JPH0981648A - Slip preparation system and slip preparation method applied to slip preparation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To substantially reduce the change operations of a dedicated program required for a slip preparation processing, to simplify a slip preparation process corresponding to the alteration of a slip and to improve the production efficiency of slip preparation as a result. SOLUTION: In this slip preparation system constituted by utilizing an OCR and a computer system, a CPU 1 prepares a definition information file based on the image data of an inputted slip original and stores it in an HDD 7. At the time of the printing processing of the slip as a preparation object, the CPU 1 executes the printing processing while referring to the prepared definition information file by a printing program 2a prepared beforehand and prints the slip as the preparation object.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a form creation system using OCR and a computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an optical character reader (OCR) has been used in various fields to optically read various forms and input character data recorded on the forms into a computer system. The record information on the form read by the OCR is input to the computer system to perform various types of information processing.

The form has a format (recording form) set according to the purpose of use, and a recording (entry) area for recording necessary items for each of a plurality of items is printed. Specifically, the form is a form of various kinds of slips or a card, and normally, characters such as numbers are written in a set recording area.

Such a form is created by a form creating system including a computer system that controls a printer using a dedicated print program including information for defining a preset format.

By the way, some forms have the same purpose of use but need to be renewed in order to change the format due to some kind of circumstances change. For example, there is an entry / exit card required for overseas travel. Immigration card is E
It is also called a D (entry / departure) card, and is often renewed irregularly due to rule revisions in each country.

When a new form having a new format is created in response to such a renewal of the form, for example, the printable area is actually measured by a ruler or the like, and the printing program described above is based on the actual measurement result. It will need to be modified. In addition, when a new print item is added due to the update, it is necessary to change the format of the input screen for inputting the print content of each print item.

Normally, in a system for creating a form, a form image is displayed on the screen of the display and the print contents of each print item are input on the screen.

[0008]

In the conventional system using OCR, E is included in the form to be read.
Some cards, such as D cards, are updated at irregular intervals.
In order to create a new form in which the form format has been changed in accordance with such a form update, it is necessary to modify a print program designed specifically. In addition, it is necessary to change the input screen of the display used for the creation process according to the contents of the update.

However, the correction work for correcting the print program designed exclusively requires a considerable amount of work steps, and as a result, the production efficiency when creating a new form is not always high. Further, the work of changing the input screen is also a work in which it is difficult to improve the production efficiency.

The object of the present invention is to significantly reduce the work of changing the dedicated program required for the form preparation process, simplify the form preparation process according to the renewal of the form, and consequently improve the production efficiency of the form preparation. It is to improve.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a form creation system configured by using an OCR and a computer system, and provides definition information necessary for creating a form to be created by printing. This is a system having a definition information generating means to be created. That is, a form original corresponding to the form to be created is prepared, converted into image data by the image input means and input. Further, the input image data is displayed on the screen of the display. The definition information generation means is definition information necessary for creating a form to be created by printing based on the image data displayed on the screen, and is a form definition that defines a heading area and a printable area. Create definition information including information and print attribute information.

The print processing means refers to the created definition information and prints out the form in the format defined by the definition information. The print processing unit is a unit that executes print processing of a form by a print program prepared in advance in the system, and prints out a form in a format according to the form definition information and the print attribute information.

When the form format is changed in accordance with the renewal, the print program change work is minimized by the system of the method in which the dedicated print program and the definition information for setting the form format are separated. It can be realized by the work of creating the definition information substantially according to the new form. The work of creating the definition information is a substantially automatic work process performed on the basis of the image data displayed on the display screen, and is extremely efficient as compared with the work of changing the print program.

The definition information generating means also creates definition information including screen attribute information which is input screen related information for inputting the form image to be created and displaying it on the screen of the display. As a result, the system can easily create the input screen necessary for creating a new form by referring to the created screen attribute information.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration related to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the present embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 explain contents of definition information of the present embodiment. 5 is a conceptual diagram for this, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present embodiment. (System Configuration) This embodiment assumes a form creation system including an OCR and a computer system, and is a system that uses a dedicated print program 2a for printing out a form.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present system includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1 which constitutes a control unit of the system,
It has a main memory 2, an image reading device 3, an input / output device 4 including a mouse 5, a printer 6, and a hard disk device (HDD) 7.

The CPU 1 executes a character reading process and a form creating process (including a printing process and a screen input process) related to the present embodiment, based on the image data input by the image reading device 3. The main memory 2 is the CPU 1
Stores programs and data including the print program 2a required for various processes.

The image reading device 3 is an image scanner which optically scans a form, converts characters and figures (frames indicating a printing area, etc.) recorded on the form into image data, and inputs the image data.

The input / output device 4 has a display a for displaying image data input by the image reading device 3 and data input by an input device such as a mouse (or keyboard) 5. The present embodiment assumes an input / output device that performs an input operation with the mouse 5 using the input screen displayed on the display a.

The printer 6 is, for example, an impact type printing apparatus controlled by the print processing of the CPU 1. H
The DD 7 is an external storage device of the system, and includes image data 7a and definition information file 7b related to the present embodiment.
To store. (Functional configuration of the first embodiment) In the above-described hardware system configuration, the functional configuration related to the present embodiment is, as shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. It consists of 27.

The control section 21 has definition system functional elements and reference system functional elements corresponding to the functional elements executed by the CPU 1 by a program. The definition system functional element includes an image input processing unit 21a, a form definition creation processing unit 21b, a print attribute definition creation processing unit 21c, and a screen attribute definition creation processing unit 21d. On the other hand, the reference functional element includes a screen processing unit 21e, a print processing unit 21f, and an individual processing unit 21g.

The image input processing section 21a executes various processing such as character recognition processing on the image data input from the image input section 23. The image input unit 23 corresponds to the image reading device 3 and is a character or a graphic (a frame or the like indicating a print area) recorded in the original document related to the present embodiment.
Is converted into digital image data and input.

Based on the image data obtained by the image input processing unit 21a, the form definition creation processing unit 21b creates the form definition information defining the heading region and printable region of the form, as shown in FIG. . The heading area of the form is represented by the upper left coordinates and the lower right coordinates on the original document. The printable area is also expressed by the upper left coordinates and the lower right coordinates on the original document.

The print attribute definition creation processing unit 21c creates print attribute information when the form printing unit 26 prints the form to be created. As shown in FIG. 3, the print attribute information includes a font, the number of points (character size), a print target area, and an edit pattern. Here, the edit pattern is decoration information regarding printing, as shown in FIG. The form printing unit 26 corresponds to the printer 6.

The screen attribute definition creation processing unit 21d creates screen attribute definition information for designing an input screen layout when displaying an input screen for creating a form on the screen display unit 24. The screen display unit 24 is the input / output device 4
5 is a screen corresponding to the display 4a of FIG. 2 for inputting print contents for each print item of the form to be created. The input process is executed by the data input unit 25. Data input unit 2
Reference numeral 5 corresponds to the mouse 5 of the input / output device 4.

The screen attribute definition information is, as shown in FIG.
Heading display area, input area, character attribute, input check,
It consists of an input candidate table and a help message. The character attribute is information for inputting and designating on the input screen, as shown in FIG. Also, input check,
As shown in FIG. 4C, it includes check items such as a limit check and an existence check. As a specific example, the print items include check items such as age and date.

The definition information file storage unit 27 corresponds to the HDD 7, and stores a definition information file created by the control unit 21 and including form definition information, print attribute information, and screen attribute definition information.

The screen processing section 21e executes display processing of the input screen of the screen display section 24 based on the created screen attribute definition information. The print processing unit 21f executes print processing by the form printing unit 26 based on the form definition information and the print attribute information. The print processing unit 21f corresponds to a function executed by the CPU 1 by the print program 2a. Individual processing unit 2
1g corresponds to various functions executed by the CPU 1 other than screen processing and printing processing. (Operation of the First Embodiment) Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, a form original serving as a source of the form to be created is prepared, and characters (heading character string etc.) and figures (printing frame etc.) recorded in the form original are input by the image reading device 3 (step S1). ).

The CPU 1 executes the input processing (image input processing section 21a) of digital image data input from the image reading device 3, displays it on the display 4a, and stores it in the HDD 7 (steps S2, S).
3). The form image of the form original is displayed on the screen of the display 4a in actual size.

On the screen of the display 4a,
In response to the input operation of the mouse (data input unit 25) 5, C
PU1 executes the function of the form definition creation processing unit 21b to create the form definition information described above (step S4). This form definition information is information for defining the heading region and printable region of the form (see FIG. 3).

Here, the headline area is an area in which headline item names such as "nationality" and "date of birth" to be entered by the user are printed when the form to be created is, for example, an ED card. The printable area is an area in which the user can actually enter or print, corresponding to the heading item name.

Next, the CPU 1 executes the function of the print attribute definition creation processing section 21c to create the above-mentioned print attribute information (step S5). The print attribute information includes a print target area included in the printable area, a font, the number of points (character size), and an edit pattern (see FIGS. 3 and 4A).

Further, the CPU 1 executes the function of the screen attribute definition creation processing section 21d to create the above-mentioned screen attribute definition information (step S6). The screen attribute definition information is information for setting the layout of the input screen for inputting the print content for each print item of the form to be created (see FIG. 3 and FIGS. 4B and 4C). .

The CPU 1 has a definition information file 7 including the created form definition information, print attribute information, and screen attribute definition information.
b is stored in the definition information file storage unit 27 of the HDD 7 (step S7).

In such a state, when the print process is instructed by the mouse 5 from the input operation screen on the display 4a, the CPU 1 executes the function of the print processing section 21f (YES in step S8). That is, the CPU 1 activates the print program 2a and executes a process for printing and outputting the form to be created. At this time, CPU1
Reads the definition information file 7b stored in the HDD 7 and provides it to the print program 2a (step S
9).

Further, the CPU 1 executes the function of the screen processing section 21e to display an input screen for creating a form on the display 4a based on the screen attribute definition information included in the definition information file 7b. Through this input screen, necessary data is input for each print item constituting the form to be created.

The printer 6 prints and outputs the form to be created by the print program 2a based on the definition information file 7b (steps S10 and S11). As described above, according to the present embodiment, the definition information file 7b is created based on the form image of the prepared original document, and the creation target form is printed by the print program 2a that refers to the definition information file 7b. Output.

Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the work process of preparing a dedicated print program for each format of the form or modifying the print program designed exclusively for the format update. In other words, by simply preparing a standard print program in advance, by creating the definition information file 7b according to the renewal of the format of the form, it is possible to create the form having the new format.

Specifically, for example, when applied to a process of creating a form such as an ED card which is often updated irregularly due to a rule revision of each country, an efficient form creating process can be realized.

Further, when a form is created, the work of inputting the print contents for each print item is normally performed by the display 4
Performed on the input screen displayed on a. Therefore, for example, when a new print item is added along with the update, it is necessary to change the format of the input screen for inputting the print content of each print item. According to the present embodiment, the change processing can be easily performed by including the screen attribute definition information for creating the format (layout) of the input screen in the definition information file 7b. (Second Embodiment) FIG. 6A is a functional block diagram related to the second embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the image color input section 60 having a color detecting function as the image reading device 3 is used.
It has. Further, the control unit 21 has an image input processing unit 61 having a color image processing function, and a form definition information automatic creation processing unit 62. The other components are the same as those in the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6B, a form original 63 is prepared by printing the above-mentioned heading area and the area 63b corresponding to the printable area in a color designated in advance as the form original. To do.

The control section (that is, the CPU 1) 21 is based on the color image data obtained by the image input processing section 61 in response to the input of the image color input section 60.
The area 63b corresponding to the heading area or the printable area is identified.

Furthermore, the form definition information automatic creation processing unit 62 of the control unit 21 is based on the identified area 63b.
The above form definition information is automatically created. That is, in the second embodiment, the form image of the form original that is actually displayed on the display 4a is not created in accordance with the input operation of the mouse 5, but is formed based on the input color image data. Automatically create definition information.

As an application example of the second embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (B), the I
The D area 63a is printed in the set color. It is possible to input the color printed ID area 63a as color image data and identify the heading area or the printable area based on the color image data. (Third Embodiment) FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram related to the third embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the control unit 21 has a print program creation processing unit 70, and the definition information files (form definition information, print attribute information, etc.) created as described above.
Screen attribute definition information) is incorporated into the print program.

That is, only the logic portion 71a of the standard print program is stored in the main memory 2 in advance. The print program creation processing unit 70 of the control unit 21 creates the print program 71 by combining the created definition information file 71b, which is the definition information file, with the logic unit 71a. The created definition information file is the definition information file storage unit 2 that is the HDD 7 as in the first embodiment.
Stored in 7.

In the system as in the third embodiment, the definition information file is incorporated instead of executing it while referring to the definition information file in which the print program is created as in the first embodiment. As a result, a dedicated print program is executed, so high-speed processing is possible.
That is, the processing time can be shortened by the access time for referring to the definition information file from the HDD 7. (Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram related to the fourth embodiment.

The fourth embodiment is a system in which the screen attribute definition information is not included in the definition information file, and the control unit 21 executes only the print processing by the print processing unit 21f and does not execute the screen processing. On the contrary, the definition information file may not include the print attribute information, and the control unit 21 may perform only the screen processing by the screen processing unit 21e and not perform the printing process.

[0051]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, O
In a form creation system using CR, a standard print program is prepared as a dedicated program required for creating forms, and definition information is created in accordance with the reformat of the form, making it possible to significantly change the dedicated program. Can be reduced to Therefore, as a result, it is possible to simplify the form creation process according to the form update and improve the production efficiency of the form creation. In particular, it is extremely effective when applied to a form creation process such as an ED card that is frequently updated irregularly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration related to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram related to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the contents of definition information related to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the contents of definition information related to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram related to the second embodiment and an example of a form.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram related to the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram related to the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... CPU (definition information generating means, print processing means) 2 ... Main memory (storage part of print program 2a) 3 ... Image reading device (image input part 23) 4 ... Input / output device (display 4a, screen display part 24) 5 ... Mouse (data input section 25) 6 ... Printer (form printing section 26) 7 ... HDD (definition information file storage section 27) 21 ... Control section (CPU1)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image input unit for optically scanning a form original corresponding to a form to be created, converting it into image data and inputting the image data, and displaying the image data input by the image input unit on a screen. A display unit, a definition information generation unit that creates definition information necessary for printing the form to be created based on the image data displayed on the screen, and the definition information generation unit. A form creating system comprising: a print processing unit that executes a print process with reference to the created definition information, and prints out a form in a format defined by the definition information. 2. An image input means for optically scanning a form original corresponding to a form to be created, converting it into image data and inputting the image data, and displaying the image data input by the image inputting device on a screen. Display means, based on the image data displayed on the screen, print-related information necessary to print and create the form to be created and the form to be created are input and displayed on the screen. Definition information generating means for creating definition information including input screen relation information for displaying, print processing is executed by referring to the print relation information in the definition information, and defined by the print relation information. Print processing means for printing out a form in a print format; and a form created by the print processing means is inputted as image data by the image input means. At this time, display processing means for executing display processing by referring to the input screen relation information in the definition information, and displaying and outputting the image data in the screen format defined by the input screen relation information on the screen. A form creation system comprising: 3. An image input unit for optically scanning a form original corresponding to a form to be created, converting it into image data and inputting the image data, and displaying the image data input by the image input unit on a screen. Display means and definition information necessary for creating the form to be created by printing based on the image data displayed on the screen, and a form definition defining a heading area and a printable area. Definition information generating means for generating definition information including information and print attribute information, and means for executing print processing of a form according to a print program prepared in advance, the definition information being generated by the definition information generating means And a print processing unit that prints out the form in the format defined by the definition information. Stem. 4. A form creating method applied to a form creating system configured by using an optical character reading device and a computer system, wherein a form original corresponding to a form to be created is optically scanned. Converting into image data and inputting; displaying the input image data on a screen; and printing the form to be created based on the image data displayed on the screen. The definition information necessary to do this, including the step of creating definition information that includes the form definition information that defines the heading area and the printable area and the print attribute information, and perform the printing process by referring to the created definition information. Run and
And a step of printing out a form in a format defined by the definition information. 5. An image input unit having a color detection function for optically scanning a form original corresponding to a form to be created, converting it into color image data, and inputting the image, and the image inputting unit. Display means for displaying image data on a screen, and form definition information and print attribute information necessary for performing print processing to create the form to be created based on the image data displayed on the screen A means for creating definition information, which recognizes a color-printed area designated in advance on the original document as a heading area and a printable area, and stores the form definition information defining the heading area and the printable area. Definition information generation means that is automatically generated and that is created by inputting the print attribute information on the screen, and printing of forms according to a print program prepared in advance A means for executing a process, comprising: print processing means for referring to the definition information created by the definition information generating means and printing out a form in a format defined by the definition information. Form creation system.