JPH08305713A - Electronic filing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an electronic filing device capable of improving the operability of retrieval without previously preparing retrieving data independently of picture data. CONSTITUTION: A page for the contents of a document is displayed on a picture display part 16 and a picture area including an objective page number is specified with a mouse in an input processing part 17. A page number string recognizing part 19 extracts a numeral from the specified picture area. A retrieving processing part 23 retrieves a page indicated by the extracted numeral from a picture file and displays the retrieved page. Since the numeral indicating the page number is extracted by analyzing the picture in the specified picture area, it is unnecessary to previously prepare retrieving data. Since it is unnecessary to input a numeral from a keyboard, operability can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic filing apparatus for storing a document or an image as image data, searching the image data as necessary, and displaying a desired page. The present invention relates to an electronic filing device that searches a target page using a table of contents or an index.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic filing apparatus is an apparatus for reading a document, storing image data of the document in a memory, and reading the image data as needed to display or print the image data. When the originals to be stored have a plurality of pages, these are usually stored together in one image file.

When a large number of pages are stored in one image file, a great deal of time and effort is required for a search operation to find a page in which a desired item is described. Therefore, an index page or index page is provided in advance on the document to be read, and this is used to improve the efficiency of the search. When performing a search, display the page of the table of contents or index on the display, and based on this, estimate the page on which the desired item is posted. Then, by inputting the number of the page to which the registration is applied, for example, from the keyboard, the page is displayed.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a table of contents page. The manuscript is composed of multiple chapters, and the page number of the first page of each chapter is described on the table of contents page. For example, when the user wants to display the first chapter, the operator reads the page number "10" of the first chapter from the table of contents page displayed on the display, and inputs it from the keyboard to specify the page. Such an operation of inputting a page number is a burden on the operator, especially when the search is repeated many times. Also, a page number input error may occur. Therefore, various improvements have been made to simplify the input operation.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-174061 discloses an electronic filing apparatus which is improved in operability by using a pointing device such as a mouse. In this apparatus, an area for accepting designation of a page number with a mouse is registered in advance on the image of the table of contents page. Also, the page numbers existing in this area are registered in advance in association with the area. For example, in the table of contents page shown in FIG. 12, the area 201 is designated as the area for designating the first chapter, and the page number “10” in the area is registered in advance in association with the area 201. These are registered in a management table called a page management table. The work of registering the area designated by the mouse and its page number in association with each other is usually performed by the administrator of the electronic filing apparatus.

When performing a search, each operator first displays a table of contents page. Then, specify near the page number you want to search on the displayed index page with the mouse. By this operation, the image data of the page number registered in advance in association with the area including the designated point is searched and displayed.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the registered contents of the page management table. Page management table 21
Area No. ₁ is registered with area coordinates indicating coordinates of an area on the table of contents page for receiving a designation by a mouse and area information 212 _{1 to} 212 _N in which page numbers associated with this area are combined one by one. . Further, at the head position of the page management table 211, the page number area number 213 showing the total number of registered area information is displayed.
Is registered. For example, on the table of contents page shown in FIG.
01 shall be set. In this case, the administrator designates the two vertices 202 and 203 indicated by black circles with the mouse. The coordinates of these two points are registered in the area coordinates of the area information 212 ₁ . Next, the administrator inputs the page number associated with the set area from the keyboard. Here, the page number “10” displayed in the area 201 is input and registered in the page number area of the area information 212 ₁ .

FIG. 14 shows an outline of the configuration of a conventionally used electronic filing apparatus which registers a page management table in advance. This electronic filing device has a main control unit 22 that performs central functions of various controls.
It has 1. Various circuit devices are connected to the main control unit 221 through buses such as a data bus and various signal lines. Of these, the image capturing unit 222 is an image input device for reading a document. The main storage unit 223 is a storage device that temporarily stores various data such as the image data of the read document and the page management table. Image display section 2
Reference numeral 24 denotes a display device that displays a document based on the image data stored in the main storage unit 223. Input processing unit 22
Reference numeral 5 denotes a circuit device for inputting various instructions, which includes a keyboard and a mouse as a pointing device.

The page area processing unit 226 is a circuit device that creates a page management table in which page numbers are registered based on an instruction from the input processing unit 225. The created page management table is temporarily stored in the main storage unit 223. Table of contents identifier assigning unit 227
Is a circuit for giving an identification number for associating the created page management table with the image data of the table of contents page on a one-to-one basis. The external storage unit 228 is a large-capacity storage device provided for storing a large number of image data and page management tables. The table-of-contents registration processing unit 229 is a circuit device that transfers the page management table stored in the main storage unit 223 to the external storage unit 228 and stores it. The table-of-contents processing unit 231 is a circuit that detects the page number corresponding to the position on the table-of-contents page specified by the mouse, based on the page management table. The search processing unit 232 has a function of searching the image data of the page corresponding to the detected page number.

FIG. 15 shows a flow of processing performed by the electronic filing apparatus having such a configuration until a page management table is created, and processing for searching a page based on the created page management table. It is a thing. Here, the flow of processing will be described taking the index page shown in FIG. 12 as an example. First, a table of contents registration process for creating the page management table will be described. The main control unit 221 waits for an operator's instruction to be input from the input processing unit 225 (step S101). Here, it is assumed that the instruction to select the process for registering the table of contents has been input. When the administrator inputs an instruction for the table of contents registration processing (step S101; Y), step S10
2, through step S103 and step S104,
A region registration process (step S105) is performed to register a region for receiving the designation of the page number with the mouse.
At this time, a table of contents page is displayed on the image display unit 224.

For example, when setting the area 201 on the index page shown in FIG. 12, the administrator sequentially designates the upper right vertex 202 and the lower left vertex 203 with the mouse. Then, the page number is input from the keyboard (step S106). In this example, the page number is "1"
0 ”is input. The page area processing unit 226 sequentially registers the input vertex coordinates and page numbers in the page management table. Until the designation of the area and page number is completed for all the index pages (step S10).
7; N), these input processes are repeated. FIG.
In the case of 2, since chapter 3 exists, step S1
The processing of 05 to step S107 is repeated three times. When all designations have been completed (step S107; Y), the total number of registered areas is registered in the page number area number 213. Here, “3” is registered. The table-of-contents identifier assigning unit 227 assigns an identification number for associating the created page management table with the image data (step S108). The created page management table is stored in the external storage unit 228 by the table-of-contents registration processing unit 229 (step S109).

Next, the flow of a table of contents search process for performing a search using the page management table will be described. Main control unit 2
If the input instruction is a table of contents search (step S102; Y), 21 reads the page management table associated with the image data to be searched from the external storage unit 228 into the main storage unit 223 (step S110). ). Also,
The table of contents page is displayed on the image display unit 224. When an arbitrary coordinate on the table of contents page is designated by the mouse (step S111; Y), the area including the point represented by the coordinate is searched based on the page management table, and the corresponding page number is obtained (step S111; S112). For example, when an arbitrary point in the area 201 shown in FIG. 12 is designated by the mouse, the page number "10" is obtained based on the page management table. Search processing unit 23
2 retrieves the page corresponding to the obtained page number from the image data and displays it on the image display unit 224 (step S
113). In this way, the page with the page number corresponding to the coordinates designated by the mouse is searched and displayed based on the page management table registered in advance.

[0013]

In such an electronic filing apparatus, a page number can be specified by simply pointing the mouse near the page number to be searched after displaying the table of contents page, and inputting from the keyboard. The operability is improved compared to the case. However, there is a problem in that the page management table must be registered in advance and the burden of registration work is heavy. Further, in the case of the index page, there may be a plurality of places where one word is posted. However, since the area designated by the mouse and the page number are associated with each other in a one-to-one correspondence and registered in the page management table, it is not possible to associate a plurality of publication locations. For this reason, it is necessary to finely set the area for each page number representing the publication location, and there is a problem that the labor of registration is more complicated than in the case of the index page.

Furthermore, the page number to be searched cannot be specified with the mouse unless the table of contents page or index page is displayed. Therefore, if the page initially searched and displayed is unsuitable, it is necessary to return to the index page or index page and then specify the search location again. In particular, in the case of an index, there are often a plurality of places to be searched, and the index page is repeatedly returned until an appropriate page is found. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes time to search.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic filing apparatus in which the operability of retrieval is improved without preparing in advance data for retrieval separately from image data.

[0016]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image area designating means for designating an arbitrary image area in a predetermined page in an image file composed of image data of a plurality of pages, and the image area designating means. Number extracting means for extracting a number contained in the image area designated by the number, and page searching means for searching the image file for image data of the page corresponding to the value of the number extracted by the number extracting means. Is equipped in the electronic filing apparatus.

That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, the number included in the designated image area is found, and the page represented by the number is searched. For example, the table of contents page usually includes the page number of the first page classified into each chapter or each item. If the image area including this page number is designated, the page represented by the numeral in the area is searched. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare search data according to the contents of the table of contents page separately from the image data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an image area designating means for designating an arbitrary image area on a predetermined page in an image file composed of image data of a plurality of pages, and an image area designated by the image area designating means. A number extraction means for extracting a plurality of numbers separated by a predetermined delimiter included in the number, and a plurality of numbers extracted by this number extraction means are expressed in a phenotype different from other numbers. A page for searching the image data for the image data of the page represented by the special number detecting means for finding the number and the number found by the special number extracting means in preference to the other numbers extracted by the number extracting means. The electronic filing apparatus is equipped with a search means.

That is, according to the second aspect of the invention, a number represented by a predetermined phenotype is found from a plurality of numbers separated by a delimiter, and the page represented by the number is preferentially searched. . For example, an index may enumerate a plurality of page numbers indicating a place where a particular matter or phrase is posted. Furthermore, in order to easily distinguish where the content of the matter is most appropriately described, for example, where the definition of a phrase is described, the corresponding page number may be displayed in a special font such as italics. is there. By finding the page number represented by such a special phenotype among the numbers in the specified image area and searching that page preferentially, the appropriate page can be searched quickly. .

According to a third aspect of the invention, a display means for displaying a predetermined page in an image file consisting of image data of a plurality of pages, and an image for designating an arbitrary image area on the page displayed by the display means. Area designation means,
A number extraction unit for extracting a plurality of numbers separated by a predetermined delimiter from the image region designated by the image region designation unit, and an extraction for storing the values of the plurality of numbers extracted by the number extraction unit. The numeral storage means, the designation means for designating any one of the numerical values stored in the extracted numeral storage means while the image of the arbitrary page is displayed on the display means, and the designation means The electronic filing apparatus is provided with a page search means for searching the image data of the page represented by the designated numerical value from the image file and displaying the image on the display means.

That is, according to the third aspect of the invention, the image area is designated, and the values of a plurality of numbers extracted from the area are stored. Then, while an arbitrary page is being displayed on the display means, the next page to be displayed can be designated in the stored numbers. For example, if the index page lists a plurality of page numbers of the place where the target word or phrase appears, it may be possible to find the appropriate page only by searching several places. Even in such a case, once the index page is displayed and the page number of the posting location is stored, the location to be searched next can be specified without returning to the index page based on this.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an electronic filing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This electronic filing device extracts a page number arranged in a predetermined area of a table of contents page by character recognition and displays a page indicated by the value. The electronic filing device includes a main control unit 11 that performs the central functions of various controls. Various circuit devices are connected to the main control unit 11 through buses such as a data bus and various signal lines. Of these, the image capturing unit 12 is an image input device for reading a document. The main storage unit 13 is a storage device that temporarily stores the image data 14 of the read document and an index search table 15 that registers information obtained by character-recognizing the image of the index page. The image display unit 16 is a display device that displays an original based on the image data 14 stored in the main storage unit 13. The input processing unit 17 includes a keyboard and a mouse for inputting various instructions of the operator, and control circuits thereof. For example, the mouse is used to specify the range of character recognition in the table of contents page.

The area designation processing unit 18 is provided in the main storage device 13.
This is a circuit portion for extracting and reading out image data in a specified range which is the target of character recognition from the image data stored in. The page number sequence recognition unit 19 has a function of performing character recognition on the read image data and detecting numbers and delimiters such as “,” and “.”. The table-of-contents index processing unit 21 creates an index search table based on the values obtained by character recognition. The index search table will be described in detail later. The external storage unit 22 is a storage device that stores image data of a large number of documents for storage. Search processing unit 23
Is a circuit portion that retrieves the image data of the specified page from the external storage unit 22, reads it, and transfers it to the main storage unit 13. The page turning designation processing unit 24 has a function of obtaining a page to be searched next when an appropriate page cannot be displayed in the first search based on the index search table.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration of the electronic filing device shown in FIG. The electronic filing device includes a CPU (central processing unit) 31 that plays a central role in various controls. Various circuit devices are connected to the CPU 31 through various buses 32 such as a data bus. Of these, the ROM (Read Only Memory) 33 is a read-only memory that stores programs and various fixed data. A RAM (random access memory) 34 is a memory for temporarily storing various data such as data necessary for executing a program and an index search table. The scanner 35 is a reading device for inputting a document as read image data. The display control circuit 36 is used for the display 3 such as a CRT.
7 is a control circuit for displaying various characters and image data. The magnetic disk device 38 is a large-capacity storage device for storing image data and various data for storage. The disk device circuit 39 includes the magnetic disk device 3
8 is a control circuit for controlling the writing or reading of data with respect to 8. The input circuit 41 is a circuit device that is connected to a keyboard 42 and a mouse 43 as a pointing device and controls these interfaces.

This electronic filing apparatus has three search modes as a procedure for searching a target page from the image data stored in the external storage section.
Of these, the area-specified search is a search mode in which the index page or index page is displayed on the display and the area containing the page number to be searched is specified on the screen using the mouse. The number contained in the designated area is extracted by character recognition, and the page represented by the number is displayed. Index page turning is when there are two or more page numbers in the area specified in the area-specified search, after displaying any page in that area,
This is a search mode used when searching other pages without returning to the table of contents page. The number search is a search mode in which the page number to be displayed is directly entered from the keyboard to display the page.

FIG. 3 shows a flow of processing performed by the electronic filing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 to search for and display a target page. The CPU 31 of the electronic filing device waits for the operator to select the search mode (step S201). When the search mode is input by the keyboard 42 or the mouse 43 (step S201; Y), it is determined whether or not it is the area designation search (step S202). In the case of the area designation search (step S202; Y), the area designation processing (step S202) of performing character recognition on the page number of the designated area and searching the image data is executed. When the selected search mode is not the area designation search (step S202; N), it is determined whether or not it is the index page turning (step S204). In the case of index page turning (step S204; Y), page turning processing (step S205) is performed to select the page number and proceed with the search without returning to the index page.

When the input search mode is not the index page turning, the CPU 31 (step S204;
N), and determine whether it is a number search (step S206). In case of number search (step S20)
6; Y), the image data of the input page number is searched (step S207). If it is not a number search (step S206; N), it is determined that the end of the search has been designated, and the process ends (END). Area designation processing,
When either the page turning process or the number search process is executed, the page obtained by these processes is displayed on the display 37 (step S208).
Again, the process returns to the search mode input wait (step S201).

FIG. 4 shows the detailed processing flow of the area designation processing shown in FIG. First, a case where the page that is the target of the area designation process is the table of contents page will be described.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the index page. On the left side of the page, the number of each chapter is described like Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. In the right part of the page, the page number of the first page of each chapter is described. As described above, in the case of the table of contents page, the items on the left side and the page numbers on the right side are arranged in one-to-one correspondence. Assume that the display 37 displays the table of contents page shown in FIG. 5 as an initial state. On the display screen, an arrow 51 indicating the position pointed by the mouse 43 is displayed. When the mouse 43 is moved up, down, left, or right on the desk, the arrow 51
Is designed to move. The operator uses the mouse 43 to specify the area so that the page number of the chapter to be searched is included inside. For example, when the area 52 including the page number “10” in Chapter 1 is designated, the arrow 51 is first moved to the upper left vertex 53 of the area 52 indicated by a black circle, and the mouse 43 is provided here. Press the position confirmation button. Next, at the lower right vertex 54 of the area 52, the arrow 5
Move 1 and press the position confirmation button.

The CPU 31 obtains the coordinates of these two designated points 53 and 54 on the screen, and cuts out the image data of the rectangular area 52 having these two points as diagonal vertices (FIG. 4, FIG. 4).
Step S301). Image analysis is performed on the cut out area, and the numbers and delimiters included in the area are detected (step S302). Here, "," is detected as a delimiter. In the case of the area 52 shown in FIG. 5, the numbers "1" and "0" are detected and the delimiters are not detected. The CPU 31 handles the numbers until the delimiter appears as a group of numbers. "1" and "0" in the area 52 are treated as a series of numeral strings, and the page number "10" is detected. When the delimiter is not detected in the designated area (step S3).
03; N), the image data indicated by the detected page number is searched. When there is no delimiter, there is only one page number in that area. Therefore, the image data indicated by the detected page number is immediately displayed.

Next, a case will be described in which the page to be subjected to the area designation processing is the index page.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the index page. On the index page, various words and phrases used in the document and the page numbers on which they are posted are associated with each other. On the left side of the page, the words or phrases to be searched are listed, and on the right side of the page, the page numbers where the words or phrases are listed are listed.
For example, the phrase "Address" is "1".
This means that the pages are listed on pages 0 "," 15 "," 120 "and" 500 "respectively. These page numbers are separated by a delimiter", ". Thus, the index page In this case, a plurality of page numbers on the right side may correspond to one item arranged on the left side.Hereinafter, a delimiter symbol exists in the area specified by using the index page shown in FIG. The flow of the area designation processing in the case will be described.

Diagonal vertices 6 are set as image areas by the operator.
It is assumed that 1 and 62 are designated. The CPU 31 cuts out the image data of the area 63 based on these coordinates (step S301), and extracts the numbers and delimiters in the area (step S302). Then, it is determined whether or not there is a delimiter (step S3).
03). Since a delimiter is present in the area 63 shown in FIG. 6 (step S303; Y), the detected number is delimited by these to detect a plurality of page numbers (step S305). In the case of area 63, "10"
And four page numbers "15", "120" and "500" are detected. The CPU 31 creates an index search table based on this (step S306).

FIG. 7 shows an example of registered contents of the index search table. This figure shows an example of registration corresponding to the area 63 of FIG. Index page number 71
Represents the total number of page numbers detected in the designated area. Here, "4" is registered, which means that four page numbers are detected. The index page numbers 72 to 75 represent the detected page numbers, respectively. The index index 76 is a pointer indicating the number of the index page number registered from the top in the search index table to search for the image data. The index search table is created in a predetermined area of the RAM 34 and is deleted after the search is completed. Also, when a new area is designated in the area designation processing, the index search table previously created is erased and rewritten.

Returning to FIG. 4, the description will be continued. After creating the index search table, the CPU 31 discriminates the font of the number detected from the area and checks whether it is a decorative character (step S307). For example, check if numbers are drawn in bold or italic.
The page numbers represented by such special fonts are often given some meaning as compared with other page numbers. For example, it may represent a page that best describes the content of the phrase, or a page that describes the definition of the phrase. Therefore, if the page with the page number drawn with decorative characters is displayed with priority, it is highly possible that the optimum page can be displayed in the first search, so that the search operation can be speeded up.

In the example of FIG. 6, since the numbers in the area 63 are not decorative characters (step S307; N), the CPU 31
Is the index index 7 of the index search table shown in FIG.
The value of 6 is set to "1" (step S308). In particular, since the page to be displayed with priority cannot be identified, “1” is fixedly set. The CPU 31 searches the image data stored in the magnetic disk device 38 for the page of the index page number indicated by the index index (step S309) and displays it on the display 37.

Next, the flow of the area designation processing when the decorative character is present will be described.

FIG. 8 shows an example of an index page having page numbers drawn with decorative characters. "Ad
"120" in the page number corresponding to "dress"
Only is drawn in a different font than the other page numbers. As in the above description, the diagonal vertices 81,
It is assumed that 82 is designated and the numbers and delimiters in the area 83 are extracted.

FIG. 9 shows the registered contents of the index search table created corresponding to the index page shown in FIG. Since there are four page numbers in the area 83, the index page number number 91 is "4". Index page numbers 92 to 95 are "10" and "1", respectively.
5 ”,“ 120 ”,“ 500. ”The value of the index index 96 is“ 3 ”, indicating the index page number 94 as the page to be searched.

Returning to FIG. 4, the explanation of the area designation processing will be continued. When the area 83 shown in FIG. 8 is designated, since “120” is drawn with decorative characters among the four extracted page numbers, the determination in step S307 is “Y”, and the process proceeds to step S310. move on. The CPU 31 sets "3" as the initial value of the search index 96 in order to preferentially display the page indicated by the number drawn by the decorative character (step S310). As a result, step S3
In the processing of 09, the 120th page will be retrieved and displayed.

Next, the page turning process in the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 will be described. The page turning process is a process for designating the page to be displayed next when the information initially targeted by the operator is not sufficiently described in the page first displayed in the area designation search. For example, in the area-specified search, the area 6 of the index page shown in FIG.
If you specify 3, page 10 is displayed first. However, when the description content of the 10th page is insufficient, any page of "15", "120" or "500" will be searched next. The page turning process is a process for efficiently performing a search for these pages without returning to the index page.

FIG. 10 shows an example of display contents displayed on the display in the page turning search. In the above example, when the description on page 10 is insufficient, the operator presses a predetermined key from the keyboard or presses a predetermined button provided on the mouse to turn the page. Specify the search mode. When the page turning search mode is selected, an input window 103 in which arrows 101 and 102 are drawn to specify whether to proceed the search forward or backward with respect to the currently displayed page is opened in the screen. . The operator operates the mouse to move the pointing arrow 104 to one of the arrows 101 and 102 indicating the direction in which the search should be advanced, and presses the position confirmation button. For example, when the arrow 102 representing the next page is designated, the 15th page in which the character "Address" is described after the 10th page is specified.
The display switches to the page.

FIG. 11 shows a detailed processing flow of the page turning processing shown in FIG. When the page turning search mode is selected, the CPU 31 opens the input window shown in FIG.
It waits until either 1 or the arrow 102 is designated (step S401). When the arrow 101 for designating the previous page is selected (step S402; Y),
It is determined whether or not the value of the index index of the index search table is "1" (step S402). If the index index value is not "1" (step S40)
2; N), a value obtained by subtracting "1" from the index index value is registered as a new index index value (step S403). As a result, the index index points to the index page number that is one younger in the alignment order in the index search table. The CPU 31 retrieves and displays the page indicated by the index page number corresponding to the updated index index (step S404). If the value of the index index is "1" (step S402; Y), there is no index page number in a sequence order smaller than that, so the value of the index index is not updated.

When the arrow 102 designating the next page is selected (step S401; N), it is checked whether the value of the index index matches the number of index page numbers (step S405). If the value of the index index does not match the number of index page numbers (step S40)
5; N), a value obtained by adding "1" to the index index value is registered as a new index index value (step S406). When the value of the index index matches the number of index page numbers (step S405; Y), the index page number is not registered further backward, so the value of the index index is not updated. For example, when page turning processing is performed based on the index search table shown in FIG. 7, every time the arrow 102 indicating the next search is specified with the mouse, the pages of “15”, “120”, and “500” are displayed. The search proceeds in order. Conversely, arrow 101 indicating the previous search
"500", "120", "1" can be specified with the mouse.
The display page can be returned in the order of 5 "and" 10 "pages.

In this way, in the page turning search,
Based on the index search table created by the area-specified search, the search can be advanced one after another without returning to the index page.

In the embodiment described above, "," is used as a delimiter, but ".", "," Or blank may be used as long as it can identify the boundary of the number string. Further, as the decorative character, it is possible to use different fonts such as italic font and Gothic font, underline, black-and-white inversion, or mesh, as long as it can be distinguished from other numbers. Further, in the page turning, the arrow for the previous search and the arrow for the next search are displayed on the display screen, but keys corresponding to these may be arranged on the keyboard. In addition to specifying the direction of search, such as previous search and next search, all the stored page numbers are displayed on the screen, and any one of them can be specified with a pointing device such as a mouse. You may

[0048]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, since the number contained in the designated image area is found and the page represented by the number is searched, the search data is regarded as the image data. There is no need to create it separately and register it in advance. For this reason, it is possible to improve the operability during the search without increasing the amount of work for the preparation for the search.

According to the second aspect of the invention, a number represented by a predetermined phenotype is found from a plurality of numbers delimited by delimiters, and the page represented by the number is preferentially searched. There is. For example, in an index page, only page numbers corresponding to the points where the content of a certain matter or phrase is properly explained are often described in a special font such as italics. Therefore, if you preferentially search for the page corresponding to the page number represented by a special phenotype,
You can quickly find the right page. .

According to the third aspect of the invention, the image area is designated, the values of a plurality of numbers extracted therefrom are stored, and the next page should be displayed while an arbitrary page is displayed. The page can be specified from the stored numbers. For example, since the page to be searched next can be specified without returning to the index page, the operability of the search is improved and the search can be performed in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic filing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the electronic filing device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing performed by the electronic filing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 until a target page is searched and displayed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing flow of the area designation processing shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a table of contents page.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an index page.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of an index search table.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an index page provided with page numbers drawn in decorative characters.

9 is an explanatory diagram showing registered contents of an index search table created corresponding to the index page shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display contents displayed on a display in a page turning search.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing flow of the page turning processing shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a table of contents page.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of a page management table used by a conventionally used electronic filing device.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an outline of a configuration of an electronic filing device which has been conventionally used.

FIG. 15 is a process performed by an electronic filing apparatus that has been conventionally used until a page management table is created;
7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when a page is searched based on the created page management table.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Main control unit, 12 ... Image capturing unit, 13 ... Main storage unit,
14 ... Image data, 15 ... Index search table, 16 ... Image display unit, 17 ... Input processing unit, 18 ... Area predetermined processing unit, 19 ... Page number sequence recognition unit, 21 ... Table of contents index processing unit, 22 ... External storage unit , 23 ... Search processing unit, 24 ... Page turning processing unit, 31 ... CPU, 32 ... Bus, 33 ... R
OM, 34 ... RAM, 35 ... Scanner, 37 ... Display, 38 ... Magnetic disk device, 42 ... Keyboard, 4
3 ... Mouse, 101 ... Previous search arrow, 102 ... Next search arrow, 103 ... Input window

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image area designating means for designating an arbitrary image area on a predetermined page in an image file composed of image data of a plurality of pages, and a number included in the image area designated by the image area designating means. An electronic filing apparatus comprising: a number extracting unit for extracting the image data and a page searching unit for searching the image file for image data of a page corresponding to the value of the number extracted by the number extracting unit. . 2. An image area designating means for designating an arbitrary image area on a predetermined page in an image file composed of image data of a plurality of pages, and a predetermined area included in the image area designated by the image area designating means. Number extracting means for extracting a plurality of numbers separated by the delimiter and special number detection for finding out a number represented by a phenotype different from other numbers among the plurality of numbers extracted by the number extracting means Means and page searching means for giving priority to the number found by the special number extracting means over other numbers extracted by the number extracting means and searching the image file for image data of the page represented by the number. An electronic filing device, comprising: 3. Display means for displaying a predetermined page in an image file consisting of image data of a plurality of pages, and image area designating means for designating an arbitrary image area on the page displayed by this display means, A number extracting means for extracting a plurality of numbers separated by a predetermined delimiter from the image area designated by the image area designating means, and an extracted number for storing the values of the plurality of numbers extracted by the number extracting means. Storage means, designation means for designating any one of the values of the numbers stored in the extracted number storage means in the state where an image of an arbitrary page is displayed on the display means; And a page search means for searching the image data of the page indicated by the designated numerical value from the image file and displaying the image on the display means. Electronic filing apparatus according to claim and.