JP4754236B2 - Information processing apparatus, acquisition method, and acquisition program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, an information processing program, a computer-readable recording medium, and an information processing system, and particularly using information included in embedded information added to an image. The present invention relates to a technique for acquiring an electronic document.

  In recent years, with the development of computer-related technologies, offices are becoming paperless. For this reason, paper documents distributed to other people at meetings and meetings are often electronic documents created in advance by a computer and output by a printer or the like.

  In many cases, a user to whom a paper document is distributed wants to refer directly to the electronic document on the monitor, and various techniques for acquiring the electronic document from the paper document have been proposed (for example, patents). Reference 1).

  Various techniques for acquiring related information based on information added by a user with a pen or the like to a paper document have been proposed (for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2002-351877 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-228468

  However, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 is limited to a technique for acquiring an electronic document, and there is a problem that a predetermined process cannot be requested from the apparatus based on a matter that a user adds to a paper document with a pen or the like. is there.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, when additional writing is performed with a pen or the like, a difference is extracted by comparing with a corresponding electronic document and related information is acquired. In order to extract a difference, an electronic document is acquired in advance. There is a problem that you need to be. Further, when comparing the difference between an image and an acquired electronic document, there is a problem that a load is applied to hardware.

The present invention was made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus, the method acquiring and obtaining program to readily determinable whether the add serial.

To solve the above problems and achieve the object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention divides an electronic document in a predetermined area, divided for each region, characteristic information and other electronic documents of the region Input means for inputting image information of the electronic document in which document specifying information for specifying the document is embedded, characteristic information of the area for each area embedded in the electronic document , and a document associated with the area Extraction means for extracting specific information , feature information acquisition means for acquiring feature information for each of the divided areas from the image information input by the input means, and extraction for each area by the extraction means wherein the characteristic information, and comparing means for comparing, and the feature information obtained by the feature information obtaining means, based on a comparison result by the comparison means, among the divided regions, the electronic document Against based on the determination means and the document identification information is associated with the region determined to additional recording has been performed by said determining means for determining additional recording is performed regions, acquiring the another electronic document Electronic document acquisition means.

According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to easily determine whether or not additional writing is performed on a paper document .

  Exemplary embodiments of an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, an information processing program, a computer-readable recording medium, and an information processing system according to the present invention are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. To do.

(First embodiment)
In the first embodiment, a case will be described in which the information processing system includes an information processing apparatus and an MFP. These information processing systems are connected to the embedded document generation apparatus via a public network.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus 100, an MFP 170, and an embedded document generation apparatus 150 connected via a public network according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, an image obtained by scanning the MFP 170 with a paper document to which a two-dimensional barcode such as a QR code (registered trademark) generated by the embedded document generating apparatus 150 is added is output to the information processing apparatus 100. Then, the information processing apparatus 100 extracts information included in the two-dimensional barcode added to the input processed image, and acquires a related electronic document from the embedded document generation apparatus 150 via the public network. Further, the information processing apparatus 100 can transmit the acquired electronic document to the MFP 170 and perform printing processing from the MFP 170. Further, it is possible to perform processing or the like in advance on the electronic document acquired by the information processing apparatus 100 before being transmitted to the MFP 170.

  As shown in the figure, the embedded document generating apparatus 150 includes a storage unit 151, a target document acquisition unit 152, a region division unit 153, a related document acquisition unit 154, a related document registration unit 155, and a region feature. An extraction unit 156, an embedded information generation unit 157, an embedded information addition unit 158, an embedded document output processing unit 159, a communication unit 160, and a related document acquisition unit 161, and an electronic to be output The document is divided for each line, and a two-dimensional barcode including area correspondence information in which the luminance value of each line is associated with the document ID indicating the related document corresponding to each line is generated. Add to the document and perform output processing.

  The storage unit 151 stores an electronic document and ID document correspondence table. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a table structure of the ID document correspondence table held by the embedded document generation apparatus 150. As shown in the figure, the ID document correspondence table holds document IDs and document file names in association with each other. As a result, the document file associated with the document ID can be specified.

  The target document acquisition unit 152 acquires an electronic document to be output. The electronic document may be acquired from an electronic document stored in the storage unit 151 or an electronic document newly generated by the user. An example in which the processing target electronic document 301 shown in FIG. 3 is acquired will be described below. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline from the acquired electronic document to the addition of a two-dimensional barcode in the present embodiment.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the area dividing unit 153 divides the acquired electronic document line by line. Assume that an area is set for each divided line as indicated by 302 in FIG.

  The related document acquisition unit 154 acquires a related electronic document suitable for each divided area. Any method may be used for acquiring the electronic document related to each line. For example, the user sets an electronic document corresponding to each line, and the electronic document in which the related document acquisition unit 154 is set is placed on the network. Alternatively, it may be acquired from the storage unit 151.

  The related document registration unit 155 assigns a unique document ID to each acquired related document, and registers the document ID assigned to the ID document correspondence table stored in the storage unit 151 in association with the position and file name of the related document. . Further, the related document registration unit 155 adds the acquired related document to the storage unit 151. Thus, by searching the ID document correspondence table using the document ID, the file name of the related document associated with the document ID can be acquired, and the related document can be acquired from the storage unit 151.

  The area feature extraction unit 156 calculates an average luminance for each line, which is an area divided in the electronic document to be output. This calculated luminance average corresponds to the feature information of the present invention.

  The embedding information generation unit 157 includes the area correspondence information in which the calculated luminance average value for each row, the document ID assigned as the related document for each row in the related document registration unit 155, and the embedded document generation device 150. A two-dimensional bar code including a URL for specifying is generated. The embedded information generation unit 157 includes a URL that identifies the embedded document generation apparatus 150 in the two-dimensional barcode. Thereby, the acquisition source of the related document can be specified. Reference numeral 303 in FIG. 3 shows an example of the area correspondence information embedded in the two-dimensional barcode, and it can be grasped that the line number, the luminance average, and the document ID are associated with each other. 3 shows an example of the two-dimensional barcode converted from the information including the area correspondence information and the URL specifying the embedded document generation apparatus 150. FIG. As a result, a two-dimensional barcode is generated.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the embedding information adding unit 158 adds the generated two-dimensional barcode to the electronic document to be output. There is no particular limitation on the area to be added, but it is preferable to add it to an area where the contents of the document are not described. 305 in FIG. 3 shows an example of an electronic document generated by adding a two-dimensional barcode by the embedded information adding unit 158.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the embedded document output processing unit 159 performs processing for outputting the electronic document with the two-dimensional barcode added thereto as the paper document 10 from the printer 20 connected to the embedded document generating apparatus 150. Thereby, the user can acquire the paper document 10 to which the two-dimensional barcode is added.

  The communication unit 160 is connected to the public network 60 and performs transmission / reception with other devices. When the communication unit 160 receives a document ID from another device, the communication unit 160 outputs the document ID to the related document acquisition unit 161 described later, and transmits the document ID of the related document input from the related document acquisition unit 161. Send to other devices.

  When the document ID is input, the related document acquisition unit 161 specifies a related document associated with the document ID using the ID document correspondence table, acquires the specified related document from the storage unit 151, and performs communication. Output to the unit 160.

  With the above-described configuration, the embedded document generation apparatus 150 can embed a two-dimensional barcode in which a luminance value and a document ID that specifies a related document corresponding to the region are associated with each other in the document region. In this embodiment, the document ID is used as information for specifying the related document by the embedded document generation apparatus 150. However, any other information can be used as long as the information specifies the related document such as a URL. Also good.

  Next, the MFP 170 will be described. The MFP 170 includes a document reading processing unit 171, a print processing unit 172, a storage unit 173, an electronic document input processing unit 174, an image output processing unit 175, and a communication unit 176, and an embedded document generation apparatus 150. When an image generated by reading a paper document printed from the server is transmitted to the information processing apparatus 100 and further received from the information processing apparatus 100, the received electronic document is printed or saved. .

  The document reading processing unit 171 reads the paper document 10 from a scanner (not shown) provided in the MFP 170 and acquires an image holding the content of the paper document. The acquired image is output to the information processing apparatus 100 through the communication unit 176. Further, the acquired image may be stored in the storage unit 173, or may be copied by performing print processing using the image acquired by the print processing unit 172. In addition, when a related document associated with each line of a paper document is to be acquired, it is necessary for the user to add in advance to the line from which the related document is to be acquired using a pen or the like. Then, the document reading processing unit 171 reads the added paper document.

  The print processing unit 172 performs print processing from an electronic document or an image as a paper document. The electronic document or image used for the printing process is any electronic document or image such as the one received from the information processing apparatus 100, the one read by the document reading processing unit 171 or the one stored in the storage unit 173. Also good.

  The storage unit 173 stores electronic documents and images. The stored electronic document and image are used for print processing by the print processing unit 172, transmission to the information processing apparatus 100 by the communication unit 176, and the like.

  The image output processing unit 175 outputs the image acquired by the document reading processing unit 171 or the image stored in the storage unit 173 to the communication unit 176 described later. Then, the electronic document input processing unit 174 performs input processing of the electronic document received by the communication unit 176.

  The communication unit 176 performs transmission / reception with the information processing apparatus 100. As a specific example, the image input from the image output processing unit 175 is transmitted to the information processing apparatus 100, and the electronic document received from the information processing apparatus 100 is output to the electronic document input processing unit 174. Further, the connection with the information processing apparatus 100 may be directly connected, or may be connected via a dedicated line or a public line. Further, the apparatus to which the MFP 170 is connected is not limited to the information processing apparatus 100, and transmission and reception with other apparatuses may be performed.

  Next, the information processing apparatus 100 will be described. The information processing apparatus 100 includes a storage unit 101, a user input processing unit 102, a user authentication unit 103, a keyword input reception unit 104, an image input processing unit 105, an information extraction unit 106, and a feature amount. Acquisition unit 107, determination unit 108, electronic document acquisition unit 109, keyword search unit 110, keyword region acquisition unit 111, processing unit 112, display processing unit 113, output processing unit 114, and communication unit 115, and obtains a related document based on the received image, performs keyword search and processing on the related document as necessary, and displays and stores the related document or transmits it to the MFP 170.

  The storage unit 101 stores authentication information and an electronic document. The authentication information holds a user ID and a password in association with each other. The electronic document is a related document received from the embedded document generation apparatus 150.

  The communication unit 115 performs transmission / reception with the MFP 170 or the embedded document generation apparatus 150. As a specific example, the communication unit 115 receives an image and transmits an electronic document with the MFP 170. In addition, the communication unit 115 transmits a document ID and receives an electronic document with the embedded document generation apparatus 150.

  The user input processing unit 102 corresponds to a storage receiving unit and an output receiving unit, and processes information input by a user using an input device such as the keyboard 50. As a specific example, selection of an icon or the like indicating that the acquired electronic document is to be saved is processed by an input device such as a keyboard. Thereafter, the user input processing unit 102 receives an input as to whether or not to save after a window for prompting confirmation of saving is displayed. When information indicating that it can be stored is input, a message indicating that the information is to be stored is output to the output processing unit 114 described later.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a window that prompts confirmation of saving that is displayed after an icon or the like indicating saving is selected. By displaying a window as shown in the figure on the monitor 40, it is possible to input whether or not the user can save the window.

  Further, the user input processing unit 102 processes selection of an icon or the like indicating that the acquired electronic document is output to the MFP 170 by an input device such as the keyboard 50. Thereafter, the user input processing unit 102 receives an input as to whether or not the output may be performed after the window for confirming the output is displayed. When information indicating that the information can be output is input, the information indicating that the information is to be output is output to the output processing unit 114 described later. Also in this case, a window requesting confirmation from the user is displayed in the same manner as in FIG.

  In addition, when a character string indicating a keyword is input from the input device, the user input processing unit 102 outputs a character string indicating the keyword to the keyword input receiving unit 104. Further, when the user ID and password are input from the input device, the user ID and password are output to the user authentication unit 103.

  The user authentication unit 103 determines whether the user ID and password input from the user input processing unit 102 and the user ID and password stored in association with the authentication information in the storage unit 101 match each other. Authenticate. In this embodiment, password authentication is used for user authentication, but any authentication method may be used as the authentication method of the present invention. Note that authentication processing by the user authentication unit 103 is performed when the information processing apparatus 100 is first logged in.

  The keyword input receiving unit 104 corresponds to a character string input receiving unit, and receives a character string indicating a keyword input from the user input processing unit 102. When the keyword input accepting unit 104 accepts a character string indicating a keyword, the keyword search unit 110 (to be described later) searches for a keyword with respect to the electronic document indicating the related document acquired by the electronic document acquiring unit 109 (to be described later). Is done. The keyword input reception is not limited to input from an input device provided in the information processing apparatus 100 such as the keyboard 50, and may be input from a liquid crystal touch panel of the MFP 170 or a voice recognition apparatus, for example.

  The image input processing unit 105 performs input processing of the image received by the communication unit 115. An example in which the input processing image 501 shown in FIG. 5 is input will be described below. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of acquiring a related electronic document from an input processed image. The present embodiment is not limited to receiving the image input processing by the image input processing unit 105 from the MFP 170. For example, the input processing may be performed directly from a scanner or the like connected to the information processing apparatus 100. .

  Returning to FIG. 1, the information extraction unit 106 extracts information included in the two-dimensional barcode added to the image. In the present embodiment, the information extraction unit 106 extracts the area correspondence information included in the two-dimensional barcode and the URL that identifies the embedded document generation apparatus 150. Reference numeral 502 in FIG. 5 denotes a two-dimensional barcode added to the input processed image, and the information extraction unit 106 extracts information from the two-dimensional barcode. Reference numeral 503 in FIG. 5 indicates the area correspondence information extracted from the two-dimensional barcode by the information extraction unit 106.

  The feature amount acquisition unit 107 divides the image from which the two-dimensional barcode is removed for each row, and calculates a luminance average for each divided row. Reference numeral 504 in FIG. 5 indicates an average luminance calculated by the feature amount acquisition unit 107 for each row of the image.

  The determination unit 108 compares the luminance average for each row in the extracted region correspondence information with the luminance average for each row calculated by the feature amount acquisition unit 107, and determines whether or not additional writing is performed in each row. In 504 of FIG. 5, “Chapter 3 Copyright Act” on the fourth line is added so as to be circled, so that the calculated luminance average is different from the luminance average on the fourth line of the area correspondence information 503. I can grasp. Therefore, the determination unit 108 determines that the fourth line has been added.

  In addition, after an analog process such as printing or paper document reading processing, the average brightness may change due to image degradation or the like. Therefore, the determination unit 108 may set a threshold value in advance, and may determine that additional writing is necessary when the amount of change in luminance average is equal to or greater than the threshold value. Note that since the threshold value varies depending on the paper used for output, the usage environment, and the like, an optimum value is set by actual measurement.

  If the electronic document acquisition unit 109 determines that the additional information has been added by the determination unit 108, the electronic document acquisition unit 109 outputs the document ID associated with the added line to the communication unit 115, thereby allowing the embedded document generation apparatus 150 to receive the document ID. Is sent. Thereafter, the electronic document acquisition unit 109 receives the electronic document indicating the related document associated with the document ID from the communication unit 115, and thus can acquire the related electronic document. In FIG. 5 505, it is assumed that the document ID associated with the added line is output to indicate that the search has been performed by the embedded document generation apparatus. 5 indicates a related electronic document acquired by the electronic document. The related electronic document can be acquired by performing the processing shown in FIG.

  The keyword search unit 110 corresponds to a character string search unit, and searches the electronic document acquired by the electronic document acquisition unit 109 using the keyword received by the keyword input reception unit 104.

  The keyword area acquisition unit 111 corresponds to an area acquisition unit, and acquires a page including the keyword detected by the keyword search unit 110. Further, the area to be acquired is not limited to a page, and may be a neighboring area based on a predetermined range centering on a part suitable for a paragraph, line, or keyword, for example.

  The processing unit 112 performs processing on the acquired electronic document. The processing to be performed may be set in advance, or the processing unit 112 may perform the processing using settings for processing input from an input device such as a voice input device or the keyboard 50. As the actual processing performed, one or a combination of the layout of the electronic document, the overall color tone, the character size, the character font, the character style, the character color, and the like can be considered.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the acquired two-column electronic document and an electronic document when the processing for changing to the one-column layout is performed. By performing such processing, it becomes easy for the user to visually grasp even when printing on paper of a size smaller than the acquired electronic document. As shown in the figure, the processing unit 112 can be changed to an appropriate layout in accordance with the printing environment or the like.

  The display processing unit 113 performs processing for displaying the input processed image and the acquired electronic document on the monitor 40. As a specific example, when displaying the acquired electronic document, the display processing unit 113 acquires the keyword in the keyword area acquisition unit 111 when displaying the acquired electronic document if the keyword has been input in advance by the user. The displayed page is displayed, and a character string corresponding to the input keyword is decorated and displayed.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen in which the page acquired by the keyword area acquisition unit 111 is displayed by the display processing unit 113. As shown in the figure, a page including the searched keyword is displayed, and the background of the character string that matches the keyword is displayed in a color different from the normal background when the display process is performed. As a result, the user can visually recognize a predetermined area including the keyword focused on in the acquired electronic document.

  The output processing unit 114 corresponds to an output processing unit and a storage unit, and performs an output process for the acquired electronic document. The output destination of the electronic document output by the output processing unit 114 is the storage unit 101 or the communication unit 115. Thus, the electronic document acquired in the storage unit 101 is stored, or the acquired electronic document is transmitted to the MFP 170 from the communication unit 115, whereby the electronic document acquired by the MFP 170 can be printed or stored.

  In addition to the electronic document acquired by the electronic document acquisition unit 109, the output processing unit 114 outputs an electronic document in which a keyword is decorated by the keyword area acquisition unit 111 or an electronic document processed by the processing unit 112. You can also. Note that the output processing by the output processing unit 114 is not limited to the output to the communication unit 115 or the storage unit 101, and for example, printing from a plotter connected to the information processing apparatus 100 may be performed.

  Next, processing from acquisition of a document in the embedded document generation apparatus 150 according to the present embodiment configured as described above to output by adding a two-dimensional barcode will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the above-described processing procedure in the embedded document generation apparatus 150 according to the present embodiment.

  First, the target document acquisition unit 152 acquires an electronic document to be embedded with a two-dimensional barcode (step S801). Next, the area dividing unit 153 divides the acquired electronic document into areas for each line (step S802).

  Then, the related document acquisition unit 154 acquires a related electronic document for each row (step S803). Next, the related document registration unit 155 assigns a document ID to the acquired electronic document, registers the electronic document name and the document ID in association with each other in the ID document correspondence table, and stores the electronic document in the storage unit 151. (Step S804).

  Then, the region feature extraction unit 156 calculates a luminance average for each row (step S805). Next, the embedding information generation unit 157 identifies the area correspondence information in which the luminance average for each line and the document ID indicating the related electronic document for each line are associated with the line number, and the embedded document generation apparatus 150. A two-dimensional barcode including the URL is generated (step S806).

  Next, the embedding information adding unit 158 adds the generated two-dimensional barcode to the electronic document acquired in step S801 (step S807). Then, the embedded document output processing unit 159 performs processing for outputting the electronic document to which the two-dimensional barcode is added from the printer 20 (step S808).

  According to the above-described processing procedure, it is possible to print an electronic document to which a two-dimensional barcode including a region specifying information and a URL specifying the embedded document generating apparatus 150 is added. The above-described processing procedure shows an example of the processing procedure from acquisition of an electronic document to printing of an electronic document with a two-dimensional barcode added according to the present embodiment, and the present invention is limited to this processing procedure. Not what you want.

  Next, the line added by the user to the paper document from the reading of the paper document in the information processing system configured by the embedded document generation apparatus 150 and the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above. Will be described until the related electronic document is acquired and printed. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the above-described processing procedure in the information processing system including the embedded document generation apparatus 150 and the information processing apparatus 100 according to this embodiment.

  First, the document reading processing unit 171 of the MFP 170 reads a paper document and acquires an image holding the content of the paper document (step S901). Then, the image output processing unit 175 of the MFP 170 outputs the acquired image to the communication unit 176 (step S902). Thereby, the communication unit 176 transmits the input image to the information processing apparatus 100.

  Next, the image input processing unit 105 of the information processing apparatus 100 performs input processing on the image received by the communication unit 115 (step S911). Then, the information extraction unit 106 of the information processing apparatus 100 extracts the area correspondence information included in the two-dimensional barcode of the input image and the URL of the embedded document generation apparatus 150 (step S912). It is assumed that the extracted region correspondence information holds the luminance average for each row and the document ID in association with each other.

  Then, the feature amount acquisition unit 107 of the information processing apparatus 100 divides the region for each row in the image obtained by removing the two-dimensional barcode from the input processed image (step S913). Next, the feature quantity acquisition unit 107 calculates a luminance average value for each divided row (step S914).

  Next, the determination unit 108 of the information processing apparatus 100 compares the luminance average for each row extracted in step S912 with the luminance average for each row calculated in step S914 to determine whether or not additional writing is performed for each row. (Step S915).

  Then, the electronic document acquisition unit 109 of the information processing apparatus 100 outputs the document ID associated with the line determined to be added to the communication unit 115, so that the related electronic document input from the communication unit 115 is output. Obtain (step S916). In addition, the communication unit 115 transmits the document ID to the embedded document generation device 150 specified from the URL extracted in step S912, whereby the document ID and the document ID are stored in the ID document correspondence table from the embedded document generation device 150. The associated electronic document is received.

  Next, the output processing unit 114 of the information processing apparatus 100 performs a process of outputting the acquired electronic document to the communication unit 115 (step S917). As a result, the communication unit 115 transmits the input electronic document to the MFP 170.

  Then, the electronic document input processing unit 174 of the MFP 170 performs input processing of the electronic document received by the communication unit 176 (step S903). Next, the print processing unit 172 performs processing for printing the input electronic document (step S904).

  According to the processing procedure described above, an image read by the MFP 170 constituting the information processing system can be input, an associated electronic document can be acquired by the information processing apparatus 100, and can be printed by the MFP 170. The above-described processing procedure shows an example of the processing procedure from reading a paper document to printing a related electronic document according to the present embodiment, and the present invention is not limited to this processing procedure. .

  In addition to outputting the acquired electronic document to the MFP 170 for printing, the information processing apparatus 100 can perform display processing on the monitor 40 connected to the information processing apparatus 100. Of course, before the display process is performed on the monitor 40, a processing process or a keyword search can be performed on the acquired electronic document. Therefore, a process from the input processing of an image from the MFP 170 in the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above to a keyword search for a related electronic document and display of the result will be described. . FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the above-described processing procedure in the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  First, the image input processing unit 105 of the information processing apparatus 100 performs input processing on the image received by the communication unit 115 (step S1001). It is assumed that the image received by communication unit 115 is transmitted from MFP 170 in the same manner as the processing procedure shown in FIG.

  Next, the keyword input receiving unit 104 receives an input of a character string indicating the keyword input by the user input processing unit 102 (step S1002).

  Then, the information processing apparatus 100 acquires a related electronic document based on the information extracted from the image, similarly to steps S912 to S916 in FIG. 9 (steps S1003 to S1007).

  If the keyword input receiving unit 104 has received a keyword, the keyword searching unit 110 searches the electronic document acquired in step S1007 with the keyword received by the keyword input receiving unit 104 (step S1008).

  Next, the keyword area acquisition unit 111 acquires a page including the keyword (step S1009).

  Then, the display processing unit 113 performs a process of displaying the page acquired by the keyword area acquisition unit 111 on the monitor 40 (step S1010). At this time, the character string that matches the keyword is subjected to display processing by changing the background color.

  With the processing procedure described above, the information processing apparatus 100 can acquire a related electronic document and display a page including the keyword. Note that the processing procedure described above shows an example of the processing procedure from the image input processing according to the present embodiment to the display of the page including the keyword, and the present invention is limited to this processing procedure. It is not a thing.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a PC that executes a program for realizing the functions of the information processing apparatus 100 and the embedded document generation apparatus 150. The information processing apparatus 100 and the embedded document generation apparatus 150 according to the present embodiment are each a control apparatus such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1101 and a storage such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1102 and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 1103. Communicates with other devices, an external storage device 1104 such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a CD (Compact Disk) drive device, a display device 1105 such as a display device, an input device 1106 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and the like. A communication I / F 1107 to be performed and a bus 1108 for connecting them are provided, and a hardware configuration using a normal computer is employed.

  Next, the MFP 170 will be described. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of the MFP 170. As shown in FIG. 12, the MFP 170 includes a system control unit 1201 that performs various control processes such as a control process of each part of the MFP 170 and an image forming process. The system control unit 1201 includes a system memory 1202, a parameter memory 1203, a clock circuit 1204, an operation display unit 1205, a page memory 1206, a printer engine 1207, a paper feed / conveyance system unit 1208, a communication interface circuit 1209, a magnetic disk device 1210, and the like. A scanner engine 1211 is connected via an internal bus 1212, and data exchange between these elements is mainly performed via this internal bus 1212.

  The system memory 1202 stores a control processing program executed by the system control unit 1201 and various data necessary for executing the processing program, and constitutes a work area of the system control unit 1201. The parameter memory 1203 Is for storing various types of information unique to the MFP 170.

  The clock circuit 1204 outputs current time information. An operation display unit 1205 is for operating the MFP 170 and includes various operation keys and various display devices.

  The page memory 1206 holds image data to be printed (printed drawing image), and the printer engine 1207 is for recording and outputting an image of the image data held in the page memory 1206 on a recording sheet. . The paper feed / conveyance system unit 1208 separates the recording paper from a paper cassette or the like (not shown) holding the recording paper, feeds and feeds the recording paper to the image recording position of the printer engine 1207, and finally a paper discharge tray ( (Not shown). Note that since the printer provided in the MFP 170 of the present embodiment is a laser printer, the printer engine 1207 forms an image by an electrophotographic process method and records and outputs it on a recording sheet.

  The communication interface circuit 1209 is connected to another computer via a network, and receives print job data or the like, or transmits data representing a print result or the like to another computer.

  The magnetic disk device 1210 stores various print document information and stores other appropriate information files and the like.

  The scanner engine 1211 scans a paper document and acquires image data. The image data acquired by the scanner engine 1211 can be copied by transmitting it to the page memory 1206.

  The information processing program executed by the information processing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is a file in an installable format or an executable format, and is a CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). And the like recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

  Further, the information processing program executed by the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by being downloaded via the network. Further, the information processing program executed by the information processing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

  In addition, the information processing program of the present embodiment may be provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like.

  The information processing program executed by the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes the above-described units (user input processing unit, user authentication unit, keyword input reception unit, image input processing unit, information extraction unit, feature amount acquisition). Module, determination unit, electronic document acquisition unit, keyword search unit, keyword area acquisition unit, processing unit, display processing unit, output processing unit, communication unit), and the actual hardware is CPU The information processing program is read from the recording medium and executed to load the respective units onto the main storage device. The user input processing unit, the user authentication unit, the keyword input reception unit, the image input processing unit, and the information extraction unit , Feature amount acquisition unit, determination unit, electronic document acquisition unit, keyword search unit, keyword region acquisition unit, processing unit, display processing unit, output processing unit, communication unit is the main storage device It is adapted to be generated.

  The information processing system or the information processing apparatus described above acquires the electronic document associated with the area added by the user and can perform the output process or the print process, so that the user can easily perform the contents of the electronic document or the electronic document. Can be obtained, so convenience is improved. In addition, visibility can be improved because the acquired electronic document can be output after being processed.

  Further, in order to acquire a related document, it is only necessary to add to a related area, so that the user can easily understand and handle it easily.

  Further, the information processing system configured by the MFP 170 and the information processing apparatus 100 performs a process from inputting a paper document to transmitting the input processed image to the information processing apparatus 100 and acquiring a related electronic document. After that, by performing a process of printing the acquired electronic document by the MFP 170, even the conventional MFP 170 having a transmission / reception function can print a related document based on a paper document to which a two-dimensional barcode is added. . In addition, any MFP that can transmit and receive with other existing devices can construct the information processing system of the present invention. Therefore, the convenience of the information processing system is improved, and the cost for constructing the information processing system is reduced. Can be reduced.

  Further, the acquisition destination of the electronic document related to the information processing apparatus 100 is not limited to the embedded document generation apparatus 150, but a server provided separately from the embedded document generation apparatus 150 on the public network, or the information processing apparatus 100 A related electronic document may be acquired from the storage unit 101 included in the. In this case, the ID document correspondence table and the related electronic document are held by the server or the information processing apparatus 100, and it is necessary to update them from the embedded document generation apparatus 150.

  Further, the feature information is not limited to the luminance average, and may be information indicating the feature of the document or the image. Specific examples of feature information include the number of black pixels, the number of connected components, the number of characters, the frequency, and the like.

  In the above description, the area to divide the electronic document is line-by-line. However, in the present embodiment, the unit of the area to be divided is not limited to a line. For example, the electronic document is divided into paragraphs, words, and characters. Alternatively, it may be a region divided into a predetermined grid regardless of the document element.

  The unit of the area to be divided may be set in advance by the embedded document generation apparatus 150 and the information processing apparatus 100, or the area dividing method may be included in the embedding information such as a two-dimensional barcode.

  In the above description, the two-dimensional bar code is used as the embedding information of the present invention. However, the present embodiment does not limit the embedding information to the two-dimensional bar code, and includes characters, one-dimensional bar codes, dots. Alternatively, any one of geometric patterns other than two-dimensional barcodes, digital watermarks, or a combination thereof may be realized.

(Modification 1 of the first embodiment)
In the first embodiment described above, the area, the luminance average, and the document ID are associated with the two-dimensional barcode and added to the electronic document. However, the information to be embedded to specify the corresponding electronic document is not limited to the document ID. Therefore, in this modification, the URL in which the electronic document is stored instead of the document ID is embedded in the two-dimensional barcode in association with the area and the luminance average. Similarly to the above-described embodiment, the brightness value calculated from each area of the image and the brightness value of each area held by the area correspondence information are calculated, and the associated electronic data is obtained from the URL associated with the added area. Get the document.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the information processing apparatus 100 acquires a related document corresponding to a line added based on a two-dimensional barcode added to image data. However, the processing performed by determining the region added in the image data to which the two-dimensional barcode is added is not limited to acquisition of related documents. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the area added by the information processing apparatus is decorated and displayed.

  In addition, since the information processing apparatus 100 does not limit the input of an image to the input from the MFP 170, a case where the information processing apparatus alone performs processing will be described in the second embodiment.

  FIG. 13: is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus 1300 concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The information processing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment described above includes an area processing unit 1306, a user input processing unit 102, an image input processing unit 105, an information extraction unit 106, a feature amount acquisition unit 107, A user input processing unit 1301, an image input processing unit 1302, an information extraction unit 1303, a feature amount acquisition unit 1304, and a determination unit 1305 that are different in processing from the determination unit 108, the electronic document acquisition unit 109, the output processing unit 114, and the communication unit 115. The electronic document acquisition unit 1309, the output processing unit 1307, and the communication unit 1308 have different configurations. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. The information processing apparatus 1300 is connected to the scanner 30 and the printer 21 and communicates with the server 70 via the public network 61.

  In the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 1300 reads a paper document generated by the embedded document generation apparatus having the same configuration as the embedded document generation apparatus 150 of the first embodiment. Information contained in the two-dimensional barcode is different from that in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the area correspondence information held by the two-dimensional barcode added to the paper document according to the second embodiment. As shown in this figure, in this embodiment, a document is divided into rectangles, a luminance average is calculated for each rectangle, and area correspondence information in which rectangular coordinate areas, luminance averages, and process IDs are associated is displayed in a two-dimensional bar. It will be included in the code. In this figure, this area is defined as a rectangular area with two coordinates (for example, the coordinates of the upper left and lower right vertices). However, the area definition method is not limited to this method, and the area is preliminarily defined by the system. It may be fixed (for example, divided into 40 rectangles in the vertical direction and 30 rectangles in the horizontal direction), or information indicating other division methods may be embedded in the two-dimensional barcode.

  The process ID refers to an ID indicating a process to be performed when additional writing is performed in each area. For example, if it is a character area, a process ID indicating a process for making it partially italic or bold is embedded, and if it is a blank area, an ID indicating a process for changing the background color is embedded. Can be considered. If the same process is performed regardless of the area, the process ID need not be associated and embedded.

  The user input processing unit 1301 corresponds to a storage receiving unit and an output receiving unit, and is input by a user using an input device such as the keyboard 50 as in the user input processing unit 102 of the first embodiment. Process information. The difference between the user input processing unit 1301 and the user input processing unit 102 is that the user input processing unit 102 processes selection to output to the MFP 170, whereas the user input processing unit 1301 processes the printer 21. The other processing is the same as that of the user input processing unit 102.

  The image input processing unit 1302 reads the paper document 11 using the scanner 30 and performs an image input process for holding the content of the paper document. An example in which the input processing image 1501 shown in FIG. 15 is input will be described below. Note that FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline from the time when the information processing apparatus 1300 acquires the corresponding electronic document from the input processed image to the processing.

  Returning to FIG. 13, the information extraction unit 1303 extracts information included in the two-dimensional barcode added to the image. In the present embodiment, the information extraction unit 1303 extracts the area correspondence information included in the two-dimensional barcode and the URL that identifies the electronic document held by the server 70. In the area correspondence information, it is assumed that the area coordinates of the rectangular area, the luminance average, and the process ID are associated with each other as illustrated in FIG.

  The feature amount acquisition unit 1304 divides each rectangular area held by the area correspondence information extracted by the information extraction unit 1303, and calculates an average luminance for each divided rectangular area.

  The determination unit 1305 compares the luminance average for each rectangular area in the extracted area correspondence information with the luminance average for each rectangular area calculated by the feature amount acquisition unit 1304, and determines the area added in each rectangular area. To do. Since 1502 in FIG. 15 is added so as to enclose “copyright” in the image in a circle, the luminance average calculated in this area is different from the luminance average held in the area correspondence information. It can be determined that 1305 is added in this area.

  The electronic document acquisition unit 1309 acquires the electronic document from the URL that specifies the electronic document held by the server 70 extracted by the information extraction unit 1303. In this embodiment, the electronic document is an electronic document that is an output source of an image input by the image input processing unit 1302. An example of a specific processing procedure for acquiring an electronic document is as follows. When the electronic document acquisition unit 1309 outputs a URL to the communication unit 1308, the communication unit 1308 receives the electronic document from the URL and receives the electronic document acquisition unit 1309. Output to. Accordingly, the electronic document acquisition unit 1309 can acquire an electronic document.

  The area processing unit 1306 compares the acquired electronic document with the input-processed image, identifies the area added in the electronic document, and associates the identified area with the process ID. Processing is performed. Note that the correspondence between the process ID and the process is held in the information processing apparatus 1300 in advance.

  Reference numeral 1503 in FIG. 15 indicates a case where the input processed image is compared with the acquired electronic document, and the added area is specified. Then, processing associated with this area is performed. The electronic document 1504 after the processing in FIG. 15 shows the electronic document after the associated processing is performed. Since the process ID associated with the specified area indicates a process for italicizing characters, “Copyright” is italicized in the electronic document 1504 after the processing process.

  The output processing unit 1307 corresponds to an output processing unit and a storage unit, and performs an output process for the acquired electronic document. Further, since the output processing unit 1307 has been added, the electronic document processed by the region processing unit 1306, the electronic document processed by the processing unit 112, and the electronic in which the keyword is emphasized by the keyword region acquisition unit 111 Documents can also be output or saved. In the present embodiment, the output processing unit 1307 performs output processing from the printer 21, but the output processing unit 1307 may output to the MFP 170 in the same manner as the output processing unit 114 of the first embodiment.

  The communication unit 1308 performs transmission / reception with the server 70. As a specific example, the communication unit 1308 makes a request for transmitting an electronic document specified by a URL extracted from a two-dimensional barcode, and receives the electronic document.

  In addition, a process from the input processing of the image in the information processing apparatus 1300 according to the present embodiment configured as described above to the processing by the region processing unit 1306 and the display by the display processing unit 113 will be described. . FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the above-described processing procedure in the information processing apparatus 1300 according to the present embodiment.

  The image input processing unit 1302 reads the paper document 11 using the scanner 30, and performs an input process of an image that holds the content of the read paper document 11 (step S1601).

  Then, the information extraction unit 1303 extracts the URL indicating the storage destination of the electronic document, the region definition in the electronic document, and the luminance average for each region from the two-dimensional barcode added to the input processed image (step S1602). ).

  Next, the feature amount acquisition unit 1304 divides the image into rectangular regions according to the region coordinates extracted in step S1602 (step S1603). Then, the feature amount acquisition unit 1304 calculates a luminance average for each divided rectangular area (step S1604).

  Next, the determination unit 1305 compares the luminance average for each rectangular region in the extracted region correspondence information with the luminance average for each rectangular region calculated by the feature amount acquisition unit 1304, and is added to each rectangular region. The area is determined (step S1605).

  Then, the electronic document acquisition unit 1309 acquires the electronic document received by the communication unit 1308 after outputting the URL indicating the storage destination of the electronic document extracted in step S1602 to the communication unit 1308 (step S1606).

  Next, the area processing unit 1306 collates the acquired electronic document with the input image and specifies the area added in the electronic document (step S1607).

  Then, the region processing unit 1306 performs the processing associated with the processing ID on the specified region (step S1608). Next, the display processing unit 113 performs processing for displaying the processed electronic document on the monitor 40 (step S1609).

  With the processing procedure described above, the electronic document that is the source of the image is acquired by the information processing apparatus 1300, and the electronic document can be displayed and processed after processing the added area. Note that the processing procedure described above is an example of a processing procedure from input processing of an image according to the present embodiment to processing by the region processing processing unit 1306 and display by the display processing unit 113. The present invention is not limited to this processing procedure.

  In the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 1300 is connected to the scanner 30 and the printer 21, but may be connected to the MFP 170 as in the first embodiment. In this case, the information processing apparatus 1300 acquires an electronic document of an image read by the MFP 170, performs a processing process, and outputs the processed electronic document with the MFP 170.

  In addition, it is not limited to the processing processing and the acquisition of related documents for the added area. For example, in the two-dimensional barcode, the feature information such as luminance average and the processing ID are stored in association with each other. It is conceivable that the process ID corresponding to the added area is acquired, and the information processing apparatus 1300 performs the process associated with the process ID.

  With the information processing apparatus described above, the electronic document can be processed and edited without performing any processing on the apparatus, so that convenience for the user is improved.

(Modification 1 of the second embodiment)
In the second embodiment described above, feature information (for example, luminance average) is stored in association with each rectangular region. However, the present invention does not limit the area for each rectangular area. In particular, it is difficult to assign meaning to each rectangular area of a predetermined size, and it is difficult to assign a characteristic process to each area, considering that different processes are performed for each area by associating the area with the process ID. Cases are also conceivable. Therefore, in this modification, a character string having a characteristic in the electronic document is specified, and an area is assigned to each specified character string, and is associated with the process ID.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of an area associated with processing in a paper document to be read by the information processing apparatus according to this modification, and area correspondence information held by a two-dimensional barcode added to the paper document. FIG. As shown in the figure, in the area correspondence information, area coordinates indicating “digital watermark”, “copyright”, and “quality”, a luminance average, and a process ID are stored in association with each other. Thus, for example, a related electronic document is acquired if it is added to the “digital watermark”, and a different process is assigned to each area, such as printing with the copyright emphasized if it is added to the “copyright”. Can do.

(Modification)
Moreover, it is not limited to each embodiment mentioned above, The various deformation | transformation which is illustrated below is possible.

(Modification 1)
In the embodiment described above, an electronic document corresponding to a related document or image is acquired from information embedded in embedded information such as a two-dimensional barcode. Any paper document to which a two-dimensional barcode for acquiring these electronic documents is added may be used. Therefore, in Modification 1, an example of a paper document from which a corresponding electronic document can be acquired will be described. Specifically, in order to acquire a corresponding electronic document, information such as a two-dimensional barcode is embedded in each page of the electronic document. When an electronic document is printed, a two-dimensional bar code or the like is always added even if only one page is printed. Thus, the entire electronic document including the read page can be acquired by reading this one page with the MFP or the scanner.

(Modification 2)
Next, an example of a paper document capable of acquiring a corresponding electronic document in an example different from Modification 1 will be described. In this modification, an electronic document describing an outline of an electronic document to be acquired is generated, and a two-dimensional barcode including information for specifying the electronic document to be acquired is added to the generated electronic document. The user prints an electronic document in which only a summary with a two-dimensional barcode is added and distributes it as a paper document to other users. Other users read a paper document with only an outline read by a scanner or MFP, and perform the same processing as in the above-described embodiment to obtain a two-dimensional barcode added to the paper document. The electronic document in which all are described is specified, and the specified electronic document is acquired through a network or the like.

(Modification 3)
Next, an example of a paper document capable of acquiring a corresponding electronic document in an example different from the first and second modifications will be described. In this modification, the electronic document to be acquired is generated in full color, and a page to which a two-dimensional barcode is added is printed in monochrome in this electronic document. Then, the user distributes the paper document with the printed monochrome page to other users. Then, the other user reads the paper document with the monochrome page with a scanner or MFP, and performs the same processing as in the above-described embodiment, so that the two-dimensional barcode added to the paper document is used as a full color electronic document. Documents can be acquired.

(Modification 4)
In the above-described embodiment, the processing unit is set in advance or performs processing using the setting input from the input device. However, the processing unit is not limited thereto. Therefore, in this modification, a case will be described in which different processing is performed for each user. Specifically, a setting suitable for each user is held in the storage unit. When the user is authenticated by the user authentication unit and then output from the output processing unit, the setting is changed after changing the setting of the acquired electronic document so that printing is performed with a setting suitable for each user.

  FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an electronic document processed according to the setting for each user. In the setting for each user, it is assumed that the setting for increasing the character size has been made in advance for easy viewing by the user. When this user performs an authentication process on the information processing apparatus and acquires the electronic document by the processing procedure of the above-described embodiment, the processing unit is included in the electronic document for the acquired electronic document. Processing to increase the character size for characters. As a result, the user can acquire an electronic document suitable for him / her and convenience is improved.

(Modification 5)
In the above-described embodiment, the output setting is not particularly changed when an electronic document is output. Therefore, in the present modification, an example in which settings for outputting to a two-dimensional barcode are held will be described. In this modification, since the setting when outputting the two-dimensional barcode is held, the setting when the information extraction unit outputs can be extracted. Then, the output processing unit outputs an electronic document using the extracted setting. As a result, the electronic document can be output with the optimum settings, and convenience is improved.

  As described above, the information processing apparatus, the information processing method, the information processing program, the computer-readable recording medium, and the information processing system according to the present invention are useful for a technique for extracting information added to an image. It is suitable for a technique for acquiring an electronic document using information extracted from an image.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus, an MFP, and an embedded document generation apparatus connected via a public network according to a first embodiment. It is the figure which showed the table structure of the ID document corresponding table which the embedded document production | generation apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment hold | maintains. It is explanatory drawing which showed the outline | summary until it adds a two-dimensional barcode from the electronic document acquired by the embedded document production | generation apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment. It is the figure which showed an example of the window which prompts the confirmation of preservation | save displayed when preserve | saving the electronic document acquired with the information processing apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed the outline | summary until it acquires the related electronic document from the image input-processed with the information processing apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment. It is the figure which showed an example at the time of the process which changes into the layout of 1 column from the 2-column electronic document acquired by the process part of the information processing apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the example of a screen which displayed the page acquired by the keyword area | region acquisition part of the information processing apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment by the display process part. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process from the acquisition of the document in the embedded document production | generation apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment until it adds and outputs a two-dimensional barcode. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure from reading a paper document to acquiring and printing an associated electronic document corresponding to a line added to the paper document by the user in the information processing system according to the first embodiment. . 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure from input processing of an image from the MFP in the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment to keyword search for a related electronic document and display of a result. It is the figure which showed the hardware constitutions of PC which performed the program for implement | achieving the function of the information processing apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment, and an embedded document production | generation apparatus. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the MFP according to the first embodiment. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus concerning 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing explaining the area | region correspondence information which the two-dimensional barcode added to the paper document used as the object read by the information processing apparatus concerning 2nd Embodiment hold | maintains. It is explanatory drawing which showed the outline | summary until it acquires and processes a corresponding electronic document from the image which the information processing apparatus concerning 2nd Embodiment input-processed. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process after carrying out the input process of the image in the information processing apparatus concerning 2nd Embodiment after being processed by the area | region process process part, and displaying on a display process part. The area associated with the processing in the paper document to be read by the information processing apparatus according to the first modification of the second embodiment, and the area correspondence information held by the two-dimensional barcode added to the paper document It is explanatory drawing which showed an example. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the electronic document processed according to the setting for every user in the processing part of the information processing apparatus concerning the modification 4.

Explanation of symbols

10, 11 Paper document 20, 21 Printer 30 Scanner 40 Monitor 50 Keyboard 60, 61 Public network 70 Server 100, 1300 Information processing device 101 Storage unit 102, 1301 User input processing unit 103 User authentication unit 104 Keyword input reception unit 105 1302 Image input processing unit 106, 1303 Information extraction unit 107, 1304 Feature quantity acquisition unit 108, 1305 Judgment unit 109, 1309 Electronic document acquisition unit 110 Keyword search unit 111 Keyword region acquisition unit 112 Processing processing unit 113 Display processing unit 114, 1307 Output processing unit 115, 1308 Communication unit 150 Embedded document generation device 151 Storage unit 152 Target document acquisition unit 153 Region division unit 154 Related document acquisition unit 155 Related document registration unit 156 Region feature extraction unit 157 Embedding Information generation unit 158 Embedded information addition unit 159 Embedded document output processing unit 160 Communication unit 161 Related document acquisition unit 170 MFP
171 Document Reading Processing Unit 172 Printing Processing Unit 173 Storage Unit 174 Electronic Document Input Processing Unit 175 Image Output Processing Unit 176 Communication Unit 301 Processing Target Electronic Document 302 Electronic Document Divided into Region 303 Generated Region Corresponding Information 304 Two-dimensional Bar Code 305 Electronic document with two-dimensional barcode added 501 Input processing image 502 Two-dimensional barcode separated from image 503 Area correspondence information extracted from two-dimensional barcode 504 Brightness average calculated from each line of image 505 Document ID Search in embedded document generation apparatus 506 Acquired related electronic document 1101 CPU
1102 ROM
1103 RAM
1104 External storage device 1105 Display device 1106 Input device 1107 Communication I / F
1108 Bus 1201 System control unit 1202 System memory 1203 Parameter memory 1204 Clock circuit 1205 Operation display unit 1206 Page memory 1207 Printer engine 1208 Paper feed / conveyance unit 1209 Communication interface circuit 1210 Magnetic disk unit 1211 Scanner engine 1212 Internal bus 1306 Area processing unit 1501 Input processing image 1502 Specifying additional write area 1503 Collation of image and electronic document 1504 Electronic document after processing

Claims (9)

Input means for dividing the electronic document into a predetermined area, for each divided region, and inputs the image information of the electronic document document specifying information for specifying the feature information and other electronic documents of the region is embedded,
Extraction means for extracting feature information of each area embedded in the electronic document and document specifying information associated with each area ;
Feature information acquisition means for acquiring feature information for each of the divided areas from the image information input by the input means;
Comparison means for comparing the feature information extracted by the extraction means with the feature information acquired by the feature information acquisition means for each region.
Based on the result of the comparison by the comparison unit, a determination unit that determines a region in which the electronic document is additionally written among the divided regions;
An electronic document acquisition means for acquiring the other electronic document based on the document specifying information associated with the area determined to have been additionally written by the determination means;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The extracting means further extracts associated with each area, the area information indicating the range of the previous SL region from the electronic document,
The feature information acquisition means acquires feature information for a region specified from the region information ;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The feature information is a luminance average value that is an average of luminance in the region,
The determination unit is configured such that a difference between the feature information of the region extracted by the extraction unit and the feature information of the region acquired by the feature information acquisition unit compared by the comparison unit is a predetermined threshold value. If it is the above, determining that additional writing has been made in the area;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The feature information acquisition unit removes a region in which the feature information is embedded from the electronic document, and acquires feature information of the region for each of the regions. The information processing apparatus according to one. Input means divides the electronic document in a predetermined area, for each divided region, and inputs the image information of the electronic document document specifying information for specifying the feature information and other electronic documents of the region is embedded An input step;
An extracting means for extracting feature information of each area embedded in the electronic document and document specifying information associated with each area ;
A feature information acquisition unit acquires feature information for each of the divided areas from the image information input in the input step; and
The comparing means compares, for each region, the feature information extracted by the extraction step and the feature information acquired by the feature information acquisition step;
The determining means determines a region in which the electronic document has been additionally written out of the divided regions based on the result of the comparison in the comparing step;
An electronic document acquisition unit acquires the other electronic document based on the document specifying information associated with the area determined to have been additionally written by the determination step;
An acquisition method comprising: The extracting step further extracts associated with each area, the area information indicating the range of the previous SL region from the electronic document,
The feature information acquisition step acquires feature information for a region specified from the region information ;
The acquisition method according to claim 5. The feature information is a luminance average value that is an average of luminance in the region,
In the determination step, a difference between the feature information of the region extracted by the extraction step and the feature information of the region acquired by the feature information acquisition step compared by the comparison step is a predetermined threshold value. If it is the above, determining that additional writing has been made in the area;
The acquisition method according to claim 5 or 6. The feature information acquisition step removes a region in which the feature information is embedded from the electronic document, and acquires the feature information of the region for each region. The acquisition method according to one.   The acquisition program for making a computer perform the acquisition method described in any one of Claims 5 thru | or 8.

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