JPH07168850A - Image information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically determine a registration destination candidate and to enable automatic registration only by selecting a registration destination on the basis of the candidate by providing an automatic registering means which automatically registers image information to be registered at a registration destination selected out of registration destination candidate group. CONSTITUTION:An OCR board 60 is connected to an interface circuit 36 and a page memory 40, and functions to recognize the characters of effective character string information of a document on the basis of stored data in a specific area of a page memory 40 temporarily stored with the image information to be stored on an optical disk 19 and supplies the recognized effective character string information to a CPU 34 through the interface circuit 36. Then the CPU 34 automatically determines the registration destination candidate corresponding to a document input to be registered on the basis of the effective character string information. Namely, the character at a specific part of the input image is recognized on the processor side to retrieve the key word of the document which is already registered and an operator is automatically shown which binder the image information is registered and only makes a choice.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information processing apparatus such as an electronic image filing apparatus for reading and registering image information, and particularly to automatically register the read image information in a predetermined portion. Image information processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image of a document, etc., which is generated in large quantities in office work or the like, is read by a scanner device (two-dimensional scanning device), the read image is stored and registered in an optical disk, and any registered image is registered. Has been put into practical use as an effective means for making paperless, by retrieving and reading out as necessary and outputting it in an output device such as a CRT display device or a printer device so that it can be viewed.

By the way, in this type of electronic image filing apparatus, when a certain original image is registered in a predetermined location of the optical disk, the binder of all the optical disks in the electronic image filing apparatus is prepared for retrieval and reading. It is necessary to manage registration information such as documents and pages by some method.

[0004]

However, in the conventionally known electronic image filing apparatus,
When an original image is recorded and recorded on the optical disk in the electronic image filing apparatus, the operator has to manually specify registration destination information such as a binder, a document, and a page to be registered in advance, which is complicated. Had a problem.

That is, in the conventional electronic image filing apparatus, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, the operator selects the binder in step S1, the document selection in step S4, and the page selection in step S6 before the document input in step S7. Since it is necessary to repeatedly perform a manual operation with a keyboard, a mouse or the like each time, it is extremely complicated when registering a large number of document images.

In addition, the new registration in step S2 in FIG. , Page added in step S5? , New registration in step S8? Also, it is necessary for the operator to perform a necessary operation for creating the title in step S9.

Documents are retrieved in step S3 in FIG. 5, and pages are registered in step S10.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when registering an image, even if the operator does not preliminarily select the binder, the document, and the page of the registration destination, the specified portion of the input image on the device side An object of the present invention is to provide an image information processing apparatus in which a corresponding registration destination candidate is automatically determined by recognizing a character, and the registration destination can be automatically registered after that by simply selecting the registration destination based on it. I am trying.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a character recognition means for recognizing character information of a predetermined portion of image information to be registered, and a character recognized by the character recognition means. A keyword creating means for creating a search keyword by embedding an effective character string of information in a predetermined conditional expression, and searching and displaying a group of registration destination candidates based on the search keyword created by the keyword creating means. Registration destination display means, and automatic registration means for automatically registering the image information to be registered to the registration destination selected from the registration destination candidate group displayed by the registration destination display means. An image information processing device is provided.

[0009]

In such an image information processing apparatus, by recognizing the character of the designated portion of the input image on the apparatus side, the keyword of the already registered document is searched and which binder should be automatically registered. It suffices to show the operator to and select.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an image information processing apparatus of the present invention, for example, an electronic image filing apparatus.

That is, the electronic image filing apparatus includes a control module 10, a memory module 12, an image processing module 14, a communication control module 16, a scanner device 18, an optical disc 19 and an optical disc device 2.
0, keyboard 23, CRT display device 24, printer device 25, magnetic disk 26 and magnetic disk device 27, mouse 29, system bus 30, image bus 3
2 and the OCR board 60.

The control module 10 stores images,
CPU 3 that performs various controls for search and edit processing
4, a keyboard 23, a mouse 29, an optical disk device 20, a magnetic disk device 27, and an interface circuit 36 connecting the CPU 34 and a reading start switch, which will be described later, of the scanner device 18.

A keyboard 23, a mouse 29, an optical disk device 20, and a magnetic disk device 27 are connected to the interface circuit 36. The memory module 12 is a main memory 3 that stores various control programs for image storage, retrieval, editing, etc. and management information.
8, a page memory 40 as an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to several pages of an A4 size document, a display memory 42 as a display interface, a display control unit 44, and the like.

A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. The page memory 40 is a memory for temporarily storing, for example, an image to be stored and registered in the optical disc 19 or an image read from the optical disc 19.

The display memory 42 is for temporarily storing an image displayed by the CRT display device 24. In the display memory 42, an image actually displayed in the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, an image from the page memory 40 or an image from the buffer memory 40a is enlarged, reduced, rotated, inserted or inserted. An image subjected to black-and-white reversal or the like is stored.

The display control section 44 controls the display processing of the CRT display device 24 and the like. The image processing module 14 includes an enlarging / reducing circuit 46 for enlarging and reducing an image, a vertical / horizontal converting circuit 48 for rotating an image, an encoding process for compressing an image (reducing redundancy), and an expansion. A compression / decompression circuit (CODE) that performs a decoding process to (restore the reduced redundancy)
C) 50, the scanner interface 52 for the scanner device 18, the printer interface 54 for the printer device 25, and the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and the vertical / horizontal conversion circuit 48 are connected to the compression / expansion circuit 50, the scanner interface 52, and the printer interface 54. It is composed of an internal bus 56.

The compression / expansion circuit 50 uses an MH (Modify).
ed Huffman) method or MR (Modi)
Bandwidth compression or bandwidth expansion is performed using a fied read) method or the like.

The communication control module 16 is, for example, a local area network (Local Area Network).
BCP (Bus Com) connected to the network
It is configured by a communication interface 58 such as a communication processor.

The communication control module 16 has an FC
P (Facsimile connection mechanism), UCP (Univ) connected to an external device such as a personal computer through an interface
ersal Communication Proce
Ssor) may be provided.

The system bus 30 is a bus for control signals of various devices and connects the control module 10 with the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16, and the image bus 32 is It is an image bus and connects the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16.

The scanner device 18 is, for example, a two-dimensional scanning device, which obtains an electric signal according to an image on the original by scanning the original (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam.

The optical disk device 20 sequentially records and registers images read by the scanner device 18 on the optical disk 19 via the interface 36. The optical disk device 20 searches the optical disk 19 for an image corresponding to the search code specified by the keyboard 23 or the like.

The OCR (Optical Chara)
The cter Recognition board 60 is connected to the interface circuit 36 and the page memory 40, and a predetermined area in the page memory 40 for temporarily storing image information to be registered in the optical disc 19 (here, corresponds to a predetermined area in the original image) The effective character string information of the original is recognized by the CPU through the interface circuit 36.
Supply to 34.

The CPU 34 automatically determines a registration destination candidate corresponding to the document input to be registered, based on the valid character string information. The keyboard 23 is used to input a unique search code corresponding to an image stored in the optical disk 19 and various operation commands for storage, search, edit processing, and the like.

The mouse 29 can be moved by moving a cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of the CRT display device 24 vertically or horizontally to give an instruction at a desired position. It is for selecting or instructing the displayed contents (various operation modes, titles or area designations or icons for image editing, etc.).

The CRT display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 displays the image read by the scanner device 18 and the image retrieved from the optical disk 19.

Icons and the like are displayed at the upper, lower, and right ends of the display window of the CRT display device 24. The printer device 25 prints out (hard copy) the image read by the scanner device 18, the image retrieved from the optical disc 19, or the image displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs on the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and also stores a search code input from the keyboard 23 and an image corresponding to the search code. The search data (search information) including the storage address on the optical disc 19, the image size, the search frequency, and the like are stored. Next, with reference to FIG. This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

It should be noted that only the operation of reading the original image from the scanner device 18 and automatically registering the read image data will be described here. First, in the first step S21, an original is immediately input.

That is, when the document (original) to be registered is set on the scanner device 18, the image information of the document is read. This image information is temporarily stored in the page memory 40 as described above, and image data in a predetermined area thereof (here, an area corresponding to a predetermined portion of the document original to be registered) is supplied to the OCR board 60. It

The OCR board 60 performs the OCR analysis for recognizing the valid character string information according to the data of the predetermined area supplied as described above in step S22. This OCR
Based on the effective character string information obtained by the analysis, the CPU 34 creates a keyword for search according to a predetermined search condition expression, that is, by embedding the effective character string in a preset conditional expression (step S23).

Subsequently, the CPU 34 searches for the corresponding binder created in advance based on the created search keyword (step S24). CRT display device 2
4 displays the relevant binder list retrieved as described above as registration destination candidates (step S25).

This corresponding binder list is displayed in the form as shown in FIG.
Of the binders searched in step S24 based on the search keyword created in step S23, all binders hit by the search keyword are included.

In step S26, the operator selects a binder to select which binder is to be registered from the list of corresponding binders displayed as the registration destination candidates.

Subsequently, if the CPU 34 determines in step S27 whether or not the registration is new, it displays a title list as illustrated in FIG. 4 in step S28. After the operator selects a document in step S29 based on this title list, the CPU 34 determines in step S30 whether a page is added.

If the determination is negative, it means that the page is being inserted or the page has been revised. Therefore, the operator sets the page in step S31. Subsequently, when the determination in step S27 is new registration and the determination in step S30 is page addition, the CPU 34 determines again in step S32 whether new registration is performed.

If the determination is new registration, the title is created by the operator in step S33, and if not, the page registration is immediately performed in step S34, and then the CPU 34 determines whether automatic registration is performed. To step S3
Do in 5.

If this determination is negative, the series of operations is immediately terminated, but if it is automatic registration, the CPU 34 determines in step S36 whether registration is complete. If the judgment is that registration is completed, a series of operations is ended.
The following is repeated.

Then, in step S35, the image data temporarily stored in the page memory 40 is automatically registered in a predetermined position on the optical disc 19 by the optical disc device 20.

In the electronic image filing apparatus according to the present invention as described above, for example, a scanner apparatus for inputting an image, a printer apparatus for printing the image, an optical disk for storing the image, and the optical disk are controlled. In an electronic image filing device having an optical disc device for storing images, an image memory for processing images, a display for displaying images, and an OCR device for recognizing characters on the image memory, the registration destination is automatically determined from the input image. The feature is that it has an automatic image registration function that allows the operator to select the registration destination from among the above.

That is, according to the present invention, registration is performed in an electronic image filing device having a scanner device for inputting an image and an OCR device for recognizing a character of a specified portion of the image input on the image memory. Recognize the characters in the specified part of the image to be embedded, embed the valid character string in the preset conditional expression, search the corresponding binder, document and page from the created search keyword and display the corresponding list on the screen. And let the operator choose
In the case of automatic registration, it is possible to realize an electronic image filing device capable of registering all the images thereafter in the selected registration destination.

Such an electronic image filing device is
By recognizing the characters in the specified part of the input image on the device side, it is only necessary to search for the keyword of the already registered document and indicate to the operator which binder should be automatically registered and select it. Become.

That is, in the electronic image filing device having such an automatic registration function, the image input by the device can be designated without the operator having to decide in advance which binder to register for each image as in the conventional case. It becomes possible to select the registration destination from the corresponding list narrowed down from the characters of the part.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, when an image is registered, the input image can be designated on the device side without the operator having to select the binder, document and page of the registration destination in advance. To provide an image information processing device which automatically sets a corresponding registration destination candidate by recognizing a part of a character, and can automatically register after that by selecting a registration destination based on it. Is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart for explaining the registration operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a binder list displayed at the time of registration operation in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a corresponding title list displayed during the registration operation of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a conventional registration operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Control module, 12 ... Memory module, 14
... image processing module, 16 ... communication control module, 1
8 ... Scanner device, 19 ... Optical disk, 20 ... Optical disk device, 23 ... Keyboard, 24 ... CRT display device, 25 ... Printer device, 26 ... Magnetic disk, 27
... magnetic disk device, 29 ... mouse, 30 ... system bus, 32 ... image bus, 60 ... OCR board, 34 ... CP
U, 36 ... Interface circuit, 38 ... Main memory, 40a ... Buffer memory, 40 ... Page memory, 4
2 ... Display memory, 44 ... Display control unit, 46 ... Enlargement / reduction circuit, 48 ... Vertical / horizontal conversion circuit, 50 ... CODEC, 52 ... Scanner interface, 54 ... Printer interface, 58 ... Communication interface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character recognition means for recognizing character information of a predetermined portion of image information to be registered, and an effective character string of the character information recognized by the character recognition means embedded in a predetermined conditional expression set in advance. A keyword creating means for creating a search keyword, a registration destination display means for searching and displaying a registration destination candidate group based on the search keyword created by the keyword creating means, and a registration displayed by the registration destination display means. An image information processing apparatus comprising: automatic registration means for automatically registering the image information to be registered in a registration destination selected from a group of destination candidates.