JP2016024488A - Image processing apparatus and method of controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To create a name of a folder/file for managing an electronic document, by use of a character string intended by a user, when a manuscript is converted into an electronic document.SOLUTION: An image processing apparatus includes: input means for inputting multiple pieces of image data; specifying means for specifying a position of a character string included in input first image data; determination means which determines coincidence between a first character string in the first image data corresponding to the specified position and a second character string in second image data corresponding to the specified position; and storage means which stores the first image data and the second image data in the same folder when the determination means determines that the first character string coincides with the second character string, and stores the first image data and the second image date in different folders when the determination means determines that the first character string does not coincide with the second character string.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that generates an electronic document using image data and a control method for the image processing apparatus.

Image data obtained by reading a paper document with an image processing apparatus can be digitized and stored in a storage unit inside the apparatus. Conventionally, when storing digitized image data in this way, a character string in which a serial number is added to the header information and character string unique to the device, the file name of the digitized image data file, and this file It is often applied to the folder name of the folder where the file is saved. For this reason, when the user of the image processing apparatus wants to specify an arbitrary folder name or file name for the folder or file to be saved, input the file name or folder name from the operation panel of the apparatus. I need.
Therefore, in Patent Document 1, when the image data read by the image processing apparatus is digitized and saved, the name of the folder in which the digitized image data is saved or the name of the digitized image data file and the document. A method for improving the convenience of the user by increasing the correlation is disclosed.

  In the method, if a character or character string can be recognized at a predetermined position in the read document, the recognized character or character string is used as the file name. If the character or character string is not recognized, the read date is used as the file name. It is shown.

JP 2005-56315 A

  However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, the recognized character or character string may not match the folder name or file name that the user wants to specify. In addition, when the read date / time is a folder name or file name, the contents of the image data obtained by reading the document, the name of the folder that is the save destination when saving the image data, and the save Correlation with the name of the file is difficult.

In order to solve the above problems, an image processing apparatus of the present invention includes an input unit that inputs a plurality of image data,
Designating means for designating the position of a character string included in the first image data input by the input means;
Matching between the first character string in the first image data corresponding to the position designated by the designation means and the second character string in the second image data corresponding to the position designated by the designation means When the determination unit determines that the first character string and the second character string match, the first image data and the second image data are stored in the same folder. Save and
Storage means for storing the first image data and the second image data in different folders when the determination means determines that the first character string and the second character string do not match; It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of image data is digitized, a folder can be constructed in a form corresponding to each of cases where a character string at a position selected by the user matches, does not match, or only partially matches. . As a result, it is possible to increase the correlation between the contents of the input image data and folder (file) management when the input image data is stored.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the first embodiment. The block diagram of a character determination part. The block diagram of an operation panel part. The figure which shows an example of a character determination result. An example of input image data. An example of the display form in the first and second embodiments. An example of folder generation in the first embodiment. The control flow of 1st Example. The control flow of 2nd Example. The control flow of 3rd Example.

[First embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus necessary for implementing this embodiment. The image processing apparatus includes at least a main control unit 40 and an image input unit 10, a storage unit 20, and an operation panel unit 30. In the figure, an image input unit 10 receives image data obtained by optically reading a paper document or image data input via a communication network (not shown). The storage unit 20 stores image data input by the image input unit 10 or control information of the main control unit 40. The operation panel unit 30 includes an input unit that gives an operation instruction to the image processing apparatus and a display unit that displays an operation state. FIG. 3 shows a detailed configuration of the operation panel unit 30. In FIG. 3, the display unit 301 is configured by a touch panel, for example. The numeric keypad 302 sets setting items related to the operation, and the start key 303 is pressed when receiving an operation start instruction to the image processing apparatus. A stop key 304 is a key for instructing to stop the operation of the image processing apparatus. A reset key 305 is used for initialization of settings by the numeric keypad 302. An operation mode setting key 306 is a key for instructing setting of an operation mode of the image processing apparatus. Note that these keys are not limited to hard keys, and may be soft keys configured on the display unit 301.

  The main control unit 40 in FIG. 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM storing a CPU startup program, a RAM as an execution area of the program, and an intermediate data storage generated from image data input in the past. The storage includes an HDD, an SSD, and an input / output interface (all not shown). The main control unit 40 controls the image input unit 10, the storage unit 20, and the operation panel unit 30.

  In addition, the main control unit 40 includes a character determination unit 401 that determines characters included in the image data input from the image input unit 10, a matching part based on layout positions of a plurality of input image data, or a different part A match determination unit 402 for determining Furthermore, the main control unit 40 controls the information displayed on the display unit 301 configured on the operation panel unit 30 according to the determination result by the coincidence determination unit 402, and the content displayed by the control of the display control unit 403. A folder generation unit 404 that generates a folder in response to the selection of.

  FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the character determination unit 401. The character determination unit 401 is mainly configured based on an OCR (Optical Character Reader). OCR is optical character recognition. If the input image data is data obtained by optically reading a paper document, characters are identified by matching the data extracted from the input image data with a pre-stored pattern and converted to text data Output. Therefore, the character determination unit 401 includes a layout analysis unit 4011, a cutout unit 4012, a feature extraction unit 4013, a collation unit 4014, a dictionary unit 4015, and a temporary storage unit 4016, which are processing units that constitute the OCR.

  If the input image data is image data obtained via a communication network, a text data analysis unit (not shown) that analyzes text data included in the image data may be configured.

  The layout analysis unit 4011 separates the image data input from the image input unit 10 into a character area and an image area, analyzes the cluster arrangement of the character area, and determines the character recognition order. When a plurality of pages of image data configured in the same form are input, the layout analysis unit 4011 analyzes that the arrangement result of the character area and the image area configured in the image data of each page is the same. Therefore, the order of character recognition in each image data is the same.

  That is, according to the analysis result of the layout analysis unit 4011, if the subsequent character data conversion is performed, it is possible to determine the character data, character string matching location, and different location between image data in a plurality of pages.

  The cutout unit 4012 first divides the chunk of the character area detected by the layout analysis unit 4011 into one line, and further decomposes the divided character area into one character. The feature extraction unit 4013 extracts features of the divided characters, for example, what lines are formed in the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, and the diagonal direction. The collation unit 4014 collates the feature extracted by the feature extraction unit 4013 with the information stored in the dictionary unit 4015, and converts the character data into text data. The text data determined by the collation by the collation unit 4014 is stored in the temporary storage unit 4016. Note that when the input image data is image data obtained via a communication network, the text data is already included in the image data, and thus the text data is stored in the temporary storage unit 4016.

  A storage configuration in the temporary storage unit 4016 will be described with reference to another drawing. FIG. 4A shows an example of the acquired image data. By the analysis of the layout analysis unit 4011, the character region in the image data shown in FIG. 4A is analyzed as a layout shown in 4 (A) to 4 (M) in the drawing. The cutout unit 4012 cuts out one line at a time in order from the smallest character group number, and cuts out one character at a time. Character features of the extracted character data are extracted by the feature extraction unit 4013 and converted to text data by collation with information in the dictionary unit 4015 by the collation unit 4014. At this time, if the configuration stored in the storage unit 4016 is a one-line configuration sandwiched between blank regions (white data regions) of converted text data, the storage unit 4016 has a configuration as shown in FIG. Remembered.

  When the process of converting the image data obtained by reading one original into text data is completed, the main control unit 40 uses the text data stored in the temporary storage unit 4016 to generate intermediate file data (temporary file data). File data etc.). Next, the main control unit 40 stores the generated intermediate file data in the storage unit 20 in a state associated with the text data read from the temporary storage unit 4016. If the data stored in the temporary storage unit 4016 can be identified in the stored order by referring to the generated intermediate file data, the text data read from the temporary storage unit 4016 is separately stored in the storage unit 20. do not have to.

  The operation of the main control unit 40 will be described with an example of image data. FIGS. 5A to 5C are examples of image data input to the image input unit 10. Both are obtained by reading one page of images of the same document form (same layout configuration) found in the form data and slip data, and some of the description contents are different. For example, the character string of “Invoice”, the character string of “Gochu” after the billing party, the company name and address of the billing source are all the same. On the other hand, the amount to the billing destination and the contents of the charge column are different.

  5 (a) to FIG. 5 (c) and FIG. 5 (g) are extracted from the image data and stored in the temporary storage unit 4016. The determination results performed by the character determination unit 401 are respectively shown in FIG. d) to FIG. 5 (f), (h). The main control unit 40 stores the text data of FIGS. 5D to 5F and 5H stored in the temporary storage unit 4016, and FIGS. 5A to 5C and 5G. The computerized intermediate file data is stored in the storage unit 20. In this embodiment, after all the character data extracted from FIG. 5A to FIG. 5C and FIG. 5G input to the image input unit 10 are converted into text data, the text is stored in the temporary storage unit 4016. Data was read out and stored in the storage unit 20. However, the control of the storage unit 20 by the main control unit 40 is not limited to this. That is, control may be performed so that the text data stored in the temporary storage unit 4016 is stored in the storage unit 20 for each image data input to the image input unit 10.

  When the determination control performed by the character determination unit 401 ends, the main control unit 40 performs display control by the display control unit 403. In the display control, the determination result by the character determination unit 401 is reflected on the intermediate file data obtained by digitizing the image data input to the image input unit 10. FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a display state of the operation panel unit 30 when the input image data of FIG. 5A is a display target.

  Note that the display method is not limited to the method 601 in which each area shown in FIG. 6 is enclosed by a rectangle. For example, text information obtained from image data is listed without displaying all input image data. You may display the thing.

  When the display control by the display control unit 403 ends, the main control unit 40 waits for selection of the display on the display unit 301. The method for selecting the displayed layout depends on the function of the display unit 301.

  If the display unit 301 is a touch panel, the main control unit 40 switches control according to the pressed item and the pressed coordinate position. When the display unit 301 is not a touch panel, the main control unit 40 switches control according to the selection result of an item by key operation (not shown) configured on the operation panel unit 30.

The main control unit 40 performs matching determination control of the item pressed on the display unit 301. In the coincidence determination control by the main control unit 40, the coincidence determination unit 402 extracts position information extracted from each input image data stored in the storage unit 20 and text data included in each. Then, when the input image data matches the text data at the common position and matches, it is determined that they match.
Information regarding the position of the text data in the image data is included in the text data.

  Details of the match determination and the mismatch determination will be described. When the item pressed on the display unit 301 is the “AAA Gochu” portion of FIG. 5A, the range 502 shown in FIG. 5D, and (e), (f), (h The coincidence determination unit 402 determines whether or not the ranges 502 included in () match.

  The text data in the range 502 in FIG. 5D is different in content from the text data in the range 502 in FIGS. On the other hand, it is determined that the content matches the text data in the range 502 in FIG. That is, the text data arranged in the range 502 shown in FIGS. 5D, 5E, 5F, and 5H are not all coincident (non-coincidence), but FIG. And the text data located in the range 502 of (h) are determined to match.

  Note that the match determination by the match determination unit 402 may not be complete match of the text data stored in the storage unit 20. The conversion of character data into text data by OCR is based on collation between the characteristics of the character data extracted by the feature extraction unit 4013 and the data stored in the dictionary unit 4015. May be accompanied by misjudgment. Therefore, the final matching determination may be performed based on the number of matching determinations for the character string. For example, when text data for 8 characters matches text data for 10 characters, control may be performed so that these character strings are determined to match.

  The main control unit 40 performs control using the matched character string when the text data in the common area selected in each input image data matches, and in the case of mismatch, the selected mismatch determination position Control using the mismatched character string corresponding to.

  In this embodiment, the folder generation method for storing the digitized result of the input image data by the folder generation unit 404 is determined according to whether the text data at the selected location matches or does not match in each input image data. To perform switching control.

  Also, the text data at the selected location is not all the same in each input image data, but the folder generation method for saving the digitized result of the input image data is switched even when there is a partial match. .

  Hereinafter, this folder generation method will be described. FIG. 7A shows the case where the input image data is that shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C and matches the character string “invoice” in the common area selected in each input image data. It is a folder generation control result by the folder generation unit 404. The folder generation unit 404 uses the matched character string at the selected common position as a folder name to be generated in the storage unit 20. For example, if the character string in the selected area is “invoice”, “invoice” is set as the folder name (701). Further, the intermediate file data after digitizing the image data input by the image input unit 10 is stored as an integrated file (one file) in the generated folder. That is, the intermediate files shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are integrated, and names using character strings that are determined to match at the common position of each image data are added. The final digitized file (702) is stored in the folder.

  Note that the file name stored in the storage unit 20 may also be a character string that is in the selected area and determined to match in each input image data. For example, in the case of the “invoice”, a file name (eg, invoice_001) in which a serial number or the like is added to the “invoice”. By controlling in this way, it is possible to easily generate a folder name and a file name using a character string intended by the user.

  Next, the control of the folder generation unit 404 when the character string in the selected area with respect to the input image data does not match in the plurality of input image data will be described.

  FIG. 7B shows the case where the input image data is the area shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C and the character strings in the areas of the input image data corresponding to the selected area are all determined to be inconsistent. This is a folder generation control result by the folder generation unit 404.

  When the text data in the selected area is an area determined to be inconsistent in each input image data, the folder generation unit 404 determines that the name given to each folder generated in the storage unit 20 is this mismatch. The character string in the specified area is used.

  In this embodiment, in each input image data, the character strings corresponding to the selected area are “AAA Co., Ltd.”, “BBB Co., Ltd.”, and “CCC Contractor”. Therefore, folder names (703, 704, 705) are assigned to the respective folders using the character strings determined to be inconsistent. For example, folder names such as “AAA Co., Ltd.”, “BBB Co., Ltd.”, and “CCC Contractor” are assigned to each folder.

  Further, when the text data in the selected area is an area determined to be inconsistent in each input image data, the image data input by the image input unit 10 is digitized and generated as separate files. It may be stored in a folder. That is, if the input image data is FIG. 5 (a), the input image data shown in FIG. 5 (a) is digitized in the folder having the folder name “AAA Inc.” and the intermediate file data (706). Remember. Similarly, if the input image data is FIG. 5B, the input image data shown in FIG. 5B is digitized in the folder having the folder name “BBB Co., Ltd.”, and this intermediate file data ( 707) is stored. Similarly, if the input image data is FIG. 5 (c), the input image data shown in FIG. 5 (c) is digitized in the folder having the folder name “CCC Engineering” and this intermediate file data ( 708).

  In addition, regarding the file name assigned to the file stored in each created folder, each character string that is in the selected area and determined to be inconsistent in each input image data may be used. For example, in the case of the input image data shown in FIG. 5A, a file name in which a serial number or the like is assigned to “AAA” in a folder whose folder name is “AAA” (eg, AAA — 001). Store files with That is, the intermediate file data is renamed and stored. By controlling in this way, a folder having a folder name using a character string intended by the user can be generated. Appropriate file names can be assigned to files stored in this folder.

  Next, the input image data is shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C and FIG. 5G, and the character string in the selected region with respect to the input image data only partially matches in the plurality of input image data. The control of the folder generation unit 404 will be described.

  In other words, the character strings in the areas of the input image data corresponding to the selected area are selected as “AAA Co., Ltd.”, “BBB Co., Ltd.”, “CCC Corporation”, “AAA Corporation”, etc. The control when only a part of the character strings in the designated area matches will be described.

At this time, input image data not having a character string common to other input image data is stored in a folder generated as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 7C, folders with the folder names “BBB Corporation” (704) and “CCC Contractor” (705) are generated by the folder generation unit 404 and stored in the folders. On the other hand, input image data having a character string common to other input image data is stored in a folder generated as follows. That is, the folder generation unit 404 generates a folder with the folder name “AAA Co., Ltd.” (703) as shown in FIG. 7C and stores it in the same folder. Therefore, it is stored as a separate file in this folder. Alternatively, they are stored together in one file in the same folder. The generated file is indicated by reference numerals 709 and 710 in FIG. 7C or 711 in FIG.

  Note that the file name assigned to the file stored in each created folder is also in the selected area and the character string determined to match and the character string determined to be inconsistent in each input image data. May be used.

  For example, if the character string in the area selected for the input image data shown in FIGS. 5A and 5G is “AAA”, the folder name is “AAA”. A file with a file name such as a serial number is stored in “AAA Corporation”. For example, file names such as AAA_001, Inc. and AAA_002, Inc. are used.

  That is, the intermediate file data is renamed and stored. By controlling in this way, a folder having a folder name using a character string intended by the user can be generated. Appropriate file names can be assigned to files stored in this folder.

  Next, the control flow of the main control unit 40 will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a control flow in the first embodiment. The processing in each step of this flow is to read a computer-executable program describing the following procedure from the ROM (405) onto the RAM (406) and then execute the program by the CPU (407). Implemented by:

  When the user selects an operation mode for digitizing the acquired image data in step S101, the process proceeds to step S102. In step S102, the image input unit 10 acquires image data. The acquired image data is scanned image data if it is accompanied by optical reading, and is received data if it is input via a communication network. In step S103, the image input unit 10 determines whether image data of all pages has been input. If the image input unit 10 determines that image data of all pages has been input, the process proceeds to step S104. move on. In step S104, character determination processing by the character determination unit 401 is performed. The character determination processing by the character determination unit 401 performs layout analysis, data cutout, feature extraction, verification, and verification result storage for each piece of image data input by the image input unit 10.

  In step S105, an operation mode for digitizing the image data selected by the user is determined. If it is determined in step S105 that the character string matching determination result at the position common to the image data of all pages is not used in the operation mode in which the image data is digitized, the process proceeds to step S111. In step S111, the folder name of the folder to be generated is set to a predetermined folder name set in advance, such as one using date and time. Then, an electronic file using text data obtained by the character determination unit 401 is stored in the generated folder.

  If it is determined that the operation mode set by the user in step S105 uses the character string matching determination result at a position common to the image data of all pages, the process proceeds to step S106.

  In step S106, the display control unit 403 displays the layout result, and the user selects an area having a character string to be used as a folder name. In the next step S107, a match determination process by the match determination unit 402 is performed on the character string in the selected area.

  If it is determined in step S107 that the character strings in the selected area do not match all the input image data, the process proceeds to step S108.

  In step S <b> 108, the match determination unit 402 determines whether there is a set of matching character strings in the character strings that do not match all of the input image data.

If there is even one set of matching character strings in step S108, the process proceeds to step S109.
In step S109, the folder generation unit 404 is in the selected area and has a folder name using a folder name using text data acquired as a character string that has no character string that matches the character string of the other input image data ( 704 and 705) of FIG. 7 are generated. In addition, a folder (703 in FIG. 7) is generated with the text data acquired as a character string that does not match all the character strings in the other input image data but partially matches, as a folder name.

  Further, the folder generation unit 404 assigns different file names (709, 710) to the acquired text data and stores them as separate files in the folder (703). Alternatively, the acquired text data is named and stored as one file (711) in the generated folder (703).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S108 that the character string in the selected area does not match at least one of the character strings that do not all match in the plurality of input image data, Proceed to step S110. In step S110, the generation unit 404 generates, in the storage unit 20, folders each having a name using a character string in the selected area in each input image data.

  If the character strings in the areas selected in the plurality of image data in step S107 match, the process proceeds to step S112. In step S112, the generation unit 404 generates a folder having a name using the selected character string in the storage unit 20.

  The generated folder may be stored in the storage unit 20, or may be stored in a memory connected to the image processing apparatus in the present embodiment.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when a plurality of image data configured in the same form such as a form is digitized, the character strings at positions selected by the user match or do not match, Folders can be constructed in a form corresponding to each case where only the copies match. As a result, it is possible to increase the correlation between the contents of the input image data and folder (file) management when the input image data is stored.

  Furthermore, the name of the file stored in the folder and the stored form are also adapted to match, match, or partially match the character strings selected by the user.

  Therefore, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the digitization of image data and the visibility after digitization.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the folder structure is determined depending on whether or not all the character strings in the area selected by the user match in each area of the plurality of input image data. The file structure, folder name, and file name were appropriately controlled.

  In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which a user selects a region after performing a match determination on a character string in the selected region.

  A description will be given with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9 focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. The processing in each step of this flow is to read a computer-executable program describing the following procedure from the ROM (405) onto the RAM (406) and then execute the program by the CPU (407). Implemented by:

  Steps prior to step S205 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and will be omitted.

  If it is determined in step S205 that the operation mode set by the user does not use a character string match determination result for a position common to all image data, the process proceeds to step S212.

  In step S212, the folder name to be generated is a predetermined name. And the digitized file which has a name using the text data obtained by the character determination part 401 is memorize | stored in the produced | generated folder. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S205 that the operation mode set by the user uses a character string match determination result for a position common to all image data, the process proceeds to step S206. In step S <b> 206, a match determination process is performed by the match determination unit 402. When the coincidence determination process by the coincidence determination unit 402 ends, the display control unit 403 of the main control unit 40 performs display control that reflects the result of the determination process.

  The display result by the display control unit 403 of the present embodiment is different from the display result described in the first example. A display result by the display control unit 403 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 6B, all the contents described for the common positions in the image data of the plurality of forms in FIGS. 5A to 5C are all performed by the coincidence determination unit 402. A character string determined to match in the image data is displayed with shading indicated by reference numeral 602. On the other hand, the contents described in the positions common to the image data among the plurality of image data do not match in all the image data (disagreement) in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c), (g). The character string determined as “” is displayed by shading indicated by reference numeral 603. Note that the display method of matching and mismatching is not limited to the above display form, and any display method can be used as long as it can distinguish between a matched character string and a mismatched character string. For example, if the display unit 301 configured in the operation panel unit 30 can display in color, the matched character string and the mismatched character string may be displayed in different colors. Further, if the display unit 301 can display only a single color, a display form such as lighting or blinking may be used.

  Furthermore, it is not necessary to display all the matched character strings and the mismatched character strings as shown in FIG. For example, the storage unit 20 designates (registers) in advance the size of the character (font size) and the length of the character string (the length of the text data) that are to be matched and mismatched. Then, only matching and mismatching character strings corresponding to the designated contents may be displayed in a special form that can be identified. FIG. 6B shows an example of a display form in which a match and a mismatch are displayed in a form that can be identified for a character (font) larger than a predetermined threshold or a character string including the number of characters shorter than the predetermined threshold. It is. First, only characters (fonts) larger than a predetermined threshold value are displayed in a form that can identify matching and mismatching. As a result, the small character string in FIG. 6A is excluded from the target of the character string that is displayed in a form that can identify the match and the mismatch. In addition, only a character string having the number of characters having a length shorter than a predetermined threshold value is displayed in a form in which matching and mismatching can be identified. As a result, long character strings such as dates and fixed phrases in FIG. 6A are excluded from character strings displayed in this form.

  FIG. 6C shows an example of a display state in a case where a character string including only a character string including a designated keyword is displayed as a target of a character string that is displayed in a form that can be identified.

  Thereby, only the characteristic matching character string and the non-matching character string in the input image data are displayed and the convenience at the time of selection can be improved. Note that the keyword in this case is designated in advance and stored in the storage unit 20.

  In step S207, if the user selects a location where there is a character string determined to match the input image data, the process proceeds to step S213. Then, the folder generation unit 404 generates a folder having a name using the selected character string. Then, a single file in which intermediate files of image data of all pages input in this folder are integrated is stored. On the other hand, when a non-matching part is selected in step S207, the process proceeds to step S209.

  Since each process in step S209 to step S212 is the same as each process in step S108 to step S111 of FIG. 8, the description here is omitted.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when a plurality of image data configured in the same form such as a form is digitized, the character string at the position selected by the user matches or does not match or partially Folders can be constructed in a form corresponding to each of the cases where only they match.

  Further, the file name and the stored form when stored in the folder are also adapted to match, mismatch or only partial match of the character string selected by the user.

  Further, when displaying matching and mismatching for character strings included in a plurality of image data, only character strings that satisfy a preset condition are displayed as selection targets. This makes it possible to improve convenience when selecting a character string used for a folder name.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a plurality of pieces of image data configured in the same form are digitized in the past, and after a folder (file) is generated, a file in the case of separately digitizing image data configured in the same form It relates to generation control.

  The configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 and includes an image input unit 10, a storage unit 20, an operation panel unit 30, and a main control unit 40. In the following description, the image data input to the image input unit 10 is the image data shown in FIG.

  Processing performed in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The processing in each step of this flow is to read a computer-executable program describing the following procedure from the ROM (405) onto the RAM (406) and then execute the program by the CPU (407). Implemented by:

  In step S300, a plurality of pieces of image data are input, and a folder is generated using the matching determination result of the character strings at positions common to these image data. Detailed description of this process is omitted because it is the same as the process executed in steps S109 and S110 of FIG.

  In step S301, the folder generation unit 404 checks whether there is already a folder having the same folder name as the folder name of the folder generated in step S300 in the storage unit 20.

  In step S301, if there is an existing folder in the storage unit 20, the process proceeds to step S302. In step S302, the file newly created in S300 is discarded, and the input image data is stored as a separate file in the existing folder. Alternatively, a new file is generated by adding input image data to an existing file. On the other hand, when there is an existing folder in the storage unit 20 in step S301, the process proceeds to step S303. In step S303, the input image data is stored in the folder created in step S300. A case where there is an existing folder will be described with reference to FIGS. If the folder generation unit 404 determines that there is already a folder whose folder name is “AAA”, a new file 701 is generated in this “AAA” folder 703. Alternatively, a new file 711 is generated by adding to the existing file.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, when digitizing a plurality of image data configured in the same form obtained by reading a form or the like, even if a folder or file with the same name already exists, it is selected by the user. A folder is constructed in a form corresponding to the character string at the designated position.

  Furthermore, the name of the file stored in the folder and the stored form are also adapted to match, match, or partially match the character strings selected by the user.

(Other examples)
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (12)

Input means for inputting a plurality of image data;
Designating means for designating the position of a character string included in the first image data input by the input means;
Matching between the first character string in the first image data corresponding to the position designated by the designation means and the second character string in the second image data corresponding to the position designated by the designation means Determining means for determining
If the determination means determines that the first character string and the second character string match, the first image data and the second image data are stored in the same folder;
Storage means for storing the first image data and the second image data in different folders when the determination means determines that the first character string and the second character string do not match; ,
An image processing apparatus comprising:   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image data and the second image data stored in the same folder are stored as different files.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image data and the second image data stored in the same folder are stored as one file. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the folder that stores the image data used by the storage unit is given a folder name using a character string specified by the specification unit. Display control means for displaying the input image data on a display unit;
The display control means displays a character string determined to be matched and a character string determined to be matched and mismatched in different display forms at positions common to each of the plurality of image data. Item 8. The image processing apparatus according to Item 1.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the designation by the designation unit is executed by performing designation for a display unit that displays image data by the display control unit.   The display control means includes a character string that has not been determined to match a character string that has been determined to match among character strings that include characters larger than a predetermined size at a position common to the plurality of image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the display unit is displayed in a different display form.   The display control means, at a position common to the plurality of image data, out of character strings including a number of characters shorter than a predetermined number of characters, a character string that has not been determined to match the character string determined to match The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the display unit is displayed in a different display form.   The display control means displays differently between a character string that is determined to be matched and a character string that is not determined to be matched among character strings that include characters designated in advance at a position common to the plurality of image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image processing apparatus displays the image on the display unit in a form.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data input by the input unit is acquired by reading a document. An input step for inputting a plurality of image data;
A designation step for designating a position of a character string included in the first image data in the input step;
A match between the first character string in the first image data corresponding to the position specified by the specifying step and the second character string in the second image data corresponding to the position specified by the specifying step A determination step for determining
If it is determined in the determination step that the first character string and the second character string match, the first image data and the second image data are stored in the same folder;
A storage step of storing the first image data and the second image data in different folders when the determination step determines that the first character string and the second character string do not match; ,
An image processing method comprising:   A program for causing a computer to execute the image processing method according to claim 11.

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