JP7318319B2 - Information processing device and image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for accepting designation of an area from a user when copying a document image.

In image forming apparatuses such as copiers and multifunction machines, when copying an original image, there is a function to erase the image existing in the rectangular area specified by the user, or a function to erase the image existing outside the rectangular area ( That is, some have a function of saving only the image existing in the rectangular area. The rectangular area to be erased or saved is generally specified by using a pointing device such as a stylus while looking at the image of the scanned original image, or by entering numerical coordinates. .

JP 2005-224944 A

However, when using a touch pen to specify a rectangular area to be erased or saved, it is necessary to enclose the entire area to be erased or saved, which is troublesome for the user.

In addition, when the user inputs the coordinates of the rectangular area as numerical values, there is a gap between the area that the user expects and the area that is actually specified. Images may be erased. This is because it is difficult for the user to accurately grasp which part of the document image the coordinates actually correspond to.

The aforementioned Patent Document 1 describes that cutout patterns are prepared in advance for an image, and the user is allowed to select a desired cutout pattern from among them. It is only a pattern and does not allow the user to select areas that are not prepared in advance. In other words, the user may not be able to select the area that he or she is really looking for.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. It is intended to be configurable.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a document image obtained by reading a document by a document reading unit such as a scanner. The document image D1 includes three element images F1 to F3. The element image F1 is the text "ABCDEFG" and the element image F2 is the text "See You There!!!" , the element image F3 is an image of a "dog".

When the user wants to erase or leave some image on the document image D1, only "D" in the element image F1, only "You" in the element image F2, only the left half of the element image F3, etc. It is considered that only a part of the elemental image is rarely targeted, and that the entire elemental image is often targeted. That is, in many cases, it is considered that the entire elemental image is desired by the user as an object to be erased or stored.

The present invention is an invention made based on the above knowledge, and the arrangement area where the element image is arranged (that is, the area where the user has a high possibility of wanting to erase or save) is set as a specific area of the erase area or the save area. It is designed to be easily set.

An information processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a display unit, a document reading unit that reads an image of a document, and analyzes image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit to obtain a document image represented by the image data. a display control unit for identifying an arrangement area of each elemental image constituting the and acquiring layout information of the document image; a display control unit for displaying the document image indicated by the image data on the display unit as an image image; an area reception unit that receives a partial area on the image displayed on the display unit as a designated area; and based on the designated area received by the area reception unit and the layout information acquired by the analysis unit, the A setting unit that sets the placement area overlapping the designated area as a specific area, and a control unit that erases an image existing in the specific area set by the setting unit or an image existing outside the specific area.

Further, an information processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a display section, a document reading section for reading an image of a document, and the document image indicated by image data obtained by reading by the document reading section as an image image. a display control unit for displaying on a display unit; an area reception unit for accepting a partial area on the image displayed on the display unit as a specified area; an image existing in the specified area accepted by the area acceptance unit; or a control unit for erasing an image existing outside the specified area, and further, the display control unit, when displaying the document image as the image image on the display unit, vertically and horizontally respectively. A scale is displayed, and the region receiving unit receives, as the designated region, a region designated by numerical input corresponding to the scale.

Further, an image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes the information processing apparatus and an image forming mechanism for forming an image on a recording sheet, and the control section converts the document image indicated by the image data into the It is formed on the recording paper by an image forming mechanism.

According to the present invention, the user can accurately specify the area in which the element image is arranged as the specific area by only specifying a part of the element image without enclosing and specifying the entire element image. . Therefore, when specifying a partial area of an image, the user can easily and accurately set an area where the user wants to erase the image (erase area) or an area where the user wants to leave the image (save area).

1 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention; FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a document image is displayed as an image image on the display section; (A) and (B) are diagrams showing an example of a state in which a user-designated area is displayed on a document image as an image image. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the layout of a document image; 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing performed by a control unit of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a user-designated area is displayed on a document image as an image image; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a rectangular area set from a figure drawn by a user; (A) and (B) are explanatory diagrams for explaining the positional relationship between a figure drawn by a user and an image to be erased. (A) and (B) are explanatory diagrams for explaining a method of correcting a rectangular area. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a document image is displayed as an image image on the display section; FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment; (A) is a diagram showing an example of a state in which an image is displayed on a display unit, and (B) is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a user-designated area is displayed on a document image as the image. is. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a document image obtained by reading a document by a document reading unit such as a scanner;

An information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention.

The image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment is, for example, a multifunction device having multiple functions such as a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 10 , a document feeding section 6 , a document reading section 5 , an image forming section 12 , a fixing section 13 , a paper feeding section 14 and an operation section 47 . The image forming apparatus 1 is an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 excluding the image forming mechanisms related to image formation such as the image forming section 12, the fixing section 13, and the paper feeding section 14 also serves as an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A case where the image forming apparatus 1 performs a document reading operation will be described. A document reading section 5 optically reads an image of a document conveyed by the document feeding section 6 or a document placed on a contact glass (not shown), and generates image data. Image data generated by the document reading unit 5 is stored in an image memory (not shown) or the like.

A case where the image forming operation is performed in the image forming apparatus 1 will be described. Recording paper as a recording medium fed from the paper feeding unit 14 by the image forming unit 12 based on image data generated by a document reading operation or image data received from an external device such as a personal computer connected to a network. forming a toner image on the

The fixing unit 13 heats and presses the recording paper on which the toner image is formed by the image forming unit 12 to fix the toner image on the recording paper. Output to tray. The paper feed unit 14 includes a paper feed cassette.

The operation unit 47 receives instructions such as image forming operation execution instructions from the operator regarding various operations and processes that can be performed by the image forming apparatus 1 . The operation unit 47 includes a display unit 473 that displays operation guidance and the like for the operator.

The display unit 473 has a touch panel function, and the operator can operate the image forming apparatus 1 by touching buttons and keys displayed on the screen.

The control unit 10 includes a processor, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), and dedicated hardware circuits. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or the like. The control unit 10 includes a control section 100 , a display control section 101 , an operation reception section 102 , an analysis section 105 and a setting section 106 .

The control unit 10 operates the control unit 100, the display control unit 101, the operation reception unit 102, the analysis unit 105, and the It functions as the setting unit 106 . However, the control unit 100 and the like can also be configured by hardware circuits independently of the operation according to the control program by the control unit 10 . Hereinafter, the same applies to each embodiment unless otherwise specified.

The control unit 100 controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 1 . The control unit 100 is connected to the document feeding unit 6, the document reading unit 5, the image forming unit 12, the fixing unit 13, the paper feeding unit 14, and the operation unit 47, and controls the driving of these units. For example, based on image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 5, the control unit 100 controls the operation of the image forming unit 12 so that the document image indicated by the image data is printed on recording paper as a recording medium. form.

The display control section 101 controls the operation of the display section 473 . For example, based on the image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 5, the display control unit 101 displays the document image indicated by the image data on the display unit 473 as an image image. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a document image is displayed as an image image on the display section 473. As shown in FIG. The document image D1 including the element images F1 to F3 is displayed as an image on the display section 473 .

The operation reception unit 102 receives an operation input from the user via the operation unit 47 and has an area reception unit 103 and a confirmation reception unit 104 . The operation accepting unit 102 accepts user operations on the hard keys provided in the operation unit 47, and further accepts user operations (touch operations) on the operation screen displayed on the display unit 473 using the touch panel function of the display unit 473. . A touch operation is generally performed with a user's fingertip or using a pointing device such as a touch pen.

Area accepting portion 103 accepts user designation of an area to be erased or left on the image displayed on display portion 473 . For example, when the user encloses an area to be erased or left using a touch pen, the area reception unit 103 accepts the area enclosed by the touch pen as a user-specified area. Note that the user-designated area is an example of a designated area in the scope of claims.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing an example of a state in which a user-designated area is displayed on a document image as an image image. The user-designated areas U1 and U2 are areas surrounded by a touch pen, and the user-designated area U1 surrounds the entire element image F1 labeled "ABCDEFG". The user-specified region U2 does not surround the entire elemental image F3 in which "dog" is shown, but overlaps with the elemental image F3. Note that the confirmation reception unit 104 will be described later.

The analysis unit 105 analyzes the image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 5, detects the arrangement area of each element image forming the document image indicated by the image data, and acquires the layout information of the document image. . As shown in FIG. 4, the analysis unit 105 detects an arrangement area A1 as an area in which the element image F1 is arranged, detects an arrangement area A2 as an area in which the element image F2 is arranged, and detects an arrangement area A2 as an area in which the element image F3 is arranged. The arrangement area A3 is detected as the arranged area, and the layout information of the document image D1 is obtained.

For example, the analysis unit 105 uses a known character/image recognition technology (for example, TI separation for recognizing and distinguishing between text and image) from the image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 5. , a text area (for example, placement areas A1 and A2 in which element images F1 and F2 are placed) and an image area (for example, placement area A3 in which element image F3 is placed) are extracted, and the extracted text area and image Layout information of the document image is obtained by detecting the location of the area on the document image. An area that does not belong to either the text area or the image area is the background area.

Based on the user-specified area accepted by the area accepting unit 103 and the layout information acquired by the analysis unit 105, the setting unit 106 detects a placement area that overlaps with the user-specified area, and designates the detected placement area as a specific area. set. For example, when the user-specified area is the user-specified area U1 shown in FIG. is the user-designated region U2 shown in FIG. 3B, the setting unit 106 sets the layout region A3 (FIG. 4) overlapping the user-designated region U2 as the specific region.

The user can confirm and instruct whether or not to adopt the specific area set by the setting unit 106, and the confirmation reception unit 104 receives the confirmation instruction of the above-mentioned adoption or non-use from the user.

The control unit 100 erases the image existing in the specific area set by the setting unit 106 or the image existing outside the specific area, and controls the operation of the image forming unit 12 to record the document image indicated by the image data. Form on paper.

Next, an example of processing performed by the control unit 10 in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. Here, a case where the setting unit 106 sets an erasing area as the specific area will be described. Also, this process is performed when the operation accepting unit 102 accepts a user instruction of "erasure area specification copy".

First, the control section 100 causes the document reading section 5 to read the image of the document, and stores the image data obtained by the reading by the document reading section 5 in an image memory (not shown) (S1). After that, the analysis unit 105 analyzes the image data obtained by the reading by the document reading unit 5, specifies the arrangement area of each element image forming the document image indicated by the image data, and obtains the layout information of the document image. Based on the image data, the display control unit 101 displays the document image indicated by the image data as an image image on the display unit 473 as shown in FIG. 2 (S3).

Subsequently, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the area receiving unit 103 has received user designation of an area to be erased on the image displayed on the display unit 473 (S4).

When the control unit 100 determines that the region receiving unit 103 has received the user designation (YES in S4), the setting unit 106 stores the user-designated region received by the region receiving unit 103 and the layout information acquired by the analysis unit 105. Based on the above, it is determined whether or not there is an arrangement area that overlaps with the user-designated area (S5).

If the setting unit 106 determines that there is a placement area overlapping the user-designated area (YES in S5), the setting unit 106 sets the placement area overlapping the user-designated area as a deletion area (S6). For example, when the user-designated area is the user-designated area U2 shown in FIG. 3B, the placement area A3 (FIG. 4) is set as the erase area.

The display control unit 101 displays the placement area set as the deletion area by the setting unit 106 on the display unit 473, and prompts the user to confirm whether or not the placement area is acceptable as the deletion area (S7). The unit 100 determines whether or not a confirmation instruction indicating “accepted” has been received from the user based on the operation of the operation unit 47 by the user (S8).

When the control unit 100 determines that the confirmation receiving unit 104 has received the user's confirmation instruction to "adopt" (YES in S8), the image existing in the erasing area set by the setting unit 106 (that is, the image existing in the erasing area All of the element images arranged in the set arrangement area) are erased (S9). Further, the control unit 100 controls the operation of the image forming unit 12 to form the document image indicated by the image data after the erasure on recording paper (S13). After this, the process ends.

On the other hand, if the control unit 100 determines that the confirmation receiving unit 104 has received a confirmation instruction indicating “rejected” from the user (NO in S8), the setting unit 106 sets the user-specified area to the erase area (S10 ).

The display control unit 101 displays the erase area (that is, the user-specified area) set by the setting unit 106 on the display unit 473, and asks the user to confirm whether or not the user-specified area can be used as the erase area. (S11), and the control unit 100 determines whether or not the confirmation receiving unit 104 has received a confirmation instruction from the user to "adopt" (S12).

When the control unit 100 determines that the confirmation reception unit 104 has received the user's confirmation instruction to “adopt” (YES in S12), the image existing in the erasure area set by the setting unit 106 (that is, the user specified area ) is erased (S9), and the document image indicated by the image data is formed on recording paper by controlling the operation of the image forming section 12 (S13). After this, the process ends.

On the other hand, if the control unit 100 determines that the confirmation receiving unit 104 has received the user's confirmation instruction of "rejected" (NO in S12), the process returns to S4, and the image is erased from the image. , a state in which user designation of a new area can be accepted.

Also, in S5, if the setting unit 106 determines that there is no placement area that overlaps the user-specified area (NO in S5), it sets the user-specified area as the erase area (S10). After that, the process moves to S11.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the user-designated area U3 does not overlap with any of the placement areas A1 to A3, the user-designated area U3 is set as the erase area. This is effective when it is desired to erase a minute image M1 such as a small stain that is not detected as an elemental image by the analysis unit 105. FIG.

According to the first embodiment described above, an image (elemental image) existing in an arrangement area set as an erasure area as a specific area is erased. Also, since the placement area that overlaps the user-specified area is set as the deletion area, the user can set the placement area as the deletion area simply by specifying a part of the placement area.

For example, when the user wants to erase the element image F3 (FIG. 2) in which a "dog" is shown, the user does not have to designate the entire element image F3, as shown in FIG. is specified, the element image F3 can be accurately erased.

As a result, the user can accurately specify the area where the element image is placed as the deletion area by simply specifying a part of the element image without enclosing and specifying the entire element image as in the conventional method. can do. Therefore, when specifying a partial area of the image, the erasing area can be set easily and accurately, and the user's work until setting the erasing area can be reduced.

Also, if the erasing area set by the setting unit 106 is different from what the user intended, the erasing area can be changed. be.

In S10, the setting unit 106 sets the user-specified area itself as the erasure area. Then, the minimum values Xmin, Ymin and the maximum values Xmax, Ymax are respectively detected for the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the user-specified area, and the coordinate point P1 and the maximum value indicated by the detected minimum values (Xmin, Ymin) are determined. A rectangular area RA1 defined by a diagonal line connecting the coordinate point P2 indicated by (Xmax, Ymax) may be set as the erase area.

As shown in FIG. 7, there is no problem if the rectangular area RA1 surrounds the entire micro image M1 to be erased. If the microimages M2 and M3 are not entirely enclosed, proper erasure is not performed. In FIG. 8A, the minute image M2 protrudes from the rectangular area RA1 in the horizontal direction, and in FIG. 8B, the minute image M3 protrudes from the rectangular area RA1 in the vertical direction. Some remain without being erased.

Therefore, as still another embodiment, if there is an image that overlaps the vertical side of the outer circumference of the rectangular area RA1, the setting unit 106 moves the rectangular area RA1 horizontally until the vertical side does not overlap the image. By widening, the rectangular area RA1 is corrected. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, when the vertical side VS of the outer circumference of the rectangular area RA1 overlaps the micro image M2, the setting unit 106 keeps moving until the vertical side VS and the micro image M2 do not overlap. The rectangular area RA1 is widened in the horizontal direction. Here, the rectangular area RA1 is expanded by the length LX in the right direction in the figure. Whether or not there is an image overlapping the outer circumference of the rectangular area RA1 can be determined from the presence or absence of an image of a color different from the color of the background image (for example, white) or a similar color to that of the background image.

On the other hand, if there is an image that overlaps the horizontal side of the outer circumference of the rectangular area RA1, the setting unit 106 extends the rectangular area RA1 in the vertical direction until the horizontal side does not overlap the image, thereby correcting the rectangular area RA1. do. For example, as shown in FIG. 9B, when the horizontal side HS of the outer circumference of the rectangular area RA1 overlaps the micro image M3, the setting unit 106 keeps moving until the horizontal side HS and the micro image M3 do not overlap. The rectangular area RA1 is expanded in the vertical direction. Here, the rectangular area RA1 is expanded by the length LY in the upward direction in the figure.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, a case has been described where the area reception unit 103 receives an area surrounded by a touch operation on the image displayed on the display unit 473 as a user-designated area. As an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, when the display control unit 101 displays the document image as the image image on the display unit 473, the scale 474 is displayed in each of the vertical and horizontal directions. A region specified by numerical input corresponding to the scale 474 may be accepted as a user-specified region. For example, the area accepting unit 103 accepts a rectangular area defined by a diagonal line connecting two points specified by the user as a user-specified area.

In the case of this embodiment, unlike the conventional art, the document image D1 is displayed as an image, and a scale 474 corresponding to the image is displayed. can be easily grasped, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a discrepancy between the area assumed by the user and the actually designated area.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the control unit 10 does not include the analysis section 105 and the setting section 106 . In the description of the second embodiment, the description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment is omitted.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12A, the display control unit 101 converts the document image D2 indicated by the image data based on the image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 5 into an image image. is displayed on the display unit 473, scales 474 are displayed in both the vertical and horizontal directions, and the region reception unit 103 receives the region specified by the numerical input corresponding to the scales 474 as the user specified region. For example, the area accepting unit 103 accepts a rectangular area defined by a diagonal line connecting two points specified by the user as a user-specified area.

FIG. 12A is a diagram showing an example of a state in which an image is displayed on the display section 473, and FIG. 12B is a diagram showing a state in which a user-designated area is displayed on a document image as an image. It is the figure which showed an example.

A document image D2 is displayed on the display portion 473 . As shown in FIG. 12(B), for example, when the user designates a coordinate point P3 of 70 mm in width and 110 mm in height and a coordinate point P4 of 200 mm in width and 170 mm in height, the area reception unit 103 allows the user to A rectangular area RA2 defined by a diagonal line connecting two specified points is accepted as a user-specified area.

The control unit 100 erases the image existing in the user-specified area accepted by the area accepting unit 103 or the image existing outside the user-specified area, and controls the operation of the image forming unit 12 to produce the document image indicated by the image data. to form it on the recording paper.

That is, in the second embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the image existing in the area specified by the user is simply erased without considering the elemental image, or the image existing in the area is erased. leave. In the second embodiment, the document image is displayed as an image image, and furthermore, the scale 474 corresponding to the image is displayed. can be prevented.

Also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the display control unit 101 displays the user-specified area received by the area receiving unit 103 together with the image on the display unit 473, and the user can The user is urged to confirm whether or not the specified area can be used as an erase area or a save area, and the confirmation acceptance unit 104 accepts a confirmation instruction from the user as to whether or not the user-specified area can be used as an erase area or save area. You may do so.

Then, when the confirmation reception unit 104 receives the confirmation instruction of adoption, the control unit 100 erases the image existing in the user-designated area, or erases the image existing outside the user-designated area. The control unit 100 causes the document image indicated by the image data after the erasing process to be formed on recording paper.

Also in the second embodiment, the control unit 100 functions in the same manner as the setting unit 106 in the first embodiment, and the control unit 100 overlaps the vertical side of the outer circumference of the rectangular area that is the user-designated area. If there is an image, the rectangular area is expanded horizontally until the vertical side and the image do not overlap. A configuration may be adopted in which the rectangular area is expanded in the vertical direction until the rectangular area is corrected.

The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, an image forming apparatus is used as an embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, but this is only an example, and other information processing such as medical equipment or digital signage apparatus can be used. It can be a device.

Further, in the above embodiment, the configuration and processing shown in FIGS. 1 to 13 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention to the configuration and processing.

1 image forming apparatus 5 document reading unit 12 image forming unit 100 control unit 101 display control unit 103 area reception unit 104 confirmation reception unit 105 analysis unit 106 setting unit 473 display unit

Claims (5)

a display unit;
a document reading unit for reading an image of a document;
an analysis unit that analyzes image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit, identifies an arrangement area of each element image that constitutes a document image indicated by the image data, and acquires layout information of the document image;
a display control unit that displays the document image indicated by the image data as an image image on the display unit;
an area reception unit that receives a partial area on the image displayed on the display unit as a specified area;
a setting unit configured to set the arrangement area overlapping the specified area as a specific area based on the specified area accepted by the area accepting unit and the layout information acquired by the analysis unit;
a control unit that erases an image existing in the specific area set by the setting unit or an image existing outside the specific area;
The display control unit displays the placement area set as the specific area by the setting unit on the display unit, prompting the user to confirm whether the placement area can be used as the specific area, and
further comprising a confirmation reception unit that receives a confirmation instruction from a user as to whether or not the placement area can be used as the specific area;
The setting unit sets the specified area to the specified area when the confirmation accepting unit accepts a confirmation instruction to the effect that the placement area is not to be the specified area,
The display control unit displays the specified area set as the specific area on the display unit when the specified area is set as the specific area by the setting unit, and sets the specified area as the specific area. prompting the user to confirm whether or not to use the specified area as the specific area;
When the confirmation receiving unit receives a confirmation instruction to the effect that the specified area is the specific area, the specified area is set as the specific area,
When the confirmation acceptance unit accepts a confirmation instruction to the effect that the specified area is not the specific area, the area acceptance unit can newly accept a partial area on the image as the specified area. information processing device. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said setting unit sets said specified area as said specific area when said arrangement area having a portion overlapping said specified area does not exist. The display unit has a touch panel function,
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area accepting unit accepts an area surrounded by a touch operation on the image displayed on the display unit as the designated area. The display control unit displays scales in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction when displaying the document image as the image image on the display unit,
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said area accepting unit accepts an area specified by inputting numerical values corresponding to said scale as said specified area. an information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4;
An image forming mechanism for forming an image on recording paper,
The control section forms the document image indicated by the image data on the recording paper by the image forming mechanism.