JP2011028611A - Character information reading device and character information reading method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a character information reading device and a character information reading method, capable of accurately and rapidly reading character information displayed on a display screen. <P>SOLUTION: A recipe management server 3 acquires a video signal for displaying character information on the display screen 13 through an image transfer unit 2. An image forming means 32 converts the acquired video signal to an image. A recognition means 33 recognizes the character information by image processing to the image obtained by the image forming means 32. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a character information reading device and a character information reading method for reading character information displayed on a display screen.

  An apparatus (OCR: Optical Character Reader) that optically reads printed matter and handwritten characters is known. The OCR has a function of extracting a character string region from an optically captured image such as a printed material and recognizing the character string in the region.

JP 2003-223610 A

JP-A-10-208040

  Normally, when information including character strings is displayed on the computer screen, it is possible to recognize the contents of the character strings displayed on the screen by accessing the original information. is there. However, there are cases where it is difficult to access original information such as information handled by a device that is not online. For example, when a production facility that is not online, such as an existing production line for semiconductor devices, is included in the production process, the recipe parameters (parameters that define the production conditions) displayed on the screen of the facility May not be able to access the original data. For this reason, the recipe parameter check must be relied upon visually on the screen, and there is a risk of overlooking the content of the recipe parameter (parameter value).

  On the other hand, even when the original information cannot be accessed, the character string displayed on the computer screen can be recognized by OCR. In this case, it is conceivable to shoot the screen with a camera or to optically read the printed matter on the screen.

  However, when shooting a screen with a camera, it is necessary not only to make the image unclear, but also to correct the size, distortion, inclination, etc. of the image. Further, when a printed material is read, a process for correcting the deviation or inclination of the read image is required. Therefore, it is difficult to perform accurate reading in a single time with the method using OCR.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a character information reading apparatus and a character information reading method capable of accurately and quickly reading character information displayed on a display screen.

The character information reading device of the present invention is a character information reading device for reading character information displayed on a display screen, a video signal acquiring means for acquiring a video signal for displaying the character information on the display screen, and the video An image creating means for converting the video signal obtained by the signal obtaining means into an image; and a recognition means for recognizing the character information by image processing on the image obtained by the image creating means. To do.
According to this character information reading apparatus, since the video signal is converted into an image and the character information is recognized by image processing on the converted image, the character information displayed on the display screen can be read accurately and quickly.

  The recognition unit may perform a process of setting a coordinate origin of the image based on an image process for the image, and a character recognition process for a specific relative coordinate area based on the set coordinate origin. Good.

  In the process of setting the coordinate origin, a characteristic shape registered in advance may be found, and the coordinate origin may be set based on the position of the shape.

  The character information may be a parameter that defines manufacturing conditions in the manufacturing process.

The character information reading method of the present invention is a character information reading method for reading character information displayed on a display screen. The method further comprises: acquiring a video signal for displaying the character information on the display screen; and acquiring the video signal. Converting the video signal acquired by the converting step into an image, and recognizing the character information by image processing on the image obtained by the converting step.
According to this character information reading method, since the video signal is converted into an image and the character information is recognized by image processing on the converted image, the character information displayed on the display screen can be read accurately and quickly.

  According to the character information reading device of the present invention, since the video signal is converted into an image and the character information is recognized by image processing on the converted image, the character information displayed on the display screen can be read accurately and quickly. it can.

  According to the character information reading method of the present invention, since the video signal is converted into an image and the character information is recognized by image processing on the converted image, the character information displayed on the display screen can be read accurately and quickly. it can.

The block diagram which shows the system configuration for reading the character information displayed on an operation console. The figure which illustrates a display screen. The figure which illustrates the image created by an image creation means. The figure which illustrates the method of designating the location which performs the reading process of an origin and a character string. The figure which shows the example which designates reading of another location. The figure which shows the example which recognizes a some character string. The figure which shows the example which the position of an origin can move on a screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a character information reading method according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration for reading character information displayed on the operation console.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the operation console 1 is created by a parameter storage unit 11 that stores recipe parameters, a calculation unit 12 that creates a display screen for recipe parameters stored in the parameter storage unit 11, and a calculation unit 12. And a display device 13 for displaying the display screen.

  The display screen created by the calculation unit 12 is given to the display device 13 as a video signal. As shown in FIG. 1, the video signal sent from the calculation unit 12 to the display device 13 can be transferred to the recipe management server 3 via the image transfer unit 2 over the network.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the recipe management server 3 generates an image based on the image storage unit 31 that stores the video signal transferred from the image transfer unit 2 and the video signal stored in the image storage unit 31. Image generating means 32 for recognizing and a recognizing means 33 for recognizing a character string included in the image generated by the image generating means 32. The image generated by the image generation unit 32 is displayed on the display screen 4 as appropriate.

  Next, the operation of the recipe management server 3 will be described.

  When the user gives an image transfer instruction to the image transfer unit 2 with the recipe parameter displayed on the display screen of the display device 13, a video signal corresponding to the image displayed on the display screen of the display device 13. Is transferred from the calculation unit 12 and stored as a still image in the image storage unit 31 of the image processing apparatus 3.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display screen of the display device 13. In the example of FIG. 2, recipe parameters stored in the parameter storage unit 11 are displayed in a list form, and the item name of the recipe parameter and the parameter value corresponding to the item name are arranged in association with each other. An image 51 is shown.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image created by the image creating unit 32. An image 52 shown in FIG. 3 shows an image created by the image creating means 32. In this example, the image 52 is created by reversing the brightness of the image 51 in order to reduce the burden of recognition processing in the recognition means 33.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying a method for designating an origin in the image 52 and a position where a character string is read.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the origin 61 is positioned at the center of the character string “communication destination TCP port”. In this case, the user designates and registers in advance an area in which the character string “communication destination TCP port” is displayed as an area for determining the origin 61. Further, the user designates and registers in advance the area 62 where the character string to be recognized is arranged. The position of the area 62 is recognized and registered as a relative position (coordinates) from the origin 61. The designation of the origin 61 and the area 62 can be received, for example, by displaying the image 52 on the display screen 4 and operating the user on the screen.

  The recognition unit 33 searches the entire area of the image 52 by image processing, extracts a region having the same pattern as the registered region pattern, and sets the center of the region as the origin 61.

  Next, the recognizing unit 33 determines the area 62 based on the relative position (coordinates) from the registered origin 61, and executes a process for recognizing the character string in the area 62. In this recognition process, a character string can be recognized using various techniques used in OCR. In this case, the character string “7001” is recognized.

  In addition, the character string recognized by the recognition unit 33 is collated with a recipe parameter registered in advance as character information, and a parameter that does not match is notified. Thereby, there is no possibility of overlooking an error in the recipe parameter stored in the parameter storage unit 11.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which reading of another portion is designated.

  In the example of FIG. 5, the character string “corresponding” displayed in the area 63 is recognized. The point where the region 63 is specified based on the relative position (coordinates) from the origin 61 is the same as in the example of FIG. In this case, the character string displayed in the area 63 is one of two character strings “corresponding” and “not corresponding”. In this case, in the process in the recognition means 33, it is not necessary to specify a specific character string by the procedure as in the normal OCR process, and it is sufficient that it can be determined that one of the two is used. Therefore, the processing burden on the recognition means 33 can be reduced.

  FIG. 6 shows an example in which a plurality of character strings are recognized.

  In the example of FIG. 6, a plurality of character strings are designated as one area 64. The point where the region 64 is specified based on the relative position (coordinates) from the origin 61 is the same as in the example of FIG. In this case, the recognition means 33 recognizes the arrangement status of the character strings in the area 64, and then recognizes the character strings arranged at the respective locations.

  FIG. 7 shows an example in which the position of the origin is movable on the screen.

  In this example, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the dialog box 7 can be moved on the screen. Therefore, the position of the origin 71 in the dialog box 7 is the dialog box 7. Move according to the position.

  In the example of FIG. 7, the origin 65 is positioned at the center of the character string “T3 Timeout”. In this case, the user designates an area in which the character string “T3 Timeout” is displayed as an area for determining the origin 65 and registers it in advance. In addition, the user designates and registers in advance an area 66 in which a character string to be recognized and a check box area 67 are arranged. The positions of the areas 66 and 67 are registered as relative positions (coordinates) from the origin 65.

  The recognition unit 33 searches the entire area of the image by image processing, extracts a region having the same pattern as the registered region pattern, and sets the center of the region as the origin 65. For this reason, the position of the origin 65 can be specified regardless of the position of the dialog box 7.

  Next, the recognizing unit 33 determines the area 66 based on the relative position (coordinates) from the registered origin 65, and executes a process for recognizing the character string in the area 66. In this recognition process, a character string can be recognized using various techniques used in OCR. In the example of FIG. 7, the character string “45” is recognized.

  Further, the recognition unit 33 determines the area 67 based on the relative position (coordinates) from the registered origin 65, and determines whether or not the check box in the area 66 is checked by image processing.

  As described above, according to the character information reading method of the present invention, character information recognition processing is performed on an image created based on a video signal. No deformation, rotation, displacement or distortion occurs. Therefore, when recognizing character information, it is not necessary to perform complicated preprocessing such as image reduction, enlargement, rotation, distortion removal, or correction of character string positional deviation. For this reason, the character information displayed on the display screen can be read accurately and quickly.

  The scope of application of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The present invention can be widely applied to a character information reading device and a character information reading method for reading character information displayed on a display screen.

2 Image transfer unit (video signal acquisition means)
32 Image creation means 33 Recognition means

Claims (5)

In a character information reading device that reads character information displayed on a display screen,
Video signal acquisition means for acquiring a video signal for displaying the character information on the display screen;
Image creating means for converting the video signal obtained by the video signal obtaining means into an image;
Recognizing means for recognizing the character information by image processing on the image obtained by the image creating means;
A character information reading apparatus comprising: The recognizing unit performs a process of setting a coordinate origin of the image based on an image process for the image, and a character recognition process for a region of a specific relative coordinate based on the set coordinate origin. The character information reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the character information reading apparatus is a character information reading apparatus. The character information reading apparatus according to claim 2, wherein in the process of setting the coordinate origin, a characteristic shape registered in advance is found, and the coordinate origin is set based on a position of the shape. The character information reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the character information is a parameter that defines manufacturing conditions in a manufacturing process. In a character information reading method for reading character information displayed on a display screen,
Obtaining a video signal for displaying the character information on the display screen;
Converting the video signal obtained by obtaining the video signal into an image;
Recognizing the character information by image processing on the image obtained by the converting step;
A character information reading method comprising: