JPH06245006A - Information transmission system using portable fax ocr terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an information transmission system using a portable FAX OCR terminal equipment improve the reliability of the system by preventing the deterioration of a character recognition rate at an information processor on a reception side by easily inputting data by pen touch operation in a short time without using a data sheet in a prescribed form, converting handwritten- inputted image data to a text code and transmitting the image of the character style (font). CONSTITUTION:In information storage devices 2 and 3, virtual data sheet and a format control data file regulating a writing procedure are stored. At the time of handwritten-inputting and selection-specifying by an item field displayed on the input display surface of a display input device 15, a conversion function forms a type font image, etc., of the virtual data sheet, where data is written, in an information storage device 12. A font recognizing device 6 in an information reception processor discriminates each item of the virtual data sheet based on format control data in the information storage device 2, recognizes the character of image information and converts it into a text code.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention converts data created in a predetermined data sheet format into FAX data, sends the FAX data to an information reception processing device via a public communication network, and the information reception processing device receives the FAX data. Information transmission method that recognizes characters and converts them into text code data for information processing,
More specifically, a portable type F suitable for sending an order form created when ordering a certain product to a wholesaler, for example.
The present invention relates to an information transmission method using an AX / OCR terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a substitute for a facsimile, a method of transmitting data using an electronic notebook has become widespread. This device temporarily stores a handwritten image (including characters and figures) or a computer character code font (font) selected from a keyboard or a touch key screen as an image in a storage device or an external storage file according to a fixed control procedure. It can be transmitted as facsimile image scan data. Further, it is possible to receive a facsimile signal transmitted from a corresponding facsimile device of a communication network and replace it with a visible image for display.
Furthermore, it has the ability to send and receive text code information to and from other corresponding computers and data terminals. All of the functions of the above-mentioned devices have been conventionally used as alternative machines that independently perform the functions of dedicated terminal devices such as facsimiles and data terminals.

[0003]

By the way, currently, a communication system is used in which an order form or the like is sent to a wholesaler using a facsimile apparatus which is widely used, and the wholesaler processes the data to receive an order. The order contents of the orderer are transmitted in the following manner. For example, the code number, the number of pieces of the product to be ordered, and the like in a predetermined rectangular frame of the data sheet of the order sheet made in a predetermined frame as shown in FIG.
Hand-write the name, date and time of the orderer. In addition, select a predetermined item in the selection field and enter the symbol. The order form created in this way is sent to the other party using a facsimile device. The description content of the purchase order is converted into image data by optical scanning and is received as image data by an information processing device at an order destination (a wholesaler or the like). The information processing device determines what kind of item the line is, for example, by detecting the mark portion shown in A of the data sheet, and in order, image data in the square frame of each item (written by the orderer It recognizes characters by reading (handwritten characters). By carrying out such processing, the contents transmitted in the image data can be converted into text code data, and each subsequent processing, for example,
Computer processing such as making an order form from the read data or managing it as a file becomes possible.

In the above communication system, the orderer must always prepare a data sheet of a predetermined format. Further, when writing a product on a data sheet of a predetermined format, it is often the case that the code name of the product is written instead of the product name. Therefore, the orderer has to perform a work to find out the product code from a table prepared in advance, and there is a drawback that it takes time to fill in the product code. Also, if the handwritten characters of each person's handwriting are sent to the information processing device as they are, and if the data sheet is carelessly set in the optical scanning insertion port of the facsimile device,
Since the transmitted image is often tilted to the left and right, the incoming image cannot be normally recognized and the character recognition rate is lowered. An object of the present invention is to solve each of the above drawbacks, and data can be easily input by a pen touch operation without using a data sheet of a predetermined format and in a short time, and the input image data is converted into a text code. A portable FAX / OCR terminal device in which conversion is performed, OCR characters and print images of that font are created and transmitted, and thereby the character recognition rate on the receiving side is prevented from decreasing and system reliability is improved. It is to provide an information transmission method using.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an information transmission method using a portable FAX / OCR terminal device according to the present invention creates data in a predetermined data sheet format and stores this data. In the information transmission method in which the image data is converted and sent to the information reception processing device via the public communication network, the received image data is character-recognized and converted into machine-readable code information in the information transmission system. As a terminal device, a FAX unit, a storage unit for storing a format control data file including format control information for constructing a virtual data sheet format, a handwriting input unit for inputting characters and the like by handwriting, and an input from the input unit Portable FAX having at least a conversion unit for converting the generated characters or the like into a text code and further converting the text code into a character shape image An OCR terminal device is provided, and when transmitting information, each item field of the virtual data sheet format is displayed on the input surface of the handwriting input unit by the format control information of the format control data file, and characters written in the item field or By converting the selected data displayed on the input surface by the conversion unit,
Image data for each item field is created in the storage unit, then page image data in the virtual data sheet format is created, the image data is converted into FAX data, and the FAX data is transmitted to the information receiving device. The reception processing device is configured to perform character recognition of the image data of each item field of the virtual data sheet format received based on the format control information of the format control data file stored in its own storage unit and convert it into text code data. Has been done.

[0006]

According to the above construction, it becomes possible to transmit a virtual data sheet equivalent to a data sheet of a predetermined format by a pen touch input of a portable computer without using a stationary facsimile machine and a sheet of a predetermined format. If you write image characters on the input screen of the portable computer,
Recognize it, convert it to a text code, display the font of the text code again as an image, or select the selection items displayed on the input surface to enter the selection contents and display the font of the text code as an image Therefore, the unstable shading of the image due to the difference in the writing pressure and the writing tool is unified, and the character recognition rate on the receiving side is improved. Further, since the input items are instructed to be displayed in order on the input surface, the number of mistakes is reduced, and the data creation time is shortened.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a portable FAX / OCR terminal device and an information reception processing device configured according to the information transmission system according to the present invention. The information reception processing device and the portable FAX / OCR terminal device are connected to the public communication network 19. The information reception processing device includes a central processing unit 1, an information storage device 2, a display control device 3, a display device 4, a character recognition device 5, a facsimile communication device 6, an input keyboard control device 7, a keyboard 8, and an external storage control device 9. And an external storage device 10. The portable FAX / OCR terminal device includes a central processing unit 11,
The information storage device 12, the IC card storage device 13, the display input instruction control device 14, the display input device 15, the facsimile communication device 16, the communication control device 17, and the touch pen 18 are included.

Central processing unit 1 of information reception processing unit
Is a control function using a general-purpose control system DOS, Kana-Kanji conversion Japanese FEP function, Japanese dictionary function, image data compression / expansion function, display image scroll display function, reduction display control function, and image data / text data mixed processing control management It has a function. The image data / text data mixed processing control management function is to store and manage the image data in the image data area when it is input and in the text data area when it is text data. The information storage device 2 stores data exchanged between the central processing unit 1, the display device 4 and the like, control information, and received data, and also stores a format control data file including format control information.
The character recognition device 5 is for reading and recognizing Japanese handwritten characters of an image and converting them into a text code.

The central processing unit 11 of the portable FAX / OCR terminal device is a general-purpose control system, a control function using PEN WINDOWS, a kana-kanji conversion Japanese FEP function, a Japanese dictionary function, and a touch screen of the display input device 15. OCR, which is a character-shaped image of the text code data, the function of converting the handwritten character image into a text code, the function of converting the text code data into a handwritten character image
Function to convert to character image or print character image,
Image data / text data mixed processing control management function, virtual field and frame generation function, relocatable window and absolute window mutual conversion function, constant input item conversion function of variable input items, paperless OCR data sheet image data composite generation function, image It has a data compression / expansion function, a display image scroll display function, a reduction display control function, a picture display selection operation instruction function, and a gesture mark operation instruction mechanism.

The virtual field and frame generation function displays a part of virtual paper as an image, and displays a region for writing characters, for example, as shown in FIGS. It is a function. The relocatable window / absolute window mutual conversion function is a function of displaying one screen on the input display surface of the display / input device 15 or moving some fields on the screen. The constant input item conversion function of the variable input item is a function of automatically inputting a predetermined item, that is, the date and time that the portable FAX / OCR terminal device has as data. Paperless OCR data sheet image data synthesis generation function, OCR the input data
This is a function to create as a data sheet of and send by fax. The gesture mark operation instruction function, for example, when the symbols "ゝ" and "×" are used as marks indicating "input operation" and "cancel operation", respectively, these are displayed to instruct the computer with a touch pen. It is a function to do.

In the portable FAX / OCR terminal device and the information reception processing device, a format control data file for realizing the transmission system according to the present invention has an information storage device 2, respectively.
Stored in 12. The format control data file defines the control for displaying each item field in the data sheet format for each form to provide a general-purpose man / machine user interface and the control of the predetermined operation procedure for each form. is there. FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining a procedure and a communication form for constructing an information transmission system according to the present invention. First, the form is laid out and the draft of the format is drafted (step 20).
1). A form is designed based on this draft (step 202), and a file of form format data is created (step 203). Next, since the input display surface of the portable FAX / OCR terminal device cannot display one data sheet at the same time, a format control for creating a window for displaying a frame as an area for inputting a product code number or the like is performed. The form format data is converted into a data format (step 204). Save this (step 20)
5) The window interface format control data format is further converted into IC card window data and stored in the IC card (step 206). By installing the IC card storing the window data in the portable FAX / OCR terminal device, the sender side is ready.

On the other hand, a control file for the information reception processing device is also created from the form format data created in step 203 (step 210). This control file is held in the save file (step 211) and read by the FAX / OCR system as the information reception processing device (step 212). This also prepares the information reception processing side. When data is touch-inputted by the portable FAX / OCR terminal device (step 208), converted into FAX data and transmitted (step 209),
The information reception processing device side reads the received image information,
Character recognition and conversion to text data (step 21)
2). Various application processes are executed on the text data under the control of the host machine to create, for example, an order receipt (step 213). In addition, a communication message is created and converted into FAX data, and the portable FAX /
Sent to the OCR terminal. This is an operation for confirming whether the received data has a recognition error.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart when the system is constructed by a procedure different from that in FIG. The example of FIG. 2 is an example in which the format control data file is stored in advance in the IC card storage device of the portable FAX / OCR terminal device, but in the case of this example, the format control data file is not stored in advance and is stored at the required time. The data is transmitted via a communication network as data. Steps 304 to 306 are different from those in FIG. 2, and the other procedures are the same. Step 304
In step 3, the form file data file created in step 303 is transmitted by the file data transmission information processing device via the communication network. The portable FAX / OCR terminal device receives the transmitted data (step 306), and the IC
It is read into the card (step 307).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining a procedure for inputting handwritten data by the portable FAX / OCR terminal device to create and transmit a virtual data sheet. Format control data is read from the IC card storage device 13 to the central processing unit 11 (step 40).
1). The central processing unit 11 creates a data format control data file based on this format control data, and displays an item field (window) for writing data of the virtual data sheet on the input display surface (touch panel) of the display input device 15. In this item field, predetermined items are displayed and selected. When any item in the displayed items is selected, the text data of the selected item is converted into an image of the font (print image, etc.). Then, the converted image data is temporarily stored in the information storage device 12 (or the IC card storage device 1).
When all necessary items have been selected and stored in 3),
A virtual data sheet as shown in FIG. 7 in which an image is written is reconstructed in the information storage device 12 (or IC card storage device 13) (steps 402 and 403).

Step 403 shows how to convert in accordance with the input contents. For example, when an image such as a graphic is input, it is directly captured as image information. Also, when inputting with the touch keyboard, the selected text data is converted into an image. Furthermore, when a character is written by handwriting, the character is recognized and converted into text data, and the character of the text data is captured as image information (print character image or the like). When the selection notation of the predetermined item entry is completed, the field of the item for variable input is displayed (step 404). FIG. 6 shows a display example of the fields of the variable input items of the product purchase order. For example, an item field 31 in which the order designation product code number should be entered is displayed on the input display surface, and when the input is completed, an item field 32 in which the order quantity should be entered is displayed next, and an item in which the product unit price should be entered. Field 3
3. The item field 34 in which the designated delivery date should be entered is sequentially displayed. In step 405, characters are input by handwriting. Variables whose contents do not change each time are preset only once in advance, and are automatically described thereafter. FIG. 5 shows an example of item fields that need to be preset only once in the product purchase order. For example, the ordering company registration number item field 22, the ordering source person in charge item field 23, the ordering company communication FAX number 24, and the like. When all necessary data notations have been input, a virtual data sheet as shown in FIG. 7 is used as an information storage device 12 (or IC card storage device 1).
It is reconstructed in 3) (steps 404 and 405).

Upon completion of inputting all the notations for selected items and variable items, the central processing unit 11 synthesizes page images in the information storage device 12 (or IC card storage device 13) (step 406), and an image ( image)
Is compressed (step 407). The compressed image data is converted into FAX data by the facsimile communication device 16 under the control of the communication control device 17 and sent to the information reception processing device via the public communication network 19 of G3 facsimile communication (step 408). On the information reception processing device side, the facsimile communication device 6
Receives data and restores original image data. The central processing unit 1 performs character recognition by the character recognition device 5 based on the format control data read from the information storage device 2. That is, the character recognition device 5 determines which item of the virtual data sheet is based on the format control data and performs character recognition of the image information. Then, the recognized character is converted into a text code. The information reception processing device, after converting it into a text code, thereafter displays it on the display device 4 and saves the data in the external storage device 10 and creates a communication message or the like for confirming whether or not there is an error in character recognition. To do.

In the above embodiment, the case where the G3 facsimile communication is used as the public communication network has been described, but as another embodiment, the ISDN communication network or the like is used to transmit as data to the corresponding information reception processing device. It is possible. In this case, in normal facsimile communication, the transmission is completed within 3 seconds to 6 seconds, which is required for about 20 seconds to 40 seconds to transmit one page of A4 size standard original document. In analog communication by G3 facsimile, noise on the communication line may interfere with reproducibility of the original image, or noise may be generated. However, in digital communication circuit networks such as INS, noise such as noise may cause communication problems. It is compatible and highly durable in terms of image reproducibility.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the necessary data is pen-touched in the field of each item of the virtual data sheet displayed on the input display surface of the portable FAX / OCR terminal device based on the format control data. The input data is converted into FAX data and transmitted to the information reception processing device. The information reception processing device is configured to perform character recognition of image data based on the format control data and convert it into a text code. There is no need to prepare a data sheet like this, you can send the necessary data by simply handwriting or selecting input in the field displayed in item units, it does not take time to input and operation is easy . Also,
Data can be transmitted by a portable FAX / OCR terminal device, and an information transmission method with good portability can be provided. Furthermore, handwritten characters are also converted into text codes once,
Since the font of the text code is used as the image data, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the character recognition rate on the side of the information reception processing device and significantly improve the reliability of the system. The present invention uses format control data common to both the portable FAX / OCR terminal apparatus and the information reception processing apparatus, and the format control data is each document format to be transmitted in many industries and its control procedure (protocol).
Because it has, it can flexibly respond to each work and can be widely used. Further, the public network to be used is not limited, either wired or silent system may be used, and both analog transmission and digital transmission can be supported.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an F formed in accordance with an information communication system according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an AX / OCR terminal device, an information reception processing device, and a communication network.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure and a communication form for constructing an information communication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for constructing a system by a procedure different from that in FIG.

[Figure 4] FAX / O by inputting handwritten data
It is a flow chart for explaining a procedure until a virtual data sheet is created and transmitted by a CR terminal device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of item fields that need to be preset only once in a product purchase order.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a variable input item virtual field window displayed on an input display surface.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a product purchase order format as a data sheet format to be created.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 11 Central processing unit (CPU) 2, 12 Information storage device 3 Display control device 4 Display device 5 Character recognition device 6, 16 Facsimile communication device (FAX device) 7 Input keyboard control device 8 Keyboard 9 External storage control device 10 External storage device 13 IC card storage device 14 Display input instruction control device 15 Display input device 17 Communication control device 18 Touch pen

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Data is created in a predetermined data sheet format, converted into image data and sent to an information reception processing device via a public communication network, and the information reception processing device receives the received image data. In an information transmission method in which characters are recognized and converted into machine-readable code information, a FAX unit and a format control data file including format control information for constructing a virtual data sheet format are stored as a transmission side terminal device. A portable FAX having at least a storage unit, a handwriting input unit for inputting characters and the like by handwriting, and a conversion unit for converting characters and the like input from the input unit into a text code and further converting the text code into a character image.・ Providing an OCR terminal device, and inputting the handwriting by the format control information of the format control data file when transmitting information In the storage unit, by displaying each item field in the virtual data sheet format on the input surface of, and converting the character or the like written in the item field or the data selected and displayed on the input surface by the conversion unit. Image data is created for each item field, and then page image data in the virtual data sheet format is created.
Image of each item field in the virtual data sheet format received based on the format control information of the format control data file stored in the storage unit of the information reception processing apparatus after being converted into AX data and transmitted to the information reception apparatus. An information transmission system using a portable FAX / OCR terminal device, which character-recognizes data and converts it into text code data.