Image analysis – Image transformation or preprocessing – Image storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-29
2002-12-31
Ahmed, Savir (Department: 2623)
Image analysis
Image transformation or preprocessing
Image storage or retrieval
C382S311000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06501864
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a data medium handling apparatus and a data medium handling method suitable for use, for example, for document handling in a financial organ, and more particularly to a data medium handling apparatus and a data medium handling method for performing handling of documents having various formats such as private documents.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, as apparatus which read character information as image data (an image) and then recognize characters, image data reading apparatus such as optical character reading apparatus (OCR apparatus) have been developed, and in various industries, the image data reading apparatus are used widely to achieve augmentation in efficiency in business and so forth.
For example, an operator who operates at the window of a financial organ or the like achieves augmentation in business by efficiently handling document media (documents) using an image data reading apparatus described above.
Particularly, in order to achieve augmentation in efficiency in business in which such document handling as described above is performed, it is required not only to handle document media of the same type (media for exclusive use for recognition processing) but also to automatically handle document media having various formats.
Thus, handling of a document medium using an image data reading apparatus can be performed for a plurality of kinds of document media by using, for example, such a document handling apparatus
1000
as shown in FIG.
115
.
In particular, referring to
FIG. 115
, reference numeral
1001
denotes an image data reading apparatus for reading image data of a document. The image data reading apparatus
1001
is connected to a computer
1002
so that it can perform a reading operation of image data under the control of the computer
1002
. It is to be noted that, for example, an image scanner or a facsimile is used as the image data reading apparatus
1001
.
Meanwhile, the computer
1002
as a control apparatus for controlling the image data reading apparatus
1001
is composed of an inputting unit
1002
-
1
such as a keyboard or a mouse (only a keyboard is shown in
FIG. 115
) for inputting instructions, data and so forth from an operator, a computer mainframe
1002
-
2
, and display unit
1002
-
3
for displaying data, control information or the like. It is to be noted that character recognition processing of image data read by the image data reading apparatus
1001
is performed by the computer mainframe
1002
-
2
.
Further, reference numeral hard disk
1003
denotes a hard disk. The hard disk
1003
is connected to the computer
1002
and stores in advance information (hereinafter referred to as “definition object information”)
1003
A to
1003
C, . . . which designates, for each kind of document, for example, as seen in
FIG. 116
, position information of character data to be recognized, and a type, a number and so forth of characters.
It is to be noted that such an image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
as shown in
FIG. 116
or
117
may be used in place of the image data reading apparatus
1001
described above. The image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
can perform a reading operation of image data similar to that of the image data reading apparatus
1001
as well as character recognition.
In order to recognize character data appearing on an electricity bill paid-up notice
1004
as shown, for example, in
FIG. 116
using the image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
, a document kind (in this instance, the definition object information
1003
B corresponding to the electricity bill paid-up notice
1004
(document B)) is designated by operation of the keyboard
1002
-
1
by the operator.
Then, the computer
1002
accesses the hard disk
1003
to extract the definition object information
1003
B of the designated document and reports the definition object information
1003
B to the image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
.
Consequently, the image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
can effect reading of image data and character recognition processing based on the definition object information
1003
B as control information from the computer
1002
.
However, in the procedure of handling such a document as described hereinabove with reference to
FIG. 116
, since definition object information is designated for each document to be read by designation of the operator, a burden is imposed on the operator, and besides, as definition objects increase in number, a designation error may occur. Where it is required to handle several thousands kinds of documents, it is actually difficult for the operator to designate a definition object.
Therefore, also another method has been proposed wherein, as shown in
FIG. 117
, an ID number (in this instance, ‘0102’) for identification of a document from any other document is recorded at a prescribed position
1004
a
of the document
1004
so that reading processing of the document may be performed automatically without such necessity for designation of a document kind by the operator as described above.
With the method just described, when image data of a document are to be read by the image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
, character recognition can be effected by first recognizing the ID number recorded at the predetermined position
1004
a
and then using the definition object information (in this instance,
1003
B) corresponding to the recognized ID number.
However, when image data are to be read, if the position at which a document or the like is set in an optical reading apparatus (for example, a document handling apparatus) such as the image data reading apparatus
1001
or the image data reading and recognition apparatus
1005
is displaced, then even if a document same as, for example, a document whose definition object information is stored in advance in the hard disk
1003
is read, since coordinates of an image of a region of character data, a region of a figure or the like from a reference point (physical origin) do not exhibit the same coordinates as those of the definition object information, it is determined in a document handling apparatus or the like that the layouts are not the same as each other.
In a document handling apparatus or the like, character recognition processing is not sometimes performed regularly unless character recognition of image data is performed after the layout of read image data and the layout of definition object information are adjusted to each other. Therefore, reference points of individual images are extracted and coordinates of the individual images from the reference points are compared with each other to effect discrimination of coincidence between the layouts.
Here, the following two methods are dominantly used for extraction of a reference point of image data. It is to be noted that, as a precondition, an object document for reading is a document printed in advance and the print position of the document on a form is managed with a high degree of accuracy.
According to the first method, when image data of a document are to be read by an image data reading apparatus by which, as shown in FIG.
118
(
a
), a form end edge
1006
of the document to be read and a reading background
1007
can be identified from each other, the left upper corner position P of the form end edge
1006
is determined as a reference point.
According to the second method, when image data of a document are to be read by an image scanner or a facsimile, since a reading background
1009
and a form end edge
1008
read cannot be identified from each other as seen in FIG.
118
(
b
), a reference mark R is printed on an object document form for reading in advance and this reference mark R is extracted from image data and determined as a reference point.
The second method is advantageous in that, since a reference point position is printed as the reference mark R in advance, even if the position in which the document is set in a reading apparatus is displaced, the
Chiba Koichi
Eguchi Shinichi
Inaoka Hideyuki
Kamata Hideo
Katsumata Yutaka
Ahmed Savir
Arent Fox Kintner Plotki & Kahn PLLC
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