WO2019059503A1

WO2019059503A1 - Image capture for character recognition

Info

Publication number: WO2019059503A1
Application number: PCT/KR2018/007501
Authority: WO
Inventors: 이준택
Original assignee: 이준택
Priority date: 2017-09-25
Filing date: 2018-07-03
Publication date: 2019-03-28
Also published as: KR102022772B1; KR20190034812A

Abstract

A text image input device disclosed in the present specification comprises: a body extending in one direction; a communication unit disposed within the body so as to communicate with any other device; a tip unit disposed at one end of the body; a camera unit disposed in a portion of the body so as to capture an image of the surface of a subject disposed on the optical axis thereof; an inclination measurement unit for acquiring the inclination of the optical axis of the camera unit; and a control unit disposed within the body and performing control such that, when the tip unit is brought into contact with the subject, an image of the surface of the subject and the inclination between the surface of the subject and the optical axis are acquired, and the image and the inclination are transmitted to the other device so as to allow the other device to recognize character information through optical character recognition on the basis of the image and the inclination.

Description

Acquisition of images for character recognition

This specification relates to image acquisition for character recognition.

In the electronic dictionary, a character is inputted through a keypad provided, a character is inputted through a handwriting input unit, and the character is converted into character information to perform a dictionary search.

In the case of inputting characters through the keypad, inputting in Japanese or Chinese takes a lot of time. In addition, even in the case of handwriting input, there was a difficulty in the advance search due to a handwriting recognition error.

In addition, the electronic dictionary implemented by the smartphone application program captures a character image with a camera built in a smart phone, converts the character image into an optical character recognition process, and performs a dictionary search.

An electronic dictionary implemented by an application program causes problems such as a character recognition error due to a quality problem of a character image through a smartphone camera.

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for increasing the character recognition rate through an electronic dictionary in a camera.

This specification proposes a character image input device for electronic dictionary search. The character image input apparatus includes a body portion extending in one direction, a communication portion provided in the body portion and performing communication with another device, a tip portion disposed at one end of the body portion, A tilt measuring unit for obtaining a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit; and a controller for controlling the inclination of the target object when the tip unit is in contact with the target object, Acquires the image of the surface of the object and the slope between the surface of the object and the optical axis, and the other device recognizes the character information through optical character recognition based on the image and the slope, To the device.

According to an embodiment, the camera unit may be disposed at a part of the body part, away from a surface of the object, in consideration of a focal distance.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a finger guide portion for receiving the finger may be formed on the body portion such that when the user holds the finger, the user's finger is out of the field of view of the camera portion.

According to the embodiment, the imaging element of the camera section may be an imaging element capable of taking an infrared image of the surface of the object.

The present specification also discloses an electronic dictionary system configured with a character image input device and a dictionary search device. The character image input apparatus includes a camera unit for acquiring an image of a surface of an object disposed on an optical axis, a tilt measuring unit for obtaining a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit with respect to a vertical axis of a surface of the object, And a first communication unit for transmitting the data and the tilt value to the dictionary searching apparatus, wherein the dictionary searching apparatus includes a second communication unit for receiving the image data and the tilt value from the character image input apparatus, An image preprocessing unit for correcting the image based on the extracted character information, an optical character recognition unit for extracting character information from the corrected image, a search unit for searching for the extracted character information, and a display unit for displaying the search result do.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic dictionary system collects image data of an image having a low character recognition rate from the acquired image data from the dictionary search apparatus, analyzes the collected image data, Further comprising a management apparatus for setting parameters related to character recognition of the optical character recognition section, wherein the dictionary search apparatus further includes a parameter management section for updating parameters of the optical character recognition section with the parameters.

The present invention also provides a character recognition electronic dictionary, wherein the character recognition electronic dictionary includes a camera unit for acquiring an image of a character, a tilt measuring unit for measuring a tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit with respect to the character, An optical character recognition unit for extracting character information from the corrected character image, and a search unit for searching for the meaning of the extracted character information and outputting the result .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the camera unit is disposed in a part of a body part extending in one direction, and the camera part is spaced apart from one end of the body part so as to position the character at a focal distance of the camera part by the body part .

In this specification, a search method of a character recognition electronic dictionary is presented. A method of searching for a character recognition electronic dictionary includes the steps of acquiring an image for a character by user input, measuring a tilt of an optical axis of the camera with respect to the character, A step of extracting character information from the corrected character image, a step of retrieving a meaning of the extracted character information, and a step of displaying the search result .

According to the embodiments disclosed in this specification, the character photographing apparatus and the dictionary search apparatus are separated from each other, and the character image can be quickly photographed and retrieved accurately.

In addition, according to the embodiments disclosed herein, there is an effect that the character recognition rate can be improved by correcting the distortion of the character image due to the inclination of the camera.

In addition, according to the embodiments disclosed in the present specification, a clear character image can be quickly obtained through a character image input apparatus having a camera having a fixed focal length.

In addition, according to the embodiments disclosed in the present specification, there is an effect that the character recognition rate can be improved by updating the character recognition-related parameter based on the analysis result of the erroneous character image data in the process of optical character recognition.

Further, according to the embodiments disclosed in the present specification, there is an effect that the character recognition rate can be increased by collecting the false-type character image and learning it through the neural network.

1 is a schematic view of a character recognition electronic dictionary system including a character image input device and a dictionary search device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the components of a character image input apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the devices constituting the character recognition electronic dictionary system shown in Fig. 1 and the respective components of these devices.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of measuring a tilt of a camera unit included in a character image input apparatus, and examples of character images according to a tilt of the character image input apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a placement position of a camera unit in consideration of a focal length in a character image input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a finger guide unit for holding a finger so as not to block the angle of view of the camera unit and an example of holding a finger in the character image input device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of recognizing a character and performing a dictionary search in a character recognition electronic dictionary system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The techniques disclosed herein can be applied to an electronic dictionary. However, the technology disclosed in this specification is not limited thereto, and can be applied to all electronic devices and methods to which the technical idea of the above-described technology can be applied.

It is to be understood that the specific structural or functional description of embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concept But may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

The embodiments according to the concept of the present invention can make various changes and can take various forms, so that the embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the embodiments according to the concepts of the present invention to the particular forms disclosed, but includes all modifications, equivalents, or alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms may be named for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another, for example, without departing from the scope of the right according to the concept of the present invention, the first element may be referred to as a second element, The component may also be referred to as a first component.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between. Other expressions that describe the relationship between components, such as "between" and "between" or "neighboring to" and "directly adjacent to" should be interpreted as well.

The technical terms used herein are used only to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there are features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts or combinations thereof described herein, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, are intended to be generic to a person of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The same meaning as understood. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning of the context in the relevant art and, unless explicitly defined herein, are to be interpreted as ideal or overly formal Should not.

The suffix " module " and " part " for the components used in the present specification are given or mixed in consideration of ease of specification only and do not have their own meaning or role, May refer to a functional or structural combination of hardware to perform the method according to an embodiment of the invention or software that can drive the hardware.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like or similar elements, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

Further, in the description of the technology disclosed in this specification, a detailed description of related arts will be omitted if it is determined that the gist of the technology disclosed in this specification may be obscured. It is to be noted that the attached drawings are only for the purpose of easily understanding the concept of the technology disclosed in the present specification, and should not be construed as limiting the spirit of the technology by the attached drawings.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention, that is, a technique for automatically recognizing characters and displaying a dictionary search result through a pen-shaped character image input device and a smart search device such as a smart phone will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Explain.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a character recognition electronic dictionary system including a character image input device and a dictionary search device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The character recognition electronic dictionary system 1000 can be configured to include the character image input device 100, the dictionary search device 200, and the management device 300. [

The character image input apparatus 100 is provided separately from the dictionary search apparatus 200. The character image input apparatus 100 is provided with a camera section in a pen-shaped body section (housing), and a word or a sentence to be searched by the user is printed or displayed It is possible to acquire an image of a character by photographing the surface, and the obtained character image can be transmitted to the dictionary searching apparatus 200, and the dictionary searching apparatus 200 can perform a dictionary search.

The dictionary searching apparatus 200 receives the image data for the character to be searched by the user from the character image input apparatus 100, corrects the extracted character image so that the character information can be easily extracted, And extracts text data through an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process. Then, the dictionary searching apparatus 200 performs a dictionary search, finds the meaning of the extracted character information, and displays the result to the user.

The management apparatus 300 collects image data of a character image having low recognition rate such as no recognition or wrong recognition, and analyzes the collected image data to determine a recognition rate The setting of the device related to the extraction of the character information is updated.

FIG. 2 illustrates, by way of example, constituent elements of a character image input apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the drawing, the character image input apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a body part 105 formed to extend in one direction, a communication part (not shown) provided in the body part, A camera unit 120 disposed at a part of the body part 105 to acquire an image of a surface of an object disposed on the optical axis, A tilt measuring unit 130 for obtaining a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit 120 and a tilt measuring unit 130 provided in the body unit 105. When the tip unit 110 contacts the object, And a control unit 150 for controlling the image and the slope to be transmitted to the other device so as to recognize the character information through optical character recognition based on the obtained image and the obtained slope value.

The body portion 105 is a pen-shaped housing extending in one direction, and a user can take a character image by holding the body portion 105 by hand.

A finger guide portion for receiving the finger is formed on an outer circumferential surface of the body portion 105 so that the user's finger is outside the field of view (FOV) of the camera portion when the user holds the body portion 105 . Therefore, the user can acquire a perfect image in which the finger does not cover the surface of the object.

The tip portion 110 is disposed at one end of the body portion 105 and includes a button switch connected to the tip portion 110.

Accordingly, when the user grasps the body part 105 and contacts the surface of the object on which the character to be searched for the tip part 110 is displayed, the button switch connected to the tip part 110 is pressed .

The camera unit 120 may be disposed on a part of the body 105 and may acquire images of the surface of the object disposed on the optical axis.

In addition, since the camera unit 120 is disposed in a part of the body part apart from the surface of the object in consideration of the focal distance of the camera unit 120, there is no need to adjust the focus when photographing the surface, So that a clear image can be captured.

In addition, the image pickup element of the camera unit 120 may be an image pickup element capable of taking an infrared ray image as well as an image of a visible ray region on the surface of the object.

The inclination measuring unit 130 may measure the inclination of the camera unit 120 with respect to the axis perpendicular to the surface of the object by acquiring the inclination of the optical axis of the camera unit 120.

When the tip portion 110 is brought into contact with the surface of the object and the button switch connected to the tip portion 110 is pressed, the controller 150 controls the other device to adjust the obtained image and the obtained tilt value The image and the slope may be controlled to be transmitted to the other device so as to recognize the character information through optical character recognition as a basis.

Then, the other apparatus corrects the tilt of the image based on the received image and tilt value, and extracts search data from the corrected image through an optical character recognition (OCR) process.

The other apparatus can perform a dictionary search, an image search, and the like based on the extracted retrieval data, and then display the retrieval result.

The other apparatus may be a device for extracting search data through an optical character recognition process from input image data as in the case of the dictionary search apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and performing a search.

Therefore, the user can simply place the tip portion 110 of the pen-shaped body portion 105 on the surface of the object on which the character to be searched is displayed, The gradient value can be obtained.

Hereinafter, each of the devices constituting the character recognition electronic dictionary system 1000 shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The character image input apparatus 100 includes a user input unit 111 for receiving a user command and instructing a camera unit to acquire a character image, a camera unit 120 for acquiring an image for a character, A communication unit 140 for transmitting the data on the obtained character image and the measured tilt value to the dictionary searching apparatus, a tilt measuring unit 130 for measuring the tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit 120, And a controller 150 for allowing the camera unit 120 to acquire a character image and allow the tilt measuring unit 130 to measure the tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit 120. [

The character image input apparatus 100 may have a pen-shaped body extending in one direction. The character input apparatus 100 may include a user input unit 111, a camera unit 120, The tilt measuring unit 130, and the communication unit 140 may be disposed.

The user input unit 111 may receive a user command for a character image shooting and a dictionary search for a pre-search through an input method such as a touch input, a button input, a motion input, and a sound input.

In one embodiment, when the user input unit 111 receives a user's command through a touch input or a button input, the user input unit 111 displays a touch pad or a touch pad on the surface of the pen- And may be provided in the form of a push button.

For example, when the user holds the character image input device 100 and the character to be searched is brought to the target character on the printed surface, the user touches the touch pad, inputs a specific gesture on the touch pad, or presses the push button The camera 120 provided in the character image input apparatus 100 photographs the target character to obtain a character image and measures the tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit with respect to the character, The data for the obtained character image and the measured slope value are transmitted to the dictionary searching apparatus 200 in order.

In the embodiment, when the user input unit 111 receives a user's command as a button input, a pen-tip type button is connected to one end of the body of the character image input apparatus 100, When the user brings the character image input apparatus 100 to the surface of the printed medium or the surface of the display on which the characters are displayed, the pen tip type button can be pressed.

For example, when a user holds a pen-shaped character image input device 100 and brings the pen tip to the surface of the paper on which characters to be photographed are printed, the button connected to the pen tip is pushed, The start command of the tilt measurement of the camera is inputted.

The user input unit 111 recognizes a user's specific motion through a motion sensor (for example, an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor) provided in the character image input apparatus 100, Can be input.

For example, when the user takes an action for the target character on the printed surface of the pen-tip character portion of the pen-shaped character image input device 100, the user input portion 111 displays the built- The motion pattern of the character image input apparatus 100 according to the behavior of the user is measured.

Then, the user input unit 111 compares a motion pattern stored in advance with the measured motion pattern, for example, whether or not the character image input apparatus 100 is similar to the motion pattern when the character image is input to the printed surface of the target character do.

When it is determined that the measured motion pattern is similar to the previously stored motion pattern, the user input unit 111 causes the camera unit 120 provided in the character image input apparatus 100 to photograph the target character A step of acquiring a character image, measuring a tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit with respect to the character, and transmitting data of the obtained character image and the measured tilt value to the dictionary searching apparatus 200 .

In one embodiment, the user input unit 111 recognizes a specific voice of a user through a sound sensor (e.g., a microphone or the like) provided in the character image input apparatus 100, .

For example, when a user takes a character image input device 100 and a character to be searched is brought to a target character on the printed surface and then instructs the character image input device 100 to make a specific sound, The camera unit 120 may capture the target character to acquire a character image, measure the tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit with respect to the character, and then calculate the data of the obtained character image and the measured tilt value To the dictionary search apparatus 200, and procedures for performing character image correction and dictionary search are sequentially performed.

In the embodiments of the present invention, the user command for the character image shooting and the dictionary search for the dictionary search is input through the input method such as touch input, button input, motion input, sound input, etc. However, The method and means for receiving the command are not limited to the input method and the input means and do not exclude any method or means capable of receiving the input of the user in addition to the input method and the input means.

A character image for extracting a character is obtained by using a CMOS element used in a general digital camera or an image sensor of a visible light region such as a CCD element as an imaging element of the camera unit 120. [

When the light reflection characteristic of the surface of a paper on which a character is printed or the surface of a display on which a character is displayed has a property of diffuse reflection, the character recognition rate in the character image captured by the light scattered on the surface is low .

In the embodiment of the present invention, the use of an imaging device capable of eliminating the influence of diffuse reflection can increase the character recognition rate. In this case, the character image of the infrared region can be photographed by using the image sensor of the infrared region as the image sensing element of the camera portion 120.

In another embodiment, the camera unit 120 may be a NoIR camera with an IR filter removed. When the character image is acquired by the NoIR camera, the camera unit 120 can acquire not only the visible light but also the character image including the infrared region, so that regardless of the nature of the surface of the medium on which the character to be photographed is displayed, Can be obtained.

Therefore, when the infrared sensor is used as the imaging element of the camera unit 120, or when the NoIR camera module is used as the module of the camera unit 120, it is possible to prevent degradation of the character image due to diffuse reflection, The recognition rate of the character information in the optical character recognition process can be increased.

In addition, a structured light projector may be coupled to the camera unit 120 to capture a character image, thereby increasing the character recognition rate.

On the other hand, when the camera unit 120 photographs the character image, the tilt measuring unit 130 measures the tilt of the character on the basis of the vertical axis with respect to the surface, The inclination of the optical axis of the camera unit 120 is measured.

When the subject 120 is a character, a distorted character image is obtained when the subject 120 is photographed in a state in which the camera unit 120 does not form an angle perpendicular to the subject. Thus, the character recognition rate is lowered during the optical character recognition process.

Therefore, when the tilt measuring unit 130 measures the angle of the camera unit 120 with respect to the character to be imaged, the image preprocessing unit 220 calculates the distortion (distortion) of the character using the measured angle value (slope) It is possible to improve the character recognition rate in the optical character recognition process.

The tilt measurement and the character image correction using the tilt will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3, which will be described later.

The communication unit 140 included in the character image input apparatus 100 transmits data on the character image acquired by the camera unit 120 and data on the tilt value measured by the tilt measuring unit 130, And transmits it to the dictionary search apparatus 200.

The control unit 150 of the character image input apparatus 100 instructs the camera unit 120 to acquire a character image and instructs the tilt measuring unit 130 to acquire the character And transmits the data on the obtained character image and the measured tilt value to the dictionary searching apparatus 200. [0050] FIG.

The dictionary searching apparatus 200 includes a communication unit 210 for receiving character image data and slope measurement data from the character image input apparatus 100, a video preprocessing unit for correcting the character image based on the received slope value, An optical character recognition unit 230 for extracting text data from the corrected character image, a search unit 240 for performing a dictionary search to find the meaning of the character information, And a display unit 250 for displaying an image.

The communication unit 210 receives character image data and tilt measurement value data transmitted by the communication unit 140 of the character image input device 100.

The image preprocessing unit 220 receives the character image data and the slope measurement value data from the communication unit 210, and then, based on the slope measurement value, The distortion of the generated character image can be corrected.

In addition, the image preprocessing unit 220 binarizes the photographed (acquired) character image so that the optical character recognition process can be well processed. The binarization may be executed before the character image distortion correction, or after the character image distortion correction.

The image preprocessing unit 220 performs a process of converting the image of the character image obtained by using the image correction method such as homography or Hough Transform to the degree of inclination of the optical axis of the camera unit 120, It is possible to provide the character image to the optical character recognition unit 230 such that the camera unit 120 vertically photographs the character to be photographed.

The image preprocessing unit 220 may perform image processing such as binarization, noise removal, border removal, skewing / deskewing, By performing the correction, the character recognition rate in the optical character recognition process can be increased.

The optical character recognition unit 230 receives the corrected character image data from the image preprocessing unit 220 and then performs character recognition on the corrected character image through an optical character recognition process, .

The optical character recognition unit 230 analyzes characters corresponding to the character image through a classifier such as a fully-connected layer or a SVM (Support Vector Machine), and extracts a text .

When extracting the character information from the character image, the optical character recognition unit 230 performs character extraction according to the parameter setting value according to the language-specific characteristic, thereby reducing the possibility of recognition of the character or the possibility of misrecognition, The recognition rate can be increased.

After receiving the character information recognized by the optical character recognition unit 230, the search unit 240 performs a pre-search to find the meaning of the character.

According to one embodiment, the search unit 240 may access the network to retrieve the meaning of the character, or may access the dictionary data provided in the dictionary search apparatus 200 to retrieve the meaning of the character .

Thereafter, the display unit 250 displays the result of the search by the search unit 240, and displays the meaning of the word or the translation result of the character to the user.

The character recognition electronic dictionary system 1000 according to the embodiment of the present invention recognizes a character even if it is constituted by only the character image input device 100 and the dictionary search device 200 and searches for the meaning of the recognized character and displays it to the user .

In addition, the character recognition electronic dictionary system 1000 according to the embodiment disclosed herein may further include the management apparatus 300 to increase the character recognition rate and display more accurate search results to the user.

The management apparatus 300 includes a mistaken image management DB 310 for collecting data of a character image in which character information extraction has failed, such as when recognition is not performed at all, or when recognition is incorrect, from the dictionary search apparatus 200, And a neural network manager 320 for adjusting parameters related to extraction of character information in the optical character recognition unit 230 so as to improve the recognition rate of the character information by analyzing and learning the image data, May be transmitted to the dictionary search apparatus 200 to increase the recognition rate of the character information of the optical character recognition unit 230.

When the optical character recognition unit 230 recognizes the character image and extracts the character information, the misty-type image management DB 310 determines whether or not the character image has a low recognition rate, such as when the character information is not recognized at all, The image data is collected from the dictionary search apparatus 200 and classified into types, and the classified image data is transmitted to the neural network management unit 320.

The neural network management unit 320 learns or re-learns the image data transmitted from the false-feeling image management DB 310 through the neural network to derive the parameters. That is, when extracting character information from the optical character recognition unit 230, the parameters can be adjusted so as to improve the recognition rate of character recognition.

The first search device 200 may further include a parameter management unit 260 to receive parameters adjusted by the management device 300 and to update the character recognition related parameters of the optical character recognition unit 230 have.

The parameter management unit 260 stores various parameters used for extracting text data from the character image in the optical character recognition process according to the characteristics of each language, The character information can be extracted from the photographed character image with reference to the parameters.

The parameter may be determined according to various characteristics of each language such as a language type, a character notation method, and may be determined in consideration of characteristics related to language-specific properties in addition to the listed properties.

In addition, the parameter may be determined according to various characteristics of the character itself such as the overall color of the character image, the lighting condition, the quality of the displayed character, the font type used, the character type, the color of the character, Can be determined in consideration of the characteristics related to the inherent properties.

Hereinafter, in the character recognition electronic dictionary system 1000 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the character image is corrected using the tilted angle value of the camera unit 120 in the character image input apparatus 100, Will be described in detail with reference to Figs. 3 and 4. Fig.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a tilt of a character image input device, and FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a character image acquired in a state where an optical axis of the character image input device is perpendicular to a character , And FIG. 4 (c) is a diagram showing an example of a character image obtained in a state in which the optical axis of the camera unit in the character image input device is inclined with respect to the character.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the tilt measuring unit 130 included in the character image input apparatus 100 detects a tilt of a surface of a paper sheet, The tilt A of the optical axis of the camera unit 120 can be measured.

When the subject is a character, a distorted character image is obtained when the camera 120 photographs the subject in a state where the camera 120 does not form an angle perpendicular to the subject (for example, the paper surface on which characters are printed) The recognition rate of the character is lowered.

4 (b) is an image in which the camera 120 photographs the character with an angle perpendicular to the paper surface on which the characters are printed, and there is no distortion in the characters to be photographed. Fig. 4 (c) The camera section 120 photographs the character in a state in which the camera section 120 does not form an angle perpendicular to the paper surface on which the character is printed as in the case of the character image input apparatus 100 shown in FIG. .

As shown in the figure, when the characters are photographed in a state of being perpendicular to the paper surface on which the characters are printed, the characters are photographed in a rectangular shape, When the character is photographed in an angle, the character image is photographed in a trapezoidal shape whose upper side is narrower than the lower side.

Therefore, when the character image input apparatus 100 photographs a character in a state in which it is raised, distortion occurs in the character image and the character recognition rate is lowered.

For example, if the camera section 120 is tilted, that is, when the character image input apparatus 100 captures a character in a tilted state, the word " contents " may be misrecognized as " corternts ".

When the tilt measuring unit 130 measures the angle A of the camera unit 120 with respect to the character to be imaged, the image preprocessing unit 220 corrects the distortion of the character using the measured angle value, the distorted character image shown in FIG. 4C is corrected as shown in FIG. 4B as a character image in a state in which the image sensor 120 is not inclined. Accordingly, there is an effect that the character recognition rate in the optical character recognition process can be enhanced through the inclination correction of the character image.

The character distortion correction in the character image input apparatus 100 may be performed by using an image correction method such as homography or Hough transform in the image preprocessing unit 220 so that the image sensor 120 is inclined Can be corrected as a character image acquired in a non-inclined state.

In one embodiment, the tilt measuring unit 130 may be a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor. In this case, the tilt measuring unit 130 may measure the tilt of the camera unit 120 in more than one direction.

Accordingly, the image preprocessing unit 220 can correct the photographed character image even if the character image input apparatus 100 is inclined in various directions according to the user.

Hereinafter, the arrangement position of the camera unit 120 considering the camera unit 120 and the focal length F in the character image input apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a position of a camera unit in consideration of a focal length in a character image input device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 (a) 5 (b) is an illustration showing an example in which a camera unit is disposed on the upper outer peripheral surface of the character image input device.

The camera unit 120 of the character image input device 100 may be a camera having a fixed focus.

5A, a camera module of a fixed focus type is used as the camera unit 120, and the camera module 120 of the character image input device 100 includes a pen- The fixed focus camera module may be disposed in consideration of the focal length F thereof or the fixed camera module may be used as the camera module 120 as shown in FIG. The camera module of the fixed focus type is disposed in a protruding housing at the upper end of the pen-shaped body portion 105 of the character image input device 100 in consideration of the focal length F thereof, You can shoot.

The camera module 120 of the fixed focus type is disposed on the body part 105 at a predetermined distance from the pen tip formed at one end of the body part 105, that is, at a focal distance, , It is not necessary to take a character image after focusing on each one, so that a clear character image can be obtained quickly.

Hereinafter, a method of gripping a finger so as not to obscure the visual field of view of the camera unit 120 in the character image input apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

The pen-shaped body portion 105 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be configured such that when the user grasps the body portion 105, the user's finger enters the field of view (FOV) of the camera portion 120 For this purpose, a finger guide B for receiving the finger may be formed on a part of the body part 105.

6A shows a state in which the camera unit 120 is disposed inside the lower end of the body part 105 and the finger guide part B is provided in the lower part of the body part 105, And is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the body portion 105.

For example, when the user holds the pen-shaped body portion 105 as if holding a pencil, the middle finger stays in the finger guide portion B as shown in Fig. 6 (b) (FOV) of the camera unit 120 is not blocked.

6C shows a state in which the camera unit 120 is disposed outside the upper end of the body part 105 and the finger guide unit B is moved in the vertical direction of the camera unit 120, And is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the body portion 105.

For example, when the user holds the pen-shaped body portion 105 as if holding a pencil, the thumb and index finger stay in the finger guide portion B as shown in Fig. 6 (d) , So that the center fingers do not obscure the angle of view (FOV) of the camera unit 120.

The finger guide portion B guides the user's finger so as not to obscure the field of view of the camera portion 120 due to the finger, and can be any shape as long as it is a shape that is indented or protruded, Do.

Hereinafter, a method for photographing a character to be searched and performing a dictionary search in the character recognition electronic dictionary system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In one embodiment, the character image input apparatus 100 receives a user's command through the user input unit 111 and instructs the camera unit 120 to acquire a character image (S701).

When the command of the user is inputted, the camera unit 120 captures a character and acquires the image, and the tilt measuring unit 130 measures the tilt of the optical axis of the camera unit 120 with respect to the character (S703) .

Then, the character image input apparatus 100 transmits the obtained character image data and the measured tilt value to the dictionary search apparatus 200 through the communication unit 140 (S705).

The communication unit 210 of the dictionary searching apparatus 200 receives the data on the obtained character image and the measured tilt value.

The image preprocessing unit 220 in the dictionary searching apparatus 200 corrects the tilt distortion of the character image based on the data on the photographed character image and the received tilt value in step S707.

The optical character recognition unit 230 in the dictionary searching apparatus 200 extracts character information from the corrected character image (S709).

Next, the meaning of the converted character information is retrieved, and the retrieved result is displayed (S711).

If it is determined in step S709 that the character image is erroneously recognized in the character information extraction process or is not recognized at all, the dictionary search device 200 transmits the character image in which the recognition problem occurred to the management device 300 (S713).

The management apparatus 300 analyzes and learns the received character image data to adjust the parameters related to the extraction of information for recognizing characters in the character image, thereby improving the recognition rate of the character information (S715).

The dictionary search apparatus 200 receives the parameter whose value has been adjusted from the management apparatus 300 (S717), and updates the parameters of the optical character recognition section 230 with the received parameters. Accordingly, the dictionary searching apparatus 200 can extract the character information from the character image in a state where the recognition rate of the optical character recognition apparatus is improved.

The method of searching for a character recognition electronic dictionary according to the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed over network-connected computer systems so that computer readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the present invention can be easily deduced by programmers skilled in the art to which the present description belongs.

In the foregoing, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms, and should be construed in a sense and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention.

The scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein, and the present invention can be modified, changed, or improved in various forms within the scope of the present invention and the claims.

Claims

A body portion formed to extend in one direction;

A communication unit provided in the body part and performing communication with another device;

A tip portion disposed at one end of the body portion;

A camera unit disposed on a part of the body part to acquire an image of a surface of an object disposed on an optical axis;

A tilt measuring unit for obtaining a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit;

And a controller that is provided in the body and obtains an image of a surface of the object and a slope between the surface of the object and the optical axis when the tip contacts the object, And controlling the image and the tilt to be transmitted to the other device so as to recognize the character information through optical character recognition based on the tilt.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the camera unit

Wherein the light source is disposed at a part of the body part from a surface of the object in consideration of a focal distance.
[2] The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an outer circumferential surface of the body portion

Wherein a finger guide portion for receiving the finger is formed such that the finger of the user holding the finger is outside the field of view of the camera portion.
The method according to claim 1,

Wherein the image pickup element of the camera unit is an image pickup element capable of taking an infrared image of the surface of the object.
An electronic dictionary system comprising a character image input device and a dictionary search device,

Wherein the character image input device comprises:

A camera unit for acquiring an image of a surface of an object disposed on an optical axis;

A tilt measuring unit for obtaining a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit with respect to a vertical axis of the surface of the object; And

And a first communication unit for transmitting data and slope values of the obtained image to the dictionary search apparatus,

The dictionary searching apparatus comprises:

A second communication unit for receiving the image data and the slope value from the character image input device;

An image preprocessing unit for correcting the image based on the received slope value;

An optical character recognition unit for extracting character information from the corrected image;

A searching unit searching for the meaning of the extracted character information; And

And a display unit for displaying the search result.
The method according to claim 1,

The electronic dictionary system comprises:

Acquiring image data of an image having a low character recognition rate from the acquired image data from the dictionary search apparatus and analyzing the collected image data to calculate a parameter related to character recognition of the optical character recognition unit Further comprising:

The dictionary searching apparatus comprises:

And a parameter management unit for updating the parameter of the optical character recognition unit with the parameter.
A camera unit for acquiring an image of a character;

A tilt measuring unit for measuring a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit with respect to the character;

An image preprocessing unit for correcting the obtained character image based on the measured slope value;

An optical character recognition unit for extracting character information from the corrected character image; And

And a search unit for searching for a meaning of the extracted character information and outputting the result.
8. The method of claim 7,

Wherein the camera unit is disposed in a part of a body part extending in one direction,

Wherein the camera unit is disposed apart from one end of the body part to the other end such that the character is positioned at a focal distance of the camera unit by the body part.
8. The method of claim 7,

Wherein the body portion is formed with a finger guide portion for receiving the finger so that the user's finger is outside the field of view of the camera portion when the user holds the finger.
Acquiring an image for a character by user input;

Measuring a tilt of an optical axis of the camera unit with respect to the character;

Correcting the photographed character image based on the data on the photographed character image and the measured slope value;

Extracting character information from the corrected character image;

Retrieving a meaning of the extracted character information; And

And displaying the search result.