JPH02195474A - Name card information control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To extremely simplify input operation by reading out a name card as the binary information of each picture element, recognizing characters from the obtained picture element information and specifying the recognized character string by a user to input respective information of the name card. CONSTITUTION:In the case of inputting name card information by the user, a keyboard input device 14 is started to input the vertical or horizontal writing of a name card and the contents of the name card are read out by an image scanner 17. At that time, a CPU 11 starts a processing program, inputs the binary picture information from the scanner in accordance with the vertical or horizontal writing and stores the information in a data RAM 13. The CPU 11 allows a character recognition control device 18 to execute recognition processing. Since the respective information of the name card is inputted so that the recognition character string is specified by the user through the keyboard input device 14, the input operation can be extremely simplified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a business card information management system that captures and manages information written on business cards.

[Prior Art] Business cards are widespread in Japanese society to the extent that it can be called a business card society, and the number of business cards held in each person's hands is enormous. Managing such a large number of business cards in a physical business card holder in book or box format is difficult.
Search operations are manual and are not easy.

Therefore, a system has already been proposed in which business card information is managed using a computer device. The main unit converts the entered information into a file and stores it in a database, and the user can arbitrarily retrieve the already stored information of a given person using information such as the name or company name specified by the user as a key. A new information management system has been proposed that will allow users to do this.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to this business card information management system, compared to the method of physically organizing and managing a large number of business cards, the use of a highly versatile computer device saves space. In addition, it has the advantage that the search operation can be performed quickly and from various viewpoints such as name, company name, department, etc.

However, in order to enjoy the benefits of the above-mentioned business card information management system regarding the search operation, various information written on the business card must be entered in advance using a keyboard input device as described above.

Users who receive only a few business cards a day may not feel inclined to input operations using a keyboard input device, but many users feel the need to manage business cards using a computer device. , are considered to be people who receive a large number of business cards in a day, and people who receive few business cards will not feel the need to manage business cards using a computer device.

Users of such business card information management systems who receive business cards from many people in a day may find it extremely troublesome to enter various information on each business card one by one using a keyboard input device. . Therefore, in the conventional business card information management system, there is room for improvement in terms of inputting information.

In order to improve such input problems, a business card information management system has already been provided in which a barcode is attached to the back of the business card and the business card information is read by reading the barcode. It is difficult to say that this is an effective business card information management system at present, as business cards are not widely used. In addition, in order to improve input problems, a business card information management system has already been proposed that reads and registers the written text on a business card as image information. To,
This method has the drawback that the required memory capacity is extremely large, and also has the drawback that the contents registered in the sorting process using names, company names, etc. as keys cannot be used.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a business card information management system that is more user-friendly and easier to input business card information than before.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the problems, the present invention provides a business card information management system that registers various information about business cards and retrieves the registered information using any of the information as a key.
an image reading means that treats the business card as an image and reads it as binary information for each pixel; and a character recognition means that recognizes characters included in the business card from the image information obtained by the image reading means reading the business card. and information registration means for registering a recognized character string designated by an input operation in the storage means as predetermined business card information.

[Operation] The image reading means reads the business card as an image and provides the binarized information to the character recognition means, and the character recognition means reads the business card as an image.
Characters included in the image information consisting of digitized information are recognized and provided to the information registration means, and the information registration means registers the recognized character string specified by the input operation in the storage means as predetermined business card information.

As a result, the user can easily and quickly register business card information without using a device such as a keyboard input device that requires a lot of time for input operations.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a business card information management system 10 according to this embodiment.
This shows the overall configuration of the .

In this embodiment, a so-called optical character reader (OCR) for printed characters is used to input various information on business cards.

As shown in FIG. 1, this business card information management system 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11 that controls the operation of the entire system, and a program RO that stores processing programs executed by the CPU II and operation guidance messages.
M12 and data RA that stores various data generated during execution by the CPU 11 and various data input from an input device.
M 13, a keyboard input device 14 that takes in input data from a user, and a display device 15 that displays processing status, processing results, operation guidance messages, etc.

In addition to the basic components as an information processing system described above, this business card information processing system 10 also includes an external storage device 16, an image scanner 17 which is a main component of OCR for printed characters, and a character recognition control system. It includes a circuit 18 and a dictionary ROM 19 for character recognition.

The image scanner 17 captures the information writing surface of a business card by converting it into a binary image for each pixel as picture information, and this captured binary picture information is stored in the data RAM 13 under the control of the CPU 1.1. It is designed so that The image scanner 17 may be of a stationary type or a portable type as long as it has a reading area large enough to reliably read the entire text surface of the business card.

The character recognition control circuit 18 executes a process of recognizing all characters written on a business card based on the binarized picture information read from the business card and stored in the data RAM 13. Although it is possible that the CPU 1l executes character recognition using software, in this embodiment, from the viewpoint of increasing the recognition speed, the character recognition control circuit 18 having a hardware configuration executes the recognition process. I did it like that. The character recognition dictionary ROM 19 stores feature value data regarding reference patterns of many candidate characters that are necessary when the character recognition control circuit 18 executes character recognition processing.

The external recording device 16 is, for example, a floppy disk drive device or a hard disk drive device, and in this embodiment, serves as a database of various information on business cards. Among the characters recognized by the character recognition control circuit 18, It organizes and stores character strings specified by the user as names, company names, etc. on business cards.

Next, the process of reading various information on a business card and storing information specified by the user will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

When inputting business card information, the user first uses the keyboard input device 14 to start the process, uses the keyboard input device 14 to input whether the business card to be manually written is written vertically or horizontally, and then , the business card is read using the image scanner 17. At this time, the CPU
I starts the processing program shown in FIG. 2 upon startup, and then imports the binarized picture information from the image scanner 17 depending on whether it is vertical or horizontal writing and stores it in the data RAM.
13 (step 5PI).

After storing the binarized data for each pixel obtained by processing the business card as picture information in this way, the CPU 11 causes the character recognition control circuit 18 to execute recognition processing. That is, the character recognition control circuit 18 includes a character extraction process that extracts all areas containing one character, a feature extraction process that converts the binary data arrangement pattern of each extracted character area into feature value data, and a character recognition dictionary. The feature value data for the standard character pattern stored in the ROM 19 is compared with each extracted feature value data, and a recognition discrimination process is executed to determine the character corresponding to each character area cut out. (
Steps SP2 to SP4>.

The character recognition result formed by the character code thus obtained is also stored in the data RAM 13 under the control of the CPU II.

When the character recognition control circuit 18 completes the recognition process, the CPU II provides the character recognition result to the display device 15 for display (step 5P5). The user visually checks this display to determine whether each character written on the business card has been correctly recognized, and if it has been correctly recognized, inputs a message to that effect using the keyboard input device 14, If the recognized character is incorrect, use the keyboard input device 14 to indicate that there is a character to be corrected, and move the cursor on the screen displayed on the display device 15 to select the character (or characters) to be corrected. column) and then enter the correct characters.

After displaying the recognition result on the display device 15 as described above, the CPU II determines whether or not the user has instructed correction of characters (step 5P6). As a result, if it is determined that character modification has been instructed, a part of the recognized character is modified according to the modification content input by the user, and the modified content is displayed on the display device 15 (step 5P7).

On the other hand, if the CPU II determines that the recognition result is correct in step S P6 and that the user has instructed that no correction is necessary, or if the character correction instructed by the user is completed, the CPU II inputs the text from the keyboard input device 14. Waits for registration command to be given (step S P
8).

When a registration command is given, the CPU II specifies a column in which to register various information of the business card currently being processed in the external storage device 16, and then displays a string range specifying the company name on the display device 15 using the keyboard. A message is displayed that prompts the user to input a specification using the cursor movement key and execution key of the input device 14, and based on the message display, a range of character strings specified by the user is imported, and the character strings in that range are converted into the company name. (Step 5P9)
.

For example, a business card like the one shown in Figure 3 is scanned into the image scanner 1.
7 is read and the character content is correctly recognized, or the character correction is completed and the correct content is displayed on the display device 15, the user presses the cursor movement key and the character string "Japan Co., Ltd." representing the company name. Instruct using the execution key 9 At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, a character code string corresponding to the character string "Nippon Corporation" is registered in the company name area of the predetermined column of the external storage device 16. .

When the company name is registered in this way, the CPU tl displays a message on the display device 15 prompting the user to input a character string range specifying the department to which the user belongs using the cursor movement key and the execution key. The character string range specified by the user is captured based on the display, and the character strings in that range are registered in the external storage device 16 as the department to which the user belongs (
Step 5P10).

For example, in the case of a business card as shown in FIG.
Based on the display above, the user enters the character string rP representing the department to which the user belongs.
2nd Engineering Department, Division I" using the cursor movement key and execution key. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, a character code string corresponding to the character string rPI division second technical department J is registered in the department area of the predetermined column of the external storage device 16.

Similarly, in the case of this embodiment, the name and telephone number are each registered in a predetermined area of the external recording device 16 by CPLIII (steps 5P11 and 5P12>).

In the case of the business card shown in FIG. 3, the name area of the predetermined column of the external storage device 16 contains the character string "Japanese Abe j", and the telephone number area contains the character string r12.
A character code string corresponding to 3-456-7890J is registered.

After registering the various information to be registered in this manner, that is, in the case of this embodiment, the information about the company name, affiliation, name, and telephone number, the CPU 11 will press the registration end key on the keyboard input device 14. I am looking forward to it,
When it is detected that the registration end key has been pressed by the user, a list of various registered information is displayed on the display device 1.
5 for user confirmation and completes a series of business card information registration processes (steps 5P13 and 5P14).
).

The business card information registered in this way is used for searching using any type of business card information as a key, similar to conventional business card information management systems.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, the image scanner 17
The text information on the business card is input using a character recognition process based on the line information obtained by reading the business card, making the operation of inputting business card information much easier than with conventional systems. It can be made simpler. This effect is useful when entering information about many business cards.
It is especially large.

In the above embodiment, the business card information to be registered includes the company name, affiliation, name, and telephone number, but other information such as address, residence, and fax number may be used, and the registration order may vary. Nor is it limited to the above example. Further, in the case of a business card with a photo, the photo portion may be registered as binary data in association with other text information.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the system is applied to a business card information management system that performs only the single function of business card management, but it may also be applied as an application function for a word processor system, a personal computer system, etc. .

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, it is possible to input information of a predetermined type by predetermining the order of types for registration without inputting types such as company name and name. Alternatively, the user may specify the registration type through an input operation, and then specify the recognition character string.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a business card is treated as an image using an image reading means and read as binary information for each pixel, and from the obtained image information, characters are extracted through character recognition processing. The system recognizes the following information and allows the user to input the various information on the business card by specifying the recognized character string for each type of information. This is an improvement over conventional systems in which all business card information is input using a keyboard input device. The input operation can be made much easier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the business card information management system according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure for inputting and registering business card information, and Fig. 3 is a route showing an example of a business card. 4 are charts showing various information contents registered for the business card shown in FIG. 3. 10...Business card information management system, 11...Central processing unit (CF) U), 12...Program R, OM
, 13... Data RAM, 14... Keyboard input device, 15... Display device, 16... External storage device,
17... Image scanner, 18... Character recognition control circuit, 19... Dictionary ROM for character recognition.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a business card information management system that registers various information about business cards and retrieves the registered information using any of the information as a key, an image reading means that treats the business card as an image and reads it as binary information for each pixel. and a character recognition means that recognizes characters included in the business card from the image information obtained by reading the business card by the image reading means, and a character recognition means that recognizes the characters included in the business card from the image information obtained by reading the business card, and stores the recognized character string specified by the input operation as predetermined business card information. 1. A business card information management system comprising: information registration means for registering information in a business card information management system.