JPH10228472A - Character recognition supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for automatically judging a character which is difficult to be identified and enlarging/displaying it in display by a document compiling software. SOLUTION: Streak density in a part where streaks are most dense in characters on the respective characters is registered in a display auxiliary information dictionary 24. The character code of a candidate character which FEP(front end processor) 12 obtains against the input of a user is transferred to a character recognition supporting device 30. The character recognition supporting device 30 obtains information on the streak density of the candidate character from a display auxiliary information dictionary 24 based on the character code. A display size acquirement part 302 acquires the setting value of the character display size of an FEP line from FEP 12. An identification display propriety judgment part 310 judges whether the candidate character can be identified on display on the FET line based on the streak density and the display size of the FEP line. When it is judged that it cannot be identified, the candidate character is enlarged/displayed by an enlargement processing part 312.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for assisting a user in confirming characters when editing or correcting a document in a document processing system operated on a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of input methods such as the kana-kanji conversion method, Japanese processing has become common even in personal computers.

When inputting Japanese in software that handles Japanese, a front-end processor (FEP) is required.
Japanese abbreviation) is used.
Generally, when the FEP is started for Japanese input, a display area or window (hereinafter, referred to as “FEP line”) for the FEP is provided in a part (for example, the lower end) of the display device screen.
Is generated. Then, when the user inputs a reading sequence from the keyboard and presses a conversion key, conversion candidates corresponding to the reading sequence are displayed on the FEP line. If the candidate is desired by the user, it is confirmed by pressing the enter key. If not, the next candidate is displayed again by pressing the conversion key. By such processing,
The user can input a desired character. In some word processing software, conversion candidates are displayed directly in the document editing screen instead of securing the FEP line. The above example is an input example using Kana-Kanji conversion, but in the Japanese input method, in addition to this, a radical search method in which a radical is specified and searched, and a code input in which a character is directly specified by a character code There are methods.

In the field of publishing and printing, a system using a computer such as a computer typesetting system has been conventionally used. This computer typesetting system is a high-performance dedicated system using a dedicated machine.
With the advancement of networking, an environment is being prepared in which almost one personal computer or workstation (hereinafter, abbreviated as "PC", etc.) can be assigned to one person. DTP (desktop publishing) that has evolved based on
With the accumulation of technology, a system for performing specialized editing and typesetting processing using an inexpensive general-purpose PC instead of an expensive dedicated machine has been developed and is becoming popular.

[0005]

In general, when selecting characters on an FEP line or when correcting an edited document, it is necessary to check whether the characters displayed on the display device are the desired characters. There is. However, since the resolution of the display device screen is much lower than that of the printing paper, it may be difficult to confirm the characters in Japanese processing including kanji with many strokes or confusing kanji. In a general FEP, the display size of a character on an FEP line on a display device is about 4 mm square, and it is difficult to identify a kanji having a large number of strokes or a confusing kanji at such a size. In addition, in the field of publishing and printing, special characters such as those used only for personal names and place names are often used in addition to standardized characters such as JIS first level and second level, as shown in FIG. Often, it is necessary to use characters with slightly different fonts. By the way, in the example of FIG. 13 (a), the size of the “stone” bias differs between the left and right characters, and in the example of FIG. 13 (b), it is determined whether the left and right characters are separated or in contact with each other. Also, in the example of (c), one stroke of the “ear” deviation is penetrated by the right character, but is not penetrated by the left character. These are examples in which the font is slightly different for the same character, but there is a character that has a subtle difference even if it is completely different (in other words, very similar). 2 listed in FIG.
One character is an example. If characters are displayed in a fixed display size in the FEP line or the document editing window, it is difficult to identify such a subtle difference.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and includes complicated characters having a large number of strokes,
Confirmation of difficult-to-identify characters when entering characters that are difficult to identify on the display device, such as characters with similar characters with slight differences, or when proofreading a document containing such characters It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that facilitates the operation.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a character checking support apparatus according to the present invention provides a document processing system for displaying input characters in a predetermined character display area on a display device. An apparatus for supporting confirmation of characters, a display auxiliary information dictionary in which fine-density information of characters is registered, and a display size acquisition unit configured to acquire a display size of characters in the character display area from the document processing system;
Obtaining the fine-density information of the specified character from the display auxiliary information dictionary, and determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the fine-density information and the display size. Identification display enabling / disabling determination means, and an enlargement display means for generating a predetermined enlarged display area when it is determined that identification display is impossible and enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area. It is characterized by the following.

Here, the document processing system is not limited to a document editing system in a narrow sense such as a word processor, but generally refers to a general system that handles characters. The character display area is a display area for characters generated by the document processing system, and is, for example, an FEP line or an edit window.

The fine-density information is information about the densest part of an image (or a stippling) in the character pattern (font). Characters are difficult to identify when, for example, an object that should be separated is displayed in contact with an object due to lack of resolution or the like. Conversely, if adjacent objects can be displayed in a separated state in the portion where the objects are densest, the character can be easily identified. Therefore, in the present invention, it is determined whether or not the character can be identified and displayed based on whether or not the densest part of the character can be displayed separately. For this reason, as the fine-density information, for example, the repetition density of the object in the densest part of the object (this density can be expressed in units of, for example, the number of objects in the vertical or horizontal direction of the character) ) Can be used.

[0010] The identification display means that the user can display the character so that the character can be identified. For example, a state in which the densest part (or a character-characteristic part) of the character is visible. That can be displayed with

The display size obtaining means obtains the display size of the character from the document processing system. Here, the display size is given as a value based on the resolution of the display device, such as a value in the number of pixels (how many pixels × how many pixels). The identification display availability determination means determines whether the character can be identified and displayed on the character display area based on the display size of the character and the fine-density information of the character to be confirmed acquired from the display auxiliary information dictionary. . That is, when the character is displayed at the display size, it is determined whether or not the densest part (or characteristic part) of the character is visible. This determination is made, for example, when the number of pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions at the display size is
This is performed by checking whether or not the image repeated at the repetition density of the image represented in the fine-density information is sufficient to be displayed separately. In the simplest case, the number of pixels in the vertical (or horizontal) direction assigned to the display size of the character display area is determined by the vertical (or horizontal) of the character at the object repetition density indicated in the fine-density information. If the size of the object is larger than twice the total number of objects when the object is repeated over the entire direction, the character can be identified and displayed at its display size. Then, when it is determined that the identification display is not possible, the enlarged display means generates an enlarged display area as a display area different from the character display area, and enlarges the character in the enlarged display area. indicate.

According to this configuration, if it is determined that the character cannot be identified by displaying the character in the character display area provided by the document processing system, the apparatus according to the present invention enlarges the character. The display allows the user to identify and confirm the character by the enlarged display. In this configuration, whether or not to display an enlarged image is determined not only from the condition of only characters but also in consideration of the setting of the character display area in the document processing system that displays the characters. Even if the character is sufficiently identifiable even in the setting of the character display area of the system, no enlarged display is performed. That is, in the configuration of the present invention, although the enlarged display is performed based on the automatic determination, useless enlarged display is not performed.

Further, in the above-described configuration, the fine-density information of the character, which is one factor for determining whether or not the identification display is possible, is registered in the display auxiliary information dictionary in advance. It is also possible to provide a fine-density calculating means for obtaining fine-density information from a font pattern used in the above-mentioned method, and to determine whether or not identification display is possible based on the fine-density information obtained by this means. The fine-density calculating means obtains fine-density information, for example, by analyzing font pattern information and the like to obtain a repetition density of object lines. According to this configuration, it is not necessary to determine the fine-density information for each character in advance and register it in the dictionary.

[0014] In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the identification display availability determination means includes a determination condition storage means storing determination conditions in the identification display availability determination, and a condition setting means for setting the determination conditions in the determination condition storage means. Have.

[0015] In this configuration, the identification display permission / inhibition determination means includes:
It is determined whether or not the identification display is possible with reference to the determination condition stored in the determination condition storage means. Here, the determination condition is a condition serving as a criterion for determining whether or not identification is possible, such as the value of the minimum number of pixels that can be visually recognized on the display device. That is, depending on the size and sharpness of the display device or the visual acuity of the user, the same one-pixel line can be properly identified,
Sometimes it cannot be identified by bleeding. Therefore, in the present configuration, for example, a condition relating to the discriminating ability, such as how many pixels must be at least visible, is set as a judgment condition, and the judgment is made with reference to the judgment condition in the judgment of discriminability. In this configuration, a means for setting the determination condition is provided, and the determination condition can be reset as appropriate in response to a change over time in the performance of the display device or the like. It is possible to determine whether or not to perform enlarged display under the optimum determination condition.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an identifiable size of a character determined based on the fine-density information of the character determined to be indistinguishable is displayed, and the character is displayed in this size. In this configuration, the minimum display size (identifiable size) for displaying the character in an identifiable state on the display device is determined from a value such as the repetition density of the object line indicated in the fine-density information of the character. By enlarging and displaying the character to the size, it is possible to prevent the character from being unnecessarily enlarged. In the configuration in which the determination conditions for determining whether or not to enable identification display can be set, the determination conditions are taken into account in determining the identifiable size, so that the appropriate identifiable size can always be determined by following changes over time of the display device or the like. Can be requested.

Further, in still another preferred aspect of the present invention, the character confirmation support device registers, for each predetermined character, a similar character of the character and a characteristic portion for identifying the character from the similar character. A similar character dictionary, and similar character indicating means for checking the presence or absence of similar characters by using the similar character dictionary for characters to be enlarged and displayed by the enlarged display means, and displaying the presence of similar characters when there is a similar character. When there is a similar character, a characteristic display means for searching the similar character dictionary for the characteristic part of the character to be enlarged and displaying the characteristic part.

That is, even if a character is enlarged and displayed in detail, if the user does not know the existence of a similar character to that character, the user cannot determine whether the currently displayed character is the target character. Therefore, in the present configuration, when there is a similar character, the similar character indicating means performs a display indicating the existence of the similar character, so that the user can know the existence of the similar character and check in more detail. . Further, in the present configuration, when a similar character is present in the enlarged displayed character, the user can display the characteristic portion of the character by clearly displaying the characteristic portion, for example, by changing the color, so that the user can recognize the character. It is possible to know which part of the character should be checked by paying attention. The display of the characteristic portion may be performed automatically or may be performed after a user's instruction.

In this configuration, a similar character display unit for retrieving and displaying a similar character of the character enlarged and displayed by the enlargement display unit from the similar character dictionary is provided. You can select the target character from. The display of the similar characters may be automatically performed, or may be performed after a user's instruction. In the display of the similar characters, by highlighting the characteristic portion, the user can more easily select a target character.

The present invention further provides a procedure for acquiring the display size of a character in a character display area of the document processing system from a document processing system and a display auxiliary information dictionary in which fine-density information of each character is registered. Obtaining the fine character information of the character, determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the display size and the fine density information, Providing a recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of generating a predetermined enlarged display area when it is determined to be possible and enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area. I do.

According to the present invention, a procedure for acquiring a display size of a character in a character display area of the document processing system from a document processing system, a step of acquiring font data of a character from the document processing system, and analyzing the font data are performed. A step of acquiring the fine-density information of the character, and a step of determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the display size and the fine-density information,
When it is determined that identification display is impossible, a predetermined enlarged display area is generated, and a procedure for enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area is recorded. A recording medium is provided.

When the programs recorded on these recording media are executed by a computer system, a character confirmation support device according to the present invention is constituted. The concept of the recording medium includes all machine-readable media on which programs are recorded, such as a flexible disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a flash memory.
Note that a method of providing and recording the above program via a communication medium is also included in the aspect of the present invention.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system including a character confirmation support device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the input device 10 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The input dictionary 14 is a dictionary in which information for kana-kanji conversion and radical search is registered. An FEP (front end processor) 12 searches the input dictionary 14 for candidate characters corresponding to the input from the input device 10. The window system 20 uses the FEP
12 window (FEP line) for CRT
Alternatively, the candidate character is displayed on the display device 22 such as a liquid crystal panel, and the candidate character is displayed in the window. The user sees this display and selects the display of the next candidate or the determination of the character, and the data (character code) of the determined character is supplied to the document editing application 16. Document editing application 1
Reference numeral 6 denotes an editing buffer 162 for holding data on a document being edited, and a cursor control unit 1 for controlling a cursor.
64 and a display control unit 166 that controls display of the application. In this embodiment,
Since the configuration is not directly related to the configuration of the document editing application 16, the detailed configuration and functions of the document editing application 16 are omitted. The font (pattern) for displaying each character is registered in the display font dictionary 18. Here, it is assumed that the font of each character is described in an outline font format. The display control unit 166 obtains the font of each character of the document in the editing buffer 162 from the display font dictionary 18, and generates a display image of the editing window by rendering the font at a predetermined display size. Then, the editing window is displayed on the display device 22 via the window system 20.

In such a system, the display device 2
A character confirmation support device 30 is provided to support confirmation of characters on the FEP line displayed in 2 and the edit window. The character confirmation support device 30 of the present embodiment includes:
It can be used for confirmation of input characters or confirmation of characters at the time of proofreading.

In the character confirmation support device 30, the display size obtaining unit 302 obtains the display size of the character in the editing window or the FEP line from the document editing application 16 or the FEP 12. The document editing application 16 has setting information of the display size of the character in the editing window. The display size is set by, for example, a value in units of the number of pixels. Display size is m
If the length is set in units of length, such as m, the display size acquisition unit 302 also acquires information on the resolution of the display device 22,
The display size is converted into the number of pixels. The display size obtaining unit 302 obtains the display size setting information.
Further, the display auxiliary information acquisition unit 304 acquires display auxiliary information of a character to be confirmed from the display auxiliary information dictionary 24.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of display auxiliary information data registered in the display auxiliary information dictionary 24. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the display auxiliary information dictionary 24 has data of a character code, an enlarged display target flag, and fine density information for each character.

The enlarged display target flag is a flag indicating whether or not the character is an enlarged display target character. Here, characters that have complicated strokes and are not well-known, or characters that have confusing characters similar to the characters, such as variant characters, are regarded as enlarged display target characters. Conversely, well-known characters (such as JIS first-level kanji) with slightly complicated strokes,
Objects without similar confusing characters are not subject to enlargement display.

Further, the fine-density information is information which serves as a basis for determining whether or not character identification display can be described later and calculating an enlarged display size of a character. Including data. In this example, the fine density information includes data of a fine density position and a fine density value. The fine-density position is information on the position coordinates of the portion where the image is densest. For example, a coordinate system is defined for an outer frame (character frame) surrounding a character, and the vertical or horizontal length of the character frame is determined. Is represented by 1 and coordinate values are normalized. The fine-density value is an index value indicating the degree of denseness of objects at the fine-density position.For example, an image is displayed over the entire size of the character at an interval between adjacent objects in the most intricate part of the character. It can be defined as the number of objects that can be arranged when lines are repeatedly arranged. In this case, the unit of the fine density value is “image / character” (the number of image lines per character).

Such an enlarged display target flag and fine-density information are determined in advance by a font vendor that provides a display font, and provided as display auxiliary information in a dictionary. Note that fine-density information does not need to be registered for characters that are not to be enlarged and displayed.

If the display auxiliary information dictionary is registered with only the characters to be enlarged and displayed, it is possible to know whether or not the character is to be enlarged or not according to whether or not it is registered in the dictionary. Becomes unnecessary. If a plurality of typefaces exist for each character, display auxiliary information is created for each typeface. In this case, the display auxiliary information includes font code information as a search key.

Returning to FIG. 1, the discrimination ability information storage unit 30
Reference numeral 6 stores information relating to the discrimination ability of the display / recognition system including the display device 22 and the user. That is, ideally, if both the image portion and the non-image portion (that is, a blank portion between the images) have a thickness of one pixel, adjacent image lines should be able to be separated and viewed. When the clarity of the display device 22 is deteriorated due to aging or when the user's visual acuity is low, the thickness of one pixel may be blurred and cannot be separated and viewed. Further, even with the same number of pixels, the visibility is different depending on the size of the screen of the display device. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in consideration of such a case, if the image portion and the non-image portion each have a thickness of at least a certain number of pixels, the adjacent image lines in the display / recognition system can be used. Is determined beforehand, and the value is set in the identification capability information storage unit 306 as identification capability information. The value of the discrimination ability information may be different for the object portion and the non-object portion. Further, different values may be set for the white pixel portion and the black pixel portion.

This setting is performed using the discriminating ability setting unit 308. For example, the discrimination ability setting unit 308 is
Is displayed, and the width or the black line interval of the black line of the stripe pattern is sequentially reduced. When the user makes a predetermined input when the black line cannot be separated and visually recognized, the identification capability setting unit 308 sets the user Can determine the limit that can be visually recognized separately, and can set it automatically. Note that in a system using a display device such as a liquid crystal display that does not cause deterioration in resolution, it is not necessary to consider the discrimination ability when it is not necessary to consider the user's visual acuity. The setting unit 308 becomes unnecessary.

The identification display permission / non-permission determination unit 310 determines whether or not the character to be confirmed (that is, the character input by the user or the character specified by the cursor or the like on the edit window) can be identified and displayed on the display device 22. It is determined whether or not it can be displayed so as to be visually recognized as characters.
Specifically, the identification display permission / inhibition determination unit 310 displays the character display size on the FEP line (or the document editing window) acquired by the display size acquisition unit 302 and the display of the character acquired by the display auxiliary information acquisition unit 304. Based on the auxiliary information and the identification capability information stored in the identification capability information storage unit 306, it is determined whether identification display is possible. A specific determination method will be described later.

When the identification display permission / inhibition determination section 310 determines that identification display is impossible, the enlargement processing section 312 and the similar character processing section 314 are activated. The enlargement processing unit 312 determines the enlarged display size of the check target character, renders the outline font of the character acquired from the display font dictionary 18 at the enlarged display size, and generates an enlarged display image of the character. . Further, a window size that can accommodate the enlarged display image is calculated, and these data are supplied to the display control unit 316. Display control unit 3
16 transfers these data to the window system 20, and as a result, an enlarged display window in which the character is enlarged and displayed on the display device 22 is displayed. This enlarged display makes it easy to confirm whether the character is the target character.

The similar character processing unit 314 checks the character to be enlarged and displayed for a similar character, and if there is a similar character, performs a predetermined process for confirming the character in consideration of the similar character. Here, the similar character includes a variant character or a character having a similar character shape even if it is not a variant character.

Information on similar characters is stored in the similar character dictionary 26.
Registered in. That is, in the similar character dictionary 26,
As shown in FIG. 3, as similar character information for each character,
A character code of the character, a similar character presence flag indicating whether or not a similar character exists in the character, characteristic portion information that is information indicating a characteristic portion for identifying the character, and a list of similar characters of the character Is registered. Here, the characteristic portion of a character is a portion of the character pattern that is different from a similar character (for example,
Side, stipple, or part of the stipple), which is a characteristic part for distinguishing the character from each similar character. For example, in FIG. 14, the stippled character in “Bo” is the characteristic portion. As the characteristic part information, for example, data indicating the position of the characteristic part as described above can be used. In addition, for example, data indicating the pattern of the characteristic portion itself, or pattern data of the entire character in which the characteristic portion is displayed in a display mode different from that of the other portions may be used. In the similar character list, for example, the character codes of each similar character are listed.

The similar character processing unit 314, when it is determined by the identification display permission / inhibition determining unit 310 that the character to be confirmed cannot be identified and displayed, stores an entry corresponding to the character code of the character in the similar character dictionary 26. Then, it is determined whether or not there is a similar character in the character based on the similar character presence flag. If there is a similar character, a display for notifying the existence of the similar character is performed on the display device 22. As the display method, for example, blinking (blinking) the enlarged display character in the enlarged display window, changing the display color, and the like can be considered. By this display, the user can
Knowing the existence of a similar character, it is possible to confirm whether this character is the target character.

Further, the similar character processing unit 314 performs a display for clearly displaying a characteristic portion in an enlarged display of the character to be confirmed, when there is a similar character in the character to be confirmed, in order to support character confirmation. Alternatively, a list of similar characters is displayed. Note that these processes are not necessarily required in all cases. For example, when it is possible to confirm that a target character is obtained only by enlarged display, it is not necessary to perform these processes. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the similar character processing unit 314 provides a user interface for receiving the instruction of the above-described feature display processing and similar character display processing on the screen of the display device 22, and requests the user from the user interface using the user interface. Only when there is, such a process is executed. The similar character processing unit 31
The data of the feature display and the data of the list display generated by the processing of step 4 are imaged by the display control unit 316,
The information is displayed on the display device 22 via the window system 20.

The display font dictionary 18, the display auxiliary information dictionary 24 and the similar character dictionary 26 used in the above configuration are used.
The information of the three dictionaries may be integrated into one dictionary.

The configuration of an example of the information processing system in which the character confirmation support device of the present embodiment is incorporated has been described.
Here, the above-described character confirmation support device can be constructed by loading a program describing the functions of the above-described units on a memory in a computer system and executing the program by a CPU. Databases such as the display auxiliary information dictionary 24 and the similar character dictionary 26 are constructed on a hard disk device of a computer system, for example, and are referred to by the above-mentioned program. Such program or table data is provided in a state stored in a medium. As a medium storing a program or the like, for example, a flexible disk, a CD-RO
M, a memory card, or the like can be used. The program and data recorded on the medium are installed in a storage device incorporated in the computer system, for example, a hard disk device, so that the program can be executed to realize the functions described in this embodiment by executing the program. Contributes to the construction of equipment. Such a program for character confirmation support is, for example, document editing software or F
It can be incorporated in an EP or the like, or can be used independently as a single module.

Next, a specific processing procedure in the system of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to flowcharts and the like.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, the character confirmation support device 30 can support character confirmation at the time of character input and at the time of document proofreading, respectively. here,
The procedure of processing at the time of character input will be described.

[Processing at the time of character input] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of character input. When using the character confirmation support function of the present embodiment at the time of character input, the mode of the character confirmation support device 30 is set to the FEP interlocking mode. Thereby, the candidate characters searched by the FEP are to be checked. In FIG. 4, first, a reading or a radical name is input from the input device 10 (S10), and a candidate character (or a candidate word or the like) corresponding to the input is obtained by the FEP 12 by a user's selection operation such as a conversion key input. And
This is displayed on the FEP line of the display device 22 (S12). The character code of the candidate character is passed to the character confirmation support device 30. In the case of conversion in units of words or phrases, the character code of each character of the candidate word / phrase is
Alternatively, the characters are transferred to the character confirmation support device 30 one by one.
In the following, the processing procedure will be described by taking conversion and retrieval in units of characters as an example, but basically the same procedure may be used in the case of conversion in units of words or phrases.

Then, the display auxiliary information acquisition section 304
Retrieves the display auxiliary information corresponding to the character code from the display auxiliary information dictionary 24, and notifies the identification display availability determination unit 310. First, the identification display permission / inhibition determination unit 310 checks the enlarged display target flag of the display auxiliary information and determines whether or not the candidate character is the enlarged display target character (S14). If the candidate character is not a character to be enlarged and displayed, the character confirmation support device 3
A value of 0 indicates that no further processing is performed on the candidate character. Therefore, the user determines whether the candidate character is the target character only by displaying the normal FEP line or the like (S
22) If the character is the target character, an operation such as input of a confirmation key is performed (S24). If the character is not the target character, a selection operation such as input of a conversion key is further performed (S12).

If it is determined in step S14 that the candidate character is a character to be enlarged and displayed, the identification display permission / inhibition determination unit 310 determines whether the candidate character can be identified and displayed. Perform (S16). Here, the processing of S16 will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the identification display availability determination unit 310 acquires the display size of the character on the FEP line from the FEP 12 via the display size acquisition unit 302 (S40). Further, the fine-density information is extracted from the display auxiliary information (S42), and the identification capability information is obtained from the identification capability information storage unit 306 (S44). Then, the identification display availability determination unit 310 determines whether or not the candidate character can be identified by the display on the FEP line based on the information.

Here, the identification display availability determination section 310
For example, an identifiable size of the candidate character is obtained based on the fine-density information and the identification capability information (S46), and the identifiable size is compared with the display size on the FEP line (S4).
It is determined based on 8) whether or not identification display is possible. The identifiable size is a display size required to display the character in an identifiable state.

Here, the concept of determining the recognizable size will be described. The first condition for the characters to be identifiable is that adjacent objects can be visually recognized as separate objects in a portion where the objects are densest. For this purpose, it is necessary to allocate a width of at least one pixel to a blank portion between the image lines in the densest portion. Therefore, ideally, a display size that allows one pixel to be assigned to a blank portion (referred to as a non-image portion) between adjacent image lines in the densest portion is an identifiable size. However, as described above, the discrimination ability of the display / recognition system differs depending on individual circumstances such as aging of the display device and the user's eyesight, so that a blank portion may not be sufficiently recognized with a width of one pixel. . Therefore, in the present embodiment, the number of pixels to be allocated to the non-image portion of the densest portion is determined with reference to the identification capability information stored in the The number of pixels to be assigned to the whole is obtained, and this is set as an identifiable size. For example, in the case where the object repetition density in the densest part of the object is 20 (image / character) and the minimum number of recognizable pixels in the identification capability information is 2 pixels, first, the image repetition Since there are the same number of non-image portions for the density of 20 (images / characters), twice the 20
Since it is necessary to express 0 object / non-image portion and each image / non-image portion requires 2 or more pixels, the display size of 80 pixels x 80 pixels is eventually the identifiable size of the character. It turns out that.

The above is the basic idea of obtaining the identifiable size. When a character image is generated by rendering from an outline font, the following points must be further considered. In other words, the outline font describes the outline shape of the stroke part of the character, and when it is rendered, the minimum unit of display is 1
Since the pixels are pixels, the image portion is displayed with a width of one pixel even if the width is smaller than one pixel. That is, the image portion tends to be drawn thicker than the width specified in the font. For this reason, the non-image portion is drawn narrower than the font specification. For example, it is assumed that the identifiable display size is determined so that the width of one pixel is assigned to the non-image portion of the densest portion. However, depending on the arrangement position of the object in the densest portion, there is a possibility that the rendering process will render the image up to the one-pixel width area assigned to the non-object portion. In order to prevent such a situation, in the present embodiment, as the fine-density information, in addition to the fine-density value such as the image repetition density, a fine-density position, which is the position information of the portion where the fine-density value is obtained, is used. I have registered. As the fine-density position, for example, the coordinates of both ends of the non-image portion (the both ends in the width direction of the non-image portion) in the densest portion of the character are registered. When the coordinates of both ends of this non-image portion are applied to the bitmap of the display size obtained from the fine-density value and the discriminating ability information,
If a predetermined number of pixels indicated by the discrimination ability information cannot be completely secured between the coordinate values at both ends of the non-image portion, the size is insufficient. In this case,
When the value of the size is increased and a predetermined number of pixels indicated in the discrimination ability information can be completely secured between the coordinate values at both ends of the non-image portion, the size is set as the recognizable size.

When the identifiable size of the character to be confirmed is calculated in step S46, the identifiable size is compared with the display size of the character on the FEP line acquired by the display size acquiring unit 302. (S48). As a result of this comparison, if the display size of the FEP line is larger, the character is sufficiently identifiable on the display on the FEP line. Conversely, if the display size of the FEP line is smaller, the character is FEP. No identification display is possible on the line.

The flow of the identification display permission / inhibition determination processing for the character to be confirmed in S16 has been described above in detail. Hereinafter, returning to FIG. 4 again, the processing after this determination will be described.

If it is determined in step S16 that the character can be identified and displayed, it means that the character can be sufficiently identified on the display on the FEP line. The process proceeds to S22 to S26 in the same manner as when not performing.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S16 that the identification display is impossible, the enlargement processing section 312 is activated and the character is enlarged and displayed (S18). Here, the enlargement processing unit 312 receives the value of the identifiable size from the identification display availability determination unit 310, and enlarges and displays the character in the identifiable size. At the time of the enlarged display, the enlargement processing unit 312 generates an enlarged display window large enough to accommodate a character of an identifiable size, and displays the character in the identifiable size in the enlarged display window.

FIG. 6 shows a display example when the character is enlarged and displayed as described above. In FIG. 6, the designation of the character at the position of the cursor 110 in the editing window 100 is input by the user, and the candidate character 104 corresponding to the input is specified.
Are displayed in the FEP line 102. The candidate character 104 cannot be identified and displayed with the display size of the FEP line 102, and the details of the character are crushed as shown in the figure. For this reason, the character confirmation support device 30 of the present embodiment
As a result, the enlarged display window 106 is generated, and the character is enlarged and displayed. The user can visually recognize the details of the character by this enlarged display, and can easily confirm the target character.

Even if a character is magnified and displayed in detail, if the user does not know that there is a similar character to the character, the user can select the character whose magnified display is present in the head. Just because they are similar to a character, the character may be determined to be the target character even though it is actually different. In the present embodiment, in order to prevent such a situation, when the enlarged display is performed (S18), a process (similar character process) for notifying the presence or absence of a similar character of the character is performed (S20). ). Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the similar character processing will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the similar character processing unit 314 searches the similar character dictionary 26 for similar character information of a character to be enlarged and displayed, and determines the presence or absence of a similar character based on the similar character presence flag (S50). Here, if there is no similar character, nothing is performed. On the other hand, when there is a similar character, the similar character processing unit 314 performs a display indicating the existence of the similar character on the screen of the display device 22 (S52). As a method of this display, for example, the enlarged display window 106
A method of blinking the enlarged display characters in (see FIG. 6) or a method of changing the display color of the enlarged display characters can be considered. Further, a message indicating that a similar character exists may be displayed in the enlarged display window 106 or another window.

As shown in FIG. 8, two buttons, a feature display button 120 and a similar character display button 122, are displayed in the enlarged display window 106. The similar character processing unit 314 constantly monitors whether these buttons 120 and 122 are selected (S54 and S6).
0), when selected, the following processing is performed.

First, when the user selects the feature display button 120 using a mouse or the like (S54), the similar character processing unit 314 uses the similar character information (see FIG. 3) obtained from the similar character dictionary 26 in S50. Partial information is extracted (S56), and a display for specifying the characteristic part of the character enlarged and displayed based on the characteristic part information is performed (S5).
8). This display is performed by, for example, blinking the character characteristic portion 150 or displaying the character character portion 150 in a display color different from the other portions in the enlarged display in the enlarged display window 106 as shown in FIG. The way of indicating the characteristic portion is not limited to this, and for example, a method of displaying an arrow indicating the characteristic portion or enclosing the characteristic portion with a circle or the like may be adopted. Instead of showing the characteristic portion in the enlarged display of the enlarged display window 106, another window dedicated to the characteristic display may be generated, and the display showing the characteristic portion may be performed there.

When the user presses the similar character display button 122
Is selected (S60), the similar character processing unit 314
At 50, a similar character list is extracted from the similar character information acquired from the similar character dictionary 26, and a list of similar characters is displayed based on this list (S62). Specifically, the similar character processing unit 314 generates the similar character display window 124 shown in FIG. 8, and displays the display font dictionary 1 based on the character code of each similar character shown in the similar character list.
8 and obtains font data of each similar character from the similar character display window 124 based on the font data.
Each similar character is displayed in a list. When the number of similar characters is large, all the similar characters can be seen by scrolling the screen of the similar character display window 124 with a scroll bar or expanding the size of the similar character display window 124. The user
Each character displayed in the enlarged display window 106 and the similar character display window 124 is closely examined, and a target character is selected (S64). This selection is made by, for example, clicking a target character with a mouse or the like. Here, the character code of the character selected by the user is FEP12
(S66), and the display character on the FEP line is changed to the selected character. Thereby, the character confirmation support device 3
The selection processing at 0 and the FEP 12 can be linked. The display in the enlarged display window 106 is changed to the display of the selected character.

When the similar character processing (S20) is completed in this manner, the process returns to FIG. 4 again, and the user determines whether or not the character displayed in the enlarged display window 106 is the target character (S22). If it is not a character, the user further performs a character selection operation using the FEP 12 by inputting a conversion key (S12). If the character displayed in an enlarged manner is the target character, the user presses the enter key or the like to enter F
A character determination operation is performed on the EP 12 (S24). When the character is determined, the enlarged display window 106 and the similar character display window 124 are closed (S26).

In this example, a list of similar characters is displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
A display method may be adopted in which similar characters are displayed one by one in order.

The processing procedure at the time of character input according to the present embodiment has been described above. Next, a processing procedure in document proofreading will be described.

[Processing at the time of document proofing] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of document proofing, which will be described below with reference to FIG. 10 and FIG.

When using the character confirmation support function of the present embodiment at the time of proofreading, the mode of the character confirmation support device 30 is set to the cursor interlocking mode. As a result, the character located at the cursor position is to be checked. The user checks whether each character is a correct character by sequentially moving the cursor on the editing window generated by the document editing application 16. Here, the character confirmation support device 30 acquires the cursor position from the cursor control unit 164 of the document editing application 16, and acquires the character code of the character corresponding to the cursor position from the editing buffer 162 (S7).
0). The character confirmation support device 30 determines whether or not the character acquired in this manner is a character to be enlarged and displayed (S72), and if it is a character to be enlarged and displayed, performs identification display availability determination processing (S74). . If it is determined in the identification display availability determination processing that identification display is not possible, an enlarged display window is opened and the character is enlarged and displayed (S76). The specific processing contents in S72, S74 and S76 are based on the case of the above-described character input (FIGS. 4, 5).
Reference). The user determines whether the character is the target character based on the display in the editing window or the enlarged display window (S78), and if not, corrects the character (S82). Correction of characters is FE
This is performed by inputting a correct character from P or the like. The character confirmation at the time of this correction can be performed in the same procedure as the above-described character input. When the target character is obtained on the editing window, the cursor is moved to confirm the next character (S80).

The configuration and function of the embodiment of the present invention have been described above. As described above, according to the above embodiment, if the character cannot be identified by the size of the character display area provided by the FEP or the document editing application, the character is enlarged and displayed to a size that can be identified. Thus, it is possible to assist the user in confirming characters. Moreover, in the above embodiment, whether or not to enlarge the display is obtained not only from the condition of only the character to be confirmed but also by considering the setting of the display area of the FEP or the document editing application for displaying the character. So FEP
When the characters can be sufficiently identified in the display, the enlarged display is not performed, and the useless enlarged display is not performed. Further, in the above embodiment, when a similar character is present in the enlarged displayed character, a display suggesting the existence of the similar character, a display of a characteristic portion of the character, and a list display of similar characters can be performed. The user can confirm the character in consideration of the similar character.

In the above-described embodiment, the fine-density information is determined based on the portion where the object is the densest in the character. However, the following modified example can be considered.

The first modification is a method of determining fine-density information based on a characteristic portion of a character. For example, in the example of FIG. 13C described above, the left and right characters are discriminated based on whether or not a part of the “ear” deviation is protruding. The presence or absence of protrusions must be clearly visible. Therefore, the protruding portion of the "ear" bias is a characteristic portion of the character (c). In this case, for example, the position of the characteristic portion is set as the fine-density position, and as shown in FIG. 11, the ratio A / a between the size a of the characteristic portion and the size A of the entire character may be set as the fine-density value. Further, the repetition density of the image in the characteristic portion may be set as the fine density value. For example, when the size ratio between the characteristic portion and the entire character is adopted as the fine density value, the product of the fine density value and the minimum number of visible pixels indicated in the identification capability information is defined as the identifiable size. It is sufficient to perform the determination of whether or not the identification display is possible and the enlargement display processing based on.

According to this modification, useless enlarged display processing can be reduced. In other words, if the densest part of the image is physically used as the basis of the fine-density information, the characteristic part of the character can be displayed in a sufficiently identifiable state, but it happened to be fine in the design Just because the part cannot be identified and displayed, the character is determined to be unidentifiable and the enlarged display may be performed. On the other hand, according to this modification, the necessity of the enlarged display is determined according to whether or not the characteristic portion of the character can be identified and displayed.
Such inefficient enlargement display processing can be prevented.

In the second modification, a display size (or a display size capable of displaying a characteristic portion with a sufficient resolution) necessary for displaying the character pattern in detail is previously set in units such as the number of pixels. In this method, the display size value itself is used as fine-density information. In this case, the product of the display size value and the minimum number of visible pixels indicated in the discrimination ability information may be used as the discriminable size, and based on this, the judgment of whether or not the discrimination display is possible and the enlarged display processing may be performed.

In the above embodiment, whether or not each character can be identified and displayed is determined based on the fine-density information registered in the display auxiliary information dictionary 24. However, without providing such a display auxiliary information dictionary 24, It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which fine-density information is obtained in real time when determining whether or not identification display is possible. In this case, for example, the font data of the character to be checked is obtained from the display font dictionary 18 and the font data is analyzed to calculate the position where the object is the densest in the character and the object density there. . Specifically, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a vertical or horizontal scanning line 50 or 52 is set with respect to the coordinate system of the font of the character, and this scanning line is scrolled little by little over the entire character, so that each non-scanning line that crosses each scanning line is sequentially displayed. The width of the object portion is determined, the minimum value among them is set as the fine density value, and the coordinates of both ends of the non-image portion corresponding to the minimum value are set as the fine density position. In addition,
In such a case, a well-known character such as the JIS first level is flagged in the display font dictionary as not being enlarged, and such a character is detailed. Omitting the density calculation processing can improve the processing efficiency.

In the above embodiment, the case where the display font is in the outline font format has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to a bitmap font. In the case of bitmap fonts, the display size (the number of pixels) is basically fixed, and at least one pixel is secured in each of the image area and the non-image area. However, there is no possibility that adjacent objects will touch each other, but it may still be difficult to distinguish characters depending on the screen size of the display device, the aging of the sharpness of the display device, or the eyesight of the user. is there. Therefore, it is desirable to determine whether or not the bitmap font can be identified and displayed, and enlarge and display the bitmap font as needed. In this case, for example, the minimum width of the object line or non-image part in the bitmap font is registered as fine-density information in the display auxiliary information dictionary 24 or the like, and the minimum width is stored in the identification capability information storage unit 30.
A determination method such as performing enlarged display when the minimum width of an image line or the like is smaller than the minimum number of pixels that can be identified registered in No. 6 can be considered.

It is also within the scope of the present invention to set the display size at the time of enlarged display to a fixed value. However, some kanji have a total stroke count of over 60 strokes. If a fixed enlarged display size is set in consideration of such characters, the enlarged display size becomes large. For example, the range hidden by the enlarged display becomes large. From this point,
It is desirable to change the enlarged display size according to the fineness value of each character as in the above embodiment.

Instead of calculating the enlarged display size (that is, the identifiable size) in real time according to the fineness value of the character, the enlarged display size is divided into several stages, and the fineness value and the enlarged display size are divided. May be tabulated, and an enlarged display size corresponding to the confirmation target character may be searched from the table.

Further, a configuration in which the fine display information flag is not provided, the fine density information is registered for every character, and whether or not identification display is possible for all the characters based on the fine density information is also included in the scope of the present invention. .

The character confirmation support device of the above embodiment can be applied not only to a document editing application but also to any application that handles characters, and can be applied not only to Japanese / Kanji characters but also to various character / symbol systems. Applicable.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention,
If it is determined that the character cannot be identified in the character display area provided by the document processing system, the character is enlarged and displayed, so that the user can identify and confirm the character by the enlarged display. Moreover, in the present invention, whether or not to enlarge the display is determined not only from the condition of only characters but also by considering the setting of the character display area in the document processing system that displays the characters. Even if the character display area of the document processing system is set, if the character is sufficiently identifiable, the enlarged display is not performed, and the adverse effect that the existing document display is hidden by the enlarged display is minimized. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system including a character confirmation support device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of display auxiliary information registered in a display auxiliary information dictionary 24.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of similar character information registered in a similar character dictionary 26;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of character input.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed procedure of an identification possibility determination process;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an enlarged display example.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure of similar character processing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example when a similar character exists.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example of character portion display.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure at the time of document proofreading.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a definition of fine-density information.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a method for obtaining fine-density information by real-time calculation.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which the same character has a different character shape.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example in which different characters have similar character shapes.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 input devices, 12 front-end processors (F
EP), 14 input dictionaries, 16 document editing applications, 18 display font dictionaries, 20 window systems, 22 display devices, 24 display auxiliary information dictionaries,
26 similar character dictionary, 30 character confirmation support device, 302
Display size acquisition unit, 304 display auxiliary information acquisition unit, 3
06 identification capability information storage unit, 308 identification capability setting unit,
310 identification display availability determination unit, 312 enlargement processing unit, 31
4 Similar character processing unit, 316 display control unit.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A document processing system for displaying input characters in a predetermined character display area on a display device, the device supporting the confirmation of characters, wherein display auxiliary information in which character fine density information is registered. A dictionary; display size obtaining means for obtaining the display size of the character in the character display area from the document processing system; and obtaining fine-density information of the specified character from the display auxiliary information dictionary. Identification display availability determination means for determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the display size; and a predetermined enlarged display area when it is determined that the identification display is impossible. And an enlarged display means for generating the designated character and enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area. 2. A document processing system for displaying input characters in a predetermined character display area on a display device in accordance with a font of the characters registered in a predetermined font dictionary. A display size obtaining unit that obtains a display size of a character in the character display area from the document processing system; an index value calculating unit that obtains fine-density information of a specified character based on the font; Identification display availability determination means for determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the fineness information of the character and the display size; and when it is determined that the identification display is impossible. And an enlarged display means for generating a predetermined enlarged display area and enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area. Character check support device. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification display permission / inhibition determination means stores a determination condition in the identification display permission / inhibition determination, and a determination in the determination condition storage means. A character confirmation support device comprising: condition setting means for setting a condition. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an identifiable size of the character is determined based on fine-density information of the character determined to be indistinguishable. A character confirmation support device for displaying the character. 5. A similar character according to claim 1, wherein, for each predetermined character, a similar character of the character and a characteristic part for identifying the character from the similar characters are registered. A similar character indicating means for checking the presence or absence of a similar character by using the similar character dictionary for a character to be enlarged and displayed by the enlarged display means, and displaying the presence of a similar character when there is a similar character; And a feature display unit that searches for the characteristic part of the character to be enlarged and displayed from the similar character dictionary and displays the characteristic part. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a similar character display means for searching for and displaying a similar character from the similar character dictionary for the character enlarged and displayed by the enlargement display means. Character confirmation support device. 7. A procedure for obtaining a display size of a character in a character display area of the document processing system from a document processing system, and a fine-density information of a designated character from a display auxiliary information dictionary in which fine-density information of each character is registered. And a step of determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the display size and the fine-density information. And a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for generating a predetermined enlarged display area and enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area. 8. A procedure for acquiring a display size of a character in a character display area of the document processing system from a document processing system; acquiring font data of the character from the document processing system; analyzing the font data to obtain a detailed description of the character; A step of acquiring density information; a step of determining whether or not the specified character can be identified and displayed in the character display area based on the display size and the fine density information; and a step of determining that identification display is impossible. And a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of generating a predetermined enlarged display area, enlarging and displaying the designated character in the enlarged display area.