JP2010074287A - Image processor and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an image processor that is useful to improve the convenience of a user, and an image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A description area extracting part 73 extracts a description area of characters or the like from image data upon receiving the image databased on an original image, and meanwhile, a modification area extracting part 75 extracts an area relating to a modification aspect subjected to the description area. An area information analyzing part 77 analyzes description contents relating to the description area and area information including the modification aspect relating to the modification area. A modification aspect replacing part 79 generates and outputs replacement image data that replaces a modification aspect relating to a corresponding description area with a modification aspect following replacement information on the basis of an analysis result of the area information analyzing part 77 and the replacement information of a replacement information storing part 78. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a function of acquiring image data based on a document image, and in particular, responds to a user's request to replace a modification mode applied to a description area such as a character with a different modification mode. Thus, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus that contribute to improving user convenience.

  When correcting a document on which an image has been formed by an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a correction target portion in the document is canceled by a strike-through line and characters and the like are additionally written in the vicinity of the top.

  For the purpose of facilitating such document correction and editing the document so that the state before correction can be understood, an image reading unit for acquiring read image data of the document, and a cancellation symbol determined in advance from the acquired image data Canceled part extractor that extracts the canceled part that includes the canceled strike line, and the related part that extracts the handwritten characters related to the extracted canceled part when the canceled part is extracted by the canceled part extractor An extraction unit, a related part erasing unit for erasing the related part from the image data, a replacement unit for generating replacement image data obtained by replacing the erasure part with the related part, an association unit for associating the cancellation part and the replacement image data, An image forming apparatus configured with the above is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  By the way, for example, in texts and other documents used for lectures in seminars, important parts are colored with a marker pen of yellow, pink, blue, etc. for the purpose of reading while understanding the content. Is generally done.

  After the document has been filled in this way, after understanding of the document has progressed to some extent, a part different from the part recognized as important at first may be highlighted as a new important part. In such a case, when the value of a part that was initially recognized as important is relatively lowered and the value of a part that was later closed up as an important part is relatively increased, it is recognized as initially important. There may be a case where a desire to replace the modified portion with a modification mode different from the filling is generated.

However, the technique of Patent Document 1 cannot meet the user's demand as described above.
JP 2007-280266 A

  The problem to be solved is that the prior art cannot respond to the user's desire to replace the modification mode applied to the description area such as characters with a different modification mode.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus that contributes to user convenience by responding to a user's request to replace a modification mode applied to a description area such as a character with a different modification mode. An image data acquisition unit that acquires image data based on a document image, a description region extraction unit that extracts a description region related to characters, figures, symbols, or a combination thereof from the image data; and the description region extraction unit A modification area extraction unit that extracts a region related to the modification mode applied to the description area, a description content related to the description area extracted by the description region extraction unit, and a modification extracted by the modification region extraction unit An area information analysis unit that analyzes area information including a modification mode related to the area and a type of the modification mode related to the modification area are associated with the corresponding description area. Based on the replacement information storage unit that stores the modification mode as replacement information, the analysis result of the region information analysis unit, and the replacement information of the replacement information storage unit, the modification mode related to the corresponding description region is replaced with the replacement type. The main feature is that it includes a modification mode replacement unit that generates and outputs replacement image data replaced with a modification mode according to information.

  In the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, when the image data acquisition unit acquires image data based on the document image, the image data acquisition unit passes the acquired image data to a description area extraction unit or the like. In response to this, the description area extraction unit extracts a description area related to characters, graphics, symbols, or a combination thereof from the image data, while the modification area extraction unit extracts the description area extracted by the description area extraction unit. A region related to the modification mode being applied is extracted. The region information analysis unit analyzes the region information including the description content related to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit and the modification mode related to the modification region extracted by the modification region extraction unit. The modification mode replacement unit replaces the modification mode related to the corresponding description area with the modification mode according to the replacement information based on the analysis result of the region information analysis unit and the replacement information of the replacement information storage unit. The replacement image data is generated and output. Therefore, for example, an image processing apparatus that contributes to improving the convenience of the user can be obtained by replacing a modification mode applied to a description area such as a character with a required modification mode set in advance by replacement information. Can be provided.

  For the purpose of obtaining an image processing device that contributes to improving the convenience of the user, based on the analysis result of the region information analysis unit and the replacement information of the replacement information storage unit, the modification mode related to the corresponding description region is This is realized by a modification mode replacement unit that generates and outputs replacement image data replaced with a modification mode according to the replacement information.

  Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following, a digital multi-function peripheral (image forming apparatus) having a scanner function will be described as an example of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Schematic Configuration of Digital Multifunction Machine (Image Forming Apparatus) According to Embodiment of Present Invention]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a digital multifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  This machine can use various functions including, for example, a copy job, a fax transmission job, a print job, or a network transmission (mail transmission or data transmission) job, and is composed of a microcomputer and a dedicated hardware circuit. It is controlled by the main control unit 11. As an input / output device connected to the main control unit 11 and responsible for various functions, this machine includes a document reading unit 21, an image processing unit 31, an engine unit 41, an operation panel unit 51, a facsimile communication unit 61, and an HDD (hard disk drive). 63, and a network I / F (interface) unit 65.

  The main control unit 11 includes a scanner controller 13 that performs operation control for realizing a scanner function, a facsimile controller 15 that performs operation control for realizing a facsimile function, and a printer controller that performs operation control for realizing a printer function. 17 and a copy controller 19 for controlling the operation for realizing the copy function are incorporated, and the overall operation of the apparatus is controlled.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the document reading unit 21 constituting a part of the image processing apparatus includes an image irradiation lamp 23 and a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor 25. The document reading unit 21 irradiates the document with the image irradiation lamp 23, receives the reflected light with the CCD sensor 25, reads an image from the document, and outputs image data corresponding to the read image to the image processing unit 31. To do.

  The image processing unit 31 includes a correction unit 33, an image processing unit 35, and an image memory 37. The image processing unit 31 processes the image data read by the document reading unit 21 with the correction unit 33 and the image processing unit 35 as necessary, and stores the processed image data in the image memory 37 or the engine. Output to the unit 41, the facsimile communication unit 61, and the like. The correction unit 33 performs predetermined correction processing such as level correction and gamma correction on the image data read by the document reading unit 21. The image processing unit 35 performs various types of processing such as image data compression or expansion processing and enlargement or reduction processing.

  The engine unit 41 includes a sheet conveying unit 43 including a sheet feeding cassette and a sheet feeding roller (not shown), an image forming unit 45 including a photosensitive drum, an exposure device, a developing device, and the like, a transfer roller (not illustrated), and the like. And a fixing unit 49 including a fixing roller (not shown). The engine unit 41 includes image data read by the document reading unit 21, image data transmitted from a client PC (personal computer) or the like by a LAN (Local Area Network) via the network I / F unit 65, and a facsimile communication unit 61. Is used to print an image on paper using image data such as fax data received from an external facsimile machine or the like. Specifically, the paper transport unit 43 transports the paper to the image forming unit 45, the image forming unit 45 forms a toner image corresponding to the image data, the transfer unit 47 transfers the toner image to the paper, The fixing unit 49 fixes the toner image on a sheet to form an image.

  The operation panel unit 51 includes a touch panel unit 53 and a function key unit 55. The operation panel unit 51 is used for a user to perform operations related to a scanner function, a facsimile function, a printer function, a copy function, and the like, and gives an operation command and the like by the user to the main control unit 11.

  The touch panel unit 53 (corresponding to the “display unit” of the present invention) is composed of a touch panel unit or the like that combines a touch panel and a color LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays information related to various items. By touching the corresponding part, operation buttons for inputting various operation commands are displayed. The touch panel unit 53 is used when displaying an electronic document including a document image extending over a plurality of pages.

  The function key unit 55 includes a plurality of function keys operated by the user when selecting various functions related to image forming processing, and shortcut keys. For example, a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function These functions are used when the user selectively executes a key input operation of a required function among the various functions or when the user inputs a copy number, a copy execution command, or the like.

  The facsimile communication unit 61 includes an encoding / decoding unit (not shown), a modem unit (not shown), and an NCU (Network Control Unit) (not shown). The facsimile communication unit 61 transmits image data of a document read by the document reading unit 21 to a facsimile device or the like via a telephone line, and receives image data transmitted from the facsimile device or the like.

  An HDD (hard disk drive) 63 is a large-capacity storage device, and stores image data read by the document reading unit 21 and various data such as an output format set in the image data. The image data stored in the HDD is not only used inside the digital multi-function peripheral, program, and recording medium, but can be confirmed from the client PC or the like via the network I / F unit 65 as needed, It is transferred to a predetermined folder such as a PC or FTP server.

  The network I / F unit 65 uses a network interface (10 / 100Base-TX) or the like, and controls transmission / reception of various data to / from an external information processing apparatus such as a user PC connected via a network such as a LAN.

  Now, in order to provide an image processing apparatus that contributes to improving the convenience of the user by replacing the modification mode applied to the description area of characters and the like with a different modification mode, the digital multi-functional peripheral according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided. Includes an image data acquisition unit 71 that acquires image data based on a document image, a description region extraction unit 73 that extracts a description region related to characters, figures, symbols, or a combination thereof from the image data, and a description region extraction unit 73 In the modification area extraction unit 75 for extracting the area related to the modification mode applied to the description area extracted in step (b), the description content related to the description area extracted by the description area extraction unit 73, and the modification area extraction unit 75 A region information analysis unit 77 that analyzes region information including a modification mode related to the extracted modification region, and a corresponding description area associated with each type of modification mode related to the modification region Based on the replacement information storage unit 78 that stores the modification mode applied to the information as replacement information, the analysis result of the region information analysis unit 77, and the replacement information of the replacement information storage unit 78, the modification related to the corresponding description region A modification mode replacement unit 79 that generates and outputs replacement image data in which a mode is replaced with a modification mode according to the replacement information, and a control for displaying a replacement image based on the replacement image data on the display screen of the touch panel unit 53 And a display control unit 81 for performing the configuration.

[Operation of Digital Multifunction Machine (Image Processing Apparatus) According to Embodiment of Present Invention]
Next, the operation of the digital multi-function peripheral according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart showing the flow of replacement processing in the digital multifunction peripheral, FIG. 3 (1) is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a character image before replacement processing, and FIG. 3 (2) is a character after replacement processing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of an image.

  As a premise, the digital multi-function peripheral according to the embodiment of the present invention has a scanner function that reads a document image of a paper document that covers a plurality of pages, and an electronic document that includes a document image that covers a plurality of pages by utilizing the scanner function (for example, PDF : Portable Document Format document) and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that recognizes characters in an electronic document created by using the electronic document creation function and converts it to text It has a function.

  As shown in FIG. 2, after a document having a plurality of pages is set on an automatic document feeder (not shown) in the document reading unit 21, an instruction to read the document is input to the user via the operation panel unit 51. Then, the main control unit 11 sends a document reading start signal to the document reading unit 21. In response to this, the document reading unit 21 starts document reading in units of pages. The image data read in units of pages is sent from the document reading unit 21 to the image data acquisition unit 71. In response to this, the image data acquisition unit 71 acquires an image related to the document in units of pages (step 11), and stores the acquired image data in the image memory 37.

  Next, the description area extraction unit 73 executes a process of extracting a description area related to characters, figures, symbols, or a combination thereof from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 71 (step S12). Specifically, the description area extracting unit 73 is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-129203, which is filed and published by the applicant of the present application (incorporated into this embodiment by this citation). An image memory 37 including a first image data storage unit and a second image data storage unit for storing image data of the document read by the CCD sensor 25 of the document reading unit 21 for each pixel, and the first image data and the second image data. An edge determination unit (not shown) that determines whether each pixel of image data is a character pixel, and a region that separates the first image data into a character region and a non-character region based on a determination result by the edge determination unit The image processing unit 31 includes a separation unit (not shown) and a correction unit 33 that performs correction by performing different image processing for each of the character region and the non-character region of the first image data. By adopting the conduct separation at high accuracy "image processing technique performs processing for extracting a description area of a character or the like from among the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 71.

  Next, the modification area extraction unit 75 executes a process of extracting an area related to the modification mode applied to the description area extracted by the description area extraction unit 73 (step S13). Specifically, for example, the modification area extraction unit 75 pays attention to the color / density / pattern of the background image in the description area extracted by the description area extraction unit 73, and when the color of the background image is not a white background, It is assumed that a modification mode relating to filling is applied to the description area, and this is extracted.

  Next, the region information analysis unit 77 analyzes the region information including the description content related to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit 73 and the modification mode related to the modification region extracted by the modification region extraction unit 75. Is executed (step S14). By the area information analysis in step S14, what characters are described in the description area and what modification mode is applied in the modification area are acquired.

  Based on the analysis result of the region information analysis unit 77 and the replacement information in the replacement information storage unit 78, the modification mode replacement unit 79 replaces the modification mode related to the corresponding description area with the modification mode according to the replacement information. Replacement image data is generated and output (step S15). By the substitution of the modification mode in step S15, the modification mode applied to the description area is replaced with the modification mode according to the replacement information. Specifically, for example, a black character according to “Claims” is described in the description area 91, and a filling modification according to a yellow marker is applied to the modification area 93, as shown in FIG. Is replaced with the modification mode in step S15, instead of erasing the fill modification relating to the yellow marker for the modification area 93 (indicated by a two-dot chain line in the figure), It is replaced with the character display image shown in FIG. 3B, to which the character color related to “range” is modified to be yellow. In this way, since the fill modification related to the yellow marker is replaced with the modification related to the yellow character, for example, the significance such as importance is given to the color “yellow”. However, the modification mode can be changed to a required mode while maintaining the additional information related to the meaning as it is.

  Next, the display control unit 81 executes control to display a replacement image based on the replacement image data generated and output in step S15 on the display screen of the touch panel unit 53 (step S16). After execution of the display control, A series of replacement processes is terminated.

[Effect of the embodiment of the present invention]
As described above, according to the image forming apparatus (image processing apparatus) according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the image data acquisition unit 71 acquires the image data based on the document image, the acquired image data is used as the description region extraction unit. Etc. In response to this, the description area extraction unit 73 extracts a description area related to characters / graphics / symbols or a combination thereof from the image data, while the modification area extraction unit 75 extracts the description extracted by the description area extraction unit 73. A region related to the modification mode applied to the region is extracted. The region information analysis unit 77 analyzes the region information including the description content related to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit 73 and the modification mode related to the modification region extracted by the modification region extraction unit 75. Then, the modification mode replacement unit 79 changes the modification mode related to the corresponding description area to the modification mode according to the replacement information based on the analysis result of the region information analysis unit 77 and the replacement information of the replacement information storage unit 78. Replaced replacement image data is generated and output. Therefore, for example, an image forming apparatus that contributes to improving user convenience as a result of being able to replace a modification mode applied to a description area such as a character with a required modification mode set in advance by replacement information. An image processing apparatus) can be provided.

[Others]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the invention read from the claims and the entire specification or the technical idea, and image processing accompanied with such changes. The apparatus and the image forming apparatus are also included in the scope of the technical scope of the present invention.

  That is, for example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the digital multifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) having the scanner function has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and the peripheral device having the scanner function is described. The present invention can also be applied to an image processing apparatus as it is.

  Further, in the examples of the present invention, as a replacement example of the modification mode, the fill modification related to the yellow marker has been described with the example of replacing the modification related to the yellow character while maintaining the color in common. The present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the fill modification related to the yellow marker may be replaced with the modification related to the green character by changing the color. Also, for example, the fill modification for the yellow marker may be a modification for a bold character, a modification for an italic character, a modification for adding an underline, a modification for changing the font type / size, or a type of filling (hatching) It may be configured to be replaced with a modification relating to a change of (including) or a modification relating to a combination thereof. With this configuration, the modification mode can be easily replaced even in the monochrome image forming apparatus.

1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a digital multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart illustrating a flow of replacement processing in the digital multifunction peripheral. FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a character image before the replacement process, and FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a character image after the replacement process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Main control part 71 Image data acquisition part 73 Description area extraction part 75 Modification area extraction part 77 Area information analysis part 78 Replacement information storage part 79 Modification aspect replacement part 81 Display control part

Claims (3)

An image data acquisition unit for acquiring image data based on a document image;
A description area extraction unit that extracts a description area related to characters, figures, symbols, or a combination thereof from the image data;
A modification region extraction unit that extracts a region related to a modification mode applied to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit;
A region information analysis unit that analyzes the description content related to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit and the region information including the modification mode related to the modification region extracted by the modification region extraction unit;
A replacement information storage unit that stores, as replacement information, a modification mode applied to a corresponding description area, in association with a type of modification mode related to the modification region,
Based on the analysis result of the region information analysis unit and the replacement information in the replacement information storage unit, the replacement image data is generated by replacing the modification mode according to the corresponding description region with the modification mode according to the replacement information. Modification mode substitution part to be output;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The modification mode applied to the description area is a fill relating to a required color,
The replacement information storage unit stores, as replacement information, a modification mode in which the color relating to the filling is applied to the description content of the corresponding description area in association with the filling relating to the required color,
The modification mode replacement unit generates and outputs replacement image data in which the modification mode related to the corresponding description area is replaced with the modification mode according to the replacement information.
An image processing apparatus. An image data acquisition unit for acquiring image data based on a document image;
A description area extraction unit that extracts a description area related to characters, figures, symbols, or a combination thereof from the image data;
A modification region extraction unit that extracts a region related to a modification mode applied to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit;
A region information analysis unit that analyzes the description content related to the description region extracted by the description region extraction unit and the region information including the modification mode related to the modification region extracted by the modification region extraction unit;
A replacement information storage unit that stores, as replacement information, a modification mode applied to a corresponding description area, in association with a type of modification mode related to the modification region,
Based on the analysis result of the region information analysis unit and the replacement information in the replacement information storage unit, the replacement image data is generated by replacing the modification mode according to the corresponding description region with the modification mode according to the replacement information. Modification mode substitution part to be output;
A display control unit that performs control to display a replacement image based on the replacement image data on a display screen of a display unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising: