JPH08153160A - Image processing method and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image processing method and device which specify an image area to be processed by an easy method and extract the image part. CONSTITUTION: A closed curve 510 is drawn on an original 501 with a marker and an arrow 511 which indicates which of the inside and outside of the closed curve is to be processed, is entered in the original. This original is read by a scanner 502 and specified area extraction software 503 judges the specified object image area (closed curve 510). Image data which are thus judged and extracted are sent to following OCR processing to perform character recognition based upon the image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for inputting an image in a specified image area when a predetermined area of image information is specified.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, by image area separation processing,
There is a method of separating a character area included in an image from an image area. However, under such a conventional method, the character and the image portion included in the image information cannot be completely separated with high accuracy. Therefore, for example, in a copying machine or the like, a desired area of a document image is designated by drawing with a marker or the like, and a portion drawn with the marker is copied, or a device in which a color is changed and the like is copied. Is being developed.

[0003]

However, such area designation by the marker is limited to, for example, an auxiliary means for automatically extracting a title in a document image. Further, the operator specifies by key operation which of the outside or inside of the area surrounded by the curve drawn by such a marker the target area. As described above, the conventional area designation has not been completely automated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and apparatus capable of specifying an image region to be processed by a simple method and extracting the image portion thereof. To do.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing method and apparatus capable of designating a desired image area of a document image and extracting the image of the area only by marking the document image.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and apparatus capable of drawing a closed curve on an original image, designating an area inside or outside the original curve, and inputting the designated image. It is in.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, an image processing apparatus for inputting and processing image information, including a determination means for determining whether or not the image information includes a closed curve image indicating the target image area, and the closed curve image. And an extracting means for extracting an image indicating the inside or the outside of the closed curve image and extracting the image of the target image area based on the extracted image.

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, an image processing method of inputting and processing image information, the step of determining whether or not the input image information includes a closed curve image indicating a target image area, and the closed curve image is If included, the method includes the steps of extracting an image indicating the inside or outside of the closed curve image, and extracting the image of the target image area based on the extracted image.

[0009]

With the above configuration, it is determined whether the input image information includes a closed curve image indicating the target image area, and if the closed curve image is included, the inside of the closed curve image, Alternatively, the image indicating the outside is extracted, and the image of the target image area is extracted by the extracted image.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Before describing the present embodiment, FIG.
The outline of this embodiment will be briefly described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1A shows the case where the inside of the closed curve is designated, and FIG. 1B shows the case where the outside of the closed curve is designated.

Further, a specific example thereof will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2A shows an example in which a black frame outside the image area 201 surrounded by a closed curve is excluded.
(B) shows an example in which the region 202 designated by the closed curve is excluded. Further, FIG. 2C shows an example in which a plurality of regions are designated using closed curves.

As shown in these examples, there may be a method of indicating whether the edit target area is inside or outside the closed curve by using an arrow intersecting with the closed curve. Besides, any symbol can be used as long as it can clearly indicate the direction, and the symbol is not particularly limited to the arrow.

Further, an image area to be made effective and, for example, O
When the area to be CR is different, it may be distinguished by using arrows of different colors or symbols of different shapes.

It is also possible to allow area nesting and specify the area in consideration of the inclusion relation of the areas. FIG. 3 shows an example of such an area designation method.

In FIG. 3A, the inside of the area enclosed by the largest closed curve 301 and the outside of the area enclosed by the inner closed curve 302 are designated, and as a result, the area indicated by 303 is designated. To be done.

In FIG. 3B, an area outside the largest closed curve 304 and outside the area surrounded by the inner closed curve 305 is designated. As a result, in FIG. 2A, the result is exactly the same as when the outside of the area surrounded by the closed curve 301 is designated. That is, as shown by 306, only the black frame remains. Therefore, in such a case, there is a high possibility that what was supposed to be designated inside the area surrounded by the closed curve 301 was mistakenly designated outside the area.

In FIG. 3C, the outside of the area surrounded by the largest closed curve 307 and the inside of the area surrounded by the inner closed curve 308 are designated, and as a result, 30
As indicated by 9, there is no corresponding area.

Therefore, considering the cases of FIG. 3B and FIG. 3C, in the case of nesting of regions, the rule is that the region specified by the closed curve at the outermost circumference should be inside this closed curve. Is more rational.

The configuration and operation of the image processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, focusing on the process of extracting a specified region of input image data (specified region extraction software). To do.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of the image processing apparatus of this embodiment.

In FIG. 5, a color image scanner 502 photoelectrically scans and reads the original 501 to obtain image information corresponding to the original image. This manuscript 501
Second, a closed curve 510 for designating an area on a document using a marker, for example, and an arrow 511 for indicating whether the target area is inside or outside the closed curve 510 are drawn. Designated area extraction software 503 is installed in the control unit (CPU) 504 of the image processing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment, and an image of the area designated using the closed curve 510 is obtained from the color image data input from the color image scanner 502. Data is being extracted. Reference numeral 505 denotes OCR processing software, which performs character recognition by inputting image data of an area (area surrounded by a closed curve 510) extracted by the designated area extraction software or image data stored in the external storage device 507. ing.

Reference numeral 506 denotes a document search software, which inputs document information (text information) stored in the external storage device 507 or text information recognized and created by the OCR processing software, and retrieves those search files. Along with the creation, it also performs the search process. 5
An input unit 08 is provided with a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and various commands such as a command for instructing document retrieval, document data, or a reading instruction to a scanner are input. The external storage device 507 stores image data, text information, search files, and the like,
For example, it is composed of a hard disk, an optical disk, or the like. 5
A display device 09 displays a message to the operator, document information, a read original image, or a retrieved document text,
The search command and its search formula are displayed.

The image storage processing in the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described based on the above configuration.

In the image data storage processing, the image information obtained from the color image scanner 502 is stored in the external storage device 507 as the area designated to perform the OCR processing by the designated area extraction software 503 and the image information. Extract the power region. After that, the image information of the designated area is first stored in the external storage device 507.
The image information of the area designated to perform the OCR processing is output to the OCR processing software 506. Then, the text information converted into text information by the OCR processing software 505 is sent to the external storage device 507 and stored therein. Further, the document search software 506 creates a search file based on the text information and stores the search file in the external storage device 5.
It is output to 07 and stored.

Further, in the search of the text information stored in the external storage device 507, the document search software 506 receives the search term input from the input unit 508, and the search file stored in the external storage device 507 is used. As a result, the corresponding document address information is extracted.
The text information thus extracted is displayed on the display device 509.
Is displayed as image data.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of an algorithm for extracting a designated area in the image processing apparatus of this embodiment. However, this is a process performed for a single-color marker, and in the case of multiple colors, this process is performed for each color marker.

First, the image data input from the color image scanner 502 is read line by line,
A closed curve extraction process is performed based on the read data, and this process is performed until there is no more data in step S1.

That is, when there is data in step S1, the process proceeds to step S3 to read the image data for one line. In step S4, it is checked whether or not the image data of the read one line includes an image of a line drawn by a line marker. If the line is present, the process proceeds to step S5 to check whether it is continuous with the closed curve candidate group, and if it is continuous, the process proceeds to step S6 to determine the line image drawn by the marker as the continuous line. Add to candidate data. Next, in step S7, it is checked whether or not there is a closed line, and if there is, a step S8.
Then, the coordinate of the closed curve is validated by using the area surrounded by the closed closed curve candidates as the designated area. In step S9, closed curve candidates without continuous marker data are discarded. At this time, if different closed curve candidates are continuous, they are integrated as one closed curve.

On the other hand, if there is no continuity with the closed curve candidate group in step S5, the process proceeds to step S10, the closed curve candidates up to this point are discarded, and data that is not continuous with any closed curve candidate is registered as new closed curve candidate data. (Step S11).

If there is no marker line in one line in step S4, the process proceeds to step S12 to check whether there is a closed curve candidate. If not present, step S
The process returns to 1 and the next line data is read.

If there is a closed curve candidate, step S1
Go to 3 to see if there are any closed lines. If there is a closed line, the process proceeds to step S14, and the coordinates of the closed curve are validated using the region surrounded by the closed closed curve candidates as the designated region, and the saved, but the unclosed candidates are discarded. If there is no closed one, the process proceeds from step S13 to step S15, and all closed curve candidates are discarded.

When the data does not exist in step S1, the process proceeds to step S2, and a symbol indicating whether the data is outside or inside the closed curve image data (for example, arrow 51 in FIG. 5).
1) is extracted, a theoretical operation of the area is performed based on the result, the designated area is determined, and the image data in the designated area is output.

[Other Embodiments] The present embodiment can be applied to, for example, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, etc., in addition to the electronic filing system described above.

Further, such an area designating method can be applied to a case where it is used for designating an area for reading an image as an auxiliary function of utility software of a color scanner.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. The present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program for implementing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in order to specify the image storage area or the OCR area in the original, the original area is surrounded by a marker to draw a closed curve, and the inside or outside thereof is surrounded. This area can be specified and the areas can be nested simply by describing the symbol to be indicated. This makes it possible to specify the area easily, just by placing the document whose area is specified by the marker on the feeder, simply by capturing the image with the color image scanner, the specified area is extracted, The image data of the area can be passed to the subsequent processing.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to automatically extract and process or store an image of only a necessary portion without human intervention.

Further, according to the present embodiment, since only the necessary area can be designated and the image can be stored for this area, the amount of data to be read and processed can be reduced, and re-editing such as cutting and pasting or copying the image is unnecessary Will be more efficient.

Further, by performing the OCR processing on the image data of the area thus designated, only the necessary document data can be narrowed down to the target of the OCR. Further, by storing the document data created in this way, the amount of unnecessary document data can be reduced, so that the efficiency of the search process for searching for desired document data from a plurality of document data can be improved.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image area to be processed can be designated by a simple method and the image portion can be extracted.

Further, according to the present invention, a desired image area of the original image can be designated and an image of the area can be extracted only by marking the original image.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that a closed curve is drawn on a document image, an inside or outside area thereof is designated, and the designated image can be input.

[0045]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an area designation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of area designation processing in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of area designation processing and nesting of designated areas according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a designated area extraction process in the image processing apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Reference Signs] 501 Original 502 Color Image Scanner 503 Area Extraction Software 505 OCR Processing Software 506 Document Retrieval Software 507 External Storage Device 508 Input Unit 509 Display Device 510 Closed Curve 511 Arrow

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for inputting and processing image information, wherein the image information includes a closed curve image indicating a target image area, and the closed curve image is included. Image processing, the image processing apparatus extracts an image indicating the inside or the outside of the closed curve image and extracts the image of the target image area by the extracted image. apparatus. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image indicating the inside or the outside of the closed curve image is an image of an arrow, and the direction indicated by the arrow is a target image region. . 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising character recognition means for performing character recognition based on the image of the target image area extracted by the extraction means. 4. An image processing method for inputting and processing image information, comprising: determining whether the input image information includes a closed curve image indicating a target image area, When the closed curve image is included, the method includes the steps of extracting an image indicating the inside or the outside of the closed curve image, and extracting the image of the target image area based on the extracted image. Characterized image processing method. 5. The image processing method according to claim 4, wherein the image indicating the inside or the outside of the closed curve image is an image of an arrow, and the direction indicated by the arrow is a target image area. . 6. The image processing method according to claim 4, further comprising a step of performing character recognition based on the extracted image of the target image area.