JPH10294818A - Digital copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital copying machine that checks whether or not information desired by the user is included in a document and it is reported to the user when the concerned document is in existence and the document is stored. SOLUTION: An area identification processing section 109d identifies a pattern area and a character area based on image information in existence in a memory section in the case that a retrieval processing mode is selected, and when the character area is in existence, an OCR processing section 109e extracts words in a 1st language from the character area, retrieves words in a 2nd language corresponding to the words in the 1st language and the extracted words in the 1st language and the words in the 2nd language corresponding to the 1st language are stored in a storage area. Then whether or not a key word registered in a cache memory 106b is in existence in word groups stored in the storage area is retrieved by a retrieval section 109f and when the key word is in existence, document data are stored in a document storage area and the notice of existence of the document data is reported to a user terminal equipment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication function for communicating with a terminal device on a network, and a method for converting character information in a read image or in an image input via a communication line into a first language in word units. The present invention relates to a digital copying apparatus provided with a translation function for translating a document into a second language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Translating between languages generally requires a very high level of knowledge and takes a long time to translate. Therefore, various proposals have been made for techniques for supporting or automating the translation work. Recently, there have been many proposals regarding digital copying apparatuses having a translation function. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 4-77966, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-314
The digital copier described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 175/175 discloses an optical character reader (O) as an application of the digital copier.
CR) is installed, and a translated word corresponding to the word in the first language in which the character is recognized is searched from a word dictionary in which the word in the second language is registered, and the searched translated word is located under the recognized word coordinates. Has a function of printing out in a predetermined font.
Normally, this type of high-performance digital copier has a large capacity memory, and develops and processes image data on the memory to realize various functions such as rotation, composition, and high-speed repeat. Recognized and dictionary-searched text data are sequentially stored in a memory.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional digital copying apparatus, the text data after character recognition and dictionary search are only temporarily stored in the memory. As in the case of the backup image stored in the memory in order to avoid an error such as a paper jam, when the next copy operation or the like is started, it is discarded as unnecessary data. Therefore, a conventional digital copying apparatus has a function of checking whether or not information read by a user is included in a read document or a translated document,
It did not have a function to save the corresponding document without destroying it. The problem to be solved by the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technique, to examine whether or not a read document or a translated document includes information desired by a user. It is an object of the present invention to provide a convenient digital copying apparatus having a function of notifying a user of the fact and storing the document for the user.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a digital copying apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
Reading means for reading a document image as a set of micro pixel information; storage means for storing the image information read by the reading means or image information input via a communication network; and image information stored in the storage means. Output means for recording a corresponding image on a recording medium, area identification means for identifying a picture area and a character area from the image information, and a first language (for example, English) from the character area identified by the area identification means. A) word extracting means for extracting the word
A translation word storage unit storing words of a second language (for example, Japanese) corresponding to words of the first language, and words of the first language extracted from the translation word storage unit by the word extraction unit. A translation word search means for searching for a word in a second language, a word in the first language extracted by the word extraction means and a word in the second language searched by the translation word search means are stored in a predetermined format. Word storage means, keyword registration means for registering a keyword, and keyword search means for searching whether or not the keyword registered in the keyword registration means exists in a word group stored in the word storage means A document storage unit for storing document data including the keyword when a keyword is found as a result of the search by the keyword search unit; If the result keyword is present,
And notifying means for notifying to the terminal device of the user who registered the keyword on the communication network that document data including the keyword exists. The digital copying machine configured as described above, when instructed to execute a copying operation, reads a document image and develops the image information on the storage means. At this time, if the mode is set to execute the search processing, the image information on the storage means is output onto a recording medium such as a recording paper, and the image area existing on the storage means at that time is used as a pattern area. Identify the character area. As a result, if a character region exists, a word in the first language is extracted from the character region, a word in the second language corresponding to the extracted word in the first language is searched, and a word in the extracted first language is retrieved. The word and the corresponding searched word in the second language are stored in the word storage means in a predetermined format, for example, a text data format. Thereafter, a search is performed to determine whether a pre-registered keyword exists in the word group stored in the word storage unit. If the keyword exists as a result, document data including the keyword is stored in the document storage unit. At the same time, the terminal device of the user who registered the keyword on the communication network is notified that document data including the keyword exists. Therefore, according to the digital copying apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, by registering in advance a keyword related to the information desired by the user, the information desired by the user can be included in the read or translated document. Is included, the user is notified of the fact and the document can be saved for the user who registered the keyword, so that the user obtains a document containing desired information as a data file. And print out.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the digital copying apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, when a keyword is found as a result of the search by the keyword search means, the document data including the keyword is provided. Is transmitted to the terminal device of the user who registered the keyword on the communication network. In this case, it is desirable to have a function of transmitting document data including the keyword to the terminal of the user who has registered the keyword on the communication network in accordance with an instruction from the terminal of the user who has registered the keyword. . According to the digital copying apparatus configured as described above, the document data including the information desired by the user can be imported into the user's terminal device that has registered the keyword via the communication network, so that the convenience is further improved. improves.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the digital copying apparatus according to the first or second aspect, when a keyword is found as a result of the search by the keyword search means, document data containing the keyword is converted. Document data output means for outputting to a recording medium in response to an instruction from a terminal device of a user who has registered a keyword on the communication network. According to the digital copying apparatus configured as described above, the document data including the information desired by the user can be output to the recording medium according to the user's desire in which the keyword is registered. improves. In the digital copying apparatus according to the fourth aspect, based on the apparatus configuration according to any one of the first to third aspects, the notifying unit displays a search result regarding all keywords registered by a plurality of users. And a function of displaying a search result related to a keyword registered by a specific user can be selectively used. According to the digital copying apparatus configured as described above, since the notification condition of the search result related to the keyword can be selected, each user can monitor the search result under desired conditions, so that extra information can be monitored. Can be avoided, or a search keyword of another user can be used as information, thereby further improving convenience.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a digital copying machine according to the present invention. This digital copier 10
Reference numeral 0 denotes a scanner unit (reading means) for reading a document image.
1. RG after amplifying the input signal from the scanner unit 101
An A / D conversion unit 102 that converts the digital image signal into a B digital image signal;
A signal processing unit 104 that performs signal processing such as shading correction on the image signal from the A / D conversion unit 102;
An image processing unit 105 that performs processing such as scaling, MTF correction, and γ correction on the image signal from the signal processing unit 104; a memory unit 106 that stores read image data and the like; A translation word creation unit 108 for performing creation processing and the like, a recognition dictionary memory 109 storing data used for character recognition, and a word (first language) and a translation word (second language) corresponding to the word are stored. Translated word dictionary memory (translated word storage means) 110, an output font memory 111 storing character font data used for image generation, and a printer unit (output means) for printing out images stored in the memory unit 106 on recording paper 117, a CPU 112 for controlling the entire apparatus, a ROM 113 storing a control program, and a RAM 1 used as a work area for control. 4, digital the user copying machine 100
An operation board 115 for giving instructions such as start and stop, an internal system bus 118 for exchanging data between devices, an I / F 103 for interfacing the A / D converter 102 with the system bus 118, a printer I / F 116 for interfacing unit 117 with system bus 118, system bus 118 and LAN
(Communication network) 122 and a network board 119 for connecting to the communication network 122. LAN 122
Are connected to a plurality of client PCs (terminal devices) 120 and servers (terminal devices) 121 (see FIG. 5). The network board 119 is a TCP / IP or I
It supports well-known transport protocols such as PX / SPX, etc.
Data is exchanged with the client PC 120 and the server 121 existing on the LAN 122.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image processing system from the scanner unit 101 to the printer unit 117. First, an original image is read by the CCD image sensor 101a of the scanner unit 101, and the voltage is adjusted to a predetermined voltage amplitude. After being amplified, the A / D conversion unit 102 sets 2 n per pixel.
The digital image signal is converted into a digital image signal of a raised gradation (for example, 256 gradations). The image signal from the A / D conversion unit 102 is corrected by a shading correction circuit 104a in the signal processing unit 104 for unevenness in illuminance of a light source, sensitivity variations among the elements of the CCD image sensor 101a, and the like. The image signal from the signal processing unit 104 is further input to the image processing unit 105, subjected to image processing, and sent to the printer unit 117. In the printer unit 117, an LD is output in accordance with the transmitted image signal.
The control circuit 117a is a laser diode (LD) 11
By modulating the driving of 7b, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the read image is formed around a photosensitive drum (not shown). Then, an image is output on recording paper by a known image reproducing process.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the internal configuration of the image processing unit 105. In the figure, an image signal 200 is an image signal of 256 gradations converted into an RGB digital signal in the scanner unit 101. The video control signal 201 is transmitted to the image processing unit 1
05 is a signal for controlling the timing of the image signal 200 in each circuit. The image processing unit 105 performs a scaling circuit 202 that performs two-dimensional real-time scaling, performs MTF correction that increases the resolving power of characters, line images, and the like, performs smoothing processing that removes signal noise, and improves the reproducibility of photographs and the like. A spatial filter circuit 203, a gamma correction circuit 204 for performing gamma correction according to the density setting function, a gradation processing circuit 205 for performing halftone processing and the like according to the image quality setting function, image information stored in the memory unit 106, and a scanner unit And a synthesizing circuit 207 for synthesizing the image information sent from the printer 101 and sending the synthesized image information to the printer unit 117. When the translated word creation mode is set, the output destination of the image information from the combining circuit 207 is switched from the printer unit 117 to the translated word creation unit 109 after the printout is completed.

FIG. 4 shows the memory unit 106 and the translated word creation unit 10
9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. As illustrated, the memory unit 106 includes a hard disk (HD) 106a, which is a large-capacity storage unit, and a cache memory 106b. The image data of the document image read by the scanner unit 101 is stored in the image storage area of the HD 106a. A part of the cache memory 106b is a LAN
It is used for a registration area (keyword registration means) of the keyword information input via 122. Translation word creation unit 10
9 is a translation word creation memory unit 109a and a compression / decompression unit 10
9b, a drawing unit 109c, and an area identification processing unit 109d
, An OCR processing unit 109e (word extraction unit), and a search unit (keyword search unit) 109f. The translation word creation memory unit 109a is divided into a plurality of areas, each of which is an OCR text result storage area (word storage means) 301 and a document storage area (document storage means) 3.
02 and so on.

[0011] In the OCR text result storage area 301,
The words of the first language (for example, English) and the words of the second language (for example, Japanese) extracted by the OCR processing unit 109c are stored in a text data format. Document storage unit 30
In the field 2, a document determined to include a keyword as a result of the search by the search unit 109f is stored in a text data format. The compression / decompression unit 109b compresses the document data and stores it in the document storage area 302, and decompresses and outputs the document data compressed and stored in the document storage area 302.
The drawing unit 109c expands the text data compressed and accumulated in the document storage area 302 as image data on the image data expansion area of the memory unit 106 using a predetermined font. The area identification processing unit 109d includes the memory unit 1
The picture area and the character area are identified from the image information developed on the image data development area 06. Since a method for distinguishing a picture region from a character region is known, the description is omitted.

The OCR processing unit 109e recognizes the characters in the character area identified by the area identification processing unit 109d based on the data stored in the recognition dictionary memory 109 (FIG. 1). The OCR processing unit 109e extracts a word in a first language (for example, English) based on the data stored in the translation word dictionary memory 110, and further extracts a second word corresponding to the extracted word in the first language. Search for words in the language. The search unit 109f searches whether the keyword (first language or second language) registered in the cache memory 106b exists in the word group stored in the OCR text result storage area 301. As a result of the search by the search unit 109f, if a keyword exists in the word group stored in the OCR text result storage area 301, C
The PU 112 notifies the client PC 120 of the user who has registered the keyword on the LAN 122 of the fact, and stores the text data of the document determined to include the keyword in the document storage area 302. In addition, the CPU 112
When data transfer is instructed by specifying a file from C120, the designated data file is read from the document storage area 302, and the client PC 1 instructing data transfer is read.
Transfer to 20.

Hereinafter, an operation example of the digital copying machine 100 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. A user who wants to obtain document data related to desired information using the translated word output function (translation function) of the digital copying machine 100 first needs to use the LAN 122
An application program for outputting a translated word is started on the client PC 120 (S1), and a search keyword is input while a search keyword input screen is displayed on a display (not shown) (S2). Then LAN
The search keyword is input via the digital copier 100
To the cache memory 10 in the memory unit 106
6b (S3). When a plurality of users have registered search keywords, the ID information of each user is associated with each search keyword. Even when a plurality of users register the same keyword, the ID information of all users is associated with the keyword. Thereafter, when an instruction to execute a copying operation is issued (S4), the image data of the document image read by the scanner unit 101 is accumulated in the image data development area of the memory unit 106 (S5).
The image data is sent to the printer unit 117 and is copied on recording paper. When the copying operation is completed, a signal notifying the end is sent to the translated word creating unit 109 (S6).

Upon receiving the notification signal, the translated word creating section 109 first performs a process of identifying a picture area and a character area from the image information developed on the image data development area of the memory section 106 by the area identification processing section 109d. (S7). As a result, if a character area exists (Ye in S8)
s) A character in the character area is recognized by the OCR processing unit 109e, a word in a first language is extracted from the recognized character string, and a word in a second language corresponding to the word in the first language is further extracted. Is extracted (S9). OCR processing unit 109c
Are extracted in the OCR text result storage area 301 in the form of text data in the first language.
(S11). When the saving to the OCR text result storage area 301 is completed, the CPU 112
09f to the cache memory 106f.
It is checked whether the keyword (first language or second language) registered in b exists in the file stored in the OCR text result storage area 301 (S12).
As a result, if the keyword exists on the file (S1
3), the CPU 112 notifies the client PC of the user who registered the keyword on the LAN 122 to that effect.
In addition to notifying the document 120 (S16), the text data of the document determined to include the keyword is stored in the document storage area 302 (S14).

[0015] The client PC 1 receiving the above notification
In step 20, the contents of the notification are recognized by the application program for outputting the translated word, and the contents are displayed on the display. Therefore, the client PC 12
By viewing the content displayed on the display, the user 0 can check whether the document read by the digital copying machine 100 contains the desired information. Then, if necessary, a file matching the desired information is designated by the application program for outputting the translated word to instruct data transfer. Then, digital copier 1
The designated data file is read from the document storage area 302 of the file No. 00 and transferred to the client PC 120 (S17). Further, if necessary, the user of the client PC 120 designates a file that matches desired information by using the translated word output application program and instructs print output. Then, the digital copier 10
The designated data file is read out from the document storage area 302 of No. 0, and the desired document data is printed out on the recording paper by the printer unit 117. In the above description, the digital copier 100 notifies the presence or absence of a document that matches all the search keywords registered in the cache memory 106b, or determines whether or not there is a document only for a keyword registered by a specific user. You can also notify. Further, the presence or absence of a document after a predetermined date and time can be notified. Such a notification condition can be selected in advance by using an application program for outputting a translated word of the client PC 120. If an unnecessary document is found out of the documents notified from the digital copier 100 as matching the search keyword, the client PC 120 specifies the document file and notifies an erasure instruction. Files and other related data stored in the above memory can be erased. These notifications can be made using a mailbox function used in the operation system (OS).

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. According to the digital copying apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the keyword related to the information desired by the user is registered in advance, so that the read or translated document includes the information desired by the user. If so, the user can be notified of the fact and the document can be saved for the user who registered the keyword, so that the user can obtain a document containing the desired information as a data file. It can be printed out. According to the digital copying apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, a communication network is provided to a user terminal device which has registered a keyword with document data containing information desired by the user. The convenience can be further improved because the data can be taken in via the. According to the digital copying apparatus of the third aspect, in addition to the effects of the first and second aspects, the document data containing the information desired by the user can be output to the recording medium as needed, so Convenience is improved. Further, according to the digital copying apparatus of the fourth aspect, the first to third aspects are provided.
In addition to the above effects, the user can monitor the search results under desired conditions by selecting the notification condition of the search results related to the keyword, so that unnecessary information is not notified. In addition, the search keywords of other users can be used as information, and the convenience is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a digital copying machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image processing system from a scanner unit to a printer unit of the digital copying machine shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an internal configuration of an image processing unit of the digital copying machine shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a memory unit and a translated word creating unit of the digital copying machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a communication system in which a digital copying machine according to the present invention and a plurality of client PCs and servers are connected via a communication network.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation content of the digital copying machine shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 100 digital copier, 101 scanner unit (reading means), 104 signal processing unit, 105 image processing unit, 10
6 memory unit, 106a hard disk, 106b
Cache memory (keyword registration means), 108 translation word creation unit, 109 recognition dictionary memory, 109 translation word creation unit, 109a translation word creation memory unit, 109b compression / decompression unit, 109c drawing unit, 109d area identification processing unit,
109e OCR processing unit (word extraction unit), 109f search unit (keyword search unit), 110 translated word dictionary memory (translated word storage unit), 111 output font memory, 11
2 CPU (document data transmission means, document data output means), 113 ROM, 114 RAM, 115 operation board, 117 printer unit (output means), 118 internal system bus, 119 network board (document data transmission means), 120 client PC ( Terminal device), 121 server (terminal device), 301 OCR text result storage area (word storage means), 302 document storage area (document storage means).

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI H04N 1/32 G06F 15/40 370B 1/40 H04N 1/40 F

Claims (4)

[Claims] A reading unit that reads a document image as a set of micro pixel information; an image storage unit that stores image information read by the reading unit or image information input via a communication network; An output unit that records an image corresponding to the accumulated image information on a recording medium; an area identification unit that identifies a picture area and a character area from the image information; and a character area identified by the area identification unit. Word extraction means for extracting words in one language; translation word storage means for storing words in a second language corresponding to words in the first language; extracted from the translation word storage means by the word extraction means. A translation word search means for searching for a word in a second language corresponding to the word in the first language, and a word in the first language extracted by the word extraction means and the translation word search means. A word storage unit that stores the searched words in the second language in a predetermined format; a keyword registration unit that registers a keyword; and a keyword registered in the keyword registration unit is stored in the word storage unit. A keyword search unit for searching whether or not the keyword exists in a word group; a document storage unit for storing document data including the keyword when a keyword is present as a result of the search by the keyword search unit; Notifying means for notifying, when a keyword is found as a result of the search, document data containing the keyword to a terminal device of a user who has registered the keyword on the communication network, a digital copying apparatus; . 2. A document data transmitting means for transmitting document data including the keyword to a terminal of a user who has registered the keyword on the communication network when a keyword is present as a result of the search by the keyword searching means. 2. The digital copying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. When a keyword is found as a result of the search by the keyword search means, document data including the keyword is output to a recording medium in accordance with an instruction from a terminal device of a user who has registered the keyword on the communication network. The digital copying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a document data output unit that performs the processing. 4. The notification means can selectively use one of a function of displaying search results for all keywords registered by a plurality of users and a function of displaying search results for keywords registered by a specific user. The digital copying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: