JP3502130B2 - Table recognition device and table recognition method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a table recognition device and a table recognition method for recognizing a table structure and characters in cells in image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, table recognition devices have come to be used as input devices for computers and the like. Considering the use of a table recognition device as a document clearing system, it is necessary to recognize ruled line positions, line types, line widths, and characters in cells.

A conventional table recognition device will be described below. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a conventional table recognition device.

The image input section 51 reads a front image from an image input device such as a scanner and converts it into binary image data. The image memory 52 stores the image data supplied from the image input unit 51. The solid line run extraction unit 53
The image data in the image memory 52 is scanned to extract an array of black pixels having a predetermined length or more (hereinafter referred to as a run). The broken line run extraction unit 54 scans the image data in the image memory 52 and extracts runs of a specific pattern. Table structure extraction unit 55
Extracts the ruled lines by examining the connectivity of the runs extracted by the solid line run extraction unit 53 and the broken line run extraction unit 54, and extracts the cells in the table by analyzing the mutual relation of the extracted ruled line positions. .

On the other hand, the character pattern dictionary 56 stores sample characters. In the character recognition unit 57, the data in the cell extracted by the table structure extraction unit 55 is recognized as a character. In the image data in the image memory 52, the character recognition unit 57 compares the characters in each cell extracted by the table structure extraction unit 55 with the sample characters stored in the character pattern dictionary 56, and calculates the similarity. If the calculated similarity is higher than a predetermined value, the sample character is output as the character in the cell.
The table output unit 58 outputs the table structure extracted by the table structure extraction unit 55 and the information of the character recognized by the character recognition unit 57.

[0006]

However, in the above-described conventional table recognition device, when a table image having diagonal lines on the diagonal of a cell is recognized as shown in FIG. 6, the diagonal lines have a special meaning. However, there was a problem that it was output as a character code.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a table recognition device and a table recognition device capable of performing accurate table structure recognition and character recognition in a cell even when recognizing a table image in which diagonal lines exist on diagonal lines of a cell. The purpose is to provide a method.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a table image data.
And a table image storage means for storing
A ruled line is extracted from the generated table image data , and a diagonal line is extracted by examining a cell on the diagonal line of the cell extracted by the cell extracting unit that extracts a region surrounded by the ruled line as a cell. Diagonal line extraction means and cell extraction
Ruled lines extracted by means, extracted by diagonal line extraction means
Table data memorizer that stores the generated diagonal lines as table data
A step, an oblique line erasing means for erasing the oblique line extracted by the oblique line extracting means from the front image data, and an oblique line erasing means
Characters that perform character recognition on cells after diagonal lines are erased by
And a recognition means.

The present invention also stores front image data.
Steps and ruled lines are extracted from the stored table image data ,
The step of extracting the area surrounded by the ruled line as a cell, the step of extracting the diagonal line by checking the pixels on the diagonal line of the extracted cell, the extracted ruled line, the diagonal line
The step of storing the line as table data, the step of deleting the extracted diagonal line from the table image data, and the step of erasing the diagonal line
And the step of performing character recognition on the cell after leaving.
It has a configuration.

[0010]

In the present invention , when a table image having diagonal lines on the diagonal of a cell is recognized, the extracted diagonal lines are used as table data.
The diagonal line is deleted from the front image and the sentence is deleted.
Character recognition is performed, so diagonal lines do not interfere with character recognition.
Character recognition can be performed and diagonal lines can be extracted as table structure data.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of a table recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an image input section 1 reads a front image from an image input device such as a scanner and converts it into binary image data. The image memory 2 stores the image data supplied from the image input unit 1. Solid line run extraction unit 3
Scans the image data in the image memory 2 and extracts an array of black pixels having a predetermined length or more (hereinafter referred to as a run). The broken line run extraction unit 4 scans the image data in the image memory 2 and extracts runs of a specific pattern. The cell extraction unit 5
The connectivity of the runs extracted by the solid line run extraction unit 3 and the broken line run extraction unit 4 is checked to extract ruled lines, and the rectangular area surrounded by the extracted ruled lines is extracted as a cell.

The diagonal line extraction unit 6 checks whether the diagonal line of the cell extracted by the cell extraction unit 5 exists in the image data in the image memory 2 and extracts the diagonal line. The diagonal line output unit 7 outputs the diagonal line extracted by the diagonal line extraction unit 6. The diagonal line erasing unit 8 erases the diagonal line extracted by the diagonal line extracting unit 6 in the image data in the image memory 2.

The character pattern dictionary 9 stores sample characters. The character recognition unit 10 compares the character in each cell extracted by the cell extraction unit 5 with the sample character in the character pattern dictionary 9 in the image data in the image memory 2 to calculate the similarity. Then, when the calculated similarity is higher than a predetermined value, the sample character is output as the character in the cell. The table output unit 11 outputs the table structure extracted by the cell extraction unit 35, the characters recognized by the character recognition unit 10, and the diagonal line information output by the diagonal line output unit 7.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the table recognition device of this embodiment.

This table recognition device comprises a scanner 41, a RAM
It includes a (random access memory) 42, a ROM (read only memory) 46, a processing circuit 49, a keyboard 50 and a display section 51.

The scanner 41 reads a front image and outputs the read front image as image data (image data). The RAM 42 has an image memory area 43 and a run area 4
4 and a table data area 45. Image memory area 43
The image data given from the scanner 41 is stored in. The run area 44 stores runs of image data in the image memory area 43 in two directions, vertical and horizontal. The table data area 45 stores the table structure obtained as a result of table recognition and the characters in the cells.

The ROM 46 includes a feature dictionary area 47 and a program storage area 48. In the characteristic dictionary area 47, a character pattern dictionary used for character recognition is stored. A control program is stored in the program area 48. The processing circuit 49 performs processing according to the control program stored in the program storage area 48. The keyboard 50 is used to issue a recognition command. The display unit 51 displays the table structure and characters stored in the table data area 45.

The image memory area 43 of FIG. 2 corresponds to the image memory 2 of FIG. 1, and the feature dictionary area 47 of FIG. 2 corresponds to the character pattern dictionary 9 of FIG. In addition, the control program and processing circuit 49 stored in the program storage area 48 of FIG. 2 includes the image input unit 1, the solid line run extraction unit 3, the broken line run extraction unit 4, the cell extraction unit 5, and the oblique line extraction unit of FIG. 6, a diagonal line output unit 7, a diagonal line erase unit 8, a character recognition unit 10 and a table output unit 11.

Next, the operation of the table recognition apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step s1, the image input section 1 inputs image data from the scanner 41 and stores the input image data in the image memory 2 (image memory area 43). In step s2, the image inclination in the image data in the image memory 2 is corrected. In step s3, the solid line run extraction unit 3 extracts runs of a predetermined length or more in the vertical and horizontal directions from the image data whose inclination has been corrected in step s2, and the broken line run extraction unit 4 extracts a specific pattern in the vertical and horizontal directions. Extract the orchid. The extracted run is stored in the run area 44.

In step s4, the cell extracting unit 5 selects a run whose length of interruption is within a predetermined threshold value and whose length is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value among the runs extracted in step s3. . In step s5, the cell extraction unit 5 connects the runs selected in step s4 and extracts ruled lines.
The extracted ruled lines are stored in the table data area 45. In step s6, the cell extraction unit 5 further extracts the rectangular area surrounded by the ruled line extracted in step s5 in the image data in the image memory 2 as a cell.

In step s7, the diagonal line extracting unit 6 extracts the diagonal lines in all the cells extracted in step s6 in the image data in the image memory 2, and the diagonal line erasing unit 8 in the image memory 2 The image in the diagonal line portion is erased from the image data in (the details of this step will be described later). The extracted diagonal lines are stored in the table data area 45.

At step s8, it is checked whether or not the character recognition in the cell by the character recognition unit 10 is completed. If it is completed, the table output unit 11 at step s10 outputs the table structure and the table structure stored in the table data area 45. Outputs characters and ends processing. If all the characters in the cell have not been recognized by the character recognition unit 10, the character recognition unit 10 performs the character recognition in step s9.

Next, referring to the flow chart of FIG.
The diagonal line extraction processing in step s7 of step 1 will be described in detail.

In step s71, it is checked whether or not there is any unprocessed cell. If there is any unprocessed cell, the process proceeds to step s72. If there is no unprocessed cell, the process ends.

In step s72, the diagonal line extraction unit 6
In the image data in the image memory 2, pixels in the diagonal direction from the upper left corner to the lower right corner of the cell are scanned to check the arrangement of black pixels. This diagonal scanning is performed by calculating the address on the diagonal line of the cell based on the address at the upper left corner of the cell and the address at the lower right corner of the cell.

In step s73, the diagonal line extraction unit 6
In step s72, it is checked whether the discontinuity in the arrangement of black pixels scanned is within a predetermined threshold value. If the discontinuity of the arrangement of black pixels is within the threshold value, it is determined that there is a diagonal line, and the process proceeds to step s74. If the discontinuity of the arrangement of black pixels is larger than a predetermined threshold value, the process proceeds to step s76.

In step s74, the diagonal line output unit 7
The diagonal line data extracted by the diagonal line extraction unit 6 is output to the table data area 45. In step s75, the diagonal line erasing unit 8 erases the image portion of the image data in the image memory 2 scanned in step s72 with white pixels.

At step s76, the diagonal line extraction unit 6
In the image data in the image memory 2, pixels in a diagonal direction from the upper right corner to the lower left corner of the cell are scanned to check the arrangement of black pixels. In step s77, the diagonal line extraction unit 6 checks whether the discontinuity in the arrangement of the black pixels scanned in step s76 is within a predetermined threshold value. If the discontinuity of the black pixel arrangement is within the threshold value, it is determined that there is a diagonal line, and the process proceeds to step s78. If the discontinuity of the black pixel arrangement is greater than the threshold value, the process returns to step s71.

In step s78, the diagonal line output unit 7
The diagonal line data extracted by the diagonal line extraction unit 6 is output to the table data area 45. In step s79, the diagonal line erasing section 8 erases the image portion of the image data in the image memory 2 scanned in step s76 with white pixels.

According to the above embodiment, the diagonal lines in each cell in the image data are extracted by the diagonal line extraction unit 6 and output by the diagonal line output unit 7, and the diagonal lines in the image data are output by the diagonal line erasing unit 8. Since the diagonal lines in the cells are erased, the table structure and the characters in each cell can be accurately recognized even in the case of a table image having diagonal lines in the cells.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the front image data
Table image storage means for storing data and
A ruled line is extracted from the stored table image data and surrounded by the ruled line.
Cell extracting means for extracting the entrapped region as a cell,
Examine the pixels on the diagonal of the cell extracted by the extraction means
Diagonal line extraction means for extracting diagonal lines by
Ruled lines extracted by extraction means, diagonal lines extracted by extraction means
Table data description that stores the extracted diagonal lines as table data
The diagonal lines extracted by the storage means and the diagonal line extraction means are displayed.
Oblique line erasing means to erase from image data and diagonal line erasing
Character recognition is performed on the cell after the diagonal line is erased by the means.
With the configuration including the character recognition means, the cell
When recognizing a table image with diagonal lines on the diagonal of
The extracted diagonal lines are stored as table data and
Since lines are deleted from the front image for character recognition,
Character recognition can be done without lines hindering character recognition.
And can extract diagonal lines as tabular data
The accuracy of table structure and the recognition accuracy of characters in cells can be improved.
The above can be realized together.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a table recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a table recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the table recognition device in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a diagonal line extraction process of the table recognition device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a conventional table recognition device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a table image in which diagonal lines are present on diagonal lines of cells.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image input section 2 image memory 3 Solid line run extraction unit 4 Dashed line run extraction unit 5 Cell extractor 6 Diagonal line extraction unit 7 Oblique line output section 8 Diagonal line eraser 9-character pattern dictionary 10 Character recognition part 11 Table output section 41 Scanner 42 RAM 43 image memory area 44 Run area 45 table data area 46 ROM 47 Feature dictionary area 48 program storage area 49 Processing circuit 50 keyboard 51 display

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-4-23185 (JP, A) JP-A-4-303277 (JP, A) JP-A-4-360294 (JP, A) JP-A-5- 174186 (JP, A) JP-A-6-103409 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06K 9/00-9/76

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A front image storage means for storing front image data.
And a ruled line from the front image data stored in the front image storage means.
Extracts, and cell extracting means for extracting a region surrounded by the border as a cell, a diagonal line extracting means for extracting a diagonal line by examining the pixels on the diagonal of the cell extracted by the cell extracting means, Ruled lines extracted by the cell extracting means, the diagonal line extraction
Store the diagonal lines extracted by the output means as table data
That the table data storing means, and the diagonal line erase means for a diagonal line extracted by the oblique line extracting means for erasing from the table image <br/> image data, the cell after diagonal erased by the oblique line erase means for
Character recognition means for recognizing characters,
Table recognition device to. 2. A step of storing table image data, a step of extracting a ruled line from the stored table image data , and a step of extracting a region surrounded by the ruled line as a cell, and pixels on a diagonal line of the extracted cell. And the step of storing the extracted ruled lines and diagonal lines as table data.
Performing a-up, a step of erasing the extracted diagonal lines from the table image data, the character recognition with respect to the cell after the diagonal erase
A table recognition method comprising: