JP3221969B2 - Character recognition device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character recognition device having improved operability so that a form or a document can be processed quickly and accurately.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following methods have been widely known for recognizing characters and correcting the results. A predetermined area of the form or document is optically scanned and an optical signal from the paper is photoelectrically converted to obtain image data of the form or document,
A character pattern to be recognized is cut out from the image data, a similarity between the character pattern and the character in the recognition dictionary is calculated, and one or more candidate characters are output in a candidate order in descending order of the similarity. . If the first character in the candidate order is erroneous and a plurality of candidate characters are obtained, the characters in the second or lower candidate order are also displayed, and correction is performed by selecting the correct character therefrom. If the second or lower character does not include a correct answer, the correct character is input by a normal keyboard input and corrected. If there is only one candidate character and the character is incorrect, the correct character is input by a normal keyboard input and corrected.

When a user of a character recognition device recognizes a character or symbol that is not prepared in advance in the recognition dictionary, the character or symbol is converted by a method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-149574. It was registered additionally.

[0004]

According to the above character recognition technology, when displaying candidate characters, (1) a case where a character of character information that originally exists is output as a candidate character;
(2) It is conceivable that the characters of the character information registered by the user are output as candidate characters, but the user registers character information that is highly necessary according to the purpose (2)
The character in case (1) is more likely to be correct than the character in case (1). Nevertheless, conventionally, the display of characters in cases (1) and (2) is the same.

[0005] Therefore, since the operator cannot find a character that is likely to be correct only by glance at the display of candidate characters, it is necessary to carefully observe all displayed characters and select a correct character. For this reason, there has been a problem that editing and editing operations such as correction and confirmation require much time, and the number of forms or documents that can be processed per unit time is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a character recognizing apparatus which solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and makes it easier to select a correct character from displayed candidate characters than before, thereby improving operability. Is to do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recognition unit for outputting a candidate character as a character pattern recognition result cut out from image data of a quantized form or document; A character registration unit for registering a character in a recognition dictionary, a result editing unit for editing a recognition result of the recognition unit, a display unit for displaying the candidate character, and an input unit for inputting a correct character In the apparatus, the display unit changes a display method of the character depending on whether the candidate character is a character existing in the recognition dictionary from the beginning or a case where the candidate character is a character registered in the character registration unit. I do.

[0008]

According to the present invention, when the correct answer is selected from the candidate characters, the display on the display unit is performed when the character existing from the beginning in the recognition dictionary is output as the candidate character and when the character registered in the character registration unit is output. Is changed as a candidate character, and in the operation of selecting a candidate character, it is possible to easily distinguish the character of the character information that originally existed in the recognition dictionary from the character information registered by the user. Therefore, the operator can instantly find a candidate character having a high possibility of a correct answer, and perform operations such as correction and confirmation. Therefore, the above problem can be solved.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the drawings are only schematically shown to an extent that the present invention can be understood.
The arrangement positions, dimensions, input / output signals, and connection relationships are not limited to the illustrated examples.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention. Character recognition device 10 of this embodiment
Is a recognition unit 12 for extracting a character pattern from quantized form or document image data and outputting a recognition result of the extracted character pattern, and a character registration unit for registering character information desired by a user of the character recognition device. A unit 14, a result editing unit 16 for correcting and confirming a recognition result, a display unit 18 for displaying candidate characters, and an input unit 20 for inputting correct characters. The result editing unit 16, the display unit 18, and A control unit 22 for controlling the operation of the input unit 20 is provided. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 24 denotes a photoelectric conversion unit that outputs quantized image data of a form or document, and 26 denotes an image memory that stores image data from the photoelectric conversion unit 24.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a form, in which 28 is an example of a form in which an address is described, and 30 is an entry frame for designating a character description area.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of selection of candidate characters. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 32 denotes a display screen, reference numeral 34 denotes a form, reference numeral 36 denotes an entry frame containing a character to be corrected, reference numeral 38 denotes a cursor position, reference numeral 40 denotes a cursor position.
Indicates a candidate character display frame, and 42 indicates a user registered character whose display method has changed.

Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. FIG. The photoelectric conversion unit 24 optically scans a predetermined reading range on the form or document, photoelectrically converts an optical signal L from the form or document, and outputs image data quantized into black and white binary data. 2
6 stores this image data.

The recognizing unit 12 extracts a character pattern from the image data in the image memory 26, and extracts various features relating to the character to be recognized from the extracted character pattern.
Then, the features of the extracted character pattern are compared with the features of the standard character pattern, and candidate characters are output. One or more candidate characters are obtained as a recognition result for one character. If there is only one candidate character, candidate rank 1 is added to the candidate character and output. If there is more than one candidate character, Outputs the candidate rank determined for each candidate character to the candidate character.

The character registration unit 14 additionally registers character information desired by the user of the character recognition device in the recognition dictionary. The character information of the recognition dictionary is added with information for distinguishing the character information registered by the character registration unit from general character information prepared from the beginning. Hereinafter, this information is referred to as character registration information.

If the character A with the first candidate rank sent from the recognition unit 12 is erroneous and there are a plurality of candidate characters, the result editing unit 16 deletes the second or lower candidate character from the control unit 2.
2, and the control unit 22 sends a display instruction of the candidate character and the candidate character corresponding to the character registration information to the display unit 18.
Send to At this time, if the candidate character is not the character of the character information registered in the character registration unit, the instruction to display in the first color is given. If the candidate character is the character of the character information registered in the character registration unit, the first color is displayed. And an instruction to display in a second color different from. Further, the display unit 18 displays the candidate character by the method designated by the display instruction (for example, the candidate character display frame 40 shown in FIG. 3). Further, the input unit 20 selects a correct character from the displayed candidate characters and sends it to the control unit 22. Further, the result editing unit 16 transmits the correct character to the control unit 22.
And exchanges it for the wrong first letter A.

If the first character in the candidate order sent from the recognition unit 12 is erroneous and there is only one candidate character, the input unit 20 inputs the correct character and the control unit 2
2 to the result editing unit 16. Further, the result editing unit 16 receives this correct character from the control unit 22 and exchanges it with the incorrect first character A. If the character A sent from the recognition unit 12 is correct, the character A is output as it is.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and accordingly, the configuration, operation, processing contents, input / output signals and numerical conditions of each component may be arbitrarily and suitably changed. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the user additionally registers character information in the general recognition dictionary in the character registration unit, but prepares another recognition dictionary dedicated to the user and registers necessary character information there. Is also good.

The display method of the display section may be changed by using one or more of different colors, different luminances, blinking, and underlining, for example, in addition to the above-described method.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the correct answer is selected from the candidate characters, the display on the display unit is performed when the character existing from the beginning in the recognition dictionary is output as the candidate character and when the character registration is performed. When the character registered in the section is output as a candidate character, it changes depending on whether the character of the character information existing in the recognition dictionary from the beginning and the character of the character information registered by the user in the operation of selecting the candidate character. Since the operator can easily identify the candidate character, the operator can instantly find a candidate character having a high possibility of correct answer, and perform operations such as correction and confirmation. As a result, the time required for correcting or confirming the form or document is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to provide a character recognition device with good operability that can process a form or a document quickly and quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a form.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of candidate character selection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 character recognition device 12 recognition unit 14 character registration unit 16 result editing unit 18 display unit 20 input unit 22 control unit 24 photoelectric conversion unit 26 image memory

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-145789 (JP, A) JP-A-1-100686 (JP, A) JP-A-57-73478 (JP, A) JP-A-3-291777 (JP) , A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06K 9/68 G06K 9/03

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A recognition unit that outputs candidate characters as a character pattern recognition result extracted from image data of a quantized form or document; a character registration unit for registering character information in a recognition dictionary; In a character recognition device comprising: a result editing unit for editing a recognition result of a unit; a display unit for displaying the candidate character; and an input unit for inputting a correct character, the display unit recognizes the candidate character from the beginning. A character recognition apparatus characterized by changing a display method of a character between a case where the character exists in a dictionary and a case where the character is registered in the character registration unit.