JP5140640B2 - Portable electronic devices - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable electronic device that can recognize identification information from an image.

  Conventionally, there is a portable electronic device (mobile phone) having a business card reader function, that is, a function of reading information written on a business card. The business card reader function applies an OCR (Optical Character Reader) function of an image pickup unit or a scanner, determines character information from a business card image read as an image, and captures character data (for example, (See Patent Documents 1 and 2). Specifically, the mobile phone captures information recorded on a business card with an imaging unit, analyzes the captured image with a business card reader function, and divides the analyzed data (identification information) into items and registers them in the address book It is supposed to be.

JP 2001-344562 A JP 2002-252691 A

By the way, in the mobile phone, even when the identification information registered in the address book and the identification information recognized from the image are the same, registration to the address book is performed, and duplicate identification information is not stored. It is registered.
Therefore, it is conceivable that the identification information registered in the address book and the same identification information that is recognized from the image are prevented from being registered in the address book. Since it is premised on recognizing the identification information from the control, there is a problem that the control takes time.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable electronic device that can suppress registration of identification information redundantly without taking time. .

  The portable electronic device according to the present invention includes a display unit, an imaging unit, a storage unit, a scanning unit that scans a predetermined region in an image captured by the imaging unit, and the scanning information is the A determination unit that determines whether or not the scanning information that is already stored in the storage unit matches, and the determination unit determines that the scanning information does not match the scanning information that is already stored in the storage unit. A recognition unit that recognizes identification information from the image, and a control unit that controls the recognition unit to store the recognition information recognized by the recognition unit in association with the scanning information; Have

  Moreover, it is preferable that a scanning part acquires the said some scanning information in the predetermined position in the said image.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a scanning part scans the inside of the said image linearly, and acquires the said scanning information.

  Further, the portable electronic device has an evaluation unit that evaluates the scanning information acquired by the scanning unit at a predetermined position in the image and weighted differently for each predetermined position, and the determination unit includes: It is preferable to determine whether or not the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit based on the evaluation by the evaluation unit.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a scanning part recognizes the said scanning information based on a binary image.

  In addition, when it is determined that the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit, the control unit matches the scanning information with the scanning information already stored in the storage unit. It is preferable to perform control so that a message indicating that this has been done is displayed on the display unit.

  In addition, when it is determined that the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit, the control unit matches the scanning information with the scanning information already stored in the storage unit. It is preferable to perform control so that a message indicating that this has been done is displayed on the display unit.

  In addition, when the control unit determines that the scan information matches the scan information already stored in the storage unit, the scan information is already stored in the storage unit. It is preferable to perform control so that the identification information described in the storage unit in association with is displayed on the display unit.

  According to the present invention, registration of identification information can be suppressed without taking time.

1 is an external perspective view of a mobile phone that is an example of a mobile electronic device according to the present invention. It is a functional block diagram explaining the function of a mobile telephone. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of reading / storing of the business card in a mobile telephone. It is a figure explaining the same determination with the acquisition of the scanning information of a business card, and the registered scanning information. It is an image figure in the storage area of an address book.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a mobile phone 1 which is an example of a mobile electronic device according to the present invention. In the following, the mobile phone 1 will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any device having an imaging function may be used. For example, PHS (Personal Handy phone System), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). ), Or a notebook computer.

  The cellular phone 1 includes an operation unit side body unit 2 and a display unit side body unit 3. The operation unit side body unit 2 includes an operation key group 11 and a microphone 12 to which a voice uttered by a user of the mobile phone 1 is input on the surface unit 10. The operation key group 11 includes a function setting operation button 13 for operating various functions such as various settings, an address book function, and a mail function, and an input operation button 14 for inputting a telephone number and characters such as mail. And a determination operation button 15 for performing determination and scrolling in various operations.

  Further, the display unit side body unit 3 includes a display unit 21 for displaying various types of information on the surface unit 20, an audio output unit 22 for outputting the voice of the other party on the call, and a CCD ( (Charge Coupled Device) is configured to include an imaging unit 23 configured by a camera and the like, and a speaker 24 that outputs music and the like to the outside. In the present embodiment, the imaging unit 23 is disposed on the surface portion 20 of the display unit side body 3, but the arrangement position is not limited to this. Any position where the subject can be imaged, such as a back surface (not shown), may be used.

  Further, the upper end of the operation unit side body 2 and the lower end of the display unit side body 3 are connected via a hinge mechanism 4. In addition, the cellular phone 1 relatively rotates the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 connected via the hinge mechanism 4, thereby displaying the operation unit side body 2 and the display. The part-side casing 3 can be in a state of being open to each other (open state), or the operation part-side casing 2 and the display unit-side casing 3 can be in a folded state (folded state).

  FIG. 1 shows a form of a so-called foldable mobile phone, but the form of the mobile phone 1 according to the present invention is not particularly limited to this, and the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body. A slide type in which one casing is slid in one direction from the state where the section 3 is overlapped, or an axis line along the overlapping direction of the operation section side casing section 2 and the display section side casing section 3 A rotary type (turn type) in which one casing is rotated at the center may be used.

  The cellular phone 1 configured as described above has a function of registering and displaying identification information such as name, company name, affiliation, telephone number, and e-mail address in the address book. In addition, the mobile phone 1 has a function of preventing duplicate registration between identification information that is already registered and identification information acquired from a captured image.

Here, a configuration for exhibiting the functions as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone 1 includes a display unit 21, an imaging unit 23, a storage unit 30, a scanning unit (OCR processing unit 31), a recognition unit (OCR processing unit 31), and a determination unit ( An OCR processing unit 31) and a control unit (main control unit 32).

The display unit 21 is composed of a display device such as a liquid crystal display panel or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) panel. For example, an address book, a destination telephone number when making a call, Displays the contents of received mail and outgoing mail. The display unit 21 displays characters and images by being controlled by the display control unit 33 according to the video signal supplied from the main control unit 32. The display control unit 33 includes, for example, a data driver that supplies a driving voltage based on a video signal to the display unit 21 and a gate driver that drives each pixel of the display unit 21 line-sequentially along a scanning line.
The imaging unit 23 includes a lens, an imaging element, and the like, and images a business card, for example.
The storage unit 30 stores an address book in which identification information described later and scanning information described later associated with the identification information can be registered as registration information.

  The OCR processing unit 31 as a scanning unit scans a predetermined region in the image captured by the imaging unit 23 and acquires scanning information. The scanning information corresponds to, for example, an image in a predetermined area or a numerical value of an image in the predetermined area.

  The OCR processing unit 31 as a determination unit determines whether the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the address book. At this time, the OCR processing unit 31 determines that the acquired scanning information and the stored scanning information are completely the same, and the scanning information within a predetermined error range also matches. It is determined that The determination criterion is determined in consideration of the accuracy of the required scanning information.

  When it is determined that the scanning information does not match the scanning information already stored in the address book, the OCR processing unit 31 as a recognition unit recognizes the identification information from the image. The identification information is data such as characters. For this recognition, for example, an OCR function may be used. Those converted into text characters by the OCR function are recognized as characters.

  Here, the OCR function will be described. First, a line part is extracted from an image such as a business card imaged by the imaging unit 23. For example, the image is scanned in the vertical direction to acquire the density value of the image. Then, a portion where density values equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold continue is taken as a row, and a location where density values less than the threshold continue is taken as a line spacing. Next, characters are extracted in units of one character from the extracted line portion image. For example, the density value is acquired by scanning the image of the row portion in the horizontal direction. A portion where density values equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value continue is a character, while a portion where density values less than the threshold value continue is a character space. Thereby, an image (character image) for one character is extracted from the image captured by the imaging unit 23. Next, the character of the character image is recognized and converted into text data. For example, a character image is compared with a character pattern stored in advance, and a similarity to the character pattern is obtained. The character pattern having the highest similarity is recognized as a character in the character image, and the recognized character is output as text data. In this way, text characters are output from the image captured by the imaging unit 23.

  The main control unit 32 as the control unit controls the OCR processing unit 31 to associate the recognized identification information with the scanning information and store it in the address book of the storage unit 30.

  The mobile phone 1 configured in this way matches or does not match the scanning information scanned for a predetermined area in the captured image and the scanning information stored in the address book in association with the identification information. Determine. When the mobile phone 1 determines that the scanning information acquired from the captured image does not match the scanning information stored in the address book, the mobile phone 1 uses the new identification information that does not exist in the address book. If there is, the identification information is acquired using the OCR function. In addition, the cellular phone 1 associates the acquired identification information and the scanning information with the identification information and registers it in the address book as one piece of registration information.

  Therefore, since the mobile phone 1 can easily obtain the same result as the determination of the coincidence / non-coincidence of the identification information by simply determining the coincidence / non-coincidence of the scanning information, There is no need to generate information. For this reason, in the mobile phone 1, since processing is reduced, it is possible to reduce the time required for matching / mismatching of the identification information, and it is possible to suppress registration of the identification information without taking time. it can.

  In addition, the mobile phone 1 does not compare the identification information as described above, but a plurality of pieces of identification information such as a name, an address, and a company name are handled as one registration information in order to compare the scanning information. In this case, since it is not necessary to determine whether each identification information matches or does not match, processing for one piece of registered information can be reduced. For this reason, the mobile phone 1 can reduce the time as the number of registration information registered in the address book increases.

  The mobile phone 1 includes an operation input unit 34, an input data acquisition unit 35, a power supply unit 36, a power usage amount detection unit 37, a telephone call unit 38, and a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) function unit 39. , A mail transmission unit 40, a browser function unit 41, a telephone reception unit 42, and a mail reception unit 43. The operation input unit 34 includes the operation key group 11. The input data acquisition unit 35 detects an operation. For example, when the operation input unit 34 is operated by the user, the input data acquisition unit 35 detects the operation content, generates a signal corresponding to the operation content, and causes the main control unit 32 to input the signal. The power supply unit 36 supplies power to each function provided in the mobile phone 1. The power usage amount detection unit 37 detects the power usage amount. The telephone transmission unit 38 and the mail transmission unit 40 are connected to a base station (not shown) via a mobile communication network, and each transmit a transmission signal to the base station. The telephone receiving unit 42 and the mail receiving unit 43 are connected to a base station (not shown) via a mobile communication network, and each receive a received signal from the base station. The wireless LAN function unit 39 is wirelessly connected to an access point (not shown) and transmits and receives data. The browser function unit 41 has a function of accessing a web server when the mobile phone 1 is activated while being connected to a base station or an access point.

  In addition, the OCR processing unit 31 serving as a scanning unit scans the image linearly and acquires scanning information. In most business cards, displays corresponding to identification information such as names are arranged uniformly and in an aligned state. For this reason, the mobile phone 1 can acquire scan information that can determine whether the identification information matches or does not match by acquiring, as scan information, a linear scan of the captured image. Further, in the mobile phone 1, since the information obtained by linearly scanning a predetermined area from the captured image is used as the scanning information, the data amount of the scanning information stored in the address book can be reduced.

  Further, the OCR processing unit 31 serving as a scanning unit acquires a plurality of pieces of scanning information in a linear shape at a predetermined position in the image. Therefore, in the mobile phone 1, for example, if a plurality of positions where main objects such as names are arranged in the image are scanned a plurality of times, the scanning accuracy to the identification object is increased. The accuracy of matching / mismatching of identification information can be improved.

  Further, the OCR processing unit 31 serving as an evaluation unit evaluates scanning information that is weighted differently for each predetermined position. Therefore, in the mobile phone 1, for example, by reducing the evaluation for the edge region of the image in which the captured image is easily distorted and by increasing the evaluation for the central region of the image that is difficult to distort, It is possible to suppress a decrease in accuracy of determination of coincidence / mismatch of identification information to be generated.

  The OCR processing unit 31 serving as a scanning unit recognizes scanning information based on a binary image (for example, a black and white image). Therefore, the mobile phone 1 can reduce the amount of scan information.

  Further, the main control unit 32 as a control unit further acquires scanning information when the acquired scanning information is not valid. Therefore, the mobile phone 1 matches or does not match the identification information even when scanned at a predetermined position, for example, when using an image taken at a position shifted from a specified position or when the layout of the business card is different. Even when effective scanning information that can be used for this determination cannot be acquired, effective scanning information can be reliably acquired in order to acquire scanning information again at different positions. Note that the validity of the acquired scanning information is determined based on the amount of information of the acquired scanning information as a reference, for example, whether or not the scanning information is obtained by scanning a position where no character is displayed. Can be determined.

  When the main control unit 32 determines that the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit 30, the main control unit 32 matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit 30. Is displayed on the display unit 21. Therefore, the mobile phone 1 can cause the user to confirm the result determined to be the same, and can finally suppress erroneous determination after confirmation by the user.

Next, the operation of the mobile phone 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, when registering a business card in the mobile phone 1 in step S <b> 101, the user first operates the operation input unit 34 to activate the business card reader function of the mobile phone 1.

Next, in step S201, as an internal process of the mobile phone 1, the main control unit 32 detects the activation operation of the business card reader function by the input data acquisition unit 35 based on the operation in the step S101.
In step S <b> 202, the imaging unit 23 performs camera activation processing under the control of the main control unit 32.

Next, in step S102, the user operates the operation input unit 34 to perform a business card photographing operation.
Next, in step S203, as an internal process of the mobile phone 1, the main control unit 32 detects the business card photographing operation by the input data acquisition unit 35 based on the operation in the step S102.

  In step S <b> 204, the OCR processing unit 31 performs an inclination correction process on the business card image captured by the imaging unit 23. In other words, the OCR processing unit 31 corrects the inclination by determining the degree of inclination of the image based on, for example, the coordinate values of the four corners of the business card in the image so that the scanning information can be acquired.

In step S205, the OCR processing unit 31 performs an image enlargement ratio optimization process on the image on which the inclination correction process has been performed in step S204. That is, the OCR processing unit 31 displays the image itself or the image of the business card portion with a predetermined size so that the scanning information can be acquired when the captured image is smaller than the predetermined size, for example. Expand to.
In the present embodiment, the case where the captured image is smaller than the predetermined size is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the image may be reduced when it is larger than the predetermined size. In this case, this can be done by determining the scale factor based on the size of the characters and the like displayed on the business card.

In step S206, the OCR processing unit 31 acquires black and white scanning information from the image whose inclination and size are adjusted in the processes of step S204 and step S205.
The black and white scanning information is acquired by first scanning the predetermined coordinates in the business card portion in the image by the OCR processing unit 31 and acquiring a black and white binary image. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the OCR processing unit 31 acquires scanning information in a linear manner at a total of three locations, ie, an upper stage (Line 1), a middle stage (Line 2), and a lower stage (Line 3).

  In step S207, as shown in FIG. 4, the OCR processing unit 31 compares the acquired scanning information with the scanning information registered in the address book (judgment / non-coincidence determination). The OCR processing unit 31 compares the acquired scanning information with the scanning information registered in the address book by comparing the values of the scanning information. When the values of the scanning information to be compared are the same or within a predetermined error range, the OCR processing unit 31 determines that the identity is high and matches.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the OCR processing unit 31 changes the error width in each piece of scanning information in consideration of blurring at the time of photographing. That is, the OCR processing unit 31 makes the same determination sweeter or stricter depending on the position of the scanning information. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the OCR processing unit 31 widens the error range for Line 1 and Line 3 with large blurring at the time of shooting, and loosens the determination for Line 2. Narrow to make judgments stricter.

  Further, since the mobile phone 1 is assumed to have various types of business cards, etc., the OCR processing unit 31 may be configured to determine whether or not the scanning information has a comparable value. . As a result of the determination, if the OCR processing unit 31 does not have a comparable value, the OCR processing unit 31 scans again at a different position to obtain scanning information. At this time, the mobile phone 1 includes position information in the acquired scanning information. Further, the position to be scanned may be determined according to the type of business card, or may be determined based on a captured image.

  In step S208, if the main control unit 32 determines that the scan information matches or does not match based on the scan information match / mismatch determination by the OCR processing unit 31, the main control unit 32 identifies the scan information registered in the address book. Information (for example, name, etc.) is displayed on the display unit 21.

  In step S <b> 103, based on the identification information displayed on the display unit 21, the user performs an operation as to whether or not to perform an OCR reading process (capture of a business card). By this step, the user performs a reading process when there is an erroneous determination and the business card is different from the displayed identification information.

  In step S209, the main control unit 32 performs processing based on the business card reading operation in step S103. When the business card reading operation for performing the OCR reading process is performed, the main control unit 32 proceeds to step S210. When the business card reading operation for not performing the OCR reading process is performed, the main control unit 32 ends the internal processing.

  In step S210, the main control unit 32 performs OCR reading processing on the OCR processing unit 31, and proceeds to step S211. The OCR reading process is performed by causing the OCR processing unit 31 to recognize predetermined data from the captured image. The recognition of the predetermined data is performed, for example, by replacing a part of the captured image of the predetermined area with the character data stored in the storage unit 30 or the like with text data or the like.

  In step S211, as shown in FIG. 5, the main control unit 32 associates the acquired identification information with the scanning information and registers it in the address book as registration information, and ends the internal processing.

  Therefore, the mobile phone 1 can suppress the registration of the identification information without taking time.

  The preferred embodiment of the mobile phone 1 according to the present invention has been described above, but the mobile phone 1 according to the present invention can be implemented in various forms without being limited to the above-described embodiment.

  In the mobile phone 1 according to the present invention, the scanning information is based on a monochrome binary image, but is not limited to this, and may be a color image.

  In the mobile phone 1, the identification information match / mismatch determination is performed by weighting each piece of scanning information scanned in a plurality of lines at a predetermined position, and based on the result of the weighting. It is not limited to this. For example, a plurality of linear scans may be performed at a place where information such as a name is displayed.

  Moreover, although the scanning information used what scanned the imaged image linearly, it is not restricted to this. The scanning information may be any information that can be acquired in the image before the OCR capture process. For example, the image information in a predetermined area in the captured image, the color ratio in the predetermined area in the captured image, The captured image itself may be used as scanning information.

  When the main control unit 32 determines that the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit 30, the main control unit 32 matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit 30. The display unit 21 is configured to display the fact that it has been done, but instead of the display, or together, the identification information stored in the storage unit 30 is displayed in association with the scanning information already stored in the storage unit 30. You may comprise so that it may carry out. Thereby, the mobile telephone 1 can make a user confirm the result determined to be the same, and can suppress a misjudgment further.

1 Mobile phone (mobile electronic device)
21 Display unit 23 Imaging unit 30 Storage unit 31 OCR processing unit (scanning unit, determination unit, recognition unit, evaluation unit)
32 Main control unit (control unit)

Claims (8)

A display unit;
An imaging unit;
A storage unit;
A scanning unit that scans a predetermined region in the image captured by the imaging unit and obtains scanning information;
A determination unit for determining whether or not the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit;
A recognition unit that recognizes identification information from the image when the determination unit determines that the scan information does not match the scan information already stored in the storage unit;
A control unit configured to control the recognition unit so as to store the recognized identification information in association with the scan information in the storage unit.   The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the scanning unit scans the image linearly to acquire the scanning information.   The portable electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the scanning unit acquires a plurality of pieces of the scanning information in a line at a predetermined position in the image. An evaluation unit that evaluates the scanning information that is weighted differently for each predetermined position;
The portable electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit based on the evaluation of the evaluation unit.   The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the scanning unit recognizes the scanning information based on a binary image.   The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further acquires the scanning information when the acquired scanning information is not valid information.   When it is determined that the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit, the control unit and the scanning information already stored in the storage unit The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein control is performed so that a match is displayed on the display unit.   When it is determined that the scanning information matches the scanning information already stored in the storage unit, the control unit adds the scanning information to the scanning information already stored in the storage unit. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the identification information described in the storage unit in association with the display unit is controlled to be displayed on the display unit.

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