JP2851469B2 - Business card reader - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a business card reading device, and more particularly, to a business card reading device having a scanner for reading image information such as a name, an address, and a telephone number described on a business card. The present invention relates to a business card reading device capable of transmitting character information for one business card as a set of business card information to another information processing device such as an electronic organizer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a business card reader of this type, an address and a telephone number (including a facsimile number) associated with the address are used, for example, at the place of work (business office, sales office factory, etc.) and at the head office. ) Is entered into the electronic organizer, the kana-kanji conversion is performed using the keys of the electronic organizer shown in FIG. 5 and according to the guidance shown in FIG. While inputting.

[0003]

However, in this type of conventional business card reader, instead of inputting business card information from a key of an electronic organizer, the information of the business card is read using a scanner and the read information is read. , Name, phone number,
It is divided into each item of the address, and for example, "Phonebook"
If you try to send the data to a telephone number memory that is called a telephone number memory, the data length per case that can be entered in the electronic organizer is determined by the size that can be entered in one address. As described above, in the case of a business card in which a plurality of addresses are described, a phenomenon occurs in which the data length per one item is exceeded, and the data cannot be registered or is interrupted on the way. Also, if you send only the address that comes first, it will be 2 like the head office and sales office.
There was a problem that the address information appearing after the first address cannot be input from the terminal device.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has a function of reading information described on a business card and transmitting the read information to another information processing device such as an electronic organizer. In a business card reader, for example,
If you read a business card with multiple addresses and phone numbers and fax numbers attached to the address, such as a business office and head office, the data is divided by address like a business office and head office, respectively. Provided is a business card reading device capable of transmitting business card information to another information processing device without fail irrespective of the record length per data item registered in the electronic organizer by transmitting the data to the electronic organizer. Things.

[0005]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention. As shown in FIG.
A scanner 101 for reading image information such as a name, an address, and a telephone number described on a business card;
In the business card reading device configured to recognize the image information read in step 1 as character information and transmit the character information for one business card to another information processing device as a set of business card information, in the character information, a determining unit 102 determines whether the address there are multiple, as a result of the determination by the determination unit 102, if you know there are a plurality of character information one sheet business cards, a plurality Storage means 103 for temporarily storing existing addresses and character information other than telephone numbers or fax numbers associated with the addresses;
For each telephone number or fax number associated with each address
The character information temporarily stored in the storage means 103 is added to
Create a set of business card information Te, a plurality of sets of business card information was the creation
Transmission means 10 for transmitting information to other information processing devices, respectively.
And 4 is a business card reader.

[0006]

According to the present invention, when the character information read and recognized by the scanner 101 is transmitted to another information processing apparatus, the determining means 102 determines the character information of one recognized business card. It is determined whether or not there are a plurality of addresses, and as a result of the determination, if there are a plurality of addresses, the storage unit 103 stores the plurality of addresses in the character information for one business card and their addresses. Character information other than a telephone number or a fax number associated with each address is temporarily stored.

[0007] Then, the transmitting means 104 transmits the address for each address.
For each associated telephone number or fax number, the character information temporarily stored in the storage unit 103 is added to create a set of business card information.
Each set of business card information is transmitted to another information processing device.

Therefore, other information processing on the receiver side
Even if the storage capacity per business card of the device is small , character information is divided into address units and business card information is transmitted to other information processing devices without any omission, so long business card data is transmitted
Some data will not be stored
That situation can be prevented beforehand. Also, the recipient side
This makes it easier to control other information processing devices. In addition, each
Easy correspondence between address and telephone number (fax number)
You will understand. And, for example, even when the address and the telephone number of the head office and the branch are described in the business card, information such as the address and the telephone number of the head office and the branch is also transmitted to another information processing device such as an electronic notebook. , Can be stored.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a business card reading device according to the present invention. In this figure,
1 is a scanner that reads characters described on a business card as image data, 2 is a recognition dictionary that stores data for recognizing characters, 3 is a character recognition unit that recognizes characters from image data of the read business card, and 4 is a character recognition unit. A recognition result determination unit that determines or corrects the recognized character using the business card information database 5.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a transmission data creation unit for converting recognized characters into a form to be transmitted to an electronic organizer as business card data, 7 a data transfer unit for transmitting business card data, 8 a transfer data temporary storage unit comprising a RAM, If there are multiple addresses in the character data of the recognized business card, character data other than the multiple addresses and the telephone number or fax number associated with each of those addresses should be included in the character data for one business card. Remember temporarily. Reference numeral 9 denotes a control unit including a CPU, which controls the entire business card reading device.

When the user operates a “read start” key as shown in FIG. 3 to start reading a business card, the controller 9 reads the business card information with the scanner 1.
After being stored in a RAM (not shown), characters are cut out from the read image data using the recognition dictionary 2 and converted into character data by using the business card information database 5. In this recognition process, the data described in the business card is classified into a name, a company name, a business place, an affiliation, a post, an address, a postal code, a telephone number, and a fax number using the business card information database 5 and described in the business card. Returns the recognition results in the order in which they were performed.

Accordingly, for example, an address "492 Minosho-cho, Yamatokoriyama-shi, Nara" and "07435-3-5"
521 ", an address" 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka "and" 06-621-12 ".
When the telephone number "21" reads the business card described in this order, the data is returned in this order as a result of the recognition processing. Receiving this data, the transfer data creation unit 6 creates data to be transmitted to the electronic organizer.

The operation of the transfer data generator 6 will be described. First, the transfer data creation unit 6 checks whether or not the data returned from the character recognition unit 3 includes a plurality of address data. This is based on the following method. That is, after reading the business card information, the character recognizing unit 3 classifies items into names, company names, offices, affiliations, posts, addresses, postal codes, telephone numbers, and fax numbers on a line-by-line basis, and returns a recognition result. . The returned data is interpreted, and when the address items are continuously returned, it is determined that the address is described on the business card over two lines, and is integrated into one address.

Even if this address integration processing is executed, if there is another item between addresses, for example, address, telephone, address, telephone, the addresses are not integrated into one. Therefore, after performing this address integration process, by determining whether there are a plurality of address items,
It can be checked whether there is a plurality of address data.

As a result, when there is one address data, the data is rearranged in the order of name, telephone number, and address, and the data is prepared to be transferred. If there is no address data, the data is prepared in a form omitting the address data. If there is a plurality of address data, the name is temporarily stored in the transfer data temporary storage unit 8, and the stored name is combined with the address and the telephone number corresponding to the address to prepare data to be transmitted. The telephone number corresponding to the address indicates the telephone number following the address when the address data is returned from the character recognition unit 3 before the telephone number. Conversely, when the telephone number is returned from the character recognition unit 3 before the address data, the telephone number is indicated.

That is, name, telephone number 1, address 1,
The data to be transferred is prepared in the transfer data temporary storage unit 8, such as the name, the telephone number 2, the address 2,...

In the above case, for example, the name is "Kenichi Kobayashi"
Then, it is divided into the following two data. 1. Name: Kenichi Kobayashi Phone number: 07435-3-5
521 Address: 492 Minosho-cho, Yamatokoriyama City, Nara Prefecture 2. Name: Kenichi Kobayashi Phone number: 06-621-12
21 Address: 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka

Since all of the divided data is transmitted to the electronic organizer in this manner, even if the business card has a plurality of addresses and telephone numbers, such as a business office, a head office, and a business office, By recognizing the characters, the business card information can be transmitted to the electronic organizer, and the operation burden on the user is reduced.

Next, the contents of the processing operation of the control unit 9 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The control unit 9 first waits for an input of a "read start" key (step 1).
1) When the "read start" key is pressed, the characters written on the business card are read as image data by the scanner 1 (step 12), and a character recognition process is executed (step 13).

Then, it is checked whether or not the recognized character data includes a plurality of address data (step 14). If there is a plurality, the character data is divided into address units (step 15). The business card data is transferred to the electronic organizer (step 16). If a plurality of address data does not exist in step 14, the character data is not divided for each address.
The data is directly transferred to the electronic organizer as business card data.

In this way, by dividing the read character data into address units, the business card data can be completely transmitted to the electronic organizer.

[0023]

According to the present invention, if there is a plurality of addresses in the text information of one business card read and recognized by the scanner, the address and the telephone number or the fax number are stored.
Each location is divided and each divided data
A set of business card information with data added to each
And send it to another information processing device.
Storage capacity per business card of other information processing device
Even if the business card data is long,
That some data cannot be stored
It can prevent, As a result, the information of the business card, Ru can be sent without exception to the other information processing apparatus. Also,
Control of another information processing apparatus on the receiver side becomes easy. Sa
In addition, the correspondence between each address and telephone number or fax number
The person in charge can be easily understood. And, for example, even when the address and telephone number of the head office or branch are described in the business card, information such as the address or telephone number of the head office or branch is also transmitted to another information processing device such as an electronic notebook, Can be stored.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a business card reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a “read start” key.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a key arrangement when an address is input from a conventional electronic organizer body.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing guidance contents when an address is input from a conventional electronic organizer main body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Scanner 2 Recognition dictionary 3 Character recognition part 4 Recognition result judgment part 5 Business card information database 6 Transfer data creation part 7 Data transfer part 8 Transfer data temporary storage part 9 Control part

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A scanner for reading image information such as a name, an address, and a telephone number described on the business card, recognizing the image information read by the scanner as character information, and retrieving character information for one business card; in a business card reader that is configured to transmit a set of business card information to another information processing apparatus, among the recognized business cards one sheet of text information, a determination unit configured to determine whether address there are a plurality, the As a result of the judgment by the judging means, if there are a plurality of addresses, of the character information for one business card, character information other than the plurality of addresses and the telephone number or the fax number associated with each of those addresses is used. Storage means for temporary storage, and for each telephone number or fax number associated with each address
A, by adding the temporarily stored character information in the storage means to create a set of business card information, and transmits a plurality of sets of business card information said created, respectively Re their <br/> to another information processing apparatus transmit Means for reading business cards.