JPH11143973A - Document information processing system and input work assisting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input work assisting system to reduce time and cost required for carrying a document like a kind of slips, etc., capable of preventing leakage of important information and to further improve the efficiency of an input work. SOLUTION: After an image of a kind of medical chart is read with a scanner at a sales department 11 of an inspection company, its image data is divided by every blank, compressed, only pieces of the image data in the same blanks of many kinds of medical charts are assembled and transmitted to separate input workers 201 , etc., by every blank. In this case, information to indicate numbers of the respective kinds of medical charts and what items are written in the blank is transmitted together. The transmitted image data is extended and the input work is performed as displaying the extended data on a computer screen by the input workers 201 , etc. Only items written in specified blanks are observed and no other blanks are observed by the input workers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document information processing system for processing information described in a document, and an input operation for manually inputting characters and symbols described in the document to a computer using a keyboard or the like. The input business support system that supports

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the accounting and tax fields, various forms including slips are frequently used. In order to utilize the information described in these forms more widely and efficiently, 2. Description of the Related Art Digital information is input to a computer. For example, when performing a blood donation or a medical test, various information is written on a medical chart or a dedicated test sheet, and these are also input to a computer as in the above-described form.

When it is necessary to quickly input a large number of forms and charts, such an input operation is performed by requesting a specialized input company. The input trader secures in advance a potential input worker who can operate in an emergency, and when a large number of input work requests are made, inputs the manpower to perform the input work.

[0004]

However, slips,
Forms such as forms and medical records (hereinafter referred to as "forms") are paper, so that it is necessary to collect these and actually transport them to the inputting company. Further, it is necessary to carry the collected forms under an operator who actually performs the input operation, or to take the labor of the input operator to come to a trader. Such work requires time and cost, and especially when inputting blood test results, prompt work is required. Therefore, a large amount of test paper is delivered to the input company, and the input is completed by the next day. Work is being carried out under the harsh conditions of having them do it.

A so-called OCR (Optical Chl), which reads a handwritten character into a computer with a scanner or the like and automatically replaces the character with the character on the computer.
arcar Reader or Optical
A method called "Character Recognition" has been studied. Particularly, in the case of a form, since a person in charge of the site has to write a large amount of characters, unreadable characters are often written. The recognition rate is lower and the processing speed tends to be slower than general handwritten characters. For this reason, the recognition of such ambiguous characters is far from human recognition ability and far from practical use.

Further, some forms include information that should not be leaked to the outside and should be confidential.
For this reason, some companies that handle such information do not outsource the input work due to fear of information leakage, and perform the input work internally, knowing that it will be expensive. . In addition, many documents related to medical examinations are related to personal privacy, and there is a lack of ethics among workers who input information such as medical charts containing such information into a computer. Involvement can lead to unforeseen disadvantages for stakeholders.

[0007] The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and can reduce the time and cost required for transporting documents such as forms, prevent leakage of important information, and provide input. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document information processing system and an input work support system that improve work efficiency.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document information processing system for capturing and digitizing an image of a document composed of a plurality of entry columns, and converting the image into image data. Image input means,
Image dividing means for dividing the image data for each predetermined region of the document to obtain divided image data, and identification information for adding identification information indicating which region of which document is the divided image data to the divided image data The image processing apparatus further includes an adding unit, and a storage unit that stores the divided image data to which the identification information is added.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input business support system which captures an image of a document including a plurality of entry fields, digitizes the image, and converts the image into image data. Image dividing means for dividing the image into divided image data for each predetermined area, identification information adding means for adding identification information indicating to which divided image data of which document and which area the divided image data is; Display means for displaying an image of a region corresponding to the data and a character input screen.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, there is provided a restoring means for restoring information described in the document using character data input on the character input screen. And The invention according to claim 4 is
4. The invention according to claim 2 or 3, wherein when a description field configuration sheet in which a field is divided for each description field configuring said document is supplied to said image input means, an area of each description field configuring said document is recognized. It is characterized by having an area recognizing means that performs the operation.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the entire input work support system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, an image input unit 1 uses a scanner or the like to capture an image of a document to be subjected to an input operation, and converts it into image data as digital information. When a certain type of document is handled for the first time, the image input unit 1 inputs an image of a blank sheet (this is referred to as “entry column configuration sheet”), and the area recognizing unit 2 determines what kind of the document is. Automatically recognize whether or not it is configured from the description column. When an image is input for a document in which characters are actually written, the image dividing unit 3 divides the image data of each document into predetermined image regions based on information from the region recognizing unit 2. And The identification information adding unit 4 adds, to each piece of the divided image data, identification information indicating which of the document and the description column the divided image data belongs to.

Each divided image data is sent to an operator who performs an input operation, and is displayed on the display unit 5 here. The worker
While looking at the divided image data displayed on the display unit 5, an input operation is performed on an input screen also displayed by the display unit 5. The input character information is restored by the restoration unit 6 to the information described in the original document based on the identification information added to the divided image data.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the input work support system shown in FIG. 1 is described in a medical chart, an inspection form, and other documents (hereinafter referred to as "medical records") used in a medical institution. A case in which the present invention is applied to the input operation of handwritten characters will be described. In the hospital 10 shown in FIG. 2, when a large number of charts written by hand are created, the documents are delivered to a sales office 11 of an input company specialized in key input.
The personal computer 13 of the business office 11 is provided with the image input unit 1, the area recognition unit 2, the image division unit 3, and the identification information addition unit 4 shown in FIG. At the business office 11, a large amount of documents conveyed from the hospital 10 are scanned by the scanner 12, and the image data is taken into the personal computer 13 as digital image data. The image data is compressed and temporarily stored in the recording medium 14. However, the recording medium 14 may be used as needed, and is not always necessary. Thereafter, the image data is sent to an input management center 20 that manages and controls the input operation. Here, it is determined which data is to be entrusted to whom, and based on the determination, the image data is input to each of the workers 21 ₁ , 21 ₂ ,.
・ ・ Transmit via an information network such as a telephone line.

Worker 21₁Personal computers such as
22₁For example, the above-described display unit 5 is provided. Ma
Personal computer 22₁Etc., compressed
Software for expanding image data is installed in advance.
Have been installed. Worker 21 ₁Etc. are the images sent
Image data from home personal computer 22₁Above
To display it on the screen, and while viewing it,
-Sonal computer 22₁Character input screen displayed on etc.
On the screen, input characters using a keyboard. Entering
The input character data is input via a telephone line.
Is returned to the printer 20.

The restoration section 6 shown in FIG. 1 is provided in a personal computer (not shown) of the input management center 20. Here, the input character information is restored in accordance with the original format of the charts, and thereafter, the inspection center 3
Sent to 0. The inspection center 30 performs a predetermined inspection based on the input digital data, and sends the result to the hospital 10 directly or via the business office 11. The sample such as blood sent from the business office 11 of the test company to the test center 30 is disposed after the test at the test center 30 is completed.

As described above, the divided image data of the medical charts is electronically sent to the operator via a network such as a telephone line, so that it is not necessary to deliver the paper on which the information is written. Therefore, the cost and time required for transportation are greatly reduced. In addition, since the input worker can perform the input work while staying at home, it is possible to spread the work at home, and it is widely used by housewives who are pregnant and raising children, physically handicapped people, people living in remote places, etc. May be offered.

In FIG. 2, a sales office 1 reads an image of a medical chart delivered from a hospital with a scanner.
In step 1, the read image data is not transmitted as it is, but is transmitted to the input management center 20 as divided image data divided for each entry column as described above.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of medical records. As shown in the figure, the medical records 40 include many items describing various items related to medical practice, such as a patient's name, address, name of a doctor in charge, test results, diagnosis contents, treatment methods, medical expenses, and the like. A column is provided. If you are familiar with medical issues and look at the entire medical chart 40, you may find that privacy, such as who and what kind of illness, what kind of treatment is being done, and how much it is costing for it. You will find information that you do not want others to know. If a person who inputs such medical record information includes a person who lacks ethics, there is a possibility that an unexpected disadvantage may be given to a person concerned.

However, individual items, for example,
Since input workers who individually input only the name, address, disease name, name of the doctor in charge, etc. cannot be associated with each other, there is no special meaning for input workers who are outsiders. Absent. Therefore, in the present embodiment, after the image of the chart is read by the scanner at the sales office 11 of the inspection company, the image data is divided for each predetermined area of the chart, for example, for each entry column in FIG. Image data is obtained, and the data is compressed. Then, collectively only the divided image data of the same, wherein the column of a number of medical records such, via the input management center 20, and transmits the original 20 ₁ such separate operator for each entry field. At this time, as described above, the divided image data in each entry column is transmitted with the number of each chart and identification information indicating what item is the entry column in which it is entered.
However, since these identification information is not necessary for the worker,
The worker may not be able to see it.
In addition, the identification information may also include information necessary for smooth operations, such as the name of the person in charge of the inspection company and the name of the input operator.

[0019] The operator 20 _1, etc., divides the image data transmitted compressed expands and performs the input operation while displaying it on a computer screen, may be able to see the operator, certain Only items listed in the description column,
For example, if the name is only the name, if the disease name is only the disease name, the divided image data in the other entry columns will not be seen. Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent information relating to the privacy of another person from leaking from the input operator to the outside.

When the input operation by the operator is completed, the input character data is sent back to the input management center 20. On the computer of the input management center 20, based on the identification information sent together with the divided image data to the worker, the information sent to different workers separately for each entry column is restored, and the original format is restored. And return to the information as one medical record. Then, if necessary, the input character data is inserted into a predetermined part of the image data of the medical charts, and is recorded on a hard disk or other recording medium. Then, this is sent to the inspection center 30.

As described above, by transmitting image data of one medical record to each input operator as divided image data obtained by dividing the image data for each entry column, the contents written in the medical record can be kept confidential to the company. Even if it concerns personal privacy, the risk of leaking the information to the outside can be greatly reduced by requesting the inputting company to input the information.

By the way, in the above example, the minimum unit for dividing the image data is a description column in which each item such as a name, an address, a disease name, a doctor in charge, a test result, a diagnosis content, a treatment method, and a medical cost is described. And This is because if the unit for dividing the image data is further finely divided into, for example, individual characters, the efficiency of the input operation is considered to be reduced. As long as the input operation is performed by a human, for example, if the name is divided to the level of each character, an erroneous character may be input due to an incorrect character or the like. In contrast, looking at a single surname or first name as a whole, the minimal meaning can be recognized, so mistakes are likely to be much less.

Further, even if a name or place name that cannot be read by a normal person is a person who has been inputting only an address or name for a long period of time, there is a high possibility that the name has been seen in the past. In addition, some skilled input workers find that their address can be ascertained just by looking at the zip code. As described above, by dividing the image data into units for each description column, the intellectual assets of the worker can be effectively used, the work efficiency can be improved, and the input work can be performed quickly. is there.

Further, by sending individual entry fields to different workers, the operator does not see each item in association with each other, so that the meaning of each item in each entry field can be understood. However, workers cannot recognize important information that can only be found when looking at a single medical record as a whole.
Therefore, the security of the information is easily ensured without encrypting the transmission information.

At present, at a site where a blood sampling operation is performed, an operation of manually inputting one million or more test sheets containing blood test results a day is performed. In this case, due to the nature of the work, it is necessary to finish the input work by the next day,
For this reason, many input workers nationwide perform severe input work from midnight to early morning. By introducing the input work support system of the present embodiment in such a field, the time required for transporting the inspection paper can be significantly reduced, and the input worker can start the input work earlier. Can be. In addition, transportation costs are greatly reduced.

Further, according to the present embodiment, since all the operations and processes are performed on the computer, the progress of the operations of all the input workers can be accurately managed by the computer of the input management center 20. it can. For this reason,
For example, if a housewife requests 100 input tasks, but cannot do all the tasks for some reason and only 70 tasks can be performed,
It is also possible to flexibly cope with the staff of the input management center 20 taking charge of the remaining 30 cases. In addition, since the amount to be paid can be automatically calculated according to the number of completed tasks and automatically transferred to a bank account, accounting efficiency can be improved.

Next, how to divide the image data for each entry column in one medical record image data will be described in detail. In the present embodiment, a scanner is used to convert chart data into electronic digital data as described above. As one method of dividing the image data read by the scanner into entry columns, charts in which data is not described as shown in FIG. 4 are read in advance by the scanner. As shown in FIG. 4, the unfilled charts 50 are usually provided with a ruled line that separates the entry columns. Therefore, using appropriate software on the personal computer 13 placed in the business office 11, Based on the image data of the unfilled medical records, the area of each entry column is recognized with some margin. The reason why a slightly larger area is recognized in the description column is to take into account the fact that characters or the like may protrude outside the column when writing in each description column at a hospital or the like. Next, when reading the actual chart with the data recorded by the scanner, the area recognized based on the unfilled chart is used as the item description column for each chart, and the image data of the entire chart is stored in each area. Is divided for each image and data is compressed. Then, the image data of the same description column of the predetermined number of medical records are collectively transmitted to the operator. By using this method, it is possible to handle not only one kind of charts but also a plurality of kinds of charts and other forms.

As another method for dividing the image data of the medical records, there is a method of dividing the time required for the scanner to scan the medical records into an appropriate number, for example. Since the direction and order in which the scanner scans the charts is known in advance, the image data is divided for each entry field by appropriately dividing the scanning time according to the location of the entry section of the target chart. It is also possible to take in. Alternatively, it is also possible to divide each entry column based on the distance of paper feeding when feeding paper to the scanner.

In the application example shown in FIG. 2, the image reading operation by the scanner is performed at the sales office 11 of the inspection company. This is especially true if the target documents are charts.
Marks checked by doctors etc. are often difficult to read by ordinary people, often need to be corrected, and doctors' signatures can not be read by ordinary people, and staff of an inspection company who can read it This is in consideration of the need to correct the characters. Therefore, for example, for documents that are relatively easy to read and do not need to be corrected, such as accounting documents, instead of having to read them with a scanner at a sales office, read them with a scanner at the department corresponding to the direct input control center. May be performed. Alternatively, a scanner may be installed at the place where the document is created, and the image data may be directly read there and transmitted to the department in charge of the input management center or directly to the operator. In the case of such a system, a ROM in which a CPU and necessary programs are stored in a scanner (image input device), a RAM in which data is temporarily stored, and a modem for transmitting data through a telephone line, etc. It is desirable to provide a device or a system which has a built-in, scans, compresses data at the same time as scanning, and sends the data to the other party.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to the input operation of medical charts. However, in addition to the above, for example, a personal computer, its peripheral devices, or software attached to a personal computer are often attached. The present invention can also be applied to the input operation of a user card that has been performed. Also, the present invention can be applied to data input work of various forms in the accounting department of a company. The present invention can be applied to various other input operations.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where image data is transferred via a network such as a telephone line has been described. However, when there is a sufficient time for an input operation, the image data is divided into individual entry columns. Image data is transferred to, for example, a floppy disk (FD) or a magneto-optical disk (MO)
Alternatively, the information may be recorded on an information recording medium such as the one described above, sent to an operator, and the operator reads the information into a computer to perform the operation.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a description has been given of a document in which each entry column is separated by parallel ruled lines which can be relatively easily divided for each entry column. However, for example, as shown in FIG. The present invention can also be applied to a document 60 in which each area of a sheet is complicatedly divided by an inclined straight line or curve. In this case, an unfilled sheet is read by a scanner, the equation of each curve dividing each area and the intersection of each curve are calculated, and each area of the sheet can be recognized based on the calculation result.

The present invention can be realized by causing a computer to execute the above operation. That is, a program is created so that each of the above operations is performed by a central processing unit, an input device, an output device, a storage device, and the like of a computer, and the computer is caused to execute the program. It will function as a business support system. Further, the program can be recorded on a storage medium and read and executed by a computer. Further, according to the present invention, the information may be divided for each entry column of the document, and the divided information may be simply stored. As a result, even if an outsider views the document on a computer, the meaning cannot be recognized, so that the secret of the information can be reliably maintained.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The image data of a document consisting of multiple entry fields is divided for each entry field and sent to the input operator for input work, so confidential information and information on personal privacy are described in the document Even so, the risk of such information leaking to the outside through workers is greatly reduced, and as a result, the outsourcing of input work to outside contractors has been feared until now, with fear of leakage of confidential information. With regard to the work of inputting documents and the like that had to be hesitated, there is a way to be entrusted to outside contractors, contributing to the expansion of the input business market.

Further, since image information such as characters written on a document and key-input character information are exchanged by electronic information via a communication line, a paper medium such as a slip, a form, a chart, etc. is carried. Time and costs are greatly reduced, and work becomes more efficient. Further, since the input operator only needs to perform the input operation specialized in a specific description field, the intellectual assets of the operator can be effectively utilized, and the input operation can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an entire input work support system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example in which the input work support system according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied to input work of handwritten characters described in documents such as medical records used in medical institutions.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of medical records.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an item configuration sheet that is an unfilled chart.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document including inclined straight lines and curved lines;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image input part 2 Area recognition part 3 Image division part 4 Identification information addition part 5 Display part 6 Restoration part 10 Hospital 11 Business office of an inspection company 12 Scanner 13 Personal computer 14 Recording medium 20 Input management center 21 ₁ , 21 ₂ ,. .. input workers 22 ₁ , 22 ₂ ,... Personal computers 30 inspection centers 40 medical records 50 blank medical records 60 documents

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image input unit which takes in an image of a document composed of a plurality of description columns, digitizes the image, and converts the image into image data, and divides the image data into predetermined regions of the document to obtain divided image data. Image division means; identification information addition means for adding identification information indicating which area of a document is divided image data to the divided image data; storage for storing the divided image data to which the identification information is added Means, and a document information processing system comprising: 2. An image input means which takes in and digitizes an image of a document composed of a plurality of entry fields and converts it into image data, and divides the image data into predetermined regions of the document to obtain divided image data. Image dividing means, identification information adding means for adding identification information indicating which area of which document is the divided image data to the divided image data, and an image and character input screen of an area corresponding to the divided image data. An input business support system, comprising: display means for displaying. 3. The input business support system according to claim 2, further comprising a restoring means for restoring information described in said document by using character data input on said character input screen. 4. An area recognizing means for recognizing an area of each of the description fields constituting the document when a description field composition sheet obtained by dividing the area for each of the description fields constituting the document is supplied to the image input means. 4. The device according to claim 2, wherein
The input business support system described. 5. An image input function for controlling an image input means so as to capture an image of a document composed of a plurality of entry fields, digitizing the captured image and converting the image data into image data, A computer realizes an image division function of dividing each region into divided image data, and an identification information adding function of adding identification information indicating which region of a document is divided image data to the divided image data. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to record is recorded. 6. An image input function for controlling an image input means so as to capture an image of a document composed of a plurality of description fields, digitizing the captured image and converting the image data into image data, An image dividing function of dividing each region into divided image data; an identification information adding function of adding identification information indicating which region of the document is the divided image data to the divided image data; And a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to realize a divided image data display function of displaying an image and a character input screen of an area corresponding to. 7. An image input means for taking in an image of a document composed of a plurality of description fields, digitizing the image, and converting the image data into image data, and dividing the image data into predetermined regions of the document to obtain divided image data. Image dividing means; identification information adding means for adding identification information indicating which area of which document is the divided image data to the divided image data; and another apparatus for dividing the divided image data to which the identification information is added into another apparatus. An image input device, comprising: a communication unit that transmits data to the image input device.