JPH07245672A - System for recognizing facsimile character - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the communication cost when a re-transmission is requested from a recognition device to a facsimile equipment and to reduce the recording paper cost for the facsimile equipment. CONSTITUTION:A facsimile equipment 1 sends slip data for character recognition to a recognition device 2. The recognition device 2 receives the slip data from the facsimile equipment 1 at its reception section 5 and a character recognition section 7 recognizes characters of the slip data. When the character recognition section 7 cannot recognize a character of the slip data, a data compression section 41 halves the quantity of the slip data in the subscanning direction by not reading even order lines of the data in the main scanning direction but reading only the data of odd number lines. Thus, the content of the slip data is discriminated and the data quantity is halved. A transmission section 6 returns the compressed slip data to the facsimile equipment 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile character recognition system in which form data is transmitted from a facsimile machine and a recognition device receives the form data for character recognition. To a transmission source facsimile device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A facsimile machine transmits image data of a form to a preliminarily registered recognition device via a communication line, and the recognition device recognizes the character described in the form from the image data of the form. There is a character recognition system, a so-called FAX-OCR system.

In such a FAX-OCR system, when the recognition device on the receiving side cannot recognize the transmitted form, the form image is returned to the sender of the form. As a result, the facsimile machine of the transmission source prints out the returned image data, the form sender knows "which form should be retransmitted", and retransmits the form.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional facsimile character recognition system, the image data of the form that cannot be recognized by the recognition device on the receiving side is
There is a problem that communication cost is required because the sender facsimile machine returns the same size as when it was sent, and the sender facsimile machine also costs recording paper for outputting image data.

That is, to send back the form data to be retransmitted, it is essentially necessary for the resending side to know which form, and it is necessary to send the form data with high accuracy like character recognition. There is nothing. On the other hand, in the facsimile character recognition system, there is a demand for cost reduction. Therefore, the facsimile character recognition that can reduce the communication cost and the recording paper cost even when the form data is returned when a retransmission request is made instead of such a returning method. The system was desired.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention is such that the recognition device cannot perform character recognition of the form data transmitted from the facsimile device, and When the form data for a resend request is returned to the device, the form data is compressed and returned.

[0007]

In the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention, the facsimile device transmits form data for character recognition to the recognition device. When the recognition device receives the form data from the facsimile device, the recognition device performs character recognition of the form data. Here, if the character recognition of the form data cannot be performed, the recognition device compresses the form data that cannot be character recognized and returns it to the facsimile device. Therefore, the communication cost is reduced when the form data is returned from the recognition unit to the facsimile device, and the recording paper cost for printing out the form data is reduced even in the facsimile device.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a facsimile character recognition system of the present invention. The system shown is
The facsimile device 1 and the recognition device 2 and a communication line 3 for communicatively connecting them.

The facsimile machine 1 is a known facsimile machine which transmits and receives image data via the communication line 3. That is, read the image data of the form,
A transmission unit that transmits this to the communication line 3, a reception unit that receives the image data of the form via the communication line 3 and prints out the image data, a modem that controls the communication to the communication line 3, and the like. And a transmission unit including. Note that these configurations are omitted in the drawing.

The recognition device 2 receives the form data from the facsimile device 1 through the communication line 3 and performs character recognition from the image data. If the received form data cannot be recognized, the recognition device 2 receives the form data. This is a device configured to compress the form data and send it back to the facsimile device 1, and includes a system control unit 4, a receiving unit 5, a transmitting unit 6, a character recognizing unit 7, and an entry processing unit 8.

The system control unit 4 is a processor for performing various processes as the recognition device 2 and has a data compression unit 41. The data compression unit 41 is composed of a dedicated processor or program, and when the character recognition unit 7 cannot recognize a character, the data compression unit 41 thins out the form data and compresses the data. The compression structure and the like will be described later.

The receiving unit 5 receives the form data transmitted from the facsimile apparatus 1 via the communication line 3 and obtains the image data of the form. Also, the transmitter 6
Has a function of performing a transmission operation such as performing a predetermined compression process on unrecognized form data and the like and returning the data to the facsimile apparatus 1. The character recognition unit 7 includes an image memory 71 for storing the form data received by the reception unit 5, and performs character recognition from the form data stored in the image memory 71. The entry processing unit 8 is an operation terminal for the operator to correct or confirm the character recognition result.

The communication line 3 is composed of an analog public line, a digital dedicated line, or the like.

Next, the operation of the facsimile character recognition system thus constructed will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the character recognition process of the recognition device 2. <Step S1> The form A is transmitted by facsimile from the facsimile device 1 which is the transmission source. <Step S2> In the recognition device 2, the image data of the form A is received by the reception unit 5 via the communication line 3, and the received image data is distributed to the character recognition unit 7. <Step S3> In the character recognition unit 7, the image memory 7
The image data of the form A is expanded on 1.

FIG. 3 shows an image of the expanded form A. In the figure, reference numeral 100 represents image data of the form A, and 101 is a correction mark provided in a corner of the form A. The correction mark 101 is a mark for using the form A as a mark of the size of the form A such as A4 size or B5 size, and for performing skew correction of image data. Further, 102 is a sheet ID of the form, and this sheet ID is an identification number for identifying the format such as the character field of the form. And 1
Reference numeral 03 is a character field, and this portion is a data area for actually performing character recognition.

<Step S4> The character recognition unit 7 scans the image data of the form A developed on the image memory 71 and determines whether the correction mark 101 can be detected (recognized). If the correction mark 101 can be detected, the process proceeds to step S5. If the correction mark 101 cannot be detected, the process proceeds to step S6.
Proceed to.

<Step S5> When the correction mark 101 can be detected, the character recognition section 7 executes a character recognition process. <Step S6> If the correction mark 101 cannot be detected, the system control unit 4 returns the image data of the form A stored in the image memory 71, and requests retransmission. The data compression at the time of this return will be described later. <Step S7> When the character recognition process of the character recognition unit 7 is completed, the system control unit 4 notifies the entry processing unit 8 of the recognition result.

In the above operation, whether or not the form data cannot be recognized is determined based on whether or not the correction mark is detected.
In addition to this, the determination may be performed based on the presence or absence of detection of the sheet ID 102 and the availability of the character recognition result of the character field 103.

Next, the data compression operation of the data compression section 41 will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the compression operation. In the figure, the image data of the form A is the image memory 7
It is a schematic diagram stored on 1. The data compression unit 41
First, the start address of the first line of the form image (A
Based on 0), the data for the main scanning direction component XL (pixel) is read. Then, the second line is the address (A
The data for the main scanning direction component XL (pixel) is read and discarded, starting from 0 + XL). Furthermore, the third line is A0 + 2
Data in the main scanning direction component XL (pixels) is read starting from the address of × XL.

In this way, by reading the odd-numbered lines in the sub-scanning direction and reading and discarding the even-numbered lines, 1/2 thinning can be performed.

FIG. 5 shows image data of the form A returned to the facsimile apparatus 1 after data compression. As shown in the figure, the image data of the form A is compressed in the sub-scanning direction (vertical direction), and therefore, the return time from the recognition device 2 to the facsimile device 1 is shortened, and even in the received facsimile device 1, It requires only half the recording paper.

Further, the above-mentioned line thinning is configured such that the even-numbered lines are read out and discarded. However, if the data is read out every three lines, the image compression of 1/3 is obtained, and similarly, 4 If the data is read line by line, 1/4 image compression becomes possible. The compression rate is conditioned on that the returned form image "can tell which form was unrecognizable" to the sender, so that the compression ratio may be 1/2 compression or 1/4 compression depending on the operation. It is desirable to be able to select the compression rate.

In the above embodiment, the data compression is performed in the sub scanning direction of the form, but it may be performed in the main scanning direction. In such a case, in the data compression processing in the transmission unit 6, the compression efficiency is high and therefore the communication cost can be reduced. FIG. 6 shows return image data in such a case. That is, in this case 1 /
It has been compressed twice, and the right half of it is blank. Therefore, unlike the above-described compression in the sub-scanning direction, the recording sheet cost on the side of the facsimile device 1 is the same as the conventional one, but on the recognition device 2 side, the right half is continuous white data, so the transmitter 6 A high data compression rate can be obtained in the compression operation in, and as a result, the communication cost can be reduced.

Further, the data compression may be compression in both the sub-scanning direction and the main scanning direction of the form, and by doing so, the communication cost can be further reduced.

[0025]

As described above, according to the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention, when the character recognition of the form data cannot be performed, the form data is compressed and sent back to the sender facsimile machine. Therefore, the communication cost at the time of returning and the recording sheet cost on the side of the facsimile device can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile character recognition system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a character recognition process of a recognition device in the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of image data of a form expanded on a memory in the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a compression operation in the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of image data of a form after data compression in the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of image data of a form after data compression of another example in the facsimile character recognition system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Facsimile device 2 Recognition device 3 Communication line 5 Reception unit 6 Transmission unit 7 Character recognition unit 41 Data compression unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile character recognition system in which form data is transmitted from a facsimile device, and the recognition device receives the form data to perform character recognition. In the facsimile character recognition system, the recognition device cannot perform character recognition of the received form data. If
A facsimile character recognition system characterized in that the form data is compressed and sent back to a sender's facsimile device. 2. A facsimile character recognition system in which form data is transmitted from a facsimile device and a recognition device receives the form data for character recognition. The recognition device receives the form data transmitted from the facsimile device. A receiving unit, a character recognizing unit that performs character recognition of the form data received by the receiving unit, and a character recognizing unit that cannot perform character recognition of arbitrary form data, the form data is preset. A facsimile characterized by comprising a data compression unit for thinning data at a ratio to perform data compression, and a transmission unit for transmitting the form data compressed by the data compression unit to a transmission source facsimile apparatus. Character recognition system. 3. The facsimile character recognition system according to claim 2, wherein the data compression unit is configured to thin out the main scanning direction component of the form data at a preset cycle to compress the data. . 4. The facsimile character recognition system according to claim 2, wherein the data compression unit is configured to thin out the sub-scanning component of the form data at a preset cycle to compress the data.