JPH08263501A - Image information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily register retrieval information only by recording an original and shorten the registration time by extracting image information in a specific area of an original image and registering it as the retrieval information. CONSTITUTION: Black pixels of the data in the area 602 determined by points P and Q positioned inside the area 601 determined by points A and B as a retrieval data input area as to the data in a retrieval input field are counted and on the basis of the result, it is judged whether or not there is image retrieval data. The number (d) of the counted pixels is compared with the threshold (w) of a judgement on effective image retrieval data and when d>w, it is judged that the image retrieval data are entered the area 602, so that the data in the area 601 in a graphic RAM are registered as retrieval information in the document management file of the original. When d<w, on the other hand, it is judged that the image retrieval data are not entered the area 602 and default retrieval information that a user inputs previously is registered in the document management file.

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 for storing image data obtained by reading an original as an electronic file in a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image information processing apparatus, a user manually registers a file name or a keyword, which becomes search information at the time of recording a document, or after recording, for each document by using a keyboard or the like. I'm working.

[0003]

However, it is necessary for the user to be familiar with the operation of inputting search information at the time of recording a document or by key operation at the time of recording the document in the above-mentioned conventional image information processing apparatus. However, there is a problem in that the operation itself takes time and the efficiency of the entire document recording operation is significantly reduced.

At the same time, there is also a problem that the operation efficiency of the entire apparatus is lowered.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image information processing apparatus that speeds up the input of search information and improves the efficiency of the entire document recording operation. That is.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an image information processing apparatus for storing a document image as an electronic file in a predetermined recording medium, for identifying whether the document image is an image having a predetermined format or not. Means for extracting image information in a predetermined area of the original image when the original image has a predetermined format, and registration means for registering the extracted image information as first search information, When the image information cannot be extracted by the extracting means, the registration means registers the second search information set in advance.

In the above structure, the search information can be quickly input.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image information processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an apparatus) according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 10 is a CPU, 11
Reference numeral a denotes a ROM that stores a control program for operating the CPU 10, a control program described later, and the like.
Is a RAM for constructing search information and storing various data. Reference numeral 7 is a keyboard for inputting search keywords and the like when reading images or searching.

Reference numerals 111a and 111b denote image reading sections, of which 111a is an image reading section on the front side (for the front side) of a subject equipped with a line image sensor consisting of a plurality of light receiving elements, and 111b is the back side (for the back side). The image reading unit 35 of FIG.
Image data read by 1b and keyboard 7
It is a magneto-optical disk for storing search data and other data input from.

The display unit for displaying image information at the time of recording, searching, etc. in the apparatus according to the present embodiment comprises a display 32 and an output data flow controller 30, and the output data flow controller 30 has a display. Video RAM for developing images displayed on 32
(Graphic RAM) 13 and text RAM 14
Is connected. Further, 24 is the image reading unit 11.
A compression unit that compresses the image data read by 1a and 111b, and a decompression unit 25 that decompresses the compressed image data stored in the magneto-optical disk 35.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the external appearance of the apparatus according to this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the apparatus. Therefore, the recording process of the document in the apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4.

In step S400 of FIG. 4, search information such as default keywords, numbers, dates, etc. of the document to be recorded is input from the keyboard 7. The input search information is recorded in an area such as a search data buffer secured in the RAM 12. In step S401, the manuscript 1
2 on the document table 2 as shown in FIG.
A recording operation instruction is given by the above-mentioned method, and the conveyance of the document 1 is started.

Here, the first page of the document file is a dedicated sheet for inputting search data, such as the search information registration sheet 501 shown in FIG. This dedicated sheet is provided with a search data input field 503 as shown in the figure. The dedicated sheet also serves as a partition sheet that separates the files.

In step S402, the document sensor 120 shown in FIG. 3 detects whether a document exists on the document table 2. If there is a document, the process proceeds to step S403, which is a processing step for starting or continuing the transport operation. If there is no document, the carrying operation is ended, and this processing is all ended.

As the processing in step S403, first, the feed roller 102 rotates in the direction of the arrow in the drawing to feed the document to the separation section. This separating unit is the paper feeding roller 103.
And the separation roller 104, each of which rotates counterclockwise, and the surface layer portion of the stacked originals (uppermost original)
The originals are sent first, and the other originals remain on the original table 2 due to the gap between the paper feed roller 103 and the separation roller 104 and the frictional force between the separation roller 104. The original 1 sent earlier then reaches the reading section by the transport roller 105.

Here, the illumination lamps 106a and 106b are turned on, and the image information from the original document illuminated by the illumination lamps 106a and 106b is reduced by the lenses 110a and 110b via the mirrors 107a and 109b. CCD 111a, b
Reads. As shown in FIG. 3, by providing an illumination lamp, a mirror, and the like in a pair, the present apparatus has a configuration capable of simultaneously reading both-sided images of a document.

The original that has been read as described above is
The sheets are stacked on the sheet discharge tray 113 by the sheet discharge rollers 112a and 112b.

The drive system 19 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of the above-mentioned document sensor 120 and a motor (not shown), and the CPU 10 controls the drive system 19 via the drive system interface 18 in the above-described conveyance control. By doing.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the surface CCD 1
The image signals obtained by 11a and the back CCD 111b are sent to the combining unit 36 through the amplifiers 20a and 20b, respectively. The synthesizing unit 36 is provided for the front surface CCD 11
When data for one main scan is passed from 1a to the next stage, an internal switching element (not shown) is switched, and next, image data for one main scan is passed from the backside CCD 111b to the next stage. . In this way, the synthesizing unit 36 serializes the front and back image data in units of main scanning and sends the serialized image data to the compressing unit 24 in the next stage.

It should be noted that the CP is not read on both sides of the original,
When the single-sided reading is instructed by the U10 to the synthesizing unit 36, the above-described switching in the synthesizing unit 36 is not performed, and the front surface CCD 111 is always used.
The image data from a will be sent to the next stage.

The image signal from the synthesizing unit 36 is quantized by the A / D converting unit 21 and subjected to image processing such as edge enhancement by the image processing unit 22 and then "1" by the binarizing circuit 23. Convert to "0" data. One of the binary image data is stored in the graphic RAM 13, and the other is subjected to well-known image information compression such as MH, MR, MMR by the compression unit 24, and then the compressed data buffer 33.
a or the compressed data buffer 33b.

Then, the compressed image data stored in the compressed data buffer 33a or the compressed data buffer 33b is sent to the magneto-optical disk drive 115 via the disk interface 27, and then written in the magneto-optical disk 35.

In step S404, the above-mentioned step S
At 403, the image data stored in the graphic RAM 13 is analyzed, and it is determined whether the original is the dedicated sheet shown in FIG. If it is determined that the read document is a dedicated sheet, the process proceeds to step S405 to extract search information. However, if it is determined that the read original is not the dedicated sheet, the process proceeds to step S402 for determining whether or not to continue the recording operation for the next original.

Whether or not the read image is a dedicated sheet can be determined, for example, in the read image data.
This is performed by searching for whether or not the data indicating the reference mark 502 as shown in FIG. 5 is written at the designated position.

In step S405, the graphic RA
The presence or absence of the reference mark 502 is recognized from the image data of the dedicated sheet stored in M13. Then, based on the position of the reference mark 502 recognized here, the search data input field 50 at the position obtained by adding the relative distance
Recognize 3.

In step S406, the above-mentioned step S
The data of the search data input field 503 recognized in 405 is located inside the area 601 surrounded by the points A and B which are the search data acquisition areas, as shown in FIG.
Regarding the data in the area 602 surrounded by the points P and Q,
The number of black pixels is counted, and the presence or absence of image search data is determined based on the result.

Here, the number of pixels d counted as described above is compared with a threshold value w judged to be effective as image search data. If d> w, the image search data is stored in the area 602. If it is determined that the information is written, the process proceeds to step S407. If d <w, the area 60
When it is determined that the image search data is not described in 2, the process proceeds to step S408.

In step S407, the data in the area 601 recognized in step S405 in the graphic RAM 13 is registered in the document management file 801 of the original document as shown in FIG. 8 as search information. The document management file 801 is a file generated for each document at the time of recording the document, and as shown in FIG. 8, various information such as search information regarding the recorded document and the image pointer of the document is described.

As a method of managing the image search data in this embodiment, for example, the captured image search data is recorded on the disk in the same manner as the original image, and the pointer of the recorded image search data is described in the document management file 801. , Takes the structure.

The image display in this embodiment is performed through the image search data management file 802 (see FIG. 8) pointed to by the pointer of the image search data in the document management file 801, and then through the node in the image search data management file 802. ,
The node is specified from the record of the image search data. Then, from the node table 803, the FA of the image search data
The T entry is obtained, the obtained FAT is traced, the logical address sequence is obtained, the compressed image data is read from the magneto-optical disk drive 115, and the image is displayed on the display 32 via the above-mentioned data path.

The method of managing the image search data is not limited to the above method, and for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the image search data 503 recognized by the judgment in step S406.
, A page file pointer that points to the document page in which the document exists, and the coordinates of the upper left point A (X1, Y1) and the lower right point B (X2, Y2) of the capture area 601 of the image search data 503 are written in the document management file 801. You may make it the structure.

Further, the processing in step S408 is as follows.
Since the process is performed after it is determined that the image search data is not described on the dedicated sheet, the default search information set in step S400 is registered in the document management file 801.

After executing the processes of steps S407 and S408, the process is returned to step S402, and the above-described operation is repeatedly executed until there are no more originals.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
The search data can be registered only by recording the original, and even if the search data cannot be read from the original, the user can register the search information by registering the default search information that the user previously input. The time required for the operation can be significantly reduced, and the operational efficiency of the device can be improved without degrading the performance of the entire device.

In the apparatus according to the present embodiment, the area for determining the presence / absence of image search data is set to the inside of the reading area, and the determination value for determining the presence / absence of data is lowered, so that, for example, at the time of document recording, The document is bent with respect to the platen or bent while the document is being conveyed, or
When the original data is skewed due to a lens shift or the like, as shown in FIG. 7, pixels such as a frame line 701 are counted, and the search data is not described, but the image search data is not displayed. It is possible to solve the problem of erroneously performing registration when it is determined that the reading accuracy is improved and the range of data that can be registered by the user is expanded.

As a method of managing image search data,
The original image data and the search data are stored in separate files, and the image search data is cut out and stored in a magneto-optical disk, so that the page in which the image search data is described is stored in a memory such as the graphic RAM 13 at the time of search. It is not necessary to expand the image search data, the image search data can be expanded and displayed quickly, and the memory to be used need not be the entire document data but only the image search data. Therefore, the memory of the apparatus can be saved.

Further, by providing the document management file with the page and coordinates in which the image search data is described, it is possible to save a medium such as a disk. Also, by adding “no image index” to the default data and recording the code indicating “no image index” in the document management file when registering the default data, the user can know whether or not there is an image index in the retrieved document. , Only originals without image index can be searched. [Second Embodiment] A second embodiment according to the present invention will be described below. Since the image information processing apparatus according to this embodiment has the same configuration as the apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the description thereof will be omitted here.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the document recording process in this embodiment. Step S11 in FIG.
At 00, the search information which is the default of the original data is input through the keyboard 7 or the like. Next step S1101
Then, the document is stacked on the document table 2, a recording operation instruction is given, and the document starts to be conveyed. In the following step S1102,
It is detected whether or not there is a document on the document table 2, and if there is a document, the process proceeds to step S1103 to perform processing for starting or continuing the transport operation. However, when there is no document, the conveying operation is ended, and this processing is all ended.

In step S1103, the front surface CCD 1
The original is read by the CCD 11a and the CCD 111b for the back side, and the image signals obtained by these CCDs are sent to the combining unit 36 through the amplifiers 20a and 20b, respectively.
When the data for one main scan from the front surface CCD 111a is passed to the next stage, the synthesizing unit 36 switches the internal switching element (not shown), and then the front surface CCD 111b.
It has a function of passing the image data for one main scan from (1) to the next stage. In this way, the processing of serializing the image data of the front and back sides of the document in units of main scanning and sending it to the compression unit 24 in the next stage is performed.

In the above description, both sides of the original are read, but here, as in the first embodiment, when the CPU 10 instructs the combining section 36 to perform one side reading. The above-mentioned switching is not performed, and the image data from the front surface CCD 111a is always sent to the next stage.

The image signal from the synthesizing section 36 is quantized by the A / D converting section 21 and subjected to image processing such as edge enhancement by the image processing section 22, and then the binarization circuit 23 performs density conversion during recording. Depending on the processing level, the image data is set to "1",
Convert to binary image data of '0'. One of the binary image data is stored in the graphic RAM 13, and the other is compressed and written in the magneto-optical disk 35 as in the first embodiment.

When the document sensor 120 detects that there is no document on the document table 2 by continuously performing the above processing, the conveying operation is ended.

In step S1104, it is determined whether or not the read document is the search information registration sheet 501 based on the document data developed on the graphic RAM 13. If it is determined that the read document is the search information registration sheet 501, the process proceeds to step S1105, and if it is determined that the document is not the search information registration sheet 501, the process proceeds to step S1102. .

In step S1105, the position of the reference mark 502 is recognized and the search data input field 50 is determined from the relative position of the reference mark 502, as in the first embodiment.
Determine the 3 position. In the following step S1106, the number of black pixels in the pixel count area 602 inside the fetched area 601 in the search data input field 503 recognized in the above step S1105 is counted. And area 60
A determination value w for determining whether or not there is data within 1 is obtained.

The judgment value w here is determined in step S1103.
The image signal read in step 2 is set to a different value depending on the value of the density processing level SL binarized by the binarizing circuit 23. For this judgment value w, the optimum value for the density processing level is RO
It has a conversion table T in M11a. In the conversion table T, the value of the determination value w decreases as the density processing level SL during reading increases.

That is, here, the density processing level SL at the time of reading the original is referred to, and the referred SL is converted into the judgment value w in the conversion table T described above.

In step S1107, step S11
The number of pixels d counted in 06 is compared with w obtained from the density processing level SL at the time of reading the original. Where d>
In case of w, it is judged that the search data is described,
The process moves to step S1108, and if d <w,
If it is determined that the search data is not described, the process moves to step S1109.

In step S1108 above, the first
Similar to the embodiment, the pixel search data is fetched, recorded as search information, and the management data of the image search data is recorded in the document management file of the document. Also, step S1
In 109, the default search information set in step S1100 is registered in the document management file.

After the processes of steps S1108 and S1109 are executed, the process is returned to step S1102, and the above-mentioned operations are repeatedly executed until the original is exhausted.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
By setting the determination value w as to whether or not the search data is present to be different depending on the value of the density processing level SL to be binarized, the determination value as to the presence or absence of the image search data is set low, and the reading density is increased to increase the original. When you read, it is judged that the image search data exists even though the data does not exist,
If you accidentally import the image, or if you set a high judgment value for the presence or absence of image search data and read a document with a low reading density, it is determined that the image search data does not exist even though the data exists. As a result, erroneous readings caused by the reading density of the original, such as not incorporating the image search data, are reduced.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By extracting the image information in the predetermined area of the document image and registering it as the search information, the search information can be easily registered only by recording the document, and the registration time can be shortened.

According to another aspect of the invention, even when the image information cannot be extracted, by registering the search information input in advance, it is possible to efficiently perform the registration work without degrading the performance of the entire apparatus.

[0054]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image information processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the image information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an internal perspective view of the image information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an image processing procedure in the image information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a search data registration sheet according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing a registration area.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which a read document is skewed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a management structure of search image data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a management structure of search image data.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an image processing procedure in the image information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 keyboard 10 CPU 11a ROM 12 RAM 13 video RAM (graphic RAM) 14 text RAM 24 compression unit 25 decompression unit 30 output data flow controller 32 display 35 magneto-optical disk 111a, 111b image reading unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image information processing apparatus for storing a manuscript image as an electronic file in a predetermined recording medium, wherein the manuscript image has a predetermined format and an identification unit for identifying whether the manuscript image has a predetermined format. In this case, the image information cannot be extracted by the extracting means, which comprises an extracting means for extracting image information in a predetermined area of the document image and a registering means for registering the extracted image information as first search information. In this case, the registration means registers the preset second search information, and the image information processing apparatus. 2. The image according to claim 1, wherein the extracting unit extracts the image information based on the number of pixels of a specific color included in the image information in a predetermined area of the document image. Information processing equipment. 3. The first search information and the original image are
The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each is stored in a separate recording medium. 4. The first search information and the original image are
The data are stored in the same recording medium.
The image information processing apparatus described in 1. 5. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit registers position information of the extracted image information in the original image. 6. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second search information includes a code indicating that the registration means cannot register. 7. The image information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification means identifies the predetermined format by decoding a mark and its position included in the original image.