JP4867246B2 - Document processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for changing and outputting a document style.

In recent years, in an image forming apparatus having a scanner function for reading a paper document and generating image data representing the image (hereinafter, document image data), there is a technique for converting the generated document image data into structured document data. It is used. Structured document data is document data in which data and a data structure are described using a predetermined description language such as XML, for example. With structured document data, it is possible to easily change document styles such as layout, font size, and font color. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for analyzing structured document data, recognizing a font size, changing the font size to a font size input by a user, and printing it out.
Further, there is a technique for customizing UI display for each user such as an elderly person or a disabled person, changing the size or color of characters, or outputting a voice message.
JP 2002-189582 A

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that it is necessary for the user to specify a document style using an operation panel or the like each time printing is performed, which requires time and effort for the user. In addition, for users who customize the UI display, they often want to output the document style after changing the normal style.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for changing a document into a style desired by the user and outputting it for each user.

To achieve the above object, the present invention includes user identification information for identifying a user, storage means and a first style information which indicates the style of the document are stored in association, the document data representing a document, the The first style information corresponding to the user identification information is read from the document data input means for inputting the second style information indicating the style of the document and the user identification information, and the storage means, and the read first The style change means for changing the style of the document indicated by the second style information input to the document data input means based on the style information, and when the designated number of outputs is plural, the style in the style after being changed by the changing means, and outputs one of the document data, indicated by the second style information In serial style, to provide a document processing apparatus characterized by comprising an output means for outputting the remaining number of times of the plurality of times the document data.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the output means may output the document data in at least one output format of display output, audio output, print output, and transmission output.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the document data may be described in a predetermined structured description language.
Further, in a further preferred aspect of the present invention, an acquisition unit that acquires document image data representing an image of a document, and document data that represents a character content by recognizing a character included in the document image data acquired by the acquisition unit And document data generation means for generating the second style information and inputting the generated document data and the second style information to the document data input means.
Further, in a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the image reading unit includes an image reading unit that optically reads a printed document and generates document image data representing an image of the document, and the acquisition unit is generated by the image reading unit. The document image data may be acquired.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the first style information and the second style information may be information indicating at least one of a font size, a font color, and a language.
Further, in a further preferred aspect of the present invention, a translation source language specifying unit that specifies a translation source language from the document data is provided, and the first style information is information indicating a translation destination language, and the translation source language specifying unit You may make it provide the translation means to translate the said document data into the said translation destination language from the specified translation origin language.
Moreover, in a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the storage means determines whether to use the first style information for each output format of the user identification information, the first style information, and document data representing a document. The document data input means inputs the document data, the second style information, the user identification information, and output format information indicating the output format of the document data. The style changing unit reads out a flag corresponding to the output format indicated by the output format information input to the document data input unit from the storage unit, and indicates that the flag uses the first style information. If it is, the first style information corresponding to the user identification information is read from the storage means, and based on the read first style information, The style of the document indicated by the second style information input to the document data input means is changed, and the output means outputs the document data in an output format indicated by the output format information input to the document data input means. You may make it output.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to change and output a document to a user's desired style for each user.

<A: Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an image processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image processing apparatus 1 is, for example, a color printer, a color copying machine, or a multifunction machine having a plurality of these functions. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a control unit including an arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). A storage unit 20 includes a storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), or a hard disk, and stores various programs for operating each unit of the image processing apparatus 1. The control unit 10 controls each unit of the image processing apparatus 1 via the bus BUS by reading and executing a program stored in the storage unit 20.

  In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes an image reading unit that optically reads a document (document) and generates document image data representing an image of the document. The image reading unit 30 includes an optical system member (not shown) constituted by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or the like, reads an image of a placed document by the optical system member, and represents a document image representing the read image. Generate data. The control unit 10 performs image analysis processing and character analysis processing, which will be described later, on the document image data generated by the image reading unit 30 to generate document data described in XML (hereinafter, XML data). Reference numeral 40 denotes document image data read by the image reading unit 30, XML data generated by the control unit 10, document data or image data received from another device via a communication network, Y (yellow), An image processing unit that converts image data in the M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) format (hereinafter referred to as YMCK data). Reference numeral 50 denotes a printing unit that prints and outputs an image on a sheet based on the YMCK data generated by the image processing unit 40. The printing unit 50 irradiates image light onto Y, M, C, and K color photosensitive drums (not shown) to form a latent image due to the difference in electrostatic potential on the surface of the photosensitive drum. The image is visualized by selective adhesion of toner to form a toner image, and the toner image is transferred to a sheet to form an image on the sheet. In the following description, for convenience of description, data representing a document such as XML data and document image data will be referred to as “document data”.

  The image processing unit 40 also has a function of converting XML data into Braille data (hereinafter, Braille data). The printing unit 50 also has a function of printing Braille data supplied from the image processing unit 40 using, for example, a foaming phenomenon material to form Braille on paper and outputting it.

  Reference numeral 60 denotes a display unit including a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The display unit 60 displays a message prompting the user to perform an operation, information indicating a processing status, a document data preview display screen, or the like under the control of the control unit 10. Reference numeral 70 denotes an operation unit for the user to perform various operations. The operation unit 70 includes a liquid crystal display that functions as a touch panel, and the user can perform various operations by touching the liquid crystal display. A network I / F unit 80 includes various communication devices and the like, and exchanges data with other devices via the network 2 under the control of the control unit 10. Reference numeral 90 denotes a sound output unit that generates a sound such as a warning sound or a voice message to notify the user.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit 20 stores a UI setting table TBL1. The UI setting table TBL1 is a table that the control unit 10 of the image processing apparatus 1 refers to when displaying the document data on the display unit 60. As shown in FIG. 2, the UI setting table TBL1 stores items of “user ID”, “UI setting information”, and “setting priority flag” in association with each other. Among these items, the “user ID” item stores user identification information for identifying a user assigned in advance to the user of the image processing apparatus 1.

  The item of “UI setting information” in the UI setting table TBL1 includes a display format such as a font size, a font color, and a display language when an operation screen including an operation item and a message operated by the user is displayed on the display unit 60. Setting information for designating (display style) is stored. For example, if it is set so that characters that will be a title are 3 points larger than the default setting and other characters are 2 points larger for elderly people, the image processing apparatus 1 Characters are displayed larger than the screen operated by the user. This setting information can be changed by the user using the operation unit 70, and the user can display the operation screen in a display format desired by the user.

  In addition, in the “UI setting information” item of the UI setting table TBL1, “speech reading” can be set as a display format. When “Read aloud” is set in “UI setting information”, the control unit 10 of the image processing apparatus 1 displays an operation screen on the display unit 60 and reads out the operation item name, message, and the like. The audio output unit 90 is controlled as described above.

  The item “setting priority flag” stores information (flag) indicating whether or not the setting contents of the UI setting information are prioritized when performing print output or transmission output. If this flag is “ON” when performing print output or transmission output, the control unit 10 of the image processing apparatus 1 uses the setting contents of the corresponding “UI setting information” to set the style of the document data. To change. Conversely, when “OFF” is set in this flag, the control unit 10 does not perform style change processing. This flag can be set by the user using the operation unit 70.

<B: Operation>
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, an image analysis unit 11, a character analysis unit 12, a structured document generation unit 13, a style change unit 14 and a screen generation unit 15, an audio data generation unit 16, and a translation unit 17 are included in the control unit 10 of the image processing apparatus 1. Is realized by reading and executing the program stored in the storage unit 20. In addition, the arrow in a figure shows the flow of a process roughly.

  First, the user of the image processing apparatus 1 operates the operation unit 70 to input a document processing instruction. Specifically, the user places a document on the document placement unit of the image reading unit 30 and operates the operation unit 70 to input a document processing instruction to the image processing apparatus 1. This document processing instruction includes the user ID of the user and output format information indicating the output format (for example, print output, server storage, etc.). Further, when the input document is transmitted to another device such as a server device or a personal computer, the destination information indicating the destination device is also included in the document processing instruction.

  When the image reading unit 30 of the image processing apparatus 1 detects that a document is placed, the image reading unit 30 optically reads the placed document to generate document image data representing an image of the document, and the generated document image data Is supplied to the image analysis unit 11. The image analysis unit 11 performs layout analysis on the document image data generated by the image reading unit 30, and specifies the arrangement of an image (image) region and a text (character string) region. The character analysis unit 12 performs character analysis on the text region of the document image data supplied from the image analysis unit 11 to generate text format document data. The structured document generation unit 13 analyzes the text format document data generated by the character analysis unit 12 to generate XML data and a style sheet from the document data, and stores them in a predetermined area of the storage unit 20.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of XML data, and FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example of a style sheet. As shown in FIG. 6, in the style sheet, document styles such as font size and font color are set.

  The style change unit 14 determines the output format information input via the operation unit 70. If the output format is print output, the style change unit 14 changes the display format based on the UI setting information stored in the UI setting table TBL1. The style of the XML data is changed, and the changed XML data and style sheet are supplied to the screen generation unit 15. When the screen generation unit 15 receives the XML data and the style sheet from the style change unit 14, the screen generation unit 15 analyzes the XML data and the style sheet, generates screen data, and supplies the screen data to the display unit 60. The display unit 60 displays a screen on the liquid crystal display panel based on the screen data supplied from the screen generation unit 15. An example of the displayed screen is shown in FIG. FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 60 when the XML data shown in FIG. 5 and the style sheet shown in FIG. 6A are supplied to the screen generation unit 15. It is.

  When the UI setting information is “speech reading”, the style changing unit 14 supplies the XML data to the voice data generating unit 16. The audio data generation unit 16 extracts predetermined information such as a document title, subtitle, and figure title from the XML data supplied from the style change unit 14, generates audio data from the extracted information, and generates an audio output unit. 90. The audio output unit 90 generates a sound based on the supplied audio data.

If the input output format information is information indicating print output or transmission output, the style changing unit 14 performs the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 to change the style of the document data.
In FIG. 4, first, the style changing unit 14 searches the UI setting table TBL1 of the storage unit 20 for the user ID input via the operation unit 70, and stores the setting priority flag stored in association with the searched one. To determine whether to prioritize the UI setting. If it is determined that the UI setting is given priority, that is, if the setting priority flag is “ON” (step S1; YES), the corresponding UI setting information is read (step S2), and the read UI setting information and default setting information are read. Whether or not there is a difference is determined (step S3). When it is determined that there is a difference (step S3; present), the style of the XML data is acquired (step S4), and the style sheet is changed based on the read UI setting information, thereby changing the style of the XML data. (Step S5). Specifically, for example, when the style document shown in FIG. 6A is generated in the structured document generation unit 13, the title character is 3 points larger, and other characters are 2 points. When the UI setting information is set so as to increase, the style changing unit 14 changes the description content of the style sheet as shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, the style changing unit 14 performs a translation process shown in step S6. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the translation processing performed by the style changing unit 14. The style changing unit 14 first reads a UI display language from the UI setting table TBL1 (step S61). Subsequently, the language of the document is acquired from the XML data (step S62), and it is determined whether there is a difference in language (step S63). If it is determined that there is a difference in language (step S63; present), the translation unit 17 shown in FIG. 2 receives translation destination language information (UI display language information), translation source language information (document language information), and XML. Data is supplied and translation is instructed (step S64). When the translation unit 17 receives a translation instruction from the style changing unit 14, the translation unit 17 translates the XML data from the instructed source language to the target language.

  Returning to the description of FIG. If it is determined in step S3 that there is no difference from the default setting (step S3; none), the style change process is not executed, and the process proceeds to the output process from step S7. If it is determined in step S1 that the UI setting is not prioritized, that is, if the setting priority flag is “OFF” (step S1; YES), the style change process is not performed and the output process after step S7 is performed. move on.

  Next, the style changing unit 14 determines the output format information input via the operation unit 70 (step S7), and the style is changed to the image processing unit 40 or the network I / F 80 according to the determination result. Supplied XML data and style sheet. When the output format information input from the operation unit 70 is “transmission output” (step S7; transmission), the network I / F 80 is instructed to transmit by supplying the XML data and the style sheet (step S8). . If the output format information is “print output” (step S7; print output), it is determined whether or not the UI setting information is read aloud (step S9). If the output format information is not read aloud (step S9; NO), the XML data and the style sheet are supplied to the image processing unit 40 to instruct printing output (step S10). When the reading is aloud (step S9; YES), the XML data is sent to the image processing unit 40. Supply and instruct Braille output (step S11).

  Returning to the description of FIG. As described above, when the style of the XML data is changed by the style changing unit 14, the changed XML data and its style sheet are supplied to the screen generating unit 15, the image processing unit 40, or the network I / F 80. . The network I / F 80 transmits the XML data and the style sheet to a transmission destination device (for example, a server device, a personal computer device, etc.) input via the operation unit under the control of the control unit 10.

  The image processing unit 40 generates YMCK data from the XML data and the style sheet supplied from the style changing unit 14 and supplies them to the printing unit 50. The printing unit 50 prints out an image by forming an image on a sheet based on the supplied YMCK data. Further, when “Braille output” is designated as the print output style, the image processing unit 40 generates braille data from the XML data and supplies the Braille data to the printing unit 50. The printing unit 50 forms and outputs braille on the paper based on the supplied braille data.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, UI setting information is stored in the UI setting table TBL1 in association with the user ID, and when a document processing instruction including the user ID is input, the control unit 10 sets the UI setting information. Based on the UI setting information stored in the table TBL1, the style of the XML data is changed and output. In this way, for example, when the user is an elderly person, the document size is increased according to the individual user UI setting information, such as increasing the font size or changing the character color for users with weak color. It is possible to change the style of the output. Further, based on the UI display language set in the UI setting information, it is possible to translate and output the language desired by the user.

In addition, by enabling the setting priority flag for each output format to set whether or not to prioritize UI settings, even for the same user, for example, the preview display is displayed in a large font and printed out. In this case, it is possible to output without giving priority to the UI setting at the time of print output or transmission output, such as outputting in the default style without changing the style.
For example, in the present embodiment, when the user is a visually impaired person, if the UI setting is set to read out aloud, it is possible to perform output in Braille at the time of print output.

<C: Modification>
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, It can implement with another various form. An example is shown below.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the language is automatically translated into the translation destination language preset in the UI setting information. However, the translation destination language set in the UI setting information is the language of the XML data ( If it is different from the translation source language), that fact may be displayed on the preview display screen, and the user may select whether to perform translation by inputting from the operation unit. This specific example will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a preview screen displayed by the image processing apparatus. As shown in the figure, the control unit of the image processing apparatus causes the display unit to display a screen provided with a check box CB for the user to select whether or not to translate. The user of the image processing apparatus confirms the preview screen displayed on the display unit, and when performing translation, operates the touch panel of the operation unit to check the check box and redisplay or print. Perform the operation. The control unit of the image processing apparatus detects the operation content, executes translation processing according to the operation content, and performs redisplay, printing, and the like.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the print output format (print output, Braille output, etc.) is set by the UI setting information stored in advance in the storage unit, but the print output format etc. is stored in advance as setting information. For example, the print output format may be specified by the user inputting from the operation unit such as pressing a specific button or a predetermined portion of the liquid crystal panel. Alternatively, voice recognition means may be provided in the image processing apparatus, and the print output format or the like may be determined by voice recognition.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, when a plurality of copies are printed out, only one copy is changed in style based on the UI setting information stored in the UI setting table and printed out. Things may be printed out in the default style.
Also, when scanning and storing a document, storing it in a folder for personal use of the user, changing the style based on the UI setting information, storing it in the same style when storing it in a shared folder You may make it do.

(4) In the embodiment described above, XML data is used as structured document data, and the style of the document is changed by changing the contents of the style sheet. However, the structured document data is limited to XML data. Any document data can be used as long as the document style can be specified.

(5) In the embodiment described above, the image processing apparatus 1 that has read a document and generated the document image data performs character analysis, structured document generation processing, and the like, and performs document data style change processing. It was. On the other hand, two or more devices connected by a communication network share the functions according to the above-described embodiment, and a system including the plurality of devices realizes the image processing device 1 of the same embodiment. May be. Specifically, for example, an image forming apparatus having functions corresponding to the image reading unit 30 and the printing unit 50 of the image processing apparatus 1 in the above embodiment, and other functions (structured document generation function) according to the present embodiment. , A document processing apparatus having a style changing function, etc.) may be realized by a system in which two apparatuses are connected via a communication network.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of UI setting table which concerns on the embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process which the style change part concerning the embodiment performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the XML data concerning the embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the style sheet which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process which the style change part concerning the embodiment performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the display part of the embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the display part which concerns on a modification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image processing apparatus, 10 ... Control part, 20 ... Memory | storage part, 30 ... Image reading part, 40 ... Image processing part, 50 ... Printing part, 60 ... Display part, 70 ... Operation part, 80 ... Network I / F, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 90 ... Audio | voice output part, 11 ... Image analysis part, 12 ... Character analysis part, 13 ... Structured document generation part, 14 ... Style change part, 15 ... Screen generation part, 16 ... Audio | voice data generation part, 17 ... Translation part

Claims (8)

Memory means and the user identification information identifying the User chromatography THE, and a first style information which indicates the style of the document are stored in association,
And document data representing a document, the document data input means and the second style information indicating the style of the document and the user identification information is input,
The first style information corresponding to the user identification information is read from the storage means, and the document indicated by the second style information input to the document data input means based on the read first style information and style change means for changing the style,
If the number of the indicated output is plural, said by the style change means changes has been the style after, and outputs one of the document data, the style indicated by the second style information An output means for outputting the document data for the remaining number of times among the plurality of times . The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs document data in at least one output format of display output, audio output, print output, and transmission output. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document data is described in a predetermined structured description language. Obtaining means for obtaining document image data representing an image of the document;
Recognizing characters included in the document image data acquired by the acquisition means, generating document data representing the content of the characters and the second style information, and generating the generated document data and second style information as the document data The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: document data generation means for inputting to the input means. An image reading unit that optically reads a printed document and generates document image data representing an image of the document;
The document processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the document image data generated by the image reading unit. The document processing according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first style information and the second style information are information indicating at least one of a font size, a font color, and a language. apparatus. A translation source language specifying means for specifying a translation source language from the document data;
The first style information is information indicating a translated language,
The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a translation unit that translates the document data from the translation source language identified by the translation source language identification unit into the translation destination language. The storage means stores the user identification information, the first style information, and a flag indicating whether or not to use the first style information for each output format of document data representing a document,
The document data input means receives the document data, the second style information, the user identification information, and output format information indicating an output format of the document data,
The style changing unit reads a flag corresponding to the output format indicated by the output format information input to the document data input unit from the storage unit, and indicates that the flag uses the first style information. In some cases, the first style information corresponding to the user identification information is read from the storage means, and is indicated by the second style information input to the document data input means based on the read first style information. Change the style of the document,
The output means outputs the document data in an output format indicated by output format information input to the document data input means.
The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document processing apparatus is a document processing apparatus.

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