JPH04316176A - Name card recognizing method and name card managing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically and accurately input name card data at a high speed by discriminating whether a name card is of a vertical or horizontal type from the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of each character and discriminating the items of the name card by utilizing the discriminated result of the aspect ratio. CONSTITUTION:A picture reader 401 reads a name card and a picture memory 402 stores the read binary data. A CPU 403 performs an 8-coupling component labeling process on the binarized picture of the name card and finds the circumscribed rectangle of the same label element by giving the same label to coupled picture elements. The CPU 403 discriminates whether the name card is of a vertical or horizontal type by checking the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of each character. Then the CPU 403 segments individual characters by using the vertical or horizontal type information, recognizes the segmented characters, and converts the recognized characters into character codes. Thereafter, the CPU 403 discriminates each character string which represents a company name, personal name, address, telephone number, etc., from the recognized result by performing a knowledge process, etc. The name card data obtained as a result of each process are stored in a memory 406 where the name card data are stored as electronic data.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a business card recognition method and a business card management machine.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Business cards can be roughly divided into vertical and horizontal formats, and the orientation of the characters is different.

Conventionally, when recognizing business cards with different character orientations, as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-166479, a character pattern is first cut out from a business card image, and the character pattern and a pre-prepared 0°, 90°゜，180゜、
The system compares and recognizes four comparison patterns per character rotated by 270 degrees, and sets the orientation of the comparison pattern with the highest degree of matching as the orientation of the business card.

0004

However, in the prior art described above, 1) a character is recognized once, and each character is recognized four times, which increases the processing time.

2) It is necessary to have four comparison patterns for one character, which increases the storage capacity.

3) Since the characters must be cut out before the orientation of the characters is determined, there is a possibility that the wrong character pattern will be cut out in the case of business cards with complex layouts or variable font sizes. high, which may result in incorrect character orientation being determined.

[0007]The present invention is intended to solve these problems.The purpose of the present invention is to be able to determine the orientation of characters very quickly, to require less memory capacity, and to be able to solve problems with complex layouts. To provide a business card recognition method capable of accurately detecting the orientation of characters even in the case of a business card, and an inexpensive business card management machine capable of automatically, quickly and accurately inputting data on multiple business cards without requiring operator instructions. There is a particular thing.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The business card recognition method of the present invention reads a business card with a free layout using an image reading device, and from the read business card image, the business card is vertically shaped according to the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of each character. It is characterized by automatically determining whether the card is horizontal or horizontal, cutting out characters using the determination results, recognizing the characters, and determining business card items.

Further, the business card management machine of the present invention is characterized in that by using the above-described business card recognition method in the data input section, data for a plurality of business cards with a free layout can be automatically and quickly input.

0010

【Example】

(Example 1) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on an example.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a method for determining whether a business card is vertical or horizontal in the business card recognition method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the business card recognition method of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for determining whether a business card is vertical or horizontal in the business card recognition method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the business card management machine of the present invention.

The business card recognition method of the present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the business card recognition method of the present invention. 8-connected component labeling processing (or 8-connected component boundary tracking processing) is performed on the business card image that has been read by an image reading device and binarized using a predetermined threshold value, and connected pixels are labeled with the same label. give(
1). For the labeling result in (1), a circumscribed rectangle of the same label element is determined (2). From now on, only the information on this circumscribed rectangle is used to cut out characters and determine whether they are vertical or horizontal, thereby simplifying and speeding up the processing compared to the case where the image is used as is. Next, cut out the character string (3). In the case of a business card, the intervals between character strings are relatively large, so cutting out is easy, and as a result, it is possible to estimate the size of the characters included in the character string. Next, the vertical or horizontal type of the business card is determined using the circumscribed rectangle obtained in (2), the character string obtained in (3), and information on the size of the characters contained in the character string (4). next,(
Using the vertical and horizontal information obtained in 4), cut out individual characters from the character string in (3) (5). Next, the characters extracted in (5) are recognized and converted into character codes (6). Based on the recognition result of (6), which character string is the company name of the business card,
Knowledge processing or the like is used to determine which item, such as name, address, telephone number, etc., applies (7), and business card recognition is completed. If the recognition result is unsatisfactory, go back and repeat the process.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a method for determining whether a business card is vertical or horizontal. FIG. 1(a) is an example of a horizontal business card, and FIG. 1(b) is an example of a vertical business card. As you can see from Figure 1, when a business card is placed as shown in Figure 1, the characters will be oriented vertically in the horizontal format shown in Figure 1 (a), and the characters will be horizontal in the vertical format shown in Figure 1 (b). It will be written. Therefore, if you look at the circumscribed rectangle of each character, the horizontal type is a vertically long circumscribed rectangle like 101,
The vertical type has many horizontally long circumscribed rectangles like 102. By utilizing this fact and checking the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of the characters, it is possible to determine whether the business card is vertical or horizontal. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an actual business card vertical/horizontal type determination process. If the size of the circumscribed rectangle is less than a certain value compared to the size of the characters in the string that includes the circumscribed rectangle,
The circumscribed rectangle is not used for determination (8). Next, the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle is determined (9). Next, we will not use items with extremely large or small aspect ratios, as they cannot be used to distinguish between 1 and 1.
0). Next, the number of vertically long circumscribed rectangles and the average value of their aspect ratios are determined (11). The number of horizontally long circumscribed rectangles and the average value of their aspect ratios are calculated (12). The average value of the aspect ratios of all circumscribed rectangles is determined (13). (11), (12), (13
) is used to determine whether the business card is vertical or horizontal (14). The determination is made using the relationship between the values obtained in (11), (12), and (13), but
As an example, the number of vertically long circumscribed rectangles found in (11) is
If the number of horizontally long circumscribed rectangles is greater than the number of horizontally long circumscribed rectangles found in (12), and the average aspect ratio of all the circumscribed rectangles found in (13) represents a vertically long rectangle, then the business card is determined to be horizontal.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a business card management machine using the business card recognition device of the present invention. A business card is read by an image reading device 401, and binary data that is binarized using a predetermined threshold value is stored in an image memory 402. Using the binarized image, the CPU 403 performs calculations such as 8-concatenation labeling, circumscribing rectangle extraction, character string extraction, vertical/horizontal type discrimination, character extraction, character recognition, and term discrimination. The business card data obtained as a result of each process is stored in a business card data storage memory 406, and retrieved whenever necessary for data retrieval, display, etc. Display of data is performed by display device 404. Instructions given by the operator are sent to the CPU 40 by the instruction input device 405.
given to 3. The work RAM 407 is used as a work area for the CPU 403 to perform processing. Here, by using the business card recognition method of the present invention, it is possible to automatically and quickly determine whether the business card is vertical or horizontal, so by providing the image reading device 401 with a function to read business cards continuously, It is now possible to input data for multiple business cards automatically and quickly without requiring operator instructions, and even faster by reading the next business card image while one business card is being recognized. becomes possible.

As described above, the business card recognition method of the present invention
Find the circumscribed rectangle of the characters on the business card, cut out the character string, and estimate the size of the characters. Then, the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle is determined, and the aspect ratio and character size information are used to determine whether the business card is vertical or horizontal. The characters are cut out using the discrimination results. The extracted characters are recognized and converted into character codes. By applying knowledge processing to the recognition results, items such as company name, name, address, etc. are determined. Therefore, when inputting business card data, there is no need for the operator to indicate the difference between vertical and horizontal formats. Further, since there is no need to perform complicated processing such as recognition to determine whether a business card is vertical or horizontal, it is possible to perform the determination very quickly. Furthermore, since there is no need to have a recognition pattern dictionary for determining vertical and horizontal formats, the storage capacity may be small. In addition, since there is no processing that requires prior information about vertical and horizontal orientation, such as cutting out characters, it is possible to accurately determine vertical and horizontal orientation even for business cards with complex layouts and varying font sizes. As a result, accurate business card recognition becomes possible.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a business card recognition method that allows business card data with a free layout to be input automatically and at high speed without requiring instructions from an operator. Also, by using this business card recognition method in the business card data input section,
By equipping the image reading device with the ability to read business cards continuously, data on multiple business cards can be entered automatically and at high speed without the need for operator instructions, while still recognizing a single business card. It is possible to provide an inexpensive business card management machine that can further increase the speed by reading the next business card image at the same time, and does not require restrictions on the layout of business cards.

The business card recognition method of the present invention can also be used to recognize general documents.

[0019]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the business card recognition method of the present invention determines whether a business card is vertical or horizontal using only the information on the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of the characters, without requiring operator instructions. Automatic business card recognition is possible. In addition, it is fast because it does not require complex processing such as character recognition to distinguish between vertical and horizontal formats. Furthermore, since there is no need for a recognition pattern dictionary for discrimination, the storage capacity may be small. In addition, unlike text extraction, which does not require prior information about vertical and horizontal orientation, it is possible to accurately determine vertical and horizontal orientation even for business cards with complex layouts and varying font sizes. As a result, accurate business card recognition becomes possible.

[0020] Furthermore, a business card management machine using the business card recognition method of the present invention in the business card data input section has an image reading device with a function of reading business cards in succession, so that data on a plurality of business cards with a free layout can be processed. Automatic, high-speed, and accurate input is possible without requiring operator instructions, and the device configuration is simple and inexpensive.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a method for determining whether a business card is vertical or horizontal in the business card recognition method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the business card recognition method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for determining whether a business card is vertical or horizontal in the business card recognition method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a business card management machine of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Vertical circumscribed rectangle 102 in a horizontal business card
Horizontally long circumscribed rectangle 401 in a vertical business card Image reading device

Claims (2)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A business card with a free layout is read by an image reading device, and based on the read business card image, it is automatically determined whether the business card is vertical or horizontal based on the aspect ratio of the circumscribed rectangle of each character, and the determination result is A business card recognition method characterized by cutting out characters using , recognizing the characters, and determining business card items. 2. A business card management machine, characterized in that by using at least the business card recognition method according to claim 1 in a data input section, data for a plurality of business cards with a free layout can be automatically input at high speed.