JPH11196205A - Facsimile image generator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To add an image of character information to a facsimile image to be sent in a way that a receiver side easily recognizes the character information of the image and reuse the information. SOLUTION: The generator consists of a document image drawing command conversion section 14 that converts an electronic format document into an image drawing command to instruct printing, an image drawing command analysis section 15 that analyzes the image drawing command converted by the document image drawing command conversion section 14 to separate an image drawing command for a character string and an image drawing command for line segments being image drawing data for line segments for tables and graphics, a character string list generating section 16 that generates a character string list for each vertical coordinate point of coordinates at which the character string is printed out when the image drawing command of the character string separated by the image drawing command analysis section 15 is expanded to a picture image, and a picture image generating section 17 that interprets the image drawing command to generate a format document and an image of the character information, and the picture image generating means sends the generated picture image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for converting document data described in an electronic format into an image image and transmitting the image data, and a facsimile image generation apparatus applied to an electronic mail apparatus for attaching an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus which converts document data described in an electronic format into an image image and transmits the image data or an e-mail apparatus to which an image is attached, as shown in FIG. When a document format is received from outside, in S1, a document format drawing command conversion process, that is, the document format is converted into a drawing command. Subsequently, at S2,
Image image generation processing, that is, an image image is generated by interpreting the converted drawing command. Then, finally, in S3, the generated image is transmitted.

On the receiving side of an image, an electronic process is performed in order to reuse the received image. Character recognition is performed in the electronic process. In the character recognition process at this time, as shown in FIG. 7, first, in S4, a rectangle extraction process, that is, a process of extracting a rectangle from a received image is performed. Then, in S5, a process is performed to determine whether the extracted rectangle is a character area, a graphic area, or a table area. Then, in S6, the extracted rectangle is arranged vertically, horizontally, or obliquely to the character area. , A process of cutting out character strings arranged in different sizes. And
Finally, in S7, a process of extracting and recognizing features of the extracted character image is performed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-200721 is known as an electronic mail apparatus having a function of recognizing and reusing a transmission image by character.

[0004]

Recently, a full-text search technique has been developed in which a computer is linked via a network, and a document requested by a user is searched for by inputting a keyword from a huge number of documents in a database. I have. In addition, a printed document is read and digitized by a scanner, and is further converted into a character code by character recognition. Furthermore, the collected documents and information can be automatically classified into a certain category using an automatic classification technology.

[0005] In view of the above, even in a facsimile apparatus or an electronic mail apparatus, not only an image image is simply transmitted as a message, but also a format in which full-text search technology and automatic classification technology can be used, and character recognition on the receiving side. It is desired to be able to transmit a facsimile image in a format that can be easily reused. However, the conventional e-mail apparatus simply attaches the facsimile image to the e-mail format as it is. Therefore, it is difficult to realize even if it is considered that the facsimile image is stored and the full-text search technology or the automatic classification technology is used. In addition, the documents are printed in different layouts, and therefore, the text character strings have various sizes and are scattered in various positions, and it is troublesome and inefficient to recognize and digitize the characters as they are. There is a problem.

Therefore, the invention according to the first and second aspects of the present invention adds a facsimile image to be transmitted to a facsimile image on the receiving side by easily recognizing the character information in the facsimile image, forming a database, and reusing the reusable character information image image. Provided is a facsimile image generating apparatus capable of performing the above. Further, the invention according to claim 2 further provides a facsimile image generating apparatus which can add an image of character information in which characters are arranged in the same size and which can be easily reused on the transmission side.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A document drawing command conversion unit that converts the digitized format document into a drawing command that instructs printing, and analyzes the drawing command converted by the document drawing command conversion unit to draw a character string drawing command and a table or graphic line. Drawing command analyzing means for separating a drawing command of a line segment, which is drawing data of a minute, and a drawing command of a character string separated by the drawing command analyzing means into a picture image, a vertical coordinate of a character string to be printed. A character string creating means for creating a character string list for each coordinate, a character string list drawing command converting means for generating a character string drawing command based on the character string list created by the character string creating means, and a document drawing command conversion Means for interpreting the drawing command converted by the means to generate an image of the format document, and a character string list drawing frame. Consists of a picture image generating means for generating a picture image of text information by interpreting the drawing command is de conversion means generated is to send a picture image picture image generating means is generated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document drawing command converting means for converting a digitized format document into a drawing command for instructing printing, and analyzing the drawing command converted by the document drawing command converting means. A drawing command analyzing unit that separates a character string drawing command from a line drawing command that is drawing data of a line of a table or a figure, and develops the character string drawing command separated by the drawing command analyzing unit into an image image. A character string creating means for creating a character string list for each vertical coordinate of a character string to be printed, and a character string linked to the character string list based on the character string list created by the character string creating means. And a character string list drawing command conversion means for generating a character string list drawing command for aligning character strings in the same direction and the same size. Image image generation for interpreting the drawing command converted by the document drawing command conversion means to generate an image of a format document and interpreting the drawing command generated by the character string list drawing command conversion means to generate an image image of character information Means,
It is to transmit the image image generated by the image image generating means.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image transmission processing unit in a facsimile apparatus that converts document data described in an electronic format into an image image and transmits the image data or an e-mail apparatus that attaches an image.
Reference numeral 12 denotes a facsimile image generation unit which forms a main part, and reference numeral 13 denotes a bus line for connecting these.

The communication section 11 is a facsimile transmission section of a facsimile transmission program, and transmits an image of a format document and an image of character information.

The facsimile image generation unit 12 generates a drawing command from an externally input and digitized format document to generate an image image of the original format document and a character image. It comprises a command conversion unit 14, a drawing command analysis unit 15, a character string list creation unit 16, an image image generation unit 17, and a character string list drawing command conversion unit 18.

The document drawing command conversion unit 14 converts a digitized format document into a drawing command for printing drawing data. The drawing command analysis unit 15 analyzes the drawing command and converts the character string into a character string. It separates a drawing command from a line segment drawing command which is line drawing data of a table or figure.

The character string list creating section 16 creates a character string list for each vertical coordinate of a coordinate at which a character string is printed on a page when a character string drawing command is developed into an image. , The image image generation unit 17
Interprets a drawing command and converts it into an image. The character string list drawing command converter 18
Creates a drawing command from a character string linked to the character string list created by the character string list creating unit 16.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a digitized format document converted into an image image. When the format document is passed to the facsimile image generation unit 12, the facsimile image generation unit 12 The following image generation processing is performed. That is, first, in S11, the electronic format document to be transmitted is converted into the document drawing command
At S12, the document drawing command conversion unit 14
Generates a drawing command from the format document digitized by.

As drawing commands, there are a character string drawing command, a line segment drawing command, and a rectangle drawing command. For a table or figure, a line drawing command LineObj (start point X coordinate, start point Y
Coordinate, end point X coordinate, end point Y coordinate) and rectangle drawing command
SquareObj (upper left X coordinate, upper left Y coordinate, upper right X coordinate, upper right Y coordinate, lower right X coordinate, lower right Y coordinate, lower left X coordinate, lower left Y coordinate) is described.

The character string is described by a character string drawing command ("character string", X coordinate, Y coordinate, number of character points, angle, font name) and indicates the position of the character string to be converted into an image (X (Coordinates, Y coordinates), the number of character points specifying the size of the character string, the angle between the horizontal line on which the character string is printed, and the character font name.

For example, if the drawing command generated by the document drawing command conversion unit 14 is shown for the digitized format document shown in FIG. 2, SquareObj (X1, Y1, X2, Y1, X2, Y3, X3, Y3 ) TextObj (“Specification”, X1, Y1, xxPoint, 0 Degree,
A font) TextObj ("Confidential", X2, Y2, xxPoint, 90Degree,
B font) TextObj ("Product name", X3, Y3, xxPoint, 0 Degree,
B font) LineObj (X4, Y4, X5, Y4, W) TextObj (“model number”, Xd, Yd, xxPoint, 0 Degree, B
Font) LineObj (X4, Y5, X5, Y5, W) TextObj ("Specification name", Xe, Ye, xxPoint, 0 Degre
e, B font) LineObj (X4, Y6, X5, Y6, W) TextObj ("Draft approval investigation", Xe, Ye, xxPoint,
0 Degree, B font) LineObj (X6, Y6, X7, Y6, X7, Y8, X3, Y3) TextObj (“Machine Co., Ltd., Xe, Ye, xxPoint”)
, 0 Degree, B font) TextObj (“Computer section”, Xf, Yf, xxPoint, 0
Degree, B font). That is, TextObj (“Specification”, X1, Y1, xx
Point, 0 Degree, A font) is a drawing command for generating an image image of the character string “specification” 21 in FIG. 2, and LineObj (X4, Y4, X5, Y4, W) is a coordinate ( X4, Y4) (X5, Y4) is a drawing command for specifying the drawing of a straight line 22 having a width W.

In S13, the drawing command generated by the document drawing command conversion unit 14 is sent to the drawing command analysis unit 15, where it is determined whether or not the drawing command is a character string drawing command. If the command is a command, the drawing command is sent to the character string list creation unit 16, and S14
Then, a character string list is created by the character string list creating unit 16.

As shown in FIG. 4, the character string list creating section 16 links character strings in a list structure according to a section in which the Y coordinate of the character string drawing command is included. For example, TextOb
j (“Specification”, X1, Y1, xxPoint, 0 Degree, A font), TextObj (“Confidential”, X2, Y2, xxPoint, 90
Degree, B font) exists in the section Ya, and is linked as shown in FIG.

When the processing in S14 is completed or when it is determined that the drawing command is not a character string drawing command, in S15, a character string or a line segment drawing command is interpreted by the image / image generation unit 17, and the processing in FIG. To obtain an image as shown in FIG. Subsequently, in S16, the character strings linked to the character string list of FIG. 4 created by the character string list creating unit 16 by the character string list drawing command conversion unit 18 are sequentially extracted and set for each section of the Y coordinate. Generate drawing commands based on the number of points, font, and angle. That is, the character strings are edited in the same size and in the same direction.

For example, the character strings “specifications” 31 and “confidential” 3 linked to the section Ya of the character string list in FIG.
2 is a drawing command that prints horizontally at the same Y coordinate
TextObj (“Specification”, X1, Y1, xxPoint, 0 Degree,
A font), TextObj ("Confidential", X2, Y2, xxPoin
t, 90Degree, B font).

Subsequently, in step S17, the drawing command is converted into an image by the image generation unit 17, and the drawing command shown in FIG.
Create a character information sheet as shown in. At this time, the angle of the character string "Confidential" 41 is converted into an image as horizontal writing without being rotated. And finally S18
Then, the image image of the original format document and the image image of the character information generated by the image image generation unit 17 are transferred to the communication unit 11, and the communication unit 11 transmits the image image as a facsimile image to the partner station. I do.

By performing such image processing, it is possible to obtain information for improving the efficiency of character recognition by aligning character information that is not easily recognizable or characters of a document having a layout that is difficult to recognize and scattered on the paper to have the same size. It can be created and sent with the original image. The partner station that has received the facsimile image can obtain the original image as well as the character information sheet edited by aligning the character strings in the same direction and size. The received facsimile image can be easily stored in a database, and the reuse of the received facsimile image such as full-text search and automatic classification can be easily realized.

[0024]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the facsimile image to be transmitted can easily recognize the character information in the facsimile image on the receiving side, make it into a database, and reuse it. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to add an image of character information in which characters are arranged in the same size, and reuse on the transmission side becomes easier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image transmission processing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing an example of a digitized format document used in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an image generation process of a facsimile image generation unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a character string list created by a character string list creation unit according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a character information sheet generated by the image generating unit according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a conventional facsimile image transmission process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a conventional character recognition process from a received facsimile image.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 facsimile image generation unit 14 document rendering command conversion unit 15 drawing command analysis unit 16 character string list creation unit 17 image image generation unit 18 character string list drawing command conversion unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document drawing command conversion means for converting a digitized format document into a drawing command for instructing printing, and analyzing the drawing command converted by the document drawing command conversion means to generate a character string drawing command. A drawing command analyzing unit that separates a line drawing command that is drawing data of a line of a table or a figure, and a character string drawing command separated by the drawing command analyzing unit into an image image. Character string creation means for creating a character string list for each vertical coordinate of printing coordinates, and character string list drawing command conversion means for generating a character string drawing command based on the character string list created by the character string creation means. Interpreting the drawing command converted by the document drawing command conversion means to generate an image of a format document, and An image generating means for interpreting the drawing command generated by the character string list drawing command converting means to generate an image of character information, and transmitting the image generated by the image generating means. Facsimile image generation device. 2. A document drawing command conversion means for converting a digitized format document into a drawing command for instructing printing, and analyzing the drawing command converted by the document drawing command conversion means to generate a character string drawing command. A drawing command analyzing unit that separates a line drawing command that is drawing data of a line of a table or a figure, and a character string drawing command separated by the drawing command analyzing unit into an image image. A character string creating means for creating a character string list for each vertical coordinate of the coordinates to be printed; and a character string linked to the character string list based on the character string list created by the character string creating means. Character string list drawing command conversion means for generating a drawing command of a character string list for making the same in the same direction and the same size; Image image generating means for interpreting the drawing command converted by the converting means to generate an image image of the format document, and interpreting the drawing command generated by the character string list drawing command converting means to generate an image image of character information; A facsimile image generating apparatus for transmitting an image generated by the image generating means.