JPH0272492A - Fair copying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically convert incompletely drawn longitudinal and lateral lines such as handwritten ruled lines into horizontal and vertical straight lines, and to make a fair copy by repeating a local conversion obtained with selecting positions at random over the whole area of a picture. CONSTITUTION:In the area of an original chart stored into a picture memory 41, the position of local rectangular areas are designated at random, segmented by a local rectangular area segmenting part 42, and judged to which picture pattern fixed beforehand the pattern of the segmented local rectangular area is included by a pattern judging part 43. A local rectangular area picture converting part 45 converts the picture in the local rectangular area into the arranged linear picture consisting of the straight lines according to the result of pattern judgement. The local conversion obtained by selecting the positions at random is repeated over the whole area of the picture. Thus, the longitudinal and lateral lines including the oblique components of a handwritten table can be all converted and shaped into the horizontal and vertical straight lines.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides a method for completely converting charts and tables containing incompletely drawn line image parts, such as line parts (ruled line parts) of charts in handwritten documents. This invention relates to a copying device n for shaping into a shape.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in order to make a correct copy of a handwritten document, a word processor is used as a copying device, and while looking at the document, a keyboard or pointing device is operated to input sentences and figures, and the data is edited later. This is generally done by

However, this input work requires an operator skilled in word processor operations and is time consuming.

In order to reduce the burden of such input work, attempts have been made to use pattern recognition devices, but there is a device that can format original images that include handwritten imperfections regarding charts and tables to obtain clean-cut charts. is not found in the conventional example.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) The purpose of the present invention is to automatically convert imperfectly drawn vertical and horizontal lines, such as hand-drawn ruled lines on charts included in a document, into perfect horizontal and vertical straight lines. An object of the present invention is to provide a copying device for copying.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The fairing device of the present invention includes an image memory that stores information on a binarized original chart, and a local rectangular area at random within an area of the image memory where the original chart is stored. A local rectangular area cutting means for specifying a position and cutting out a local rectangular area; a pattern determining means for determining which of predetermined image patterns the pattern of the extracted local rectangular area belongs to; and an image of the local rectangular area according to the result of pattern judgment. and local rectangular area image conversion means for converting the image into a neat line image made up of straight lines.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the pattern determining means examines how the four sides of the frame of the local rectangular area intersect with the lines of the chart, and determines the pattern that intersects at 01 sides [1] and the pattern that intersects at 1 side ■ It is configured to determine which pattern to yield to, a pattern that intersects on two adjacent sides, a pattern that intersects on side 03, and a pattern that intersects on side 04.

Then, the local rectangular area image conversion means, according to the judgment of the pattern judgment means, ('a) erases the image within the frame when it intersects on one side; (b) erases the image within the frame when it intersects on two opposite sides; (C) When two adjacent sides intersect, redraw it as an angle formed by a line extending perpendicularly from each intersection. (d) When three sides intersect, there is a line between the intersections on the two opposite sides. Draw a straight line and draw the other 1
Extend a perpendicular line from the intersection on the sides to that straight line and redraw it in a T-shape (e) When they intersect on four sides, draw a straight line ° between each intersection on the two opposite sides and redraw it in a cross-shape. is configured to perform conversion processing.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the pattern determining means further detects (1) a pattern in which one vertical side intersects with two or more lines, and (2) a pattern in which one horizontal side intersects with two or more lines. It is configured like this.

Then, each time the local rectangular area conversion is completed, the frame size of the local rectangular area for the next conversion is expanded, and as a result of expanding the frame size, when the pattern of ■■ is detected, the frame size is reduced, A local rectangular area frame size adjustment means is provided for adjusting the frame size.

(Operation) The operation of the present invention is to randomly specify a local rectangular area within the area of the original chart stored in the image memory and cut it out by the local rectangular area cutting means, and the pattern of the cut out local rectangular area is predetermined. The pattern determining means determines to which of the image patterns the image belongs to. The local rectangular area image converting means converts the image of the local rectangular area into a neat line image consisting of straight lines in accordance with the result of pattern determination.

By repeating this local transformation at randomly selected positions over the entire area of the image, all vertical and horizontal lines, including diagonal components, in a handwritten table are converted into horizontal and vertical straight lines. , can be shaped.

In a specific embodiment, there are only five types of patterns for converting a local rectangular area:
The process of redrawing lines according to the pattern involves connecting the points with a straight line, and extending a horizontal line or a vertical line from a certain point to the straight line, as in processes (a) to (e) above. (1) Since it consists of very simple processing, the configuration for processing is relatively simple and it can be executed at high speed.

In addition, in an aspect of the present invention in which a local rectangular area frame size adjustment unit is provided, the size of the frame is adjusted for each selection of each local rectangular area so as to remove an unconvertible pattern in which one side intersects with a line at two points. can be optimally adjusted, and efficient and accurate copying can be performed.

(Embodiment) Fig. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, which is a device for copying a document including a table consisting of handwritten vertical and horizontal ruled lines (line part of the table) and characters. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration.

This device consists of an image scanner 1 that binarizes and captures handwritten original charts, and a text/image scanner that separates text and other image parts from the captured image and performs necessary preprocessing.
Image separation r! 12, and a character recognition device t! that recognizes the separated character image and outputs the corresponding character code. 3, and a ruled line cleansing device that formats the vertical and horizontal ruled lines from the table excluding the text and converts them into ruled lines consisting of horizontal and vertical straight lines.
4, and a character/image synthesizing device 5 which synthesizes the output of the character recognition section 5 and the output of the ruled line clearing section Et4 to obtain a faired chart.

Lined section clean book! +24 is a characteristic part of the present invention, which is composed of a frame memory 411, a local rectangular area cutting unit 42, a pattern determining unit 43, a local rectangular area frame size adjusting unit 44, and a local area image converting unit 45.

FIG. 2 is an operational flow diagram.

The handwritten original diagram is read by the image scanner l, the character area is removed by the character/image separation device 2, and a binary image of the ruled line portion, as shown in FIG. It is stored (Fig. 2 ■).

The local rectangular area cutting unit 42 randomly selects an arbitrary point P on the line image stored in the frame memory 41 (■
). For example, generate one address of 41 in the frame memory using a random number generator, read out the pixel at that address, and if it is a black pixel, use that address as the address of point P, and if it is a white pixel, read point P again. Re-select. Then, each address in a rectangular area of size b in length and width is sequentially generated with the selected point P as the center, and image data is read from the frame memory 41 using the address (■)
.

The pattern determining unit 43 determines the pattern of the local rectangular area read out by the local rectangular area cutting unit 42.

That is, it is checked how each side of the frame of the local rectangular area intersects with the line of the image, and it is determined which of the following patterns it belongs to (■).

(a) Pattern that intersects on one side (b) Pattern that intersects on two opposite sides (C) Pattern that intersects on two adjacent sides (d) Pattern that intersects on three sides (e) Pattern that intersects on four sides (f) Vertical 1 A pattern where side a intersects two or more lines.

(g) A pattern in which one side of vi intersects two or more glands.

The local rectangular area frame size adjustment unit 44 adjusts the local rectangular area to select only those that do not cross the borders of the diagram at two or more points on each side of the rectangle.
) is detected, the local rectangular area cutting unit 4 shortens each side al b and reads out the local rectangular area.
Instruct 2 (■.

■). In addition, each time the redrawing of each local rectangular area is completed, it is determined whether the conversion process of the entire area has been completed (@), and if it has not been completed yet, each side al b is Move on to area processing (@).

In this way, by lengthening each side alb to cut out the next local rectangular area, and adjusting to shorten it if it is too long, it is possible to perform linearization conversion over a larger and more appropriate range as the conversion progresses.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the conversion operation of the local rectangular area image conversion section 45.

The judgment result of the pattern judgment unit 43 is that each side and the line of the chart are 1
When indicating that the lines intersect at a side, the lines are erased (■) as shown in (a) of the same figure.

Similarly, when two opposite sides intersect, as shown in Figure 3(b), the intersection points are redrawn so as to be connected by a straight line (■).

When two adjacent sides intersect, as shown in Figure 3 (C),
Redraw the corners to be grooved by lines extending perpendicular to the sides from each intersection (■).

When they intersect on three sides, as shown in Figure 3(d), draw a straight line between the intersection points on the two opposite sides, extend a perpendicular line from the intersection on the other side to that straight line, and redraw it in a T-shape. (
@l).

When they intersect on four sides, as shown in Figure 3(e), draw straight lines between the intersection points on the two opposite sides and redraw them in a cross shape (■).

Every time the conversion of one local rectangular area is completed, it is determined whether the conversion of all areas is completed (@).

This determination can be made, for example, by checking whether a diagonal line exists in the entire area. As a result of the judgment, if there are still diagonal lines and therefore the conversion is not completed, specify the enlargement of the area size as described above (@)
, the process moves on to the next local rectangular area centered on the randomly selected point P.

The above process is repeated to format the entire diagram. When the diagonal line no longer exists as a result of the end judgment,
Processing ends.

Figure 4 shows an example of the process of conversion; (a) (b)
, (c) are repeated several times, it comes to be located almost at the center of the curve before processing, and it can be seen that the overall shape gradually approaches a straight line.

After the processing is completed, the handwritten table ruled lines shown in Figure 5 consist of only straight lines, as shown in Figure 6, and unnecessary lines are deleted.
The corners and intersections will be arranged.

Note that this embodiment has been explained for the case where a closed table with a frame on the outermost side is to be formatted, but when the target is an open table without a frame on the outermost side or a line segment such as an underline. In this case, the conditions for redrawing the pattern at the end of the line may be changed.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, the present invention enables vertical and vertical transformations, including diagonal components of a handwritten table, to be performed by randomly selecting positions and repeating local transformation over the entire area of the image. All horizontal lines can be converted and shaped into horizontal and vertical straight lines, making it possible to realize a chart and table copying device that has not been found in the prior art.

If the positions of the local transformations are selected in sequence in a regular manner, the straight line components will converge to the starting point position, resulting in a biased diagram, but in the present invention, as described above, the local transformation Since the conversion positions are selected at random, horizontal and vertical straight lines can be formed at average positions (that is, at unbiased positions) in the line segment existing area of the original chart.

In a specific embodiment of the present invention, there are only five types of patterns for converting a local rectangular area, and the processing for redrawing lines according to the patterns includes frame erasure, straight line , corners, cloves, and crosses, which consist of very simple processes such as connecting points with a straight line and extending a horizontal or perpendicular line from a certain point to the straight line. trIff configuration is relatively 11
Ill, and can be executed at high speed.

In addition, in an aspect of the present invention in which a local rectangular area frame size adjustment unit is provided, the size of the frame is adjusted for each selection of each local rectangular area so as to remove an unconvertible pattern in which one side intersects with a line at two points. Can be adjusted optimally, efficiently and accurately? +'t a can be performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an operation flow diagram showing the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1. FIGS. 3A to 3E are diagrams showing the redrawing process for each pattern of a local rectangular area. FIGS. 4(a) to 4(d) are diagrams showing examples of redrawing. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the ruled line portion of a handwritten table excluding the character portion. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the result of fine-printing the handwritten ruled line portion of FIG. 5 according to the present invention. 1... Image scanner, 2... Character/image separation device, 3... Character recognition device, 4... Ruled line copying device,
41... Frame memory, 42... Local rectangular area cutting unit, 43... Pattern determining unit, 44... Local rectangular area frame size adjustment unit, 45... Local rectangular area image converting unit, 5. ...Character/image synthesis device. Patent applicant: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Representative: Patent attorney Kai Iwakami Figure 2 Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 I

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An image memory that stores information on the binarized original chart; a local rectangular region cutting means that randomly specifies a position and cuts out a local rectangular region within the area where the original chart is stored in the image memory; a pattern determination means for determining which of predetermined image patterns the pattern of the local rectangular area belongs to; and a local rectangle for converting the image of the local rectangular area into a neat line image made of straight lines according to the result of the pattern determination. A table formatting device comprising: area image conversion means. (2) The pattern determining means may be configured to
Examine how the sides intersect with the lines on the diagram, and find out: [1] A pattern that intersects on one side [2] A pattern that intersects on two opposite sides [3] A pattern that intersects on two adjacent sides [4] A pattern that intersects on three sides [5] The local rectangular area image conversion means determines which of the patterns that intersect on four sides belongs to, and the local rectangular area image conversion means performs the following steps according to the judgment of the pattern judgment means: [1] When the patterns intersect on one side, the frame [2] When two opposite sides intersect, draw a straight line between the intersection points. [3] When two adjacent sides intersect, the line is drawn perpendicularly to the side from each intersection. [4] When three sides intersect, draw a straight line between the intersection points on the two opposite sides, extend a perpendicular line from the intersection on the other side to that straight line, and redraw it in a T-shape [5] The fairing device according to claim (1), wherein when the four sides intersect, a straight line is drawn between the intersection points on two opposite sides, and the conversion process is performed to redraw the lines in a cross shape. . (3) The pattern determining means is further configured to detect [6] a pattern in which one vertical side intersects with two or more lines, and [7] a pattern in which one horizontal side intersects with two or more lines, and , Each time one local rectangular area conversion is completed, the size of the rectangular frame that limits the local rectangular area for the next conversion is enlarged, and as a result of expanding the size of the rectangular frame, the patterns in [6] and [7] above are detected. By reducing the size of the rectangular frame when
3. The fair copying apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising local rectangular area frame size adjusting means for adjusting the size of the rectangular frame.