JP2017091383A - Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and image forming program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately manage the use of kanjis corresponding to an input hiragana character string from the viewpoint of a reader.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus comprises: a storage unit that stores a kanji dictionary for registering kanjis; a character recognition processing unit that analyzes image data to generate text data including both kanjis and hiraganas; ana a character-image conversion unit that, when kanjis registered in the kanji dictionary are defined as registered kanjis and kanjis not registered in the kanji dictionary are defined as unregistered kanjis, converts an image of the unregistered kanji into an image having its notation method changed to a predetermined notation method. The change of the notation method is either one of a change to a postscript with hiraganas, change to hiraganas, or change of the character style.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and an image forming program for managing the use of Chinese characters in image formation.

  In character input to an electronic device, a kana-kanji conversion function that proposes at least one kanji corresponding to an input kana character string is used. The kana-kanji conversion function generally proposes kanji as a plurality of candidates in the order corresponding to the conversion frequency. This reduces the burden of selecting candidate kanji. Patent Document 1 proposes the following method as a method for further reducing this burden. In this method, the priority of conversion candidates can be switched according to the usage scene in which the user is placed (for example, when creating a business mail at work or a private mail at home). It is a character string conversion function that can. Thus, conventionally, the kana-kanji conversion function has been generally developed from the viewpoint of the document creator. However, there are cases where the level of acquisition of kanji by readers of a document that is assumed to be in an elementary school varies from school year to school year. In such a case, the use of kanji may be restricted depending on the learning situation of kanji.

JP 2010-92368 A

  Thus, conventionally, sufficient consideration has not been made from the viewpoint of taking the reader of the document into consideration. In particular, the kana-kanji conversion function is based on the premise that an input kana character string is generally converted into kanji, and a notation method such as an appendix of furigana has not been sufficiently studied.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for appropriately managing the use of kanji corresponding to an input kana character string from the viewpoint of the reader.

  An image forming apparatus of the present invention is registered in a storage unit for storing a kanji dictionary for registering kanji, a character recognition processing unit for analyzing image data and generating kanji kana mixed text data, and the kanji dictionary. Character image conversion that converts an image of the unregistered kanji into an image that has been changed to a preset notation method when a kanji that is registered is a registered kanji and a kanji that is not registered in the kanji dictionary is an unregistered kanji A part. The change of the notation method is any one of a change to a hiragana addition, a change to a hiragana, and a change of a font.

  The image forming method of the present invention is an image forming method using a storage unit for storing a Chinese character dictionary. In this image forming method, a character recognition processing step of analyzing image data and generating kanji-kana mixed text data, and a kanji registered in the kanji dictionary as a registered kanji and not registered in the kanji dictionary A character image conversion step of converting an image of the unregistered Chinese character into an image changed to a preset notation method when the Chinese character is an unregistered Chinese character. The change of the notation method is any one of a change to a hiragana addition, a change to a hiragana, and a change of a font.

  The control program of the present invention is an image forming program for controlling the image forming apparatus. The image forming program includes a storage unit that stores a kanji dictionary, a character recognition processing unit that analyzes image data to generate text data of kanji kana, and kanji registered in the kanji dictionary as registered kanji, When the kanji that is not registered in the kanji dictionary is an unregistered kanji, the image forming apparatus is caused to function as a character image conversion unit that converts the image of the unregistered kanji into an image changed to a preset notation method. . The change of the notation method is any one of a change to a hiragana addition, a change to a hiragana, and a change of a font.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the technique which manages appropriately use of the Chinese character corresponding to the input kana character string from a reader's viewpoint can be provided.

1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image forming system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the kana / kanji management process which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process target original and the processed original in an example of the character input system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process target original and the processed original in the other example of the character input system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the content of the kana / kanji management process which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conversion window of the kana / kanji conversion process which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described in the following order with reference to the drawings.
A. First embodiment:
B. Second embodiment:
C. Variations:

A. First embodiment:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image forming system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The image forming system 1 includes a plurality of personal computers 2 and an image forming apparatus 3. The image forming apparatus 3 includes a control unit 10, an image reading unit 20, an image forming unit 30, a storage unit 40, and a communication interface unit 50. The image forming unit 30 includes an OCR processing unit 31, a Chinese character analysis unit 32, and an image processing unit 33. The plurality of personal computers 2 are connected to the image forming apparatus 3 using the communication interface unit 50. It is assumed that the plurality of personal computers 2 are used by each teacher in the elementary school. The OCR processing unit 31 is also called a character recognition processing unit. The image processing unit 33 is also called a character image conversion unit.

  The control unit 10 includes main storage means such as RAM and ROM, and control means such as MPU (Micro Processing Unit) and CPU (Central Processing Unit). The control unit 10 also has controller functions related to various I / O, USB (Universal Serial Bus), bus, and other hardware such as hardware, and controls the entire image forming apparatus 3.

  The storage unit 40 is a storage device including a hard disk drive or a flash memory that is a non-temporary recording medium, and stores a control program and data for processing executed by the control unit 10.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the contents of the kana-kanji management process according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the processing target document T1 and the processed document T2 in the example of the character input system according to the first embodiment. In this example, the processing target document T1 is a part of supplementary teaching materials used in an elementary school class.

  In step S10, the image reading unit 20 executes a scanning process. The scanning process is a process of reading the processing target document T1 as a subsidiary teaching material and generating image data. The processing target document T1 displays kanji kana mixed text. The process target document T1 is a kanji kana mixed sentence including “Hyoju”, “standing”, “barn”, “fire rope”, and “powder” as kanji.

  In step S20, the OCR processing unit 31 of the image forming unit 30 performs OCR processing. The OCR process is a process of analyzing image data obtained by reading the processing target document T1 and converting it into text data including kanji. The OCR processing detects kanji characters of “Hyoju”, “Stand”, “Barn”, “Fire rope” and “Explosive”, and Hiragana text data. “Hujyu”, “Hope Gun” and “Gunpowder” are managed as a unit for each word for conversion into Hiragana sentences.

  In step S30, the kanji analysis unit 32 of the image forming unit 30 converts the kanji kana spelling sentence into a hiragana sentence. This conversion can be performed, for example, by using a program (for example, KAKASI) that converts a kanji-kana magic sentence into a hiragana sentence or a romaji sentence, or by reverse lookup of a commonly used dictionary for kana-kanji conversion.

  In step S <b> 40, the kanji analyzing unit 32 of the image forming unit 30 determines whether or not the detected kanji is registered in the kanji dictionary 41. This decision is based on the Chinese character dictionary 41 for “military”, “ten”, “standing”, “pay”, “ya”, “fire”, “rope”, “gun”, “fire” and “medicine”. One character is executed at a time. The kanji dictionary 41 is a dictionary managed for each user by the storage unit 40 of the image forming apparatus 3. The kanji dictionary 41 is automatically selected when the user logs into the image forming apparatus 3. Since this process is a process related to restriction on the use of kanji, it is processed for each kanji character. However, “Hyoju”, “Rope Gun”, and “Explosive” may be managed and processed as a single unit.

  The kanji registered in the kanji dictionary 41 is called a registered kanji, and the kanji not registered in the kanji dictionary 41 is called an unregistered kanji.

  In the kanji dictionary 41, for example, kanji is registered in accordance with the progress of kanji learning in the national language in the first semester of fourth graders of elementary school. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that “pay”, “ya”, “rope”, and “gun” are not registered in the kanji dictionary 41, and all other kanji are registered. The kanji dictionary 41 can register kanji freely by elementary school teachers who are users, for example, after registering “barn”, which learns in the second semester according to the learning progress, and also registers “fire rope” in the third semester Flexible operation is possible.

  For registration of kanji, for example, the image forming apparatus 3 is set to the kanji registration mode via an operation display unit (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 3, and registration is performed by scanning processing and OCR processing from an original on which kanji is displayed. it can. Further, an operation display unit (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 3 may be configured to function as a touch sensor, and may be input by handwriting, or input from the personal computer 2 via the communication interface unit 50. You may comprise.

  If all the kanji characters to be determined are registered in the kanji dictionary 41, the process proceeds to step S100, and the printing process (step S100) is executed. If at least one of the Chinese characters to be determined is not registered in the Chinese character dictionary 41, the process proceeds to step S50.

  In step S50, the Chinese character analysis unit 32 of the image forming unit 30 determines whether or not to select the notation of furigana. This selection is determined in response to user input. The user input is input, for example, via an operation display unit (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 3. If the notation of furigana is selected, the process proceeds to step S60.

  In step S60, the image processing unit 33 of the image forming unit 30 adds a furigana to the “barn” and the “rope gun” of the “fire rope” as shown in the processed document T2 (see FIG. 3). On the other hand, when the notation of the furigana is not selected, the process proceeds to step S70. In addition, when adding a furigana, it is preferable to perform a process of expanding the line spacing as necessary.

  In step S70, the Chinese character analysis unit 32 of the image forming unit 30 determines whether to select hiragana conversion. This selection is determined in response to user input. The user input is input, for example, via an operation display unit (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 3. If hiragana conversion is selected, the process proceeds to step S80.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing target document T1 and a processed document T3 in another example of the image forming system 1 according to the first embodiment.

  In step S80, the image processing unit 33 of the image forming unit 30 converts the “rope gun” portion of the “fire rope” and the “barn” into hiragana as shown in the processed document T3. Here, the hiragana conversion from “barn” to “naya” does not involve a change in the number of characters, so the words “na” and “ya” are arranged at the positions of “na” and “ya”, respectively. On the other hand, since the hiragana conversion from “Rope Gun” to “Nawajyu” involves changing the number of characters from 2 characters to 5 characters (increase by 3 characters), 3 of “Explosive” (see processed document T2) The character is shifted to the next line, and accordingly, the character string “jammed” is also shifted (see processed document T3). On the other hand, if the hiragana conversion is not selected, the process proceeds to step S90.

  In step S90, the image processing unit 33 of the image forming unit 30 has a notation that emphasizes the characters “barn” and “rope gun”. Specifically, it can be changed to notation such as bold and italic letters to alert the reader that the kanji is unlearned. The notation to be emphasized means a change in typeface such as bold or italic or a change such as marking, and is also referred to as a change in typeface in this specification.

  In step S100, the image forming unit 30 executes a printing process based on the image data processed in step S60 or step S80. In the flowchart, the description is omitted from the viewpoint of simplification, but the processing of Step S40 to Step S90 is performed once for “Hyoju”, “Stand”, “Barn”, “Rope Gun”, and “Explosive”. The process will be repeated one by one.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 3 according to the first embodiment uses the kanji dictionary 41 in which kanji is registered according to the progress of kanji learning. An image can be formed by changing to a notation method such as character emphasis. Thereby, for example, when the use of kanji is restricted according to the learning situation of kanji as in an elementary school, it is possible to automatically generate a document in which the use of kanji is considered from the reader's viewpoint. Such a function is not limited to elementary schools, and contributes to document creation in consideration of foreigners in companies as internationalization progresses.

B. Second embodiment:
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of the kana-kanji management process according to the second embodiment. The kana / kanji management process according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the kana / kanji management process of the present invention is executed in the kana / kanji conversion process in the personal computer 2.

  In step S210, the personal computer 2 executes a Chinese character dictionary acquisition process. The kanji dictionary acquisition process is a process for fetching kanji registered in the kanji dictionary 41 from the image forming apparatus 3 to the personal computer 2. The kanji captured by the personal computer 2 can be used by, for example, kana-kanji conversion software in the software installed in the personal computer 2 as a printer driver of the image forming apparatus 3. In this embodiment, the kanji dictionary 41 of the storage unit 40 of the image forming apparatus 3 is configured to centrally manage the use of kanji. However, the personal computer 2 and the image forming apparatus 3 each have an asynchronous kanji dictionary. It may be.

  In step S <b> 220, the user executes a character input process on the personal computer 2. The character input process is performed using the above-described kana-kanji conversion software (not shown). In the present embodiment, it is assumed that “Rope” and “Gun” are not registered in the Chinese character dictionary 41, and “Fire” is registered. It is assumed that the character input process is used for document creation in the document creation software.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a conversion window S of the kana-kanji conversion process according to the second embodiment. The conversion window S shows a state when “Hiawajyu” of hiragana is inputted. The conversion window S proposes “Giraffe Gun (Hiragana Addendum)” as the first candidate, “Hiragawa Ju (unskilled kanji)” as the second candidate, and “Giraffe Gun (highlighted)” as the third candidate. Has proposed. The user can select any one of the first to third candidates. Specifically, when the first candidate is selected, “fire rope (additional hiragana)” is displayed on the editing screen, and the notation shown in the processed document T2 (see FIG. 3) is displayed on the print preview screen. Is displayed.

  In step S230, the personal computer 2 executes a control data generation process. The control data generation process is data for converting kanji into an image displayed in the notation selected in the conversion window S. More specifically, the control data generation process, when the text data contains a kanji string of “Giraffe Gun” that should be displayed in the hiragana addition notation, displays the image data of the horror gun displayed in the hiragana addition notation. This is processing for generating control data for generation.

  In step S240, the personal computer 2 generates print data as bitmap data, transmits the print data to the image forming apparatus 3, and executes printing in the image forming apparatus 3. The personal computer 2 may generate bitmap data whose notation has been changed, or may send control data and document data together with the contents of displaying a fire rope with hiragana to the image forming apparatus 3. The image forming apparatus 3 may automatically execute a printing process similar to that in the first embodiment.

  As described above, if the image forming apparatus 3 according to the second embodiment is used, the kanji dictionary 41 is used even at the document creation stage in the personal computer 2, and an unlearned kanji has a furigana addition and a hiragana notation, An image can be formed by changing to a notation method such as character emphasis.

C. Variations:
The present invention can be implemented not only in the above embodiments but also in the following modifications.

  Modification 1: In each of the above embodiments, the notation method is determined only by the user's selection, but it may be automatically switched according to the document content, for example. For example, if you change the notation of “Giraffe Gun” and change “Giraffe Gun” to “Hirawa Juju”, the kanji for which you ’d like to change the notation method spans different pages (for example, “Hirawa” In the case where “Ju” is arranged on the first page and “Ju” is arranged on the second page), it may be automatically changed to a hiragana addition so that “Gope gun” is displayed on the same page.

  Modification 2: In each of the above embodiments, only the kanji notation registered in the kanji dictionary is changed. For example, the kanji registered in the kanji dictionary only for a predetermined period (for example, within one month) from the acquisition of the kanji However, it may be configured to be highlighted. In this case, hiragana notation or hiragana addition may not be performed, or highlighting may be performed together with hiragana notation or hiragana addition.

  Modification 3: In the second embodiment, control data is used to instruct the document data to change to notation such as hiragana notation, hiragana notation, and highlighting. However, the present invention provides such control data. It is not restricted to the structure which uses. For example, when generating bitmap data for printing, image data representing characters of a fire rope that has been changed to a notation of hiragana may be generated based on text data of “fire rope (added with hiragana)”. In other words, the character string (added with hiragana) may be used as control data.

  Modified example 4: In the second embodiment, the kana-kanji conversion process is performed by converting “Hirogun (Hiragana addition)” and “Hanajuju (unstudy kanji)” in the conversion window S, thereby converting it to an unregistered kanji. However, the conversion to unregistered Kanji characters may be limited by another method, for example, displaying a warning window when converting to a “fire rope”.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming system 2 Personal computer 3 Image forming apparatus 10 Control part 20 Image reading part 30 Image forming part 31 OCR process part 32 Kanji analysis part 33 Image processing part 40 Storage part 41 Kanji dictionary 50 Communication interface part

Claims (6)

An image forming apparatus,
A storage unit for storing a kanji dictionary for registering kanji,
A character recognition processing unit for analyzing image data and generating text data of kanji kana,
When the kanji registered in the kanji dictionary is a registered kanji and the kanji not registered in the kanji dictionary is an unregistered kanji, the image of the unregistered kanji is changed to a preset notation method. A character image conversion unit for converting to
With
The change in the notation method is any one of a change to a hiragana addition, a change to a hiragana, and a change of a font. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
When the character image conversion unit selects the change to hiragana and the kanji to be changed in the notation method is to be arranged across a plurality of pages, the change to the hiragana addition and the font The image forming apparatus is switched to any one of the changes. A character input device for connecting to the image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
A kana-kanji conversion unit that allows conversion to the registered kanji while restricting conversion to the unregistered kanji;
A character input device comprising: The character input device according to claim 3,
The kana-kanji conversion unit is a character input device that displays a conversion window that allows selection of at least one notation of hiragana addition, hiragana change, and font change. An image forming method using a storage unit for storing a kanji dictionary,
A character recognition process for analyzing image data and generating text data of kanji kana,
When the kanji registered in the kanji dictionary is a registered kanji and the kanji not registered in the kanji dictionary is an unregistered kanji, the image of the unregistered kanji is changed to a preset notation method. A character image conversion step to convert to,
With
The image forming method is such that the change of the notation method is any one of a change to a hiragana addition, a change to a hiragana, and a change of a font. An image forming program for controlling an image forming apparatus,
A storage unit for storing the kanji dictionary,
A character recognition processing unit that analyzes image data to generate kanji-kana mixed text data, and a kanji registered in the kanji dictionary is a registered kanji, and a kanji that is not registered in the kanji dictionary is an unregistered kanji The image forming apparatus functions as a character image conversion unit that converts the image of the unregistered kanji into an image changed to a preset notation method,
The image forming program apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change of the notation method is any one of a change to a hiragana addition, a change to a hiragana, and a change of a font.