JP2017027237A - Information processing apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable specification of a language to be a recognition object in OCR processing.SOLUTION: An image reader 16 scans a manuscript to generate document data, and an OCR processor 18 applies OCR processing to the document data to generate character data. The destination (transmission destination) of the data is also chosen. When a default OCR language is associated with the destination in destination information 24, the OCR language is specified as the language to be a recognition object in the OCR processing by the OCR processor 18. When the default OCR language is not associated with the destination, a recognition object language is specified on the basis of destination information on the destination.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program.

  In some cases, document data is generated by reading (scanning) a document, and OCR (optical character recognition) processing (optical character recognition processing) is applied to the document data. In some cases, OCR processing is applied to document data transmitted by facsimile.

  In the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228707, the destination information, subject name, and coordinate information of the description area of the text are stored in the document image. Document data in an area indicated by the coordinate information is extracted from the document data obtained by scanning, and OCR processing is applied to the extracted document data.

  In the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, it is confirmed whether or not the receiving apparatus supports the OCR function when performing facsimile transmission. If the receiving apparatus supports the OCR function, the target area for the OCR processing is It is specified.

JP 2005-244411 A JP 2000165655 A

  When the OCR process is applied, it is generally necessary to select a language to be recognized (for example, English, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.) in advance. As a method for selecting the language, a technique for automatically specifying a recognition target language from target document data is known. However, there are cases where the identification accuracy is low, and there is a problem that the processing time required for the identification increases. Therefore, in general, the language to be recognized is specified by the user. In this case, there is a problem that it takes time and effort for the user.

  An object of the present invention is to identify a language to be recognized in the OCR process without taking time and effort of the user as compared with a case in which the language to be recognized is automatically specified from the data of the target document. There is to do.

  In the invention according to claim 1, when an OCR language is associated with an OCR processing unit that generates character data by applying OCR processing to document data, and a destination selected as a transmission destination of the character data, And an identifying unit that identifies the OCR language as a language to be recognized in the OCR process.

  The invention according to claim 2 further includes storage means for storing destination information related to a destination and OCR language information indicating an OCR language set for the destination in association with each other, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an OCR language associated with a destination selected as a transmission destination of character data is specified as the language to be recognized.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, when the OCR language is not associated with the destination selected as the transmission destination of the character data, the specifying means is destination information relating to the destination of the character data, and the language is specified. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the language to be recognized is specified based on destination information including possible information.

  The invention according to claim 4 further includes output means for outputting information indicating the plurality of languages according to the priority order of the languages when the plurality of languages to be recognized are specified by the specifying means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 5 further includes output means for outputting information indicating the plurality of languages in accordance with the priority order based on the destination information when the plurality of languages to be recognized are specified by the specifying means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

  The invention according to claim 6 further comprises registration means for registering the language specified by the specifying means as an OCR language in association with the destination of the character data. It is an information processing apparatus as described in any one.

  According to a seventh aspect of the invention, the specifying unit specifies the language to be recognized by receiving the document data transmitted by facsimile from another device and processing the source of the document data as the destination. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that the specifying means receives the document data transmitted by facsimile from another device and processes the transfer destination of the document data as the destination, thereby specifying the language to be recognized. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, when an OCR processing unit that generates character data by applying OCR processing to document data and an OCR language is associated with the destination of the character data, Is specified as a language to be recognized in the OCR process.

  According to the first, second, and ninth aspects of the invention, the language to be recognized in the OCR process is specified without taking the user's trouble.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the language to be recognized is specified even when the OCR language is not associated with the destination.

  According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, the language to be recognized can be easily selected.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the language associated with the destination can be used as the language to be recognized from the next time onward.

  According to the seventh and eighth aspects of the present invention, the language to be applied to the OCR process for the document data transmitted by facsimile is specified.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of an address book. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen of the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a figure which shows another example of an address book. It is a figure for demonstrating the correspondence of a character code and a language. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen of the image forming apparatus. FIG.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of an image forming system as an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming system includes an image forming apparatus 10 as an information processing apparatus. The image forming apparatus 10 is connected to a communication path N such as a network. One or a plurality of terminal devices (terminal devices 12A, 12B, 12C as an example) are connected to the communication path N. In addition, when it is not necessary to distinguish terminal device 12A, 12B, 12C, these shall be called "terminal device 12".

  The image forming apparatus 10 as an information processing apparatus includes a scan function (image reading function), an OCR (optical character recognition) function, and a function for transmitting / receiving data to / from other apparatuses. Note that the image forming apparatus 10 may include at least one of a printer function, a copy function, and a facsimile function as a function other than the scan function.

  The terminal device 12 is a device such as a PC (personal computer), a tablet PC, a smartphone, or a mobile phone, and has a function of transmitting and receiving data to and from other devices.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10.

  The communication unit 14 is a communication interface, and has a function of transmitting data to another device and a function of receiving data from another device. The image reading unit 16 is a scanner, and generates document data by scanning (reading) a document. The document data may be a concept including image data.

  The OCR processing unit 18 generates character data by applying OCR processing to document data. The OCR processing unit 18 corresponds to one or a plurality of recognition target languages, and executes OCR processing according to the set recognition target languages. For example, when “Japanese” is set as the recognition target language, the OCR processing unit 18 executes the OCR process using Japanese as the recognition target language. In the present embodiment, for example, document data is generated by scanning, and character data is generated by applying OCR processing to the document data. Then, the communication unit 14 transmits the document data and the character data to the terminal device 12 designated as the destination.

  The UI unit 20 is a user interface and includes a display unit and an operation unit. The display unit is a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and the operation unit is an input device such as an operation panel.

  The storage unit 22 is a storage device such as a hard disk. The storage unit 22 stores destination information 24. The destination information 24 is information indicating a data destination (transmission destination), and is created by, for example, an administrator and stored in the storage unit 22. The destination information 24 includes attribute information related to the destination, such as a destination name, company name, fax number, e-mail address, and server account to be used, and these attribute information are associated with each other. The destination information 24 includes one or a plurality of destinations, and each piece of attribute information is registered for each destination. Further, the destination information 24 may include OCR language information indicating a default OCR language as attribute information. The default OCR language is a default language that is a recognition target in the OCR process, and can be said to be an example of a recognition target language candidate. For example, a default OCR language may be associated with each destination. Of course, the default OCR language may not be associated with the destination. The storage unit 22 may store data such as document data.

  The control unit 26 controls the operation of each unit of the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 26 includes an OCR language specifying unit 28 and a registration unit 30.

  The OCR language specifying unit 28 has a function of specifying a language to be recognized in OCR processing. For example, in the destination information 24, when the default OCR language is associated with the destination selected as the data transmission destination, the OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the default OCR language as the recognition target language. When the default OCR language is not associated with the selected destination, the OCR language specifying unit 28 estimates the recognition target language based on the attribute information included in the destination information 24. The processing by the OCR language specifying unit 28 will be described in detail with reference to the drawings after FIG.

  The registration unit 30 has a function of registering a destination in the image forming apparatus 10. For example, when each attribute information of the destination is input by the administrator or the like using the UI unit 20, the registration unit 30 causes the storage unit 22 to store the destination information 24 including the input attribute information. Further, the registration unit 30 has a function of registering a default OCR language as a destination. By this registration processing, information indicating the default OCR language is added to the destination information 24.

  The facsimile unit 32 has a function of receiving document data transmitted by facsimile from another apparatus and a function of transmitting document data by facsimile to another apparatus.

  Next, processing performed by the image forming apparatus 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Here, a case where the scan OCR process is executed will be described. When the scan OCR process is executed, the document is scanned to generate document data, the OCR process is applied to the document data to generate character data, and the terminal device in which the document data and the character data are designated as destinations 12 is transmitted.

  First, a document is set on the image forming apparatus 10, and a setting screen is displayed on the UI unit 20 under the control of the control unit 26. On the setting screen, the scan OCR processing function is selected by the user (S01).

  Next, under the control of the control unit 26, the address book (destination information 24) is displayed on the setting screen. Then, the target destination is selected by the user from the plurality of destinations included in the address book (S02).

  When the default OCR language is associated with the selected destination in the address book (destination information 24) (S03, Yes), the OCR language specifying unit 28 recognizes the default OCR language in the OCR process. The target language is specified (S04). The information indicating the identified language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate, for example.

  On the other hand, when the default OCR language is not associated with the selected destination in the destination information 24 (S03, No), the OCR language specifying unit 28 sets the attribute information of the destination (for example, destination name, fax number). The recognition target language is estimated based on the email address domain, etc. (S05). The OCR language specifying unit 28 estimates a recognition target language based on, for example, a character code used in a destination name, a domain of an e-mail address, or the like. The information indicating the estimated language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate, for example. Destination attribute information (for example, destination name, fax number, domain of e-mail address, etc.) corresponds to information that can specify the OCR language. As another example, when the default OCR language associated with the selected destination is a language that the OCR processing unit 18 does not support, the recognition target language may be estimated by the process of step S05.

  Next, when the execution of the scan OCR process is instructed by the user, the document is scanned by the image reading unit 16, thereby generating document data (S06). Then, the OCR processing unit 18 applies the OCR processing to the document data, thereby generating character data (S07). As an example, the OCR process is executed using the language specified in step S04 or S05 as the recognition target language. Even when the language is specified in step S04 or S05, a language other than the specified language may be designated as a recognition target language by the user. In this case, the OCR process is executed using the language designated by the user as the recognition target language. Next, the document data and the character data are transmitted to the terminal device 12 designated as the destination (S08). Only character data may be transmitted to the destination, or only document data may be transmitted.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the default OCR language is associated with the selected destination, the default OCR language is specified as a recognition target language candidate and presented to the user. If the default OCR language is not associated with the selected destination, a recognition target language candidate is estimated from the attribute information of the destination and presented to the user. In this way, the recognition target language is automatically specified in accordance with the selection of the destination. In addition, when the OCR process is executed using the identified recognition target language, the user does not have to select the recognition target language, so that the user's effort is reduced.

  Specific examples will be described below.

Example 1
Example 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that a default OCR language is associated with a destination selected as a data transmission destination.

  FIG. 4 shows an address book as an example of the destination information 24. The address book includes a destination name (name of the destination), a surname, a first name, a company name (name of the company to which the destination person belongs), a fax number, an e-mail address, a server account used, an OCR language, and the like. Attribute information relating to the destination of the destination is included, and these attribute information are associated with each other. Each attribute information is registered in the image forming apparatus 10 in advance by, for example, an administrator. For example, a destination registration screen is displayed on the UI unit 20, and an administrator or the like inputs each piece of attribute information for each destination on the destination registration screen. The registration unit 30 stores the input information as destination information 24 in the storage unit 22. The address book (destination information 24) includes one or a plurality of destinations, and each piece of attribute information is registered for each destination. The destination shown in FIG. 4 is associated with OCR language information indicating the OCR language (Japanese as an example). This OCR language is a default language used for OCR processing. This OCR language information is information registered in advance by an administrator or the like. For example, an OCR language is set for each destination, and OCR language information is associated with each destination. Of course, OCR language information may not be associated with the destination. In the address book, a plurality of destinations may be registered for the same person. In this case, the same or different default OCR language may be associated with each destination, or the default OCR language may be associated with some of the destinations.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a screen displayed on the UI unit 20. For example, when the scan OCR processing function is selected by the user in step S01, a setting screen is displayed on the UI unit 20. FIG. 5A shows an example of a default setting screen. For example, a destination field, a resolution field, a paper size field, a document data format field, a color mode field, a compression rate field, and an OCR processing field are displayed on the setting screen under the control of the control unit 26. Is done. The destination column is a column for inputting a destination which is a data transmission destination. For example, when the user presses the “address book button” using the UI unit 20, the control unit 26 displays a list of destinations registered in the address book (destination information 24) on the setting screen. A destination selected from the list is set as a data transmission destination. Of course, the destination may be directly input by the user, not from the address book. The resolution, paper size, format, color mode, and compression rate are scan processing conditions. Information indicating default scan processing conditions is displayed on the default setting screen, and the conditions may be changed by the user. Scanning is executed in accordance with the conditions entered in the column of scan processing conditions. The OCR processing column is a column for the user to select execution or non-execution of the OCR processing, and a column for the user to select a recognition target language. For example, when the OCR processing column is designated by the user, the control unit 26 displays a list of recognition target languages supported by the OCR processing unit 18 on the setting screen. The language selected from the list is set in the OCR processing unit 18 as a recognition target language. In the default state, the OCR process is set to non-execution (the OCR process is “not performed”). When the OCR process is applied to the document data, the user designates the OCR process field and sets the OCR process to be executed (OCR process is “executed”). Thereby, the OCR process is applied to the document data.

  FIG. 5B shows an example of a setting screen after selecting a destination. For example, when the destination shown in FIG. 4 is selected by the user, the destination name (for example, “Fuji Taro”) is displayed on the setting screen. A default OCR language is associated with the destination. In this case, the OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the default OCR language associated with the destination as the recognition target language, and information indicating the OCR language is displayed in the OCR processing column. The default OCR language is a recognition target language candidate, and information indicating the candidate is displayed in the OCR processing column. Since “Japanese” is associated with the destination shown in FIG. 4 as the default OCR language, “Japanese” is identified as the recognition target language, and the character string “Japanese” is displayed in the OCR processing column. Is displayed. When a scan execution button (Scan execution button) is pressed by the user at this stage, the image reading unit 16 executes a scan according to the conditions input in the scan processing condition column, thereby generating document data. Then, the OCR processing unit 18 applies OCR processing to the document data, thereby generating character data. At this time, the OCR language specified in the OCR processing column is used as the recognition target language. When the default OCR language is displayed in the OCR processing column, the default OCR language (for example, Japanese) is used as the recognition target language, and the OCR processing is executed. When the character data is generated, the document data and the character data are transmitted to the destination (for example, a specific terminal device 12) by the communication unit 14.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the default OCR language is associated with the destination, and the default OCR language is specified as a recognition target language candidate and presented to the user. The OCR language associated with the destination is presumed to be a language used at the destination. Therefore, by presenting the OCR language associated with the destination as a recognition target language candidate, the OCR that is assumed to be suitable for the language assumed to be used at the destination, that is, the destination environment. The language is presented to the user as a recognition target language candidate. That is, the OCR language presumed to be suitable for the data transmitted to the destination is presented to the user. In addition, when the OCR process is executed using the default OCR language, the user does not have to select a recognition target language, so that the user's trouble is reduced.

(Example 2)
Next, Example 2 will be described. In the second embodiment, a language different from the default OCR language is set as the recognition target language. First, as described in the first embodiment, a default OCR language (for example, “Japanese”) is specified. In this case, the recognition target language is changed by the user. For example, when the “OCR processing column” shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B is designated by the user, a list of recognition target languages supported by the OCR processing unit 18 is displayed on the setting screen. The When a recognition target language is selected from the list by the user, the OCR process is executed using the selected recognition target language. For example, the list of languages to be recognized includes languages such as “English”, “French”, “German”, “Vietnamese”, “Russian”, etc., among which “English” Is selected. In this case, “English” is the recognition target language, and the OCR process is executed using the recognition target language.

  When the recognition target language is changed from the default OCR language to another language by the user, the registration unit 30 may register the changed language as a new default OCR language of the selected destination. That is, the default OCR language associated with the selected destination is changed to the language selected by the user. In this case, a new default OCR language is used in the subsequent processing.

  As another example, the user may confirm whether or not to register the language selected by the user as the default OCR language. For example, when the user gives a registration instruction using the UI unit 20, the default OCR language is changed to the language selected by the user. On the other hand, when the registration instruction is not given by the user, the default OCR language is not changed.

(Example 3)
Next, Example 3 will be described. In the third embodiment, it is assumed that the OCR language is specified before the destination is specified. For example, the “OCR processing column” shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B is designated by the user, the OCR processing is set to execute (OCR processing is “performed”), and the recognition target language is designated. The As another example, the OCR language specifying unit 28 may specify the language used in the screen displayed on the UI unit 20 as the recognition target language. For example, when the language used for the screen is “Japanese”, “Japanese” is specified as the recognition target language. Information indicating the language specified by the user or the language of the screen is displayed in the OCR processing column. Next, when a specific destination is selected by the user from the address book (destination information 24), the OCR language specifying unit 28 executes the following processing. In other words, the OCR process is set to execute (“Perform OCR process”), and the default OCR language associated with the destination selected by the user is the OCR language displayed in the OCR process column. If it is different from (already selected language), the OCR language specifying unit 28 displays confirmation information on the setting screen. For example, confirmation information for confirming to the user whether or not to use the default OCR language associated with the destination as the recognition target language is displayed on the setting screen in a form such as a pop-up. When the default OCR language is selected by the user, the default OCR language is set as a recognition target language, and other languages (for example, a language already selected, a newly selected language, etc.) are selected. In other cases, other languages are set as recognition target languages. When the scan execution is designated by the user, the OCR process in the OCR language set as described above is executed.

Example 4
Next, Embodiment 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the fourth embodiment, it is assumed that the default OCR language is not associated with the destination selected as the data transmission destination.

  FIG. 6 shows an address book as an example of the destination information 24. Unlike the address book shown in FIG. 4, this address book does not include OCR language information. That is, the default OCR language is not set for the destination indicated in the address book. The attribute information other than the OCR language information is the same type of information as that shown in FIG. As described above, one or a plurality of destinations included in the destination information 24 may include a destination for which a default OCR language is set, or a destination for which a default OCR is not set. May be included. Of course, the default OCR language may be set for all destinations, or the default OCR language may not be set for all destinations.

  When the default OCR language is not associated with the destination selected by the user, the OCR language specifying unit 28 estimates the recognition target language based on the attribute information of the destination. Specifically, the recognition target language is estimated by any one of processes 1 to 3 described below.

(Process 1)
In the process 1, the OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the character code (character byte information) of the language used for the “destination name”, “last name”, “first name”, and “company name” as the attributes of the destination The recognition target language is specified based on the character code. FIG. 7 shows an example of a character code table. In the character code table, the correspondence between the character code and the language is shown. This character code table is created in advance and stored in advance in the storage unit 22 of the image forming apparatus 10. The OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the language used for the destination attribute by referring to the character code table, and specifies the language as the recognition target language. In the example shown in FIG. 6, since the languages used for “destination name”, “last name”, and “first name” are all Japanese, “Japanese” is specified as the recognition target language. Information indicating the identified language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate. When the execution of the scan OCR process is instructed, the specified language is used as the recognition target language, and the OCR process is executed. Of course, a language other than the specified language may be selected as a recognition target language by the user.

(Process 2)
If a plurality of languages are identified from the attributes “destination name”, “last name”, “first name”, and “company name” in the above process 1, process 2 is executed. For example, if the language used for "Destination Name" is "Japanese" and the language used for "Company Name" is "English", "Japanese" and "English" will be recognized It will be identified as a language candidate. In this case, information indicating each identified language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate in accordance with the priority order based on the priority display condition. For example, a language table indicating the display order of recognition target languages is created in advance and stored in the storage unit 22. The recognition target language registered in the language table is a language supported by the OCR processing unit 18. The control unit 26 displays the specified plurality of languages on the setting screen according to the display order indicated by the language table. For example, in the language table, “English” is assigned to No. 1, “French” to No. 2, “German” to No. 3, “Chinese” to No. 4, “Japanese” to No. 5 To do. According to this language table, the setting screen displays information indicating each language as a candidate for recognition language in the order of “English”, “French”, “German”, “Chinese”, “Japanese”. Is done. For example, information indicating “English” is displayed at the top, and information indicating other languages is displayed according to the display order. The control unit 26 changes the display order shown in the language table in accordance with the language specified from the destination attribute information. For example, the control unit 26 performs control so that the language specified from the attribute information of the destination is displayed at the upper level, and displays the language not specified at the lower level. To explain with a specific example, when the language used for the attribute “destination name” is “Japanese” and the language used for the attribute “company name” is “English”, the control unit 26 As the display order, “English” is assigned to No. 1, “Japanese” to No. 2, “French” to No. 3, “German” to No. 4, and “Chinese” to No. 5. As a result, information indicating each language is displayed as a recognition target language candidate in the order of “English”, “Japanese”, “French”, “German”, and “Chinese” on the setting screen. As a result, “Japanese”, which should have been displayed fifth, is displayed second, and the language not specified from the attribute information is displayed lower.

  As another example of the process 2, the display order may be changed according to the number of attributes in which the specified language is used. For example, the higher the number of attributes, the higher the display order of the language. For example, the language used for the attributes “destination name”, “last name”, and “first name” is “Japanese”, and the language used for “company name” is “English”. Suppose there is. That is, “Japanese” is used for three attributes, and “English” is used for one attribute. In this case, the control unit 26 displays “Japanese” first, “English” second, “French” third, “German” fourth, “Chinese” fifth, and “Chinese” fifth. assign. As a result, “Japanese” is displayed at the top on the setting screen. As another example, only the language specified by the OCR language specifying unit 28 in the language group included in the language table may be displayed as a recognition target language candidate. In the above example, information indicating “Japanese” and “English” is displayed as a recognition target language candidate, and information indicating “French”, “German”, and “Chinese” is not displayed.

  Even when one language is specified as a recognition target language from the attribute information of the destination, the language may be displayed with priority. For example, as described above, the display order shown in the language table may be changed, and information indicating one specified language may be displayed at the top of the plurality of languages. To explain with a specific example, when only “Japanese” is specified as the recognition target language, information indicating “Japanese” is displayed at the top and information indicating other languages is displayed at the lower level.

(Process 3)
In the process 3, the OCR language specifying unit 28 estimates the recognition target language based on the domain of the “e-mail address” or the domain of the server registered as the destination attribute information. For example, a domain table indicating a correspondence relationship between a domain character string and a language is created in advance and stored in the storage unit 22. The OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies a language corresponding to a registered electronic mail address or server domain as a recognition target language by referring to the domain table. To explain with a specific example, when “.jp” is included in the domain of the e-mail address, “Japanese” is specified as the recognition target language. In addition, when “.cn” is included in the domain, “Chinese” is specified as the recognition target language, and when “.ru” is included in the domain, “Cyrillic” is specified as the recognition target language. Is done. Information indicating the identified language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate. When an international number is used as the fax number, the language may be specified from the fax number.

  For example, when “destination name”, “last name”, “first name”, and “company name” are not registered as the attributes of the destination, the process 3 is executed. Of course, even if these are registered, the process 3 may be executed. When a plurality of languages are specified by the process 3, information indicating each language may be displayed according to the priority order according to the process 2. Further, even when only one language is specified by the process 3, the information indicating the language may be displayed at the upper level and the information indicating the other language may be displayed at the lower level.

  Hereinafter, Example 4 will be described in more detail. FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen displayed on the UI unit 20. For example, when the scan OCR processing function is selected by the user in step S01, a setting screen is displayed on the UI unit 20. FIG. 8A shows an example of a default setting screen. This setting screen is the same screen as the screen shown in FIG. For example, when the user presses the “address book button” using the UI unit 20, the control unit 26 displays a list of destinations registered in the address book (destination information 24) on the setting screen. A destination selected from the list is set as a data transmission destination. When the OCR processing field is designated by the user, the control unit 26 displays a list of recognition target languages supported by the OCR processing unit 18 on the setting screen. For example, a list of recognition target languages registered in the language table described above is displayed. The language selected from the list is set in the OCR processing unit 18 as a recognition target language. When applying the OCR process to document data, the user designates the OCR process field and sets the OCR process to be executed (OCR process is “executed”). Thereby, the OCR process is applied to the document data.

  FIG. 8B shows an example of a setting screen after selecting a destination. For example, when the destination shown in FIG. 6 is selected by the user, the destination name (for example, “Fuji Taro”) is displayed on the setting screen. The destination is not associated with a default OCR language. In this case, the above processes 1 to 3 are executed. For example, when one language is identified as a recognition target language from “destination name”, “e-mail address”, or the like as a result of processes 1 and 3, information indicating the identified language is used as a recognition target language candidate. Displayed in the OCR processing column. Further, when a plurality of languages are specified as recognition target languages, information indicating each language is displayed according to the priority order as a result of the process 2. In FIG. 8B, a plurality of recognition target language candidates are displayed. These are displayed according to the priority order by the process 2. For example, “Japanese” is displayed first, “Chinese” is displayed second, “English” is displayed third, “French” is displayed fourth, and so forth. When a specific recognition target language is selected by the user from a plurality of candidates, the selected recognition target language is set in the OCR processing unit 18. When the scan execution button is pressed by the user, the image reading unit 16 performs a scan, thereby generating document data. Then, the OCR processing unit 18 applies OCR processing to the document data, thereby generating character data. At this time, the OCR language specified in the OCR processing column is used as the recognition target language. When the character data is generated, the document data and the character data are transmitted to the destination (for example, a specific terminal device 12) by the communication unit 14.

  Further, the registration unit 30 may register the language used in the OCR process as the default OCR language of the selected destination. In this case, information indicating the language is added to the destination attribute information. As another example, the user may confirm whether or not to register the language used in the OCR process as the default OCR language. For example, when the user gives a registration instruction using the UI unit 20, the language used in the OCR process is registered as the default OCR language of the selected destination. On the other hand, when the registration instruction is not given by the user, the language used in the OCR process is not registered as the default OCR language.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, when the default OCR language is not associated with the destination, a recognition target language candidate is specified from the attribute information of the destination and presented to the user. The language specified from the destination name, domain, etc. is presumed to be the language used at the destination. Therefore, by preferentially presenting information indicating the language specified from the attribute information of the destination, it is assumed that the language assumed to be used at the destination, that is, the OCR estimated to be suitable for the destination environment. The language is preferentially presented to the user. That is, the OCR language presumed to be suitable for the data transmitted to the destination is preferentially presented to the user. For example, when Japanese is used for attributes such as “destination name” and “surname”, it is presumed that Japanese is used for data transmitted to the destination, and Japanese is suitable as the OCR language. It is estimated that Therefore, the OCR language (for example, “Japanese”) presumed to be suitable for the data transmitted to the destination by presenting the language specified from the attribute information of the destination as a candidate for the recognition target language has priority. Presented. Further, when the OCR process is executed using the specified language, the user does not have to select a recognition target language, so that the user's trouble is reduced.

  In the first to fourth embodiments, since the facsimile unit 32 is not used, the facsimile unit 32 may not be provided in the image forming apparatus 10.

(Example 5)
Next, Example 5 will be described. In the fifth embodiment, document data is transmitted by facsimile from another apparatus to the image forming apparatus 10, and the document data is received by the facsimile unit 32. Then, OCR processing is applied to the document data. As an example, document data received by facsimile and character data generated by OCR processing are transmitted (transferred) from the image forming apparatus 10 to another apparatus (for example, a specific terminal apparatus 12). Hereinafter, Example 5 will be described in detail.

  First, a data transfer destination apparatus is registered in the image forming apparatus 10. For example, the setting screen is displayed on the UI unit 20 by the control unit 26. On the setting screen, the user sets the destination of the transfer destination device (for example, the specific terminal device 12), and sets the execution of the OCR processing (“OCR processing is performed”).

  Document data transmitted by facsimile from another apparatus is accompanied by transmission source information for specifying the other apparatus. The transmission source information includes, for example, a fax number, a transmission source name, and the like. The OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies a language to be recognized in the OCR process by referring to the transmission source information. For example, the OCR language specifying unit 28 searches for transmission source information in the destination information 24. When the destination information 24 includes a destination corresponding to the transmission source, the processing corresponding to the first to fourth embodiments is executed. For example, when the destination information 24 includes a destination having the same Fax number as the Fax number included in the transmission source information, or the same destination name as the transmission source name included in the transmission source information is set. When the destination is included in the destination information 24, the recognition target language is specified using the destination.

  For example, when the default OCR language is associated with the destination corresponding to the transmission source, the OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the default OCR language as the recognition target language as in the first to third embodiments. . Other processes are the same as in the first to third embodiments. That is, information indicating the default OCR language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate.

  On the other hand, when the default OCR language is not associated with the destination corresponding to the transmission source, the OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the recognition target language based on the attribute information of the destination as in the fourth embodiment. To do. Other processes are the same as those in the fourth embodiment. That is, information indicating one or a plurality of languages is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate. Information indicating a plurality of languages may be displayed according to the priority order. As another example, the OCR language specifying unit 28 may specify the language having the highest priority among the specified languages as the recognition target language.

  The recognition target language is set in the OCR processing unit 18, and the OCR processing is applied to the document data received by facsimile by the facsimile unit 32. Thereby, character data is generated. Then, the document data and the character data are transmitted to the destination (for example, a specific terminal device 12) by the communication unit 14.

  The default OCR language associated with the destination corresponding to the transmission source and the OCR language specified from the transmission source attribute information are presumed to be languages used by the transmission source. Therefore, by presenting these OCR languages as recognition target language candidates, the OCR languages estimated to be suitable for the document data transmitted from the transmission source are presented to the user as recognition target language candidates. The For example, when the default OCR language is Japanese, or when the language specified from the attribute information of the transmission source is Japanese, Japanese is used for the document data transmitted by facsimile from the transmission source. It is estimated that Japanese is suitable as the OCR language. Therefore, a language that is estimated to be suitable for the document data is presented by presenting the language specified from the default OCR language or the destination attribute information as a candidate language to be recognized. . Further, when the OCR process is executed using the specified language, the user does not have to select a recognition target language, so that the user's trouble is reduced.

(Example 6)
Next, Example 6 will be described. In the sixth embodiment, as in the fifth embodiment, OCR processing is applied to document data transmitted by facsimile from another device, and the document data and character data are transmitted (transferred) to another device (for example, a specific terminal device 12). ) Hereinafter, Example 6 will be described in detail.

  As in the fifth embodiment, the apparatus is registered in the image forming apparatus 10 as the data transfer destination. For example, the user sets the destination of a transfer destination device (for example, a specific terminal device 12) on the setting screen displayed on the UI unit 20, and sets the execution of the OCR processing (“OCR processing is“ performed ”). .

  The OCR language specifying unit 28 specifies the recognition target language using the information of the transfer destination (destination). In the destination information 24, when the default OCR language is associated with the transfer destination (destination), the default OCR language is specified as the recognition target language as in the first to third embodiments. Other processes are the same as in the first to third embodiments. That is, information indicating the default OCR language is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate.

  On the other hand, in the destination information 24, when the default OCR language is not associated with the transfer destination (destination), the recognition target language is determined based on the attribute information of the transfer destination (destination) as in the fourth embodiment. Identified. Other processes are the same as those in the fourth embodiment. That is, information indicating one or a plurality of languages is displayed on the setting screen as a recognition target language candidate. Information indicating a plurality of languages may be displayed according to the priority order. As another example, the language with the highest priority among the plurality of specified languages may be specified as the recognition target language.

  The recognition target language is set in the OCR processing unit 18, and the OCR processing is applied to the document data received by facsimile by the facsimile unit 32. Thereby, character data is generated. Then, the document data and the character data are transmitted to the destination (for example, a specific terminal device 12) by the communication unit 14.

  The OCR language associated with the transfer destination and the OCR language specified from the attribute information of the transfer destination are presumed to be languages used at the transfer destination. Therefore, by presenting these OCR languages as recognition target language candidates, the OCR languages estimated to be suitable for the data transferred to the transfer destination are presented to the user as recognition target language candidates. For example, if the default OCR language is Japanese or the language specified from the transfer destination attribute information is Japanese, it is estimated that Japanese is used for the data transferred to the transfer destination. It is estimated that Japanese is suitable as the OCR language. Therefore, by presenting the language specified from the default OCR language or the attribute information of the transfer destination as a recognition target language candidate, a language estimated to be suitable for the document data is presented. Become. Further, when the OCR process is executed using the specified language, the user does not have to select a recognition target language, so that the user's trouble is reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the default OCR language associated with the destination or the language specified from the destination attribute information is used as a recognition target language candidate. On the other hand, a method of specifying a recognition target language using history information of scan OCR processing performed in the past is conceivable. Specifically, as history information, a past transmission destination (destination) of data and a recognition target language used for the OCR processing for the document data are managed in association with each other. When a new scan OCR process is executed, it is conceivable that the recognition target language corresponding to the destination is specified from the history information. However, since there is no history information for a destination for which scan OCR processing has not been applied in the past, that is, for destinations for which scan OCR processing has never been applied, when such a destination is designated, Thus, the recognition target language candidate is not specified. On the other hand, in this embodiment, even if history information does not exist, that is, even if the application of the scan OCR process is the first destination, the recognition target language candidate is specified. As described above, according to this embodiment, the recognition target language candidate is specified without depending on the history information. In addition, when trying to manage the history of individual scan OCR processing, the history information may become enormous, so it is necessary to increase the capacity of the memory for storing the history information. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, it is only necessary to manage the destination information, so that it is sufficient to use a memory having a smaller capacity than the case of managing the history information. In addition, when the OCR processing unit 18 supports a large number of OCR languages, the usage frequency of some OCR languages is high, the usage frequency of other OCR languages is low, or other OCR languages are not used at all. In this case, according to the history information, even when it is desired to use the other OCR language, that language is not presented as a candidate. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the user to select the other OCR language. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, the recognition target language candidate is specified without using the history information, so even a language with low usage frequency may be presented as a recognition target language candidate. Therefore, it becomes easy to select a language with low usage frequency. As described above, according to the present embodiment, problems that may occur when history information is used are solved. Problems with the use of history information can also occur when OCR processing is applied to document data transmitted by facsimile. According to this embodiment, the problem is also solved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, even when a plurality of destinations having the same name and the same name are registered in the address book, they are identified from the default OCR language associated with each destination or the attribute information of each destination. The recognized language is identified as a recognition target language candidate to be applied to each destination. Thereby, each destination is distinguished and the recognition target language candidate suitable for each destination is specified.

  The image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A described above are realized by cooperation of hardware resources and software as an example. Specifically, the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A include a processor such as a CPU (not shown). The processor reads out and executes a program stored in a storage device (not shown), thereby realizing the functions of the units of the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A. The program is stored in the storage device via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication path such as a network. Alternatively, each unit of the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A may be realized by hardware resources such as a processor and an electronic circuit. In the realization, a device such as a memory may be used. As another example, each unit of the image forming apparatuses 10 and 10A may be realized by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or the like.

  10, 10A image forming apparatus, 16 image reading unit, 18 OCR processing unit, 24 destination information, 26 control unit, 28 OCR language specifying unit, 30 registration unit, 32 facsimile unit.

Claims (9)

OCR processing means for generating character data by applying OCR processing to document data;
A specifying means for specifying the OCR language as a language to be recognized in the OCR process when an OCR language is associated with the destination selected as the transmission destination of the character data;
An information processing apparatus. Storage means for storing destination information related to the destination and OCR language information indicating the OCR language set for the destination in association with each other;
The specifying unit specifies an OCR language associated with a destination selected as a transmission destination of the character data as the language to be recognized;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. When the OCR language is not associated with the destination selected as the transmission destination of the character data, the specifying means includes destination information regarding the destination of the character data and including information that can specify the language. Based on the recognition target language,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. In the case where a plurality of languages to be recognized are specified by the specifying means, there is further provided an output means for outputting information indicating the plurality of languages in accordance with language priorities
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3. In the case where a plurality of languages to be recognized are specified by the specifying unit, the output unit further includes an output unit that outputs information indicating the plurality of languages according to a priority order based on the destination information.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3. Registration means for registering the language specified by the specifying means as an OCR language in association with the destination of the character data;
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein The specifying means receives the document data transmitted by facsimile from another apparatus, and specifies the language to be recognized by processing the source of the document data as the destination.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. The specifying unit specifies the language to be recognized by receiving the document data transmitted by facsimile from another apparatus and processing the transfer destination of the document data as the destination.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. Computer
OCR processing means for generating character data by applying OCR processing to document data;
When an OCR language is associated with the destination of the character data, a specifying unit that specifies the OCR language as a language to be recognized in the OCR processing;
Program to function as.

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