JP2010182166A - Image processor and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve accuracy of recognizing characters from a character image. <P>SOLUTION: The image processor is provided with: a memory for storing a document image; a pre-processing part for generating a character image by performing predetermined image processing on the document image read from the memory; a pattern generation part for generating a plurality of different character patterns by performing predetermined image processing on the character image; a feature extraction part for extracting feature data from each of a plurality of character patterns; and a similarity calculation part for calculating the similarity between the plurality of feature data and the feature data of characters stored in the recognition dictionary, and for selecting the characters whose similarity is high from the recognition dictionary. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

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

  As an image processing apparatus, for example, there is a character recognition apparatus that recognizes characters included in an image. In a character recognition device, a recognition technique called a mutual subspace method has been proposed as one technique for character recognition using a plurality of feature quantities. This recognition technique recognizes by paying attention to various features of one character image (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example).

  On the other hand, a character image has a variation factor due to a positional deviation, an angle, and the like for each character image. In response to this, a technique called a subspace method has been disclosed as one method for performing pattern recognition, but the corresponding capability is not necessarily perfect (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2).

Kenichi Maeda, Sadaichi Watanabe “Pattern Matching Method Introducing Local Structure”, IEICE Transactions Vol.J68-D, No.3, 1985. Kenichiro Ishii et al. “Easy-to-understand pattern recognition” (1998), Ohm

  In the subspace method, for example, if the learning pattern does not include many of the above-described variation factors, the subspace method may not necessarily exhibit a large capacity for practical use. In addition, when the fluctuation of the input image is too large, even the subspace method cannot be handled, and the recognition accuracy is lowered.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of improving the accuracy of recognizing characters from a character image.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a memory in which a document image is stored, a recognition dictionary in which characters and feature data are stored correspondingly, and a document image read from the memory. A preprocessing unit that generates a character image by performing predetermined preprocessing on the pattern, and a pattern that generates a plurality of different character patterns by performing predetermined image processing on the character image generated by the preprocessing unit A generation unit, a feature extraction unit that extracts feature data from a plurality of character patterns generated by the pattern generation unit, and similarity between the plurality of feature data and character feature data stored in the recognition dictionary A similarity calculation unit that calculates a degree and selects a character having a high degree of similarity from the recognition dictionary.

  An image processing method according to the present invention includes a memory in which a document image is stored, a recognition dictionary in which characters and their feature data are stored correspondingly, a preprocessing unit, a pattern generation unit, a feature extraction unit, and a similarity calculation unit. In the image processing method by the processing device, the preprocessing unit reads a document image from the memory, performs predetermined preprocessing on the read document image, and generates a character image; A pattern generation unit that generates a plurality of different character patterns by performing a predetermined image processing process by the pattern generation unit; a step of the feature extraction unit extracting each feature data from the plurality of character patterns; The similarity calculation unit calculates the similarity between the feature data of the character and the feature data of the character in the recognition dictionary, and selects a character with a high similarity from the recognition dictionary Characterized by a step.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the precision which recognizes a character from a character image can be improved.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the image processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of an image processing apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating 4 neighborhood Gaussian filter. It is a figure for demonstrating an 8-neighbor Gaussian filter.

  Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes an input unit 1, a computer 2 (hereinafter referred to as “PC2”), an output unit 3, and the like.

  The input unit 1 is an external input device such as a camera / scanner, and inputs a document image optically read from a paper document (document) by a CCD sensor or the like to the PC 2. The display unit 3 is, for example, a display device such as a monitor or a printing device such as a printer, and outputs (displays or prints) recognition result data output from the PC 2.

  The PC 2 includes a memory 10, a preprocessing unit 11, a pattern generation unit 12, a feature extraction unit 13, a recognition dictionary 14, a similarity calculation unit 15, and the like. These units are implemented as computer software modules. Note that these units may be configured by hardware.

  The memory 10 is used not only as an area for reading a computer control program such as an operating system (OS) but also as a storage area for processing of the above-described units. The memory 10 stores, for example, image data for comparison processing and processing result data.

  The preprocessing unit 11 performs predetermined preprocessing such as partial segmentation, binarization, noise removal, and contour enhancement of an image (character image) used for character recognition. The pre-processing unit 11 performs at least one of character image partial segmentation, binarization, noise removal, contour enhancement, and the like as predetermined pre-processing. Since these individual image processing techniques are known techniques, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  The pattern generation unit 12 performs predetermined image processing such as expansion, contraction, rotation, movement, blurring, camera shake, and perspective transformation on the image that has been preprocessed by the preprocessing unit 11 to change the original character image ( A new image that has been deformed or altered) is generated. The pattern generation unit 12 performs at least one of expansion, contraction, rotation, movement, blurring, camera shake, and perspective transformation as the predetermined image processing.

  The feature extraction unit 13 extracts feature amounts (hereinafter referred to as feature data) of individual images generated by the pattern generation unit 12. The recognition dictionary 14 stores a plurality of (many) characters and their feature data in advance.

  The similarity calculator 15 obtains the similarity between the plurality of feature data extracted by the feature extractor 13 and the character feature data stored in the recognition dictionary 14 by calculation. The calculation means calculation for putting data in a calculation formula (function) stored in the memory 10.

  The operation of this image processing apparatus will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2 and FIGS.

  When a document to be recognized is set in the input unit 1 such as a camera / scanner and a digital camera performs a shooting operation or a scanner performs a scanning operation, an image of the document is read by the input unit 1 to the PC 2. It is output as a digital image (referred to as “document image 21”).

  When the document image 21 output from the input unit 1 is input to the PC 2, the document image 21 is temporarily stored in the memory 10 by the preprocessing unit 11 (step S101 in FIG. 2).

  After storing the document image 21 in the memory 10, the preprocessing unit 11 reads the document image 21 from the memory 10, and performs predetermined preprocessing on the read document image 21 to generate a character image 22 (step S102). ) And stored in the memory 10. The predetermined preprocessing is a predetermined process among image processes such as partial segmentation of an image, binarization, noise removal, and contour enhancement.

  The pattern generation unit 12 reads the character image 22 from the memory 10 and performs a predetermined image processing process on the read character image 22 (preprocessed image) to thereby obtain a plurality of different character patterns (characters in FIG. 1). Patterns 23 to 26) are generated (step S103) and stored in the memory 10. The predetermined image processing is a predetermined process among processes such as image expansion, contraction, rotation, movement, blurring, camera shake, and perspective transformation.

  The feature extraction unit 13 reads a plurality of character patterns 23 to 26 from the memory 10, extracts feature data from the read character patterns 23 to 26 (step S <b> 104), and stores them in the memory 10.

  The similarity calculation unit 15 reads a plurality of feature data from the memory 10 and calculates a similarity using the read feature data and the feature data of the character 27 read from the recognition dictionary 14 (step S105). Characters having a high degree are selected from the recognition dictionary 14 (step S106), that is, pattern recognition processing is performed, and the recognition result characters (text data and recognition source character image 22) are output to the display unit 3, and the screen of the display unit 3 is displayed. To display.

  Here, the character pattern generation processing (image processing) performed by the pattern generation unit 12 will be described.

  The pattern generation unit 12 performs predetermined image processing such as expansion, contraction, rotation, movement, blurring, camera shake, and perspective transformation on the image that has been preprocessed by the preprocessing unit 11, and cuts out the original character image 22 A new image is generated with variation (deformation or alteration) within the range.

  As an example of the image expansion processing, for example, for each pixel, if one or more of the pixels or four pixels in the upper, lower, left, and right directions is black, the processing is performed such that the pixels are also black.

  As an example of the image contraction process, for example, for each pixel, if one or more of the pixels or four pixels above, below, left, and right are white, the pixel is also white (contracted).

で表されるＲｕ［ｆ］，Ｓｓ［ｆ］をそれぞれ、回転行列Ｕおよび移動量ｓをパラメータとする回転済み、または移動済み画像とすることができる。この処理によって、座標Ｕ^-1ｘ,（ｘ−ｓ）にあった黒点がｘにそれぞれ回転・平行移動する。 Regarding rotation and movement of the image, when the pixel value of the coordinate x is represented by f (x) in the preprocessed image,

Ru [f] and Ss [f] represented by the above can be rotated or moved images using the rotation matrix U and the moving amount s as parameters, respectively. By this processing, the black point at the coordinates U ⁻¹ x, (x−s) is rotated and translated to x.

  As for the rotation of the image, for example, it is rotated in increments of 10 degrees up to 90 degrees. As for the movement of the image, for example, the image is moved using a ratio such as ¼ with reference to the length of the side and the diagonal line of the preprocessed image.

  For image blurring and camera shake processing, a point spread function (PSF) for realizing these is prepared, convolved with the preprocessed image, and binarized again.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the PSF corresponding to the blur is a 9 pixel model in which the center pixel and pixels adjacent to the surrounding 8 directions are arranged. There is a 4-neighbor Gaussian filter in which the pixel is “1” and the diagonal pixel is “0”.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, in the 9-pixel model in which the center pixel and pixels adjacent to the surrounding 8 directions are arranged, when the center pixel is “4”, the upper, lower, left and right pixels are An 8-neighbor Gaussian filter or the like having “2” and a diagonal pixel “1” is used.

として作ることができる。ＰＳＦとして１（ｙ）を原画像ｆ（ｘ）に畳み込む処理は、

と表せる。上記ｈ（ｘ）が畳み込み処理後の画像である。 As a PSF corresponding to camera shake, a point P is selected in the vicinity of the origin O,

Can be made as The process of convolving 1 (y) into the original image f (x) as PSF is as follows:

It can be expressed. The h (x) is an image after the convolution process.

  Perspective transformation is widely known as the name of projective transformation, and is disclosed in general projective geometry literature such as Yujiro Kawamata “Geometry of Projective Space (Lecture on Course Mathematics 11)” (2001), Asakura Shoten, etc. It is assumed that the projective transformation technology is used.

  The process of extracting the feature amount from the preprocessed image by the feature extraction unit 13 will be described below.

  For example, there is a method in which a blurring process is performed on an image by the above-described method, and the blurred image is regarded as a vector having a pixel value as a component and used as a feature amount as it is.

  In addition, as a method for the similarity calculation unit 15 to perform pattern recognition processing and a method for creating the recognition dictionary 14, after creating the recognition dictionary 14 based on the CLAFIC method, the feature amounts of a plurality of generated patterns and the recognition dictionary 14 There is a method of calculating the similarity with a registered character type using a mutual subspace method or the like.

を計算し、その固有ベクトルをｕ_１，ｕ_ｍとした上で、０≦ｐ≦ｍ，０≦ｑ≦ｎとなる整数ｐ、ｑを選んだ上で、行列Ｕ_ｐ＝（ｕ_１，…ｕ_ｐ），Ｖ_ｑ＝（ｖ_１…ｖ_ｑ）を用いて定義される

の最大固有値ρ⁽¹⁾を求め、このρ⁽¹⁾を類似度とする方法がある。ただし、左肩のtは転置を表す。このときρ⁽¹⁾は、累乗法などの既存の方法を用いて計算することができる。ただし、ｖ₁ ，ｖ_n は辞書データであり、これは各文字種毎に予め準備した学習パターンｙ¹，…，ｙⁿを用いて行列

を計算し、その固有ベクトルをｖ₁ ，ｖ_n とすることで計算できる。 Further, as a method for calculating the similarity using the mutual subspace method, for example, a matrix from a plurality of feature vectors x ₁ ,..., X _m inputted from the feature extraction unit 13 is used.

And the eigenvectors are set to u ₁ and u _m, and integers p and q satisfying 0 ≦ p ≦ m and 0 ≦ q ≦ n are selected, and then the matrix U _p = (u ₁ ,... U _p ), V _q = (v ₁ ... v _q )

There is a method of obtaining the maximum eigenvalue ρ ⁽¹⁾ of, and using this ρ ⁽¹⁾ as the similarity. However, t on the left shoulder represents transposition. At this time, ρ ⁽¹⁾ can be calculated using an existing method such as a power method. However, v ₁ and v _n are dictionary data, which is a matrix using learning patterns y ¹ ,..., Y ⁿ prepared in advance for each character type.

And the eigenvectors are set as v ₁ and v _n .

から、個別類似度

を計算し、類似度統合関数σを用いて

と定まるρ⁽²⁾を類似度とすることができる。このとき、辞書の作成方法は上と同様でよい。 Another method for calculating similarity is a normalized vector of feature vectors

From individual similarity

And using the similarity integration function σ

Ρ ⁽²⁾ determined as follows can be used as the similarity. At this time, the dictionary creation method may be the same as above.

  The method of determining the similarity integration function σ includes a method of selecting the largest individual similarity, a method of selecting several in the order of the individual similarity, and averaging them, a method of averaging the entire individual similarity, etc. There is. Further, instead of directly performing the averaging operation on the selected individual similarity, the difference in individual similarity may be emphasized once using a monotonically increasing function.

などとする方法がある。ただし、ｒは１≦ｒ≦ｍとなる整数であり、ρ_t(s)は、ρ₁，…，ρ_mのうち大きいものからs番目の値である。さらに、τの例としては、

などが挙げられる。ただし、ρ₀ ，βは定数として適当なものを別途選ぶ。 To do so, using the monotonically increasing function τ,

There is a method to say. However, r is an integer comprised between _{1 ≦ r ≦ m, ρ t} (s) is, ρ _1, ..., a s th value from the largest of the [rho _m. Furthermore, as an example of τ,

Etc. However, ρ ₀ and β are appropriately selected as constants.

  If there is no character type with a remarkably high similarity, the similarity calculation unit 15 may determine that the result is unknown and reject it.

  As described above, according to the image processing apparatus of this embodiment, partial variations (such as shifting or thickening black pixels according to a predetermined rule) are actively performed on characters (black pixels) of a character image to be recognized. A plurality of different character patterns generated are generated, and the similarity between the whole feature data of these character patterns and the feature data of the recognition dictionary 14 is calculated. That is, since several deformed character patterns are created from the original character image, and recognition is performed by paying attention to the properties of these as a whole, character recognition accuracy can be improved.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the constituent elements may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. For example, each component may be realized by a program installed in a storage such as a hard disk device of a computer.
The program may be stored in a storage medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM and the program may be read from the storage medium by a computer. Further, the configuration may be realized by distributing and storing the components in different computers connected via a network and communicating between the computers that have the components function.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input part, 2 ... Computer (PC), 3 ... Display part, 11 ... Pattern generation part, 10 ... Memory, 11 ... Pre-processing part, 12 ... Pattern generation part, 13 ... Feature extraction part, 14 ... Recognition dictionary, 15: Similarity calculation unit.

Claims (4)

A memory storing document images;
A recognition dictionary in which characters and their feature data are stored correspondingly;
A preprocessing unit that generates a character image by performing predetermined preprocessing on the document image read from the memory;
A pattern generation unit that generates a plurality of different character patterns by performing predetermined image processing on the character image generated by the preprocessing unit;
A feature extraction unit that extracts each feature data from a plurality of character patterns generated by the pattern generation unit;
A similarity calculation unit that calculates a similarity between the plurality of feature data and character feature data stored in the recognition dictionary, and selects a character having a high similarity from the recognition dictionary; An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The pre-processing unit is
As the predetermined preprocessing, at least one of partial cutout, binarization, noise removal, contour enhancement, and the like of the character image is performed. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The pattern generation unit
As the predetermined image processing, at least one of expansion, contraction, rotation, movement, blurring, camera shake, and perspective transformation is performed. In an image processing method by an image processing apparatus having a memory in which a document image is stored, a recognition dictionary in which characters and their feature data are stored correspondingly, a preprocessing unit, a pattern generation unit, a feature extraction unit, and a similarity calculation unit,
A step of reading a document image from the memory and performing a predetermined preprocessing on the read document image to generate a character image;
A pattern generation unit that generates a plurality of different character patterns by performing predetermined image processing on the character image;
The feature extraction unit extracting each feature data from the plurality of character patterns;
The similarity calculating unit calculates a similarity between the plurality of feature data and character feature data of the recognition dictionary, and includes selecting a character having a high similarity from the recognition dictionary. Image processing method.

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