JP2010218466A - Device, method and program for editing document image, and computer readable recording medium storing program for making computer execute the method - Google Patents

Abstract

[PROBLEMS] To obtain document element location information by structuring a document image, display the document image by arranging the document element with reference to the location information, and accept a document element selection instruction and deletion instruction by a user The subsequent document elements are rearranged on the document image.
A structuring unit for decomposing a document image into document elements constituting the document and structuring it as structured data, a structured data storage unit for storing structured data, and a document element for converting the document element into a document image. A preview display unit 104 arranged in the same layout as the preview, and a preview display of the laid out document element, and selection of the document element by the user from the previewed document elements and editing of the selected document element by the user An editing unit 105 that receives the document element, and a document element rearrangement unit 106 that rearranges the document element when the editing of the document element is received.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a document image editing apparatus for editing the contents of a document image, a document image editing method, a document image editing program, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the method.

  Conventionally, when an editing operation for deleting or moving a document element in an electronic document is executed, a function is provided in which an application automatically shapes the position of each document element. This is because the location information of the document element of the electronic document and the document content existing at the location are managed separately.

  However, in the case of a document image, unlike an electronic document, it is not separated into document element location information and document content. Therefore, when deleting or moving a document element, it is possible to perform deletion or movement of a document element area by a user by using image editing software. However, if the area of the document element is deleted, the deleted area becomes a blank area. Therefore, an operation for searching and moving a document element that can be moved to the blank area from the document elements in another area occurs. In addition, since the document element is moved to the blank area, a blank of the document element is further generated. Therefore, the user is repeatedly performed the operation of moving the document element to the blank area, so that the editing operation is not convenient. The same applies when moving the area of the document element.

  In order to solve the above problem, for example, when an empty document element is generated when a document element is arranged and a document is created, a technique of automatically deleting is known (see Patent Document 1). ).

  In addition, when creating a document by arranging document elements, a technique is known that accepts movement of a document element to an arbitrary position by a user and automatically shapes the position of each document element (Patent Document). 2).

  However, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem that document elements can be automatically deleted only when a structured document is created.

  Further, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2, the unit of the document element that accepts the movement is a page unit, and the movement process of each document element such as a diagram, a table, or a character existing on each page cannot be performed. There is.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is a document image editing apparatus, a document, and a document image editing apparatus that can improve the convenience of the user by always enabling the rearrangement by deleting or moving the document elements of the structured document. An object is to provide an image editing method and a document image editing program.

  Structuring means for decomposing a document image into document elements constituting the document and structuring it as a structured document, structured document storage means for storing the structured document, and the same layout as the document image A preview display means for previewing the document element arranged and laid out on the screen; selection of the document element by the user from the document elements displayed in preview; and editing of the selected document element by the user And a document element rearrangement unit that rearranges the document element when the editing of the document element is received.

  According to the present invention, a document image is structured to be a structured document, so that selection of a document element by a user of the structured document is accepted and editing is performed on the selected document element. In addition, by performing rearrangement processing by deleting or moving document elements in the blank area, it is possible to always perform rearrangement by deleting or moving document elements of a structured document, thereby improving user convenience. There is an effect.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the document image editing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a document image before structuring. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a structured document image. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which a document image is structured by the attribute of the document element. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which a document image is structured according to the structural hierarchical relationship of each document element. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a preview image displayed on the display. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a document image in which document elements are rearranged. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure from structuring a selected document to deleting a document element and rearranging the document elements in the document image editing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure performed by the structuring unit 102 to structure the selected document image. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a document image editing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example before the character element division processing. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example after the character element division processing. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example before character element division processing when there is a document element that cannot be moved in the next reading order of the blank area. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a result of rearranging document elements to move the document elements. FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the document image editing apparatus according to the first to fourth embodiments. FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a document image editing apparatus 1900 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document to be scanned. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of output paper in which unnecessary document elements are deleted to reduce the number of printed sheets. FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure from structuring a selected document to deleting a document element and rearranging the document elements in the document image editing apparatus 1900 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the multifunction machine.

  Exemplary embodiments of a document image editing apparatus and a document image editing method according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
As a first embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the document image editing apparatus of the present invention is implemented as a PC application will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the document image editing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The document image editing apparatus 100 includes a document selection unit 101, a structuring unit 102, a structured data storage unit 103, a preview display unit 104, an editing unit 105, and a document element rearrangement unit 106.

  The document selection unit 101 is a part that accepts display and selection of a document image by a user, and includes a document image selection unit 107 and a structured presence / absence detection unit 108. A document image selection unit 107 selects a document image to be displayed and edited. The structured presence / absence detecting unit 108 determines whether or not the selected document image is structured. If the selected document image is not structured, the document image is sent to the structuring unit 102 in order to structure the document image.

  The structuring unit 102 structures the document image selected by the document selection unit 101. That is, structured data is generated from the document image. Here, the structured data includes structured document elements, layout information, meta information, and reading order information.

  A document element is an element constituting a document. Specifically, the document element indicates a figure, a table, a photograph, or the like.

  The layout information is area information of document elements. Specifically, it is information related to the position and size of each document element in the document image.

  Meta information is information added to information that is a document element. Specifically, when the document element is a character, the meta information is information on the document structure such as a chapter, a section, a section, a title, a subtitle, and a text. When the document element is not a character, the meta information is attribute information such as a figure, a photo, or a table.

  Reading order information is permutation information indicating the order in which document elements are connected. Specifically, it is information on the order in which document elements are displayed on the display.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a document image before structuring. Since the unstructured document image 200 is an image, it is impossible to delete the document element when an unnecessary document element exists.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a structured document image. Structured document image 300 includes document elements 301-308. In this way, by separating the document image into document elements by structuring, the document elements can be handled individually.

  The structuring unit 102 includes an area identifying unit 109, a layout extracting unit 110, a meta information extracting unit 111, a reading order extracting unit 112, and a document element structuring unit 113.

  The area identifying unit 109 performs area identification on the document image and decomposes it into each document element.

  The layout extraction unit 110 extracts the layout information of the document element that has been subjected to region identification by the region identification unit 109.

  The meta information extraction unit 111 extracts the meta information of the document element that has been subjected to region identification by the region identification unit 109.

  The reading order extraction unit 112 extracts, as reading order information, the order in which the document elements that have been subjected to area identification by the area identification unit 109 are displayed on the display.

  The document element structuring unit 113 includes each document element, layout information extracted by the layout extracting unit 110, meta information extracted by the meta information extracting unit 111, and reading order information extracted by the reading order extracting unit 112. And structuring.

  Here, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the document image is structured by the attribute of the document element. When the document element is a character, it is structured data as a character element. That is, the character recognition process is performed on the character element, and the data acquired as a result is registered as structured data.

  If the document element is not a character, the document element is saved as another image file as a figure element or a photographic element. In addition, as a table element, the result of analyzing the structure of the table is saved as a table format file.

  In FIG. 4, a Text tag that represents a character element, a Figure tag that combines a figure element and a photo element, and a Table tag that represents a table element are arranged immediately below a Document tag that represents the entire document, and is classified into each attribute. It is arranged. Further, a Title tag representing a character element, a Subtitle tag, a Paragraph tag, and a Caption tag are classified according to the role of the document and arranged in the reading order from the top of the document below the Text tag.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which a document image is structured by the structural hierarchical relationship of each document element. Here, a Title tag representing the title and a Section tag representing the contents are arranged immediately below the Document tag representing the entire document. Then, under the section tag, each document element is classified according to the role of the document, and arranged in the reading order from the top of the document. Here, the Picture tag and the Table tag indicate the caption associated with the file name in which the figure element / photograph element and the table element are stored, and the effectiveness of the structuring is indicated.

  Note that the structuring method based on the attribute of the document element and the structuring method based on the structural hierarchical relationship of the document element are examples of structuring, and the document image is structured by other structuring methods. May be used.

  In the structuring unit 102 according to the present embodiment, the region identification unit 109 identifies the region of the document element, and the layout extraction unit 110 extracts the layout information as the region information of the document element. The layout information may be extracted at the timing of performing the region identification.

  The structured data storage unit 103 stores the structured data structured by the structuring unit 102 in the storage unit.

  The preview display unit 104 reads the structured data stored in the structured data storage unit 103, constructs a preview image, and displays the preview image on the display. The preview display unit 104 includes a document element arrangement unit 114 and a display display unit 115. The document element arrangement unit 114 arranges each document element using the layout information and reproduces the original document image. The display display unit 115 reproduces the original document image by each document element arranged by the document element arrangement unit 114 and creates a preview image. Then, a preview image is displayed on the display.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a preview image displayed on the display. The display screen 600 includes an Open button 601, a Delete button 602, a preview display area 603, and a page number display area 604. An Open button 601 is a button for opening a document, and a Delete button 602 is a button for deleting a document element. The preview display area 603 is an area for displaying a preview image, and the page number display area 604 is an area for displaying the number of pages of a document. The preview display area 603 includes a character 605, a character 606, a character 607, an image 608, a caption 609, a caption 610, a table 611, and a character 612. Character 605, character 606, character 607, image 608, caption 609, caption 610, table 611, and character 612 are document elements.

  The preview display unit 104 updates the preview image after the document elements are rearranged by the document element arrangement unit 106 described later.

  The editing unit 105 can accept selection and deletion of arbitrary document elements by the user. The selected document element is displayed on the display by changing the background color so that it can be easily grasped that the selected document element has been selected. In FIG. 6, an image 608 and a caption 609 are selected. The image 608 and the caption 609 are displayed with shadows around them. For example, the document element is deleted by accepting selection by the user of the document element and accepting pressing of the delete button 602.

  The document element rearrangement unit 106 rearranges document elements with respect to a document image from which an arbitrary document element has been deleted by the editing unit 105.

  Specifically, the document element rearrangement unit 106 searches and determines a document element that can be moved to a blank area for a document image having a blank area. Then, a document element moving process for moving the determined document element is performed. When a new blank area is generated by this document element movement processing, a document element that can be moved to the blank area is further searched. Finally, the document element rearrangement unit 106 rearranges the document elements by repeating the search of the document elements until no document element that can be moved to the blank area is searched. Then, the layout information of the rearranged document elements is stored in the storage unit. Then, the preview display unit 104 updates the preview image from the layout information.

  The document element rearrangement unit 106 includes a blank area detection unit 116, a movement element determination unit 117, and a document element movement unit 118.

  The blank area detection unit 116 detects a blank generated by deleting a document element.

  The moving element determination unit 117 searches for and determines a document element that can be moved to the blank area detected by the blank area detection unit 116.

  When the document element in the reading order next to the blank area is larger than the vertical or horizontal width of the blank area, it is impossible to move the same-size document element to the blank area. In this case, the document element can be made large enough to be moved to the blank area by scaling and reducing the document element in advance. However, since extreme scaling causes a decrease in the readability of the document element, it is necessary to set a scaling factor M that exceeds a certain level. If the document element whose document element has been scaled by the scaling factor M cannot be moved to the blank area, the next document element in the reading order becomes a document element as a blank area movement candidate. The scaling factor M may be a value obtained through experiments.

  When the moving element determining unit 117 determines a moving document element, the document element moving unit 118 moves the document element to a blank area. If the document element needs to be scaled, the document element is scaled and moved to a blank area.

  The document element rearrangement unit 106 moves a document element that can be moved to a blank area with respect to a document image in which a blank area exists by deleting the document element, and rearranges the document element. Further, by rearranging the document elements, if the last page becomes an empty page that does not include the document element, the number of pages can be reduced by deleting the empty page.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a document image in which document elements are rearranged. The rearranged document image 700 includes document elements 701 to 709. Specifically, the rearranged document image 700 represents the result of deleting the document element 304 and the document element 305 of FIG. That is, the document element 704 and the document element 705 are moved to a blank area generated by deleting the document element 304 and the document element 305. Further, the document element 706 is moved to a blank area generated by moving the document element 704 and the document element 705.

  The document element 704 represents a table element. For example, when the table element is vertically long or horizontally long, it may not be arranged in a blank area. In this case, there is a method of dividing the table elements and arranging them. There is also a method of arranging the table elements by scaling. Further, there is a method of referring to the reading order and searching and arranging document elements that can be arranged without division and scaling from document elements located after the table element. By determining the optimum method from the above-described methods and rearranging the document elements, the convenience of the document editing work can be improved.

  Next, the process of rearranging other document elements by structuring the selected document and deleting the document elements in the document image editing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the above-described processing procedure in the document image editing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  First, the document selection unit 101 selects a document image to be edited (step S801).

  Next, the document selection unit 101 determines whether or not the selected document image has been structured (step S802). Here, when the document selection unit 101 determines that the selected document image is not structured (step S802: No), the structuring unit 102 structures the selected document (step 803). Details of the process for structuring the selected document image will be described later.

  The structured data storage unit 103 stores the structured data structured by the structuring unit 102 in the storage device (step S804).

  If the document selection unit 101 determines that the selected document image is structured, the process proceeds to step S804.

  Next, the preview display unit 104 reads the structured data stored in the structured data storage unit and displays a preview (step S805). That is, the layout information stored in the structured data storage unit 103 is acquired, and each document element is arranged to reproduce the original document image. Then, a preview image is created and the preview image is displayed on the display.

  Then, the editing unit 105 deletes the document element selected by the user (step S806).

  Next, the document element rearrangement unit 106 rearranges the document elements of the document image edited by the editing unit 105 (step S807). Details of processing for rearranging document elements will be described later.

  As a result, the selected document image is structured, the deletion of the document element by the user is accepted, and the document element rearrangement process is performed, thereby providing a document in which the layout of the document element is always shaped.

  Next, details of the process of structuring the selected document image will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure performed by the structuring unit 102 to structure the selected document image.

  First, the area identifying unit 109 identifies the area of the document element of the document image (step S901).

  Next, the layout extracting unit 110 extracts the layout information of the document element whose area is identified by the area identifying unit 109 (step S902).

  Then, the meta information extraction unit 111 extracts meta information of the document element whose area is identified by the area identification unit 109 (step S903).

  Next, the reading order information extracting unit 112 extracts the reading order information of the document element whose area is identified by the area identifying unit 109 (step S904).

  Then, the document element structuring unit 113 structures the document elements by structuring the extracted information based on the structural hierarchical relationship (step S905). Specifically, the document element, the layout information of the document element extracted from the layout extraction unit 110, the information added to the document element extracted from the meta information extraction unit 111, and the reading order extraction unit 112 are extracted. The permutation information indicating the order in which the document elements are connected is focused on the structural hierarchical relationship, and structured data is generated. As another example of the structuring method, there is a method such as structuring based on attributes of document elements.

  Thereby, since the selected document image can be structured, structured data that can be edited in units of document elements can be acquired.

  Next, details of processing for rearranging document elements will be described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106.

  First, the moving element determination unit 117 searches for a document element that can be moved to a blank area of the document image (step S1001).

  Next, the moving element determination unit 117 determines whether there is a document element that can be moved to the blank area (step S1002). If the moving element determination unit 117 determines that there is no document element that can be moved to the blank area (step S1002: No), the processing procedure for rearranging the document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106 is terminated. .

  If the movement element determination unit 117 determines that there is a document element that can be moved to the blank area (step S1002: Yes), the document element movement unit 118 moves the movable document element to the blank area (step S1002). S1003).

  Then, the blank detection unit 116 determines whether or not there is a newly generated blank region because the document element moving unit 118 has moved the document element to the blank region (step S1004).

  If the blank detecting unit 116 determines that there is no newly generated blank area (step S1004: No), the processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearranging unit 106 is terminated.

  If the blank detection unit 116 determines that there is a newly generated blank area (step S1004: Yes), the process of step S1001 is performed. The process of rearranging the document elements is repeated until the blank area detecting unit 116 does not detect a blank area or the moving element determining unit 117 cannot find a document element that can be moved to the blank area (step S1002). It is.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the document element of the document image can be deleted and the document element of the document image can be rearranged. Therefore, the rearrangement by deleting or moving the document element of the structured document can be performed. It is possible to improve the convenience for the user at all times.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the document image editing apparatus of the present invention is implemented as a PC application will be described, as in the first embodiment described above.

  In the first embodiment described above, a document element that can be moved to a blank area generated by the deletion of a document element by a user is detected and moved. In the second embodiment, the document element is moved to a blank area. In the case where there is no movable document element, a case will be described in which a movable document element is generated by dividing a character element, and a document image is shaped by moving the divided character element to a blank area.

  FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a document image editing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 11, a document image editing apparatus 1100 according to the second embodiment includes a document selection unit 101, a structuring unit 102, a structured data storage unit 103, a preview display unit 104, an editing unit 105, and a document element. The relocation unit 106 is mainly provided. Here, since the functions and configurations of the document selection unit 101, the structuring unit 102, the structured data storage unit 103, the preview display unit 104, and the editing unit 105 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted. .

  The document element rearrangement unit 106 mainly includes a blank area detection unit 116, a movement element determination unit 117, a document element movement unit 118, and a character element division unit 119. Here, since the functions and configurations of the blank area detection unit 116, the movement element determination unit 117, and the document element movement unit 118 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

  The character element dividing unit 119 divides character elements that are document elements of the document image. In addition, since the figure element, the photograph element, and the table element, which are document elements, have a meaning of the figure element, the photograph element, and the table element in the unit identified by the structuring unit 102, when divided, There is a high possibility that figures, photos and tables cannot be recognized. However, when a part of the character element is divided, the divided character element is recognized as a set of characters unless the character itself is divided, and can be divided.

  As a division method, first, there is a division processing method in which one character element is divided into a plurality of images in units of lines. This processing method is effective when the width of the blank area matches the width of the character element area. That is, the height of the character element that is divided and moved is the height of the blank area at the longest, and the division boundary line is determined at such a height that the character itself is not divided.

  There is also a division processing method that divides character elements into character codes by character recognition. In this processing method, since the character exists as a character code, the character element can be moved even when the width of the blank area does not match the width of the character element area. Also, a character element that does not move can be easily moved to a newly generated blank area.

  In addition, there is a division processing method that divides a character element using one character or a plurality of characters as one image. This processing method is a process of dividing an area recognized as a character by the above-described character recognition as an image instead of a character code. That is, by treating the character-recognized area as an image instead of the character code, it is possible to reliably reproduce the character in the area where the character has been recognized without being related to the recognition rate of character recognition.

  Here, FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example before the character element division processing. The document image 1200 includes document elements 1201 to 1206. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example after the character element division processing. The document image 1300 includes document elements 1301 to 1307. Specifically, the document image 1300 represents the result of deleting the document element 1204 and the document element 1205 of the document image 1200.

  In this case, when the document element 1204 and the document element 1205 of the document image 1200 are deleted, the areas of the document element 1204 and the document element 1205 become blank areas. When the reading order information is referred to, the document element 1206 as the next document information is a candidate document element to be moved. In this case, the document element 1206 is larger than the blank area and cannot be moved. It is.

  Therefore, the document element moving unit 118 can move the document element 1304 to a blank area by dividing the document element 1206 into a document element 1304 and a document element 1305.

  Note that the document element 1305 is moved to a blank area resulting from the movement of the document element 1304. Further, it can be seen that the character element 1306 and the character element 1307 of the next page are moved to the blank generated by the movement of the document element 1305.

  If the document element that is the next reading order after the deleted document element is a figure element, photo element, or table element, and the figure element, photo element, or table element cannot be moved to a blank area, If there is a character element in the next reading order, the character element can be moved to the blank area by dividing the character element.

  However, for example, when it is appropriate to handle a plurality of document elements such as caption elements and table elements that are character elements in a semantic manner, moving only the character elements is inappropriate for the document image. It is necessary to combine the character elements identified by the area identifying unit 109.

  Here, the distance between the blank area and the character element that moves to the blank area will be described. When the positions of the blank area and the character element that moves to the blank area are far from each other, the readability of the document image is deteriorated. Therefore, the maximum distance at which the character element can be moved without degrading the readability is set as the distance D. Here, the distance D between the character elements is, for example, a linear distance measured from the center of gravity of the area of each character element. Then, only character elements that are closer than the distance D measured from the blank area need to be searched. The distance D may be a value obtained through experiments.

  Also, a case where the document element that is the next reading order of the deleted document element is a figure element, a photograph element, or a table element, and the document element of the next reading order cannot be moved to the blank area will be described. . In this case, if there are further character elements in the next reading order, the character elements can be divided and moved to the blank area.

  FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example before character element division processing when there is a document element that cannot be moved in the next reading order of the blank area. The document image 1400 includes document elements 1401 to 1408. For example, when the document element 1404 and the document element 1405 are deleted, the document element 1406 is a character element, but has a meaning together with the document element 1407 that is a table. Therefore, the document element 1406 and the document element 1407 are combined. Treat as one document element. Then, since it is impossible to move the document element 1406 and the document element 1407 to the blank area generated by deleting the document element 1404 and the document element 1405, in this case, the character element The document element 1408 is moved.

  Next, the process of rearranging other document elements by structuring the selected document and deleting the document elements in the document image editing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. Since the flowchart showing the procedure of the above-described processing in the document image editing apparatus 1100 according to the present embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

  Details of the processing for rearranging document elements will be described. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106.

  First, similarly to steps S1001 to S1002 in FIG. 10 of the first embodiment, processing until the moving element determination unit 117 determines whether there is a movable document element is performed. (Steps S1501 to S1502).

  When the moving element determination unit 117 determines that there is a movable document element (step S1502: Yes), the movable document element is moved and newly generated in the same manner as in steps 1003 to S1004. Processing until it is determined whether or not there is a blank area is performed (steps S1505 to S1506).

  When the moving element determination unit 117 determines that there is no movable document element (step S1502: No), the document element division unit 119 determines whether there is a character element that can be divided and moved. (Step S1503). Here, when there is no character element that can be divided and moved, the document element dividing unit 119 ends the processing procedure for rearranging the document elements performed by the document element rearranging unit 106.

  If there is a character element that can be divided and moved by the document element dividing unit 119, the document element dividing unit 119 divides the document element (step S1504).

  Then, similarly to step S1003, a process for moving the movable document element is performed (step S1505). The subsequent processing procedure is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the deletion of the document element of the document image is accepted by the user, the character element that is the document element of the document image is divided and the character element is rearranged. Therefore, compared with the document image editing apparatus in the first embodiment, a document image with a smaller blank area can be obtained.

  As an application example of the document image editing apparatus according to the second embodiment, for example, the specification of a document element by a user is accepted, the document element is divided into a plurality of elements, and the elements generated by the division are deleted. It is possible to do. Specifically, when a plurality of images constitute one figure element or photographic element, only one image can be deleted. In addition, a part of the character string can be deleted from the character element.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the document image editing apparatus of the present invention is implemented as a PC application will be described, as in the second embodiment described above.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, deletion of one or a plurality of document elements by the user is accepted, but in the third embodiment, it exists on an arbitrary page. A case where selection and deletion of all document elements are accepted will be described.

  The block diagram showing the configuration of the document image editing apparatus according to the third embodiment is similar to that of the second embodiment. The document image editing apparatus 1100 includes a document selection unit 101, a structuring unit 102, and structured data. A storage unit 103, a preview display unit 104, an editing unit 105, and a document element rearrangement unit 106 are mainly provided. Here, since the functions and configurations of the document selection unit 101, the structuring unit 102, the structured data storage unit 103, and the preview display unit 104 are the same as those in the second embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  The editing unit 105 according to the third embodiment has the same function as that of the second embodiment, and can select an arbitrary page and delete a document element existing on the page. Further, instead of selecting an arbitrary page, all document elements existing on the arbitrary page may be selected.

  The document element rearrangement unit 106 according to the third embodiment has the same function as that of the second embodiment, and adds a document element of the next page to a blank page generated by page deletion by the editing unit 105. Moving.

  Also, the flowchart showing the above-described processing procedure in the document image editing apparatus according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the second embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  When the editing unit 105 accepts selection of an arbitrary page by the user, if the document elements arranged on the selected page are also present on the previous and next pages, these document elements are deleted. Therefore, the document image editing apparatus according to the second embodiment is used.

  When the editing unit 105 deletes an arbitrary page by the user, instead of deleting the document element existing on the page, the editing unit 105 may delete the page itself and replace the process by incrementing the page number of the subsequent page. good. In this case, the processing in the document element rearrangement unit 106 is not particularly performed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when receiving deletion of document elements in units of pages, it is not necessary to select one document element at a time when deleting all document elements in a page. It is possible to save the trouble of the document element deletion process by.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the document image editing apparatus of the present invention is implemented as a PC application will be described as in the first to third embodiments.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, the deletion of one or a plurality of document elements by the user is accepted. In the fourth embodiment, a case where movement of one or a plurality of document elements by a user is accepted will be described.

  The block diagram showing the configuration of the document image editing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment is similar to the second embodiment in that the document selection unit 101, the structuring unit 102, the structured data storage unit 103, and the preview display unit. 104, an editing unit 105, and a document element rearrangement unit 106 are mainly provided. Here, since the functions and configurations of the document selection unit 101, the structuring unit 102, the structured data storage unit 103, and the preview display unit 104 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

  The editing unit 105 accepts selection of a document element to be moved by the user, stores it in the storage unit, and deletes the selected document element from the document image.

  The document element rearrangement unit 106 according to the fourth embodiment has a function similar to that of the second embodiment, and performs a document element rearrangement process for moving the document element.

  Specifically, first, a blank area is generated at the destination in order to secure the area of the document element to be moved. Next, all document elements whose reading order is later than the blank area are rearranged. Then, the document element to be moved to the blank area is moved.

  Here, the case where the image 608 and the caption 609 in FIG. 6 are moved to the end of the document will be described. In order to secure the movement area of the image 608 and the caption 609, the table 611, its caption 610, and the character element 612 are moved. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a result of rearranging document elements to move the document elements. The rearranged document image 1600 includes document elements 1601 to 1608. A document element 1607 and a document element 1608 are document elements that are accepted for movement by the user.

  A flowchart showing the above-described processing procedure in the document image editing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment is the same as that in the second embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  Details of the processing for rearranging document elements will be described. FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for rearranging document elements performed by the document element rearrangement unit 106.

  First, similarly to steps S1501 to S1506 in FIG. 15 of the second embodiment, a process of moving a document element to a blank area is performed (steps 1701 to S1706).

  Next, a blank area for moving the document element designated by the user is generated (step S1707).

  Then, the document element designated by the user is moved to the generated blank area (step S1708).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the movement of the document element selected by the user is accepted, the document element is first deleted, and the document element of the document image having the blank area is rearranged. Then, the document image can be moved by securing an area for moving the selected document area as a blank area in the document image and moving the selected document element to the blank area. As described above, since the selected document element can be freely moved, it is possible to reduce the trouble of the movement process of the document element by the user and to improve the convenience.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the document image editing apparatus according to the first to fourth embodiments. As shown in FIG. 18, the document image editing apparatus according to the first to fourth embodiments includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1, a read only memory (ROM) 2, a random access memory (RAM) 3, and the above-described structure. An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 4 as a data storage unit 103, a display device 5 such as a monitor, an input device 6 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a communication I / F 7, and a bus 8 for connecting these units are provided. The hardware configuration uses a normal computer.

  Various programs executed by the document image editing apparatuses of the first to fourth embodiments are files in an installable format or an executable format, and are CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD (Digital Recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as Versatile Disk).

  In addition, the program executed by each document image editing apparatus of the first to fourth embodiments is stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and is provided by being downloaded via the network. May be. The program executed by each document display device of the first to fourth embodiments may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. Moreover, you may comprise so that the program of 1st-4th embodiment may be previously incorporated in ROM etc. and provided.

  The program executed by each document image editing apparatus of the first to fourth embodiments includes the above-described units (document selection unit 101, structuring unit 102, structured data storage unit 103, preview display unit 104, editing unit 105). , Document element rearrangement unit 106, document image selection unit 107, structured presence / absence detection unit 108, region identification unit 109, layout extraction unit 110, meta information extraction unit 111, reading order extraction unit 112, document element structuring unit 113, The module configuration includes a document element arrangement unit 114, a display display unit 115, a blank area detection unit 116, a movement element determination unit 117, a document element movement unit 118, and the like. By reading the program from the ROM 2 or HDD 4) and executing it, the above components are loaded onto the main storage device, and the document is selected. 101, structured unit 102, structured data storage unit 103, preview display unit 104, editing unit 105, document element rearrangement unit 106, document image selection unit 107, structured presence / absence detection unit 108, region identification unit 109, layout extraction Section 110, meta information extraction section 111, reading order extraction section 112, document element structuring section 113, document element arrangement section 114, display display section 115, blank area detection section 116, moving element determination section 117, document element movement section 118 Etc. are generated on the main memory.

(Fifth embodiment)
In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the present invention is realized as a function of a multifunction machine will be described.

  FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a document image editing apparatus 1900 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 19, a document image editing apparatus 1900 according to the fifth embodiment includes a structuring unit 102, a structured data storage unit 103, a preview display unit 104, an editing unit 105, a document element rearrangement unit 106, and the like. A scanner 1901, an operation display unit 1902, and a printer engine 1903 are mainly provided. Here, since the functions and configurations of the structuring unit 102, the structured data storage unit 103, the editing unit 105, and the document element rearrangement unit 106 are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  A scanner 1901 is a device that reads an image such as a document. The operation display unit 1902 is for displaying a document element arrangement result on a preview screen and accepting selection of a document element to be moved or deleted by a user. The printer engine 1903 is a part that executes printing.

  FIG. 20 shows an example of a document to be scanned. Both the original 2001 and the original 2002 are originals in which two pages of the original original are integrated into one sheet. A document 2001 includes a document area 2003 and a document area 2004. A document area 2003 is a document area of the first page of the original document. A document area 2004 is a document area of the second page of the original document. The document 2002 includes a document element 2005 and a document element 2006. A document area 2005 is a text area of the third page of the original document. A document area 2006 is a text area of the fourth page of the original document.

  When two pages of originals 2001 and 2002 are scanned and printed, two output sheets are discharged. Here, for example, if the document area 2003 that is the first page of the original document and the document area 2006 that is the fourth page of the original document are unnecessary, first, the two-page document is scanned and the two-page document is scanned. Generate structured data. Next, the editing unit 105 deletes all document elements existing in the document area 2003 and the document area 2006. Then, the document element rearrangement unit 106 can make a one-page document image. Therefore, the number of printed sheets can be reduced.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of output paper in which unnecessary document elements are deleted to reduce the number of printed sheets. The output paper 2101 includes a document area 2102 and a document area 2103.

  In the above-described example, all document elements in the document area are selected by selecting the document area. However, any document element can be selected and deleted. Similarly, it is possible to move a document area or a document element.

  The preview display unit 104 according to the fifth embodiment has the same function as that of the third embodiment, and performs enlargement / reduction processing of the document image in accordance with the display display area to display a preview. When there are a plurality of document image pages, a predetermined number of pages are displayed simultaneously.

  The preview display unit 104 displays a preview of the document image generated by scanning from the copying machine.

  Next, in the document image editing apparatus 1900 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, structuring of an image document generated by scanning is performed, and processing for rearranging other document elements by deleting document elements is performed. explain. FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the above-described processing procedure in the document image editing apparatus 1900 according to this embodiment.

  First, the structuring unit 102 structures a document image generated by scanning (step S2201). The details of the process for structuring the selected document image are the same as those in FIG. 9 of the first embodiment, and are therefore omitted.

  Then, similarly to S804 to S805 of FIG. 8 of the first embodiment, the structured data is stored by the structured data storage unit, and the preview display 104 reads the structured data and displays it as a preview (steps S2202 to S2202). S2203).

  Next, the editing unit 105 deletes all document elements in the document area selected by the user (step S2204).

  Then, similarly to S807 of FIG. 8 of the first embodiment, the document element rearrangement unit rearranges the document elements of the document image edited by the editing unit 105 (step S2205).

  As a result, when printing a document image from a copying machine, the document area layout by the user is deleted by deleting the unnecessary document area and re-laying only the necessary document area in an appropriate layout. Can be reduced.

  Since the scanned document image is not structured, it needs to be structured by the structuring unit 102. However, the structured processing can be reduced by registering the structured data and the ID in the database in advance. You can also. Specifically, an ID is printed on a scanned document, the ID is detected, and collated with an ID registered in advance in the database. If the ID matches the registered ID, the structured data corresponding to the ID is acquired, so that the structuring process becomes unnecessary.

  FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the multifunction machine. As shown in the figure, this multi-function device has a configuration in which the controller 10 and an engine unit (Engine) 60 are connected by a PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) bus. The controller 10 is a controller that controls the entire MFP, drawing, communication, and input from an operation unit (not shown). The engine unit 60 is a printer engine that can be connected to a PCI bus, and is, for example, a monochrome plotter, a one-drum color plotter, a four-drum color plotter, a scanner, or a fax unit. The engine unit 60 includes an image processing part such as error diffusion and gamma conversion in addition to a so-called engine part such as a plotter.

  The controller 10 includes a CPU 11, a north bridge (NB) 13, a system memory (MEM-P) 12, a south bridge (SB) 14, a local memory (MEM-C) 17, and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). 16 and a hard disk drive (HDD) 18, and the north bridge (NB) 13 and the ASIC 16 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 15. The MEM-P 12 further includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12a and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12b.

  The CPU 11 performs overall control of the multifunction peripheral, and has a chip set including the NB 13, the MEM-P 12, and the SB 14, and is connected to other devices via the chip set.

  The NB 13 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 11 to the MEM-P 12, SB 14, and AGP 15, and includes a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P 12, a PCI master, and an AGP target.

  The MEM-P 12 is a system memory used as a memory for storing programs and data, a memory for developing programs and data, a memory for drawing a printer, and the like, and includes a ROM 12a and a RAM 12b. The ROM 12a is a read-only memory used as a program / data storage memory, and the RAM 12b is a writable / readable memory used as a program / data development memory, a printer drawing memory, or the like.

  The SB 14 is a bridge for connecting the NB 13 to a PCI device and peripheral devices. The SB 14 is connected to the NB 13 via a PCI bus, and a network interface (I / F) unit and the like are also connected to the PCI bus.

  The ASIC 16 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing applications having hardware elements for image processing, and has a role of a bridge for connecting the AGP 15, PCI bus, HDD 18, and MEM-C 17. The ASIC 16 includes a PCI target and an AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that forms the core of the ASIC 16, a memory controller that controls the MEM-C 17, and a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory) that rotate image data using hardware logic. (Access Controller) and a PCI unit that performs data transfer between the engine unit 60 via the PCI bus. The ASIC 16 is connected to an FCU (Facsimile Control Unit) 30, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 40, and an IEEE 1394 (the Institute of Electrical Engineering 50 interface) via a PCI bus. The operation display unit 20 is directly connected to the ASIC 16.

  The MEM-C 17 is a local memory used as a copy image buffer and a code buffer, and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 18 is a storage for storing image data, programs, font data, and forms. It is.

  The AGP 15 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed for speeding up graphics processing. The AGP 15 speeds up the graphics accelerator card by directly accessing the MEM-P 12 with high throughput. .

  Further effects and modifications can be easily derived by those skilled in the art. The embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific embodiments as described above.

1 CPU (Central Processing Unit)
2 ROM (Read Only Memory)
3 RAM (Random Access Memory)
4 HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
5 Display device 6 Input device 7 Communication I / F
8 bus 10 controller 11 CPU
12 System memory (MEM-P)
12a ROM (Read Only Memory)
12b RAM (Random Access Memory)
13 North Bridge (NB)
14 South Bridge (SB)
15 AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 16 ASIC
17 Local memory (MEM-C)
18 Hard disk drive (HDD)
20 Operation display unit 30 FCU (Facsimile Control Unit)
40 USB (Universal Serial Bus)
50 IEEE1394 interface 60 Engine part (Engine)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Document image editing apparatus 101 Document selection part 102 Structured part 103 Structured data storage part 104 Preview display part 105 Editing part 106 Document element rearrangement part 107 Document image selection part 108 Structured presence detection part 109 Area identification part 110 Layout extraction Part 111 meta information extracting part 112 reading order extracting part 113 document element structuring part 114 document element arranging part 115 display display part 116 blank area detecting part 117 moving element determining part 118 document element moving part 200 unstructured document image 300 structuring Completed document image 301 Document element 302 Document element 303 Document element 304 Document element 305 Document element 306 Document element 307 Document element 308 Document element 600 Display screen 601 Open button 602 Delete button 603 Preview display area 604 page Page number display area 605 characters 606 image 607 caption 608 caption 609 table 610 characters 700 rearranged document image 701 document element 702 document element 703 document element 704 document element 705 document element 706 document element 707 document element 708 document element 709 document element 1100 Document Image Editing Device 1201 Document Element 1202 Document Element 1203 Document Element 1204 Document Element 1205 Document Element 1206 Document Element 1200 Document Image 1300 Document Image 1301 Document Element 1302 Document Element 1303 Document Element 1304 Document Element 1305 Document Element 1305 Document Element 1306 Document Element 1307 Document element 1400 Document image 1401 Document element 1402 Document element 1403 Document element 1404 Document element 1405 Document Containing 1406 document element 1407 document element 1408 document element 1900 a document image editing device 1901 scanner 1902 the operation display unit 1903 printer engine 2001 original 2002 original 2003 document area 2004 document area 2005 document element 2006 document element 2101 output paper 2102 document area 2103 document area

JP-A-9-44493 JP-A-10-289225

Claims (13)

Structuring means for decomposing a document image into document elements constituting the document and structuring it as a structured document;
Structured document storage means for storing the structured document;
A preview display means for arranging the document elements in the same layout as the document image and displaying the layout of the document elements as a preview;
Document editing means for accepting selection of the document element by the user from among the document elements displayed in preview, and editing of the selected document element by the user;
Document element rearrangement means for rearranging the document element when editing of the document element is accepted;
A document image editing apparatus comprising: The structuring means includes
Area identifying means for identifying areas of the plurality of document elements by area identifying the document image;
Layout extraction means for extracting layout information which is information on the location of the document element;
Meta information extracting means for extracting meta information which is semantic information added to the document element;
Reading order extraction means for extracting reading order information which is permutation information of the reading order of the document elements;
By acquiring and classifying the document element, layout information extracted by the layout extraction means, meta information extracted by the meta information extraction means, and reading order information extracted by the reading order extraction means Document element structuring means for structuring the document image;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The document editing means includes
Receiving a selection of the document element by a user from the document elements displayed in preview, and deleting the selected document element;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The document editing means includes
Accepting selection of the document element by a user from the document elements displayed in preview, and moving the selected document element;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The document element rearrangement means includes:
Re-arranged document element determining means for determining the document element that can be moved to a blank area generated in the document image by the document editing means;
Rearranged document element moving means for moving the determined document element;
With
The preview display means includes
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preview image is updated by rearranging the document elements by the document element rearranging unit. The rearranged document element moving means includes:
Calculating a scaling factor of the document element to be a movement candidate, and scaling the document element to be a movement candidate according to the calculated scaling factor;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein: The document element rearrangement means includes:
When rearranging the character elements that are the document elements, a division process that divides one character element into a plurality of images in units of lines, a division process that divides the character element as a character code by character recognition, one character or a plurality of characters Re-arranging the character elements divided by at least one of the division processes of dividing the character elements as one image of the character,
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the rearranged document element moving unit rearranges the divided character elements. The document element rearrangement means includes:
Storing layout information of the rearranged document elements by structured document storage means;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The preview display means includes
A preview display is performed by enlarging / reducing the document image in accordance with a display display area;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The preview display means includes
When the number of pages of the document image is plural, simultaneously displaying a predetermined number of pages;
The document image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: A structuring step for decomposing a document image into document elements constituting the document and structuring as a structured document;
A structured document storage step for storing the structured document;
A preview display step of arranging the document elements in the same layout as the document image and previewing the laid out document elements;
A document editing step of accepting selection of the document element by the user from among the document elements displayed in preview, and editing of the selected document element by the user;
A document element rearrangement step for rearranging the document element when editing of the document element is accepted;
A document image editing method comprising: A document image editing program for causing a computer to execute the document image editing method according to claim 11. A computer-readable recording medium storing the program according to claim 12.

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