JP2006018509A - Document management support device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device capable of separately handling a type-printed part and a hand-written part included in text data representing contents of a document written on a paper medium. <P>SOLUTION: This document management support device is provided with a means scanning a document including type-printed characters and hand-written characters mixed together and acquiring document image data representing the contents of the document as a bit map, a means extracting image data for the type-printed area in which one or a plurality of block characters are written, and image data for a hand-written area in which one or more hand-written characters are written, and a means separately storing the image data for the type-printed area and that for the hand-written area. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for supporting management of a document to which handwritten annotation is added.

When reading the contents of a document optically and storing it electronically, it is not necessary to store the image data itself obtained by scanning the paper on which the document is written, but it is easy to modify the characters that make up the document. In many cases, it is preferred to save the data after converting it into simple text data. Such conversion from image data to text data is generally performed using a device equipped with an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) function. The OCR function extracts text data representing each character as an array of code information by cutting out the image of each character from the image data obtained by scanning a document and comparing the cut image with a previously registered pattern. It means the function to output sequentially.
By the way, there is a case where type characters and handwritten characters are mixed on one sheet to be scanned. In such a case, the handwritten character written on the paper is often a so-called annotation in which a person who has browsed a portion written in printed characters adds the handling and proofreading contents.
In addition, a technique for utilizing such an annotation property for efficient document management has been proposed. For example, the document management apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 separates annotations from scanned documents, analyzes the contents thereof, and performs predetermined processing according to the analysis result (for example, sending a mail to a specific address). Is supposed to do.
JP 2000-222394 A

As described above, handwritten characters added to a document are often annotations indicating the handling of the document and the proofreading contents thereof. For this reason, when displaying text data acquired from image data of a document with handwritten characters added as a document screen, the display mode of the type part originally written in the document and the annotation were added later It has been desired to realize an apparatus capable of individually operating the handwriting portion display mode.
The present invention has been devised under such a background, and the handling of the type part and the handling of the handwritten part included in the text data indicating the contents of the document written on the paper medium are individually performed. An object is to provide a device that can be operated.

  A document management support apparatus according to a preferred aspect of the present invention includes a document image acquisition unit that scans a document in which type characters and handwritten characters are mixed, and acquires document image data that represents the contents of the document as a bitmap. Area separation means for cutting out from the document image data image data of a type region where one or more type characters are written and image data of a handwriting region where one or more type characters are written; Image data storage means for individually storing the image data of the type region and the image data of the handwriting region.

  In this aspect, the region separating unit obtains, from the document image data, a unit for specifying a region of interest and a distance between two characters adjacent to each other in the region of interest for each set of the two characters. Means for determining whether or not the degree of variation of each obtained distance exceeds a predetermined range, and when the degree of variation does not exceed a predetermined range, while determining that the region of interest is a type region, And means for determining that the region of interest is a handwritten region when the degree of variation exceeds a predetermined range.

  In the series of aspects described above, from the image data of the type region, the type text data acquisition means for acquiring type text data representing the contents of the type characters in the type region, and the image data of the handwriting region, Handwritten text data acquisition means for acquiring handwritten text data representing the contents of handwritten characters in the handwritten area, and text data storage means for separately storing the typed text data and the handwritten text data You may prepare.

  Further, display means for reading the type text data and handwritten text data from the text data storage means and displaying a document screen in which the character string indicated by the typed text data and the character string indicated by the handwritten text data are allocated. Typographic character operation means for manipulating the display mode of the typographic character; and typographic character display control means for controlling the display mode of the character string indicated by the typographic text data according to the operation content of the typographic character operation means. Also good.

  Display means for reading out the printed text data and handwritten text data from the text data storage means, and displaying a document screen in which the character string indicated by the printed text data and the character string indicated by the handwritten text data are assigned; A handwritten character operation means for operating a display form of handwritten characters; a handwritten character display control means for controlling a display form of a character string indicated by the handwritten text data in accordance with the operation content of the handwritten character operation means; May be provided.

  Further, display means for reading the printed text data and handwritten text data from the text data storage means and displaying a document screen in which the character string indicated by the printed text data and the character string indicated by the handwritten text data are allocated. Determining means for determining whether the character string indicated by the handwritten text data includes a predetermined character or character string indicating an abbreviation of the person who added the handwritten character; and a predetermined value indicating the abbreviation of the additional person When a character or character string is included, a handwritten character display color control means for displaying a character string indicated by the handwritten text data in a predetermined character color may be provided.

  In the series of aspects, when the character string indicated by the handwritten text data includes a predetermined character or character string indicating the abbreviation of the person who added the handwritten character, the name of the person who added the handwritten character is You may provide the additional name insertion means displayed on the said display means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to individually operate each display mode when allocating text data obtained from a printed character portion and text data obtained from a handwritten character portion of a document to a screen.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, main terms used in the present embodiment are defined. A person who uses the system according to the present embodiment is called a “user”. The word “printed characters” means characters obtained by transcribing specific typeface characters such as Gothic and Mincho, and the word “handwritten characters” means characters other than printed characters. Is used to mean Further, the word “document” is used to mean a sheet on which information is written as a spelling of characters.
A feature of the document management system according to the present embodiment is that, in a multi-function peripheral that converts an image of a document with an annotation added to text data, a type character image originally written on the document and a hand added as an annotation. The feature is that it has a function to separate the image of the letter and handle each image individually.

  Here, when a user who uses the document management system according to the present embodiment adds an annotation to a document, the type portion associated with the annotation is indicated by an arrow. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a document in which annotations are additionally written according to such an agreement. In the document shown in the figure, paragraph A and paragraph B are written in printed characters on one sheet of paper, and annotation C in handwritten characters is additionally written. An arrow D indicating that the annotation C is an annotation related to the paragraph B is marked. As described above, when a document in which a correspondence relationship between an annotation and a type part related to the annotation is clearly specified is read by a later-described multi-function peripheral, an operation effect unique to the present embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of the document management system according to the present embodiment. The document management system according to this embodiment includes a computer device 10 and a multifunction device 20.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic hardware configuration of the computer apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the computer 10 includes a CPU 11 that controls the operation of the entire apparatus, a RAM 12 that is used as a work area for the CPU 11, a ROM 13 that stores an IPL (initial program loader), an OS (operating system), In addition to the hard disk 14 storing a viewer and the like, a computer display 15, a mouse 16, a keyboard 17, a communication interface 18, and the like are provided.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic hardware configuration of the multifunction machine 20. The multi-function device 20 provides four types of services to the user: a copy service, a print service, a facsimile service, and an OCR service. As shown in the figure, the multifunction device 20 includes an instruction device 21 that instructs execution of various services, an image input device 22 that optically scans a document and reads an image thereof, and an image that prints image data on paper. A network communication device 24 that controls transmission / reception of digital data between the printing device 23 and other nodes connected to the Internet or a local area network (LAN); a facsimile communication device 25 that controls transmission / reception of analog signals via a telephone line; And a controller 30 for controlling the operations of these units. The controller 30 includes an instruction processing unit 31, a copy service processing unit 32, a print service processing unit 33, a facsimile service processing unit 34, and an OCR service processing unit 40.

  Based on an instruction from the instruction device 21, the instruction processing unit 31 requests any of the copy service processing unit 32, the print service processing unit 33, the facsimile service processing unit 34, or the OCR service processing unit 40 to process the service request. . Each service processing unit controls the device under arbitration by the instruction processing unit 31 and executes a service request process. That is, the copy service processing unit 32 controls the image input device 22 and the image printing device 23 to execute the requested copy service request, and the print service processing unit 33 performs the network communication device 24 and the image printing device 23. The facsimile service processing unit 34 controls the facsimile communication device 25 and either the image input device 22 or the image printing device 23 to control itself. The requested facsimile service request is executed. Further, the OCR service processing unit 40 controls the image input device 22 and the network communication device 24 to execute an OCR service request requested by itself. Of the behaviors of these service processing units, the behaviors of the former three belong to the category of the prior art and will not be described in detail. On the other hand, the OCR service processing unit 40 performs a behavior characteristic of the present embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the OCR service processing unit 40. As shown in the figure, the OCR service processing unit 40 includes a document image data memory 41, a region separation unit 42, a type region image data memory 43, a handwriting region image data memory 44, and a type text. A data acquisition unit 45, a handwritten text data acquisition unit 46, a text data memory 47, and a text data output unit 48 are incorporated.

The document image data memory 41 stores document image data. This document image data is binary bitmap data obtained by the image input device 22 scanning the document.
The area separation unit 42 is an area (hereinafter referred to as “handwriting area”) in which image data and handwritten characters are written in an area where printed characters are written (hereinafter referred to as “printing area”). And the image data file of the print area is supplied to the print area image data memory 43, while the image data file of the handwriting area is supplied to the handwriting area image data memory 44. To do. That is, from the document image data, the image data in the area where the printed characters are written and the image data in the area where the handwritten characters are written are separated as separate files.

The print text data acquisition unit 45 reads from the image data file stored in the print area image data memory 43 text data (hereinafter referred to as “print text data”) representing the contents of the print characters included in the image data as character codes. And the acquired type text data is supplied to the text data memory 47.
The handwritten text data acquisition unit 46 reads from the image data file stored in the handwritten area image data memory 44 text data (hereinafter referred to as “character code”) representing the contents of handwritten characters included in the image data. (Referred to as “handwritten text data”), and the acquired handwritten text data is supplied to the text data memory 47.

Note that each text data supplied from the printed text data acquisition unit 45 or the handwritten text data acquisition unit 46 is associated with attribute data representing these attributes. The contents of this attribute data will be described in detail later in the explanation of the operation.
The text data output unit 48 reads each set of text data and attribute data from the text data memory 47 and outputs it to the network communication device 24.

Next, OCR service processing and document screen display processing, which are operations characteristic of the present embodiment, will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of the OCR service process.
This OCR service process is started when a user places one or a plurality of documents on a document feeder (not shown) of the multifunction device 20 and instructs a service request for the OCR service from the instruction device 21.

When receiving an instruction for a service request for the OCR service, the image input device 22 of the multifunction device 20 scans the document to acquire the document image data, and transmits the acquired document image data to the OCR service processing unit 40 (S100). ). The transmitted document image data is stored in the document image data memory 41 of the OCR service processing unit 40.
Subsequently, the region separation unit 42 of the OCR service processing unit 40 cuts out the print region image data and the handwriting region image data from the document image data stored in the document image data memory 41 (S110).
The image data is cut out as follows. First, each pixel represented by the document image data is scanned in the horizontal direction, and when the distance between two adjacent characters, that is, the width of the arrangement of consecutive white pixels is smaller than a predetermined value X, Are replaced with black pixels. The predetermined value X is approximately matched with a value assumed as a distance from the adjacent character. Similarly, each pixel is also scanned in the vertical direction, and when the width of the arrangement of consecutive white pixels is smaller than a predetermined value Y, those consecutive white pixels are replaced with black pixels. This predetermined value Y is generally matched with a value assumed as a character line interval. As a result, a region filled with black pixels is formed. FIG. 7 shows a state where the above-described replacement process is performed on the document of FIG. In this figure, regions L1 to L3 filled with black pixels are formed.
When an area filled with black pixels is formed, it is now determined whether each area is a type area or a handwriting area. In this determination, first, an attention area to be processed is specified, black pixels replaced in the specified area are returned to white pixels, and the original drawing content is restored. Then, the pixels in the region are scanned in the horizontal direction, and it is determined whether or not the degree of variation in pitch of consecutive white pixels is smaller than a predetermined value. In general, since the interval between two adjacent characters is substantially constant in a region where printed characters are written, the degree of variation in the pitch of consecutive white pixels becomes smaller than a predetermined value. On the other hand, since an interval between two adjacent characters is not constant in a region where a handwritten character is written, the degree of variation in pitch between consecutive white pixels becomes larger than a predetermined value. When the determination relating to the areas L1 to L3 shown in FIG. 7 is performed, the determination result that the areas L1 and L3 are type areas is given, and the determination result that the area L2 is a handwriting area is obtained. Will be taken down.

  The region separation unit 42 generates attribute data of each cut out image data (S120). This attribute data includes an area identifier for identifying an area from which image data has been cut out, and an area type identifier for identifying whether the image data has been cut out from a print area or a handwritten area. ing. The attribute data of the image data cut out from the type region further includes an allocation order identifier indicating the order of allocation of character strings acquired from the image data of each type region. Further, the attribute data of the image data cut out from the handwriting area includes the same area identifier as the type area associated with the annotation of the handwriting area and the arrow. For example, when the attribute data is generated from the document image data of the document shown in FIG. 1, an allocation order identifier indicating that the attribute data of the image data cut out from the type region where paragraph A is written should be allocated first. The attribute data of the image data that is included and cut out from the type region in which paragraph B is written includes an allocation order identifier indicating that it should be allocated next. In addition, the attribute data of the image data cut out from the handwritten area in which the annotation C is written includes the same area identifier as the attribute data of the image data cut out from the printed area in which the paragraph B is written.

The area separation unit 42 supplies the print area image data file and its attribute data set to the print area image data memory 43, and also supplies the handwriting area image data file and its attribute data set to the handwriting area. The image data is supplied to the image data memory 44 (S130).
The type text data acquisition unit 45 reads the set of image data and attribute data stored in the type region image data memory 43, and sets the type text data acquired from the image data and the set of attribute data to the text data memory 47. Supply (S140). Acquisition of typed text data in this step is performed as follows. First, character images are cut out one by one from the image data and normalized. Then, the normalized image and the character shape prepared as a dictionary in advance are compared by a so-called pattern matching method, and the character code of the character having the highest similarity is output as the recognition result.

  The handwritten text data acquisition unit 46 reads the set of image data and attribute data stored in the handwritten area image data memory 44, and uses the handwritten text data acquired from the image data and the set of attribute data for the text data. This is supplied to the memory 47 (S150). Acquisition of handwritten text data in this step is performed as follows. First, character images are cut out one by one from the image data and normalized. Then, the features of each constituent element of the character are extracted from the normalized image, and the constituent elements of the character are determined by comparing the extracted features with the feature data prepared as a dictionary in advance. Furthermore, the character code of the character obtained by assembling the determined component as the original is output.

  The text data output unit 48 reads out each set of text data and attribute data stored in the text data memory 47 and outputs it to the network communication device 24 (S160). Each set that is output is transmitted from the network communication device 24 to the computer apparatus 10.

The CPU 11 of the computer device 10 stores each set of text data and attribute data received from the multifunction device 20 in the hard disk 14 (S170). When a plurality of documents are placed on the document feeder, the above-described series of processing is repeated for each document, and the hard disk 14 of the computer apparatus 10 stores a text data group collected for each document. Will be.
When the user instructs display of the document screen in a state where the above-described series of processing has been completed for all the documents set in the document feeder, the document screen display processing is started.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing document screen display processing.
When the display of the document screen is instructed, the CPU 11 of the computer apparatus 10 reads each set of text data and attribute data stored in the hard disk 14 into the RAM 12 (S200). When a plurality of documents are placed on the document feeder in the OCR service process and text data groups acquired from each of these documents are stored, the documents are acquired from the first scanned document image data. A text data group is read together with the attribute data.

The CPU 11 identifies typed text data from each text data read to the RAM 12 (S210).
The CPU 11 determines the allocation position of the printed text data on the document screen (S220). This allocation position is determined by referring to an allocation order identifier included in attribute data paired with each text data. That is, type text data paired with an allocation order identifier indicating that it should be allocated first is placed at the top position, and type text data paired with an allocation identifier indicating the subsequent order The allocation position is determined so as to be sequentially arranged below.

Subsequently, the CPU 11 specifies handwritten text data from each text data stored in the RAM 12 (S230).
The CPU 11 determines the allocation position of the handwritten text data on the document screen (S240). The allocation position is determined by comparing the contents of the area identifier included in the attribute data paired with the handwritten text data with the contents of the area identifier included in the attribute data paired with the printed text data. . That is, the allocation position is determined so as to be arranged at the upper right of the type text data paired with the attribute data including the same area identifier as the handwritten text data.

The CPU 11 causes the computer display 15 to display a document screen to which the character string indicated by each text data is assigned (S250).
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document screen.
In this screen, a document image display area H is provided from the center to the left side. Within this area, there are character strings (hereinafter referred to as “printed character strings”) PT1 and 2 indicated by the printed text data and character strings (hereinafter referred to as “handwritten character strings”) HT indicated by the handwritten text data. And are assigned. An arrow AR indicating the correspondence between annotations is displayed from the handwritten character string HT toward the printed character string PT2. Further, on the right side of the screen, a button PB marked “Go to previous page” and a button FB marked “Go to next page” are displayed.

  When the user performs an operation of moving the mouse pointer to the button PB or the button FB and left-clicking in a state where this screen is displayed, the CPU 11 selects a processing target for a text data group acquired from another document image data. The process of step 200 to step 250 is executed. Thereby, the display content of the document image display area H on the document screen is switched to one corresponding to another document placed on the document feeder.

In addition, the user can perform an operation of changing the display mode of the printed character string and an operation of changing the display mode of the handwritten character string in a state where the document screen is displayed.
The operation of changing the display mode of the printed character string is performed by moving the mouse pointer to an arbitrary position where the printed character string is assigned in the document image display area H and right-clicking. When this operation is performed, the CPU 11 pulls down a type character display mode selection menu (S260). FIG. 10 is a document screen in a state where a type character display mode selection menu is displayed. In this pull-down menu, three display modes of “Gothic”, “Mincho”, and “Bold” are listed. The user moves the mouse pointer to a desired display mode and left-clicks. When this operation is performed, the CPU 11 changes the display mode of all the printed character strings on the document screen to the display mode selected from the pull-down menu (S270). When a plurality of independent type character strings are displayed on the document screen as shown in FIG. 10, all of them are changed to the display mode selected from the pull-down menu.

  On the other hand, the operation of changing the display mode of the handwritten character string is performed by moving the mouse pointer to an arbitrary position where the handwritten character string is assigned in the document image display area H and right-clicking. When this operation is performed, the CPU 11 pulls down a handwritten character display mode selection menu (S280). FIG. 11 is a document screen in a state where a handwritten character display mode selection menu is displayed. In this pull-down menu, three display modes of “arrow”, “balloon”, and “leader” are listed. The user moves the mouse pointer to a desired display mode and left-clicks. When this operation is performed, the CPU 11 changes the display mode of all handwritten character strings on the document screen to the display mode selected from the pull-down menu (S290). For example, when “speech balloon” is selected in the handwritten character display mode selection menu of FIG. 11, the handwritten character string previously associated with the handwritten character string by the image of the arrow is displayed as shown in FIG. Then, the image is switched to a balloon image in which a handwritten character string is written.

  According to the present embodiment described above, the multi-function peripheral that has read the document with the annotation added separates the image data of the area where the printed characters are written from the image data of the area where the handwritten characters are written. The text data is individually acquired from each of the separated image data. Then, the computer device that displays the document screen to which the text data is assigned has the display mode of the character string indicated by the text data acquired from the image data in the handwriting area and the text data acquired from the image data in the type area. The display mode of the character string to be shown can be individually controlled.

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The document management system according to the present embodiment has a preferable effect when a plurality of documents are read at once by a multi-function peripheral and displayed as a document screen.
Here, when a user who uses the document management system according to the present embodiment adds an annotation to each of a plurality of documents, he / she does not only indicate the type portion associated with the annotation with an arrow, but also uses his initials as the annotation. It is supposed to be written together. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a document in which annotations are additionally written according to such an agreement. In the document shown in the figure, in addition to paragraph A and paragraph B, annotation C is additionally written, and an arrow D indicating that the annotation C is related to paragraph B is written. Further, the annotation C includes a character string “FT” indicating the initial of the appender.

  Similarly to the first embodiment, the document management system according to the present embodiment is composed of the multifunction device 20 and the computer apparatus 10, and the hardware configuration of the multifunction device 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment. On the other hand, the hardware configuration of the computer apparatus 10 is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the additional name database is stored in the hard disk 14.

  FIG. 14 shows the data structure of the appender name database. This database is a collection of a plurality of records corresponding to each user who is supposed to add annotations to a document. One record constituting this database has two fields of “initial” and “name”, and each user's initial and full name are associated with each other. For example, the top record in FIG. 14 associates the initial “FT” with the full name “Taro Fuji”.

  The operation of this embodiment will be described. The characteristic operations of this embodiment can be broadly divided into OCR service processing and document screen display processing, as in the first embodiment. Of these two processes, the content of the OCR service process is the same as in the first embodiment. That is, when the user places a plurality of documents with annotations and initials added on a document feeder (not shown) of the multifunction machine 20 and instructs a service request for the OCR service from the instruction device 21, FIG. 6 shows. A series of processing is executed for each document. The hard disk 14 of the computer apparatus 10 stores a text data group collected for each document.

Next, the contents of the OCR service process in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the OCR service process.
The OCR service process of this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the contents after step 230. The CPU 11 that has identified the handwritten text data in step 230 includes a character string with the same spelling as the character string stored in the “initial” field of the additional name database in the character string indicated by the handwritten text data. It is determined whether it is included (S231).

When the same spelling character string is included, a record storing the character string in the “initial” field is specified from the appender name database (S232). Subsequently, the character string stored as the full name in the “name” field of the specified record is read into the RAM (S233), and the process proceeds to step 240 to determine the allocation position.
On the other hand, if the same spelling character string is not included, the process proceeds to step 240 without executing steps 231 to 233.
When the allocation position is determined in step 240, the CPU 11 advances the processing target to a text data group acquired from another document image data, and executes the processing from step 200 to step 240.

After executing the processing of Step 200 to Step 240 for the text data group acquired from all the document image data, the CPU 11 proceeds to Step 250 to display the document screen.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a document screen. Unlike the FIG. 9, the document screen in the present embodiment is not provided with the button PB and the button FB. Instead, a plurality of document images are displayed in cascade in the document image display area H. Each document image displayed in cascade in the same area is assigned with a character string indicated by the text data obtained from the document image data of each document placed on the document feeder. , Sticky note images LAB1 to LAB3 in which the full names of the annotation writers are recorded are displayed.

  When the user performs an operation of moving the mouse pointer to one of the sticky note images and left-clicking, the CPU 11 displays the document image corresponding to the sticky note image on the foreground. Then, when an operation of moving the mouse pointer to the area where the printed character string is displayed in the document image displayed on the foreground and left-clicking is performed, the processing of steps 260 to 270 is executed as in the first embodiment. Is done. Further, when an operation of moving the mouse pointer to the area where the handwritten character string is displayed and left-clicking is performed, the processing from step 280 to step 290 is executed.

  According to the present embodiment, the multifunction peripheral reads a plurality of documents with annotations and initials added thereto to acquire text data, and the computer device displays the document images corresponding to the respective documents in a cascade display. ing. In addition, a tag image with the full name of the annotation appender inside is displayed on the right next to each cascaded document image, and the computer apparatus brings the document image corresponding to the selected tag image to the foreground. It is supposed to be displayed. For this reason, it is possible to easily search a screen of a document on which an annotation is written by a specific user.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can be modified in various ways.
In the above embodiment, the multifunction device 20 that has read the document and generated the document image data cuts out the image data of the handwriting area and the print area, acquires the text data from the image data, and delivers it to the computer apparatus 10. It was like that. On the other hand, you may make it make the computer apparatus 10 perform acquisition of text data. In this modification, the computer device 10 implements functions corresponding to the type text data acquisition unit 45 and the handwritten text data acquisition unit 46 of the multifunction machine 20. When the multifunction device 20 acquires the image data of the handwriting area and the print area from the document image data, it immediately transmits the image data together with the attribute data to the computer apparatus 10, and the CPU 11 of the computer apparatus 10 performs the step of FIG. Text data is acquired by performing processing corresponding to 140 and 150.
Further, a display device may be mounted on the multifunction device 30 and a document screen may be displayed on the display device. In this way, the user can refer to the document screen without using the computer device 10.
There are three display modes that can be selected from the print character display mode selection menu: “Gothic”, “Mincho”, and “Bold”, but other display modes may be selected. Further, there are three display modes that can be selected from the handwritten character display mode selection menu: “arrow”, “speech balloon”, and “leader line”, but other display modes may be selectable.
In the second embodiment, it is determined whether or not a character string indicating the initial of a specific user is included in the annotation, and when the initial of the specific user is included, a sticky note image indicating the full name of the user Is displayed on the right side of the document image. On the other hand, specific control may be performed on the display mode of the character string in the document image according to the initials of each user. As a modification of this type, when a character string indicating the initial of a specific user is included in the annotation, it can be assumed that the display color of the annotation itself is controlled to a specific color.
The separation of the print area and the handwriting area when the image data of the print area and the image data of the handwriting area are cut out from the document image data may be realized by a method other than that shown in the above embodiment. For example, the average thickness of the strokes of each character in the attention area is detected, and when the value indicating the thickness is larger than a preset threshold value, it is determined that the area is a typed character area. May be. This focuses on the property that the stroke of type characters is generally thicker than the stroke of handwritten characters. Further, the linear component and the non-linear component of each character in the attention area are quantified, and when the ratio of the linear component to the non-linear component is larger than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the region is a region where the type character is written. It may be. This focuses on the property that printed characters contain more linear components than handwritten characters.

It is a figure which shows the document of the state to which the annotation was added. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a document management system. It is a hardware figure of a computer apparatus. FIG. 2 is a schematic hardware configuration diagram of a multifunction machine. It is an internal block diagram of an OCR service process part. It is a flowchart which shows an OCR service process. It is a figure which shows the state which substituted to the black pixel. It is a flowchart which shows a document screen display process. It is a figure which shows a document screen. It is a figure which shows a document screen. It is a figure which shows a document screen. It is a figure which shows a document screen. It is a figure which shows the document of the state to which the annotation was added. The data structure of the appender name database is shown. It is a flowchart which shows a document screen display process. It is a figure which shows a document screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Computer apparatus, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... RAM, 13 ... ROM, 14 ... Hard disk, 15 ... Computer display, 16 ... Mouse, 17 ... Keyboard, 18 ... Communication interface, 20 ... Multifunction device, 21 ... Instruction device, 22 ... Image input device, 23 ... Image printing device, 24 ... Network communication device, 25 ... Facsimile communication device, 30 ... Controller, 31 ... Instruction processing unit, 32 ... Copy service processing unit, 33 ... Print service processing unit, 34 ... Facsimile Service processing unit 40 ... OCR service processing unit 41 ... Document image data memory 42 ... Area separation unit 43 ... Type region image data memory 44 ... Hand writing region image data memory 45 ... Type text data acquisition Part, 47 ... memory for text data, 48 Text data output section.

Claims (7)

A document image acquisition unit that scans a document in which printed characters and handwritten characters are mixed, and acquires document image data representing the content of the document as a bitmap;
Area separation means for cutting out from the document image data image data of a type region where one or more type characters are written and image data of a handwriting region where one or more type characters are written;
A document management support apparatus comprising: image data storage means for individually storing the image data of the type region and the image data of the handwriting region. The document management support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The region separating means includes
Means for identifying a region of interest from the document image data;
Means for determining a distance between two adjacent characters in the region of interest for each set of the two characters, and determining whether or not the degree of variation of the determined distances exceeds a predetermined range;
When the degree of variation does not exceed a predetermined range, it is determined that the region of interest is a type region, while when the degree of variation exceeds a predetermined range, the region of interest is determined to be a handwriting region. And a document management support apparatus. The document management support apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
Type text data acquisition means for acquiring type text data representing the contents of type characters in the type region from the image data of the type region;
Handwritten text data acquisition means for acquiring handwritten text data representing the contents of handwritten characters in the handwritten area from the image data of the handwritten area;
A document management support apparatus, comprising: text data storage means for individually storing the printed text data and handwritten text data. The document management support apparatus according to claim 3,
Display means for reading out the printed text data and handwritten text data from the text data storage means, and displaying a document screen in which the character string indicated by the printed text data and the character string indicated by the handwritten text data are assigned;
Type character operation means for manipulating the display mode of type characters;
A document management support apparatus, further comprising: a type character display control unit that controls a display mode of a character string indicated by the type text data according to an operation content of the type character operation unit. The document management support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
Display means for reading out the printed text data and handwritten text data from the text data storage means, and displaying a document screen in which the character string indicated by the printed text data and the character string indicated by the handwritten text data are assigned;
A handwritten character operation means for operating the display mode of the handwritten character;
A document management support apparatus, further comprising: a handwritten character display control unit that controls a display mode of a character string indicated by the handwritten text data according to an operation content of the handwritten character operation unit. The document management support apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
Display means for reading out the printed text data and handwritten text data from the text data storage means, and displaying a document screen in which the character string indicated by the printed text data and the character string indicated by the handwritten text data are assigned;
Determining means for determining whether the character string indicated by the handwritten text data includes a predetermined character or character string indicating the abbreviation of the person who added the handwritten character;
A handwritten character display color control means for displaying the character string indicated by the handwritten text data in a predetermined character color when a predetermined character or character string indicating the abbreviation of the person who has added information is included. Document management support device. The document management support apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 6,
When the character string indicated by the handwritten text data includes a predetermined character or character string indicating the abbreviation of the person who added the handwritten character, the name of the person who added the handwritten character is displayed on the display means. A document management support apparatus further comprising an appender name insertion means.

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