JPH08202887A - Device and method for processing picture - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a picture processor and its processing method with comparatively simple configuration and a superior function by utilizing a character recognizing function so as to judge the direction of an original. CONSTITUTION: The original is read by a scanner circuit 1, stored in a memory circuit 3 with a memory control circuit 2 and divided into the individual area of a character, a graphic, etc., in accordance with the characteristic of document picture data by an area dividing circuit 4. Then, the character of document picture data is picked-up and referred to and compared with the characteristic of picture information which is previously registered in a dictionary memory 8 so that information indicating the correctness of recognition is calculated. A picture processing such as a rotary processing, etc., is executed in accordance with the correctness in a picture processing circuit 9 so as to be outputted to a communication circuit 10b such as a facsimile or a computer interface, etc., or an output circuit 10 such as a display circuit 10c, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method for correcting the orientation of a document image by image processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image processing apparatus capable of correcting the orientation of a document image by image processing, it is general to manually designate the orientation information of the document image by an external operation unit or the like. The document image is configured to be rotated and output based on the designated orientation information such as the rotation angle.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, considering that, for example, a plurality of document images having different orientations are input, the orientations of these document images are aligned by rotation processing, and then output, The orientations of the input document images are visually checked one by one and the orientations are aligned, so it is necessary to manually enter orientation information such as the required rotation angle, and when there are a large number of document images to process. Had the drawback of having to repeat the troublesome operation of specifying the rotation angle each time.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an image having a relatively simple structure and excellent function is determined by utilizing the character recognition function to judge the orientation of the document. An object of the present invention is to provide a processing device and a method thereof.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

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 capable of correcting the orientation of a document image by image processing, comprising input means for inputting the document image, and character recognizing means for recognizing characters of the document image input by the input means. The input device includes a correction unit that rotates the input document image according to the recognition result of the character recognition unit and corrects the orientation of the document image, and an output unit that outputs the document image corrected by the correction unit. .

In such a configuration, a document image is input,
Character recognition is performed on the input document image, and the input document image is rotated according to the recognition result, and the orientation of the document image is corrected and output.

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing method according to the present invention has the following steps.

That is, an image processing method capable of correcting the orientation of a document image by image processing, which comprises an input step of inputting a document image, and a character recognizing step of recognizing characters of the document image input by the input step. It has a correction step of rotating the input document image according to the recognition result in the character recognition step to correct the orientation of the document image, and an output step of outputting the document image corrected by the correction step. .

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the arrangement of an image processing apparatus according to this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a scanner circuit for capturing a document image, 2 is a memory control circuit, 3 is a memory circuit controlled by the memory control circuit 2, 4 is an area dividing circuit for dividing a character area or the like according to the characteristics of the document image, and 5 is A region memory for storing the region division result, 6 a recognition circuit for recognizing characters, numbers, symbols, etc. by extracting and comparing the features of the document image, 7 a recognition memory for storing the recognition result, 8 a dictionary memory, 9 Is an image processing circuit for performing rotation processing, 10 is an output circuit, 10a is a printer circuit, 10b is a communication circuit, and 10c is a circuit.
The display circuit and the like. A system control circuit 11 controls the system of the image processing apparatus.

Next, the recognition operation in this embodiment will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

First, in step S11, the scanner circuit 1 scans and captures a document image and stores it in the memory circuit 3 via the memory control circuit 2 controlled by the system control circuit 11. Then, the document image data is read from the memory circuit 3 through the memory control circuit 2 and is supplied to the area dividing circuit 4, and the area dividing circuit 4 creates each area such as a character or a figure according to the characteristics of the document image data. After the division, for each area, the image content of the area which is the result of the division and the information of the position thereof are stored in the area memory 5.

Next, in step S12, the area memory 5
The document image data of the character area portion is read out from the memory circuit 3 by referring to the division result stored in, and supplied to the recognition circuit 6 under the control of the system control 11. Then, the recognition circuit 6 extracts the characteristics of the supplied document image data, recognizes the characteristics by referring to the characteristics of the image information registered in the dictionary memory 8 in advance, and recognizes the recognition result. Stored in the memory 7. The recognition result includes information indicating the certainty of recognition calculated as a result of the reference and comparison of the image information as the supplementary information.

Then, in step S13, it is determined whether or not the information indicating the certainty of the recognition is within a predetermined setting range. If it is not within the setting range, it is determined that the recognition result is not very certain. Then, the process proceeds to step S14, and it is determined whether or not it has been rotated once. If not rotated, the process proceeds to step S15, the character is rotated,
Returning to step S12, the above processing is performed. And
Repeat the reference comparison with the dictionary until it enters the setting range or makes one rotation, calculate which direction the recognition result was most certain for each character, and at the end of recognition,
The orientation of the document is determined, and the result is also stored in the recognition memory 7.

Then, in step S16, the document image data is read from the memory circuit 3 and supplied to the image processing circuit 9 via the memory control circuit 2. here,
The image processing circuit 9 is also supplied with a recognition result indicating the orientation of the document stored in the recognition memory 7. By referring to the recognition result, image processing such as rotation processing is performed on the above-mentioned document image data. And in the next step S17,
The corrected document image is output to the output circuit 10 such as the printer circuit 10a, the communication circuit 10b such as a facsimile or computer interface, or the display circuit 10c.

As described above, it is possible to automatically perform a rotation process on a plurality of document images having different orientations and output the orientations aligned.

Further, in the present embodiment, when determining the orientation of the original, all the characters in the document image are targeted. However, for example, the ratio of the characters in the circumscribed rectangular area of the character is obtained, and the ratio is small. Only characters may be selectively extracted. In this case, the number of target characters is reduced and the characters are generally simpler, which is advantageous in terms of time reduction and accuracy.

The present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices or an apparatus including a single device.

It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By determining the orientation of a document by using the character recognition function, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus and method having a relatively simple structure and excellent functions.

[0022]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an image processing apparatus in this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a recognition operation in this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Scanner Circuit 2 Memory Control Circuit 3 Memory Circuit 4 Area Division Circuit 5 Area Memory 6 Recognition Circuit 7 Recognition Memory 8 Dictionary Memory 9 Image Processing Circuit 10 Output Circuit 11 System Control Circuit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Michiko Hirayu 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus capable of correcting the orientation of a document image by image processing, comprising input means for inputting a document image, and character recognition means for recognizing characters of the document image input by the input means. The input device includes a correction unit that rotates the input document image according to the recognition result of the character recognition unit and corrects the orientation of the document image, and an output unit that outputs the document image corrected by the correction unit. An image processing device characterized by the above. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit includes an optical image reading unit. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit includes a printing unit, a communication unit, or a display unit. 4. The correcting means rotates the document image according to a density indicating a ratio of the character to a circumscribed rectangular area of the character, and corrects the orientation of the document image. 1. The image processing device according to 1. 5. An image processing method capable of correcting the orientation of a document image by image processing, comprising an input step of inputting a document image, and a character recognition step of recognizing characters of the document image input by the input step. It has a correction step of rotating the input document image according to the recognition result in the character recognition step and correcting the orientation of the document image, and an output step of outputting the document image corrected by the correction step. An image processing method characterized by the above. 6. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the input step includes an optical image reading step. 7. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the output step includes a print step, a communication step, or a display step. 8. The correcting step rotates the document image according to a density indicating a ratio of the character to a circumscribed rectangular area of the character, and corrects the orientation of the document image. 5. The image processing method according to item 5.