JPH0556065B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an apparatus for reading a document in which a plurality of character lines are written and processing the character lines.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, when copying a document in which a plurality of character lines are written, only limited processing such as scaling can be performed, and it has not been possible to make the arrangement of each character line different from the original. Therefore, even when copying a manuscript with handwritten characters, the beginnings of the lines are not aligned, resulting in a copy that is difficult to read.

〔the purpose〕

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a character line processing device that can identify character lines and adjust the printing start position of the character line. This is the purpose.

That is, the present invention provides a reading means for reading an image of a document in which a plurality of character lines are written, a discriminating means for discriminating each line of the plurality of character lines read by the reading means, and an image determined by the discriminating means. detection means for detecting a starting position in each line of characters;
To provide a character line processing device, comprising: processing means for shifting the character line of each line based on the start position of the character line detected by the detection means, and adjusting the printing start position of the character line of each line to a constant position. It is in.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a reading unit (reader) for reading and processing the image information of the original, 2 the original cover for holding the original, 3 the platen table for placing the original, and 4 irradiating the original. 5 to 7 are mirrors for guiding the optical path; 8 is an imaging lens for forming an image of the original; 9 is a light receiving element (line sensor) for digitally reading image information; 10 is an image processing section for processing information read by the light receiving element 9. Reference numeral 11 denotes an output device (printer) for outputting the image information obtained by the reading section 1, and in this embodiment, a laser beam printer is used. 12
1 is a laser scanner for converting the image information read by the reader 1 into a laser beam; 13 is a mirror for reflecting the laser beam and guiding it to the photoreceptor drum 14; 15 is for converting the latent image on the photoreceptor drum 14 into a phenomenon. 17 is a conveyor belt for conveying the paper from the grade paper cassette 16, and 18 is a paper discharge roller for discharging the paper.

With the above configuration, the document cover 1 is raised, the document is set on the transparent platen table, the optical systems 4 to 9 scan, and the line sensor 9, which is a light receiving element, sequentially reads image information. The resolution of the line sensor depends on the size of the characters, but for handwritten characters, about 10 bits per mm is sufficient.
Of course, a resolution higher than this may also be used. The read image information is subjected to processing described later in the image processing section 10. In the output device 11, a laser beam is modulated based on a signal from the image processing section 10, and the laser beam is scanned by a laser scanner 12 to form an image on a uniformly charged photoreceptor drum 14. Then, operations such as development and transfer are performed, and the image is output.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the state before and after a handwritten character manuscript is processed by the apparatus of this example, and the circles represent characters. Figure a shows the original, and figure b shows the processed copy. In a, the character start positions of each character line are different, but after image processing, the character start positions other than the start of a paragraph are arranged at a fixed position and printed as in b. Further, the character start position of each paragraph is aligned with the character start position of the first (first character line) paragraph.

The above image processing will be explained in detail with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. As described above, in the reading section, the original is sequentially read by the scan of the optical system, that is, by the line sensor. The subsequent temporary memory, comparator, shifter control section, and memory section constitute an image processing section. Image information read by the line sensor, that is, image data, is stored in a temporary memory (buffer memory). This image data is used in the next stage comparator.
Receive a value judgment. That is, a determination is made as to whether the background is white (0) or black (1). In this binarized output, if all the data of one pixel row read by the line sensor is determined to be a white background, that is, if there is no character on the one line read by the line sensor, this image data is counted as a white background signal. to increase. When this blank background signal continues and the counter value increases to a predetermined value, it is determined that there is a character line spacing, a line spacing detection signal is generated from the counter, and the counter is reset. This line spacing detection signal is output at the start of a black background line after the occurrence of a predetermined white value line. However, if a black background signal (black pattern part) is detected while counting white background signals, the counter is reset using the black background signal as a reset signal, and the already counted white background signal is treated as part of the character signal. to decide. Since this white background signal is a character, it is output to the memory section. In addition, when line spacing is detected in the counter section, a white value signal of a predetermined value is output to the memory section in order to create a space between lines, and this white background signal is used to determine the character start position of the next detected black background signal. A shifter control signal is output to the next stage shifter control section in order to control the shifter. Further, when the comparator determines that the black background signal is a black background signal, the black background signal is output to the shifter control section for character start position control.

Another method for detecting the line spacing is that in a document using paper with ruled lines, if a black background signal is continuously generated as a result of binarization detection by a comparator, it can be determined that there is a line spacing. In other words, because there is a gap between the characters written in one character line, the black background signal is not continuous, but since the black background signal is continuous on ruled lines, line spacing can be detected using this. .

Next, the shifter control section will be explained with reference to FIG. The shifter control section sets the character start position. In the figure, reference numeral 400 indicates whether or not a line spacing detection signal is generated between character lines of the document, and the generation of the line spacing detection signal is regarded as the occurrence of a character line. Since the first line of a character is often written with an open space at the top of the paper, a line spacing detection signal is generated, and it is assumed that a character has occurred, and the process goes to step 401. Reference numeral 401 is used to check whether it is the starting line at the beginning of the document, that is, the first character line, and the determination is made based on whether or not a memory, which will be described later, has been set. If it is the first line, the memory has not been set, so proceed to 402 and set the address value to be shifted to 0.
shall be. This shift value is the value by which character lines are moved to align the starting positions of the character lines. Since the first line is a paragraph, the shift value is 0 because the character start position of this first paragraph is used as the reference. At step 403, the character start position of the first line, that is, the black background generation address value is set in the memory and. Here, the memory stores the address value of the character start position in the first line, which is a fixed value. The memory stores the address value at the start line of a character, and it is checked whether a paragraph change has occurred by comparing the address of the start of the next character. At the start line, the values of memory and memory are equal. Since 404 is the start line of the sentence, it is determined that it is time to switch paragraphs, and a paragraph signal is set. Therefore, since this is the initial stage, the black background occurrence address (memory) will be stored in the next memory step without changing. If the memory has been set during reading when the next line gap detection occurs, the process advances to step 410, and this read value is compared with the memory value of the start address of the character line in the previous line that has already been set. .
In step 411, it is determined whether the difference between the read address value and the memory value is 30 or more. This value of 30 is when one character is scanned with a resolution of 30 bits, and if it is 30 or more, it means that there is a gap of one character, so the document creator's paragraph switching (Figure 5 A),
Or the continuation of the sentence after switching (Figure 5B)
is considered to represent In Figure 5, l ₁ to _{l 4} each represent one line in the text, and a ₁ and a ₂ each represent l ₁
represents the difference between the character start addresses of and l ₂ , l ₃ and l ₄ .
Of course, this value of 30 is not a fixed value, and may be determined depending on the resolution of the line sensor and the size of the characters. Suppose we have a sentence like the one shown in Figure 6. Assume that L ₁ to _{L 5} are lines in the text, and the numbers inside the brackets represent the character start address of each line. If L ₁ is the first line, the character start address 50 of L ₁ is stored in the memory.
If we are now comparing _L2 , the difference between the read address value and the memory is 50-10=40, which is 30 or more, so the process advances to 412 and it is determined whether or not there is a paragraph signal. In L ₁ , the paragraph signal has already been set in 404, so the program advances to 413, the paragraph signal has been set, so the program advances to 413, resets the paragraph signal, and advances to 415, where it is determined whether or not there is a paragraph signal. do. In this case, since the paragraph signal has been reset in 413, the process advances to 416, and the character start address 10 of _L2 is set in the memory. In 417, calculate the shift value for aligning the beginnings of sentences = memory - memory - 30, proceed to 420, and shift the sentences by the calculated shift value. In this case 50−10−30
= 10, and assuming that the left edge is 0, it will be shifted to the right by 10 addresses. Also,
In the case of L ₃ , it is 411 and the address difference is |10-16|=6.
Since it is less than 30, proceed to 415. Since the paragraph signal has been reset at L ₂ , proceed to 416 and 417, and the shift value is 50.
-16-30=4. In the case of L ₄ , it is 411 and the address difference is |16-53|=37, which is 30 or more, so proceed to 412.
Since the paragraph signal remains reset at L ₂ and L ₃ ,
Proceed to 414, set the paragraph signal, and proceed to 418 and 419. Since the shift value is calculated as memory-memory, 50-53=-3, which means that it is shifted to the left by three addresses. If the switching continues for two or more lines as in L ₅ , the address difference is 53-45=8, which is less than 30 at 411, so proceed to 415. Since the paragraph signal is set at _L4 , proceed to 418 and 419, and the shift value is 50-45=
It becomes 5. In this way, once the print character start position is determined, the shift value determined in 417 or 419 is the same until the line spacing detection signal is generated thereafter to form a character without any disturbance.

As described above, the text with the character start positions arranged is stored line by line (one pixel row) in the memory unit (image memory) and outputted by the output device (LBP etc.). Furthermore, since this clean copying in which the character start position is adjusted is special compared to normal copying, it may be possible to perform a selection operation so that normal copies can also be made. It is also possible to change the size of a fair copy in the same way as a normal digital copying machine.

In addition to storing data in which character start positions are arranged in the image memory, it is also possible to arrange the beginning of a character line by changing the output timing for each character line when outputting from the image memory.

Furthermore, by adding a character pattern recognition device, it is possible to read each character of a character string in a manuscript, code it, call up the necessary characters from a kanji ROM, etc., and copy them in print.

If you do this, the handwritten characters will be clean and the copy will be easy to read. Furthermore, it is also possible to select Gothic typeface, Mincho typeface, etc. according to preference.

Furthermore, by adding a document skew detection device, even if the document is placed in a skewed manner, it is possible to perform a fair copy by correcting the coordinates of the document.

〔effect〕

As described above, the present invention determines the character line of the read image information and controls the printing start position of the character line, so that it is possible to provide an easy-to-read copy. Furthermore, when a user creates a sentence, there is no need to pay attention to the starting position of a line break character, and the copying results in a well-ordered sentence, which contributes to improved efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of this device, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the copying result by this device, Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the operation of this device, and Fig. 4 is a flowchart of the shifter control section in Fig. 3. 5 is a diagram showing paragraph switching, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing sentences for explaining character start position control.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A reading means for reading an image of a document in which a plurality of character lines are written; a discriminating means for discriminating the plurality of character lines read by the reading means line by line; a detection means for detecting the start position of each character line detected by the detection means; and a detection means for detecting the start position of each character line detected by the detection means, and a constant printing start position of each character line by shifting the character line of each line based on the start position of the character line detected by the detection means. A character line processing device comprising: processing means for adjusting the character line to the position; and a character line processing device. 2. Furthermore, it has a conversion means for checking each character in a character line written on the manuscript and converting it into a code signal, and a memory for outputting a type pattern in accordance with the code signal from the conversion means. A character line processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: