JP3784866B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that displays or outputs image data of a document input from a source such as a scanner, a facsimile, or an e-mail on media having a different display size or output size.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image processing apparatuses that display or output document image data input from sources such as scanners, facsimiles, and e-mails on media having different display sizes or output sizes have been put into practical use.
[0003]
That is, document image data input from a source including various image reading means and image communication means such as a scanner, a facsimile machine, and an e-mail is reduced or converted in resolution, or a plurality of documents are integrated into one, and then displayed on a display. There is an image processing apparatus that displays a hard copy by a printer or the like, or a facsimile transmission output.
[0004]
In such an apparatus, when document image information is output to a medium having an output size different from that of the original, the document image information is output through a uniform scaling (enlargement / reduction) process according to the output size.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, for example, if the original document is small and the entire document image including a relatively large empty space between character strings or characters is simply reduced, all image areas including the empty space are reduced proportionally. In some cases, small characters in the document are further reduced to make them difficult to read. In addition, if the enlargement process is simply performed on the entire document image including the empty space, the empty space is also proportionally enlarged, and there is a large empty space compared to the character size in the displayed / output document image. It may stand out.
[0006]
In other words, if the enlargement / reduction processing is simply performed when displaying / outputting document image data on media with different display / output sizes, the character information in the document cannot be displayed / output at the optimum size. In addition, there is a drawback that the display / output media cannot be used effectively, such as a large empty space is created in the document image to be displayed / output.
[0007]
Therefore, according to the present invention, when displaying / outputting document image data on a medium whose display / output size is different from the original size of the document, character information in the document can be converted to an optimum size by using an empty space. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus that can effectively use display / output media.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
  An image processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes:Storage means for storing a plurality of character symbols and information of an image including a space between the plurality of character symbols, and the position of the character symbol, the size of the character symbol, and the interval between the character symbols from the image stored by the storage means Feature information detection means for detecting feature information; first calculation means for calculating a reduction ratio (SR1) of the first image from the size of the image stored by the storage means and the image size after reduction; A determination means for determining whether or not the adjustment of the character symbol interval is necessary based on the reduction ratio of the first image calculated by the first calculation means; and the adjustment of the character symbol interval by this determination means is necessary If it is determined that the character symbol is not, the entire image stored by the storage means is reduced by the first reduction ratio based on the character / symbol position / character / symbol size feature information. If it is determined that the interval needs to be adjusted, the character symbol in the image stored by the storage means is reduced by a second reduction ratio (SR2: SR2 <SR1) smaller than the first reduction ratio and Reduction means for reducing the interval between the character symbols so as to be even smaller than when the character symbol is reduced by the first reduction ratio, and making the entire image stored by the storage means have the same size as when the image is reduced by the first reduction ratio;It is composed of
[0011]
According to still another aspect of the present invention, an image processing apparatus includes a first storage unit that stores image information including a plurality of character symbols, a space between the character symbols, and a margin space around the image, and the first storage. Feature information detecting means for detecting feature information including character symbol position, character symbol size, character symbol interval and margin space around the image from the image stored by the means, minimum character symbol size, character symbol interval The first image reduction ratio (SR1) from the second storage means for storing the minimum value of the image and the minimum value of the margin space around the image, and the size of the image stored by the first storage means and the image size after reduction. ) And a first reduction rate calculated by the calculation unit based on the size of the character symbol detected by the feature information detection unit. The second calculation means for calculating the size of the reduced character symbol is compared with the reduced character symbol size and the minimum size, and when the reduced character symbol size is larger than the minimum size, the adjustment of the character symbol interval is performed. If the character symbol size after the reduction is smaller than the minimum size, the judgment means judges that the character symbol interval needs to be adjusted, and the character symbol spacing needs to be adjusted by this judgment means. A first reduction means for reducing the entire image stored by the first storage means at a first reduction rate based on the feature information of the position of the character symbol and the size of the character symbol; When it is determined by the determining means that the character symbol interval needs to be adjusted, the character symbol interval detected by the feature information detecting means, the margin space around the image, and the second Third calculating means for calculating an adjustable amount of the character symbol interval and the margin space based on the minimum value of the character symbol interval stored by the means and the minimum value of the margin space around the image; Fourth calculation means for calculating a second reduction ratio (SR2: SR2 <SR1) smaller than the first reduction ratio as a character reduction ratio based on the adjustable amount calculated by the calculation means; When it is determined by the means that the adjustment of the character symbol interval is necessary, the second reduction rate (SR2) calculated by the fourth calculation means for the character symbols in the image stored by the first storage means. , The character symbol interval and the margin space are further reduced to be smaller than the first reduction ratio and equal to or larger than the minimum value, and stored in the first storage means. And a reduction means for making the entire image the same size as when the image is reduced by the first reduction ratio.
[0012]
By adopting the above configuration, the present invention can use an empty space of a document image when displaying / outputting document image data on a medium whose display / output size is different from the original size of the document. Provide an image processing device that can convert character information in a document to an optimal size, such as outputting a relatively large character portion by adjusting the empty space at the time, and that can effectively use display / output media be able to.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0014]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0015]
In FIG. 1, an input unit 1 is provided as a data input unit of the image processing unit 14, and includes an electronic camera 15a, a scanner 15b, a personal computer 15c, a memory 15d, and the like as input devices via a plurality of input interfaces 11a to 11n. Is connected to the network 15e or the facsimile 15f. Other input devices include various image input devices such as a film reader, or an input device group that provides image data such as a server such as an e-mail or a hard disk. Input image data from one input device designated from these input device groups is selected by an input select signal from the controller unit 13 including the CPU 13 </ b> A and accepted by the input unit 1. Image data of the original is input to the input image storage unit 2 in the image processing unit 14 from the selected input device, for example, the scanner 15b. These various image input devices are connected to corresponding interfaces by wire or wirelessly. For example, the electronic camera 15a is wirelessly connected to the interface 11a.
[0016]
The input image storage unit 2 is a means for temporarily storing the image data input to the input unit 1.
[0017]
The feature amount extraction unit 3 reads the left and right and top and bottom margins of the document, empty spaces between columns, character intervals, word intervals, character string intervals, the coordinates of each character, characters from the input image data read from the input image storage unit 2 It is a means for extracting physical features such as dimensions, average character size, average character spacing, average character string spacing, and determining whether the document is in English or Japanese based on these physical features.
[0018]
Here, the characters include alphabets, Greek characters, Russian characters, kana, kanji, special characters of those countries, numbers, mathematical symbols, marks formed with other characters, and the like. However, in the following description of the embodiment, it will be described as character for simplicity.
[0019]
The feature quantity storage unit 4 temporarily stores the extracted feature quantity data and the judgment results of Japanese and English.
[0020]
The criterion information storage unit 6 includes the number of output devices 16a,... 16m that can be output, the resolution of each output device 16a,..., 16m, media size, minimum character size, minimum character spacing, minimum character string spacing, and minimum left / right and top / bottom margins. This is a means for receiving and storing determination criterion information for selecting the output devices 16a,. For example, the output device 16a is a laser printer, and 16c is a display device.
[0021]
The converted coordinate calculation unit 5 obtains a scaling factor, that is, an enlargement rate or a reduction rate, based on the feature amount obtained by the feature amount extraction unit 3 and the judgment criterion information preset in the judgment criterion information storage unit 6, and each character Is a means for converting the original coordinates to coordinates to output.
[0022]
The converted coordinate storage unit 7 temporarily stores the converted coordinate data.
[0023]
The image conversion processing unit 8 cuts out each character image from the image data based on the original coordinate data in the input image read from the input image storage unit 2, and the original coordinates are stored in the conversion coordinate storage unit 7. A conversion process such as a character size is performed based on the conversion coordinates and the scaling factor obtained in the conversion coordinate storage unit 7.
[0024]
The output image storage unit 9 is means for temporarily storing the image data converted by the image conversion processing unit 8.
[0025]
The output unit 10 is one of interfaces 12a to 12m corresponding to an output device designated by the controller unit 13, such as a memory 16a, a printer 16b, a display 16c, a personal computer 16e connected via a network 16d, and a hard disk 16g. For example, the laser printer interface 12b is selected, and a converted image subjected to conversion processing such as character size is output as a hard copy. These output devices are coupled to the image processing apparatus by wire or wirelessly. In the illustrated example, the output interface 12c and the display 16c are coupled wirelessly. Further, the image data input to the input unit 1 is stored in the memory 16a, which is the main storage device, without being processed by the processing unit 14, or is stored in the hard disk 16g via the network 16d.
[0026]
Here, the controller 13 will be described in more detail. The controller 13 is mainly composed of a CPU 13A, and this CPU 13A is realized by using a commercially available one or a CPU board.
[0027]
The controller 13 gives an input select signal to the input unit 1 in response to a request from the input device via the input interfaces 11a to 11n. As a result, the input device connected to the input interface that issued the request, such as a scanner, for example. Image data from 15 b is sent to the image processing unit 14. The memory 16a, the output devices 16b and 16c, and the like can also be selected by a request from the input interfaces 11a to 11n. In this case, an output select signal is supplied from the controller 13 to the output unit 10, and the processed image data selected via the corresponding output interface, for example, is sent to the memory 16a. Similarly, an output select signal is given to the output unit 10 in response to a request from an output device via the output interfaces 12a to 12n, and an input device or memory requested by the output device can be selected. In this way, it is possible to select necessary data from the input device or memory from the output device side, and it is possible to process and output the data according to the media size, resolution, etc. of the output device.
[0028]
Further, various control devices and data input devices connected to the controller unit 13 by wire or wirelessly, such as a keyboard, a liquid crystal panel, or a remote controller, output or store images obtained from any input device to any output device. You can also. In addition, data stored in advance can be output to an arbitrary output device.
[0029]
An example of means for detecting an input / output request in the controller 13 is shown in FIG. 2A. The request port 13B in FIG. 2A is provided with a plurality of bits B1 to Bn + C1 to Cm, the request information R1 to Rn from the input interfaces 11a to 11n is supplied to the bits B1 to Bn, and the bits B1 to Bm are The request information r1 to rm from the output interfaces 12a to 12m is connected so as to be supplied. When request information is supplied from any of the interfaces, the corresponding bit becomes “1”. The plurality of bits of the request port 13B are scanned in sequence by the CPU 13A, and when “1” is detected, it is understood that there has been a selection request from the corresponding input device or output device via the corresponding interface.
[0030]
When the CPU 13A detects “1” as a result of the bit scan, it sends a select signal (SEL) to the control port 13C and controls the control information of the input interfaces 11a to 11n or the output interfaces 12a to 12m corresponding to the bit where “1” is detected. Control information is output to terminals I1 to In and O1 to Om. These terminals I1 to In and O1 to Om are connected to the input unit 1 and the output unit 10 in FIG. 1, and the control bus of the input device or output device corresponding to the bit in which “1” is detected is used as the image processing unit 14. Connect to and receive information on the device to be selected. For example, an output device requested based on this information is selected.
[0031]
For example, information on the electronic blackboard during the meeting is supplied from the meeting room to the image processing unit 14 by wire or wirelessly using a scanner, or information written on a normal blackboard or white board using an electronic camera. Image information that has undergone processing such as adjustment or that has not been processed can be stored in, for example, a server or transmitted by facsimile.
[0032]
When a request from the output device is detected as a result of scanning the request port 13B, the output device is connected to the image processing unit 14 and the requested input device or memory is selected.
[0033]
For example, a business trip destination uses a PDA (Personal Data Assistance) 16c to access the image processing unit 14 wirelessly via the output interface 12c, and performs image processing such as space adjustment on necessary information on the designated server. Then, when the processed information is received, an easy-to-see image display suitable for the display at hand can be performed.
[0034]
Further, a keyboard 13E, a touch panel 13F, a network 13G, and the like are connected to the controller unit 13 via a data / control input interface 13D. A desktop personal computer PC and a laptop personal computer laptop are connected to the network 13G. A desktop KB and a mouse MS are attached to the desktop personal computer PC. These devices connected to the network 13G are used as image data input means, output means, or storage means. For example, a remote camera can be operated by operating a remote controller, and the image can be output to a remote printer in accordance with the media size, resolution, etc. of the printer.
[0035]
In the example of FIG. 2A, the request port and the control port are used to respond to the request from the input / output interface. However, the present invention is not limited to this, such as bus arbitration and queing that are often used in computer systems and the like. A general and more advanced control method based on the concept is also possible.
[0036]
Next, each part shown in FIG. 1 will be described in more detail.
[0037]
The input unit 1 connects one of input devices specified by an input select signal from the controller unit 13, for example, a scanner 15 b to the image processing unit 14, and image data of a document is received from the selected scanner 15 b. Entered. For example, when the 10-pixel / mm, 8-bit scanner 115b is selected, image data formed by sampling document information at intervals of 10 pixels (0.1 mm pitch) per 1 mm is input.
[0038]
3A to 3D show an example of correspondence between the original document and the document information after sampling. In this example, a document of A3 (420 mm × 297 mm) size is sampled at a pitch of 0.1 mm. As shown in FIG. 3A, the number of pixels after sampling is (4199 × 2969), and assuming that there are 256 gradations per pixel, one image data is composed of about 12 Mbytes.
[0039]
If the upper left corner of the document shown in FIG. 3A is the origin and there is a letter A having a size of 4 mm × 4 mm as shown in FIG. 3B at a position of 40 mm in the X direction (horizontal direction) and 40 mm in the Y direction (vertical direction), After sampling, as shown in FIG. 3C, the start point coordinates of the character A are (400, 400), and the end point coordinates are (439, 439).
[0040]
Sampling is performed in units of area S shown in FIG. 3C, and the value is set as the pixel value of the coordinate. For example, if the sampling value for the sampling area S is 220 as shown in FIG. 3D at the position of 41.8 mm in the vertical direction and 40 mm in the horizontal direction, that is, the position of the coordinates (418,400), this value is the coordinates (418,400). ). An example of the correspondence between the pixel values of the sampling coordinates is shown in FIG. 3D. The input image storage unit 2 stores the pixel value of the document image data input at the address position corresponding to each coordinate. Each pixel value represents the density of the pixel at that coordinate. That is, the blacker the pixel, the higher the pixel value.
[0041]
The feature amount extraction unit 3 reads out the document image data from the input image storage unit 2, and based on the pixel value, the top and bottom, left and right margins of the document, the coordinates and size of a relatively large free space, English / Japanese, character string , The number of words in each character string, the number of characters in each word, the coordinates, size, average character spacing, average character spacing, etc. of each character are stored in the feature quantity storage means 4.
[0042]
Here, details of the feature quantity extraction unit 3 will be described. A block diagram of the feature quantity extraction unit 3 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the control unit 13 controls a feature amount extraction process and the like. The feature amount access unit 32 is a means for creating an address, a control signal, and the like for storing the feature extracted from the document image in the feature amount storage unit 4. The image access unit 34 is means for exchanging data with the input image storage unit 2 in the same manner as the feature amount access unit 32.
[0043]
The binarization unit 33 is a unit that receives the image data read from the input image storage unit 2 by the image access unit 34 and performs binarization. In other words, the binarization unit 33 compares the read pixel value with a preset threshold value, and if the target pixel value is larger than the threshold value, the binarization output is set to 1 (black dot), otherwise the binarization output is performed. Is set to 0 (white point). The binary image memory 38 is a memory that stores the image data binarized by the binarizing unit 33.
[0044]
The all-image projecting unit 35 performs vertical and horizontal projection of all the images of one document, sets a value that is smaller than the predetermined threshold value to 0, and leaves the rest as it is. In the projection, only the number of black pixels is integrated from the vertical and horizontal pixel columns, and this is used as the projection value of the row or column. An example of the whole image projection in one document by the all image projection unit 35 is shown in FIG. By appropriately selecting the threshold value and setting the threshold value to, for example, half of the total number of black pixels added, various empty spaces in the document, their dimensions, and the like are obtained using the entire image projection unit 35.
[0045]
For example, when the small rectangles I1, I2, I3, and I4 in the document D shown in FIG. 5 represent characters, the intervals between the rectangles I1 and I2 are character intervals, and the intervals between the rectangles I1 and I4 are character string intervals. If the start point coordinates (Xs1, Ys1) of the upper left corner of the rectangle I1 are the same position as in FIG. 3A, (Xs1, Ys1) = (400, 400). If the character dimensions in this case are the same as in FIG. 3B, the end point coordinates (Xe1, Ye2) = (440,440). If the character interval between the rectangles I1 and I2 is 2 mm, and the character string interval between the I1 and I4 is 6 mm, the start point coordinates (Xs2, Ys2) = (460,400) and the end point coordinates (Xe2, Ye2) of the rectangle I2 = (500, 440).
[0046]
Assuming that the start point coordinates (Xs4, Ys4) = (400, 500) and the end point coordinates (Xe4, Ye4) = (440, 540) of the rectangle I4, the upper margin is obtained by taking a horizontal projection as shown in FIG. A peak corresponding to the upper end of the character string 1 appears at about the 400th pixel line from the upper end of the document D corresponding to TM, and the upper margin TM and the character string 1 can be detected when the peak continues for about 40 pixel lines. . The second peak corresponding to the upper end of the character string 2 starts from approximately the 500th pixel line, and the character string 2 can be detected by continuing approximately 40 pixel lines.
[0047]
On the other hand, due to the projection in the vertical direction, the left margin LM is from the start to the start of the first peak (400 in this example), and the character spacing is the distance from the end of the first peak to the start of the next peak (for example, XS2-XE1 = 20). The character size can be calculated as the spread of a mountain (eg, XE2-XS1 = 40), and the right margin RM can be calculated as the distance from the end of the last mountain to the right edge of the document D.
[0048]
If there are two types of character intervals and one is about 1.5 to 2 times the other, the larger interval is set as the word interval. Similarly, there are two types of character string intervals, and if one is about another three times, for example, the larger rectangular interval is treated as a column interval.
[0049]
Furthermore, the number of character strings NL from the number of horizontal projection peaks (N1, N2, N3), the number of characters per character string from the number of vertical projection peaks (C1, C2, C3), or the average character size (XL, YL) ), Average character string interval HLS, average character interval HMS, and the like are calculated. Also, calculate the aspect ratio of the characters in each character string, and if there are many characters with the same aspect ratio on average, the sentence is judged to be a Japanese sentence and output, and the aspect ratio is almost If there are about two spaces between characters (character spacing, word spacing), the sentence is judged to be English, and a label of EN is output for English and JP is output for Japanese. The interval between columns, which is a relatively large space, is stored as the coordinates of the empty space (XLS, YLS) and the number of empty spaces (NLS) between the columns.
[0050]
The partial projection unit 36 receives information such as character string position information and character string spacing from the entire image projection unit 35, extracts data for each character string from the binary image memory 38, and performs projection processing only in the vertical direction for each character string. The number of words NW, the number of characters NC in each character string, the starting point MKZ of each character in the target character string, or the average character size LHMS is calculated.
[0051]
Each character coordinate is calculated for each character string by the 8-neighbor pixel connected component extraction unit 37, the labeling and grouping unit 40, and the character coordinate calculation unit 42 in the same manner as the partial projection unit 36. A conceptual diagram of this processing is shown in FIGS. As an example, FIG. 6A shows binarized numbers 2 and 3. The result shown in FIG. 6B is obtained by the 8-neighbor pixel connected component extraction unit 37, and the result is equalized and grouped as shown in FIG. 6C by the labeling and grouping unit 40 and connected as shown in FIG. 6D. The start point coordinates and end point coordinates of the component block are obtained.
[0052]
Here, pixel connection component calculation by the 8-neighbor pixel connection component extraction unit 37 will be described. FIGS. 7A and 7B show neighboring pixels necessary for collecting the connected components of the target pixel P. FIG. In order to obtain the connected component of the pixel P, the following processing is performed.
[0053]
When the value of the pixel P is 0, the label of P is set to 0.
[0054]
If pixel P is 1 and the labels of already processed neighboring pixels A, B, C and D are all 0, a new label is attached to P.
[0055]
If the pixel P is 1 and at least one of the pixels A, B, C, D has a label other than 0, select one from the labels other than 0 (for example, the smallest label), and select P At the same time, it is recorded that all labels having labels other than 0 are equivalent (referred to as equalization processing). For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, if a pixel having (7, 10) coordinates is a processing target pixel, the neighboring pixels A, B, and C shown in FIG. 7A have already been processed at this point, and the label shown in FIG. (See the shaded area in FIG. 6B). As apparent from FIG. 6A, since the label of the target pixel is 1, searching for the smallest label other than 0 from the neighboring pixels is 2. Therefore, the label of the target pixel is 2. Further, since there is a pixel labeled 3 different from the target pixel other than 0 in the neighboring pixels, it is stored that label 2 and label 3 are equivalent.
[0056]
The label value and equivalent label information of each pixel obtained in this way are stored in the connected component information memory 39.
[0057]
The labeling and grouping unit 40 reads the connected component label data and the equivalent label data from the connected component information memory 39, groups the equivalent labels, and replaces them with new labels as shown in FIG. 6C. This information is stored in the labeling information memory 41. After relabeling the equivalent label data with a new label, the labeling and grouping unit 40 scans the labeling information memory 41 and reads the minimum and maximum coordinates having the same label. Since the pixels with the same label are considered to represent the physical blocks connected together as a whole, the minimum coordinate is the start point coordinate of the physical block, and the maximum coordinate is the end point coordinate of the physical block. These pieces of coordinate information are stored in the character coordinate extraction information memory 43.
[0058]
Further, the character coordinate extraction unit 42 receives the average character size data LHMS and the start point information MKZ of each character from the partial projection unit 36, and based on this, the physical blocks are merged. By this fusion processing, for example, the coordinates of one character composed of a plurality of connected components are calculated. This process is for making a physical block within the range of the average character size from the character start point into one character. Accordingly, the smallest coordinate data of the coordinate data of each block to be merged is the start point coordinate of the target character, and the largest coordinate data is the end point coordinate of the character.
[0059]
For example, the following two blocks with start and end coordinates:
Block 1 (xs1, ys1), (xe1, ye1),
Block 2 (xs2, ys2), (xe2, ye2)
Are merged, the start point and end point coordinates (xs, ys), (xe, ye) and the horizontal and vertical dimensions Δx, Δy of the block are as follows.
[0060]
xs = min (xs1, xs2)
ys = min (ys1, ys2) (1)
xe = max (xe1, xe2)
ye = max (ye1, ye2)
Δx = xe−xs
Δy = ye−ys
This process is performed for all character strings for each character string, and the coordinate values and corresponding dimensions (Δx, Δy) of all characters in the document D are calculated.
[0061]
All feature amounts calculated by the above method are written to the address of the feature amount storage unit 4 indicated by the feature information memory access unit 32 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 13.
[0062]
The feature extraction processing result is stored in the feature amount storage unit 4 as shown in FIG.
[0063]
The converted coordinate calculation unit 5 calculates a reduction ratio, space adjustment, and the like based on the feature amount of the feature amount storage unit 4 and the determination reference information of the determination reference information storage unit 6, and the corresponding coordinate data of each character. Is converted into coordinate data so as to be output, and stored in the converted coordinate storage unit 7 as converted coordinates.
[0064]
Details of the conversion coordinate calculation unit 5 will be further described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 14C.
[0065]
For example, the keyboard 13E shown in FIG. 2 is used for the determination reference information storage unit 6 via the CPU 13, or the output printers 12a to 12m shown in FIG. Target media size (X1, Y1) such as number (N) and hard copy paper size, device resolution (K), minimum value of character spacing, character string spacing, margin, etc. Dimensions can be set. An example of the information given from the CPU 13 and stored is shown in FIG.
[0066]
TMM Top Margin Minimum
BMM Bottom margin Minimum
LMM Left Margin Minimum
RMM light margin minimum
CSM character space minimum
LSM Line Space Minimum
Minimum value between PSM columns
SAM space adjustment minimum
(Characters below this size are degraded.)
The transformed coordinate calculation unit 5 is realized by the flowchart shown in FIG. This includes determination processing for determining whether space adjustment is required for output of the target document, processing for calculating space adjustment and reduction ratio if necessary, and coordinate data for converting original coordinate data into output coordinate data It consists of conversion processing.
[0067]
In the determination process, minimum values such as margin, character interval, character string interval, word interval, column interval, etc. are read from the determination information storage unit 6, and the coordinate data of each character is read from the feature amount storage unit 4 to calculate the character size. Then, the character size after reduction is obtained by multiplying it by the reduction rate (ST1). For example, the horizontal size (X direction) of the character 1 of the word 1 of the character string 1 in the document (not shown) is
X_SIZE = XE_1_1_1-XS_1_1_1 (2)
It becomes. If the reduction ratio is SR (for example, 0.71 in the case of output from A3 to A4), the size after reduction is
XO_SIZE = X_SIZE * SR (3)
It becomes. When the reduced character size XO_SEZE is smaller than the minimum character size set in the determination information storage unit 6, it is necessary to adjust the reduction rate of the character size by space adjustment (ST2).
[0068]
If space adjustment is necessary, parameters for space adjustment, image (character) reduction ratio, and the like are calculated (ST3). When the space adjustment is unnecessary, the position data of the image is converted by the conversion coordinate calculation unit 5 based on the reduction ratio calculated at step ST1, and when the space adjustment is necessary, the parameter and the reduction ratio calculated at step ST3. Thus, the conversion coordinate calculation unit 5 converts the position data (ST4). The converted position information is stored in the converted coordinate storage unit 7 (ST5).
[0069]
There are various targets when space adjustment is required, but typical examples will be described below.
[0070]
A. Space adjustment between characters and strings:
11A-11C illustrate the concept of space adjustment. In this example, if the input image D is simply reduced by 50% in length and width as usual, and output, it can be output to a medium having an area of 25% of the original area as shown in FIG. 11B. However, by filling the character spacing and character string spacing, characters can be output relatively large within the same area as shown in FIG. 11C. As shown in FIGS. 11A to 11C, when X1 is the horizontal size of the character, X2 is the character spacing, Y1 is the vertical size of the character, and Y2 is the character string spacing, the character of the original document D The size in the vertical direction and the minimum value SP of the character string interval are
SP = min (X2, Y2) (4)
And When SR1 is a simple reduction ratio, a value LSM ′ before reduction corresponding to the minimum value LSM of character spacing set by the CPU 13 is as follows.
[0071]
LSM '= LSM / SR1 (5)
Therefore, the space that can be adjusted (used) is
X2 '= SP-LSM' (6)
Thus, the reduction ratio SR2 of the character part X1 after the space adjustment is obtained as follows.
[0072]
X1 * SR2 = (X1 + X2 ′) * SR1 (7)
SR2 = (1 + X2 ′ / X1) * SR1
FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the position information conversion process shown in FIG.
[0073]
1. Description of FIG. 12:
In FIG. 12, first, the simple reduction rate SR1 is calculated from the input / output media information and the like, and the reduction rate SR2 after space adjustment is calculated based on the equations (4) to (7) (ST6). Further, the number of character strings extracted by the feature quantity calculating means (ST7), the number of words in each line (NWj): (ST9), the number of characters in each word (NCk): (ST11), etc., and the coordinates of each character From the reduction ratios SR1 and SR2, the start point coordinates and end point coordinates of each character after space adjustment are calculated as shown in equation (8). In the flowchart of FIG. 12, the start point coordinates and the end point coordinates are represented by (XS i j k, YS i j k), (XE i j k, YE i j k) is read (ST13). The calculated start point coordinates and end point coordinates of each character after space adjustment are (XTS i j k, YTS i j k), (XTE i j k, YTE i j k) (ST14). However, in the equation (8), the calculated start point coordinates and end point coordinates of each character after space adjustment are respectively (XT start, YT start), (XT end, YT end). Here, i, j, and k represent the k-th character of the j-th word in the i-th character string, respectively.
[0074]
The start point coordinates and end point coordinates of each character are obtained by the following equations. The character width before conversion, that is, the horizontal length X1 is
X1 = X_end−X_start
Therefore, the conversion start point coordinate of the character part X1 after the space adjustment is
XT_start = X_start * SR1
The character width ΔXT after conversion is
ΔXT = X1 * SR2
Therefore, the conversion end point coordinate of the character part X1 after the space adjustment is
XT_end = XT_start + ΔXT
It becomes.
[0075]
Similarly, the character length Y1 before the vertical conversion is
Y1 = Y_end−Y_start (8)
Therefore, the conversion start point coordinate of the character part X1 after the space adjustment is
YT_start = Y_start * SR1
The character length ΔYT after conversion is
ΔYT = Y1 * SR2
Therefore, the conversion end point coordinate in the Y direction of the character part X1 after the space adjustment is
YT_end = YT_start + ΔYT
These pieces of information are stored in the converted coordinate storage unit 7 as processing information. An example of the converted coordinate output is shown in FIG.
[0076]
In step ST15, k = k + 1 is calculated. In step ST16, it is determined whether k ≦ NCK, that is, whether the next character is the last character of the jth word in the i-th character string. If k ≦ NCK, the next character is determined. Steps ST13 and ST14 are repeated.
[0077]
If k> NCK, j = j + 1 is calculated in step ST17, and it is determined in step ST18 whether j> NWj, that is, whether the next word exceeds the final number of words in the i-th character string. The If j> NWj is not satisfied, steps ST11 to ST17 are repeated for the next word.
[0078]
If j> NWj is satisfied in step ST18 and the processing of the last word is completed, i = i + 1 is calculated in step ST19, and the next character string is processed. That is, in step ST20, it is determined whether i> NL and whether the processing of the final character string has been completed. If the final character string has not been processed, the processes of steps ST9 to ST19 are repeated until i> NL.
[0079]
It should be noted that the feature quantity extraction unit 3, the conversion coordinate calculation unit 5, the image conversion processing unit 8 and the like constituting the image processing unit 14 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 can be easily realized by introducing known methods and apparatuses. Description is omitted.
[0080]
In this embodiment, the space adjustment in both the vertical and horizontal directions has been described. By setting SP in the above equation (4) to SP = min (X2), the space adjustment only in the horizontal direction is performed. It is also possible to adjust the space only in the vertical direction.
[0081]
B. Margin space adjustment:
14A to 14C show the concept of margin space adjustment. Reads the minimum margin space, ie, top margin space TMM, bottom margin space BMM, left margin space LMM, right margin space RMM, etc., from the criterion information storage section 6 in the output devices 12a,. 4, the top, bottom, left and right margins TM, BM, LM, RM, etc. of the document D are read, and adjustable spaces TMA, BMA, LMA, RMA in each are calculated.
[0082]
TMA = TM-TMM
BMA = BM-BMM
LMA = LM-LMM
RMA = RM-RMM (9)
The vertical and horizontal adjustable spaces per character are calculated from the above adjustable margin space as follows.
[0083]
SPA_X = (LMA + RMA) * SR1 / NC
SPA_Y = (TMA + BMA) * SR1 / NL
Here, SPA_X represents an adjustable space in the horizontal direction per character, and SPA_Y represents an adjustable space in the vertical direction. NC is the number of characters per character string, and NL is the number of character strings. If SPA_X or SPA_Y is replaced with X2 'in the equation (7) to obtain SR2, and the equation (8) is generalized as follows, the converted position coordinates can be calculated.
[0084]
X1 = X_end−X_start
XT_start = X_start * SR1-α1
XT_end = XT_start + X1 * SR2
Y1 = Y_end−Y_start
YT_start = Y_start * SR1-β1
YT_end = YT_start + Y1 * SR2 (11)
here
α1 = LMA-i * (SPA_X)
β1 = TMA-j * (SPA_Y) (12)
It is. When α and β are set to 0, equation (11) becomes equal to equation (8).
[0085]
C. Word spacing adjustment:
Similar to the character spacing adjustment, a space in which the word spacing can be adjusted can be calculated. For example, the minimum value TKM of the word interval is read from the criterion information storage unit 6, and the number of words NW, the word interval TK, the number of characters NC, the character interval, etc. in each character string are read from the feature amount storage unit 4. The adjustable word spacing TKA can be calculated as follows.
[0086]
TKA = (TK-TKM) * NW
The horizontal adjustable space per character is calculated from the above adjustable space as follows.
[0087]
SWA_X = (TKA * SR1) / NC
WKA_X = ((TK−TKM) * SR1) + (SWA_X * NCW) (13)
Here, WKA_X indicates an adjustable space in the horizontal direction per character, WKA_X indicates a space between words, and NCW indicates the number of characters in the word j.
[0088]
The reduction rate SR2 can be calculated as follows.
[0089]
X1 * SR2 = (X1 + SWA_X) * SR1
SR2 = (1 + SWA_X / X1) * SR1 (14)
Conversion coordinates are obtained as follows.
[0090]
X1 = X_end−X_start
XT_start = X_start * SR1-α2
XT_end = XT_start + X1 * SR2 (15)
Here, the offset α2 is
α2 = ((SWA_X) * (i−j)) + ((WKA_X) * (j−i)) (16)
I represents the position of the target character in the line (for example, i = 10 for the tenth character), and j represents the position of the word to which the target character belongs (for example, j = 2 for the second word). .
[0091]
Similarly, a space (column spacing) between character blocks can be extracted. It is also possible to adjust only the vertical space for relatively large characters and change only the reduction rate of small characters using the space. In this way, it is possible to adjust the space by combining different reduction ratios in one document.
[0092]
FIG. 15 shows a configuration diagram thereof.
[0093]
In FIG. 15, a control unit 51 is a CPU that performs processing control of the entire configuration of FIG. 15. Therefore, the CPU 13 may be used here, or a dedicated CPU for the image processing unit 14 in FIG. 1 may be used separately.
[0094]
The feature amount reading unit 52 is a means for reading data from the feature amount storage unit 4, and reads information such as position information for each character, the size of the document, and the average character spacing in the character string including the character being processed. Means. The judgment criterion access unit 54 is a means for reading judgment information from the judgment criterion information storage unit 6 set from the outside via the CPU 13. The reduction rate calculation unit 53 receives the document size information through the feature amount reading unit 52, reads out information such as the media size of the output devices 16a,..., 16m selected through the determination reference access unit 54, and calculates the reduction rate SR1.
[0095]
SR1 is calculated as a reduction ratio SR1X in the X direction based on the X direction size of the original and the size in the X direction of the medium, and a reduction ratio SR1Y in the Y direction based on the Y direction size of the original and the size in the Y direction of the medium. . SR1X and SR1Y are equal when the size ratio (aspect ratio) of the document in the X and Y directions is the same as the size ratio of the media in the X and Y directions, and otherwise SR1X and SR1Y are different. .
[0096]
The reduction rate conversion presence / absence determination unit 63 is a unit that determines whether or not the reduction rates SR1_X and SR1_Y determined by the reduction rate calculation unit 53 need to be converted based on the set character size minimum dimension or the like.
[0097]
If conversion is necessary, the X-direction adjustable space X21, X22, X23, X24, the Y-direction adjustable space Y21, Y22, Y23 or the X-direction in the X direction as described above. A character interval calculation unit 56, a character string interval calculation unit 60, an adjustable word interval adjustment unit 57 (for English documents) that can adjust coordinate offsets α2, α3, α4 and coordinate offsets β2, β3 in the Y direction, It is calculated by the left and right margin adjustment space calculation unit 58, the vertical margin adjustment space calculation unit 61, the other horizontal space adjustment unit 59, and the other vertical space adjustment unit 62.
[0098]
The character spacing calculation unit 56 in FIG. 15 calculates a character spacing adjustable amount X21 (see equation (6)) in the X direction. Similarly, the character string spacing generating unit 60 can adjust the character spacing in the Y direction. A simple amount Y21 is calculated. Further, the word interval calculation means 57 calculates an adjustable amount X22 of the word interval based on the equation (13), and further calculates an offset α of coordinates corresponding to each character based on the equation (16). .
[0099]
The left and right margin calculating means 58 calculates an adjustable left and right margin space X23 based on the equation (10) and calculates a coordinate offset α3 corresponding to this based on the equation (12). Similarly, the upper and lower margin calculating means 61 calculates an adjustable upper and lower margin space Y23 and calculates a coordinate offset β2 corresponding thereto.
[0100]
Similarly, the other horizontal space calculation unit 59 and the other vertical space calculation unit 62 have a space that can be adjusted by the same method and a corresponding offset for a relatively large space such as a column space. It is for calculating.
[0101]
The reduction ratios SR2_X and SR_Y are calculated from the respective adjustable space sums X2 and Y2 and the respective offset sums α and β, and the converted coordinates (from the original coordinates (XS, YS) and (XE, YE)) ( XTS, YTS), (XTE, YTE), or the size (ΔXT, ΔYT) of each character is calculated, and the coordinate data converted into the address output by the conversion coordinate memory access unit 55 is converted according to the instruction of the CPU 51 Write to the coordinate storage unit 7. The above calculation is performed by subtractors 63a,... 63f, adders 64a,... 64h, multipliers 65a,.
[0102]
As described in the explanation of each adjustment method with reference to the equations (7) to (16), all the methods for adjusting the character spacing, the word spacing, and the margin, first obtain the reduction rate SR2 when adjusted. Then, the adjusted start point coordinates and end point coordinates are obtained from the start point coordinates and end point coordinates of each connected component. When rewritten based on the symbols in FIG.
[0103]
X1 = XE-XS (17-1)
SR2 X = (X1 + X2) / X1) * SR1 X (17-2)
XTS = XS * SR1 X-α (17-3)
ΔXT = X1 * SR2 X (17-4)
XTE = XTS + ΔXT (17-5)
Y1 = YE-YS (18-1)
SR2 Y = (Y1 + Y2) / Y1) * SR1 Y (18-2)
YTS = YS * SR1 Y-α (18-3)
ΔYT = Y1 * SR2 Y (18-4)
YTE = YTS + ΔYT (18-5)
Here, XS is the X coordinate of the start point of the connected component, and XE is the X coordinate of the end point of the connected component. SR1 X represents the simple reduction ratio in the horizontal direction, SR2 X indicates the reduction ratio when adjustment is taken in. XTS is the X coordinate of the start point after adjustment, and XTE is the X coordinate of the end point after adjustment. Here, X2 indicates an adjustable space.
[0104]
For example, when only the character spacing calculation unit 56 of FIG. 15 is considered, X2 in the above equation (17-2) becomes the output X21, which means horizontal space adjustment by the character spacing, and α in the equation (17-3) Since = 0, the above expression becomes the same as Expressions (7) and (8), and represents space adjustment by character spacing.
[0105]
Similarly, when only the word interval calculation unit 57 in FIG. 15 is considered, X2 in the above equation (17-2) becomes the output X22, and the horizontal space adjustment by the word interval is performed, and the above equation is the equation (10), It becomes the same thing as a formula (11), and represents the space adjustment by a word space | interval.
[0106]
Similarly, when only the left and right margin adjustment calculation unit 58 of FIG. 15 is considered, X2 in the above equation (17-2) becomes the output X23, α in (17-3) is α3, and the above equation is (14 ) And the space adjustment by the margin adjustment of (15). Similarly, the space adjustment in the vertical direction can be expressed by substituting X for Y and α for β as shown in equations (18-1) to (18-5).
[0107]
In other words, if all the space adjustments independently calculate the adjustable space and offset for each character, the equations (17-1) to (17-5) and (18-1) As shown in the equation (18-5), the original coordinates (XS, YS) of the character, the reduction ratio SR2 X, SR2 Y, adjustable spaces X2, Y2 and offsets α, β can be expressed by the above two equations.
[0108]
Furthermore, adjustments by a plurality of methods can also be performed together with the same idea. In this case, for example, the laterally adjustable space by each method is the sum of X21 (character spacing adjustment), X22 (word spacing adjustment), X23 (margin adjustment), etc.
X2 = X21 + X22 + X23 + ... = ΣX2i (19)
Is a comprehensive adjustable space X2,
α = α1 + α2 + α3 +... = Σαi (20)
If the above-mentioned integrated offset is used, the above-described equations (17-1) to (17-5) can be used to simultaneously perform space adjustment by a plurality of methods in the horizontal direction. Similarly, the vertical adjustable space is the sum of Y21 (character string interval adjustment), Y22 (margin adjustment), etc.,
Y2 = Y21 + Y22 + Y23 + ... = ΣY2i (21)
A comprehensively adjustable space,
β = β1 + β2 + β3 +... = Σβi (22)
If the above-mentioned integrated offsets are used, the above-described equations (18-1) to (18-5) can be used to simultaneously adjust the space by a plurality of methods in the vertical direction.
[0109]
The adder 64a in FIG. 15 calculates a total adjustable space in the horizontal direction shown in the equation (19), and the corresponding total offset shown in the equation (20) is calculated by the adder 64d. Is done. Similarly, the total adjustable space in the vertical direction shown in the equation (21) is calculated by the adder 64f, and the corresponding total offset of the equation (22) is calculated by the adder 64e.
[0110]
In FIG. 15, each of the space adjustment calculation units 56 to 62 can be controlled by a CPU or the like, and whether or not each process is performed can be determined by an instruction from the CPU. If there is no processing, the output of the corresponding space adjusting means, that is, X2i or Y2i and the corresponding offset αi or βi becomes zero, and the space adjustment by the method becomes invalid. Therefore, using this configuration, it is possible to perform space adjustment by only one means, for example, space adjustment by word interval adjustment, or two or more space adjustments, for example, character interval, character string interval, margin adjustment, etc. Can be applied at the same time. Further, the vertical direction and the horizontal direction can be adjusted independently.
[0111]
In the configuration of FIG. 15, when the adjustable space and its offset are obtained, the space-adjusted after the space adjustment from the equations (17-1) to (17-5) or (18-1) to (18-5). It is configured so that the start point coordinates and end point coordinates of each character can be obtained.
[0112]
X1 in the equation (17-1) is calculated by subtracting XS from XE in the subtractor 63a. In the implementation of the equation (17-2), the adder 64c first adds X1 and X2 in the equation (17-2), and the result of the addition of X1 and X2 and the division of X1 is sent to the divider 66a. The result of division and SR1 SR2 is obtained by multiplying X by the multiplier 65b. X is calculated.
[0113]
Next, the start point coordinate XTS in the X direction after the space adjustment of the expression (17-3) is first set to SR1 by the multiplier 65a. The multiplication of X and XS is performed, and the result of the multiplication and the offset output from the adder 64d are subtracted by the subtractor 63b. ΔXT in the equation (17-4) is multiplied by X1 and SR2 by the multiplier 65c. Calculated by multiplying by X. The end point coordinate XTE of the equation (17-5) is calculated by adding the output ΔXT of the multiplier 65c and the output XTS of the subtractor 63b by the adder 64b.
[0114]
Similarly, Y1 in the equation (18-1) is calculated by subtracting YS from YE in the subtractor 63f. In addition, SR2 in the formula (18-2) First, Y is added by Y1 and Y2 in the equation (18-2) by the adder 64g, and the result of addition of Y1 and Y2 and the division of Y1 are performed by the divider 66b. Is calculated by the multiplier 65d. Next, the start point coordinate YTS in the Y direction after the space adjustment of the equation (18-3) is first set to SR1 by the multiplier 65f. The multiplication of Y and YS is performed, and the result of the multiplication and the offset output from the adder 64f are subtracted by the subtractor 63e. ΔYT in the equation (18-4) is determined by Y1 and SR2 in the multiplier 65e. Calculated by multiplying Y. The end point coordinate YTE in the equation (18-5) is calculated by adding the output ΔYT of the multiplier 65e and the output YTS of the subtractor 63e by the adder 64h.
[0115]
The output image conversion processing unit 8 reads the coordinate data from the feature amount storage unit 4, reads the corresponding image data from the input image storage unit 2, performs conversion based on the corresponding conversion coordinates, and the processing result is the output image. This is stored in the storage unit 9.
[0116]
FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram of the output image conversion processing unit 8, and a control unit 81 is a general-purpose CPU that controls the entire processing. Here, the CPU 13 or the CPU 51 can also be used. The conversion coordinate memory access unit 82 receives an instruction from the control unit 81, outputs a necessary address and a control signal, and exchanges with the conversion coordinate storage unit 7. For example, the number of characters is read and the coordinates after conversion of the first character of the first word of the first character string are read.
[0117]
Similarly, the feature amount access unit 83 reads the coordinates of the first character of the first word of the first character string from the feature amount storage unit 4. Image data corresponding to the coordinate data read by the feature amount access unit 83 is read and stored in the internal buffer 86. The reduction rate calculation unit 85 reads the original character coordinates from the feature amount access unit 83 and the character coordinates to be converted from the conversion coordinate memory access unit 82, and calculates the reduction rate as follows. For example, the horizontal reduction ratio of the first character of the first word of the first character string is
SR_X = (ΔX1) / (XS_1_1_1-XE_1_1_1)
It becomes. Here, SR_X is the reduction ratio, ΔX1 is the horizontal length after conversion, and XS_1_1_1 and XE_1_1_1 indicate the original start point and end point coordinates of the character. The reduction processing unit 88 reduces the image data stored in the internal buffer 86 in accordance with the reduction rate input from the reduction rate calculation unit 85.
[0118]
In this embodiment, the reduction process is performed using the nearest neighbor method. This method re-samples the extracted (character) image according to the reduction ratio. If the re-sampling position is between the original sampled positions, there are four neighboring images. In this method, the pixel value at the closest distance among the pixels is used as the pixel value at the sampling position.
[0119]
The processing configuration of the reduction processing unit 88 is shown in FIG. The column address counter 882 receives the INGC signal for each pixel and counts up. The count value of the column address counter 882 is compared with the converted coordinate (XTE-XTS) in the horizontal direction by the comparison unit 881, and when the comparison result becomes equal, the column address counter 882 is reset by the reset signal RST, and the address counter count The row address counter 883 is incremented by the up signal INCL.
[0120]
The row address counter 883 is incremented as described above. The count value of the row address counter 883 is compared with the vertical conversion coordinate difference (YTE-YTS) by the comparison unit 884. If the comparison results are equal, it indicates that the reduction process for the target character has been completed. Inform the CPU 81 of the signal. The difference between the converted coordinates in the horizontal direction is calculated by a subtracter 887, and the difference between the converted coordinates in the vertical direction is calculated by a subtracter 888.
[0121]
The count content i of the column address counter 882 is multiplied by the horizontal reduction rate SR_X by the multiplier 885, and the count content j of the row address counter 883 is multiplied by the vertical size reduction rate SR_Y by the multiplier 886. Multipliers 885 and 886 are roundable multipliers, and automatically set the re-sampling position to the nearest sampling position.
[0122]
As a result of the resampling process, i1 and j1 become the address signal of the internal buffer 86 through the address selector 87 as shown in FIG. 16, and the resampled value Pi1j1 is read from the internal buffer 86. In FIG. 17, i is the sum of XTS, j is YTS, and the output image storage unit 9 is an address. The corresponding resampled value Pij is a pixel value to be stored at this address. Addresses (XTS + i, YTS + j) are calculated in the output image memory access unit 89 of FIG. 16, and the pixel value Pij is recorded in the output image storage unit 9.
[0123]
FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of FIG. The above reduction processing is performed on each character of the input document D and stored in the output image storage unit 9. The output unit 10 is a unit that selects one of the output devices 12a,... 12m to be output, reads an image from the output image storage unit 9, and outputs the image.
[0124]
In this embodiment, software processing is performed using a general-purpose CPU, but the same result can be obtained by using dedicated hardware. Furthermore, all calculations are performed based on the coordinate data, but it is also possible to calculate based on dimensions (for example, mm) instead of the coordinate data.
[0125]
Next, an example of the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described. For example, it is assumed that the document D shown in FIG. 19 is output to a medium that is 50% vertically and horizontally (1/4 in area). FIG. 20A shows a simple reduction, and FIG. 20B shows an example after space adjustment. FIG. 19 is assumed to be composed of regions (1), (2), (3), and (4) having different character dimensions. It is assumed that the characters in the region (2) in FIG. Regions (1), (3), and (4) are relatively large characters compared to (2), regions (1) and (4) are in Japanese, and region (3) is in English.
[0126]
FIG. 20B shows an example in which the upper margin is reduced by 60% and the lower margin is reduced by 28%. In the area (1), the reduction ratio is 50%, the character spacing is increased by 20%, and the character string spacing is reduced by 20%. Since the region (2) is difficult to read if it is output at the 50% reduction rate as it is, the character spacing is reduced by about 33% and the reduction rate is set to 80%.
[0127]
Since the reduction ratio of the area (2) is 80%, even if the space between the column area (1) -area (3) and the column area (2) -area (4) is reduced by 20%, the column area (3) ) And the width of the column area (4) should be reduced by about 28%. This is adjusted by increasing the reduction ratio to 50% for the area (3), reducing the character spacing by 50% and the word spacing by about 50%, and for the area IV by reducing the reduction ratio to 40% and increasing the character spacing by about 20%. To do.
[0128]
As described above, document information can be output in a size that is easy to see depending on the size of the output media by locally changing the character spacing, character string spacing, enlargement / reduction scaling factor according to the character size of the local area, etc. It is. Regions (1), (2), (3), and (4) can be considered as separate documents. In other words, when documents composed of a plurality of characters with different dimensions are combined into one document, the character size, empty space, etc. in each document are judged, and appropriate scaling or adjustment is performed. Easy-to-see output is possible. Further, in this embodiment, the reduction of the character area has been described. However, the case where the character is locally enlarged and outputted in some cases can be similarly implemented.
[0129]
As described above, the document image data is input, and from the input document image data, the feature amount such as the top / bottom / left / right margin, the character spacing, the character string spacing, the word spacing, the column spacing, the character size, the coordinates, etc. Extract and calculate the space adjustment, scaling factor, etc. based on the preset criteria information such as the minimum margin and minimum character size at the time of output and the above features, and convert the original coordinate data. An input image is converted from the converted coordinates and the original coordinates, and the converted image is output to a designated output device.
[0130]
Furthermore, by using the image processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to select an arbitrary output device or storage device from the input side, and to select image data stored in advance on an output device or an arbitrary server from any output device. . In addition, image output after processing according to the output device and its media from the input side, after processing that matches the characteristics of the output device of the required input device and server image data from the output side Output is possible.
[0131]
Furthermore, it is also possible to output image data from any other input device or control device to any output device or storage device.
[0132]
In the above-described embodiment, a general-purpose system considering a plurality of input devices and a plurality of output devices has been disclosed. However, various configurations are conceivable as the embodiments. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, only the image processing unit 14 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 is adjusted to be integrated with an input device, for example, the scanner 15b so as to operate as an input device, and then output to a printer, for example. The configuration of the adaptive scanner 15b ′ is also conceivable. In FIG. 2B, for example, a keyboard or a touch panel is connected to the image processing unit 14 as the output device information interface 18, and output device information output from the image processing unit 14 is input to the image processing unit 14. Can do.
[0133]
The adaptive scanner 15b ′ shown in FIG. 2B receives the information of the output device to be connected via the interface 18, and determines the processing parameters according to the information. The input image is processed based on the set parameters, converted into an output suitable for the output device, and output.
[0134]
An input device other than the scanner can be realized with the same configuration.
[0135]
Also, by integrating the image processing unit of the present invention with a predetermined output device, the input image is converted by performing processing that matches the output capability of the input image, so that an easy-to-read display and output are possible. Is possible.
[0136]
For example, as shown in FIG. 2C, it is possible to obtain a PDA 16c ′ capable of adaptive display by integrating the image processing unit 14 with the PDA 16c. Here, the information accessed from the PDA 16c is first subjected to image processing to perform space adjustment and then displayed.
[0137]
Similar configurations are possible for other output devices.
[0138]
Further, only meaningful information such as characters / photos is extracted from the image data read by a scanner or the like using a structure analysis technique, and the position and size of the information are obtained. Based on this, only meaningful information is extracted from the image data, and output from the extracted data realizes erasure outside the document, shadow removal of the book, and the like.
[0139]
Furthermore, when outputting a plurality of originals as a single document, the output characters may be too fine due to the character size and reduction ratio. With the structural analysis technology, the character size, character spacing, etc. are obtained. When the character is fine, the character spacing can be increased to some extent, and the character can be output as large as possible.
[0140]
Thus, the character information can be easily output by adjusting the empty space in the input document in accordance with the size of the medium to which the input document image data is to be output.
[0141]
Therefore, the image data can be handled easily by structuring the image data read by an input device such as a scanner using a document structure analysis technique.
[0142]
Further, it is possible to extract a region such as a character / photo using a structure analysis technique, and to copy a copy by shadowing a book or erasing outside a document.
[0143]
Furthermore, when copying a plurality of originals into one, if the character size is too small, the space between characters can be automatically reduced and characters can be output to a certain extent.
[0144]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when displaying and outputting document image data on media having different display and output sizes, the image processing apparatus can convert character information in the document to an optimum size. Can provide.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the present invention;
2A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a controller unit of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1; 2B and 2C are block diagrams showing examples of the scanner and the display used in the embodiment of FIG.
FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D are diagrams for explaining an example of a document image that is input and sampled and coordinates thereof; FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a feature amount extraction unit.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of full image projection on one document.
6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D are diagrams for explaining the concept of labeling processing. FIG.
7A and 7B are diagrams showing neighborhood models for extracting connected components of 8 neighborhood pixels, respectively.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing output information from a feature amount extraction unit;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of determination criterion information.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining processing of a transformed coordinate calculation unit;
11A, 11B, and 11C are diagrams for explaining the concept of space adjustment on input / output images. FIG.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining position information conversion processing;
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of converted coordinate output.
14A, 14B, and 14C are diagrams showing an example of margin space adjustment on an input / output image. FIG.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a coordinate conversion unit;
FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image conversion unit.
FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a reduction processing unit.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining resampling processing;
FIG. 19 is a view showing a combined image of a plurality of documents before conversion.
FIGS. 20A and 20B are diagrams showing images after conversion by different methods. FIGS.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... input part,
2 ... Input image storage unit,
3 ... feature amount extraction unit,
4 ... Feature amount storage unit,
5 ... Conversion coordinate calculation unit,
6 ... Judgment criteria information storage unit,
7: Conversion coordinate storage unit,
8: Image conversion processing unit,
9: Output image storage unit,
10 ... Output unit
11a to 11n: Input interface
12a-12m ... Output interface
13 ... Controller part,
13A ... CPU,
14: Image processing unit,
15a-15n ... input device,
16a-16m ... Output device.

Claims (8)

Storage means for storing a plurality of character symbols and image information including a space between the plurality of character symbols;
Feature information detection means for detecting feature information including the position of the character symbol, the size of the character symbol, and the interval between the character symbols from the image stored by the storage means;
First calculation means for calculating a reduction ratio (SR1) of the first image from the size of the image stored by the storage means and the image size after reduction;
Determining means for determining whether or not the adjustment of the interval between character symbols is necessary based on the reduction ratio of the first image calculated by the first calculating means;
If it is determined by the determining means that the adjustment of the character symbol interval is not necessary, the entire image stored by the storage means is converted by the first reduction ratio based on the character symbol size and character symbol size feature information. When it is determined that the character symbol interval needs to be adjusted by the determining means, a second reduction ratio (less than the first reduction ratio) for the character symbols in the image stored by the storage means ( SR2: SR2 <SR1), and the character symbol interval is reduced to be smaller than that when reduced by the first reduction ratio, and the entire image stored by the storage means is reduced by the first reduction ratio. Reduction means to the same size as the case,
An image processing apparatus that reduces the size of an image and outputs the reduced image. The above judgment means is
Second storage means for storing a minimum size of the character symbol;
Second calculating means for calculating the size of the reduced character symbol when reduced by the first reduction ratio calculated by the calculating means based on the size of the character symbol detected by the feature information detecting means;
Compare the reduced size of the character symbol with the minimum size, and if the reduced size of the character symbol is larger than the minimum size, determine that adjustment of the character symbol spacing is unnecessary, and reduce the reduced size of the character symbol The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a comparison unit that determines that adjustment of the character symbol interval is necessary when the size is smaller than the size.   2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feature information detecting means further includes means for detecting a margin space around the image from the image information stored in the storage means. The reduction means is
Conversion position calculation means for calculating conversion position information of the character symbol when reduced at a first reduction rate based on the position information of the character symbol detected by the feature information detection means;
Image conversion for reducing a character symbol by one of the first reduction ratio and the second reduction ratio and arranging the reduced character symbol at the position converted by the conversion position calculation means based on the determination result of the determination means The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means. The image processing apparatus further includes:
Means for visually displaying and outputting the image reduced by the reduction means;
2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for setting size information that can be displayed by the visible display as the reduced image size. The image processing device is provided between an image input device and an image output device that visually displays and outputs an image of a predetermined size, and the image processing device further includes:
Means for receiving an image input by the image input device from the image input device;
2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting the image reduced by the reduction means to the image output apparatus. The image processing apparatus further includes:
2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for acquiring, from the image output apparatus, size information of an image that is visually displayed by the image output apparatus as the reduced image size information. First storage means for storing image information including a plurality of character symbols, a space between the character symbols, and a margin space around the image;
Feature information detection means for detecting feature information including the position of the character symbol, the size of the character symbol, the interval between the character symbols, and the margin space around the image from the image stored by the first storage means;
Second storage means for storing the minimum size of the character symbol, the minimum value of the space between the character symbols, and the minimum value of the margin space around the image;
First calculation means for calculating a reduction ratio (SR1) of the first image from the size of the image stored by the first storage means and the reduced image size;
Second calculating means for calculating the size of the reduced character symbol when reduced by the first reduction ratio calculated by the calculating means based on the size of the character symbol detected by the feature information detecting means;
Compare the reduced size of the character symbol to the minimum size. If the reduced size of the character symbol is larger than the minimum size, it is determined that adjustment of the character symbol spacing is not necessary. A determination means for determining that the adjustment of the character symbol interval is necessary if
If it is determined by the determining means that the adjustment of the character symbol interval is not necessary, the entire image stored by the first storage means is first reduced based on the feature information of the position of the character symbol and the size of the character symbol. First reduction means for reducing at a rate;
When it is determined by the determining means that the character symbol interval needs to be adjusted, the character symbol interval detected by the feature information detecting means, the margin space around the image, and the character stored by the second storage means Third calculating means for calculating an adjustable amount of the character symbol interval and the margin space based on the minimum value of the symbol interval and the minimum value of the margin space around the image;
Fourth calculation means for calculating a second reduction ratio (SR2: SR2 <SR1) smaller than the first reduction ratio as a character reduction ratio based on the adjustable amount calculated by the third calculation means. When,
When it is determined by the determining means that adjustment of the interval between the character symbols is necessary, for the character symbols in the image stored by the first storage means, the second reduction ratio ( SR2), the character symbol interval and the margin space are further reduced to be smaller than the first reduction ratio and equal to or larger than the minimum value, and the entire image stored in the first storage unit is reduced. An image processing apparatus for reducing and outputting an image size, comprising: a reduction unit configured to have the same size as that when reduced by a first reduction ratio.

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