JP2009237743A - Image processing system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing system for specifying a region capable of being associated with a specified control function (service) on paper without using a specific edition application program and for flexibly setting the correspondence of the specified region to the control function. <P>SOLUTION: The system comprises: an image processing device 100 creating an electronic document to be printed; an image formation device 400 printing the document; and a management server 200 managing the data related to the document. The processing device 100 includes: an analysis unit analyzing the document to detect a specified character string included in a drawing object and designating a region including the specified character string in the document; and a management data generation unit generating management data in which control information for executing predetermined processing when the specified region is designated in the printed document and information specifying the specified region are associated with each other. The server 200 manages the management data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system and a program.

  In recent years, characters and pictures are drawn on special paper on which fine dots are printed, and the data written on the paper by the user is transferred to a personal computer or mobile phone. The technology that makes it possible is drawing attention. In this technique, small dots are printed on this special paper at intervals of, for example, about 0.3 mm, and this is configured to draw all different patterns for each grid of a predetermined size, for example. By reading this using a dedicated pen with a built-in digital camera, for example, the position of a character or the like written on this special paper can be specified, and such a character or the like is used as electronic information. It becomes possible.

  Also, information encoded (encoded) on a sheet using this pattern is embedded. In this type of technology, in addition to the position information indicating the position on the sheet as described above, identification information of the sheet and the document recorded on the sheet, control information for requesting execution of a predetermined process, and the like are represented by a pattern image. Is done.

  As a conventional technique described in the publication, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of printing an electronically stored document (electronic document) on a paper sheet having a position coding pattern. In this technique, a special paper sheet with a position coding pattern is used. Then, the document is printed on this paper sheet, and from there, it is manually edited using a digital pen equipped with a means for reading a position coding pattern and a pen point for marking on the surface of the paper, and the edited result is electronically recorded. It is configured to be reflected in information.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a print instruction apparatus that allows a document creation application for creating an electronic document to designate an area to which a code image is to be assigned for each page of the electronic document.

Special table 2003-528388 gazette JP 2007-72640 A

  The present invention can specify an area associated with a specific control function (service) on a sheet without using a special editing application program, and can flexibly set the correspondence between the specific area and the control function. An object is to provide an image processing system.

The invention according to claim 1 specifies a character string detection unit that analyzes a digital document to be printed and detects a specific character string included in a drawing object, and specifies an area including the specific character string in the electronic document. Management data generating means for generating management data associating area specifying means with control information for executing predetermined processing when the area is specified in the printed electronic document and information for specifying the area And an image processing system.
In the invention according to claim 2, the specific character string is a character string representing a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), and the control information is information for causing a display device to display a web page specified by the URL. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein:
The invention according to claim 3 is that the character string is a character string representing a telephone number, and the control information is information for causing a predetermined terminal device to execute a process of making a call to the telephone number. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing system is an image processing system.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the management data is acquired from the holding means based on the holding means for holding the management data and the position information of the area designated in the printed electronic document, and the control information is stored in the control information. The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising processing means for executing a process corresponding to the processing.
The invention according to claim 5 further includes printing means for encoding the position information of the region, generating a pattern image describing the encoded position information, and printing the pattern image together with the electronic document. An image processing system according to claim 1.
The invention according to claim 6 includes an image processing apparatus that generates an electronic document to be printed, an image forming apparatus that prints the electronic document, and a management server that manages data related to the electronic document, and the image processing apparatus A character string detecting means for analyzing the electronic document and detecting a specific character string included in the drawing object; an area specifying means for specifying an area including the specific character string in the electronic document; and Management data generating means for generating management data associating control information for executing a predetermined process when the area is specified in the electronic document and information for specifying the area; An image processing system for managing the management data.
The invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that the image forming apparatus encodes position information of the region, generates a pattern image describing the encoded position information, and prints the pattern image together with the electronic document. An image processing system according to claim 6.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character string detecting means for detecting a specific character string included in a drawing object by analyzing an electronic document to be printed, and a region including the specific character string in the electronic document. Management for generating management data associating an area designating unit for designating information, control information for executing a predetermined process when the area is designated in the printed electronic document, and information for identifying the area It is a program characterized by functioning as data generation means.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by using the management data, it is possible to specify an area associated with a specific control function on a sheet without using a special editing application program, and the specific area and the control function Can be flexibly set.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the area | region containing the character string showing URL and the function to display a web page can be matched using management data.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the management data can be used to associate a region including a character string representing a telephone number with a function for making a call.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, processing can be performed according to the management data held in accordance with the position of the area designated in the printed electronic document.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, the area | region matched with the specific control function can be described with a pattern image.
According to the invention of claim 6, by generating management data and holding it in the management server, it is possible to specify an area associated with a specific control function on a sheet without using a special editing application program, and to specify It is possible to flexibly set the correspondence between the area and the control function.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 7, the area | region matched with the specific control function can be described with a pattern image.
According to the invention according to claim 8, by using the management data in the computer, it is possible to specify the area associated with the specific control function on the paper without using a special editing application program, and A system that can flexibly set the correspondence with the control function can be realized.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
<System configuration>
FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a system to which this embodiment is applied. This system includes at least an image processing apparatus 100 that instructs printing of an electronic document, a management server 200 that manages information on the electronic document, and an image forming apparatus 400 that prints a superimposed image of the image of the electronic document and the code pattern image. Are connected to the network 900. The system also includes a printed material 500 output by the image forming apparatus 400 and a pen device 600 that records characters or figures on the printed material 500 and reads the trajectory of the characters or figures. Furthermore, a terminal device 700 that provides a predetermined service selected by the pen device 600 is also connected to the network 900.

  In FIG. 1, an image processing apparatus 100 instructs printing of an electronic document created by a predetermined application program (A). At this time, the image processing apparatus 100 designates a print attribute that is a parameter related to printing. The print attributes include paper size, orientation, double-sided printing, and the like as in normal printing. Further, regarding the code pattern image, designation of an area in which the code pattern image is to be printed may be included. Further, the image processing apparatus 100 receives management data of the electronic document to be printed on the management server 200 (E).

  Upon receiving this electronic document printing instruction, the image forming apparatus 400 prints an image obtained by superimposing the code pattern image on the electronic document image on a medium such as paper, and prints out the printed matter 500 (B). Here, the code pattern image is an image of management information related to a predetermined function or an image including other additional information. Additional information includes, for example, identification information of a user who has issued a print instruction, information on whether copying is prohibited, or the like. The correspondence relationship between the code pattern image and the function is managed by the management server 200.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 400 forms the code pattern image as an invisible image using an invisible toner whose infrared light absorption rate is equal to or higher than a certain reference. On the other hand, it is preferable to form a document image of an electronic document as a visible image using visible toner having an infrared light absorption rate equal to or less than a certain standard. The difference in the absorption rate of infrared light between the toner used to form the code pattern image and the toner used to form the document image is that the reading accuracy when reading the code pattern image by irradiating infrared light is increased. This is to ensure. In this specification, the description is given on the assumption that the code pattern image is read by infrared light irradiation, but the code pattern image may be read by ultraviolet light.

  Thereafter, it is assumed that the user has written characters and figures on the printed material 500 using the pen device 600 (C). As a result, the pen device 600 inputs the code pattern image by irradiating the printed matter 500 with infrared light and detecting the reflected light. Then, information is acquired from the code pattern image, and the information is transmitted to the terminal device 700 (D). The communication from the pen device 600 to the terminal device 700 may be wired or wireless. The transmitted information is, for example, management information related to a predetermined function.

  The terminal device 700 acquires information about the corresponding function from the management server 200 based on the management information received from the pen device 600 (F), and executes a predetermined function according to the acquired information. Here, the predetermined function includes a link function for providing a predetermined service. More specifically, examples include displaying a specific web page on the Internet and making a call to a specific telephone number based on the management information.

  The system to which this embodiment is applied has been described above, but such a configuration is merely an example. For example, the process of superimposing the image of the electronic document and the code pattern image and the process of creating the code pattern image may be performed by the image processing apparatus 100 or the image forming apparatus 400. Although not shown in FIG. 1, it may be performed by a server computer or the like that relays a print instruction from the image processing apparatus 100 to the image forming apparatus 400.

  In this specification, the term “electronic document” is used, but this does not mean only data obtained by digitizing a “document” including text. For example, image data such as pictures, photographs, figures, etc. (regardless of raster data or vector data) and other various electronic data that can be printed are called “electronic documents”.

<Structure of electronic document>
Here, the electronic document handled in this embodiment will be described.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printed electronic document, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of print data of the electronic document illustrated in FIG. In the following, in order to distinguish a document as a printed matter from electronic data, the document as the printed matter 500 as shown in FIG. 2 is referred to as a printed document, and is used as data handled electronically by the image processing apparatus 100 or the like. The document will be called an electronic document.

  In the print document 20 shown in FIG. 2, six contents 21 to 26 are drawn. Here, an example in which all contents are text contents is shown, but other types of contents such as images may be used as described above. Further, the content 24 and the content 25 include a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), and the content 26 includes a telephone number.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the print data of the print document 20 includes eight drawing objects. The drawing object 31 (“StartPage”) is a drawing object indicating the start of a page. The drawing objects 32 to 37 are drawing objects for drawing text corresponding to the contents 21 to 26 in FIG. The drawing object 38 (“EndPage”) is a drawing object indicating the end of the page. In the drawing objects 32 to 37, the numbers described from the top (left end) are (upper left X coordinate, upper left Y coordinate) − (lower right X coordinate, lower right Y coordinate) and indicate the drawing position of the content. A character string sandwiched between double quotations ““ ”indicates text / content that is actually drawn on a printed document.

  In the present embodiment, a specific area (hereinafter referred to as “service area”) associated with a specific service is set in the print document 20. In the service area, control information for calling the associated service is recorded as a code pattern image. Therefore, when this service area is read by the pen device 600 shown in FIG. 1, the service associated with the service area is called in the terminal device 700. The service associated with the service area may be arbitrarily set. For example, a service such as displaying a specific web page on a browser or calling a specific telephone number is applied.

  The service area is normally set so as to overlap at least a part of a predetermined drawing object. However, this is not essential, and may be set regardless of the drawing position of the drawing object depending on the type of service. As will be described in detail later, the present embodiment provides a method for associating text content drawn on the print document 20 with a drawing object with a service. Therefore, particularly in the present embodiment, the service area is set so as to include a specific character string in the text content.

<Functions of image processing apparatus>
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the image processing apparatus 100.
An image processing apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 4 is realized by a computer such as a personal computer, and includes a document editing unit 110, a print control unit 120, a network interface (network I / F) 130, and a display control unit 140. A display device 150 is connected to the display control unit 140. The document editing unit 110, the print control unit 120, and the display control unit 140 are realized by a program-controlled storage unit such as a CPU and a memory. Although not particularly illustrated, the image processing apparatus 100 includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse for a user to perform data input and other operations.

  The document editing unit 110 is realized by cooperation of an application program and OS (Operating System) that are software, and a CPU and memory that are hardware. The document editing unit 110 receives an input operation by the user and edits the electronic document. In addition, the document editing unit 110 sends a print instruction to the print control unit 120 together with print data of the electronic document in accordance with a user operation.

  The print control unit 120 is realized by cooperation of a printer driver that is software and a CPU and memory that are hardware. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the print control unit 120 includes an analysis unit 121, a medium ID acquisition unit 122, and a management data generation unit 123.

  The analysis unit 121 analyzes the print data of the electronic document received from the document editing unit 110 and sets a service area. That is, in the present embodiment, the service area is automatically set from the electronic document. In the present embodiment, an area including a specific character string included in the drawing object is designated as the service area. Therefore, the analysis unit 121 functions as a character string detection unit and a service area designation unit. Details of the service area setting method will be described later.

  The medium ID acquisition unit 122 is connected to the network 900 via the network I / F 130, and acquires from the management server 200 the medium ID assigned to the printed matter 500 (printed document) of the electronic document received from the document editing unit 110. To do. The medium ID is a unique ID for making it possible to identify each printed matter 500.

  The management data generation unit 123 is connected to the network 900 via the network I / F 130. Then, the management data generation unit 123 receives the print data of the electronic document received from the document editing unit 110, the service area data set by the analysis unit 121, and the medium ID acquired by the medium ID acquisition unit 122. The management data is generated in association with each other and sent to the management server 200. In addition, the management data generation unit 123 sends the medium ID acquired by the medium ID acquisition unit 122 to the image forming apparatus 400.

The network I / F 130 is an interface for the image processing apparatus 100 to connect to the network 900, and is realized by using a network interface card (NIC) or the like according to the network used or the line standard.
The display control unit 140 is realized by the cooperation of a display driver that is software and a CPU and memory that are hardware, and causes the display device 150 to display an image.
The display device 150 is realized by a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and displays various screens such as an editing screen for an electronic document and its print data and an operation screen for performing various operations under the control of the display control unit 140. To do.

<Functions of image forming apparatus>
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the image forming apparatus 400.
An image forming apparatus 400 illustrated in FIG. 5 is realized by a printer or a multi-function device having a printer function, and includes a data acquisition unit 410, a drawing unit 420, a code pattern image generation unit 430, a synthesis unit 440, and a printing unit. 450 and a network interface (I / F) 460. The data acquisition unit 410, the drawing unit 420, the code pattern image generation unit 430, and the synthesis unit 440 are realized by a storage unit such as a program-controlled CPU and memory. Although not particularly illustrated, the image forming apparatus 400 includes an input device such as a touch panel for a user to perform command input and other operations, and a display device for presenting print settings and other information to the user.

  The data acquisition unit 410 is connected to the network 900 via the network I / F 460 and acquires a medium ID from the image processing apparatus 100. In addition, the data acquisition unit 410 transmits the acquired medium ID to the management server 200 and acquires print data of an electronic document associated with the medium ID. The acquired print data is sent to the drawing unit 420. The medium ID is also sent to the code pattern image generation unit 430.

The drawing unit 420 receives the print data acquired by the data acquisition unit 410, converts it into an image, and sends it to the synthesis unit 440.
The code pattern image generation unit 430 encodes (encodes) information such as the position coordinates on the medium on which the electronic document is printed and the medium ID, generates a code pattern image describing the encoded data, and combines the information To 440.
The synthesizing unit 440 synthesizes the image image of the electronic document received from the drawing unit 420 and the code pattern image received from the code pattern image generating unit 430, and sends the synthesized image to the printing unit 450.

The printing unit 450 forms a composite image received from the combining unit 440 on a medium using toner that is an image forming material. That is, the printing unit 450 is a printing unit that prints the code pattern image together with the electronic document. As described above, the code pattern image is formed using invisible toner.
The network I / F 460 is an interface for the image forming apparatus 400 to connect to the network 900, and is realized using a NIC or the like according to the network used or the line standard.

<Management server functions>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the management server 200.
The management server 200 shown in FIG. 6 is realized by a computer such as a personal computer or a workstation, and includes a medium ID generation unit 210, a management data holding unit 220, a service information providing unit 230, a management data editing unit 240, a network And an interface (I / F) 250. The medium ID generating unit 210, the service information providing unit 230, and the management data editing unit 240 are realized by a program-controlled storage unit such as a CPU and a memory. The management data holding unit 220 is realized by a storage unit such as a magnetic disk device. These components are connected to the network 900 via the network I / F 250. Although not particularly illustrated, the management server 200 includes an input device such as a keyboard for the user to perform data input and other operations, and a display device for presenting various types of information to the user.

  The medium ID generation unit 210 centrally manages the medium ID acquisition requests from the image processing apparatus 100. Thus, the medium ID is managed in a unified manner even when there are a plurality of image processing apparatuses 100. In response to the medium ID acquisition request received from the image processing apparatus 100, the medium ID generation unit 210 generates a unique ID using a serial number or a random number and returns the ID to the image processing apparatus 100.

The management data holding unit 220 is a holding unit that receives and holds management data in which a medium ID, print data, and service area data are associated from the image processing apparatus 100.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of management data, and FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of service area data included in the management data.
Referring to FIG. 8, the service area data includes “service ID” for identifying each service area, coordinate values (“upper left coordinates” and “lower right coordinates”) indicating the position of the service area, and service. “Service type” representing the type of service and “Attribute” representing the specific content of the service are stored.

  In response to a request for service information from the terminal device 700, the service information providing unit 230 searches for management data held in the management data holding unit 220, reads service information corresponding to the request, and stores it in the terminal device 700. Return it.

  The management data editing unit 240 edits the management data held in the management data holding unit 220. The management data editing unit 240 has an HTTP server function, and an operation screen for editing management data configured as a web page on a display device of an external terminal connected to the network 900 or the console of the management server 200 itself. Is displayed. Then, an operation on this operation screen is accepted, and the management data is updated according to the operation content. As a result, the contents of the service associated with the service area can be changed even after the electronic document is printed. Details of the operation for editing the management data by the management data editing unit 240 will be described later.

  The network I / F 250 is an interface for the management server 200 to connect to the network 900, and is realized by using a NIC or the like according to the network used or the line standard.

<Functions of terminal device>
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the terminal device 700.
A terminal device 700 shown in FIG. 9 is realized by a computer such as a personal computer, and includes a service control unit 710, a pen device control unit 720, a telephone control unit 730, a display control unit 740, and a network interface (I / F). 750. The pen device 600 is connected to the pen device controller 720, the telephone 610 is connected to the telephone controller 730, and the display device 620 is connected to the display controller 740. The service control unit 710, the pen device control unit 720, the telephone control unit 730, and the display control unit 740 are realized by program-controlled storage means such as a CPU and a memory. Although not particularly illustrated, the terminal device 700 includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse for the user to perform data input and other operations.

  The service control unit 710 is realized by cooperation of an application program and OS that are software, and a CPU and memory that are hardware. The service control unit 710 acquires service information from the management server 200 via the network I / F 750 based on the code information read by the pen device 600, and executes a corresponding service. That is, the service control unit 710 is a processing unit that executes processing according to service information.

  The pen device control unit 720 is realized by cooperation of a device driver that is software and a CPU and memory that are hardware. The pen device control unit 720 receives information acquired by the pen device 600 and sends the information to the service control unit 710.

The telephone control unit 730 is realized by cooperation of a device driver that is software and a CPU and memory that are hardware. The telephone control unit 730 controls the telephone 610 according to an instruction from the service control unit 710 to make a call. In addition, a tone signal and a pulse signal transmitted through the telephone 610 are generated.
The display control unit 740 is realized by cooperation of a display driver that is software, a CPU and memory that are hardware, and causes the display device 620 to display an image.
The network I / F 750 is an interface for the terminal device 700 to connect to the network 900, and is realized using a NIC or the like according to the network used or the line standard.

  The pen device 600 reads the code pattern image by irradiating the surface of the printed matter 500 shown in FIG. 1 with infrared light and detecting reflected light. Then, the information described by the code pattern image is decoded and sent to the pen device control unit 720 of the terminal device 700. Further, the pen device 600 may read only encoded data described in the code pattern image, and the pen device control unit 720 may decode the information.

The telephone 610 transmits and receives signals through the telephone line under the control of the telephone control unit 730.
The display device 620 is realized by a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and displays the reading path (handwriting) of the pen device 600 on the printed material 500 shown in FIG. Display the screen.

<Service area setting method>
Next, a service area setting method by the print control unit 120 of the image processing apparatus 100 will be described in detail.
As an initial setting, whether or not to specify a service area is specified in the print instruction by the setting dialog of the print control unit 120.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen displayed on the display device 150.
When the service tab 41 of the setting dialog 40 displayed on the display device 150 is selected by clicking with the mouse or the like, a setting screen related to the service area shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 10, when a check box 42 for setting whether or not to specify a service area is checked, a service group box 43 can be specified. In the example shown in the figure, it is possible to specify that the location where the URL of the electronic document is described is designated as the service area and that the location where the telephone number is described is designated as the service area. If the check box 44 for setting whether or not to perform output confirmation is unchecked, the automatically generated service area is printed without performing confirmation during output.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of service area setting processing by the print control unit 120.
When an electronic document to be printed is specified by a user operation and a print instruction is input, the document editing unit 110 sends the print instruction to the print control unit 120. When receiving a print instruction (step 1101), the print control unit 120 checks whether or not a setting for specifying a service area has been made. If the setting is such that the service area is not specified (No in Step 1102), the management data generation unit 123 immediately shifts to management data generation processing (Step 1116).

  If the setting is to specify a service area (Yes in Step 1102), the analysis unit 121 of the print control unit 120 sequentially acquires drawing objects from the print data of the electronic document to be printed (Step 1103). And the acquired drawing object is identified and the following processes according to the kind are performed.

  When the drawing object is “StartPage” (Yes in Step 1104), the analysis unit 121 displays a service area confirmation dialog on the display device 150 to display a preview of the electronic document (Step 1105). Then, the process returns to step 1103 to acquire the next drawing object.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration example of the service area confirmation dialog.
In the service area confirmation dialog screen 50 shown in FIG. 12, a preview screen 51 is displayed on the left side and a service area list screen 52 is displayed on the right side. A button object 53 for moving the display page of the preview screen 51 and a button object 54 for instructing start of printing are displayed.

  If the drawing object is text (No in step 1104, Yes in step 1106), the analysis unit 121 determines whether the drawing object includes a specific character string (step 1107). Here, the specific character string is a character string that specifies the content of the service associated with the service area, and is used as an argument when calling the service. Specifically, when the service is a display of a web page, the URL of the web page to be displayed is a specific character string. If the service is to make a call, the telephone number is a specific character string. A method for detecting the specific character string will be described later.

  When the specific character string is included in the drawing object (Yes in step 1107), the analysis unit 121 displays the drawing object being processed on the preview screen 51 of the screen 50 of the service area confirmation dialog, and the corresponding specific character string. A shaded display is performed at the location (step 1108). Then, information relating to the shaded location is added to the service area list screen 52 (step 1109). A place where the shaded display is made becomes a service area. Thereafter, the analysis unit 121 returns to step 1103 to acquire the next drawing object.

  On the other hand, when the specific character string is not included in the drawing object (No in Step 1107), the analysis unit 121 displays the drawing object being processed on the preview screen 51 of the screen 50 of the service area confirmation dialog (Step 1111). . Then, the process returns to step 1103 to acquire the next drawing object.

  Similarly, when the drawing object is content other than text (No in Steps 1104, 1106, and 1110), the analysis unit 121 similarly displays the drawing object being processed on the preview screen 51 of the screen 50 of the service area confirmation dialog. (Step 1111). Then, the process returns to step 1103 to acquire the next drawing object.

  Referring to the service area confirmation dialog screen 50 in FIG. 12, an image similar to the print image shown in FIG. In addition, shading is displayed at locations corresponding to the contents 24 to 26 in FIG. Referring to the service area list screen 52, the type and contents (URL, telephone number) of the specific character string included in the area are displayed for the service area displayed in the shaded area on the preview screen 51. In addition, a button object for deleting the setting of each service area is displayed. The service area shading is displayed so that the location of the service area can be recognized on the preview screen 51 of the service area confirmation dialog. In the actual printed matter 500 (printed document), the shading display is not performed. Only the content based on the drawing object and the invisible code pattern image are printed.

  When the drawing object is “EndPage” (No in steps 1104 and 1106, Yes in 1110), the analysis unit 121 then waits for an input operation by the user. When the user selects the button object 53 on the screen 50 of the service area confirmation dialog (Yes in step 1112), the display page of the preview screen 51 is changed, the process returns to step 1103, and a drawing object is acquired again.

  When the “Delete” button object provided on the service area list screen 52 is selected (No in Step 1112, Yes in Step 1113), the corresponding service area is deleted from the service area list screen 52 (Step 1114). . If the button object 54 is selected (No in steps 1112 and 1113, Yes in step 1115), the process proceeds to the management data generation process by the management data generation unit 123 (step 1116).

<Specific character string detection method>
Next, a method for detecting a specific character string when setting a service area will be described.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of the specific character string detection process.
As shown in FIG. 13, the analysis unit 121 first determines whether or not a setting for designating a service area is performed for a URL (step 1301). If such a setting has been made, it is determined whether or not a character string representing a URL exists in the drawing object being processed (step 1302). If there is a character string representing the URL, the part of the character string corresponding to the URL is extracted as a service area (step 1303). Here, whether or not the character string represents a URL is determined based on whether or not a character string “http: //” is included, for example. Then, characters from “http: //” to characters that are not permitted as URL constituent character strings are extracted as character strings representing URLs.

  Next, the analysis unit 121 determines whether or not the setting for specifying the service area is performed for the telephone number (step 1304). If such a setting has been made, it is determined whether or not a character string representing a telephone number exists in the drawing object being processed (step 1305). If there is a character string representing the telephone number, the part of the character string corresponding to the telephone number is extracted as a service area (step 1306). Here, whether or not the character string represents a telephone number is, for example, the number of characters that are continuous with only a numeral and a hyphen and allowed as a telephone number (two-digit number, hyphen, four-digit number, hyphen, four-digit number) It is judged by whether or not it is a sequence of numbers. The entire character string is extracted as a character string representing a telephone number.

  As described above, the URL and the telephone number are extracted from the electronic document to be printed as a specific character string corresponding to the service area. Here, the display of a web page and making a call are taken up as services, but when other services are set, a character string corresponding to the service may be detected as a specific character string. For example, in the case of a service such as starting a specific program or executing control of a specific peripheral device, a character string (program name, file name, device name, etc.) specifying the program or peripheral device may be used as the specific character string. good.

  In the service area confirmation dialog illustrated in FIG. 12, only the part (glyph area) corresponding to the specific character string is designated as the service area among the drawing objects associated with the service. The method is not limited to the illustrated method. For example, the entire drawing object including the specific character string may be designated as the service area. When the drawing object is a table or the like, the cell in which the specific character string exists may be designated as the service area. When a plurality of adjacent drawing objects are designated as service areas, the service areas may be automatically reduced so that they do not overlap. If the area initially designated as the service area is a certain size or less, it may be automatically enlarged to a size that can be easily designated by the pen device 600. Furthermore, an automatically set service area may be manually edited to accept operations for changing the size or adding a new service area. In addition, for a drawing object including a bitmap image, a character string may be extracted by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to search for a specific character string. In addition, assuming that the URL is displayed in a folded manner, a specific character string is extracted for two consecutive text objects, assuming that the text is continuous, and an area extending over the two text objects is defined as a service area. You may specify as.

<Operation during printing>
As described above, after the service area is specified by the analysis unit 121 according to the initial setting, the management data generation unit 123 generates management data including print data of the electronic document, data of the service area, and the medium ID. It is generated, sent to the management server 200, and held in the management data holding unit 220. Further, the medium ID is sent to the image forming apparatus 400. In the image forming apparatus 400, the data acquisition unit 410 acquires print data and service area data corresponding to the medium ID received from the image processing apparatus 100 from the management server 200. Then, the image of the electronic document and the code pattern image are combined and printed by the printing unit 450. As a result, a printed matter 500 (printed document) of the electronic document in which the code pattern image is printed at least in the service area is output. The code pattern image may be printed on the entire print document, or may be printed only in the service area.

<Operation when reading the service area>
Next, consider a case where the pen device 600 reads a code pattern image printed on the printed material 500.
When the code pattern image is read by the pen device 600, the read data is sent to the terminal device 700 and sent from the pen device control unit 720 to the service control unit 710. The service control unit 710 decodes position information (coordinate values) from the read data of the code pattern image, and transmits it to the management server 200. When the management server 200 receives location information from the terminal device 700, the service information providing unit 230 searches the management data holding unit 220, reads service information corresponding to the received location information, and returns it to the terminal device 700. . The terminal device 700 executes processing for the set service based on the received service information.

A specific example will be described.
It is assumed that the service area is designated as shown in FIG. It is assumed that service area data is set as shown in FIG. At this time, when the service area set in the content “map: http: //xxx.xx.xx” is read by the pen device 600, the service information having the service ID “1” is transferred from the management server 200 to the terminal device 700. Will be returned. The terminal device 700 accesses the URL “http: //xxx.xxx.xx” based on the received service information, downloads a web page, and causes the display device 620 to display the web page.

  When the service area set in the content “telephone: 0z-zzzz-zzzz” is read by the pen device 600, service information with a service ID “3” is returned from the management server 200 to the terminal device 700. The terminal device 700 makes a call to the telephone number “0z-zzz-zzz” based on the received service information.

<Edit management data>
As described above, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the management server 200 manages the service contents and the information for calling the service as code information instead of recording them on the printed matter 500 using the code pattern image. Therefore, even after the electronic document is printed, the correspondence between the service area and the service content can be changed. Hereinafter, a method for editing the management data held in the management data holding unit 220 of the management server 200 will be described.

  The management data editing unit 240 of the management server 200 shown in FIG. 6 accepts an access request from an authorized user. In response to this access request, the management data editing screen is displayed on the display device of the external terminal that is the access source or on the console of the management server 200 itself.

FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 are diagrams showing a configuration example of an operation screen for editing management data. FIG. 14 shows a selection screen for management data, and FIG. 15 shows an edit screen for individual management data.
First, the management data information held in the management data holding unit 220 is displayed on the selection screen 60 shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 14, the document list 61 displays information on “document number”, “document name”, “registration date”, and “number of pages” for each piece of management data. The user operates the selection screen 60 to designate an electronic document for which management data is to be edited. In this selection screen, an operation for deleting the management data is accepted for each electronic document.

  When a predetermined electronic document is designated on the selection screen 60 in FIG. 14, an editing screen 70 shown in FIG. 15 is displayed. In the editing screen 70 of FIG. 15, a preview screen 71 of the designated electronic document and a service area list screen 72 in which information on the designated service area is described are displayed. On this editing screen, the user can specify the type of service (the item described as “type” in the figure), the specific content of the service (the item described as “attribute” in the figure), etc., for the desired service area. To edit. Further, when there is a drawing object that can newly designate a service area in the electronic document, a new service area may be designated and management data thereof may be created. However, it is necessary that a code pattern image is printed at a corresponding portion of the actual printed matter 500.

  In addition, when the “previous page” button or the “next page” button is selected with a mouse click or the like on the editing screen 70 of FIG. 15, the page displayed in the preview is changed to the previous page or the next page. Transition. The “add new service area” button is used to specify a new service area. When the “confirm” button is selected, the data in the management data holding unit 220 is overwritten with the contents displayed on the preview screen 71 and the service area list screen 72. When the “Undo” button is selected, the edited content returns to the original content.

  When the management data is edited as described above, when the pen device 600 reads the printed material 500 and the service information is requested from the terminal device 700, new service information after editing is displayed. Will be returned. Then, a new service after the change is executed in the terminal device 700.

<Example of hardware configuration>
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the pen device 600.
As shown in FIG. 16, the pen device 600 includes a control circuit 601 that controls the operation of the entire pen. The control circuit 601 includes an image processing unit 601a that processes a code pattern image detected from an input image, and a data processing unit 601b that extracts management information and the like from the processing result. Connected to the control circuit 601 are a pressure sensor 602 that detects a writing operation by the pen device 600 by pressure applied to the pen tip 609, an infrared LED 603 that irradiates infrared light on the medium, and an infrared CMOS 604 that inputs an image. Has been. Also, an information memory 605 for storing management information and the like, a communication circuit 606 for communicating with an external device, a battery 607 for driving the pen, and a pen ID for storing pen identification information (pen ID) A memory 608 is connected.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a computer that implements the image processing apparatus 100, the management server 200, and the terminal device 700.
A computer 10 shown in FIG. 17 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10a that is a calculation means, a main storage device (main memory) 10b that is a storage means, and an external storage device 10c. As the external storage device 10c, a magnetic disk device (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) is generally used, but an SSD or the like may be used. Further, the computer 10 in FIG. 17 includes a network I / F (interface) 10d for connecting to an external device via a network, a display mechanism 10e for performing display output to the display device, and a sound output. And an audio mechanism 10f. Furthermore, an input device 10g such as a keyboard or a mouse is provided. A chip set and a bridge circuit (not shown) are interposed between the CPU 10a and other components.

  In FIG. 17, each component is connected through various buses such as a system bus and an input / output bus. For example, the CPU 10a and the main storage device 10b are connected via a system bus or a memory bus. Further, between the CPU 10a and the external storage device 10c, the network I / F 10d, the display mechanism 10e, the audio mechanism 10f, the input device 10g, etc., PCI (Peripheral Components Interconnect), PCI Express, serial ATA (AT Attachment), USB ( It is connected via an input / output bus such as Universal Serial Bus) or AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port).

  Note that FIG. 17 merely illustrates a hardware configuration of a computer suitable for realizing the image processing device 100, the management server 200, and the terminal device 700, and it is needless to say that the configuration is not limited to the illustrated configuration. For example, in addition to the external storage device 10c, a drive using a flexible disk or an optical disk as a medium or a USB memory may be provided as an auxiliary storage device. The USB memory is connected to the bridge circuit via the USB. Further, the voice mechanism 10f may be provided as a function of a chipset without being an independent configuration.

<Configuration example of encoded data and code pattern image>
FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of encoded data generated by the code pattern image generation unit 430 of the image forming apparatus 400.
The encoded data shown in FIG. 18 is configured as a 128-bit data string. The first 32 bits (96 bits to 127 bits) describe the X coordinate, and the next 32 bits (64 bits to 95 bits) Y coordinate. And the medium ID is described with the remaining 64 bits. The remaining 64 bits are also used when other information is described.

  FIGS. 19A to 19C are diagrams for describing a configuration example of a code pattern image. FIG. 19A schematically shows a code pattern array that forms a code pattern image. FIG. 19B is an enlarged view showing a code block which is a basic unit of the code pattern arrangement in FIG. Further, FIG. 19C is a diagram for explaining a specific pattern of unit code patterns constituting the code block.

  In FIG. 19B, the code block is composed of a unit code pattern of 25 blocks in total of 5 blocks × 5 blocks. Each unit code pattern is formed by a region where a total of 9 dots of 3 vertical dots and 3 horizontal dots shown in FIG. 19C can be arranged, and a code in the so-called 9C2 system in which 2 dots are arranged in the dot arrangeable region. It is a pattern. Here, the black area and the shaded area are areas where dots can be arranged, and the white area between them is an area where dots cannot be arranged. Of the areas where dots can be arranged, dots are arranged in black areas and dots are not arranged in hatched areas.

  More specifically, 2 of the 9 dots that can be arranged are used, and each unit code pattern represents one piece of information. In this case, 36 (= 9C2) kinds of information can be expressed. By using such a method, it is possible to provide a code pattern in which noise given to a visible image is extremely small and a large amount of information can be digitized and embedded with high density.

In the present embodiment, among these unit code patterns, a specific unit code pattern is used as an information pattern, and the rest is used as a synchronization pattern. Here, the information pattern is a pattern representing information to be embedded in the medium. The synchronization pattern is a pattern used for taking out an information pattern printed on a medium. For example, it is used for specifying the position of the information pattern or detecting the rotation of the image.
In the example shown in FIG. 19B, the unit code pattern of one block at the upper left represented by the black region in FIG. 19B is used as a synchronization pattern. It is necessary to prepare four types of unit code patterns as synchronization patterns in order to detect image rotation. That is, an upright synchronization pattern, a synchronization pattern rotated 90 degrees to the right, a synchronization pattern rotated 180 degrees to the right, and a synchronization pattern rotated 270 degrees to the right are prepared.

  The remaining 24 blocks are used as information patterns. Then, an information pattern representing X coordinate information that specifies coordinates in the X direction on the paper surface is arranged in the four blocks to the right of the synchronization pattern, and Y coordinates that specify the Y direction coordinates on the paper surface are arranged in the four blocks below the synchronization pattern. An information pattern representing coordinate information is arranged. Furthermore, an information pattern representing the identification information of the document printed on the paper surface or the paper surface is arranged in 16 blocks surrounded by the information pattern representing the coordinate information. In the information pattern area representing the X coordinate information and the information pattern representing the Y coordinate information, different position information is stored depending on the place where the information is arranged. On the other hand, the same identification information is stored in the area representing the identification pattern regardless of the place where it is arranged.

<Other system configuration examples>
In the above embodiment, the image forming apparatus 400 includes the data acquisition unit 410 and acquires print data (management data) from the management server 200 based on the medium ID. However, the print data is not transmitted via the management server 200 but image processing is performed. You may make it acquire directly from the apparatus 100. FIG.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus 400 that does not include the data acquisition unit 410.
In the case of the illustrated configuration, the medium ID and print data are sent from the image processing apparatus 100 to the image forming apparatus 400 during printing. The drawing unit 420 converts the print data received from the image processing apparatus 100 into an image image. In this case, the management data sent to the management server 200 does not include print data. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 400 acquires only service area information from the management server 200.

  By the way, in this system configuration, since print data is not included in the management data, when editing the management data in the management server 200 as it is, the preview screen 71 may be displayed like the editing screen 70 in FIG. Can not. In order to avoid such a problem, when the management data generation unit 123 of the print control unit 120 of the image processing apparatus 100 generates management data, a thumbnail that is a reduced bitmap of the preview screen 51 in FIG. 12 is generated. The management data may be sent to the management server 200. When the management data is edited by the management server 200, this thumbnail is displayed as the preview screen 71 of the editing screen 70.

  Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the system configuration is such that the image processing apparatus 100, the management server 200, the image forming apparatus 400, and the terminal apparatus 700 are connected via a network, but these are configured according to the role in the system. Only. Actually, the image processing apparatus 100 and the terminal apparatus 700, the management server 200, or the like may be physically realized by a single computer. In addition, peripheral devices other than the telephone 610 and the display device 620 may be connected to the terminal device 700 in accordance with the provided service.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the system to which this embodiment is applied. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the printed electronic document. It is a figure which shows the example of the print data of the electronic document shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the function structural example of the image processing apparatus in this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the function structural example of the management server in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the management data used by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the service area data contained in the management data of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the function structural example of the terminal device in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the setting screen displayed on the display device of the image processing apparatus of this embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of service area setting processing by a print control unit of the image processing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen structure of the service area confirmation dialog used by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the detection process of a specific character string. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the operation screen for edit of the management data in this embodiment, and is a figure which shows the selection screen of management data. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the operation screen for edit of the management data in this embodiment, and is a figure which shows the edit screen of each management data. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a pen device. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the computer which implement | achieves an image processing apparatus, a management server, and a terminal device. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the encoding data produced | generated by the code pattern image generation part. It is a figure explaining the structural example of the code pattern image produced | generated by the code pattern image generation part. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus that does not have a data acquisition unit in another system configuration example of the present embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Image processing apparatus 110 ... Document editing part 120 ... Print control part 121 ... Analysis part 122 ... Medium ID acquisition part 123 ... Management data generation part 130, 250, 460, 750 ... Network interface (I / F), 140, 740 ... display control unit, 150, 620 ... display device, 200 ... management server, 210 ... medium ID generation unit, 220 ... management data holding unit, 230 ... service information providing unit, 240 ... management data editing unit , 400 ... Image forming apparatus, 410 ... Data acquisition section, 420 ... Drawing section, 430 ... Code pattern image generation section, 440 ... Composition section, 450 ... Printing section, 600 ... Pen device, 610 ... Telephone, 700 ... Terminal apparatus, 710 ... Service control unit, 720 ... Pen device control unit, 730 ... Telephone control unit

Claims (8)

A character string detection means for analyzing the electronic document to be printed and detecting a specific character string included in the drawing object;
Area designating means for designating an area including the specific character string in the electronic document;
Management data generation means for generating management data in which control information for executing a predetermined process when the area is specified in the printed electronic document and information for specifying the area are associated with each other An image processing system. The specific character string is a character string representing a URL (Uniform Resource Locator),
The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the control information is information for causing a display device to display a web page specified by the URL. The character string is a character string representing a telephone number,
The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the control information is information for causing a predetermined terminal device to execute a process of making a call to the telephone number. Holding means for holding the management data;
And a processing unit configured to acquire the management data from the holding unit based on position information of an area designated in the printed electronic document, and to execute a process according to the control information. Item 8. The image processing system according to Item 1.   The image processing according to claim 1, further comprising: a printing unit that encodes the position information of the area, generates a pattern image describing the encoded position information, and prints the pattern image together with the electronic document. system. An image processing apparatus for generating an electronic document to be printed;
An image forming apparatus for printing the electronic document;
A management server for managing data relating to the electronic document,
The image processing apparatus includes:
Character string detection means for analyzing the electronic document and detecting a specific character string included in the drawing object;
Area designating means for designating an area including the specific character string in the electronic document;
Management data generation means for generating control data for associating control information for executing a predetermined process when the area is specified in the printed electronic document and information for specifying the area;
The image processing system, wherein the management server manages the management data.   The image according to claim 6, wherein the image forming apparatus encodes position information of the region, generates a pattern image describing the encoded position information, and prints the pattern image together with the electronic document. Processing system. Computer
A character string detection means for analyzing the electronic document to be printed and detecting a specific character string included in the drawing object;
Area designating means for designating an area including the specific character string in the electronic document;
Functioning as management data generation means for generating management data in which control information for executing a predetermined process when the area is specified in the printed electronic document is associated with information for specifying the area A program characterized by

Images