JP2015090623A - Document reading device, program and document reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily perform definition of reading information of a document.SOLUTION: A document reading device reads characters from an image of a document obtained by optically reading the document. The document reading device comprises a screen control section and a character recognition section. The screen control section outputs a screen having the image of the document and display columns displaying item names of character data to be read from the image of the document and recognition result character data corresponding to the item names. In the case where a desired item name and an area of a reading object corresponding to the desired item name are specified by input operation to the screen, the character recognition section performs character recognition of an image portion of the specified area and displays the recognition result character data in the display column of the recognition result character data while storing the recognition result character data obtained associated with the item name.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a form reading apparatus, a program, and a form reading system that read characters from a form image.

  For example, in a form reading device such as a computer, a form image (digital photograph, etc.) obtained by an optical reading device such as a digital camera is used for character recognition using character recognition application software (hereinafter referred to as “OCR software”). The technology to do is known.

  For example, if the form to be read is a contract document consisting of a plurality of sheets, each page uses a unique item arrangement, and even if the same item name is used, the arrangement is different. In advance, it is necessary to define form definition information (reading information definition) for reading each page (character recognition) for each page. The form definition information includes, for example, a recognized item name, reading position coordinates (x coordinate, y coordinate) corresponding to the item name, size, character type, number of characters, and the like.

  Further, when the form reading apparatus is to read a new form, it is necessary to manually input and set the definition of the read information for all item names to be recognized. For this reason, a great deal of time and effort is required for the advance preparation for reading the form.

JP-A-2005-216102

  As described above, in the case of the conventional form reading device, the reading information for reading the form is set in advance by manually inputting the coordinates, size, character type, number of characters, etc. corresponding to the recognition item name for each page of the form to be read. It is necessary to keep it. In the case of a multi-sheet form, the same item name is often read, and it is not efficient to read once read information.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a form reading device, a program, and a form reading system that are easy to prepare in advance for reading a form and that can read a desired portion of the form information. is there.

  The form reading apparatus according to the embodiment is a form reading apparatus that reads characters from a form image obtained by optically reading a form, and includes a screen control unit and a character recognition unit. The screen control unit outputs a screen having a display field for displaying a form image, an item name of character data to be read from the form image, and recognition result character data corresponding to the item name. When the desired item name and the area to be read corresponding to this item name are specified by the input operation on the screen, the character recognition unit recognizes the image portion of the specified area as a character, and the obtained recognition result character The data is stored in association with the item name, and the recognition result character data is displayed in the recognition result character data display field.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the form reading system of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the tablet of a form reading system. It is a figure which shows the content of form image DB. It is a figure which shows the content of entry item definition body DB. It is a figure which shows the content of character type dictionary DB. It is a figure which shows the content of entry information DB. It is a figure which shows an example of the entry screen which displayed the form image. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the whole form reading system of 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of an image acquisition part. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a screen control part. It is a figure which shows an example of the designation | designated method of a reading area. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a character recognition part. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of an entry information update part. It is a figure which shows the structure of the form reading system of 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows operation | movement of the form reading system of 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the other structural example of an image acquisition part. It is a figure which shows the structure of the form reading system of 4th Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the tablet of 4th Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the character recognition request part of 4th Embodiment, and a character recognition confirmation part. It is a figure which shows the other example of the designation | designated method of a reading area.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a form reading system according to the first embodiment.

(First embodiment)
As shown in FIG. 1, the form reading system of the first embodiment includes a tablet terminal 1 as an electronic device or a mobile terminal, and an external system 8 connected to the tablet terminal 1 via a network 7. The external system 8 is, for example, a server computer.

  The tablet terminal 1 includes a camera unit 2 as an image acquisition unit, a touch panel 3, a CPU 4, a memory 5, a communication interface 6 (hereinafter referred to as “communication I / F 6”), and the like.

  In the tablet terminal 1, the CPU 4 reads out the software stored in the memory 5 and executes processing of the software, whereby the tablet terminal 1 functions as a form reading device that reads the form.

  The camera unit 2 is, for example, a CCD camera or the like, and captures, that is, optically reads a form image (form image) of a form to be read, for example, form A, and stores the read form image in the memory 5. As the imaging unit, in addition to the camera unit 2 built in the terminal 1, for example, a digital camera including an externally connected CCD sensor or the like may be used.

  The touch panel 3 has two functions, an information display function and an input function. The touch panel 3 displays a form image captured by the camera unit 2 on the liquid crystal screen and an image (picture, photograph, etc.) displayed on the liquid crystal screen by the operator. ) By touching a point or region with a hand (touch operation), the information on the touched screen position is sensed and output as operation information (signal). That is, the touch panel 3 can display a form image 71 (see FIGS. 3 and 7) captured by the camera unit 2 and can be touched.

  The memory 5 includes a form image database 12 (hereinafter referred to as “form image DB 12”), an entry item definition body database (entry item definition body DB 41 (see FIG. 4), a character type dictionary database (a character type dictionary DB 42 (see FIG. 5)). A storage area such as is set.

  The form image DB 12 stores a form image 71 acquired by the camera unit 2 (details will be described later). The memory 5 stores an entry item definition DB 41 and a character type dictionary DB 42. The entry item definition DB 41 is definition information for character recognition. The character type dictionary DB 42 is a character type dictionary set for each form ID or each entry item. The memory 5 functions as a work area when a form image is processed by each unit. The communication I / F 6 communicates with the external system 8 through the network 7.

  The CPU 4 controls the screen to display on the touch panel 3 an entry screen 70 (see FIG. 7) having a form image 71, an item name 72 of characters to be read from the form image 71, and a recognition result display column 73 corresponding to each item name. It functions as a part.

  When the operator designates a tap operation for designating a desired item name and an area to be read corresponding to the item name by a touch operation on the entry screen 70, the CPU 4 recognizes the designated area and obtains the character. The character data, item name information, and area position information are stored in the memory 5 in association with each other, and function as a character recognition unit that displays the character data in the recognition result display field 73.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the function of the form reading system includes an image acquisition unit 10, a screen control unit 20, a character recognition unit 40, an entry information update unit 50, and the like.

  The image acquisition unit 10 includes a camera unit 2, a form image writing unit 11, and a form image database 12 (hereinafter referred to as “form image DB 12”) as a form image storage unit. The camera unit 2 optically reads the form A and acquires an image of the form. The form image writing unit 11 acquires the form image 71 acquired by the camera unit 2 and stores (writes) it in the form image DB 12. Each DB is constructed in the storage area of the memory 5. That is, the image acquisition unit 10 stores the form image 71 acquired by the camera unit 2 in the memory 5.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the form image DB 12 stores an ID for each form image 71 and binary data (also referred to as image data or image data) corresponding to each ID.

The screen control unit 20 includes a form image reading unit 21, a screen generation unit 22, an OCR target form receiving unit 23, an OCR target entry item receiving unit 24, and an OCR target entry item area receiving unit 25.
OCR is an abbreviation for optical character recognition (optical character recognition) or optical character reader (optical character reader), and here refers to the former.

  The screen control unit 20 includes an entry screen 70 having a display field for a form image 71, a display field for an item name 72 of an entry item of characters to be read from the form image 71, and a display field 73 for a recognition result corresponding to the item name (FIG. 7) is displayed (output) on the touch panel 3.

  When the desired position of the form image 71 is designated by a tap operation, the screen control unit 20 displays a frame line 80 (see FIG. 11) surrounding the character image to be read existing at the designated position. The inside is identified as the recognition target area. In addition to this, a desired area of the form image 71 may be designated by a slide operation so that a frame 80 surrounding the character image to be read is displayed, and the area within the frame 80 may be set as a recognition target area. .

  The form image reading unit 21 reads out the form image 71 stored in the form image DB 12 and passes it to the screen generation unit 22 to display the form image 71 on the entry screen 70.

  The screen generation unit 22 generates and displays an entry screen 70, and displays on the entry screen 70 a thumbnail list of the form image 71 passed from the form image reading unit 21 and a form image 71 of a thumbnail specified from the thumbnail list. To do.

  The screen generation unit 22 extracts the entry items of the processing target form A by referring to the entry item definition DB 41 using the input form ID as a keyword, and vertically displays the entry item list on the left end of the entry screen 70. .

  In this example, the entry item linked to the form A is extracted. However, the entry item may be extracted in batch units, and the present embodiment is not limited to the method of extracting the entry item.

  The OCR target form receiving unit 23 displays the tapped (selected or designated) form image 71 of the thumbnails of the form image 71 displayed on the entry screen 70 on the entire entry screen 70 as an image to be read.

  The OCR target entry item receiving unit 24 taps (selects or designates) an item name 72 by a method that allows selection, for example, a check box (hereinafter referred to as “check box”), from the list of entry items displayed on the entry screen 70. Activate the entry entry

  The OCR target entry item area receiving unit 25 detects a tap operation performed on the form image 71 after tapping the entry item, and specifies a character recognition target area from the tap position. There are several methods for specifying the character recognition target area. As an example, an image in a certain range (rectangular range) in the horizontal direction from one tapped point is set as a character recognition target.

  The character recognition unit 40 includes an OCR engine 44 as a character recognition unit, a recognition result storage unit 43, a verification unit 45, an entry item definition DB 41, and a character type dictionary DB 42.

  When the item name of a desired entry item and an area to be read corresponding to the item name are designated by a touch operation on the entry screen 70, the OCR engine 44 recognizes the image portion of the designated area by character recognition. The character data, item name information, and area position information are associated with each other and stored in the memory 5 (recognition result storage unit 43), and the recognition result character data is displayed in the display column 73.

  The recognition result storage unit 43 stores the character data of the recognition result, the character image cut out from the form image at the time of reading, and the position information of the reading range as the recognition result.

  The verify unit 45 performs a verify process on the character data of the recognition result stored in the recognition result storage unit 43. Specifically, the verify unit 45 compares the number of characters that should be printed in the reading target area (the number of characters set in advance) with the number of characters of the recognition result that is actually recognized, and checks whether they match. In addition to the number of characters, this is also done for character types. Only character type verification processing may be performed.

That is, the verify unit 45 compares the character type and / or number of characters of character data obtained as a result of character recognition with a preset character type and / or number of characters for each item, and outputs an alert if they do not match.
As shown in FIG. 4, the entry item definition DB 41 stores item names, definition information (character types), definition information (number of characters) and the like in association with each other. The item name is, for example, “name”, “address”, “phone number”, etc. The definition information (character type) is, for example, “kana”, “kanji”, and the definition information (number of characters) is “20”, “50”. , “10” and the like are set. In addition, character size and the like are set as definition information.

  That is, the entry item definition DB 41 stores definition information corresponding to each entry item. The definition information includes, for example, an item name to be recognized, a character size, a character type, and the number of characters that should be described in a reading area (reading position) corresponding to the item name.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the character type dictionary DB 42 stores IDs, types, and rules for identifying different dictionaries of a plurality of character types in association with each other. The ID is a numerical value such as “1” or “2”, the type is “Kana”, “English”, or the like. The rule is “Kana”, “Aiueo ...”, “English”, “ abcdef ... "and the like are set.

  That is, the character type dictionary DB 42 stores a character type dictionary of characters to be described for each item, and is used by the OCR engine 44 in character recognition. The OCR engine 44 reads a dictionary associated with the character type obtained from the entry item definition DB 41 from the character type dictionary DB 42.

  The entry information update unit 50 includes an entry information DB 51, an entry information writing unit 52, and an entry information transmission unit 53.

As shown in FIG. 6, the entry information DB 51 stores item names, recognition results, form IDs, coordinates, and the like in association with each other. The item name is, for example, “name”, “address”, “telephone number”, etc. The recognition result is “○ Taro” if it is “name”, “XX town 1 in XX city XX city” if it is “address” -1-1 "and" phone number "are" 01234456789 ".
As the coordinates, a pair of x and y coordinates of four points of a rectangular vertex that two-dimensionally indicates an area to be read is stored.

  That is, in the entry information DB 51, the item name, the recognition result of the recognition result storage unit 43, the form ID associated with the form received by the OCR target form receiving unit 23, and the OCR target entry item area receiving unit 25 are received. Area information (x coordinate, y coordinate) is stored.

  The entry information writing unit 52 reads the recognition result from the recognition result storage unit 43 and writes it in the entry information DB 51. The entry information transmission unit 53 transmits information stored in the entry information DB 51 to the external system 8 through the network 7.

  As shown in FIG. 7, on the entry screen 70, a form image 71 to be read is displayed on the entire screen, and an item name 72 of characters to be read from the form image 71 and a check box for each item name 72 are displayed. A recognition result display field 73 corresponding to each item name 72 is displayed on the left side of the screen. In this example, as the item name 72 of the character to be read, for example, ID, name, address, telephone number, date of birth, etc. are illustrated.

  Next, the operation of the form reading system according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the overall operation (outline operation) of the form reading system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the case of this form reading system, when an operator turns on the tablet terminal 1 and activates character recognition application software which is a character reading program, an entry screen 70 is displayed on the touch panel 3.

  Subsequently, when the operator operates a form capture button (not shown) on the entry screen 70 in order to convert the paper form A into electronic data, the image acquisition unit 10 activates the camera unit 2 and activates the entry screen 70. To the monitor screen for camera imaging.

  When the operator looks at the monitor screen and puts the form A to be processed in the monitor screen and shoots (step S101 in FIG. 8), the camera unit 2 outputs the captured form image 71 to the form image writing unit 11. The form image writing unit 11 writes the photographed form image 71 in the form image DB 12. The form image 71 is captured as many as the number of shots, that is, one or more sheets. After the photographing of the form A is completed, the entry screen 70 is displayed when the monitor screen is closed.

  Here, when the operator taps a form image reading button (not shown) on the entry screen 70, the screen control unit 20 reads one or more form images 71 stored in the form image DB 12, and enters the entry screen 70. A thumbnail of the form image 71 is displayed, and a message is displayed to prompt selection.

  When the operator selects a desired thumbnail from the thumbnails on the entry screen 70 (step S102), a character recognition target form image 71 corresponding to the designated thumbnail is displayed on the entire entry screen 70 for operation. (See FIG. 7).

  Here, when the operator selects the check box 72 of the item name on the entry screen 70 with a finger and subsequently designates the OCR location of the form image 71, the screen control unit 20 accepts the designated OCR location (step S103). ), The character image at the OCR location is specified as a reading target.

  The OCR engine 44 cuts out the identified character image, reads out the entry item definition body from the entry item definition body DB 41 and the character type dictionary from the character type dictionary DB 42, and recognizes the characters by referring to these (step S104). The resulting character data is stored in the recognition result storage unit 43 and displayed in the display field 73.

  The operator confirms the character data displayed in the display field 73 of the entry screen 70 and corrects the character data in the display field 73 if it is misread. If the correction is not necessary, the check box 72 for the next item name is displayed. Tap.

  When the operator taps an entry button (not shown) on the entry screen 70 after character data of a desired item is obtained as an operator by repeating this operation (operation), the entry information update unit 50 recognizes the recognition result. After fetching from the result storage unit 43 and converting it into information of a certain entry format and updating the contents of the entry information DB 51 (step S105), the information is transmitted to the external system 8. In the external system 8, for example, entry information transmitted from a plurality of tablet terminals 1 is collected and processed into a customer information management system or the like.

  Next, the detailed operation of each part will be described. First, the operation of the image acquisition unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, the camera unit 2 captures the form A (step S201), and the captured form image 71 is written into the form image DB 12 by the form image writing unit 11 (step S202).

  When all of the target forms, for example, form B and form C other than form A have been photographed (Yes in step S203), the process is terminated, and if all of the target forms have not been photographed (step (No in S203), the process returns to step S201 to repeat the process.

  Next, the operation of the screen control unit 20 will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, when the operator taps a form image reading button (not shown) on the entry screen 70, the form image reading unit 21 reads one or more form images 71 stored in the form image DB 12 (step S301). The thumbnail list of the form image 71 is displayed on the entry screen 70 of the touch panel 3 (step S302).

  Here, when the operator selects a desired thumbnail from the thumbnail list on the entry screen 70 and taps the touch panel 3 (designates a thumbnail), the OCR target form accepting unit 23 accepts the designation of the thumbnail (step S303), The form image 71 corresponding to the designated thumbnail is determined as an OCR target (step S304), and displayed for operation on almost the entire entry screen 70 (see FIG. 7).

  Subsequently, when the operator selects the item name check box 72 on the entry screen 70 and taps it with his / her finger to specify the item name of the entry item, the OCR target entry item receiving unit 24 specifies the item name of the OCR target entry item. Acceptance (step S305), activates the OCR engine 44, and waits for an OCR location (reading area) to be designated.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 11, when the operator taps the OCR portion of the form image 71 on the touch panel 3 (entry screen 70) with a finger and designates the reading area (starting point) with a point, the entry item for OCR The area receiving unit 25 receives the pointed position, and displays a frame line 80 surrounding the character image in a certain direction (horizontal direction) from the position (step S306).

  Next, the operation of the character recognition unit 40 will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, the OCR engine 44 cuts out a character image from the form image 71 based on the item name of the entry item and the coordinates of the reading area specified by the frame 80, and enters the entry item definition body and the character type from the entry item definition body DB41. A dictionary of character types is read from the dictionary DB 42, character recognition is performed with reference to these pieces of information (step S501), the obtained recognition result is stored in the recognition result storage unit 43, and the character data of the recognition result is stored in the entry item. The information is displayed in the display field 73 corresponding to the item name (step S502).

  At the same time, the verify unit 45 performs a character type and character number verify process on the character data of the recognition result stored in the recognition result storage unit 43 (step S502).

  As a result of the verify process, when the verify process is unsuccessful, that is, when the character type of the dictionary and the number of characters of the entry item definition set in advance do not match the character type and the number of characters of the character data of the recognition result (in step S503) No), the verify unit 45 outputs an alert (step S504), and displays a warning message on the entry screen 70.

  A verification process may be performed before the recognition result is stored in the recognition result storage unit 43. In addition, the character type and the number of characters may be separately verified. Further, when the verification process is unsuccessful, not only a warning message but also a warning sound may be issued. Only a warning sound may be issued.

  Next, the operation of the entry information update unit 50 will be described with reference to FIG. After the character data of the recognition result is displayed in the display field 73 of the entry screen 70, the operator confirms the character data, and if it is misread, the character data in the display field 73 is manually corrected by key input or the like. If unnecessary, tap the next item name.

  After this operation (operation) is repeated and character data of a desired item is obtained as an operator, when the operator taps an entry button (not shown) on the entry screen 70, the entry information writing unit 52 displays the recognition result. The data is taken from the recognition result storage unit 43 (step S601), converted into information of a certain entry format, written in the entry information DB 51 (step S602), and the contents of the entry information DB 51 are updated.

  Thereafter, when a certain time elapses or a certain amount of data is accumulated in the entry information DB 51, the entry information transmission unit 53 transmits the information in the entry information DB 51 to the external system 8 (step S603). Note that the information in the entry information DB 51 may be sequentially transmitted to the external system 8 when the information in the entry information DB 51 is updated regardless of the passage of time or the amount of data.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, as the reading information (form definition) of a form for character recognition, conventionally, the item name to be recognized, the character data attribute information entered as the item content, and the reading corresponding to the item name are used. Although it was necessary to manually define the position information (coordinates) of the target area in association with each other, in this embodiment, only the item name and the attribute information of the character data to be entered as the item content are set in advance. In addition, since the position information of the area of the character to be read that requires work is specified by the tap operation or the slide operation by the operator when the form A is actually read, the advance information for reading the form A Preparation is facilitated, and a desired portion of the information on the form A can be selected and read. Further, by managing the item name and the reading result, it is possible to efficiently read without duplicating the item without reading the item once read.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 14, the form reading system according to the second embodiment includes a correction unit 46 and a correction history DB 47.

  When the same reading area as before is specified, the correction unit 46 reads the corrected recognition result stored in the correction history DB 47 and displays it in the display column 73 as the current recognition result, and the recognition result storage unit 43. To remember. The correction history DB 47 stores (stores) a recognition result corrected by manual input after character recognition by the correction unit 46, that is, a corrected recognition result.

  When the character data displayed in the display column 73 is corrected, the correction unit 46 stores the corrected recognition result in the correction history DB 47 (memory 5). When the same area as before is designated at the time of character recognition, the correction unit 46 refers to the correction history of the recognition result stored in the correction history DB 47 (memory 5) and recognizes the recognition result read from the correction history. The recognition result of the unit 40 is displayed in the display field 73.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In the case of the second embodiment, the character recognition unit 40 selects an entry item such as “name”, designates a reading area corresponding to this item, recognizes the character (step S701 in FIG. 15), and recognizes the character. For example, it is assumed that “◯ × Daro” is displayed in the display field 73 as the character data of the result.

  Here, if there is a misreading in the recognition result, and manually correct “○ × Taro”, the correction unit 46 displays the recognition result (character, character type, coordinates, etc.) of the item name “name” of the entry item. The correction history is stored in the correction history DB 47 as a correction history in association with the corrected “○ × Taro”.

  Thereafter, when the item name of the entry item such as the name of the applicant is selected and the same reading area (OCR recognition target area) as the one that has been corrected is designated (step S704), the correction unit 46 corrects the correction history. The corrected recognition result stored in the DB 47 is read out, displayed as the current recognition result in the display field 73 (step S705), and stored in the recognition result storage unit 43.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, when there is an error in the recognition result of character recognition, the recognition result is corrected by the correction unit 46 and stored in the correction history DB 47 as the correction history of the recognition result. When a new reading area is designated with the same item as the above, the corrected recognition result “○ × Taro” stored in the correction history DB 47 is read, and the item name of the entry item of the present “applicant name” is recognized. As a result, by displaying “○ × Taro” in the display field 73, the previous correction history can be utilized, the number of corrections by manual operation can be reduced, the work burden on the operator is reduced, and the work efficiency is improved. be able to.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the third embodiment, the same components as those in the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 16, the third embodiment is an example in which the camera unit 2 is not provided as a component of the image acquisition unit 10 of the tablet terminal 1.

  In this case, the storage 13 is provided outside the tablet terminal 1, the form A is captured in advance by image acquisition means such as the digital camera 2 a and the scanner 9, and the obtained form image 71 is stored in the storage 13. deep. As the storage 13, for example, a network storage such as a cloud service in addition to a hard disk device or a flash memory is used.

  When performing a character reading operation using the tablet terminal 1, the form image writing unit 11 accesses the external storage 13 via the network 7 or a communication cable when acquiring an image in the tablet terminal 1, and forms a processing target. An image 71 is acquired and written in the form image DB 12. The following operations are the same as those in the first and second embodiments.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, a tablet terminal 1 or the like without a camera function can read characters using a form image obtained from the form A in another place, and can be operated by a plurality of people. Can be shared.

(Fourth embodiment)
Subsequently, the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. In the fourth embodiment, the same components as those in the first to third embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the form reading system of the fourth embodiment includes a tablet terminal 1 as an electronic device or a portable terminal, an external system 8 connected to the tablet terminal 1 via a network 7, and a network 7 And an external character recognition system 82 (for example, a system that exists as a cloud service) connected via the Internet.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the tablet terminal 1 includes an image acquisition unit 10, a screen control unit 20, a character recognition request unit 401, a character recognition confirmation unit 402, and an entry information update unit 50. The tablet terminal 1 and the network 7 are connected to each other. The external character recognition system 82 connected via the interface includes a character recognition unit 811, an entry item definition DB 8141, a character type dictionary DB 8142, and a verify unit 8145.

  The character recognition requesting unit 401 cuts out a part of the form image based on the form image specified by the OCR target form receiving unit 23 and the entry item coordinates specified by the OCR target entry item area receiving unit 25. Image cutout unit 4011, a cutout image data file cut out by the image cutout unit 4011 (hereinafter referred to as “cutout image file”), and entry item items designated by the OCR target entry item receiving unit 24 And a character recognition request transmission / reception unit 4012 that requests the external character recognition system 81 connected to a network or the like to perform character recognition.

Next, the operation of the form reading system according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 13 and FIG.
First, the operation of the image acquisition unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, the camera unit 2 captures the form A (step S201), and the captured form image 71 is written into the form image DB 12 by the form image writing unit 11 (step S202).

  When all of the target forms have been photographed (Yes in step S203), the process ends. If all of the target forms have not been photographed (No in step S203), the process returns to step S201 to perform the process. repeat.

  Next, the operation of the screen control unit 20 will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, when the operator taps a form image reading button (not shown) on the entry screen 70, the form image reading unit 21 reads one or more form images 71 stored in the form image DB 12 (step S301). The thumbnail list of the form image 71 is displayed on the entry screen 70 of the touch panel 3 (step S302).

  Here, when the operator selects a desired thumbnail from the thumbnail list on the entry screen 70 and taps the touch panel 3 (designates a thumbnail), the OCR target form accepting unit 23 accepts the designation of the thumbnail (step S303), The form image 71 corresponding to the designated thumbnail is determined as an OCR target (step S304), and displayed for operation on almost the entire entry screen 70 (see FIG. 7).

  Subsequently, when the operator selects the item name check box 72 on the entry screen 70 and taps it with his / her finger to specify the item name of the entry item, the OCR target entry item receiving unit 24 specifies the item name of the OCR target entry item. Is accepted (step S305).

  Here, as shown in FIG. 11, when the operator taps the OCR portion of the form image 71 on the touch panel 3 (entry screen 70) with a finger and designates the reading area (starting point) with a point, the entry item for OCR The area receiving unit 25 receives the pointed position, and displays a frame line 80 surrounding the character image in a certain direction (horizontal direction) from the position (step S306).

  Next, operations of the character recognition request unit 401 and the character recognition confirmation unit 402 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The image cutout unit 4011 of the character recognition requesting unit 401 cuts out a character image from the form image 71 based on the coordinates of the reading area specified by the frame line 80 and creates a cutout image file (step S5001). The character recognition request transmitting / receiving unit 4012 transmits the cut image file and the item name of the entry item received by the OCR target entry item receiving unit 24 to the external character recognition system 81 via the network, and requests character recognition ( Step S5002).

  The external character recognition system 81 recognizes the cut-out image file received from the tablet terminal 1 with the character recognition unit 811, associates the recognition result character data with the item name of the target entry item, and enters the entry item definition body DB 8141. Read the dictionary of the character type from the definition information 1 (character type, for example, kanji), definition information 2 (number of characters, for example, 20) of the corresponding item name (for example, name) of the entry item definition body, and the character type dictionary DB 8142, The character recognition result is confirmed with reference (step S5004), and the confirmed recognition result is verified (step S5005). After the verify process, the entry item name and the character data are transmitted to the character recognition request transmission / reception unit 4012 of the tablet terminal 1 via the network (step S5006).

  The entry item content generation unit 4021 of the character recognition determination unit 402 generates and determines the received recognition result character data and the item name of the entry item in association with each other (step S5007), and the character data of the recognition result as the entry item. Is displayed in the display field 73 corresponding to

  Note that the processing after the entry information update unit is as described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, character recognition is performed by an external character recognition system by configuring character recognition outside the tablet terminal 1, for example, with a character recognition system existing on the cloud service. The processing in the tablet terminal 1 can be realized more lightly.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, the above embodiment is presented as an example, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The above-described embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

  In the above embodiment, the reading area is specified by pointing at one point. However, as shown in FIG. 20, for example, a slide operation function which is one of touch operation functions of the tablet terminal 1 is used. Then, by designating the start point and end point of the reading area by successive finger movements, the reading area may be specified by displaying a frame line 80 surrounding the character image in the range between the start point and the end point.

  In this case, when the reading area exceeds a prescribed size, there is an advantage that the area designation error is reduced compared to the automatic area designation as in the first embodiment (FIG. 11).

  In addition, for example, the range may be specified by sliding the finger so as to trace the periphery of the character image.

  In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been given in the order of specifying the character recognition target area after the operator specifies the item name of the entry item on the entry screen 70. You may comprise in the order of specifying the item name of an item.

  In the above embodiment, the tablet terminal 1 having the touch panel 3 in which the display function and the input function are integrated has been described as an example. However, in addition to this, for example, a notebook computer having a separate display function and an input function, an LCD A computer or display device having a configuration in which a display device such as a panel and an input device such as a keyboard are separately prepared and connected externally, or an input device such as a keyboard, mouse, and pointing device is provided and only the display device is externally connected It may be a computer having a configuration in which only the input device is externally connected.

  Further, in the above embodiment, each component is realized by a program installed in a memory of a tablet (computer). However, the above program is stored in a computer-readable electronic medium: electronic media, and the program is stored in the electronic medium. The computer may realize the functions of the present invention by causing the computer to read the information. Examples of the electronic medium include recording media such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, flash memory, removable media, and the like. Further, the configuration may be realized by distributing and storing components in different computers connected via a network, and communicating between computers in which the components are functioning.

  In the above embodiment, an example in which the form image acquisition function to the character recognition and correction function, the entry function to the external system 8 and the like are accommodated in the tablet terminal 1 and the example in which the character recognition function is realized by the external character recognition system 81 will be described. However, the tablet terminal 1 may accommodate a form image acquisition function and realize other functions (image processing, image segmentation, character recognition) with the external character recognition system 81. Also, some functions, such as a correction function, may be realized by an external system (such as a cloud service).

  Further, only the functions of the camera unit 2, the touch panel 3, and the web browser (communication interface) may be mounted on the tablet terminal 1, and other functions may be realized by the external system 8 (cloud service or the like).

  A ... Form, 1 ... Tablet terminal, 2 ... Camera unit, 3 ... Touch panel, 5 ... Memory, 6 ... Communication interface (communication I / F), 7 ... Network, 8 ... External system, 9 ... Scanner, 10 ... Image acquisition , 11 ... Form image writing part, 12 ... Form image database (form image DB), 13 ... Storage, 20 ... Screen control part, 21 ... Form image reading part, 22 ... Screen generation part, 23 ... OCR target form reception , 24... OCR target entry item receiving unit, 25... OCR target entry item area receiving unit, 40... Character recognition unit, 43... Recognition result storage unit, 44. Entry information update unit 52 Entry information writing unit 53 Entry information transmission unit 41 Entry item definition database (entry item definition DB) 42 ... Character type dictionary database (character type dictionary DB), 47 ... Correction history database (correction history DB), 51 ... Entry information database (entry information DB), 81 ... External character recognition system, 401 ... Character recognition request unit, 402 ... Character Recognition confirmation unit, 811 ... Character recognition unit, 8141 ... Entry item definition database (entry item definition database), 8142 ... Character type dictionary database (character type dictionary DB), 8145 ... Verification unit, 4011 ... Image cropping unit, 4012 ... Character recognition request transmission / reception unit, 4021 ... entry item content generation unit, 4022 ... entry item database (entry item DB).

Claims (13)

In the form reading device that reads characters from the form image obtained by optically reading the form,
A screen control unit for outputting a screen having a display field for displaying the image of the form, the item name of the character data to be read from the image of the form, and the recognition result character data corresponding to the item name;
When a desired item name and an area to be read corresponding to the item name are designated by the input operation on the screen, the image portion of the designated area is recognized as characters, and the obtained recognition result character data is obtained. A character reading apparatus comprising: a character recognition unit that stores the item name in association with the item name and displays the recognition result character data in a display column of the recognition result character data.   The form reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a touch panel that displays the screen and enables an input operation by touching the screen. The character recognition unit
The form reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein character data obtained as a result of character recognition, item name information, and area position information are stored in association with each other.   The form reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a correction unit that stores the corrected recognition result character data when the character data displayed in the display field is corrected. The correction unit is
2. The form according to claim 1, wherein, when the same area as before is designated during character recognition, the stored recognition result history is referred to and the recognition result character data read from the history is displayed in the display field. Reader. The character recognition unit
2. A verify unit that compares the character type and / or number of characters of character data obtained as a result of character recognition with a character type and / or number of characters for each item name set in advance, and outputs an alert if they do not match. The form reading device described. The screen control unit
The form reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a region image surrounding a character image existing at the position is set as a recognition target area by designating a desired position of the image of the form by an input operation. The screen control unit
The form reading device according to claim 1, wherein an area to be recognized is specified based on a designated start point and end point of the form image. A camera unit for optically reading the form to obtain an image of the form;
A form image storage unit for storing an image of the form obtained by the camera unit;
The form reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a form image reading unit that reads out an image of the form stored in the form image storage unit and outputs the image to the screen. In a form reading device that reads character data from a form image obtained by optically reading a form,
A screen control unit for outputting a screen having a display field for displaying an image of the form, an item name of characters to be read from the image of the form, and recognition result character data corresponding to the item name;
When a desired item name and an area to be read corresponding to the item name are designated by an input operation on the screen, image information of the designated area is transmitted to an external character recognition system to request character recognition. And a character recognition requesting unit for displaying the recognition result character data obtained from the external system in a display column for the recognition result character data. In a computer that reads characters from the image of the form obtained by optically reading the form,
The computer,
A screen controller for outputting a screen having a display field for displaying the image of the form, the item name of the character to be read from the image of the form, and the recognition result character data corresponding to the item name;
When a desired item name and an area to be read corresponding to the item name are designated by an input operation on the screen by the input unit, the image portion of the designated area is character-recognized and obtained recognition A program that stores result character data in association with the item name and that functions as a character recognition unit that displays the recognition result character data in a display field of the recognition result character data. A form reading system in which a terminal device and a character recognition device are connected via a network,
The terminal device
An image acquisition unit for acquiring a form image;
A character recognition target item receiving unit for specifying an item name to be a character recognition target for the form image acquired by the image acquisition unit;
A target item area information receiving unit for specifying a character recognition area of the form image corresponding to the specified item name;
A target entry item receiving unit for specifying target item name information;
An image cutout unit that cuts out an image of the character recognition area specified by the target item area information reception unit;
A character recognition request transmission / reception unit that transmits the image file cut out by the image cutout unit and the item name specified by the target entry item reception unit to the character recognition device, and requests character recognition;
A character recognition confirmation unit for confirming the recognition result character data received from the character recognition device as the item content character data;
The character recognition device includes:
A form reading system comprising: a character recognition unit that character-recognizes an image file transmitted from the terminal device and transmits the recognition result character data to the terminal device together with the item name. Connecting the terminal device, the character recognition device, and an external system via a network;
The terminal device
An entry information database for storing the identified item name and the item content character data corresponding to the item name determined by the character recognition determination unit in association with each other;
The form reading system according to claim 12, further comprising an entry information transmitting unit that transmits information in the entry information database to the external system.

Images