B are set in association with the areas 450A and 450B set based on the result of the content area extraction processing in the digitized document 400A. That is, each of the content areas existing in the area 450A is defined with a “distance from the browsing path” (reference 454A) and a “position on the browsing path” (reference 452A) with the browsing path 440A. Each of the content areas existing in is defined with a “distance from the browsing path” and a “position on the browsing path” with the browsing path 440B.

  Since the following processing is the same as the processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention described above, detailed description will not be repeated.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment of the present invention, the configuration in which the MFP 1 generates an electronic document to which bookmark data has been added in advance has been exemplified. Such an electronic document is suitable for a personal computer or the like that can display one page of a document image contained therein at a time. However, especially in a portable terminal or the like, there are many cases where one page of a document image can be displayed at a time because the size of the display (display area) is limited. For this reason, a bookmark added in advance may not be included in the display area at all. Therefore, Embodiment 2 of the present invention exemplifies a configuration that dynamically generates bookmarks according to the browsing environment of an electronic document.

  The system according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as the system shown in FIG. 1, and MFP 1 # transmits an electronic document to portable terminal MT or personal computer PC (hereinafter also collectively referred to as “client terminal”). Each destination device dynamically generates bookmark data.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram schematically showing a display area in portable terminal MT according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 16, if the document display area 500 (display size) of the portable terminal MT is smaller than the page area 421 of the document image included in the digitized document, the range that the user can view at one time is The result is limited to a part of the document image. For this reason, in the present embodiment, apart from the page unit of the document image, a browsing page area is set based on the size of the display area of the mobile terminal MT or the like, and bookmark data is generated in units of the browsing page area.

  Particularly, in the second embodiment of the present invention, a configuration in which an electronic document attached with a program for causing a client terminal installed with a general-purpose browsing application to function as a document processing apparatus according to the present invention is transmitted. explain. More specifically, a general-purpose browsing application (typically “Reader” of Adobe Systems Inc. in San Jose, California, USA) includes an execution environment of a predetermined script language (typically JavaScript (registered trademark)). Modules can be included. Therefore, by attaching a script format program to the digitized document, the processing of the digitized document according to the present invention can be realized in a general client terminal in which such a browsing application is installed.

(MFP configuration)
Configuration in MFP 1 # according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as that in FIG. 2, and therefore detailed description will not be repeated.

  FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration in MFP 1 # according to the second embodiment of the present invention. These functions are mainly realized by the control unit 100 and the memory unit 102 (FIG. 2) of the MFP 1.

  Referring to FIG. 17, MFP 1 # has an electronic document generation unit 15 in place of electronic document generation unit 15 and bookmark data generation unit 17 in the functional configuration of MFP 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. # And line attribute information generation unit 20 are provided, and a client program storage unit 21 is further added.

  The line attribute information generation unit 20 classifies the entire content region into at least one group based on the content region attribute information output from the image analysis unit 16. Then, the row attribute information generation unit 20 associates with each extracted content area, and includes a “TYPE value” indicating at least a group and a “position on the browsing path” indicating the position of the corresponding content area. The attribute information is output to the digitized document generation unit 15 #.

  The client program storage unit 21 stores a client program that is sent in addition to an electronic document. This client program is for causing a portable terminal MT or a personal computer PC in which a general-purpose browsing application is installed to function as a document processing apparatus according to the present invention. The digitized document generation unit 15 # adds the line attribute information from the line attribute information generation unit 20 and the client program from the client program storage unit 21 to the document image compressed by the compression processing unit 14, thereby generating an electronic document. Generated document 400 #.

  Other functional blocks are the same as the corresponding functional blocks in FIG. 5 described above, and thus detailed description will not be repeated.

  FIG. 18 shows an exemplary data structure of digitized document 400 # generated by MFP 1 # according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 18, an electronic document 400 # is obtained by arranging line attribute information 410 in place of the bookmark data portion 406 and adding a client program 409 in the electronic document 400 shown in FIG.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a specific example of the data structure of the row attribute information 410 shown in FIG.
Referring to FIG. 19, row attribute information 410 according to the present embodiment stores the data stored in data columns 467 and 466 among the attribute information according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. The That is, the line attribute information 410 stores a “TYPE value” indicating a group of content areas included in the document image and a corresponding “position on browsing path (absolute value)”. In this way, the row attribute information 410 need only store data that is the basis for generating bookmark data.

(Digitized document generation procedure)
FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the digitized document generation process according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 20 is implemented by the control unit 100 of the MFP 1 # reading out the program to the memory unit 102 and executing the functions shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIGS. 17 and 20, first, the image reading unit 104 reads the document 300 according to user settings and the like to generate a document image (step S <b> 200). Next, the image preprocessing unit 12 adjusts the generated document image (step S202). The adjusted document image is stored in the image buffer unit 13.

  Subsequently, the compression processing unit 14 compresses the document image stored in the image buffer unit 13 and outputs the compressed document image to the digitized document generation unit 15 (step S204).

  On the other hand, the image analysis unit 16 extracts the content area from the document image stored in the image buffer unit 13 line by line (step S206). Then, the image analysis unit 16 sets a browsing path serving as a reference for specifying the position of each content area in the document image according to the content area included in the document image of the first page (step S208). Further, the image analysis unit 16 acquires a position (“distance from the browsing path” and “position on the browsing path”) based on the browsing path of each extracted content area (step S210). At the same time, the image analysis unit 16 acquires representative values of “character size”, “character color”, and “background color” of each extracted content area (step S212). Then, the “distance from the browsing path”, “position on the browsing path”, “size of character”, “character color”, and “background color” of each content area are set as attribute information in the row attribute information generation unit 20. Is output.

  Receiving this attribute information, the row attribute information generation unit 20 classifies the entire content area into at least one group (step S214). Then, the row attribute information generation unit 20 associates each content area with a “TYPE value” indicating the group to which the line attribute information belongs, and a “browsing path position (absolute value)” indicating the position of the corresponding content area. The stored row attribute information 410 is generated (step S216).

  Subsequently, the digitized document generation unit 15 # adds the line attribute information 410 from the line attribute information generation unit 20 and the client program from the client program storage unit 21 to the (compressed) document image from the compression processing unit 14. By adding, an electronic document is generated (step S218). Then, the digitized document generation process ends.

  Since detailed processing of each step is the same as that of the first embodiment of the present invention described above, detailed description will not be repeated.

(Configuration of client terminal)
Since the general hardware configuration of personal computer PC and mobile terminal MT which are client terminals is the same as that of FIG. 3, detailed description will not be repeated.

  FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration in the client terminal according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 21A shows a functional configuration in the mobile terminal MT, and FIG. 21B shows a functional configuration in the personal computer PC. Note that these functions are realized by the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 3 executing a program stored in the memory unit 213.

  With reference to FIG. 21A, the functional configuration of the mobile terminal MT includes a receiving unit 40, a browsing application 41, a display unit 42, a client program execution environment 43, and a device information storage unit 44.

  The receiving unit 40 is typically realized by the communication interface unit 108 (FIG. 2), receives the digitized document 400 # transmitted from the MFP 1 #, and passes it to the browsing application 41. The browsing application 41 is realized by developing a program code stored in the hard disk unit 211 (FIG. 2) in the memory unit 213 (FIG. 2) and executing it by the CPU 201 (FIG. 2). The browsing application 41 generates display data of the document image included in the digitized document 400 # and outputs it to the display unit 42. In parallel, the browsing application 41 extracts the attached information and the attached program included in the digitized document 400 # and passes them to the client program execution environment 43.

  The client program execution environment 43 generates bookmark data based on the line attribute information of the digitized document 400 # by executing the attached program passed from the browsing application 41, and displays the bookmark data together with the document image. 42. Here, the client program executed in the client program execution environment 43 acquires the device attributes and the display characteristics (typically, the size of the display area) of the display unit 42 from the device information storage unit 44, and includes these information. In response, bookmark data is dynamically generated. Here, the device information storage unit 44 is a part that stores device attributes of the mobile terminal MT in advance.

  As described above, the browsing application 41 and the client program execution environment 43 cooperate to realize bookmark data generation processing and display processing according to the present invention. The function sharing between the browsing application 41 and the client program execution environment 43 can be designed as appropriate.

  Referring to FIG. 21B, the functional configuration of the personal computer PC includes a receiving unit 50, a browsing application 51, a display unit 52, a client program execution environment 53, a device information storage unit 54, a GUI ( Graphical User Interface) section 55. The receiving unit 50, the browsing application 51, the display unit 52, the client program execution environment 53, and the device information storage unit 54 are the receiving unit 40, the browsing application 41, the display unit 42, and the display unit 42, respectively. Since it is similar to client program execution environment 43 and device information storage unit 44, detailed description will not be repeated.

  Here, personal computer PC according to the present embodiment typically includes an operating system (OS) that can simultaneously execute a plurality of applications, and display unit 52 generates a plurality of applications. Appears. The GUI unit 55 controls display by such a plurality of applications, and responds to the request from the client program executed in the client program execution environment 53 and returns the display size (window size) of the browsing application. To do. In accordance with the display size information from the GUI unit 55, the client program executed in the client program execution environment 53 dynamically generates bookmark data.

(Bookmark data generation processing procedure)
FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a specific example of bookmark data generation processing according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 22 is executed by the CPU 201 shown in FIG. This is realized by executing the client program in the digitized document 400 # in parallel.

  With reference to FIG. 22, CPU201 acquires the apparatus attribute of a client terminal from the apparatus information storage part 44 or 54 (step S300). Then, the CPU 201 determines whether the client terminal is the portable terminal MT or the personal computer PC based on the acquired device attribute (step S302). That is, the CPU 201 determines whether the client terminal can execute only a single application or can simultaneously execute a plurality of applications.

  When the client terminal is the mobile terminal MT (MT in step S302), the CPU 201 acquires the size of the display area of the display unit 42 from the device information storage unit 44 (step S304). On the other hand, if the client terminal is a personal computer PC (PC in step S302), the CPU 201 acquires the window size of the browsing application that is active from the GUI unit 55 (step S306).

  Next, the CPU 201 sets at least one browsing page area according to the size of the display area of the display unit 42 or the window size of the active browsing application (step S308). Here, the browsing page area is a convenient page area set for displaying the document image on the display unit 42 or 52, and is set independently of the page area in the original document. Typically, the browsing page area is set to the maximum area that can be displayed on the display unit 42 or 52 among the document images included in the digitized document.

  Then, the CPU 201 evaluates the fitness of each group as a bookmark based on the number of appearances of each content page belonging to each group defined in the line attribute information attached to the digitized document 400 #. (Step S310). Based on the evaluation result, the CPU 201 selects at least one group from among the highest evaluation results as a bookmark data generation target (step S312). Here, the CPU 201 adds bookmark data for specifying the browsing page to a browsing page in which there is no content area for which bookmark data is to be generated (step S314).

  Further, when a plurality of groups are selected, the CPU 201 determines the dependency relationship between the groups based on the position of the content area belonging to each selected group in the document image (step S316). Thereafter, the CPU 201 generates bookmark data based on the attribute information about the content area belonging to the group selected as the bookmark data generation target (step S318).

  Finally, the CPU 201 updates the display of the browsing navigation information display area 510 (FIG. 4) displayed on the display unit 42 or 52 (step S320). Then, the bookmark data generation process ends.

Hereinafter, detailed processing of the main steps will be described.
(Browsing page area setting process)
FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining the browsing page area setting process in step S308 of FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 23, CPU 201 typically sets “browsing page area” in units of “number of rows” on the browsing path. That is, the CPU 201 sets the “number of lines” on the browsing path corresponding to one page of the “browsing page area” according to the size of the display area of the display unit 42 or the window size of the active browsing application. decide. For example, when “29 lines” on the browsing path corresponds to a browsing page area for one page, the CPU 201 sets a browsing page as shown in FIG. 23 for the line attribute information 410 shown in FIG. To do. FIG. 19 originally shows line attribute information about a document image generated from a document of three pages. In FIG. 23, eight pages of browsing pages are set according to the display characteristics of the client terminal ( Data column 480). The following processing is performed in units of the set browsing page.

(Evaluation process for fitness as a bookmark and group selection process)
Similar to the above-described FIG. 11 in the first embodiment of the present invention, the evaluation process of the fitness as a bookmark and the group selection process in steps S310 and S312 of FIG. This is based on the “number of occurrences”. In particular, in the present embodiment, “appearance coverage” and “maximum number of appearances” are calculated in units of browsing pages.

  FIG. 24 shows the result of obtaining specific examples of “appearance coverage” and “maximum number of appearances” using the row attribute information shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 24, regarding the “appearance coverage”, a relatively high evaluation is given to a group in which the content area to which it belongs appears on more pages. Specifically, “TYPE 3” and “TYPE 4” in which the content area to which the page belongs appear on page 5 and page 7 of 8 pages are given “2” points as evaluation points. On the other hand, “TYPE 1” and “TYPE 2” are given “0” points as evaluation points.

  In addition, regarding the “maximum number of appearances”, a group whose maximum number of appearances is within a predetermined range (for example, 1 to 2 times) has a relatively high evaluation compared to a group that is outside the predetermined range. Given. Specifically, “TYPE 1”, “TYPE 2”, and “TYPE 3” whose maximum number of appearances is “1” are given “2” points as evaluation points. On the other hand, “TYPE 4” whose maximum number of appearances is “3” is given “0” as an evaluation score.

  Then, the CPU 201 evaluates the total score of the evaluation points for the “appearance coverage” and “maximum number of appearances” as the overall fitness, and sets at least one group from the highest evaluation score as a bookmark data generation target. select. In the example illustrated in FIG. 24, “TYPE3” is selected as a bookmark data generation target.

  In the above example, the bookmark data generation target is selected based on the result of combining the “appearance coverage” and the “maximum number of occurrences”, but one of the evaluation results is used to generate the bookmark data. May be selected, and further evaluations may be used. In addition, since groups with very low “appearance coverage” may be characteristic descriptions, these groups may be used as bookmark data generation targets.

(Additional processing of bookmark data)
FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining bookmark data addition processing in step S314 of FIG. FIG. 25A shows a state in which bookmark data 520 is generated for the content area belonging to the selected group. FIG. 25B shows a state after bookmark data 522 is added.

  Referring to FIG. 25A, as an example, the “appearance coverage” for the group “TYPE 3” in the row attribute information shown in FIG. 23 is not “1”, so the content set to “TYPE 3” By only generating bookmark data 520 for the area, there are browsing pages to which no bookmark data is added (in the example shown in FIG. 25A, “page 3”, “page 5”, “page 8”). ).

  Therefore, the CPU 201 adds bookmark data for specifying a browsing page to a browsing page that does not have a content area for which bookmark data is to be generated. In the present embodiment, typically, bookmark data (pagetop) indicating the head of the corresponding browsing page is added.

(Process to determine the dependency between groups)
The process of determining the dependency relationship between groups in step S314 in FIG. 22 is the same as that in FIG. 12 in the first embodiment of the present invention described above, and is close to each other on the browsing path among the content areas (bookmarks) of different groups. By extracting what is being performed, the dependency between groups is determined.

  As described above, with respect to bookmark data added to a browse page for which no content area for which bookmark data is to be generated exists, the dependency relationship is determined so as to be subordinate to the lowest layer of the latest bookmark data. .

(Bookmark data generation processing and browsing navigation information display area display update processing)
Based on the information obtained by the processing as described above, the CPU 201 generates bookmark data indicating the position of the selected content area in the document image, and the browsing navigation information displayed on the display unit 42 or 52. The display in the display area 510 is updated.

  Through the processing as described above, bookmark data can be efficiently generated according to the content area included in the document image.

  According to the second embodiment of the present invention, efficient browsing navigation information can be generated according to the characteristics of the display means of the personal computer PC or the portable terminal MT that displays the document image.

[Other embodiments]
In the first and second embodiments described above, the case where the processing according to the present invention is executed by the MFP 1 or MFP 1 # has been described, but the above processing is executed by a computer having an image reading function for reading the document 300. May be. In this case, a program for executing the processing functions shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 17 for causing the computer to function as a document processing apparatus can be provided. Such a program is stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as a flexible disk attached to the computer, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a memory card. And stored as a program product. Alternatively, the program can be provided by being stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk built in the computer. A program can also be provided by downloading via a network.

  Alternatively, the image reading function may be realized by another device or a computer, and the generated document image may be received and only the browsing navigation information may be generated according to the above processing. In addition, the configuration in which the document image and the browsing navigation information are included in the same digitized document has been illustrated, but the browsing navigation information may not necessarily be added to the same digitized document, and is output as a separate file. May be.

  The program according to the present invention is a program module that is provided as a part of a computer operating system (OS) and calls necessary modules in a predetermined arrangement at a predetermined timing to execute processing. Also good. In that case, the program itself does not include the module, and the process is executed in cooperation with the OS. A program that does not include such a module can also be included in the program according to the present invention.

  The program according to the present invention may be provided by being incorporated in a part of another program. Even in this case, the program itself does not include the module included in the other program, and the process is executed in cooperation with the other program. Such a program incorporated in another program can also be included in the program according to the present invention.

  The provided program product is installed in a program storage unit such as a hard disk and executed. Note that the program product includes the program itself and a storage medium in which the program is stored.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system including a document processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration in the MFP according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the personal computer according to Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the figure which showed typically an example of the display screen of the digitized document in the personal computer according to Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram showing a functional configuration in the MFP according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of the production | generation process of the digitized document according to Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the extraction process of the content area | region in FIG.6 S106. It is a figure for demonstrating the setting process of the browsing path in step S108 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the attribute information of each content area acquired from the document image shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the classification process to the group in step S114 of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the evaluation process of the adaptation as a bookmark in FIG.6 and the selection process of a group in S118. It is a figure for demonstrating the process which determines the dependency relationship between the groups in step S120 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the digitized document which an digitized document production | generation part produces | generates. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of a bookmark data part. It is the figure which showed typically the process according to the modification of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the display area in the portable terminal according to Embodiment 2 of this invention. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration in the MFP according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the digitized document which MFP produces according to Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the data structure of the row attribute information shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of the production | generation process of the digitized document according to Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure in the client terminal according to Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of the production | generation process of the bookmark data according to Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the setting process of the browsing page area | region in step S308 of FIG. This is a result of obtaining specific examples of “appearance coverage” and “maximum number of appearances” using the row attribute information shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the addition process of bookmark data in step S314 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  1, 1 # MFP, 12 image preprocessing unit, 13 image buffer unit, 14 compression processing unit, 15 digitized document generation unit, 16 image analysis unit, 7 data generation unit, 18 transmission unit, 19 image processing unit, 20 lines Attribute information generation unit, 21 Client program storage unit, 40 reception unit, 41 browsing application, 42 display unit, 43 client program execution environment, 44 device information storage unit, 50 reception unit, 51 browsing application, 52 display unit, 53 Client program execution environment, 54 device information storage unit, 55 GUI unit, 100 control unit, 102 memory unit, 104 image reading unit, 106 print unit, 108 communication interface unit, 110 data storage unit, 201 CPU, 203 internal bus, 205 Display unit, 207 Communication interface Face section, 209 input section, 211 hard disk section (HDD), 213 memory section, 215 CD-ROM drive, 215a CD-ROM, 217 FDD drive, 217a flexible disk, 300 manuscript, 400, 400A digitized document, 402 header section 404 document image portion, 406 data portion, 408 footer portion, 409 client program, 410 line attribute information, 420 document image, 421, 422, 423 page area, 430, 430A content area, 440, 440A, 440B browsing path, 461 , 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 480 Data column, 500 document display area, 510 browsing navigation information display area, 512, 514, 516 icon, PC, PC1, PC2, PC3 Naru computer, SRV server device, MT mobile terminal.

Claims (17)

A document processing apparatus for generating an electronic document including a document image,
An acquisition means for extracting at least one content area from the document image and acquiring attribute information about the content area;
The attribute information includes position information indicating a position of the content area in the document image, and information generation means for generating browsing navigation information for specifying the position of the content area in the document image With
The information generating means
Classification means for classifying the at least one content area into at least one group based on the attribute information;
Evaluation means for evaluating each of the groups based on the position in the document image of the content area belonging to each group;
A document processing apparatus comprising: a selecting unit that selects a group that is the generation target of the browsing navigation information from the at least one group based on an evaluation result by the evaluating unit. Image reading means for generating the document image by reading a document;
The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a document generation unit that generates the digitized document by adding the browsing navigation information to the document image. The document image is divided into pages,
The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit evaluates each of the groups based on the number of appearances of the content area belonging to each group for each page. The evaluation means gives a relatively high evaluation to a group in which the content area to which it belongs belongs to more pages,
The document processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the selection unit selects a group given a relatively high evaluation.   The evaluation unit is further configured to compare a group in which the maximum value of the number of appearances per page of the content area to which the user belongs is within a predetermined range with respect to a group in which the maximum value of the number of appearances is outside the predetermined range. The document processing apparatus according to claim 4, which gives a relatively high evaluation.   The information generation unit determines a dependency relationship between groups based on positions of the content areas included in the plurality of groups in the document image when the selection unit selects the plurality of groups. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a dependency relationship determining unit.   The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content area includes at least one of a character string, a paragraph, a figure, a table, and a photograph. A document processing method for generating an electronic document including a document image,
Extracting at least one content area from the document image and obtaining attribute information for the content area;
The attribute information includes position information indicating a position of the content area in the document image, and further includes generating browsing navigation information for specifying a position of the content area in the document image. ,
The step of acquiring the attribute information includes
Classifying the at least one content region into at least one group based on the attribute information;
Evaluating each of the groups based on a position within the document image of the content region belonging to each group;
Selecting a group for which the browsing navigation information is to be generated from the at least one group based on an evaluation result obtained by the evaluating step.   A document processing program for causing a computer to execute the document processing method according to claim 8. A document processing apparatus for processing an electronic document including a document image,
The digitized document includes attribute information in which the type of the group to which the content area belongs and the position of the content area in the document image are defined in association with the content area included in the document image,
The document processing apparatus includes:
Information generating means for generating browsing navigation information for specifying the position of the content area in the document image;
Display means for displaying the document image together with the browsing navigation information,
The information generating means
Display characteristic acquisition means for acquiring display characteristics of the display means;
Area setting means for setting at least one browsing page area according to the display characteristics of the display means;
Evaluation means for evaluating each of the groups based on the number of appearances of the content area belonging to each group for each browsing page;
A document processing apparatus comprising: a selecting unit that selects a group that is the generation target of the browsing navigation information from the at least one group based on an evaluation result by the evaluating unit. The evaluation means gives a relatively high evaluation to a group in which the content area to which it belongs belongs to more browsing pages,
The document processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the selection unit selects a group given a relatively high evaluation.   The evaluation means further compares the group in which the maximum number of appearances of the content area to which the content area belongs belongs within a predetermined range with a group in which the maximum number of appearances is outside the predetermined range The document processing apparatus according to claim 11, which gives a relatively high evaluation.   The information generation means further includes an adding means for adding information for specifying the page to the browsing page in which the content area does not appear as the browsing navigation information. The document processing apparatus according to any one of -12.   The information generation unit determines a dependency relationship between groups based on positions of the content areas included in the plurality of groups in the document image when the selection unit selects the plurality of groups. The document processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a dependency relationship determining unit.   The document processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the evaluation unit changes a reference for evaluation according to a browsing environment. A document processing method for processing an electronic document including a document image,
The digitized document includes attribute information in which the type of the group to which the content area belongs and the position of the content area in the document image are defined in association with the content area included in the document image,
The document processing method includes:
Generating browsing navigation information for specifying a position of the content area in the document image;
Displaying the document image together with the browsing navigation information on a display unit,
The step of generating the browsing navigation information includes:
Obtaining display characteristics of the display unit;
Setting at least one viewing page area according to the display characteristics of the display unit;
Evaluating each of the groups based on the number of appearances of each of the browsing pages of the content region belonging to each group;
A document processing method comprising: a selection step of selecting a group for which the browsing navigation information is to be generated from the at least one group based on an evaluation result obtained by the step of evaluating each of the groups.   A document processing program for causing a computer to execute the document processing method according to claim 16.

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